With Two State strategy in tatters, we look at the turn to Civil Rights
It’s about 1948, not 1967
1. The settlers have taken power in Israel and they have single-mindedly claimed the portfolios that most advance their programme:
* Head of Civil Administration of the West Bank, to consolidate and expand their grip;
* Ministry of Justice, to remove or weaken judicial brakes on ethnic cleansing throughout historic Palestine, to give judicial protection to their militias and mobs, to repress Israel’s left wing dissidents and to bring Israel closer to being a police state; (more…)
The return to power of the same regime with a stronger mandate should have set the status quo in stone. Instead, the election has created important shifts in the status quo. One of these shifts is, indeed, Barack Obama’s statement that “we can’t just in perpetuity maintain the status quo”. So what’s new? (more…)
One State issues of race, rights and democracy that led to Israel’s shock elections
“This bill is legal preparation for the right wing’s one-state solution, the annexation of the territories and the establishment of the Jewish apartheid state. The bill is the constitutional foundation, and its acceptance is the laying of the cornerstone of the bi-national segregation state that the right wing is setting up quietly and methodically, unseen and unhindered” — Gideon Levy
Israel’s PM Bibi Netanyahu has broken up his ruling coalition after just two years, and forced a new election. The exciting news is that it might backfire and see his defeat. But what led up to this? (more…)
“We should recognise the Palestinian state as a reality. We would not be granting it anything; we would simply be recognising a fact.” Peter Lilley (Thatcher-era government Minister, speaking in the UK House of Commons debate 13 October)
A small earthquake in the political balance of forces occurred last week when the UK parliament voted almost unanimously to urge its government to recognise Palestine as a state. (more…)
Israel entered the war on Gaza aiming to destroy Hamas politically and militarily. Instead, on the latest leak from the ceasefire talks, Hamas has won a substantial easing of the siege, with an airport and seaport on a possible longer-term agenda, and has gained greatly in prestige within the Palestinian liberation movement. Israel has lost an equal amount of prestige and support from the international community, expanded the Palestine solidarity movement, and faces a massive acceleration of the BDS campaign and indictments for war crimes. The balance of forces has shifted, and this might even deter them from doing it again. How did this come about? (more…)
While the violence, brutality and casualties in Gaza, and the genocidal sentiments in Israel, could match or even exceed the 2008-09 Cast Lead levels, there is a big difference in the political balance of forces.
Urgent Call from Gaza Civil Society Organisations: ACT NOW!
13.7.2014
Besieged Gaza, Occupied Palestine–We Palestinians trapped inside the bloodied and besieged Gaza Strip call on conscientious people all over the world, to act, protest, and intensify the boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel until it ends this murderous attack on our people and is held to account. (more…)
Tel Aviv demo against crackdown says “Acts of oppression are not about finding the boys. Free all political prisoners!”
“The army, under government instructions, is embarking on hundreds of arrests and detentions, nightly raids on homes, closure of entire regions, arrests of journalists (more…)
Tel Aviv demo against crackdown says “Acts of oppression are not about finding the boys. Free all political prisoners!”
“The army, under government instructions, is embarking on hundreds of arrests and detentions, nightly raids on homes, closure of entire regions, arrests of journalists (more…)
We have all encountered Israel’s petulant cry “why are we being singled out, others are just as bad”: this use of finger-pointing is most used in infant-school playgrounds, where small children will respond to accusations of wrong-doing by claiming that other kids are doing just the same. This tactic often works a treat when the accused is the favoured child of the head teacher.
Double standards do, of course, play havoc with standards. But they don’t make the accused any less (more…)
Israel on the rampage, Gaza under threat, over missing boys
In a sickening display of double standards, the suspected abduction of three Israeli settler teenagers from the Hebron area has been used to unleash widespread attacks on Palestinians, often (such as vindictive collective punishment of prisoners) having not the remotest connection to finding the boys. Palestinian sources report that the Israeli military is currently invading Bir-Zeit University while arresting students who are on strike on campus, in support of the hunger striking Palestinian prisoners.
Other reports speak of military forces also in Bil’in. Like yesterday’s invasion of the Al-Aqsa radio station, these actions of the military regime in the West Bank have lost even the veneer of a search for the kidnapped boys while showing the repression of a civil and political infrastructure which is struggling against the occupation.
Could President Rivlin become Israel’s FW De Klerk?
Israel’s parliament the Knesset has elected a new President. He is Reuven (“Ruvi”) Rivlin, arch conservative, privatiser, an out-and-out opponent of a Palestinian state and exponent of an undivided Israel. He also, according to polls, has wide public support. And to top it all, he is a lifelong fan of Beitar, the football team whose favourite chant is KILL ALL ARABS.
Is this more bad news then? Is he another ultra-right flagwaving crowd-pleaser? (more…)
The next few weeks could be a turning point for the Bedouin struggle against mass eviction and for recognition of their land rights. But there are grave dangers too, as the ethnic cleansers prepare for a definitive eviction even as al-Arakib scores important legal advance. (more…)
As El Arakib’s residents brace themselves for a brutal attack to evict them from the village cemetery, their last refuge and stronghold against repeated demolitions, Israel’s top human rights lawyer Michael Sfard is launching a legal broadside in the Supreme Court at Jerusalem, requesting it to overturn the judgment (more…)
On 21 May 2014, 8 eviction orders were pasted on structures in the cemetery at Al-Arakib and one was handed out to Sayach Al-Turi, the Sheikh of the village (pictured in the cemetery). The expulsion is to be effected between 12 June and 12 July — a “flexible eviction”.
Some of the orders have been issued against persons who are no longer living and are (more…)
On 6 May this year, Hebrew Israelis celebrated their Day of Independence (or, as many argue, the day in 1948 that British colonial rule was replaced by Israeli apartheid rule).
On the same day up to 25,000 of their Palestinian co-citizens took action to remember what this day of “independence” had cost their people: their homeland and way of life: the “Nakba” or catastrophe that befell them. (more…)
108 distinguished Palestinians speak out and tell Abbas:
WE ARE NOT READY TO SURRENDER
In an Open Letter delivered to PLO President Abbas Thursday 10 April, 108 eminent Palestinians emphasise that he has no authority to accept or reject a final settlement proposal, and say: We are not ready to surrender. They urge him to walk away from (more…)
A dozen items of news, reflection, comments, quotes and resources including Israel’s new flagwaving Day, BDS campaigns and wins, Guide to using International Law, American student battlegrounds, how the Christians are dividing, and two upbeat views on how Hebrew Israelis might divide. See it in Newsletter
Israel’s Bedouin evictions law to re-launch, as
hundreds more homes bulldozed
17 March, demonstration outside PM’s residence to protest accelerated demolitions. Despite official freeze of Prawer Plan of legally planned destruction and demolition, the government carries out the proposals in practice: every week there are two or more demolition deals that destroy at least five homes and sometimes more.
On 15th March 2014 Hilary and Philip wrote:
We have just returned from a week spent in Israel trying to find out the current position for the Bedouin in the Negev since the so-called “shelving” of the Prawer-Begin plan in December.
We are greatly concerned at what we have learned and it seems imperative at this stage to increase awareness of the situation (more…)
Worshipping the Golden Calf: how Israel destroys Judaism
The Jewish petition against “Israel as the Jewish State”
A petition posted up by a member of the UK group Jews for Justice for Palestinians and titled Jews say No to ‘Israel as Jewish state’ has mined a rich seam of feelings from Jews (mainly in UK, USA and Canada) speaking in their own voices, about being handed a share of Israel.
Petition author Rachel Lever says “This is not a numerical poll, nor a questionnaire. It doesn’t calculate percentages of a sample or fit people into a pre-set choice of attitudes, but gives them a platform to speak for themselves, as Jews, to say how they feel about Israel’s claim to be “theirs”. (more…)
Beautiful new Song for Palestine, to music inspired by anti-apartheid anthem Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, written in the hours of the night following the death of Nelson Mandela, this song and video are published by One Democracy.
What’s so bad about calling Israel the “Jewish state”?
Israeli’s demand for Palestinian leaders to recognise it as “the Jewish state” or “the nation state of the Jewish people” is treated by international officials and diplomats as either a superfluous statement of the obvious, or as a total enigma.
What if settlements were left in place? Bibi’s bluff misfires and closes another door to 2-state deal
In the latest instalment of the neverending Kerry Talks saga, Netanyahu announced that settlers in any part of the West Bank that became part of a state of Palestine would have the choice to stay under Palestinian jurisdiction or to leave. (more…)
As Israel and the US squabble and talks grind to a halt, PLO could come out fighting for its people
One Democratic State for Israel and Palestine can be built from the ground up with myriad local and grass-roots initiatives. By contrast, negotiating a two state solution and repartition of Palestine can only be done by top-level diplomacy, a matter of pressures and threats, bribes and inducements, balance of forces and realpolitik. When that diplomacy breaks down it cannot be long before the attempt is finally abandoned. (more…)
Ahmad Qatamesh, (seen re-united with his daughter) veteran of secular socialist Palestinian resistance, and early One State theorist, was released from two and half years admin. detention last week. We look forward to welcoming him back to the struggle and hearing what he has to say. Meanwhile, here are extracts from an interview he gave in 1998 on his release from six years admin. detention.
New Palestine Newsletter No.7 is also now out, with:
* A brief memorial for Gaza’s agony of five years ago and warning of IDF threats to do it again.
* We report on the UN Year of Solidarity with the Palestinian people and suggest some appropriate actions it might take.
* New population figures for Palestinians show ideal starting point for one unified country.
* Freed pre-Oslo era prisoner speaks out
* No publicity is bad publicity
* Funerals of a terrorist and a freedom fighter
Fight hots up as lies exposed and Prawer passes to rightist mob and indicted war criminal
“The first time since I have been watching the Middle East that the Israelis blinked, drawing back from the brink of more racist madness which would certainly have tipped the global balance against them.”
For two weeks in early December 2013, Israel’s power centres looked weak and confused. There was talk of an unprecedented re-think of their planned new round of ethnic cleansing, with its impending legislation to destroy three dozen villages and evict their Bedouin citizens. And the international campaign (and this website) celebrated with the slogan “Prawer Did Not Pass”. (more…)
Historic victory as plan for ethnic cleansing of Bedouin peoples is “shelved”
The withdrawal of the Prawer plan, which had been due to be confirmed into law in Israel’s Knesset in the next few weeks, is momentous: how long is it since the (more…)
Prawer crackdown could light up Israel’s home front
People are saying the Prawer plan would be the biggest mass population clearance within Israel since 1948. In one move, Israel’s establishment has placed the issue of apartheid Israel at the top of the agenda alongside the military rule over the West Bank and the plight of the 1948 exiles. If there was anything at all left of the two (more…)
Prawer Bill prompts calls to re-visit human rights clauses of UNGA Resolution 181:
Is Israel in breach of legal conditions?
Is it time to call for a Review?
Washington now says that the West Bank settlements are “illegitimate”. No doubt they figure this is a softer term than “illegal”. But for Israel, legality and legitimacy are closely tied together. And that is because it came into being in 1948 as a consequence of a UN resolution. Membership of the UN followed within months, in January 1949, when Israel’s top diplomats argued that the UN would lose its authority if it helped to create a country but then refused to give it membership. (more…)
Two States or One?
It really IS the defining question
On November 2nd, more than a hundred activists from all over historic Palestine, from Haifa, Jaffa and the Galilee, Ramallah, Jerusalem, and other cities and villages, gathered in the hall of the “Retno” hotel in Ramallah for a Study and discussion day to develop the recently established united movement for One Democratic State. Greetings came from the UK and from the Green Party of the USA. Discussion focused on how to convert ODS “from a dream and a lofty goal into reality on the ground”, noting that, among the immediate benefits of the ODS goal, it “helps us to unify anew the Palestinian people’s struggle in all geographies”, supplementing the resistance struggles by connecting them into one comprehensive strategy.
The day itself, bringing together activists from both sides of the Green Line to share their perspectives and engage in serious talk about goals, was an exemplary occasion. You can read here the Press Release reporting the meeting, as well as a report of the first exploratory get-together in July 2013, and the Munich Declaration that was adopted then; and excerpts relating to One Democratic State from an interview in Mondoweisswith Awad Abdel Fattah, leader of the National Democratic Alliance.
This post is One Democracy’s contribution to the new ODS movement’s discussions(more…)
The only option left: Freedom and Democracy in One Country
In the current “last chance” talks, the Palestine Authority is reported to have already given away Right of Return, while Israel has already pre-empted discussion of its borders: Netanyahu told his cabinet on 3 Nov that another barrier is on order for the border “of the State of Israel” along the Jordan River, completely encircling the West Bank.
Israel went into this game holding all the cards, because it has designed and already carried out the “two state” carve-up that it wants: the most land and the fewest Palestinian people, who have been walled in or driven out by cutting off their water and power, poisoning their crops, destroying their homes and workplaces, turning their space into firing ranges and setting up roadblocks to stop them making a living, getting an education, keeping their families together, or reaching a clinic or hospital. (more…)
Switching the goal from that of a small —but independent, free and sovereign — Palestine to the alternative aim of sharing the whole of the pre-Nakba country can require a big mental leap in the dark.One Democracysuggests a somewhat less painful route.
♦ The Oslo Accords created the expectation of a Palestinian state. The PLO, its (more…)
Respected comrades in the April 6th Movement (which initiated the 2011 revolution that toppled Mubarak) and their Tamarod allies, who together created the cohesion of its disparate forces, now celebrate the army takeover and subsequent repression of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Insisting that it isn’t a coup, that the army is “with the People” and that army chief Sisi now bears the (more…)
UN recognises struggle in the Negev against Israel’s Ethnic Cleansing
On Thursday, August 1st, two thousands Arab and Jewish demonstrators protested in opposition to the Prawer-Begin Bill. This Bill proposes to demolish up to 40-plus villages, requisition their lands and forcibly move their inhabitants to special townships. This would be an unprecedented acceleration of ethnic cleansing. (more…)
As EU adopts financial sanctions, it’s time to press on with the struggle
All evidence points to the fact that the new round of “final status” talks is a serious threat to Palestinians, and not another empty PR game. Ironically, the initiative was probably brought to a head by a huge breakthrough for the Palestinians’ international movement for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. (more…)
If it’s not right to talk while settlements are being built, why is it OK to talk while mass ethnic cleansing proceeds against Palestinians within Israel?
Israel’s parliament is on its way to final adoption of the Prawer-Begin Plan, an unprecedented acceleration of ethnic cleansing which will demolish around 40 Bedouin villages and forcibly remove tens of thousands into bleak special townships. Communities will be broken up, and an ancient lifestyle based on agriculture and herding will be destroyed. (more…)
UPDATE: on July 14, two dozen activists from Haifa in Israel went to Ramallah to meet their newly formed counterparts in the West Bank (pictured above). They all agreed to adopt the Munich Declaration of One Democratic State as a uniting platform. In contrast to the official “peace negotiations”, they say that they met “not as two sides but as partners in the same struggle for a common future”.
Below, read the story so far:
♦♦♦
In mid-May, a brief press statement revealed that a group of 20 senior Fatah and PLO officials had met in Ramallah and declared for a single democratic state in all of Palestine. Now, just six weeks later, their numbers have tripled and they are launching The Popular Movement, an active mass organisation with cells in every town, saying that they believe over 90% of Palestinians will come to agree with them. (more…)
Mustafa Barghouti has joined the chorus of voices warning of the “fast approaching” end of the two-state solution. In an article for the Washington politics journal The Hill, he writes that “The demise of the two-state solution is right there with climate change: It’s staring us all in the face.” He says “I do not know precisely when a younger generation of Palestinians will decide that two states is an outdated pipe dream of their parents’ generation, nor when Fatah officials will reach the same conclusion.” (more…)
We reported that in June a poll found 28% of Israeli Jews already see one equal state as an option to explore. When an idea is in the mainstream to that extent, it’s a much bigger river with many different fish in it. With millions of people looking at one state as a possibility, we can expect the unexpected: significant opinions and actions in some very surprising places. Two such were in the press in the past week. A definite sign of the times. (more…)
The Levy Report, a legal opinion delivered to Netanyahu in June which concluded that there was no Occupation of Palestinian lands, was widely seen as paving the way for annexation of at least 60% of the West Bank if not the whole of it. (more…)
Bibi lawyers kill Two State solution, negate international law, and rule that West Bank was no-man’s land and is now part of Israel
A legal panel, the Levy Committee, set up by Netanyahu has concluded that the West Bank was effectively no-man’s land before 1967 and denies that Israel’s presence there is that of an occupying force. (more…)
Inalienable, unarguable, non-negotiable, universal — a powerful tool with many applications
A new campaign launched last month has grouped together, into a Charter of Five Urgent Demands, most of the main day-to-day issues of the fight against Israel’s apartheid. The UN’s rapporteur on human rights in Palestine, Dr. Richard Falk says: “This is an excellent initiative as it calls attention to the spectrum of Israeli ongoing abuses toward the Palestinianpeople, several of which receive almost no media attention.” (more…)
A flurry of astonishment greeted the discovery that the US Republican Party’s National Committee (the RNC) had unanimously adopted a “One State” position. (more…)
Every single event of the past year points to the moral bankruptcy of Israel’s rule, the urgency of ending an intolerable status quo, and the need for a new vision that will serve the needs of all the people and offer the hope of freedom and justice.
This is, in general terms, the common thread that links the headline struggles and events of the past year: from Tunisia to Moscow, from New York to Tel Aviv, from Athens to Bahrain, from Cairo to Damascus, we’ve witnessed the mobilisation of millions of people who have had their fill of corruption, abuse of power, outrageous and violent injustice and constant assaults on their dignity and human rights. (more…)
Dahlia Scheindlin took a very bleak view of the self-declared “Israel issues only” protest at its outset. Now, with her survey in +972 Magazine of Israeli Arab participation, she presents a radically different view. Some extracts here:
Bucking both initial suspicion from the protest leaders, and cynicism among the Arab press and leadership, many Arabs report participating, and many more are open to joining in the future. (more…)
We’ve come a long way but it’s still the same road
2011 saw many dramatic surprises: the Palestine Papers revelations; the Arab Spring mass movements for democracy, ending some hated regimes and leading to bloody struggles of others to hold onto power; the Palestinian UN statehood bid; the Occupy movements and Israel’s J14 eruption; the reconciliation manoeuvres between Hamas and Fateh under pressure from their own disenfranchised populations. (more…)
Every single event of the past year points to the moral bankruptcy of Israel’s rule, the urgency of ending an intolerable status quo, and the need for a new vision that will serve the needs of all the people and offer the hope of freedom and justice.
This is, in general terms, the common thread that links the headline struggles and events of the past year: from Tunisia to Moscow, from New York to Tel Aviv, from Athens to Bahrain, from Cairo to Damascus, we’ve witnessed the (more…)
J14’s Manifesto for a New Israel: a dramatic new turn against apartheid
Last summer’s tented protests in Israel, called (like another famous revolution) after the 14th July date on which they sprang into life, have grown up in just five months and have now thrown down a challenge to the basic credo of their country. Their statement does not just demand a state for all its inhabitants, it proclaims that they will create one. (more…)
With Two State strategy in tatters, we look at the turn to Civil Rights
