Monday, May 31, 2004

Arafat: We prevented attacks on Israel

Palestinian Authority President Yasir Arafat has said his government helped prevent revenge attacks on Israel for the killings of two resistance leaders.

In an interview with Israel's Channel 10 on Sunday, Arafat was asked why Islamist groups had not carried out the attacks they threatened after Tel Aviv ordered the assassinations of Hamas leaders Shaikh Ahmad Yasin and Abd Al-Aziz al-Rantisi in March and April.

"It is thanks to the Palestinian Authority, efforts by Egypt and the efforts of the Quartet" of the US, UN, EU and Russia, Arafat replied.

Despite the president's comment, Israel has repeatedly accused Arafat of being behind attacks on its civilians since a Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation erupted in September 2000.

Both Israeli and Palestinian authorities claim they have foiled a number of attacks in the past two months.

Peace talks offer

Palestinian officials have said they arrested 11 suspected resistance group members recently who are jailed in the West Bank town of Jericho.

The Israeli army says it has foiled 25 bomb plots since April.

Occupation forces also launched a destructive raid against resistance groups this month, killing 42 Palestinians in southern Gaza's Rafah area - after 13 Israeli soldiers died in a string of ambushes.

Arafat, who has been under Israeli siege in Ram Allah for more than two years, offered again to hold peace talks with Israel.

"I extend my hand to Sharon, the Knesset and the Israeli government," he said.

Asked whether he thought the uprising should be brought to an end, Arafat replied: "What is required is to end violence, whether on this side or that side."

# ANTENNA SHARON | 7:19:00 pm |

US frees Palestinian envoys in Iraq

Two Palestinian diplomats have been released from notorious Abu Ghraib prison after a year in US custody in Iraq.

The Palestinian charge d'affaires, Dalil al-Qusus, has called his colleagues' ordeal a flagrant violation of diplomatic norms.

"I went to Abu Ghraib to meet them yesterday. I saw the cells. Ninety men held in one barracks," said Dalil al-Qusus on Sunday.

"The Americans have no respect for diplomacy. When they came out it was emotional. They said they thought they would never make it out."

Najah Abd Al-Rahman, 53,then Palestinian charge d'affaires, and commercial attache Munir Subhi, in his mid forties, were held in Abu Ghraib prison for alleged illegal possession of weapons and suspicion of links to terrorism, al-Qusus said.

US officials on Sunday said they had no comment.

No immunity

The United States said at the time that all diplomats lost immunity after the fall of Saddam Hussein in April last year and Washington did not recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) as the representative of a sovereign state.

But al-Qusus called the detentions a blatant disregard for diplomatic immunity in the name of US President George Bush's war on terror.

The diplomats' odyssey began on 28 May 2003 when employees arrived at the embassy in the morning. Al-Qusus fled when he saw the Americans rounding up people.

He later learned that the Americans had arrested the two diplomats and 10 other people, including embassy security guards and Iraqi gardeners.

"There were five Kalashnikov rifles and five pistols. These were weapons that we had for 15 years as protection in the embassy during Saddam's time," said al-Qusus.

Abu Ghraib

He said the two diplomats were handcuffed and surrounded by barbed wire outside the embassy building, where a soldier described them as "terrorists".

They were taken to a detention facility at Baghdad airport where they slept on the ground outdoors, and were later moved to Abu Ghraib - a notorious torture facility under Saddam that is now at the centre of a prisoner abuse scandal by US soldiers.

Al-Qusus said the diplomats did not experience the same trauma as some Iraqi inmates, but he stressed that they faced generally poor conditions.

The veteran diplomat, who will return to his job as cultural attache when Abd Al-Rahman is fit enough to take up his post again, said the Palestinian experience at Abu Ghraib suggested anyone was vulnerable to American detention in Iraq.

Declining fortunes

The US occupation has not been kind to Palestinians. Nearly 300 Palestinian families were evicted from their homes after the invasion.

Muhammad Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front who masterminded a deadly 1985 Italian cruise ship hijacking, died in US custody in March.

Al-Qusus said the Americans were currently holding 15 Palestinian students on the same allegations that sent the two diplomats to jail.

Al-Qusus said the diplomat were in bad shape and needed to undergo medical tests.

"I met Richard Jones (the US deputy administrator in Iraq). He told me they were held in relation to terrorism. That was all he would say," said al-Qusus.

Read also:Abu Abbas dies in US custody

# ANTENNA SHARON | 7:12:00 pm |

After Rafah, Europe, Arabs have no excuse for inaction

Things must be bad in Palestine when the United States allows a resolution to pass in the UN Security Council, as it did late on 19 May condemning Israeli actions. By 14-0, with the United States abstaining, the Council adopted Resolution 1544 "expressing its grave concern at the continued deterioration of the situation on the ground in the territory occupied by Israel since 1967," and "condemning the killing of Palestinian civilians that took place in the Rafah area." The resolution also "calls on Israel to respect its obligations under international humanitarian law, and insists, in particular, on its obligation not to undertake demolition of homes contrary to that law."

The resolution is a moral victory for Palestinians, but there is no reason to take comfort from it. The morning after the resolution passed, the BBC reported, "Israeli forces have pushed deeper into southern Gaza, a day after the United Nations condemned Israel for killing at least eight Palestinian protesters." Between May 17-20, Israel had killed more than 40 Palestinians. Despite an announced "pullback" by Israel, the killing and destruction continues.

The Bush administration stands out for its complicity in the Israeli crimes, though it is not alone. For days, Israel carried out war crimes in southern Gaza with the Bush administration effectively egging it on. On May 18, as Israel killed more than 20 Palestinians in Gaza, Bush gave a triumphal electioneering speech to the pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, in which he affirmed Israel's "right to self-defense" and uttered not a word of protest about its action in Gaza. Secretary of State Colin Powell's mealy-mouthed expressions of disapproval for the Israeli action were drowned out by Bush's speech and statements from the White House spokesman expressing "understanding" for the Israeli offensive.

Until the massacre of unarmed civilian demonstrators by Israeli forces near Tel as-Sultan on 19 May the word was that the US would veto any resolution critical of Israel. After the atrocity, it seems that the United States calculated that allowing the resolution to pass would be less damaging to its nearly non-existent credibility. In one respect the situation is reminiscent of the 1996 Israeli assault on Lebanon, which the Clinton administration tolerated and refused to condemn for weeks, until the massacre of refugees at the UN base in Qana forced it to act and rein Israel in. After Tel as-Sultan, the US escalated its criticism of Israel publicly. Whether Israel's continued assault reflected open defiance of the US, or a secret understanding is unknown. But there is little reason to believe that in the midst of the election battle where Bush and Democratic opponent John Kerry are competing to be not only more pro-Israeli, but pro-Sharon, there will be anything more than words.

Unless the other members of the Security Council and the wider international community act immediately to halt Israel's assault, we can conclude that the UN Resolution was designed to serve only one purpose, to absolve them from any further responsibility. Resolution 1544 contains no mechanism for enforcement. Israel's escalation of the violence after the UN vote makes clear that it fears no consequences.

The 14 Security Council members who voted for the resolution can say that this text was the strongest possible without drawing a US veto. That is certainly true, but this is no excuse for inaction. The United Kingdom which reportedly worked hard to get the resolution passed, proved that it does not need UN approval even to invade Iraq. NATO attacked Yugoslavia in 1999 without UN approval to stop atrocities against Kosovar Albanians. In these cases, armed action was involved and should have had UN approval. But states require no UN approval to take actions short of military intervention such as diplomatic and economic sanctions. Such non-violent political measures have never been tried with Israel, and they are past due.

If there were any seriousness at all behind the UN vote, we ought to see at the very least some of the following measures:

The European Union should suspend its Association Agreement with Israel. This agreement is explictly contingent on Israel's observing basic human rights laws, yet these clauses have never been invoked. The EU should also announce an immediate arms embargo . It would be better if the EU could agree on these measures as a whole, but if it cannot its members should take these steps individually.

Because of the moribund state of Arab governments, little can be asked or expected of them. But they should not be let off the hook. It is time for Jordan and Egypt, the two Arab states with peace treaties with Israel to announce the full or partial suspension of these treaties until Israel at a minimum withdraws completely from Gaza, ends all settlement construction and commits to a total and rapid end to occupation as part of a full and comprehensive peace. Both states signed their treaties claiming they were elements of a comprehensive peace. They should demonstrate that now by making it clear to the Israeli people that they face total isolation unless they change their country's course, but that if they change, they will be warmly embraced as full partners in the region, as post-apartheid South Africa has been embraced by its neighbors. The Arab states offered the carrot of full and normal relations at the Beirut summit, but Israelis need to see there is also a stick.

Even if there is no hope for a change in US policy any time soon, Americans too have a responsibility. They should besiege their elected representatives with calls demanding an end to US arms shipments to Israel. Americans need not care about Palestinians and Israelis to understand that limitless support for Israel is fuelling hostility to America like never before. They simply cannot afford this with their current predicament in Iraq.

Palestinians need the world's help and support. The fact that they have a failed and paralyzed leadership does not strip the people of their right to international protection and assistance under the 1949 Geneva Conventions. But they are tired of lectures about what they — in the face of a ruthless and immensely powerful occupier — ought to do to make life safe and tolerable for Israel, while Israel continues to destroy their lives and land with total impunity. So often we are told that if only the Palestinians followed the non-violent precepts of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. they would find much greater sympathy and support. Such arguments can only be tendered by those who choose to be unaware that the vast majority of Palestinian dead are unarmed civilians who never took up arms against anyone. But who dares make such arguments now to those who gathered to march peacefully to the besieged quarter of Tel as-Sultan, and found that Israeli crowd control equipment now officially includes helicopter-fired missiles and tank shells?

If the international community does not want to see violence in Palestine, it must do more than issue condemnations and appeals for the parties to return to endless "negotiations" between radically unequal parties. It must make conflict much more costly for both parties than a genuine peace based on equality and law. And right now that means confronting and sanctioning an out of control Israel.

Writer: Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 22 May 2004

# ANTENNA SHARON | 7:02:00 pm |

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Letter from and to America

Nigel Parry writing from St. Paul, MN, Live from Palestine, 20 May 2004

Observing Israel's propaganda campaign to deflect the current international spotlight away from its brutal military operation in Rafah, I am struck by the sheer scale of the lie and the blatantly premeditated campaign to cloud the issue instead of dealing transparently with the obvious and undeniable abuses.

Even the hapless United States administration -- whose contentedly culturally-ignorant and amoral soldiers were violating the human rights of Joe and Jane Iraqi long before the abuse in Abu Ghraib came to light -- has enough of a clue when finally caught red-handed to understand that the only way out of the mess was to begin a process of prosecuting those responsible.

With so many people in the United States discovering 20/20 hindsight in the wake of 9/11 and beginning to travel along a path of understanding that America's foreign adventures in the Middle East may have had more than a little to do with that horrible day, it is amazing how little attention the national news media gives to international, iconic, militant-rallying conflicts such as that between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

What is happening in Rafah that is so wrong, from the point of view of those who follow the conflict closely, is not limited to a single demonstration in which Israel used tanks and helicopters provided by US military aid for crowd control. The dark horror in Rafah has been unfolding on a daily basis for decades, yet a viewer will get no sense of this from the contextless US media.

It is a rare day indeed when CNN, Fox, and MSNBC relents from force-feeding us utterly useless and sensationalist images. How many days of coverage did we endure of Janet Jackson's Superbowl titty escape? How much more obsessive courtroom stalking of the latest celebrity caught feeling or chopping someone up will we have to witness? Nightly, we are forced to watch a stream of ill-informed and loud-mouthed pundits shouting and screaming about the issue of the day, typically arriving at the studio without even one single fact in tow.

This crass, dumbing-down of the apparently compliant American public by these information gatekeepers is not just something Europeans began smirking at when the US started exporting cable TV news and talk shows that confirmed all their prejudices. At this critical time in human history, the shallowness of what passes for 'news' in America is really a form of cultural suicide -- a decision to embrace ratings-friendly tabloid entertainment for profit instead of giving the next generation the gift of an informed understanding of our role in the world that may very well keep them and us free and alive in the years to come.

While we still have a choice, many in the Middle East are already walking along paths defined for them by foreigners. Yet things change very quickly. If America continues to practice repression in Iraq and continue -- against all common sense -- to arm the death cult of Israeli expansionist ideology, it will not be long before we have more to worry about than kung fu and box cutters in economy class.

While racial profiling might seem a quick fix to those in power in the short term, you're only ever one Oklahoma City-type act carried out by people other than Arabs "for" Iraq or Palestine before every citizen is a suspect. There are an increasing number of fucking angry people out there, and once you factor in that 2% of any population are dangerously, barking mad and hovering on the edge just waiting for the straw that breaks the camel's back, it's only a matter of time.

Think the Patriot Act is intrusive? Try a battle tank at the end of your street. When those in power are as reactionary, as opportunistic, and as blinded by an overpowering sense of entitlement as the Bush administration had proven to be, you're only ever a couple of days away from that Holiday in Cambodia that the Dead Kennedys sang about.

Fascism and abusive regimes don't just happen to brown people. Just half a century ago white Europeans were killing each other in the tens of millions. Paying attention to what is being done in your name is as important and basic a survival skill as are locking your front door at night and not going away with strangers when you're a child. For some, it's too late, the tanks are already there, but you still have a choice.

When I first visited Rafah refugee camp in 1989, there had been clashes between young Palestinians and Israeli occupying troops the night before. That day, as we drove through the camp with the United Nations to a meeting with doctors and nurses in a tiny 2-room clinic, one of the ones that is no doubt today being characterised as a "hospital" by the international media, we were filled in on the developments.

Even that long ago, it was a common Israeli practice to summon the men in the refugee camp, confiscate their ID cards, and force them to paint over grafitti or move rubble barriers in the road in the wake of clashes. As we were leaving the camp, later that day, Israeli troops had rounded up a group of young men and were forcing them to do exactly that.

The look in the eyes of the young Palestinians as our bus slowly drove by their impromptu chain gang on the narrow dirt road was chilling. The deliberate non-expressions they wore on their faces as they tried to complete the task without arising the ire of these teenagers with guns caused another part of my portion of our baseless inherited faith in humanity to die.

One of the Israeli soldiers took a mighty kick at one of the Palestinians as we passed, of course so that we would see it. He hit the back of the minivan with his fist as we pulled away in a cloud of dust and smiled, shouting "Welcome to Israel!"

Israel is currently demonising the people of Rafah in the press, as terrorists and violent people committed to the destruction of Israel -- a notion that is practically impossible, laughable, and humbling if you ever spend time in Rafah with its people who, in spite of every justifiable reason I can think of, persist in doing exactly the opposite.

Kill your television news and seek out alternative media sources, spend some time reading the weekly compilation of human rights abuses produced by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights and imagine you're there and how you would react in that situation -- before you don't have to.

Nigel Parry is one of the co-founders of the Electronic Intifada and, while he tries to pay attention and does what he can to inform others, definitely would prefer a future watching reruns of Stargate SG-1 and The Daily Show to tossing molotov cocktails at tanks that may one day turn up at the end of the road where he lives in St. Paul, MN.

# ANTENNA SHARON | 4:36:00 pm |

Monday, May 24, 2004

NO more weep, no more blood ?!

# ANTENNA SHARON | 6:15:00 pm |