domingo, 25 de janeiro de 2015

Israel vs Palestina : História de um conflito LXIV (08-10 2007)


No Comment: No dia 14 de agosto, a IDF atacava os palestinos em Khan Younis na Faixa de Gaza.

Em agosto de 2007, tamanha era a raiva dos dirigentes do Hamas e do Fatah uns pelos outros em Gaza e em Ramallah.que os dois partidos palestinos predominantes pareciam irreconciliáveis.
Ismail Hanyeh, presidente do Hamas em Gaza e Primeiro Ministro deposto por não se adequar aos interesses de Israel e do Quarteto para o Oriente Médio (EUA, UE, ONU, Rússia - esta, cada vez menos consultada), tentou uma reaproximação com Ramallah, em vão.
Na verdade, Ismail estava desesperado com o bloqueio e com o corte do pagamento dos salários dos funcionários públicos. Havia meses que ninguém via um tostão do dinheiro que Israel retinha em seus bancos em vez de repassar para a Autoridade Palestina. Para Gaza, menos ainda.
Os líderes políticos e militares israelenses estavam regozijantes com a guerra fratricida e a ruptura dos dois principais partidos palestinos, pois em sua inconsciência míope, sempre pensaram, erroneamente, uma frase que repetem sempre: "What's bad for Palestine is good for Israel".
Porém, a divisão dos territórios palestinos entre o Fatah e o Hamas era um desastre não apenas para os palestinos, mas para a perspectiva de paz. Portanto, um desastre também para os israelenses.
A doutrina do "O que é ruim para a Palestina é bom para Israel" é um dos mantras sionistas malígnos contestados por todo mundo que enxerga o visível e o invisível. Mas esta frase era e continua popular na IDF e no governo de Israel. Mas tinham razão em uma coisa, as coisas iam mesmo mal na Palestina.
Na Mukata'a de Ramallah, Mahmoud Abbas, seduzido pelas promessas do Quarteto em troca de palavras e atos ultra moderados, se referia ao Hamas como "um bando de fanáticos".
Em Gaza, Ismail Hanyieh acusava Abu Mazen (Mahmoud Abbas) de ter virado Marechal Petain, o comandante francês que dobrou-se aos nazistas durante a Segunda Guerra Mundial deixando a França à mercê da ocupação e além disso, delatou seus compatriotas resistentes ao ocupante. Trocando em miúdos, acusavam os dirigentes do Fatah de colaboradores com os invasores que oprimiam os palestinos desde 1948.
Neste período negro de 2007, só havia uma pessoa que inspirava respeito tanto aos membros do Fatah quanto do Hamas. Só um nome era pronunciado com esperança unânime por todos os palestinos: Marwan Barghouti.
"He holds the key in his hand, both for the Fatah-Hamas and for the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts", era a frase que se ouvia em ambos os lados.
Pois é. Já disse e repito, Marwan Barghouti é o Nelson Mandela palestino no tocante ao percurso e por ser um potencial catalisador da solução dos problema internos e externos de seu povo. Ambos eram intelectuais pacíficos que pegaram em armas por causa da conjuntura opressiva, ambos viraram líderes da resistência, foram presos por causa disso e condenados por terrorismo. Ambos foram muito torturados, adquiriram sabedoria no cárcere solitário e viraram ídolos nacionais. Ambos, após terem sujado as mãos de sangue por resistirem à crueldade do ocupante, passaram a representar a união e a perspectiva de liberdade e paz almejada.
Marwan estava atrás das grades com centenas de compatriotas.
Desde 1967 Israel prendeu mais de 650.000 palestinos. Todo palestino tem um parente que já passou pelo menos um mês nos porões do ocupante. Por volta de 600 menores (de 12 a 17 anos) são detidos anualmente, a maioria, por reagir com pedras à provocação e às balas dos soldados da IDF armados até os dentes. Em agosto de 2007  havia mais de 11.000 palestinos detidos nas masmorras israelenses. Dentre eles, mais de 30 parlamentares e cerca de 300 meninos.
Os palestinos são mudados de prisão constantemente, as visitas são submetidas a longa espera e só são permitidas aos familiares próximos, mulheres, mães, filhos e irmãos menores de 16 anos, que consigam autorização de visita. A partir dos 17 anos os jovens perdem todo contato com o pai e irmão detidos.
Apesar da mobilidade constante de prisioneiros - para desestabilizá-los e dificultar sua localização - Marwan é o líder de referência entre os milhares de prisioneiros políticos presos desde a Segunda Intifada. Foi ele que encabeçou o "prisoners' document" chamando à união e ao curto "Mecca Agreement" que criou um breve governo de unificad. Este documento só foi assinado pelo Fatah e o Hamas após consentimento de Marwan.
Os próximos de Marwan eram os únicos membros do Fatah que reconheciam a responsabilidade de seu partido nas desavenças na Faixa de Gaza. Ora, ao contrário dos demais dirigentes do Fatah, os do Hamas vivem presos em Gaza ou, no caso de Khaled Meshaal, em países árabes, devido às ameaças de assassinato do Mossad. Eles são instruídos, mas na Universidade Islâmica, que embora não seja laica como as nossas PUCs, é bastante livre, porém, nunca pisaram em um país ocidental, nem da Europa nem da América. Quanto à população, é cortada dos parentes da Cisjordânia por causa da dificuldade de intercâmbio e nos últimos meses, por causa do bloqueio que os condenava a um gueto inclemente.
(Quando se é cortado do mundo e ele só chegava até você em forma de bombardeios, confia-se desconfiando. É o caso dos líedres do Hamas "detidos" na "prisão Gaza". Acho incrível que os gazauís sejam abertos como são, vinvendo neste constante gueto-pesadelo. Acolhem os estrangeiros de braços abertos, como na Cisjordânia, e reclamam menos do que os brasileiros... )
(Mas para o governo israelense, os gazauís, os palestinos em geral, não são gente. No mês de setembro de 2007, declarou oficialmente a Faixa de Gaza como "enemy entity". Despersonaliza o país, desumaniza o povo para poder bombardear à vontade em "legítima defesa". )

No Comment: No dia 17 de outubro, Condoleeza Rice visita a Basílica da Natividade, sem Mahmoud Abbas. 

A raiva dos membros do Hamas tinha certo fundamento, pois foi o Fatah que se encarrregou da prisão de Mahmoud al-Zahar, ministro das relações exteriores do Hamas, e de maneira humilhante. Foi algemado, sua barba foi raspada e o chamaram do nome de uma dançarina egípcia famosa. O ressentimento de Al-Zahar duraria, longo tempo.
E nenhum membro do Fatah negou que Muhammad Dahlan, ex-confidente e conselheiro de Abu Mazen, conspirara com os EUA para conquistar a Faixa de Gaza. Ao contrário, diziam, off the record, que o queridinho dos estadunidenses e israelenses achava que com armas e dinheiro conseguiria controlar a Faixa e admitiam que foi seu comportamento que levou os líderes do Hamas a defender-se atacando antes de serem depostos, presos ou mortos pelo cúmplice do ocupante. E confirmaram também que a maioria absoluta dos gazauís apoiava o Hamas e detestava Dahlan, que acusavam de colaborar com o ShinBet. Daí a vitória fácil do Hamas. E daí Abu Mazem expulsar Muhammad Dahlan da Palestina mais tarde.
Os poderes entre os dois partidos foi dividido na marra.
O centro de gravidade do Hamas era a Faixa de Gaza e os problemas que tinha eram de Khaled Meshaal, que residia em Damasco e era um tipo de embaixador itinerante do partido no mundo árabe onde buscava dinheiro e apoio diplomático.
Todos os dirigentes do Hamas na Cisjordânia, inclusive os parlamentares eleitos em 2006, haviam sido sequestrados e levados para presídios israelenses. Fato único na História universal.
Um dos próximos de Marwan disse na época que Israel acabaria entendendo que precisava de paz e que para obtê-la teria de libertar o único homem que poderia assegurá-la. Como os afrikaners haviam feito na África do Sul soltando Nelson Mandela. Por isso os palestinos começaram uma campanha internacional para a libertação de Marwan Barghouti.
Porém, ninguém no campo palestino acreditava na vontade e na capacidade de Ehud Olmert concluir um acordo de paz e muito menos de implementá-lo. Todos tinham certeza que o tal "international meeting" que o presidente dos EUA George W. Bush estava organizando visava levantar o moral de Condoleezza Rice que estava muito impopular, e não obter resultados junto a ocupante e ocupado.
"Se os esforços de Mahmoud Abbas não adiantarem, haverá uma nova explosão como a da Intifada após o fracasso de Campo David", disse um membro do Fatah. "E se não acontecer agora, uma nova geração despontará. Como já aconteceu, um grupo se cansa e outro emerge e ocupa seu lugar". "If the occupation does not come to an end ant there is no peace, a peace that will enable the members of this generation to turn to the universities, to family, work and business, a new intifada will surely break out."
Mas para isto os palestinos precisavam re-unir-se. E para isto precisavam de Marwan Barghouti que se encontrava, nessa época, no presídio de Hasharon, sem perspectiva nenhuma de ser libertado.
Pois ouvia-se a palavra "reconciliação" aqui e acolá, mas parecia vazia de sentido, na situação de beligerência passiva e ativa entre os dois partidos.

Trocando em miúdos, os meses de agosto, setembro e outubro de 2007 foram pautados por uma série de desavenças internas, por uma expectativa exacerbada do Fatah em relação à próxima reunião de cúpula em Anapolis, nos EUA, e por uma descrença crescente do Hamas em relação a mais estas "peace talks" com agenda israelo-estadunidense de adiar sine die a soberania palestina.
O mês de outubro terminaria com mais "sanções" aos gazauís por terem elegido o Hamas. Israel reduziu mais ainda a importação de combustível na Faixa de Gaza, a 50% da quantidade de benzina, gasolina, gás e diesel necessários à economia e às moradias.


Na Cisjordânia, os fatos mais marcantes nesse trimestre do 59° ano de desmembramento da Palestina e do 40° aniversário da ocupação israelense da Cisjordânia, da Faixa de Gaza e do Golã sírio, foram de iniciativa civil, sem nenhuma influência ou ingerência de políticos. A descrença da Autoridade Palestina era tamanha que a sociedade civil tinha de agir sozinha e deu uma bela lição de resistência.
Primeiro, Budrus. Um vilarejo de 1.300 habitantes a cerca de 12 quilômetros no noroeste de Ramallah e a 3 quilômentros da Linha Verde.
Os budruenses mostraram que sua condição não era uma fatalidade inelutável, apesar de Israel ter confiscado cerca de 80 por cento do município deixando 5.000 dunums e depois estabalecendo uma base militar de treinamento.
(Dunam, ou dunum,  uma unidade de medida de terreno que data do Império Otomano. Em árabe, a palavra é escrita دونم (dunam) e a medida ainda é usada no Iraque, Jordânia, Líbano, Israel e Palestina com valores variados. A medida correspondia a 919 m². Hoje em dia, nos países citados, corresponde a 1.000 m². Menos no Iraque, onde corresponde a 2.500 m²).
Os recrutas da IDF viviam provocando os moradores de Budrus, mas apesar disso, esta cidade sempre foi pacífica, nunca reagiu. Até 2003, quando a IDF chegou com os caterpillars armados para destruir suas lavouras e casas para construir o muro que começou em Jenin e deveria percorrer uma extensão de 650 quilômetros, abrangendo todo o norte da Cisjordânia.
O muro começou como uma serpente tapando cisternas, demolindo casas e cercando Qalqilya. Foi subindo em uma trajetória invasiva e quando chegou em Budrus, os bulldozers estancaram. Não por vontade própria e sim por terem seu avanço obstaculado por cidadãos desarmados, porém, determinados.
Transformaram seus corpos em escudo da terra, pagaram caro, com ferimentos e detenções. No final da luta/resistência, não conseguiram impedir os 3.500 metros de cimento de passarem rente, mas conseguiram salvar terras de seu município e de municípios vizinhos.
Em Bil'in continuavam na mesma luta. Com manifestações cidadãs todas as sextas-feiras desde 2005 quando os invasores chegaram às portas do município com bulldozers e soldados para erguer o muro na marra.  Apesar da adesão de várias ONGs internacionais à luta dos bil'inenses, em 2007 os construtores-destrutores já haviam erguido uma cerca de arame farpado, que era na primeira oportunidade posta abaixo.
Com ajuda de ativistas israelenses, os moradores recorreram ao Tribunal de Tel Aviv, pois comodizia um dos habitantes, the Berlin Wall fell. The day will come when peace-loving people will wake up. I think there are many Israelis who are working against the wall. If Budrus resists on the eastern side of the wall, let the Israelis resist on the western side. If there really are peace-loving people, that wall will come down. But even without the wall, the occupation is intolerable and cannot be borne.”
De Budrus, o muro se estenderia a outras áreas palestinas cobertas de oliveirais. Os moradores começaram a resistência com as famílias sentando embaixo das oliveiras para impedir que os bulldozers arrancassem as árvores que constituíam seu meio de subsistência. Mais de 300 pessoas foram feridas a bala de borracha e com gás lacrimogênio e cerca de 30 foram presos. Lá os meninos não carregavam pedras e marchavam de mãos vazias. O comitê local de resistência estabeleceu parâmetros sem dia específico para manifestarem, ao contrário de Bil'in em que as manifestações são feitas em dia de folga dos bulldozers. "Fridays and Saturdays, Israelis are off, so no actual work on the wall takes places on those days. So even if you make it to the wall on those days, you don’t accomplish anything".
Em Budrus a participação feminina era muito grande e elas estavam na primeira linha. Havia um acordo que nenhum preso pagaria a fiança de 5.000 shekels (cerca de US$1.200) apesar dos ativistas internacionais estarem dispostos a cuidarem disso, pois se nos dobrássemos a essa manobra jamais alcançaríamos nosso objetivo.
Toda manifestação terminava com mais de 50 feridos. No fim, embora não tivessem conseguido impedir a cosntrução do muro, um budruense disse:  "We were very successful. We were able to prevent [the confiscation of] 95 percent of the land that had been slated for expropriation. All of this came with a price that was not trivial — many villagers were arrested and wounded, but in the end we managed to safeguard no less than 1,000 dunums of village lands, and they are planted with olive trees. Changing the route in Budrus may have spared Ni’lin about 2,000 dunums; al-Midya also benefited.
We involved all sectors in the village resistance to the wall — women played an active role, and so did the children, young people and old, everyone participated. The factions were involved too.
People still oppose the wall; that hasn’t changed. Activity levels differ, of course. On Land Day, March 30, the entire village turned out, and we marched to the wall gate. The occupation forces interact with Budrus differently; they want to stop our activities any way they can. They shoot at us with live fire and dumdum bullets, and recently five people were injured. The Israelis distribute leaflets threatening death and imprisonment, things like that. Nevertheless the resistance to the wall remains. In fact, it is impossible to stop it. No one can control it because the occupation refuses to budge. I can’t stop a child or anyone else from opposing the occupation.
The wall here consists of three segments. The kids brought down a main segment, consisting of a coiled wire. The Israelis come and fix it; within a week it is back in place. With every action we take, part of the wall is brought down. On Fridays, you find 90 percent of the children are assembled. Everyone is doing something, some have shears and they are cutting away at the wires. A child was injured here beyond the wall; he cut the wire and crossed beyond the barrier. He was hit with five bullets.
So the wall is just one more symbol of the occupation. It would be hard to convince people that this is a fact they should accept. We are provoked daily, the army is always around and comes to our homes daily, even when no one goes to the wall.
who has been injured, one imprisoned. And if you want to compare Budrus to other Palestinian villages, you will find higher percentages in Budrus than elsewhere in Palestine. In 2007, 75 people were arrested in one day [and were given sentences or detention orders] for periods of time ranging from 6 months to 10 years — 75 from a village with a population of 1,300 … arrested in a single day. Thirty were arrested in activities related to the wall, most of them children under age 18. About 30 have been injured with live ammunition. Probably about 1,000 injuries with rubber bullets and tear gas. So every person in Budrus has been injured by the occupation. Maybe that’s part of the reason that residents have so much solidarity with one another.
In my estimation, the wall has created psychological turbulence among Budrus residents, although the actual land area expropriated for it is smaller than in other areas. Here the wall is a coiled wire, but it feels like a structure that denies us air to breathe. With time all people will revolt against it. But we have to know how to aim our compass correctly.
The wall is adjacent to the elementary school. In school, the kids are afraid and worried. The guards at the wall use tear gas even at a distance. If a kid yells in the direction of the wall, the response is immediate. They try to create an unnatural psychological state. This has been constant, ever since they began the wall here. The policy of the occupation forces hasn’t changed.
The children’s school is no longer a school. The window panes are broken, the classrooms are decrepit. The wall harms the kids’ psyches, it hurts our agriculture, it is bad in every way.
Budrus was the first town affected by the wall, and it changed things 180 degrees. A popular committee was formed in Budrus, and then a more regional committee was also formed, and it adopted the Budrus approach. The entire area participated with Budrus and everyone learned from that experience. The change in the wall’s path brought about by resistance in Budrus saved some of the land of Ni’lin and al-Midya. Deir Qaddis followed exactly the Budrus model. The only difference is that Deir Qaddis has an Israeli settlement on village lands. So it is impossible to place the wall behind the settlement. Now there are two lawsuits related to the wall. One was filed by the settlement, and the other by the people of Deir Qaddis. The settlers are claiming that the wall is too close to its lands; they want it moved. And the villagers want the wall off village lands. Thus far, work on the wall has come to a stop.
The PA has lapsed in its responsibilities toward all the villages west of Ramallah generally and in fact, in the entire West Bank. Its failure has been abnormal and unnatural. Right now, whatever efforts the PA makes are focused on Bi’lin. I don’t see the PA’s media outlets mentioning anything other than Bi’lin. There have been some very difficult humanitarian cases, worse than Bi’lin, that are not mentioned in the media. With all due respect to Bi’lin and the example they set, it is not right to marginalize all other areas and limit the wall to a single focus area.
The PA has to aim its compass correctly, decide how to act; our people have to know how to act. We are an unarmed population. If we want to work correctly, we should think, how many are we, 3 or 4 million? And how many are armed, 4-5,000? You have 3.5 million that you can enlist in nonviolent resistance, popular work, and see what they can accomplish.
Entire villages here are marginalized. None of the PA’s money goes to the areas damaged by the wall.
Not a single PA official came to Budrus when the wall was being constructed. It wasn’t until Budrus started a march to the Council of Ministers that we were able to talk to an official. And he acted as though he was doing us a favor by talking to us or holding a press conference. Frankly, the PA just doesn’t have the interest. The PA didn’t help at all, not a single official did the simplest thing, like donate some banners. At the same time, they come to you and say, we will bring you projects. We don’t want their projects, and anyway, these projects aren’t coming from them. They get international grants, so they aren’t giving me charity. And anyway, the land is gone, so where are they going to put the project?
Before the elections, we went to a huge rally in Bi’lin, and there were many members there from the Legislative Council holding signs for candidates; they knew there would be cameras. Even in Friday prayers they were smirking at each other. I am sure that had there been no legislative council and local elections approaching, we wouldn’t have seen a single one of them. For two years, we haven’t seen one of them assume responsibility for the treatment of a single injured person. A ministry for the wall was created, but it has no presence and has done nothing at all. Ask the wall minister about Budrus or Zububa, he doesn’t know them, he’s never been there. The best thing the PA can do if it really wants to work is to use the popular struggle.
I was arrested with a member of the Swedish parliament. The newt day, a parliamentary representative was here and so was the Swedish consul. We had many foreign embassies and ambassadors visiting us here. The Swede who was arrested with me is now forbidden to come here for the next 14 years.
Our mobility has been affected by the settlements, not so much the wall; this is part of the plan for the eastern part of the area. The whole area is going to be in a canton. This is an Israeli plan that has not yet been implemented. It will connect Rantis, pass through Shuqba, Ni’lin, and Kiryat Shevar settlement. That will mean that Shuqba, Shibteen, Budrus, and Ni’lin, and al-Midya will be within a canton. There will be a tunnel from Ni’lin to Deir Qaddis. We don’t know when they will start this, but they are ready to begin. There has been some discussion about forming a committee to oppose this plan. We are working on this.
For people who do construction work in Ramallah, about 7-10 families moved there, just because of the lengthy commute. About 90 percent of those who had worked in Israel are not permitted to work there any more, but some work in Israel illegally, and they stay away for a week or two at time.
The situation in Ramallah is abnormal. When villages are cut off from the city, what becomes of it? What creates life in the cities other than the surrounding villages and towns? Cities are nourished by the life in the surrounding villages. The economy and jobs in cities are spurred by the villages. The movement of people from the villages to the cities is what creates life in the cities. When the villages are cut off from Ramallah, what happens to it? It diminishes.
Our affection for and solidarity with one another. When we turn out for an action, we feel that we are accomplishing something. We might be able to move the wall 5 or 10 meters or so, but you feel that something can be done about it. If Ramallah were to march on to Budrus, I am sure that not a segment of the wall would remain between Rantis and al-Midya. If we work seriously, I am sure that nothing would remain. The occupation can’t line up soldiers between Rantis and al-Midya. We had a march that gathered at one gate (western side), covered by al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya and other agencies, and people were taking down the wall from the southern end. Nothing is impossible.
The Berlin Wall fell. The day will come when peace-loving people will wake up. I think there are many Israelis who are working against the wall. If Budrus resists on the eastern side of the wall, let the Israelis resist on the western side. If there really are peace-loving people, that wall will come down. It just needs some planning and some determination."
Este depoimento explica um pouco a vitória eleitoral do Hamas, tamanha era a insatisfação com a passividade da Atutoridade Palestina inclusive na Cisjordânia.

Uma das manifestações semanais em Bil'in contra o muro. 31/08/2007

Ao mesmo tempo que o morador de Budrus prestava este depoimento acima e os moradores do vilarejo de Nilin continuavam sua batalha contra o muro de seu lado, o Tribunal de Justiça de Israel aprovava a demanda dos moradores de Bil'in de mudança de curso do muro ilegal que estava cercando seu vilarejo. Graças às pressões internacionais suscitadas pela cobertura midiática das manifestações pacíficas semanais violentamente reprimidas pelos soldados da IDF. Embora muitas cidadezinhas palestinas estivessem sofrendo o mesmo assédio militar e tendo grandes áreas cultivadas sendo "desapropriadas" para conforto dos colonos israelenses, Bil'in era o centro das atenções não apenas da mídia como também do governo palestino, com discurso e tudo.
Mas a vitória alegrou todo mundo. A vitória de um, quando se vive sob a ocupação cruel em que vive a Palestina, é de todos. Como o sofrimento. O desse dia foi que a Corte deu com uma mão e tirou com a outra, como sempre fazerm os israelenses e depois tiram o que deram com ambas... O Tribunal declarou que vários prédios que foram construídos na colônia/invasão no município de Bil'in, chamada Modiin Illit, em terrenos de propriedade de famílias palestinas, não seriam demolidos como os palestinos pediam. Os invasores/colonos judeus continuaram nas terras roubadas, como se fossem deles. Apesar de já fazer três anos que a Corte Internacional de Justiça delcarara a ilegalidade do muro além da Linha Verde e das invasões civis, chamadas colônias ou assentamentos.
Aí deixo a palavra a um israelense, Yonatan Pollack, do movimento Anarchists Agaisnt the Wall: "Yet Israel has outright scoffed at the ruling, and no foreign state has come forward to denounce Israel’s practices of apartheid and land theft as mandated by the ICJ decision.
What happened in Bil’in is certainly a step forward, following in the path of several villages that have stood firm against the increasing colonization of their land. Budrus, a small village near Bili’in, won a court battle that pushed the route of the apartheid wall back to the so-called “Israeli” side of the invisible green line — marking the internationally recognized boundary between Israel and the West Bank — nearly two years ago, but received little attention in the media. And community leaders inside Budrus were not quick to claim total victory; the wall still looms on the horizon and continues to make life completely impossible for their neighbors.
Activists involved in the struggle for Bil’in know that the fight is not close to being over. Bili’in “is a symbol of resistance — ultimately, the people have power over Israeli institutions and interests. The fact that the court ruled in favor against the wall is not because it is fond of human rights, but because it was forced to do so by a powerful lawyer and a popular uprising. It is important to remember that the court decision is still in deviation from international law; it still approves building the wall and promoting the illegal policy of segregation. The struggle does not end with this court ruling. [And] it is going to take a long time before the army proposes a new route, gets it approved by the court … and the new route is implemented and the old wall dismantled.
The larger context is important to keep in mind while looking at the situation in Bil’in. The overall picture is that of Israeli annexation of land and strategic control over the Palestinian population. The most important thing people can do in the international arena is to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which is the most powerful tool of international resistance.”
As Israel clamps down in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, backed and fortified by US and EU allies in its military-industrial colonization project, villagers and activists across occupied Palestine are hoping that these small sparks of resistance actions will grow and multiply as the occupation intensifies. Pollack agrees, saying, “We hope that this ruling in Bil’in will help fuel other villages to fight the wall and resist the overall occupation.”
Como o ativista israelense acima, os palestinos focaram no positivo para poderem sobreviver sem enlouquecer de desespero, e celebraram a vitória, pequena, mas imensa, que haviam obtido. 
Seria efêmera, os bulldozers voltariam, mas como ignoravam o que viria, que desfrutassem com alegria, pois a Casa Branca os trairia novamente, em novembro.

Bil'inenses celebram veredito de desvio do muro

Documentário B'Tselem 
Em setembro, os bilinenses celebraram, e em outubro, a população do vilarejo de Khirbet Qasa, no município oeste de Hebron, foi totalmente demolido e seus 200 moradores perderam casa e todos os seus pertences da noite pro dia. Literalmente. Kirbet Qasa, que ficava perto da Linha Verde, foi literalmente tirado do mapa para a prolongação do muro da vergonha que abocanha a Cisjordânia.

"When my friends fall prey to despair, I show them a piece of painted concrete, which I bought in Berlin. 
It is one of the remnants of the Berlin wall, which are on sale in the city.
I tell them that I intend, when the time comes, to apply for a franchise to sell pieces of the Separation Wall.
Sometimes, when I give a lecture before a German audience, I ask: "How many of you believed, a week before the fall of the wall, that this would happen in their lifetime?" No one has ever raised their hand.
But the Berlin wall fell. This week it happened here, too - true, only in one place, to a small section of the fence, when the Supreme Court decided that the government must dismantle the obstacle (which at this place consists of a fence, with ditches, patrol roads and razor wire) and relocate it nearer to the Green Line.
...First of all, a part of the land of Bil'in has been redeemed, but not all of it. The new fence will still be far from the Green Line. The length of the section to be dismantled is less than two kilometers.
Second, Bil'in is only one of many villages whose land has been stolen by means of the wall.
Third, the wall is only one of the means of occupation, and the occupation gets worse by the day.
Fourth, in many other places the Supreme Court has confirmed the path of the fence, even though it steals Palestinian land no less than at Bil'in.
Fifth, the Bil'in decision also has a negative side: it gives the court an alibi in the eyes of the world. It confers on the settlers an apparent legitimacy in many other places. It must not be forgotten for a moment that the Supreme Court is essentially an instrument of the occupation, even though it tries sometimes to mitigate it.
As if to underline this point, the court itself hastened this week to issue another ruling, giving retroactive authorization to another neighborhood that has also been built on Bil'in land.
Yet in spite of all this: in this desperate struggle, even a small victory is a big victory. Especially since it happened in Bil'in.
For BIL'IN is a symbol. In the past two and a half years, it has become a part of our life.
Here, every Friday, for 135 weeks without exception, a demonstration against the fence has taken place.
What is so special  about Bil'in, a small and remote village, whose name was known before to just a few outsiders, if any?
The struggle there has become a symbol because of an unusual combinations of traits: 
A- STEADFASTNESS. The courage of the Bil'iners. In other villages, too, the demonstrators have shown courage, but here the sheer dogged persistence arouses admiration. Week after week they came back. The activists were arrested again and again, wounded more than once. The entire village has suffered from the terrorism of the occupation authorities.
More than once I was stirred at the sight of this small village's resistance. I saw the armored jeeps storming in, sirens screeching hysterically, the heavily armed policemen jumping out and throwing gas and stun grenades in all directions, young boys stopping the jeeps with their bodies.
B- PARTNERSHIP. The three-cornered partnership between the people of the village, Israeli peace activists and representatives of international solidarity.
This is a kind of partnership that is not expressed in highfaluting speeches or sterile meetings in luxury hotels abroad. It was forged under clouds of choking tear gas, under the jets of water cannons, under fire from stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets, and in ambulances of the Red Crescent as well as army detention facilities. It has given birth to comradeship and mutual trust, just when these seemed to have been lost forever in our country.
Since the death of Yasser Arafat, cooperation between Palestinians and Israeli peace movements has declined in several spheres. Many Palestinians have despaired of the Israelis, who have not achieved the hoped-for change, and many Israeli peace activists have despaired in face of the Palestinian reality. But in Bil'in cooperation has flourished.
The Israeli activists, headed by the resolute young women and men of the "Anarchists Against the Fence", have proved to the Palestinians that they have an Israeli partner they can trust, and the people of Bil'in have proved to their Israeli friends that they are reliable and determined partners. I am proud of the part Gush Shalom has played in this struggle.
Now the court has proved that such demonstrations, which many considered hopeless, can indeed bear fruit.
C- NON-VIOLENCE. Always and everywhere. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King would have been proud of such disciples.
The non-violence was entirely on the side of the demonstrators. I can testify as an eye-witness: in all the demonstrations in which I took part, I saw not a single instance of a demonstrator raising a hand against a soldier or policeman. When in one of the protests stones were thrown from among the protesters, video films conclusively proved that they were thrown by undercover policemen.
True, there was violence at the demonstrations. A lot of violence. But it came from the soldiers and the border-policemen who could not bear, I presume, the sight of Palestinians and Israelis acting together.
Generally, it happened like this: The demonstrators marched together from the center of the village towards the fence. In front there marched young men and women wearing or carrying symbols of non-violence. On one occasion, they were handcuffed to each other, another time they were holding high portraits of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, another time they were carried in cages - imagination and creativity were given free rein. Sometimes well-known personalities marched in front, arms locked.
Near the fence, a large contingent of soldiers and border-policemen were waiting for them, wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests and armed with rifles and grenade launchers, with handcuffs and sticks dangling from their belts. The protesters did not stop but advanced towards the gate, banging on it, shaking it, waving flags and shouting slogans. The soldiers opened fire with gas and stun grenades and rubber-coated steel bullets. Some protesters sat down on the ground, others retreated and then came back again and again. Some were dragged away with their bare backs scraping along the road and the rocks, choking on the gas. Arrests were made. Wounds were treated.
When the demonstration came to a close and the participantes headed back towards the village, the local boys would start to sling stones at the soldiers, who responded with rubber bullets. Chases took place between the olive trees, with the light footed boys generally having the advantage.
Sometimes, the stone-slinging started even earlier, when the boys saw from afar the concentration of forces lurking in the village groves and the demonstrators being dragged brutally towards the army vehicles. But, in accordance with the standing agreement among themselves, the protesters never joined in the violence, not even when they were dragged on the rock-strewn ground or were kicked and beaten while lying there.
This combination of steadfastness, partnership and non-violence is what turned Bil'in into a beacon of the struggle against the occupation.
THE BIL'IN affair has another face, which was revealed in all its ugliness over the last few weeks.
The Supreme Court has decided that the path of the fence in this sector was not based on security considerations, but was designed to enlarge the settlement. For us, of course, that was not a startling revelation. Everyone who has been there, including foreign diplomats, has seen it with their own eyes: the path was fixed in such a way that the Bil'in land was annexed de facto to Israel, to serve for a huge new housing project called "Matityahu East", in addition to the settlement called Matityahu (and also Modi'in Illit and Kiryat Sefer) that is already standing.
In a second decision this week, the Supreme Court, for the sake of a spurious "balance", decided that the housing project that is already standing in Matityahu, also on Bil'in land, can remain there and may now be populated, in spite of the fact that the same court has in the past forbidden this.
And who built Matityahu?
Some weeks ago, a huge scandal was exposed. The culprit is a building company called Heftsiba. It collapsed, taking with it the apartments that its clients had already paid for. Many of them have lost their entire savings.
The owner of the company fled and was tracked down in Italy. The company's debts come close to a billion dollars. The police suspects that the fugitive has stolen immense sums.
And lo and behold: this is the same company that built the original Matityahu neighborhood, and that intended to build the new Matityahu project on land stolen by means of the "Security Fence". It also built the monstrous Har Homa housing project and other neighborhoods in the occupied territories.
Who can now deny what we have been saying for years, that the settlements are a huge business of billions upon billions of dollars, which is entirely based on stolen property?
Everybody knows the hard core of settlers, nationalist-messianic fanatics, who are ready to drive out, kill and rob, because their God told them so. But around this core has gathered a large group of gangsters, real estate operators, who conduct their dirty and hugely profitable business behind the screen of patriotism. In this case, patriotism is indeed the refuge of scoundrels.
Talia Sasson, a lawyer appointed at the time by the government to investigate the setting up of "illegal" settlement outposts, has concluded that most of the ministries and army commands have violated the law and secretly cooperated with the settlers. It may appear that they acted out of patriotic sentiments. I have my doubts. I dare to guess that there must be hundreds of politicians, officials and officers who have received large bribes from businessmen who made billions from these "patriotic" transactions.
P.S.: The man who invented the wall was Haim Ramon, then a leader of the Labor Party. Ramon started out as one of the "doves' of the party (when that was popular). Later he jumped ship to the Kadima Party (when that was profitable).
This week Ramon proposed cutting off the electricity that Israel supplies to the Gaza Strip, as punishment for the Qassam rockets fired at Sderot. It must be remembered that from the beginning of the occupation, Israeli governments have prevented the setting up of independent water and electricity works there, so as to make sure that the Strip would be completely dependent on Israel in matters of life and death.
Now Ramon proposes cutting off this lifeline, to plunge Gaza into darkness, to stop electricity for hospitals and refrigerators, as a collective punishment - which constitutes a war crime. His government has accepted the proposal in principle.
If Bil'in represents the struggle of the Sons of Light, Ramon surely represents - quite literally - the Sons of Darkness."
Uri Avnery, 08/09/2007

Em Nablus, a IDF "preparava" a Conferência de Anapolis oprimindo à sua maneira 
No dia 27/10, Israel demole o vilarejo Khirbet Qasa inteiro 

Em Budrus, a população luta contra destruição de oliveiras

Em Bil'in, a luta contra o muro continua

Enquanto isso, nos EUA, o ex-presidente dos EUA Jimmy Carter 
contava a Amy Goodman, em DN, o que viu na Palestina
Reservistas da IDF, forças israelenses de ocupação,
Shovrim Shtika - Breaking the Silence 
"When you're in this kind of place, ongoing warfare, uncertainty, you become indifferent to everything going on around you. In fact, eventually you don't care. You don't care about them, about what happens to them. You don't care. You pass your time because you know you have to and there's nothing you can do about it, whether it's a warning or something that is actually happening. You don't know. Something has to happen that really shocks you in order for you to change, and I guess it doesn't. The fact is such serious things did occur and so many people would not talk about them. Perhaps, too, they don't think it is so severe or serious – that it was natural, a part of what we called ongoing warfare".  Tenente da IDF.
"All in all, arrests, I don't . . . I think we arrested so many people. You don't understand who you're arresting. You've got some ID number and you arrest him. "Pick-up", that is, is what you're doing. Sometimes they would come, say, "Okay, I'm coming", you load him on an armored personnel carrier, leave him at a Shin Bet facility, just leave him and drine back. We did this service for the Shin Bet. This was something. From Offer camp. Oh so many arrests. We arrested all of Ramallah, every single person there. Because, it was a period where the situation was such, it was four months that we had the post and also Offer camp, like we split up. And all the time we went in and out, in and out, in and out". Sargento da IDF.
"One day, when I was the second company sergeant major, I stayed on base for the weekend with that second company commander I told you about, he was a great guy, it was fun. He said to me after dinner, “Come on an arrest with me, nothing serious". I have to remember his name. It's a crap village that gets treated like crap. He says to me, “Come with me, it’s just [arresting] a17-year-old kid.” I said to him, “I'll go with you, I don't have anything to do.” We go with the second company commander’s front command jeep into the house, take the kid out. He says “Trash the house,” everyone turns the house inside out.
Why?
No reason. We trash the house, take him, shackled and blindfolded, put in him in the front command jeep, he sits on the radio, we start driving one after the other, we led and the deputy battalion commander was behind us. All of a sudden the kid throws up. I was sitting next to him and he threw up on my foot, it smelled so bad I wanted to die, I lost my self-control. I told the deputy company commander to stop the vehicle now. He was laughing his head off. We stopped, I grabbed the kid, he's shackled, I threw him down just like that onto the gravel, at least three meters from the jeep, behind. We took out all the ice boxes that were in there and started cleaning and I was pissed off. I grabbed his back and pulled the plastic cable ties on his hands, I grabbed his head and took him back to the jeep, I pushed his head into the two-way radio, just because, because of the vomit, no reason. It’s this thing that you can – it’s a feeling of power, you have a weapon, you have power in your hands.
When did you understand these things?
Only afterwards. Only after you do it. You say to yourself, “Why did I have to do that?”
How long afterwards?
After a few hours, after the guys had their post-mission meal, you eat, you start talking to yourself “What's up with you? Why did that happen?”
Then you stopped?
You usually start digesting all your army service only after it's over, after you’ve been out for at least a year".
Sargento  da IDF em Ramallah.
Adar  I


domingo, 18 de janeiro de 2015

Rogue State of Israel, finalmente, no banco dos réus?

  ICC to probe possible war crimes in Palestine

O ICC - Corte Penal Internacional na Háguia que julga crimes de guerra e genocídios - anunciou no fim da semana que abrirá inquérito sobre possíveis crimes de guerra cometidos em território palestino nos últimos meses.
O Russel Tribunal for Palestine deve fornecer seus depoimentos, e estes, mais as atrocidades que os promotores da Háguia investigarão diretamente, determinarão quem será julgado e por quais crimes precisamente.
O ICC declarou na sexta-feira que "A preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process of examining the information available in order to reach a fully informed determination on whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation pursuant to the criteria established by the Rome Statute".
Richard Falks on ICC opening initial inquiry into war crimes in Gaza
Richard Falks comenta a abertura da investigação do ICC 

Ninguém duvida que o ICC encontrará inúmeras provas para abrir uma investigação que incrimine muita gente. Tanto que Avigdor Lieberman, ministro das relações exteriores de Israel e fora-da-lei internacional por residir em uma das invasões israelenses na Cisjordânia, logo defendeu o dele gritando que a decisão era "scandalous". Usou a ladainha vergonhosa que o único propósito do exame preliminar era "try to harm Israel's right do defend itself from terror". Pobrezinhos.
Como de costume, usou a palavra "terror" - que é cada vez mais empregada contra seu próprio país - para atacar o Hamas que é um grupo de resistência que luta contra a limpeza étnica de seu povo e por cidadania e liberdade.
O fascista Lieberman aproveitou os atentados em Paris para voltar a se fazer de vítima, dizendo que a decisão do ICC era "solely motivated by political anti-Israel considerations". A tentativa de se vitimizar foi infrutífera. O verdugo já não consegue mais fazer papel de vítima após o último massacre de Gaza que foi relatado diariamente por muitos jornalistas prontos a testemunhar.
Só quem reagiu em favor de Tel Aviv foi seu padrinho Estados Unidos. Os outros países ficaram quietos, sabendo que a opinião pública interna tem olhos e enxerga quem é o 'mocinho' e o 'bandido' neste conflito que só tem uma razão de ainda não ter sido resolvido.
Ammar Hijazi, alto funcionário do ministério das Relações Exteriores da Palestina, demonstrou confiança no processo do ICC. "The gravity aspect is there, as civilians were targeted [in Operation Protective Edge]. Palestine is ready to fully cooperate if there are any violations commited during the war by the Palestinian side as well". O próprio Ministro Riyad al-Malki disse confiante: "Everything is going according to plan, no state and nobody can now stop this action we requested... In the end, a full investigation will follow the preliminary one."
Foi um recado direto para o porta-voz do State Department dos EUA Jeff Rathke que condenou a decisão do ICC descaradamente. "We strongly disagree with the ICC prosecutor's action today. It is a tragic irony that Israel, which has withstood thousands of terrorist rockets fired at its civilians and its neighbourhoods, is now being scrutinised by the ICC."

Remembering Shujayea, victim of Operation Protective Edge 
Viagem de drone sobre o bairro Shujayea, em Gaza

Jeff Rathke omitiu que Israel protagoniza a ocupação mais longa da História, é um Estado bandido há mais de duas décadas - desde que os Organismos internacionais oficializaram a ilegalidade da ocupação militar e civil (através das invasões/assentamento/colônias judias), que é o único Estado no mundo que realiza uma limpeza étnica sistemática de toda uma etnia de maneira violenta e paulatina, e que se não apelasse para a ignorância de muitos cristãos e judeus, seria taxado formalmente de Estado terrorista na ONU.
Digam o que disserem, os Estados Unidos vão ter de suportar no mínimo a publicidade negativa do seu afilhado e no máximo que os criminosos identificados só possam viajar de Israel para os EUA (outro não assinante do Tratado de Roma certamente para seus crimes ficarem impunes) se não quiserem ser julgados como merecem.
Como o secretário geral das Nações Unidas Ban Ki-Moon confirmou que a Palestina será integrada formalmente no ICC no dia 1° de abril e a Corte informou que a jurisprudência seria retroativa ao dia 13 de junho de 2014, as duas operações militares precedentes de 20085/9 e 2012 não poderão ser punidas. Contudo, a Protective Edge realizada em 2014 e relatada aqui no dia a dia em julho e agosto, será, integralmente.
Israel declarou publicamente que vai lobby certos Estados membros do ICC  para que suspendam sua contribuição financeira à Palestina a fim de forçá-la a voltar atrás ou ir à bancarrota, já que Israel já bloqueou os impostos devidos a Ramallah e mais de 160 mil funcioários públicos ficaram sem renda.
Avigdor Lieberman disse literalmente que "We will demand that our friends in Canada, Australia and Germany simply to stop funding it [Palestine]". Nem cita os EUA porque esta causa já está ganha antecipadamente. O problema é que os governo da Austrália e do Canadá são sionistas, mas a maioria absoluta da população desses dois países é pró-regularização da situação da Palestina. Na Alemanha, idem. Aliás, Angela Merkell também é simpatizante da justiça, mas se voltar-se contra Israel, o lobby sionista vai gritar logo "anti-semita"! É o argumento de pressão que usam sempre contra a Alemanha.
O certo é que pode durar meses e anos, dependendo da pressão internacional, mas o simples fato de levar Israel a Tribunal já é uma vitória. Pequena, mas um avanço. Toda esta reação agressiva é a prova concreta que já foram atingidos porque sabem que têm muita culpa no cartório da justiça.



Contestando nas entrelinhas o Secretário Geral da ONU, ontem em Jerusalém, o primeiro ministro israelense Binyamin Netanyahu comentou a decisão do ICC à sua maneira: "It's absurd of the ICC to ignore international law and agreements under which the Palestinians don't have a state and can only get one through direct negotiations with Israel. The rules of the ICC are clear: No state, no standing, no case."
A cara-de-pau dos líderes israelenses é tão grande que até hoje, após 33 anos de prática, ainda fico atônita de ver até onde são capazes de chegar. Em uma única frase, Netanyahu debochou da ONU, do ICC, do Conselho de Segurança, enfim, do mundo, falando em lei internacional, quando Israel desrespeita todas há anos, falando em um Estado negociado, quando Israel declarou o seu, unilateralmente, há 66 anos; falando que os palestinos não têm um Estado, como se a culpa fosse deles e não de Israel que ocupa seu território com colônias e soldados infringindo as leis internacionais.
Só para lembrar, o fato é que a Palestina fez a demanda de adesão ao ICC em dezembro de 2014, depois assinou o Tratado de Roma (a Carta que levou à formação do Tribunal em 2002), e deve aderir formalmente à Corte em abril, como disse acima, com efeito retroativo de 10 meses.
Isto significa que o ICC investigará a Operação Protective Edge e os crimes de guerra cometidos por Israel na Faixa de Gaza - quando Israel matou mais de 2.300 palestinos, dentre eles mais de 500 crianças, e alega ter perdido 73 pessoas, mais de 60 soldados, dentre eles, pelo menos três jihadistas estrangeiros.
Netanyahu prosseguiu em sua lenga lenga terrorista a fim de enganar os incautos facilmente influenciáveis pelos recentes acontecimentos em Paris, pondo o Hamas no mesmo saco de terroristas.
Quanto ao Hamas, que segundo Netanyahu são "Palestinian terrorists who routinely commit multiple war crimes", sem citar o nome das supostas vítimas, "They deliberately fire thousands of rockets at our civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians whom they use as human shields".
Enough is enough. Foi a primeira vez que pus fotos que retratam um pouco do que os jornalistas veem e que não mostram por pudor, às vezes, mas mais por censura hierárquica. Fiz isto porque estou meio cansada dos dois pesos e duas medidas impostos para livrar a cara de Israel, que é um Estado que comete barbaridades inadmissíveis e insuportáveis. Isto tem de acabar.

Jamie Stern-Weiner on Israel's horrors in Gazahttp://www.newleftproject.org/index.php/site/article_comments/double_tapping_in_gaza

Inside the efforts to re-build Gaza
Se Israel estivesse com a consciência tranquila, por que reclamaria tanto?
Por que não deixar o ICC investigar sem atar-lhes as mãos? Por que Israel também não adere ao ICC em vez de esconder-se debaixo da saia dos Estados Unidos que também teme que a Lei se abata sobre eles?
Israel já vai livrar-se de investigações retroativas que o deixariam em piores lençóis ainda, como a Pillar of Defense à qual Miko Peled - filho de general da IDF e reservista - se refere neste vídeo.

E a Operação Cast Lead em 2008/9 que a Anistia Internacional e outras ONGs humanitárias denunciaram prolificamente.

E o Hamas, como reagiu à perspectiva de investigação de seus atos de resistência ditos ilícitos?
Seu porta-voz Fawzi Barhoum disse que seu partido fornecerá ao ICC "thousands of reports" que provam que "horrible crimes" foram cometidos pela IDF. "What is needed now is to quickluy take practical steps in this direction and we are readyto provide [the Court] with thousand of reports and documents that confirm the Zionist enemy has committed horrible crimes against Gaza and against our people."
Também só para lembrar, Israel desmantelou suas colônias na Faixa em 2005 e as transferiu para a Cisjordânia. O intuito era deixar a Faixa desgovernada e melhor bombardear os gazauís nos anos seguintes. Desde 2006 que a Faixa vive em estado de sítio, bloqueada por todos os lados - terra (Israel e Egito) mar e ar (forças armadas israelenses).
Dito isto, o Ministro das Relações Exteriores da Palestina mostrou-se tranquilo quanto à atuação do ICC, apesar da oposição de Israel e dos EUA (não membros) dizendo que "no state and nobody can now stop this action we requested".

Parlamento britânico condena Operação Protective Edge
The Palestinians’ Decision to Join the ICC Deserves Support: Keneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. Twitter: @KenRoth. 15, 2015

Atualização do dia 02/02/2015
 sobre a investigação dos crimes de guerra cometidos na FAixa de Gaza em 2014
William Schabas, chefe da comissão de investigação, se demite., por pressão de Israel.
Em seu lugar a ONU nomeou a estadunidense Mary McGowan Davis.
Gaza City - On Monday, February 02, Dr William Schabas tendered his resignation as chair and member of the Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Gaza Conflict to the President of the Human Rights Council (HRC), Ambassador Joachim Ruecker of Germany. The resignation was effective immediately.
The resignation came after the Permanent Mission of Israel sent a letter to Ambassador Ruecker asking for the removal of Schabas due to a possible conflict of interest.
Schabas wrote a legal opinion for the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 2012, for which he was paid $1,300. Schabas maintains that the opinion he wrote was no different from an advice he has given to many other governments and organisations. 
Ruecker accepted Schabas' resignation, saying that he "respects the decision of Professor Schabas and appreciates that in this way even the appearance of a conflict of interest is avoided, thus preserving the integrity of the process", according to a press release issued by the COI.
Al Jazeera spoke with Schabas about his resignation.
Al Jazeera: Does your resignation have anything to do with Palestine's membership in the ICC?
Dr William Schabas: Not at all, that was something that might have been relevant, but it happened while the commission was already under way. So we were already working when Palestine became a member, and we weren't working with the aim of presenting our findings to any officials with the ICC.
Obviously the issues are relevant, but it's an independent thing. The findings of the report, which I'm not aware of, as I have resigned, might have some bearing on Palestine's membership. But as far as my resignation, it wasn't a factor at all. 
Al Jazeera: Were you under pressure to resign ?
Schabas: No, unless you consider the fact that [Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and [Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs] Lieberman have been calling for my resignation since the moment I was appointed.
I resisted this pressure and criticism since the moment I assumed the role of chairperson of the commission.
My explanation for why I resigned has nothing to do with that pressure. It was difficult for me to proceed as chairman while there are allegations of a conflict of interest hanging overhead, and I was determined that the answer to dealing with this issue was resignation. The inquiry will be able to move forward unabated.
Al Jazeera: How much work is left for the commission?Schabas: The commission is due to present its report to the Human Rights Council on March 23, and it will need to issue the report sometime before then, so that governments can adopt positions and meet with counsellors. They need time to prepare statements and so on.  
There are five or six weeks of work left, and this mostly consists of writing the report itself.
The deadline for written submissions was Saturday, January 31. So now, the commission will be spending the next five or six weeks analysing the eye witness testimony and other data that was collected and writing the report. It's quite a bit of work that's left.
Al Jazeera: Considering the fact that the report will be published in March, will your resignation have any effect on public perception regarding the findings?
Schabas: I don't think so, I don't think that will change. Some people think my involvement tainted the commission's conduct from the very beginning, and my resignation won't change their mind in any way.
After six months of incessant calls of people for my resignation, I resigned and they still say it's "all wrong". I don't think it matters to people in these circles.  
Elsewhere, where people weren't influenced by Israel's criticism [of me], they will see the report for what it is. It's an honest report, and I'm confident that my involvement did not have any bearing on the objectivity of all those involved. We were charged with investigating allegations that international law was violated in the Gaza Strip. This is what was done.
Al Jazeera: Is there an idea on who will assume the position of head of the commission of inquiry?
Schabas: There are two people [Mary McGowan Davis of the United States and Doudou Diene of Senegal].
On Wednesday, it was announced  that McGowan Davis will be the next chairperson

Em dezembro a Anistia Internacional já concluiu em Nothing is immune”: Israel’s destruction of landmark buildings in Gaza que pelo menos conque pelo menos o bombardeio de prédios importantes em Gaza foram um ataque deliberado a civis. O diretor da AI para o Oriente Médio Philip Luther afirmou que "All the evidence we have shows this large-scale destruction was carried out deliberately and with no military justification. Both the facts on the ground and statements made by israeli military spokespeople at the time indicate that the attacks were a collective punishment agains the people of Gaza and were designed to destroy their already precairous livelihoods".
Há outras provas de crimes voluntários com testemunhas à vontade. É só entrevistar os jornalistas presentes nos locais, assistir às filmagens censuradas pela grande mídia, e ouvir o depoimento dos interessados - o povo que foi punido simplesmente por existir e resistir de pé.   No final das contas, o ICC, para o bem da justiça, só tem de trabalhar de braços dados com o Tribunal Russel (blog de 05/10/14).

Centenas de milhares de crianças gazauís ficaram sofrendo de choque pós-traumático após o massacre do ano passado,adicionado aos dois anteriores em 2008/09 e 2012, mais os ataques diários da IDF: a deadly missile bombardment.
Inside Story: Were war crimes committed in Palestine

Relatório da ONG israelense de Direitos Humanos B'Tselem sobre a Operação Protective Edge em Gaza:
Black Flag: The legal and moral implications of the policy of attacking residential buildings in the Gaza Strip, summer 2014 (pdf), B’Tselem investigated 70 incidents in which at least three people were killed while inside their home during what Israel called Operation Protective Edge.

Há imagens fortes que não são mostradas na mídia, mas que os jornalistas veem e filmam. A realidade das atrocidades de Israel é bárbara. Como as cabeças cortadas pelo Isis tão mediatizadas. 

Sobrevivente do Holocausto critica Israel
Update 19/01/15
Hundreds of Palestinians in Israel protested on Monday as thousands pariticipated in the funeral procession of a Bedouin man with Israeli citizenship who died during a confrontation with police on Sunday night. Protests were held by activists in Haifa, Jaffa, Nazareth, Beersheba, and Rahat, as well as by students at Tel Aviv University, Ben Gurion University, Haifa University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Around 100 protesters gathered in Haifa's Emile Habibi Square and marched through the city bearing placards and Palestinian flags and chanting slogans against police brutality. "Oh police, Arab blood is not cheap," dozens sang out in unison. Others yelled: "Resist, resist. Don't compromise on your rights!"
Sami al-Zayadna, a 43-year-old Bedouin man from Rahat, died from excessive tear gas inhalation when mourners were corned by police in a cemetery during a funeral which turned into a protest. Dozens were also injured, including at least three critical injures, according to local media reports.
An estimated 1.7 million Palestinians carry Israeli citizenship and live in cities, towns and villages across the country. A diverse community of Muslims, Christians and Druze, they face dozens of discriminatory laws that stifle their political expression and limit their access to state resources, such as land and education, according to rights groups.
Clashes also erupted between police and mourners during the funeral of 22-year-old Sami al-Jaar, who was fatally shot while standing on his patio, as police clashed with local youth across the street from his home on Wednesday night.
Salah Mohsen, media coordinator for the Haifa-based Adalah Legal Centre, noted that Zayadna is the 50th Palestinian citizen of Israel to have died at the hands of police officers since October 2000, when 13 unarmed demonstrators were fatally shot by police during protests across the Galilee region of the country.
From 11,282 complaints of police misconduct filed between 2011 and 2013, according to a September 2014 Adalah report, 93 percent were eventually "closed by Mahash with or without investigation" and a mere 2.7 percent resulted in the prosecution of officers.
Shops and businesses across the Negev were closed for a general strike on Monday, and the Higher Guidance Committee of Arab Residents in the Negev accused the government of "state terrorism".

Apartheid Adventures  XII

Aproveitando a onda "anti-terrorista" do atentado em Paris e a simpatia momentânea conseguida com a morte de quatro rapazes judeus entre os 17 atingidos pelos psicopatas muçulmanos, Israel atacou o Hezbollah no Líbano no dia 18. Seu alvo era Jihad Mughniyeh, de 26 anos. Um líder inato e muito estimado.
O Apache da IDF invadiu o espaço aéreo do país vizinho - além dos Golã que já ocupa desde 1967 - e assassinou seis membros do partido e seis iranianos, dentres eles, o general Mohammad Ali Allahdadi em Quneitra, perto da fronteira. O jovem assassinado era filho de Imad Mughniyeh, um dos líderes do Hizbollah que Israel assassinou em um atentado similar em Damasco em 2008. E ficou por isso.
O Hezbollah é um partido libanês xiita ligado ao Irã e que vem apoiando Bashar el-Assad contra o al-Nusra, o braço armado do Isis na Síria e os grupos rebeldes locais. Isto fez com que sua popularidade diminuisse bastante no Líbano.
O atentado é grave e suas consequências serão, sem dúvida, igualmente lamentáveis.
Desde que começaram os problemas na Síria esta é a sétima vez que Israel invade o espaço aéreo dos vizinhos para realizar atentados.
Três dias antes desta execução de Jihad, o chefe do Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, declarara que considerava uma grande agressão as frequentes incursões de Israel na Síria contra Bashar.
O assassinato do filho de Mughniyeh foi um ataque direto à liderança do Hezbollah, devido à sua proeminente ascendência no partido e porque após a morte do pai, Nasrallah o tinha como filho.
Israel está cutucando o tigre com uma vara muitíssimo curta. Não acho que o partido possa deixar passar batido os assassinatos de pai e filho. Para Nasrallah é questão de liderança e de honra. Pode-se prever que o atentado terrorista seja retaliado. E os israelenses sabem disso. Deve ser por isso que assassinaram Jihad, porque sabem que o Hizbollah vai retaliar e aí eles protagonizarem outro massacre no Líbano, apoiados pelos Estados Unidos.
Por que agora? Porque Israel está em plena campanha eleitoral e nada como um banho de sangue alheio para conseguir votos. Binyamin Netaniahu não pode voltar a massacrar Gaza tão rápido, mas sua sede de sangue é inesgotável. Sobretudo porque deve achar que o Hizbollah está fragilizado por estar combatendo na Síria e suas forças armadas estarem engajadas lá. Como sempre, sua motivação é imediata e sua ação covarde.
Mas quando Israel atacar, que a grande mídia se lembre quem provocou e que não engula que Netanyahu ou outro Primeiro Ministro sanguinário está agindo em "legítima defesa". A provocação é ilegítima e clara. E em uma má hora em que todos deveriam unir-se contra as ameaças globais. O Irã tem um regime autoritário, mas na região, é o único estável. Se os ayatolás caissem agora, seria um desastre mundial, pois os extremistas ganhariam terreno rapidinho. Quanto ao Hizbollah, nunca praticou terrorismo, que eu saiba. Só defende o Líbano do expansionismo israelense.
Tanto o Irã quanto o Hizbollah são necessários neste momento de crise com o auto-proclamado Estado Islâmico e seus simpatizantes.
Porém, Israel só pensa em seus próprios interesses. O mundo que se dane nas mãos do Isis e do Al-Qaeda contanto que seus inimigos fabricados, ou seja, os cujo território ocupa e cobiça, sejam dizimados. Terrorismo pouco é bobagem.
Israel se congratula pelo assassinato de Jihad Mughniyeh por ele ser estrela ascendente la liderança do Hezbollah. Se fosse o Hizbollah que tivesse ido a Israel matar primeiro o general Ehud Barak e seis anos mais tarde o seu filho, como o mundo reagiria?
O problema são os dois pesos e duas medidas.

Hezbollah hab been cornered
"Israel's recent actions against Hezbollah, Damascus and Tehran suggest two possible calculations. Either it feels able to provoke the three allies with little if any consequence, or it is goading them into a confrontation.
Sunday's Israeli strike in Syria killed several Hezbollah fighters - including a commander and the son of the group's late military leader Imad Mughniyeh - as well as general in Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
Days earlier, Hezbollah said it had detained one of its operatives who had confessed to spying for Mossad. A few weeks prior, Damascus said an Israeli drone had been brought down over Syrian territory. That was preceded a week earlier by an Israeli bombardment near Damascus airport and Syria's border with Lebanon. Add to that several previous Israeli strikes in Syria since the revolution against Bashar al-Assad began four years ago.
Threatening Hezbollah
The timing of Sunday's strike seemed designed to challenge Israel's opponents. It took place just days after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallahsaid it was their "right to respond" to Israel's "frequent attacks" in Syria, and that retaliation "could happen any time". However, Nasrallah, Assad and Iran have little room for manoeuvre in terms of a response.
Hezbollah is militarily bogged down in Syria in support of Assad. Its involvement there has led to a string of jihadist attacks on Hezbollah's home turf, which looks set to continue, if not intensify.
Last week, al-Qaeda's Syrian wing, al-Nusra Front, addressed the following threat to Hezbollah; "We will spare no effort to strike you in your heartlands." Last month, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) issued a call for "all the jihadis to move to Lebanon to break Hezbollah".
According to opinion polls, Hezbollah's popularity domestically and regionally has nose-dived due to its intervention in Syria.
This has galvanised its political opponents at home, and led to dissenting voices within its own support base.
Israel's killing of Hezbollah fighters in Syria rather than Lebanon may be a tactical decision to avoid Lebanese uniting behind the movement against the violation of their country's sovereignty, as they have done in previous conflicts with Israel.
This thinking can be seen in an editorial by Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper, which wrote that: "It is important to reiterate that the attack happened in Syrian territory, and it is up to the Syrian authorities to decide how and whether to react."
Nasrallah's primary regional allies are far weaker than they were during Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon. Assad, whose position is reliant on foreign fighters and weapons, has lost control of large swaths of Syria to various armed groups. Iran's military is increasingly involved in Syria and Iraq.
This has strained its economy, which is suffering greatly from plummeting oil prices and western sanctions (US sanctions have recently been increased).
Ready for another war
Following Sunday's strike, Nasrallah said his movement was ready for another war with Israel, but this looks more like posturing than reality. Hezbollah, Assad and Iran are too invested in each others' conflicts, as well as internal pressures and regional rivalries, to afford an all-out war with Israel.
The situation today is far removed from 2006, when Hezbollah was able to take on its long-time foe with the help of its allies, who were able to focus on providing sufficient weaponry through stable supply routes.
This may explain why threats of retaliation have been somewhat muted.
The strongest words have come from Hezbollah, which is not surprising.
Full-scale war with Israel would mean the movement having to recall troops from Syria, which would be greatly damaging to Assad as it has been instrumental in a string of battlefield successes.
Tehran would potentially have to divert its military resources away from Syria and Iraq, not just to aid Hezbollah, but to secure itself against the risk of Israel carrying out its repeated threats to strike Iran.
As such, Assad and Tehran may be privately advising Nasrallah not to escalate the situation. Behind closed doors, Nasrallah himself might not need convincing. Even small-scale reprisals are a major risk as Israel could use them as a pretext to escalate.
'Axis of resistance'
However, not responding to repeated Israeli provocations will make Hezbollah and its allies look weak, particularly given their threats of retaliation. Their credibility as the self-proclaimed "axis of resistance" would be undermined.
This would be particularly true of Hezbollah, which was established specifically as a resistance movement against Israel.
Meanwhile, with Israelis going to the polls in March, acting tough prior to elections tends to be a vote-winner, so it serves Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's domestic standing to sabre-rattle, particularly if things are unlikely to get out of hand. 
From Israel's point of view, there has never been a better time to challenge Hezbollah. This highlights the strategic blunder of the movement's intervention in Syria, veering from its raison d'etre and leaving itself vulnerable against a sworn enemy that has yet to defeat it.
Hezbollah is in an unenviable position - it cannot afford to retaliate against Israel, but neither can it afford not to". Sharif Nashashibi is an award-winning journalist and analyst on Arab affairs. He is a regular contributor to Al Jazeera English, Al Arabiya News, The National, The Middle East magazine and the Middle East Eye.

Inside Story: Israel/Hizbollah, high stakes

Inside Story: A return to Israel Hizbollah hostilities?

"Hit me! Beat me! Kick me!" the masochist pleads with the sadist.There used to be a joke about a sadist and a masochist. 
The sadist smiles a cruel smile and slowly answers: "No!"
That, more or less, reflects the situation on our northern border at this moment.
Two Israeli drones have bombed (or missiled) a small Hezbollah convoy, a few miles beyond the border with Syria on the Golan heights. 12 people were killed. One was an Iranian general. One was a very young Hezbollah officer, the son of Imad Mughniyeh, a very high-ranking Hezbollah officer who was also killed by Israel, some seven years ago, in a Damascus car explosion.
The killing of the Iranian general was perhaps unintended. Seems that Israeli intelligence did not know that he, and five other Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers, were in the convoy. An Israeli army officer admitted this in a roundabout way. A second officer denied the statement of the first.
He did not apologize, of course. One cannot apologize when one does not officially admit to being the perpetrator. And, of course, Israelis do not apologize. Never ever. Indeed, one far-right party in the present election has turned this into an election slogan: "No apologies!"
The intended victim of the attack was the 25-year old Jihad Mughniyeh, a junior Hezbollah officer whose only claim to fame was his family name.
Immediately after the killing, the question arose: Why? Why now? Why at all?
The Israeli-Syrian border (or, rather, cease-fire line) has been for decades the quietest border of Israel. No shooting. No incidents. Nothing.
Assad the father and Assad the son both saw to this. They were not interested in provoking Israel. After the 1973 Yom Kippur War, which started with a huge Syrian surprise success and ended with a complete Syrian defeat, the Assads wanted no new adventure.
Even when Ariel Sharon attacked Lebanon in 1982, the Syrian troops stationed in Lebanon did not intervene. But since one of Sharon's war aims was to drive the Syrians out of Lebanon, he had to open fire himself to get them involved. That adventure ended with a Syrian success.
Any intention Bashar al-Assad might ever have had to provoke Israel (and it seems that he never had any) vanished when the Syrian civil war started, more than four years ago. Both Bashar al-Assad and the various rebel factions were fully occupied with their bloody business. Israel could not interest them less.
So why did Israeli drones hit a small convoy of Assad's allies – Hezbollah and Iran? It is very unlikely that they had any aggressive intentions against Israel. Probably they were scouting the terrain in search of Syrian rebels.
The Israeli government and the army did not explain. How could they, when they did not officially admit to the action? Even unofficially, there was no hint.
But there is an elephant in the room: the Israeli elections.
We are now in the middle of the election campaign. Was there, could there be, any connection between the election campaign and the attack?
You bet!
To suggest that our leaders could order a military action to increase their chances in an election borders on treason.
Yet It has happened before. Indeed, it happened in many of our 19 election campaigns till now.
The first election took place when we were still at war. David Ben-Gurion, the war leader, won a great election victory, of course.
The second election took place during the fight against the Arab "infiltrators", with almost daily incidents along the new borders. Who won? Ben-Gurion.
And so on. In 1981, when Menachem Begin ordered the bombing of the Iraqi nuclear reactor, somebody dared to suggest that the action was connected with the upcoming Knesset election. This gave Begin the opportunity for one of his greatest speeches. Begin was an outstanding orator in the European (and very un-Israeli) tradition.
"Jews!" he addressed his audience, "You have known me for many years. Do you believe that I would send our gallant boys on a dangerous mission, where they could be killed or, worse – fall into the captivity of these human animals – in order to gain votes?" The crowd roared back "No!"
Even the other side played their part. The Egyptians and Syrians launched their surprise attack on Yom Kippur 1973 in the middle of the Israeli election campaign.
After the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin in 1995, his heir, Shimon Peres, also faced an election campaign. During his short regency, he managed to start and lose a war. He invaded Lebanon and during the fighting a UN refugee camp was bombed by mistake. That was the end of the war and of Peres' reign. Binyamin Netanyahu won.
When last week's killing was announced, the country and the army were requested to prepare for war.
Along the border, tension spread. Massive troop deployments took place. Armored brigades moved north. "Iron Dome" anti-missile batteries were positioned near the border. All the media prepared the public for instant revenge actions by Hezbollah and Iran.
That's where the joke comes in. Netanyahu fully expected Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah chief, to bomb Galilee in retaliation. Nasrallah just smiled one of his enigmatic smiles.
Revenge? Sure. But not just now. Some other time, perhaps. Some other place, too. Maybe in Bulgaria, where Israeli tourists were killed to avenge Imad Mughniyeh's assassination. Or even in Argentina, where the prosecutor investigating the destruction of two Israel-Jewish centers was found shot this week (by himself or by others.) The bloody attacks in Buenos Aires, 20 years ago, were attributed to Hezbollah and Iran after another Israeli action in Lebanon.
So why doesn't Nasrallah avenge the drone action now? When you count on an enemy's revenge action, it is very frustrating when it doesn't come on time.
To understand this, one must review the election campaign.
It is being waged by two large blocks – the right-wing led by the Likud and the center-left led by the Labor party. The left has gathered unexpected momentum by uniting Labor with Tzipi Livni's little faction, and now, incredibly, has overtaken Likud in the polls. Aside from the two blocks there are the Orthodox and the Arab citizens, who have their own agendas.
The two main blocks sail under different flags. Likud and Co. sail under the flag of Security. The public believes that Netanyahu and his allies are more trustworthy when it comes to war and keeping our army big and powerful. The public also believes that Labor and its allies are more effective when it comes to the economy, the price of housing and such.
This means that the outcome will be decided by which side succeeds in imposing its agenda on the campaign. If the campaign comes to be dominated by the issues of war and fear, the Right will probably win. If, alternatively, the main issue is housing and the exorbitant price of cottage cheese, the Left has a chance.
This is not a matter of particularly acute perception, but of general public knowledge. Every missile launched by Hezbollah or Hamas will be a missile for Likud. Every day of quiet on the borders will be a day for Labor.
It was therefore quite obvious to many Israelis that the sudden flair up on the northern border, caused by an unprovoked Israeli attack that makes no sense, was an election ploy by Netanyahu and his companions.
Many knew. But nobody dared to say so. The political parties were afraid of being seen as stabbing the army in the back. Accusing Netanyahu of risking a major war in order to win an election is a very grave matter.
The Labor party published a lame statement supporting the army. Meretz kept quiet. The Arab parties were busy with creating a united Arab list. The Orthodox couldn't care less.
Gush Shalom, of which I am a member, prepared to publish an unequivocal accusation.
And then the silence was broken from a totally unexpected quarter.
General Galant gave an interview in which he squarely accused the government of warming up the northern border for election purposes.
Galant? Incredible!
Yoav Galant was the chief of the Southern Command during the cruel Molten Lead campaign. After that he was appointed by Netanyahu as the new army Chief of Staff. But before the appointment could be consummated Galant was accused of expropriating public village land for his palatial home and had to back out. I always considered him an out-and-out militarist.
Two weeks ago, Galant suddenly reappeared on the stage as candidate No. 2 on the list of Moshe Kahlon's new center party with no ideology except bringing down prices.
Galant's statement caused an outcry, and he quietly retracted it. But the deed was done. Galant had opened the gate. A horde of commentators stormed through it to spread the accusation.
The campaign may never be the same again after Galant's gallant deed."
Uri Avnery, 24/01/15
Real News: The Making of Norman Finkelstein, reality asserts itself
III