Twilight Zone / 'Worse than apartheid'

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Written by Gideon Levy Gideon Levy

Published: 14 July 2008 14 July 2008

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I thought they would feel right at home in the alleys of Balata refugee camp, the Casbah and the Hawara checkpoint. But they said there is no comparison: for them the Israeli occupation regime is worse than anything they knew under apartheid. This week, 21 human rights activists from South Africa visited Israel. Among them were members of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress; at least one of them took part in the armed struggle and at least two were jailed. There were two South African Supreme Court judges, a former deputy minister, members of Parliament, attorneys, writers and journalists. Blacks and whites, about half of them Jews who today are in conflict with attitudes of the conservative Jewish community in their country. Some of them have been here before; for others it was their first visit.{josquote} "To deprive people of humane medical care? You know, people die because of that . . ." {/josquote}

For five days they paid an unconventional visit to Israel - without Sderot, the IDF and the Foreign Ministry (but with Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Memorial and a meeting with Supreme Court President Justice Dorit Beinisch. They spent most of their time in the occupied areas, where hardly any official guests go - places that are also shunned by most Israelis.
   
On Monday they visited Nablus, the most imprisoned city in the West Bank. From Hawara to the Casbah, from the Casbah to Balata, from Joseph's Tomb to the monastery of Jacob's Well. They traveled from Jerusalem to Nablus via Highway 60, observing the imprisoned villages that have no access to the main road, and seeing the "roads for the natives," which pass under the main road. They saw and said nothing. There were no separate roads under apartheid. They went through the Hawara checkpoint mutely: they never had such barriers.

Jody Kollapen, who was head of Lawyers for Human Rights in the apartheid regime, watches silently. He sees the "carousel" into which masses of people are jammed on their way to work, visit family or go to the hospital. Israeli peace activist Neta Golan, who lived for several years in the besieged city, explains that only 1 percent of the inhabitants are allowed to leave the city by car, and they are suspected of being collaborators with Israel. Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, a former deputy minister of defense and of health and a current member of Parliament, a revered figure in her country, notices a sick person being taken through on a stretcher and is shocked. "To deprive people of humane medical care? You know, people die because of that," she says in a muted voice.

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A binational reality

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Written by Akiva Eldar Akiva Eldar

Published: 14 July 2008 14 July 2008

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How nice that this time, too, the terrorist was a "lone wolf," a drug addict or just a nut case. Just so long as Jerusalemite murderers are not acting on behalf of terrorist groups. "Wild weeds" can grow in any garden. We also once had a strange doctor who carried out a massacre in a mosque; his family erected a glorious tombstone in honor of the "saint." No one proposed razing the family's home for the purpose of "deterrence" - and justifiably so. If we assume that this was the case of a deviant, demolishing the home of his family will deter the next deviant in the same way that the death penalty deters people who decide to blow themselves up in a bus, in the hope of having fun with 70 virgins in paradise. Deterrence is relevant when it is applied to trends in the mainstream, not in the sidelines of society. {josquote}After 40 years, the time has come for politicians to understand that destroying more Arab homes and building more houses for Jews will not transform Jerusalem into a more united city.{/josquote}

The murderer at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva and the terrorist with the bulldozer did not represent an organization. Worse still: They reflect the mood of thousands of residents in Israel's capital. A terror organization can be tracked down, declared illegal and its leadership can be arrested. Discontent that originates at the grassroots needs no guidance, is not controlled by anyone's decisions, and it is much more difficult to contain. This is the way it was in the first intifada, and to a certain extent also in the second intifada. The organizations did not create the wave. They rode it.

A young Palestinian living in one of the neighborhoods that have been left on the outside of the separation fence tells me that every morning, on his way to work, as he observes the masses of people waiting at the checkpoint, he wonders why there are so few terrorist attacks. And this from a man who sends his children to summer camp with Israeli youth.

By coincidence, or perhaps not, both murderers involved in attacks in Jerusalem came from neighborhoods on the dividing line, where residents' lives have been changed completely by the fence, which was drawn short-sightedly and without sensibility. The wall enveloping Jerusalem, whose length totals 170 kilometers - more than the distance between that city and Haifa - has cut off most Jerusalem Arabs, primarily those living west of the fence, from their brethren in the West Bank. Some 60,000 people, left outside the fence, have been separated from their livelihoods, schools and hospitals in Jerusalem.

The steadily creeping annexation by Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, including the holy sites and the Old City - with complete disregard for the Americans' requests - blurs the difference between the reality in "unified" Jerusalem and the occupation in the West Bank. From a political point of view the situation of the residents of East Jerusalem is better than that of their neighbors in the West Bank. While in Ramallah there is an illusion of Palestinian rule, in Shuafat the Palestinian Authority has no hold. Israel is not fulfilling its commitments according to Part A of the road map, which requires that Palestinian institutions in East Jerusalem be reopened, and it is undermining the formation of a local political leadership.

The public debate surrounding the razing of the family homes of the two murderers is distracting attention from a much more serious issue. The question is not why the families of Jerusalemite terrorists should be treated in a way that is different from that which Israel has shown families of terrorists from the West Bank. The question needs to be whether there is genuine justification for treating them differently. Is there really any difference between those who received blue (Israeli) identity cards, and the residents of the West Bank? Did the National Insurance payments on the one hand, and the supervision over Palestinian immigration on the other, actually alter the aspirations of Jerusalem's Arabs, or did the policy of "unifying Jerusalem" fail?

After 40 years, the time has come for politicians to understand that destroying more Arab homes and building more houses for Jews will not transform Jerusalem into a more united city. In Jerusalem, like any locale situated between the sea and the Jordan River, a binational reality exists, in which one ethnic group rules by force over another ethnic group. Historically, Israel's governments have treated Jerusalem's Arabs as hostile surplus. The policy of "enlightened occupation" was adopted in their case, even though it has been proven bankrupt in the rest of the territories, and these people were expected to appreciate this and become loyal residents of the Zionist entity.

Many years ago, a U.S. diplomat who served in Jerusalem said the following about the Arabs of the city: "You will not be able to break them or buy them."

Razing two homes in Jerusalem will destroy yet another superficial division between Palestinians and Palestinians. Perhaps this will help us understand that an accord in the West Bank, without a solution in Jerusalem, is a dangerous illusion.

IDF to crack down on Hamas in West Bank, destroys civilian infrastructure

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Written by Amos Harel Amos Harel

Published: 14 July 2008 14 July 2008

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[The destruction of civilian infrastructure, including schools and orphanages, without replacing them, will lead to ever greater isolation, suffering, and despair - AUPHR]

The Israel Defense Forces will soon be stepping up its campaign against Hamas' civilian infrastructure in the West Bank, shutting down a large number of Hamas-affiliated charities, confiscating their property, and searching computers and documents that detail their activity.

The IDF has been carrying out similar raids in the Hebron, Qalqilyah and Ramallah areas since the beginning of the year, but the campaign will now be expanded to additional parts of the West Bank, in the wake of approval from Israel's legal authorities.

After receiving permission to seize property that provides Hamas-affiliated associations with income, even if they are not directly linked to terrorism, the IDF has shut down a mall in Hebron, confiscated buses and prohibited the opening of a new school in Hebron due to ties with Hamas-linked Islamic associations. Offices and storehouses have also been shut down.

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Report: Bush Backs Israel Strike Plans on Iran

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Written by Newsmax Newsmax

Published: 14 July 2008 14 July 2008

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Report: Bush Backs Israel Strike Plans on Iran

Sunday, July 13, 2008 7:19 AM


The Sunday Times of London reported this weekend that "President George W. Bush has told the Israeli government that he may be prepared to approve a future military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations with Tehran break down." The Times report quoted a senior Pentagon official as its source.

With increased resistance from the Pentagon and the November elections closing in, the White House may be choosing its next best option in dealing with Tehran: to have Israel launch strikes on Iran's nuclear weapons facilities.

The paper said Bush has told Israel it has an "amber light" to proceed.

“Amber means get on with your preparations, stand by for immediate attack and tell us when you’re ready,” the paper quoted a U.S. official as saying.

Military experts are not sure that Israel's military forces can do the job. Iran has dispersed its nuclear program sites around the country, and some weapons facilities are said to be deep within the earth. The U.S. has special bunker-busting bombs that could destroy such underground laboratories, but Israel does not.

Iran has made clear it will retaliate against Israel and the U.S. if either nation attacks it. Last week, Iran's military demonstrated its reach by firing nine long- and medium-range missiles -- including the modified Shahab-3 ballistic missile, which can easily strike Israel from western Iran.

Political factors may be playing a role in strike plans for both Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Bush is in lame-duck status, and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, the front-runner to win the presidency in November, says he favors the use of diplomacy over force when dealing with Iran.

Olmert is facing a political crisis as corruption charges threaten his hold on office. Some Israeli political analysts say Olmert may order an attack on Iran to bolster his political standing in Jerusalem.

The Times cited one of Olmert's closest friends as quoting the prime minister: "In three months’ time it will be a different Middle East.”

Editor's Note: Get Ken Timmerman's Special Report: 6 Days of Hell: the Coming War with Iran -- Go Here Now

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