Israelis give their votes to Palestinians in Facebook campaign

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Written by 972 Magazine 972 Magazine

Published: 19 January 2013 19 January 2013

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In an act of protest one can only find in the world of social media, activists open a Facebook page where Israelis are urged to ‘hand over’ their voting rights to Palestinians.

Every once in a while, social media shows you what an amazing tool it can be.

On December 26, 2012, a new Facebook page was created, called “Real Democracy.” The basic idea behind it is that Israelis “give up” their vote in the upcoming elections to any of the millions of Palestinians under Israeli rule who have no right to vote. It’s all done on Facebook. The Israeli posts a status saying he/she’s willing to do it, the Palestinian tells him/her who to vote for.

The group behind the page consists of Israeli, Palestinian and international activists. Some of them took part in a similar campaign called “Give your vote” in the 2010 elections in England. In that campaign, thousands of Englishmen gave their votes to people in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Ghana “who are directly affected by UK policies.” According to one activist from the group, the idea is to show the “lack of democracy” not only on the local level in Israel/Palestine, but also on the international level, particularly the UN, which “allows the United States to enable the occupation.”

I spoke with the Israeli and Palestinian in the first dialogue above:

Ofer Neiman: “Over the past few years I reached the conclusion that parliamentary change will not come from the Left. That is why I decided it was time to change the rules of the game. Too many good Leftists invest their time in trying to change from the inside, I support BDS and in general anything that undermines the legitimacy of what I see as an apartheid regime. These elections are not democratic, they are not legitimate. I used to be an activist in Hadash, but I no longer support any party in the system. Yet, I will happily vote Hadash because that is what Bassam asked me to do. It is the decision of someone who has no vote. I am only the messenger, I have no deliberation about it.”

Bassam Aramin: “I am 44 from the West Bank village of Anata. Between the ages of 17-24 I sat in an Israeli jail, for rock throwing. My daughter was killed by a rubber bullet to the head, shot by Israeli soldiers. She was 10 years old, in 2007, and was standing outside her school (more about Bassam’s story and his struggle for justice can be read here – A.K.) I saw the initiative on the internet. And yes, we want a real democracy. You are not a democracy if you occupy another people. I’ve heard there are calls to boycott the elections. I think this is wrong. If you have a vote, you should try to change. Hadash is my choice, because it is an Arab-Jewish party that calls for coexistence between both peoples. It’s very important for Palestinians to know, that this campaign shows that there are human beings on the enemy’s side. They have volunteered for this, no one is forcing them to do it. They are giving up their vote in an act of protest, saying to us that they are with us in our struggle. It is very important for the reconciliation and peace agreement that will come in the future.”

The group hopes that the dialogues will slowly move onto the official Facebook page in the next coming days. The following is from the About section on the page.

This is an act of refusal, a democratic rebellion. We are Palestinians and Israelis who refuse to participate in the illusion of democracy anymore. In the upcoming Israeli elections we, citizens of Palestine, will exercise our civic right to vote. We, Israeli citizens, will give up our own votes and instead vote as our Palestinian counterparts tell us to.

We believe that all people are born equal. This is supposedly a universal value. Yet the current Israeli and international law do not treat the citizens of Palestine and the citizens of Israel equally. Without a ‘one person-one vote’ system, Israel cannot be democratic. Without equality between citizens, the UN and other global institutions cannot be democratic. Either the Israeli occupation stops, or all Palestinains must be allowed to vote in the Israeli elections. To leave Palestinians subjects of a state in which they are not full citizens, is in contradicion with the basic principles of democracy.

We know that to some, this is a provocative act. We hope to provoke thought, dialogue and a political change. What we want is equality between people – in Palestine, Israel and the world.

We are not alone. The world-wide struggle for institutions that reflect equality between people is a long and difficult one. In a similar campaign in 2010, citizens of the UK gave their votes to people from Afhganistan, Bangladesh and Ghana. Another campaign will take place in Germany in 2013. We are inspired by our sisters and brothers in squares in Tunisia, Egypt, Syria, Mexico, Spain, the US and Britain, inspired by the movements for women’s suffrage, the Indian resistance to the British occupation, the struggle for democracy in South-Africa and the American civil rights movement. Their victories give us hope. We too shall overcome.

Senators: question nominees on drone strike policy!

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Written by Just Foreign Policy Just Foreign Policy

Published: 16 January 2013 16 January 2013

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Senators: question nominees on drone strike policy!

President Obama has announced his national security leadership team: Chuck Hagel at Defense, John Kerry at State, John Brennan at CIA. Each of these nominees will have a say on whether current U.S. policy on drone strikes is further entrenched, or whether U.S. drone strike policy is brought into compliance with U.S. and international law. But first, each of these nominees must face a Senate confirmation hearing where Senators will be able to ask—and Administration nominees answer—questions about U.S. drone strike policy in open session.

Join me in urging the President and the Senate to use this opportunity to increase the transparency and accountability of U.S. drone strike policy by signing the petition at the link below.

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/cia-head-drones

Thanks!

Schumer Endorses Hagel: Big Defeat For Israel Lobby

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Written by MJ Rosenberg MJ Rosenberg

Published: 16 January 2013 16 January 2013

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The news that Sen. Chuck Schumer will support the Hagel nomination means that Hagel will almost certainly be confirmed as Secretary of Defense. It does not mean that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is not opposing the appointment. It means that, at long last, it has been defeated.
It is obvious why AIPAC is so insistent that it is not trying to prevent former senator Chuck Hagel from becoming the Secretary of Defense. As investigative journalist Max Blumenthal put it in a piece published yesterday:

AIPAC has good reasons to keep its fingerprints off the public campaign to demonize Hagel. For one, AIPAC thrives on its ability to influence lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, requiring it to avoid alienating the key congressional Democrats who rubberstamp the anti-Palestinian resolutions and Iran sanctions legislation it routinely authors. If AIPAC waded into the Republican-led crusade against Hagel in a public way, it might enrage some of its most reliable Democratic allies in Congress, generating unnecessary acrimony that might complicate future lobbying initiatives.

The other reasons Blumenthal enumerates are AIPAC’s fears of contributing to the bad feelings between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stemming from Netanyahu’s open preference for Mitt Romney in the recent U.S. election.

And then there is AIPAC’s complicated legal status stemming from the fact that, unlike other lobbies for foreign governments, it is not registered as such with the Department of Justice. If it was, its activities would be severely circumscribed. Seeming to lay low, while orchestrating events from behind a screen, makes sense.

AIPAC does not have to issue directives from its headquarters in Washington to convey its desires.

In fact, it usually doesn’t. It never likes to leave fingerprints and still manages to get what it wants because policymakers, media people, etc., know what its preferences are without public pronouncements. This even applies to what AIPAC considers its most significant annual achievement: passage of the $3.5 billion Israel aid package and making sure that there are no strings or conditions attached.

Read more: Schumer Endorses Hagel: Big Defeat For Israel Lobby

Israeli military kills Palestinian boy

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Written by Associated Press in Ramallah Associated Press in Ramallah

Published: 15 January 2013 15 January 2013

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Doctors say teenager killed near West Bank separation barrier, named as Samir Awad, 17, was shot in head, back and chest

• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 January 2013 09.40 EST

The Israeli separation barrier in the West Bank. Photograph: Uriel Sinai/Getty Images

Israeli soldiers shot dead a 17-year-old Palestinian near the West Bank separation barrier on Tuesday, Palestinians said. The Israeli military said he had breached the barrier separating the soldiers from protesters.

A classmate said a group of students went to the barrier – a line of walls, trenches and fences that Israel has built along and inside the West Bank – to throw stones at the soldiers. Muataz Awad said the soldiers opened fire, killing the teenager, named as Samir Awad from the village of Boudrous.

Doctors at Ramallah hospital said the teenager was shot three times, in the head, back and chest. They spoke anonymously according to regulations.

The military confirmed soldiers had opened fire on protesters, saying some had cut through a section of the barrier fence. A military spokesman, Captain Eytan Buchman, said troops "initiated standard rules of engagement, which included live fire".

An investigation has been ordered, and Buchman said he could not comment further on the open-fire order.

Elsewhere on the West Bank, about 50 Palestinian gunmen blocked the main road leading into the Balata refugee camp with burning tyres to protest against repeated attempts by Palestinian security forces to disarm them.

The gunmen have links to the Fatah movement, led by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas. The recent protests have drawn attention to growing discontent with his rule.