Recibí este correo de Lev Grinberg, es para que cada uno se sume y haga circular este petitorio. Gracias!
Más información en http://www.openshuhadastreet.org/node/116
This is from a SA-based solidarity organization:Please take one minute to go to www.SupportGoldstone.org and sign thepetition.Here is the text of the petition:The UN Goldstone report is a well-researched, fair-minded report. Israel andHamas mustconduct credible, independent investigations on war crimes and possiblecrimes againsthumanity or face the International Criminal Court. We demand accountabilityfor all victims,respect for the rule of law, international law and human rights.Also watch this profile and interview with Judge Richard Goldstone by BillMoyers:Read more http://www.openshuhadastreet.org/node/116--This is an automatic message from Open Shuhada Street!To manage your subscriptions, browse tohttp://www.openshuhadastreet.org/user/72/notificationsYou can unsubscribe athttp://www.openshuhadastreet.org/notifications/unsubscribe/sid/138?signa...==========Ran GreensteinJohannesburg, South Africa
sábado, 31 de octubre de 2009
miércoles, 28 de octubre de 2009
Amnistía Internacional: "Israel raciona el agua a la población palestina"
Israel raciona el agua a la población palestina
El agua es un derecho humano
Pastores del pueblo de Umm al Jeir, en el sur de la Cisjordania ocupada. Las comunidades dedicadas al pastoreo no tienen agua corriente, por lo que dependen del agua de lluvia almacenada en cisternas como ésta, que a menudo son destruidas por el ejército israelí. © Amnistía Internacional
La población palestina de los Territorios Palestinos Ocupados (TPO) no tiene acceso a un suministro de agua adecuado y seguro. Esto ha entorpecido sobremanera el desarrollo social y económico de los TPO y negado a muchas comunidades su derecho a un nivel de vida digno. El consumo palestino de agua rara vez alcanza los 70 litros diarios por persona, muy por debajo del mínimo diario de 100 litros per cápita recomendado por la Organización Mundial de la Salud. En contraste, el consumo diario per cápita israelí es cuatro veces superior. La desigualdad es aún más pronunciada entre las comunidades palestinas y los asentamientos israelíes ilegales establecidos en los TPO. Hay zonas de Cisjordania en las que los colonos israelíes utilizan hasta 20 veces más agua per cápita que sus vecinos palestinos. En el informe “Israel/ OPT Troubled Waters: Palestinians denied fair access to water” se revela hasta qué punto el carácter discriminatorio de las políticas y prácticas hídricas de Israel niega a la población palestina su derecho al agua. El impacto de la escasez de agua y los malos servicios de saneamiento de los TPO hacen mella en las comunidades más vulnerables, que son aquellas que viven en zonas rurales aisladas y en campos de refugiados superpoblados. Las comunidades rurales a las que no llega la red de suministro de agua dependen de la recogida de agua de lluvia para cubrir sus necesidades domésticas y agrícolas. En Gaza, entre el 90 y el 95 por ciento del suministro de agua está contaminado y no es apto para el consumo humano. Israel no permite llevar agua desde Cisjordania, y el acuífero costero se va agotando cada vez más debido a la sobreexplotación y a la contaminación de las aguas residuales. El bloqueo impide las reparaciones y la reconstrucción de las maltrechas instalaciones de la franja de Gaza.
Tomado de:
http://www.es.amnesty.org/paises/israel-y-territorios-ocupados/israel-raciona-el-agua-a-la-poblacion-palestina/
Ciberacción para apoyar el derecho al agua de la población palestina
La sección española de Amnistía Internacional ha lanzado en su centro de activismo en Internet, www.actuaconamnistia.org, una ciberación para que la ciudadanía le exija a Israel que respete el derecho al agua que tiene la población palestina.
Nota para los medios de comunicación: Este nuevo informe se presenta en el marco de la campaña de Amnistía Internacional Exige Dignidad, que tiene por objeto conseguir que se ponga fin a las violaciones de derechos humanos que contribuyen a crear la pobreza mundial y la intensifican.
La campaña moviliza a personas de todo el mundo con el objetivo de pedir a los gobiernos, empresas y otras entidades con poder que escuchen la voz de quienes viven sumidos en la pobreza y reconozcan y protejan sus derechos humanos. Para más información, visiten: http://www.es.amnesty.org/exigedignidad/
Categorías: Conflictos armados, Crímenes de guerra y crímenes contra la humanidad, Derechos económicos, sociales y culturales, Grupos armados de oposición, Impunidad, Israel y Territorios Ocupados, Oriente Próximo, Medio y Norte de Africa, Personas refugiadas, desplazadas, inmigrantes y demandantes de asilo
y más aquí: http://www.es.amnesty.org/noticias/noticias/articulo/israel-raciona-el-agua-a-un-hilo-a-la-poblacion-palestina/
El agua es un derecho humano
Pastores del pueblo de Umm al Jeir, en el sur de la Cisjordania ocupada. Las comunidades dedicadas al pastoreo no tienen agua corriente, por lo que dependen del agua de lluvia almacenada en cisternas como ésta, que a menudo son destruidas por el ejército israelí. © Amnistía Internacional
La población palestina de los Territorios Palestinos Ocupados (TPO) no tiene acceso a un suministro de agua adecuado y seguro. Esto ha entorpecido sobremanera el desarrollo social y económico de los TPO y negado a muchas comunidades su derecho a un nivel de vida digno. El consumo palestino de agua rara vez alcanza los 70 litros diarios por persona, muy por debajo del mínimo diario de 100 litros per cápita recomendado por la Organización Mundial de la Salud. En contraste, el consumo diario per cápita israelí es cuatro veces superior. La desigualdad es aún más pronunciada entre las comunidades palestinas y los asentamientos israelíes ilegales establecidos en los TPO. Hay zonas de Cisjordania en las que los colonos israelíes utilizan hasta 20 veces más agua per cápita que sus vecinos palestinos. En el informe “Israel/ OPT Troubled Waters: Palestinians denied fair access to water” se revela hasta qué punto el carácter discriminatorio de las políticas y prácticas hídricas de Israel niega a la población palestina su derecho al agua. El impacto de la escasez de agua y los malos servicios de saneamiento de los TPO hacen mella en las comunidades más vulnerables, que son aquellas que viven en zonas rurales aisladas y en campos de refugiados superpoblados. Las comunidades rurales a las que no llega la red de suministro de agua dependen de la recogida de agua de lluvia para cubrir sus necesidades domésticas y agrícolas. En Gaza, entre el 90 y el 95 por ciento del suministro de agua está contaminado y no es apto para el consumo humano. Israel no permite llevar agua desde Cisjordania, y el acuífero costero se va agotando cada vez más debido a la sobreexplotación y a la contaminación de las aguas residuales. El bloqueo impide las reparaciones y la reconstrucción de las maltrechas instalaciones de la franja de Gaza.
Tomado de:
http://www.es.amnesty.org/paises/israel-y-territorios-ocupados/israel-raciona-el-agua-a-la-poblacion-palestina/
Ciberacción para apoyar el derecho al agua de la población palestina
La sección española de Amnistía Internacional ha lanzado en su centro de activismo en Internet, www.actuaconamnistia.org, una ciberación para que la ciudadanía le exija a Israel que respete el derecho al agua que tiene la población palestina.
Nota para los medios de comunicación: Este nuevo informe se presenta en el marco de la campaña de Amnistía Internacional Exige Dignidad, que tiene por objeto conseguir que se ponga fin a las violaciones de derechos humanos que contribuyen a crear la pobreza mundial y la intensifican.
La campaña moviliza a personas de todo el mundo con el objetivo de pedir a los gobiernos, empresas y otras entidades con poder que escuchen la voz de quienes viven sumidos en la pobreza y reconozcan y protejan sus derechos humanos. Para más información, visiten: http://www.es.amnesty.org/exigedignidad/
Categorías: Conflictos armados, Crímenes de guerra y crímenes contra la humanidad, Derechos económicos, sociales y culturales, Grupos armados de oposición, Impunidad, Israel y Territorios Ocupados, Oriente Próximo, Medio y Norte de Africa, Personas refugiadas, desplazadas, inmigrantes y demandantes de asilo
y más aquí: http://www.es.amnesty.org/noticias/noticias/articulo/israel-raciona-el-agua-a-un-hilo-a-la-poblacion-palestina/
martes, 27 de octubre de 2009
Noticias de Gush Shalom y artículo de Uri Avnery
Gracias a Eduardo Mosches por el envío.
www.gush-shalom.org
Truth / Правда / אמת / حقيقة
English website http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_en.html
Статьи Ури Авнери http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/ru/avnery
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_he.html אתר בעברית
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/ar/avnery اوري افنيري
Stop US tax money flowing to settlers
Gush Shalom approached the National Lawyers' Guild in the US, requesting NLG members to act against American organizations supporting Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories and get the tax authorities to remove the tax exempt status presently given to donations to the settlers.
Read more: http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/events/1256566250
~~~
Ad in Ha'aretz, Oct. 23, 20 09
?A SHAM
To hear testimonies
From soldiers and Gaza residentsIn public and in the presenceOf international observers... full text
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/weekly_ad/1256319739
~~~
Uri Avnery
Where Have All the Friendships GoneACCORDING TO a Chinese saying, if someone in the street tells you that you are drunk, you can laugh. If a second... Full English text in the end
Avnery columns' archive http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery
~~~
The ceaseless chatteringand more at Adam's blog: http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com
לעצור זרימת כספי מס אמריקאי למתנחלים
תנועת גוש שלום פנתה אל "אגודת עורכי הדין הלאומית" בארה"ב בבקשה שחברי האגודה יפעלו נגד אגודות התמיכה במתנחלים הפועלות בארה"ב ויביאו לביטול המעמד הפטור ממס שניתן כיום לתרומות הזורמות אל ההתנחלויות.
קראו עודhttp://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/events/1256566250
~~~
מודעה ב"הארץ"23 באוקטובר
כאילו?עדויותמחיילים ומתושבי עזה -בפומבי ובנוכחותמשקיפים בינלאומיים... טכסט מלא:
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/weekly_ad/1256319824
~~~
אורי אבנרי "איפה הידידים כולם..."פתגם סיני אומר שאם אדם אומר לך ברחוב שאתה שיכור, תצחק. אם אדם שני אומר לך שאתה שיכור, תתחיל לחשוש. אם אדם שלישי אומר... טכסט מלא http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/avnery/1256493910
ארכיון מאמרים של אורי אבנרי
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/avnery
~~~
הכל דיבורים, הכל פטפוטים
ועוד בבלוג של אדם : http://adam-keller1.blogspot.com
Uri Avnery24.10.09
"Where Have All the Friendships Gone…"
ACCORDING TO a Chinese saying, if someone in the street tells you that you are drunk, you can laugh. If a second person tells you that you are drunk, start to think about it. If a third one tells you the same, go home and sleep it off.
Our political and military leadership has already encountered the third, fourth and fifth person. All of them say that they must investigate what happened in the "Molten Lead" operation.
They have three options:
to conduct a real investigation.
to ignore the demand and proceed as if nothing has happened.
to conduct a sham inquiry.
IT IS easy to dismiss the first option: it has not the slightest chance of being adopted. Except for the usual suspects (including myself) who demanded an investigation long before anyone in Israel had heard of a judge called Goldstone, nobody supports it.
Among all the members of our political, military and media establishments who are now suggesting an "inquiry", there is no one – literally not one – who means by that a real investigation. The aim is to deceive the Goyim and get them to shut up.
Actually, Israeli law lays down clear guidelines for such investigations. The government decides to set up a commission of investigation. The president of the Supreme Court then appoints the members of the commission. The commission can compel witnesses to testify. Anybody who may be damaged by its conclusions must be warned and given the opportunity to defend themself. Its conclusions are binding.
This law has an interesting history. Sometime in the 50s, David Ben-Gurion demanded the appointment of a "judicial committee of inquiry" to decide who gave the orders for the 1954 "security mishap", also known as the Lavon Affair. (A false flag operation where an espionage network composed of local Jews was activated to bomb American and British offices in Egypt, in order to cause friction between Egypt and the Western powers. The perpetrators were caught.)
Ben-Gurion’s request was denied, under the pretext that there was no law for such a procedure. Furious, Ben-Gurion resigned from the government and left his party. In one of the stormy party sessions, the Minister of Justice, Yaakov Shimshon Shapira, called Ben-Gurion a "fascist". But Shapira, an old Russian Jew, regretted his outburst later. He drafted a special law for the appointment of Commissions of Investigation in the future. After lengthy deliberations in the Knesset (in which I took an active part) the law was adopted and has since been applied, notably in the case of the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
Now I wholeheartedly support the setting up of a Commission of Investigation according to this law.
THE SECOND option is the one proposed by the army Chief of Staff and the Minister of Defense. In America it is called "stonewalling". Meaning: To hell with it.
The army commanders object to any investigation and any inquiry whatsoever. They probably know why. After all, they know the facts. They know that a dark shadow lies over the very decision to go to war, over the planning of the operation, over the instructions given to the troops, and over many dozens of large and small acts committed during the operation.
In their opinion, even if their refusal has severe international repercussions, the consequences of any investigation, even a phony one, would be far worse.
As long as the Chief of Staff sticks to this position, there will be no investigation outside the army, whatever the attitude of the ministers. The army chief, who attends every cabinet meeting, is the largest figure in the room. When he announces that such and such is the "position of the army", no mere politician present would dare to object.
In the "Only Democracy in the Middle East", the law (proposed at the time by Menachem Begin) stipulates that the Government as such is the Commander in Chief of the Israel Defense Forces. That is the theory. In practice, no decision at variance with the "position of the army" has ever been or will ever be adopted.
The army claims to be investigating itself. Ehud Barak represents – willingly or unwillingly – this position. The cabinet has postponed dealing with the matter, and that’s where things stand today.
ON THIS occasion, the spotlight should be turned on the least visible person in Israel: the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, the ultimate Teflon-man. Nothing sticks to him. In this debate, as in all others, he just is not there.
Everybody knows that Ashkenazi is a shy and modest man. He hardly ever speaks, writes or speechifies. On television, he merges into the background.
This is how he looks to the public: an honest soldier, without tricks or ploys, who does his duty quietly, receives his orders from the government and fulfills them loyally. In this he differs from almost all his predecessors, who were boastful, publicity-crazy and loquacious. While most them came from famous elite units or the arrogant Air Force, he is a grey infantry man. The Duke of Wellington, seeing the huge amount of paperwork in his army, once exclaimed: "Soldiers should fight, not write!" He would have liked Ashkenazi
But reality is not always what it seems. Ashkenazi plays a central role in the decision-making process. He was appointed after his predecessor, Dan Halutz, resigned after the failures of Lebanon War II. Under Ashkenazi’s leadership, new doctrines were formulated and put into action in the "Molten Lead" operation. I defined them (on my own responsibility) as "Zero Losses" and "Better to kill a hundred enemy civilians than to lose one of our own soldiers". Since the Gaza war did not lead to a single soldier being put on trial, Ashkenazi must bear the responsibility for everything that happened there.
If an indictment were issued by the International Court in The Hague, Ashkenazi would probably be accorded the place of honor as "Defendant No. 1". No wonder that he objects to any outside investigation, as does Ehud Barak, who would probably occupy the No. 2 place.
THE POLITICIANS who oppose (ever so quietly) the Chief of Staff’s position believe that it is impossible to withstand international pressure completely, and that some kind of an inquiry will have to be conducted. Since not one of them intends to hold a real investigation, they propose to follow a tried and trusted Israeli method, which has worked wonderfully hundreds of times in the past: the method of sham.
A sham inquiry. Sham conclusions. Sham adherence to international law. Sham civilian control over the military.
Nothing simpler than that. An "inquiry committee" (but not a Commission of Investigation according to the law) will be set up, chaired by a suitably patriotic judge and composed of carefully chosen honorable citizens who are all "one of us". Testimonies will be heard behind closed doors (for considerations of security, of course). Army lawyers will prove that everything was perfectly legal, the National Whitewasher, Professor Asa Kasher, will laud the ethics of the Most Moral Army in the World. Generals will speak about our inalienable right to self-defense. In the end, two or three junior officers or privates may be found guilty of "irregularities".
Israel’s friends all over the world will break into an ecstatic chorus: What a lawful state! What a democracy! What morality! Western governments will declare that justice has been done and the case closed. The US veto will see to the rest.
So why don’t the army chiefs accept this proposal? Because they are afraid things might not proceed quite so smoothly. The international community will demand that at least part of the hearings be conducted in open court. There will be a demand for the presence of international observers. And, most importantly: there will be no justifiable way to exclude the testimonies of the Gazans themselves. Things will get complicated. The world will not accept fabricated conclusions. In the end we will be in exactly the same situation. Better to stay put and brave it out, whatever the price.
IN THE meantime, international pressure on Israel is increasing. Even now it has reached unprecedented proportions.
Russia and China have voted in favor of the endorsement of the Goldstone report by the UN. The UK and France "did not take part in the vote", but demanded that Israel conduct a real investigation. We have quarreled with Turkey, until now an important military ally. We have altercations with Sweden, Norway and a number of other friendly countries. The French Foreign Minister has been prevented from crossing into the Gaza Strip and is furious. The already cold peace with Egypt and Jordan has become several degrees colder. Israel is boycotted in many forums. Senior army officers are afraid to travel abroad for fear of arrest.
This raises the question once more: can outside pressure have an impact on Israel?
Certainly it can. The question is: what kind of pressure, what kind of impact?
The pressure has indeed convinced several ministers that an inquiry committee for the Goldstone report has to be set up. But no one in the Israeli establishment – no one at all! – has raised the real question: Perhaps Goldstone is right? Except for the usual suspects, no one in the media, the Knesset or the government has asked: Perhaps war crimes have indeed been committed? The outside pressure has not forced such questions to be raised. They must come from the inside, from the public itself.
The kind of pressure must also be considered. The Goldstone report has an impact on the world because it is precise and targeted: a specific operation, for which specific persons are responsible. It raises a specific demand: an investigation. It attacks a clear and well-defined target: war crimes.
If we apply this to the debate about boycotting Israel: the Goldstone report may be compared to a targeted boycott on the settlements and their helpers, not an unlimited boycott of the State of Israel. A targeted boycott can have a positive impact. A comprehensive, unlimited boycott would – in my opinion – achieve the opposite. It would push the Israeli public further into the arms of the extreme Right.
The struggle over the Goldstone report is now at its height. In Jerusalem, the rising energy of the waves can be clearly felt. Does this portend a tsunami?
permlink: http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1255784867
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Truth / Правда / אמת / حقيقة
English website http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_en.html
Статьи Ури Авнери http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/ru/avnery
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_he.html אתר בעברית
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/ar/avnery اوري افنيري
Stop US tax money flowing to settlers
Gush Shalom approached the National Lawyers' Guild in the US, requesting NLG members to act against American organizations supporting Israeli settlers in the Occupied Territories and get the tax authorities to remove the tax exempt status presently given to donations to the settlers.
Read more: http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/events/1256566250
~~~
Ad in Ha'aretz, Oct. 23, 20 09
?A SHAM
To hear testimonies
From soldiers and Gaza residentsIn public and in the presenceOf international observers... full text
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/weekly_ad/1256319739
~~~
Uri Avnery
Where Have All the Friendships GoneACCORDING TO a Chinese saying, if someone in the street tells you that you are drunk, you can laugh. If a second... Full English text in the end
Avnery columns' archive http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery
~~~
The ceaseless chatteringand more at Adam's blog: http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com
לעצור זרימת כספי מס אמריקאי למתנחלים
תנועת גוש שלום פנתה אל "אגודת עורכי הדין הלאומית" בארה"ב בבקשה שחברי האגודה יפעלו נגד אגודות התמיכה במתנחלים הפועלות בארה"ב ויביאו לביטול המעמד הפטור ממס שניתן כיום לתרומות הזורמות אל ההתנחלויות.
קראו עודhttp://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/events/1256566250
~~~
מודעה ב"הארץ"23 באוקטובר
כאילו?עדויותמחיילים ומתושבי עזה -בפומבי ובנוכחותמשקיפים בינלאומיים... טכסט מלא:
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/weekly_ad/1256319824
~~~
אורי אבנרי "איפה הידידים כולם..."פתגם סיני אומר שאם אדם אומר לך ברחוב שאתה שיכור, תצחק. אם אדם שני אומר לך שאתה שיכור, תתחיל לחשוש. אם אדם שלישי אומר... טכסט מלא http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/avnery/1256493910
ארכיון מאמרים של אורי אבנרי
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/avnery
~~~
הכל דיבורים, הכל פטפוטים
ועוד בבלוג של אדם : http://adam-keller1.blogspot.com
Uri Avnery24.10.09
"Where Have All the Friendships Gone…"
ACCORDING TO a Chinese saying, if someone in the street tells you that you are drunk, you can laugh. If a second person tells you that you are drunk, start to think about it. If a third one tells you the same, go home and sleep it off.
Our political and military leadership has already encountered the third, fourth and fifth person. All of them say that they must investigate what happened in the "Molten Lead" operation.
They have three options:
to conduct a real investigation.
to ignore the demand and proceed as if nothing has happened.
to conduct a sham inquiry.
IT IS easy to dismiss the first option: it has not the slightest chance of being adopted. Except for the usual suspects (including myself) who demanded an investigation long before anyone in Israel had heard of a judge called Goldstone, nobody supports it.
Among all the members of our political, military and media establishments who are now suggesting an "inquiry", there is no one – literally not one – who means by that a real investigation. The aim is to deceive the Goyim and get them to shut up.
Actually, Israeli law lays down clear guidelines for such investigations. The government decides to set up a commission of investigation. The president of the Supreme Court then appoints the members of the commission. The commission can compel witnesses to testify. Anybody who may be damaged by its conclusions must be warned and given the opportunity to defend themself. Its conclusions are binding.
This law has an interesting history. Sometime in the 50s, David Ben-Gurion demanded the appointment of a "judicial committee of inquiry" to decide who gave the orders for the 1954 "security mishap", also known as the Lavon Affair. (A false flag operation where an espionage network composed of local Jews was activated to bomb American and British offices in Egypt, in order to cause friction between Egypt and the Western powers. The perpetrators were caught.)
Ben-Gurion’s request was denied, under the pretext that there was no law for such a procedure. Furious, Ben-Gurion resigned from the government and left his party. In one of the stormy party sessions, the Minister of Justice, Yaakov Shimshon Shapira, called Ben-Gurion a "fascist". But Shapira, an old Russian Jew, regretted his outburst later. He drafted a special law for the appointment of Commissions of Investigation in the future. After lengthy deliberations in the Knesset (in which I took an active part) the law was adopted and has since been applied, notably in the case of the Sabra and Shatila massacre.
Now I wholeheartedly support the setting up of a Commission of Investigation according to this law.
THE SECOND option is the one proposed by the army Chief of Staff and the Minister of Defense. In America it is called "stonewalling". Meaning: To hell with it.
The army commanders object to any investigation and any inquiry whatsoever. They probably know why. After all, they know the facts. They know that a dark shadow lies over the very decision to go to war, over the planning of the operation, over the instructions given to the troops, and over many dozens of large and small acts committed during the operation.
In their opinion, even if their refusal has severe international repercussions, the consequences of any investigation, even a phony one, would be far worse.
As long as the Chief of Staff sticks to this position, there will be no investigation outside the army, whatever the attitude of the ministers. The army chief, who attends every cabinet meeting, is the largest figure in the room. When he announces that such and such is the "position of the army", no mere politician present would dare to object.
In the "Only Democracy in the Middle East", the law (proposed at the time by Menachem Begin) stipulates that the Government as such is the Commander in Chief of the Israel Defense Forces. That is the theory. In practice, no decision at variance with the "position of the army" has ever been or will ever be adopted.
The army claims to be investigating itself. Ehud Barak represents – willingly or unwillingly – this position. The cabinet has postponed dealing with the matter, and that’s where things stand today.
ON THIS occasion, the spotlight should be turned on the least visible person in Israel: the Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi, the ultimate Teflon-man. Nothing sticks to him. In this debate, as in all others, he just is not there.
Everybody knows that Ashkenazi is a shy and modest man. He hardly ever speaks, writes or speechifies. On television, he merges into the background.
This is how he looks to the public: an honest soldier, without tricks or ploys, who does his duty quietly, receives his orders from the government and fulfills them loyally. In this he differs from almost all his predecessors, who were boastful, publicity-crazy and loquacious. While most them came from famous elite units or the arrogant Air Force, he is a grey infantry man. The Duke of Wellington, seeing the huge amount of paperwork in his army, once exclaimed: "Soldiers should fight, not write!" He would have liked Ashkenazi
But reality is not always what it seems. Ashkenazi plays a central role in the decision-making process. He was appointed after his predecessor, Dan Halutz, resigned after the failures of Lebanon War II. Under Ashkenazi’s leadership, new doctrines were formulated and put into action in the "Molten Lead" operation. I defined them (on my own responsibility) as "Zero Losses" and "Better to kill a hundred enemy civilians than to lose one of our own soldiers". Since the Gaza war did not lead to a single soldier being put on trial, Ashkenazi must bear the responsibility for everything that happened there.
If an indictment were issued by the International Court in The Hague, Ashkenazi would probably be accorded the place of honor as "Defendant No. 1". No wonder that he objects to any outside investigation, as does Ehud Barak, who would probably occupy the No. 2 place.
THE POLITICIANS who oppose (ever so quietly) the Chief of Staff’s position believe that it is impossible to withstand international pressure completely, and that some kind of an inquiry will have to be conducted. Since not one of them intends to hold a real investigation, they propose to follow a tried and trusted Israeli method, which has worked wonderfully hundreds of times in the past: the method of sham.
A sham inquiry. Sham conclusions. Sham adherence to international law. Sham civilian control over the military.
Nothing simpler than that. An "inquiry committee" (but not a Commission of Investigation according to the law) will be set up, chaired by a suitably patriotic judge and composed of carefully chosen honorable citizens who are all "one of us". Testimonies will be heard behind closed doors (for considerations of security, of course). Army lawyers will prove that everything was perfectly legal, the National Whitewasher, Professor Asa Kasher, will laud the ethics of the Most Moral Army in the World. Generals will speak about our inalienable right to self-defense. In the end, two or three junior officers or privates may be found guilty of "irregularities".
Israel’s friends all over the world will break into an ecstatic chorus: What a lawful state! What a democracy! What morality! Western governments will declare that justice has been done and the case closed. The US veto will see to the rest.
So why don’t the army chiefs accept this proposal? Because they are afraid things might not proceed quite so smoothly. The international community will demand that at least part of the hearings be conducted in open court. There will be a demand for the presence of international observers. And, most importantly: there will be no justifiable way to exclude the testimonies of the Gazans themselves. Things will get complicated. The world will not accept fabricated conclusions. In the end we will be in exactly the same situation. Better to stay put and brave it out, whatever the price.
IN THE meantime, international pressure on Israel is increasing. Even now it has reached unprecedented proportions.
Russia and China have voted in favor of the endorsement of the Goldstone report by the UN. The UK and France "did not take part in the vote", but demanded that Israel conduct a real investigation. We have quarreled with Turkey, until now an important military ally. We have altercations with Sweden, Norway and a number of other friendly countries. The French Foreign Minister has been prevented from crossing into the Gaza Strip and is furious. The already cold peace with Egypt and Jordan has become several degrees colder. Israel is boycotted in many forums. Senior army officers are afraid to travel abroad for fear of arrest.
This raises the question once more: can outside pressure have an impact on Israel?
Certainly it can. The question is: what kind of pressure, what kind of impact?
The pressure has indeed convinced several ministers that an inquiry committee for the Goldstone report has to be set up. But no one in the Israeli establishment – no one at all! – has raised the real question: Perhaps Goldstone is right? Except for the usual suspects, no one in the media, the Knesset or the government has asked: Perhaps war crimes have indeed been committed? The outside pressure has not forced such questions to be raised. They must come from the inside, from the public itself.
The kind of pressure must also be considered. The Goldstone report has an impact on the world because it is precise and targeted: a specific operation, for which specific persons are responsible. It raises a specific demand: an investigation. It attacks a clear and well-defined target: war crimes.
If we apply this to the debate about boycotting Israel: the Goldstone report may be compared to a targeted boycott on the settlements and their helpers, not an unlimited boycott of the State of Israel. A targeted boycott can have a positive impact. A comprehensive, unlimited boycott would – in my opinion – achieve the opposite. It would push the Israeli public further into the arms of the extreme Right.
The struggle over the Goldstone report is now at its height. In Jerusalem, the rising energy of the waves can be clearly felt. Does this portend a tsunami?
permlink: http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1255784867
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domingo, 18 de octubre de 2009
3 noticias de Gush Shalom
Gracias a Eduardo Mosches por el envío.
1) Ad in Ha'aretz, Oct. 16, 20 09
!INVESTIGATE
We must investigateThe suspectedGaza War crimes Not because of the UN,Not for fear of Goldstone,But for our... Read more
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/weekly_ad/1255708719
~~~
2) Uri Avnery
The Slippery Slope
IT IS, of course, all the fault of Judge Richard Goldstone. He is to blame for it, as he is to blame for all the... Full English text in the end
Avnery columns' archive http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery
~~~
3) Those nasty Turks
at Adam's blog: http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com
Más en:
www.gush-shalom.orgTruth / Правда / אמת / حقيقةEnglish website http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_en.htmlСтатьи Ури Авнери http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/ru/avneryhttp://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_he.html אתר בעבריתhttp://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/ar/avnery اوري افنيري
1) Ad in Ha'aretz, Oct. 16, 20 09
!INVESTIGATE
We must investigateThe suspectedGaza War crimes Not because of the UN,Not for fear of Goldstone,But for our... Read more
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/weekly_ad/1255708719
~~~
2) Uri Avnery
The Slippery Slope
IT IS, of course, all the fault of Judge Richard Goldstone. He is to blame for it, as he is to blame for all the... Full English text in the end
Avnery columns' archive http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery
~~~
3) Those nasty Turks
at Adam's blog: http://adam-keller2.blogspot.com
Más en:
www.gush-shalom.orgTruth / Правда / אמת / حقيقةEnglish website http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_en.htmlСтатьи Ури Авнери http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/ru/avneryhttp://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_he.html אתר בעבריתhttp://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/ar/avnery اوري افنيري
jueves, 15 de octubre de 2009
¿Antecedente de Waltz con Bachir?
Palestine is a graphic novel written and drawn by Joe Sacco about his experiences in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in December 1991 and January 1992. Sacco gives a portrayal which emphasizes the history and plight of the Palestinian people, as a group and as individuals.
The book takes place over a two-month period in late 1991 early 1992, with occasional flashbacks to the expulsion of the Arabs, the beginning of the Intifada, the Gulf War and other events in the more immediate past. Sacco spent this time meeting with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the narrative focuses on the minute details of everyday life in the occupied territories, presenting the daily struggles, humiliations and frustrations of the Palestinians.
The graphic novel, published in 2001 by Fantagraphics Books, is an assembly of nine stories first published in comic form in 1993; the single volume edition includes an introduction by Edward Said. In 1996, the comic was awarded the American Book Award by the Before Columbus Foundation.
How do you respond to critics who argue that your work cannot be considered journalism because of its artistic dimension?
It's perfectly valid to argue against what I do and wonder whether it can be considered journalistic. I describe my work as comic journalism, other people call it documentary journalism, but these are all just labels to me. The fact is that no one can tell an entire story, everyone concentrates on what they want to, details are cropped out of photographs, stories go through an editing process. Every portrayal is to some extent a filter, and on that level something that someone might find problematic. Ultimately, I try to be as accurate when putting down quotations and describing things. I'm not making things up even though there is an interpretive element to my work.
The book takes place over a two-month period in late 1991 early 1992, with occasional flashbacks to the expulsion of the Arabs, the beginning of the Intifada, the Gulf War and other events in the more immediate past. Sacco spent this time meeting with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the narrative focuses on the minute details of everyday life in the occupied territories, presenting the daily struggles, humiliations and frustrations of the Palestinians.
The graphic novel, published in 2001 by Fantagraphics Books, is an assembly of nine stories first published in comic form in 1993; the single volume edition includes an introduction by Edward Said. In 1996, the comic was awarded the American Book Award by the Before Columbus Foundation.
How do you respond to critics who argue that your work cannot be considered journalism because of its artistic dimension?
It's perfectly valid to argue against what I do and wonder whether it can be considered journalistic. I describe my work as comic journalism, other people call it documentary journalism, but these are all just labels to me. The fact is that no one can tell an entire story, everyone concentrates on what they want to, details are cropped out of photographs, stories go through an editing process. Every portrayal is to some extent a filter, and on that level something that someone might find problematic. Ultimately, I try to be as accurate when putting down quotations and describing things. I'm not making things up even though there is an interpretive element to my work.
Pide B’Tselem el fin de prisión a palestinos
Pide B’Tselem el fin de prisión a palestinos
Dpa
Jerusalén. La organización israelí de defensa de los derechos humanos B’Tselem llamó al gobierno de su país a poner fin a la práctica de encarcelar sin juicio a palestinos supuestamente involucrados en actividades extremistas, por periodos prorrogables de hasta seis meses. El organismo humanitario estimó que al menos 335 palestinos se encuentran en esta situación. Mientras, Israel, amenazó con no retomar las negociaciones con los palestinos hasta que Naciones Unidas retire el informe Goldstone, que acusa a su ejército, pero también al grupo palestino Hamas, de cometer crímenes de guerra en la ofensiva militar israelí de diciembre y enero. Fatah, el partido del presidente palestino Mahmoud Abbas, aceptó la propuesta egipcia de reconciliación con Hamas, que aún estudia el plan, mientras un palestino murió en un ataque israelí de túneles entre la franja de Gaza y Egipto.
(Tomado de La Jornada de hoy)
Más información de esta ONG en: http://www.btselem.org/English/
La nota completa en hebreo: http://www.btselem.org/hebrew/Publications/Summaries/200910_Without_Trial.asp
Dpa
Jerusalén. La organización israelí de defensa de los derechos humanos B’Tselem llamó al gobierno de su país a poner fin a la práctica de encarcelar sin juicio a palestinos supuestamente involucrados en actividades extremistas, por periodos prorrogables de hasta seis meses. El organismo humanitario estimó que al menos 335 palestinos se encuentran en esta situación. Mientras, Israel, amenazó con no retomar las negociaciones con los palestinos hasta que Naciones Unidas retire el informe Goldstone, que acusa a su ejército, pero también al grupo palestino Hamas, de cometer crímenes de guerra en la ofensiva militar israelí de diciembre y enero. Fatah, el partido del presidente palestino Mahmoud Abbas, aceptó la propuesta egipcia de reconciliación con Hamas, que aún estudia el plan, mientras un palestino murió en un ataque israelí de túneles entre la franja de Gaza y Egipto.
(Tomado de La Jornada de hoy)
Más información de esta ONG en: http://www.btselem.org/English/
La nota completa en hebreo: http://www.btselem.org/hebrew/Publications/Summaries/200910_Without_Trial.asp
domingo, 4 de octubre de 2009
Lunes 12 de octubre, 17 hrs. - Presentación del libro de Martin Buber "Una tierra para dos pueblos"
Este libro contiene textos políticos del filósofo Martin Buber (1878-1965), escritos entre 1918-1965 sobre la cuestión israelí - palestina. La selección y edición estuvo a cargo de Paul Mendes-Flohr. Se trata de un libro de sorprendente actualidad, coeditado por IIFL,UNAM y editorial Sígueme, Salamanca, 2009.
Lunes 12 de octubre de 2009, 17 hrs., Salón de Actos de la Facultad de Filosofía y Letras de la UNAM.
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