Israel legalizes unsanctioned settler enclave
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- Written by KARIN LAUB KARIN LAUB
- Published: 01 March 2012 01 March 2012
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Israel legalizes unsanctioned settler enclave
AP foreign, Thursday March 1 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/10120750
KARIN LAUB
Associated Press= SHVUT RACHEL, West Bank (AP) — Israel has quietly legalized one of the oldest and largest of the unsanctioned settler enclaves dotting the West Bank, a step denounced by the Palestinians and Israeli activists as a show of bad faith ahead of talks next week between the Israeli leader and President Barack Obama.
The dispute over settlements has confounded Washington's attempts to revive Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, mostly on hold since 2008. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to stop construction and the Palestinians say they won't negotiate while Israel unilaterally determines the borders of their state through settlement-building.
Now, the question of outposts Israel has not formally sanctioned is coming to a head: The government is under Supreme Court orders to evacuate residents from Migron, a relatively large such enclave, by the end of March.
Aware that doing so could badly unsettle the ruling rightist coalition, officials have attempted to avoid a confrontation by persuading residents, so far unsuccessfully, to move to a nearby sanctioned settlement.
The stalled talks and dispute over settlements is bound to come up when Netanyahu meets Obama on Monday.
Shvut Rachel, home to 95 Israeli families, was established 21 years ago on a hilltop in the heart of the West Bank — an area Israel would likely have to withdraw from to make way for a Palestinian state. The settlers grabbed the land without government permission.
Now that approval seems at hand. A planning committee last week retroactively legalized 115 apartments already built or under construction in Shvut Rachel, according to government officials and the community's acting mayor, Yaakov Moshe Levi. The move apparently resulted from pressure by peace activists to stop construction there.
In its decision, the panel also approved in principle nearly 500 more apartments, though a construction start would require further permits and could be years away, government officials said.
Hagit Ofran of Israel's Peace Now group says this amounts to establishing a new settlement, contrary to pledges by successive governments over the past two decades not to do so. Israel's Defense Ministry rejected that characterization, saying Shvut Rachel is a neighborhood of the nearby government-sanctioned settlement of Shilo.
Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian spokesman, said setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel is becoming "practically impossible" because of such construction. He denounced the Shvut Rachel decision as an escalation of Israel's practices.
The Palestinians want to set up their state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. However, half a million Israelis already live on war-won land, in more than 130 government-sanctioned settlements and some 100 unauthorized outposts set up by settlers who are open about their desire to impede any partition.
There is little discussion of Jewish settlers remaining in a Palestinian state and Israel has a history of using the location of settlements to stake claims on West Bank land in the context of negotiations.
On the other hand, Israeli government officials note that Israel has proven in the past that it can and will dismantle settlements. They point to the removal of Sinai settlements when the area was returned to Egypt some 30 years ago, as well as the dismantling of nearly two dozen communities in 2005 as part of the Gaza pullout.
Spokesman Mark Regev insists the current Israeli government "has shown more restraint on the issue of settlements than any previous government," referring to a 10-month construction slowdown in 2010. He reiterated that the fate of settlements must be determined in negotiations and that Israel is willing to resume talks immediately.
But a visit to the West Bank's heartland suggests that an Israeli withdrawal would be increasingly difficult. Settlers control many hilltops, their communities flourishing with government support, including for unauthorized outposts.
Shvut Rachel and Shilo, which also won retroactive approval for some 100 apartments last week, have spawned five more nearby outposts. Settlers operate vineyards on 3,000 acres that produce more than 50,000 bottles of wine a year, as well as an olive press that produces 12 percent of Israel's domestic olive oil, said New York-born Yisrael Medad, a Shilo resident.
"We love the land and we build here, and after that we get formalization," the 65-year-old said during a tour of the area Tuesday.
In Shvut Rachel and the area's five other unsanctioned enclaves, the government has lent a hand, even while withholding formal approval. The Housing Ministry under settler patron Ariel Sharon, later Israel's prime minister, built 68 homes in Shvut Rachel just months after it was established, even though it lacked permits, said Moshe Levi, the acting mayor.
The government also provided water, electricity and other services, just as it does for other unauthorized settler enclaves set up since the late 1990s in response to calls by Sharon for settlers to seize the hilltops.
Israel's Defense Ministry denied last week's decision means an outpost has been legalized. It described Shvut Rachel as a neighborhood of Shilo, home to about 300 families. The two communities are about a half-mile (kilometer) apart, on neighboring hilltops separated by a valley.
"This is not an isolated outpost. This is a neighborhood of Shilo," a Defense Ministry spokesman said of Shvut Rachel, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with briefing regulations.
Shvut Rachel is part of Shilo's municipal boundaries, Medad said.
However, a 2005 government-commissioned report classified Shvut Rachel as an outpost — as it has with other unauthorized enclaves, even if they were set up within the municipal boundaries of a mother settlement.
Moshe Levi said Shilo and Shvut Rachel have separate budgets and administrations.
Talia Sasson, an Israeli lawyer who wrote the 2005 report on outposts, said she was concerned the Shvut Rachel decision could pave the way for the retroactive legalization of more outposts. In her 2005 report, Sasson concluded that government agencies had funneled millions of dollars in state funds to the outposts.
Sasson said in an interview that construction in outposts has accelerated in the last two years, though their number has largely held steady. In her 2005 survey, she counted 105 outposts, including about half built at least in part on private Palestinian land.
Sharon promised Washington to dismantle outposts built after he took office in March 2001. The Defense Ministry official said three outposts have been removed. The military has also removed mobile homes and other structures in other enclaves, but settlers routinely return to the sites.
Now the Netanyahu government appears to be backing away from Sharon's promise. In January, Netanyahu appointed a three-member committee to review land and legal issues in each outpost.
The panel was told illegal construction on private West Bank land should be removed, and was asked to put in order the planning and zoning status of Israeli construction on public lands, said committee member Alan Baker.
While Baker said the panel enjoys a broad mandate, those supporting the settlers said they hope the committee will reach favorable conclusions. Danny Danon, a hardline lawmaker, said he expects the committee "to show that most of the Jewish communities are built legally."
Ofran, the settlement monitor, said the recent government decisions have sent a clear message to the settlers: "You build illegally where you want ... and the government of Israel will approve it for you retroactively."
10 Reasons Why the Israel Lobby AIPAC is So Dangerous
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- Written by Medea Benjamin Medea Benjamin
- Published: 29 February 2012 29 February 2012
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10 Reasons Why the Israel Lobby AIPAC is So Dangerous
February 28th, 2012 · Posted by Occupy AIPAC!
Medea Benjamin
http://www.occupyaipac.org/2012/02/10-reasons-why-the-israel-lobby-aipac-is-so-dangerous/
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is one of the most powerful lobby organizations in the country. AIPAC’s clout helps fuel a never-ending cycle of violence in the Middle East.
Here are ten reasons why AIPAC is so dangerous.
1. AIPAC is lobbying Congress to promote a military confrontation with Iran. AIPAC – like the Israeli government – is demanding that the U.S. attack Iran militarily to prevent Iran from having the technological capacity to produce nuclear weapons, even though U.S. officials say Iran isn’t trying to build a weapon (and even though Israel has hundreds of undeclared nuclear weapons). AIPAC has successfully lobbied the U.S. government to adopt crippling economic sanctions on Iran, including trying to cut off Iran’s oil exports, despite the fact that these sanctions raise the price of gas and threaten the U.S. economy.
2. AIPAC promotes Israeli policies that are in direct opposition to international law. These include the establishment of colonies (settlements) in the Occupied West Bankand the confiscation of Palestinian land in its construction of the 26-foot high concrete“separation barrier” running through the West Bank. The support of these illegal practices makes to impossible to achieve a solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict.
3. AIPAC’s call for unconditional support for the Israeli government threatens our national security. The United States’ one-sided support of Israel, demanded by AIPAC, has significantly increased anti-American sentiment throughout the Middle East, thus endangering our troops and sowing the seeds of more possible terrorist attacks against us. Gen. David Petraeus on March 16, 2010 admitted that the U.S./Palestine conflict “foments anti-American sentiment, due to a perception of U.S. favoritism for Israel.” He also said that “Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of U.S. partnerships with governments and peoples in the [region] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world. Meanwhile, al-Qaeda and other militant groups exploit that anger to mobilize support.”
4. AIPAC undermines American support for democracy movements in the Arab world.AIPAC looks at the entire Arab world through the lens of Israeli government interests, not the democratic aspirations of the Arab people. It has therefore supported corrupt, repressive regimes that are friendly to the Israeli government, such as Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak. Events now unfolding in the Middle East should convince U.S. policy-makers of the need to break from AIPAC’s grip and instead support democratic forces in the Arab world.
5. AIPAC makes the U.S. a pariah at the UN. AIPAC describes the UN as a body hostile to the State of Israel and has pressured the U.S. government to oppose resolutions calling Israel to account. Since 1972, the US has vetoed 44 UN Security Council resolutions condemning Israel’s actions against the Palestinians. President Obama continues that policy. Under Obama, the US vetoed UN censure of the savage Israeli assault on Gaza in January 2009 in which about 1400 Palestinians were killed; a 2011 resolution calling for a halt to the illegal Israeli West Bank settlements even though this was stated U.S. policy; a 2011 resolution calling for Israel to cease obstructing the work of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees; and another resolution calling for an end to illegal Israeli settlement building in East Jerusalem and the occupied Golan Heights.
6. AIPAC attacks politicians who question unconditional support of Israel. AIPAC demands that Congress to rubber stamp legislation drafted by AIPAC staff. It keeps a record of how members of Congress vote and this record is used by donors to make contributions to the politicians who score well. Members of Congress who fail to support AIPAC legislation have been targeted for defeat in re-election bids. These include Senators Adlai Stevenson III and Charles H. Percy, and Representatives Paul Findley, Pete McCloskey, Cynthia McKinney, and Earl F. Hilliard. AIPAC’s overwhelmingly disproportionate influence on Congress subverts our democratic system.
7. AIPAC attempts to silence all criticism of Israel by labeling critics as “anti-Semitic,” “de-legitimizers” or “self-hating Jews.” Journalists, think tanks, students and professors have been accused of anti-Semitism for merely taking stands critical of Israeli government policies. These attacks stifle the critical discussions and debates that are at the heart of democratic policy-making. The recent attacks on staffers at the Center for American Progress is but one example of AIPAC efforts to crush all dissent.
8. AIPAC feeds U.S. government officials a distorted view of the Israel/Palestine conflict. AIPAC takes U.S. representatives on sugar-coated trips to Israel. In 2011, AIPAC took one out of very five members of Congress—and many of their spouses—on a free junket to Israel to see precisely what the Israeli government wanted them to see. It is illegal for lobby groups to take Congresspeople on trips, but AIPAC gets around the law by creating a bogus educational group, AIEF, to “organize” the trips for them. AIEF has the same office address as AIPAC and the same staff. These trips help cement the ties between AIPAC and Congress, furthering their undue influence.
9. AIPAC lobbies for billions of U.S. taxdollars to go to Israel instead of rebuilding America. While our country is reeling from a prolonged financial crisis, AIPAC is pushing for no cuts in military funds for Israel, a wealthy nation. With communities across the nation slashing budgets for teachers, firefighters and police, AIPAC pushes for over $3 billion a year to Israel.
10. Money to Israel takes funds from world’s poor. Israel has the 24th largest economy in the world, but thanks to AIPAC, it gets more U.S. taxdollars than any other country. At a time when the foreign aid budget is being slashed, keeping the lion’s share of foreign assistance for Israel meaning taking funds from critical programs to feed, provide shelter and offer emergency assistance to the world’s poorest people.
The bottom line is that AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has influence on U.S. policy out of all proportion to the number of Americans who support its policies. When a small group like this has disproportionate power, that hurts everyone—including Israelis and American Jews.
From stopping a catastrophic war with Iran to finally solving the Israel/Palestine conflict, an essential starting point is breaking AIPAC’s grip on U.S. policy.
Medea Benjamin is cofounder of www.codepink.org and www.globalexchange.org. She is one of the organizers of Occupy AIPAC, which will take place March 3-5 in Washington DC.
Noam Chomsky: Palestine-Israel - Prospects for Justice in Post-Arab Spring Palestine.
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- Written by Will Seaman and Wael Elasady Will Seaman and Wael Elasady
- Published: 29 February 2012 29 February 2012
- Hits: 4512 4512
http://kboo.fm/node/34192
One Land, Many Voices welcomes renowned linguist, author and dissident
scholar, Noam Chomsky, for a full hour discussion of Palestine-Israel -
Prospects for Justice in Post-Arab Spring Palestine. On Friday, February
24th, at 9:00AM, Noam Chomsky joined hosts Wael Elasady and Will Seaman to
discuss the shifting political landscape of the Middle East, the potential
implications for US policy in the region and the possible consequences for
Palestinians and Israelis. Also on the agenda for the full-hour interview
were strategies for US-based activists working to bring a just peace to the
conflict. Click to listen to a full OLMV hour with Noam Chomsky!
http://kboo.fm/node/34192
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Syria unrest: Death toll passes 7,500, UN says
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 29 February 2012 29 February 2012
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More than 7,500 people have died in Syria since security forces launched a crackdown on dissent last March, a senior United Nations official says.
Under-Secretary-General for political affairs Lynn Pascoe said there were "credible reports" the toll often exceeded 100 civilian deaths per day.
Syrian forces pounded residential areas in Homs and elsewhere, on Tuesday, killing scores, activists reported.
Meanwhile, a UK journalist hurt in Homs last week, was smuggled to safety.
Sunday Times photographer Paul Conroy is reported to be safe and well in Lebanon, but the whereabouts of Frenchwoman Edith Bouvier, who has a broken leg, and two colleagues is unclear.
The four journalists left Homs together but their convoy was shelled and they were separated, said the Avaaz campaign group, which said it co-ordinated the rescue attempt.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy withdrew an earlier statement that Ms Bouvier had reached safety in Lebanon.
The UN's new estimate of the number of deaths came at a meeting of the UN Security Council.
"There are credible reports that the death toll now often exceeds 100 civilians a day, including many women and children," said Lynn Pascoe.
"The total killed so far is certainly well over 7,500 people."
The Syrian government says at least 1,345 members of the security forces have been killed combating what it calls "armed gangs and terrorists", and puts the number of civilians killed at 2,493.
In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that President Bashar al-Assad fitted the definition of a war criminal.
She told a Senate hearing that an argument could be made for declaring the Syrian leader a war criminal.
Mrs Clinton added that such an action would complicate the chances of finding a solution to the violence - and tended to make it harder to persuade a leader to stand down.
An emergency meeting of the UN Human Rights Council was also held in Geneva, where commissioner Navi Pillay said atrocities against civilians were being committed.
Syria's representative to the UN, Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, stormed out of the session, accusing countries of "inciting sectarianism and providing arms".
'Convoy shelled'
With no clear word on the fate of Ms Bouvier and her colleagues, campaign group Avaaz said activists had died taking part in the rescue attempt.
Executive director Ricken Patel said the rescue group had been split in two by shelling after leaving Homs, and only Mr Conroy's group had been able to move forward.
Avaaz described the three other journalists - Ms Bouvier, Javier Espinosa from Spain and Frenchman William Daniels - as "unaccounted for".
Mr Conroy was apparently able to walk across the border into Lebanon during the night, but the BBC's Jim Muir in Beirut adds that the more seriously wounded Ms Bouvier would have had to be carried on a stretcher.
Confusion remains over Ms Bouvier's location.
She and Mr Conroy were both hurt in the attack in which journalists Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik died. There has been no word on what has happened to their bodies.
Reports on Tuesday said Homs had come under some of its heaviest bombardment yet, with the government sending in units of an elite armoured division into rebel-held districts.
The activists' network the LCC said 65 people were killed on Tuesday. Death tolls remain very hard to verify as media access across the country is tightly restricted.
'Crimes against humanity'
The emergency session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) discussed a confidential report delivered by a UN panel of experts that lists Syrian army officers and government officials who could be investigated for crimes against humanity.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has urged the 47 nations in the council to be prepared to submit a complaint against Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.
"The task of the council is to express the disgust of the entire world at the odious crimes that the Syrian state is committing against its people," he said.
But the meeting is unlikely to bring about any change from the government in Damascus which is currently fighting for its survival, says Jim Muir.
It is more likely to put pressure on countries such as Russia and China, which have opposed any international action against Syria, he adds.
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Over Boycott of Israeli Goods
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- Written by Tom Nelson Tom Nelson
- Published: 27 February 2012 27 February 2012
- Hits: 7660 7660
Contact:
Jen Nessel, CCR, (212) 614-6449, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Jayne Kaszynski, Olympia Food Co-op, 360-357-1106 x11, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Over
Boycott of Israeli Goods
Court Finds Suit Is Effort to Chill Boycotters’ Public Statements
On Issue of Public Concern
February 27, 2012, Olympia, WA and New York, NY – Today, in a lawsuit brought against current and former members of the Olympia Food Co-op board of directors for their decision to boycott Israeli goods, a Washington State court dismissed the case, calling it a SLAPP – Strategic Litigation Against Public Participation – and said that it would award the defendants attorneys’ fees, costs, and sanctions. The judge also upheld the constitutionality of Washington’s anti-SLAPP law, which the plaintiffs had challenged.
In a court hearing last Thursday, lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP argued that the court should grant the defendants’ Special Motion to Strike and dismiss the case because it targeted the constitutional rights of free speech and petition in connection with an issue of public concern.
“We are pleased the Court found this case to be what it is – an attempt to chill free speech on a matter of public concern. This sends a message to those trying to silence support of Palestinian human rights to think twice before they bring a lawsuit,” said Maria LaHood, a senior staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Read more: Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Filed Over Boycott of Israeli Goods