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Archive for October, 2009

Palestinian Human Rights Groups Protest PA’s Dumping of Goldstone Inquiry; PA Economics Minister Resigns

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

The major Palestinian human rights organizations (16 in all)–including Badil, Adalah, Al Haq, and Arab Association for Human Rights–have condemned the PA’s withdrawal of its complaint against Israel regarding the Gaza war, which was under debate by the UN Human Rights Council. The Palestinian political leadership did it under severe pressure from the U.S., which claimed it would damage the peace process; and under blackmail from Bibi Netanyahu, who threatened to withhold approval of a second Palestinian cell phone provider (a contract worth $700-million). Here is a passsage from the statement:

The belief that accountability and the rule of law can be brushed aside in the pursuit of peace is misguided. History has taught us time and time again, that sustainable peace can only be built on human rights, on justice, and the rule of law. For many years in Palestine international law, and the rule of law, has been sacrificed in the name of politics, and cast aside in favour of the peace process. This approach has been tried, and it has failed: the occupation has been solidified, illegal settlements have continued to expand, the right to self determination has been denied; innocent civilians suffer the horrific consequences. It is now time to pursue justice, and a peace built on a foundation of human rights, dignity, and the rule of law. In Justice Goldstone’s words, there is no peace without justice.

…As human rights organisations we strongly condemn the Palestinian leaderships’ decision to defer the proposal endorsing all the recommendations of the Fact Finding Mission, and the pressure exerted by certain members of the international community. Such pressure is in conflict with States international obligations, and is an insult to the Palestinian people.

Further, the PA economics minister, Bassam Khoury, has resigned to protest his government’s backpedaling on the Goldstone Report. Thank God there’s at least one honest man there left. He seems to understand that no matter how important building up the Palestinian economy is, doing so with a $700-million contract that forfeits Palestinians’ human rights is a bad bargain. The PA seems so weak that it can’t even call Israel’s bluff and dare them to withhold the cell phone license. I should think that Palestinians can deal with bad or limited cell phone service for a few more months if the greater issue of their human dignity is at stake.

In addition, there is the small matter of the Fatah-led PA not wishing to do anything helpful on behalf of Hamas or Gaza. Isn’t it disgusting that the split between them is so bitter that the PA refuses to stand up for 1,400 Gazans killed in Israel’s war against the entire people of Gaza?

In a recent post, I speculated about the behind the scenes deal-making and sausage-cutting that went into the PA decision to abort the Human Rights Council debate. I speculated that the PA gave the U.S. something (dropping Goldstone) in return for a specific U.S. commitment; and that Israel, in return for stopping the inquiry gave the U.S. something in return. Based on this Haaretz report, it appears I may’ve been right. But the Israeli commitment to enter into final status negotiations seems vague at best:

Jerusalem officials stressed that “U.S. assistance in curbing the effects of the Goldstone report will produce significant pressure on Israel by the Obama administration to move forward with the diplomatic process.”

…Officials believe that the U.S. administration will now pressure Israel to provide compensation for America’s help in curbing the effects of the Goldstone report.

…”After they [the U.S.] saved us from Goldstone, and our argument relied on the desire to advance peace, the Americans will want to see an Israeli move toward peace talks with the Palestinians,” the senior official said.

Barak Ravid, who wrote this report, is often used as a conduit by Israeli officials seeking to publicize their point of view about political developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So clearly someone in the government wants to send a message to Washington that they realize there is an IOU that will come due. But whether this means there is any substance to it that will lead to real negotiations is another matter entirely. If Barack Obama believes Bibi is a gentleman who honors his commitments and repays his IOUs, he is likely to get a rude awakening.

Tags: gaza, goldstone report, human-rights, palestine
Posted in Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 7 Comments »

Human Rights Watch Criticizes U.S. for Torpedoing Goldstone Report

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009

Justice Goldstone visiting damaged Gaza home (Reuters)

Yesterday, after the U.S. exerted enormous pressure on the Palestinians to withdraw their complaint against Israel before the UN Human Rights Council regarding possible war crimes during the Gaza war, the latter acceded. The cruel irony of the following conflicting statements shouldn’t be lost on anyone:

Mr. Khraishi, the Palestinian ambassador, said that…a delay gives the Israelis and Palestinians time to take up another recommendation in the report: that both sides set up independent investigation panels to look into possible war crimes.

–New York Times, Palestinians Halt Push on War Report

**************

Israel’s record of conducting investigations into the conduct of its military forces has been extremely poor. The Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem documented 773 cases where Israeli forces killed civilians not involved in hostilities during the December-January conflict in Gaza, but found that Israel has to date convicted only one soldier of a crime – for stealing a credit card.

–Human Rights Watch, UN: US Block on Goldstone Report Must Not Defer Justice

As I wrote yesterday, why would anyone believe Israel is capable or willing to investigate itself? It’s every action shows clearly that it sees nothing wrong with anything done by its soldiers in Gaza. In fact, any soldiers who may’ve killed civilians or committed what outsiders would consider war crimes were, in fact, following explicit IDF orders to give no quarter to militants or civilians. When you haven’t done anything wrong in your own mind, how can you take remotely seriously any claim that you have?

The same holds true for Hamas. But I maintain that if Israel DID conduct an independent investigation it would force Hamas to do the same.

Why might the Palestinians have caved? Bibi Netanyahu used Israeli blackmail, threatening a $700 telecom deal that would provide a second cell phone provider for the West Bank, unless the PA withdrew from the Goldstone deliberations.

Bibi also threatened the entire peace process saying Israel couldn’t possibly negotiate peace under threat of a war crimes investigation. Curiously, the U.S. justification for its demand to end the proceedings also involved a claim that it would damage the peace process. It is yet another cruel irony that nation states use such specious Macchiavellian logic to justify the a failure to pursue justice in the face of massive violations of international law.

Yesterday, I heard Jessica Montell of B’Tselem and Fred Abrahams of Human Rights Watch talk for 90 minutes about the importance of the Goldstone Report. One of them made the very important point that allowing impunity to flourish by deferring justice has never worked as a means of resolving international conflict. Ultimately, there can be no end to conflict till justice is seen to be done by both sides. The U.S. has just deferred and defamed justice.

Barack Obama must be supremely confident that he can make peace between the parties and thus render the Goldstone Report moot. I’m not so sure especially after is questionable decisions of the past week or so. And if he fails and there is another Gaza war without the Goldstone Report having been considered, then Israel will exploit this as carte blache to repeat its brutish prosecution of a massive war against Palestinians civilians.

There is a very great likelihood of another Gaza war. If there is, and Israel behaves the same way it did last January, the U.S. will carry all the blame on its shoulders.

HRW released a strong critical statement today about the suspension of deliberations over the Goldstone Report:

“The failure of the US and European states to endorse the Goldstone report sent a terrible message that serious laws-of-war violations by allied states would be tolerated,” Whitson said.

…“Prime Minister Netanyahu’s rejection of the Goldstone report because it would derail the peace process sadly impugns the importance of justice in reaching peace,” said Whitson. “Persistent impunity, not justice, is the greater threat to peace.”

Don’t let the Goldstone Report die.

Tags: gaza war, goldstone report, human-rights, palestinians
Posted in Mideast Peace | 35 Comments »

Palestinians Cave to U.S. Pressure and Suspend Gaza Goldstone Inquiry

Friday, October 2nd, 2009

Poor Richard Goldstone must be plotzing. He spent months of his life compiling one of the most painstakingly researched dossiers of Israeli (and Palestinian) human rights violations and potential war crimes ever; and now the Palestinian victims have suspended their call for justice:

In a startling shift, the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council dropped its efforts to forward a report accusing Israel of possible war crimes to the Security Council, under pressure from the United States, diplomats said Thursday.

The Americans argued that pushing the report now would derail the Middle East peace process that they are trying to revive, diplomats said.

“We don’t want to create an obstacle for them,” Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said by telephone from Geneva, where the Human Rights Council is based. “We want to get a strong resolution to deal with the report in a good manner to get a benefit from it.”

What an utter waste. And imagine what the poor Gazans must be thinking who mistakenly believed they might finally get their day in court after enduring a merciless Israeli assault last December-January that killed 1,400 including at least 350 children. I simply don’t know what the Palestinians can be thinking or what they were told that persuaded them to suspend their complaint.

The whole episode is utterly baffling. On the face of it (and admittedly this is a dangerous position from which to make guesses about what happened), Israel has won yet another victory in its jousting both with the Palestinians and the Obama administration. First, Obama caved on the settlement freeze issue. Then Obama placed a nice little gift in his lap by ballyhooing the “discovery” of a nefarious Iranian nuclear facility in Qom. Now, Bibi’s extraordinary threat to completely end the peace process unless the Goldstone probe was halted has been rewarded with the ultimate vindication:

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned the Palestinians and international powers earlier Thursday that any action to advance the report would be a denial of Israel’s “right to self-defense” and would kill any chance of peace talks.

Mr. Netanyahu, speaking during a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, said that any international endorsement of the report would “strike a severe blow to the war against terrorism.”

But most immediately, he said, it would “strike a fatal blow to the peace process, because Israel will no longer be able to take additional steps and take risks for peace if its right to self-defense is denied.”

Given that the U.S. diplomats echoed Bibi’s claim in their statement above, one wonders whether Obama has taken yet another “nosedive for peace.” You’d have to be forgiven for starting to believe that the U.S. administration is the dancing bear being led through his paces by his master Bibi. Not to mention that the Fatah rump government and its representative to the UN Human Rights Council appears to have sold out Hamas and the residents of Gaza yet again–and for what?

One wonders what dickering went on behind the scenes. Who won and who lost? Who gave up something and who gained something? What assurances did the Palestinians get, if any, from the Americans before they withdrew? Did the Americans bargain for anything from the Israelis in return for supporting their goal of suppressing the report?

To be candid, the Goldstone Report has not exactly been suppressed. Technically, consideration of the report can be resumed at the UN Human Right Council’s next meeting in March. But frankly, as time recedes it’s very possible that Gaza will fade from people’s memories and it will become that much harder to drum up interest and support for a new round of debate and a new push for consideration of the Report by the Security Council.

This comment by the Palestinian representative seems little more than wishful thinking:

Mr. Khraishi, the Palestinian ambassador, said that if a resolution were passed now insisting that the General Assembly or the Security Council deal with the matter, as the report itself recommends, it would most likely face an American veto. A delay gives the Israelis and Palestinians time to take up another recommendation in the report: that both sides set up independent investigation panels to look into possible war crimes.

“I don’t think that the Americans or the Israelis or anybody can escape from the realities that Goldstone collected — not Hamas either,” Mr. Khraishi said

What is this man thinking? That the Israelis, with the heat now off, will turn around and appoint a serious, independent panel to investigate its potential war crimes? Bibi has already nixed the idea publicly. What would make him change his mind now? If he doesn’t think the Israelis can “escape from the realities of Goldstone” let him just watch. Harry Houdini had nothin’ on Israel when it wants to do a disappearing act in the face of unpleasant international charges. They’ll likely slip out of this one like a pair of broken handcuffs.

I think the Palestinians have taken a calculated gamble in withdrawing and I’m not sure what they’ve gained and what assurances they’ve received. Has the U.S., for example agreed to recognize a Palestinian state that might be declared if Israel balks at entering final status negotiations? I don’t know, I’m just speculating.

Tags: goldstone report, human-rights, peace talks
Posted in Mideast Peace, Politics & Society | 10 Comments »

Seattle Jewish Newspaper Refuses Dissenting Opinion on Iran

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

If you follow this blog, you’ll know that the Seattle Jewish federation is hosting an anti-Iran event on October 21st, Facing the Iranian Threat, organized by the Israeli consul general in San Francisco and featuring the military correspondent of the hawkish neocon Jerusalem Post and the deputy director of Aipac. In response to such clearly partisan Iran-bashing, I’ve decided to organize a conference of Iranian-American and American Jewish scholars and analysts which will offer a more pragmatic approach and emphasize the role of diplomatic engagement, which is the official U.S. policy towards Iran.

Yesterday, I asked the editor of the JTNews to allow me to write an op ed, which I’ve done twice before, expressing some of my concerns regarding the federation conference based on the past statements of the speakers and the groups for which they work. My intent was also to point out that the Jewish community has a far more diverse set of views on Iran than will be represented on the federation panel.

The editor refused saying that discussions with unnamed individuals convinced him that the event would be fair and balanced and that there was no need to present my view in the pages of JTNews. There were a few extraordinary passages filled with wishful thinking in his reply. Among them was this one:

“…It [the federation event] is intended to present information about Iran, the history, probably from 1979 to today that has led to the stalemate between Iran and most of the West…”

An Israeli consul general with no specific professional or academic expertise on Iran, a reporter with expertise in Israeli military affairs, and an Aipac Congressional lobbyist can present a historical overview of modern Iranian affairs? Given that the editor actually believes what he’s written, it only reinforces how insular the organized American Jewish community can be on subjects related to Israel. Indeed this fact is further suggested by the frightening results of the American Jewish Committee poll which claims that 56% of Jews approve of the U.S. attacking Iran and 66% approve of Israel attacking Iran.

This example of Jewish communal censorship shows the leadership is circling the wagons around a consensus devised in Tel Aviv and embraced by Israel’s Diaspora advocates. Here is part of my reply to JTNews’ editor:

Under the guise of editorial discretion, you have closed off the pages of the local community newspaper to any view which dissents from the alleged consensus on Iran. I find such censorship to be deeply disappointing since it is clear to me or any reasonable person based on both the text describing the federation event on your website and the records of the group’s whose representatives are speaking, that they have a highly partisan agenda that advocates the Israeli line on Iran: “crippling sanctions” possibly followed by military attack if sanctions don’t work.

I also notified him that I planned on writing my critique of the federation event and offering it as an ad in the pages of the newspaper. We will see whether the community is too frightened even to take my money in return for a bit of paid speech.

All this will take money and I once again renew my calls for contributions to defray the costs of this ad and the counter-conference I’m organizing in December here in Seattle. The speakers are lined up for that event along with the venue and will be announced shortly. But it will take considerable funds to pay for expenses. I hope you will step up to the plate and donate what you can by clicking the Paypal button above.

Tags: iran sanctions, iran-attack, jewish, jewish seattle
Posted in Jews & Judaism, Mideast Peace, Seattle | 13 Comments »