The current round of Nakba Day bloodshed was “kicked off” a few days ago by a demonstration outside an illegal settler home in the Beit Yonatan neighborhood of East Jerusalem. It was just an ordinary day in which Silwan residents were protesting yet another eviction and displacement by the radical settlers attempting to Judaize that part of the city. Suddenly a window flung open from the settler lair and shots rang out. One of the notorious private security guards employed to protect the settlers had killed again.
Milad Ayyash, a 17 year old boy, was shot in the chest and died. Israeli authorities “are investigating,” which is code for we’ll do as little as we can and then when things have quieted down we’ll close the case.
Thanks to the original graphic art from Lahav Halevy. He included the wonderful quotation from Psalm 37 sung during the Shabbat birkat ha-mazon:
I was young once but now I am old…
Halevy poignantly changed the words in the second half of the phrase to:
…and will never grow old
Michael Levin and I worked on this English version. Please circulate it as widely as you can on blogs, social networking sites, etc.
Despite reams of detailed evidence from the alleged rape victim (some of which I have seen), the Israeli prosecutor has dropped its case against Channel 2 reporter Yoav Even. The state declared it was doing so “for lack of evidence.” When a prosecutor finds a woman’s claim that she was sodomized against her will by a man to be insufficient to bring a charge against him, then you know something is likely wrong. Of course, the gag order imposed by the judge helped tamp down both public interest and awareness of the case making it much easier to drop the charges and allow the media celebrity to go free.
In the meantime, Yoav Even and his colleagues at Channel 2 are celebrating his imminent return to work. Here they celebrate at a club his freedom. Maariv notes rather coyly that Even has been “absent from the scene” for some time. It breathlessly and tastelessly adds:
To all those yearning, he’s [Even] expected to return to work soon.
An Israeli writes to me (and I can’t tell whether this is perverse humor or true) that now he can sit down and pen that book he’s been meaning to write: “How to Screw Israeli Girls.” One wonders whether a brush with a rape charge will increase his allure in the eyes of some or will they stand clear. From the looks of this picture, it doesn’t appear to be happening in Even’s case.
A man with his apparent sexual proclivities is liable to try something like this in the future. The first time he got off just by the skin of his teeth. Next time (if/when there is one), he won’t be so lucky. Of course, this is very small consolation to the alleged victim in this case.
In this day and age, when powerful French politicians find their aberrant sexual habits topple their careers and wives of ex-California governors are dumping them for fathering children out-of-wedlock, the seeming cavalierness with which such serious charges are treated in Israel appears thankfully to be an anomaly.
Yediot reports: 'Uzi Arad leaked to the U.S. government the controller's report on the second Lebanon war--so Wikileaks reveals'
Several months ago, Uzi Arad, former senior Mossad officer and then national security advisor to prime minister Netanyahu rather abruptly announced he was quitting his post. At the time, rumors and speculation were rife about the reasons. But no one dreamed they would be as provocative as this. Turns out that Arad leaked the Controller’s secret report on the second Lebanon war to a U.S. diplomat in Israel. After a long Shin Bet investigation, Arad was identified as the source and Bibi fired him.
Uzi Arad (Yanai Yehiel)
The Israeli media is claiming that the attorney general declined to prosecute Arad because he resigned immediately and because the leak was inadvertent. But I don’t understand how leaking a report can be “inadvertent.” Besides, skilled Mossad operatives don’t leak material by accident. It just doesn’t happen.
Arad made lots of enemies inside even Bibi’s staff with his abrasive style. Not to mention the role in played in “running” Larry Franklin and the Rosen Aipac spy scandal. So as far as I’m concerned he got his just desserts. In fact, he probably deserves to be prosecuted.
If anyone can tell me what’s the difference between Uzi Arad’s leak and Anat Kamm’s and why he deserves a get out of jail card and she deserves nine years in prison, I’ll buy you an ice cream cone at my favorite gelateria. In fact, Arad’s crime is worse since he leaked a secret government report about a serious Israeli military misadventure to a foreign government, while Kamm leaked her materials to an Israeli reporter. Oh, that’s right, Anat was just a girl file clerk in a general’s office while Arad is a former senior Mossad officer and fixture of the security establishment. That’s the difference. No hypocrisy here. H/t to Jerry Haber for that notion and also to Dena Shunra for finding the headline pictured above.
I’d be grateful to any reader who can locate the original Wikileaks cable if it’s been published anywhere or online.
I just discovered a Jerusalem Post story which makes the ridiculous claim that Arad’s sin was to discuss “electric and energy” issues with a reporter and inadvertently leak something he shouldn’t have. But an Israeli friend had the clever idea of doing a Google search on the terms “Uzi Arad” and “atomic energy,” which reveals that the Jerusalem Post article was actually censored. In it’s original form it said that he discussed “atomic energy” with the reporter. It is possible that someone who discusses anything related to Israel’s nuclear program would be fired for such a leak, though I doubt this would happen if they were discussing purely civilian uses of nuclear power.
And a final note to the Rotterniks who may be apoplectic about yet another scoop they read here which offends them. I don’t scare easily and death threats, even ones which indicate what caliber bullet you plan to put in my brain, don’t scare me.
Mahmoud Abbas has pre-empted Bibi Netanyahu’s U.S. visit and May 24th address to a Joint Session of Congress with an eye-opening op-ed in today’s N.Y. Times. There is some interesting material in it. But the money quote is this:
Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.
What he’s saying is that recognition of statehood by the UN would allow Palestine and its world supporters to ratchet up pressure on Israel considerably. This might include imposing sanctions on Israel for continuing an illegal Occupation of a sovereign state’s territory. This could go a very long way toward strengthening the BDS movement as well. It might include prosecution of war crimes cases against IDF officers and Israeli leaders as hinted in the Goldstone Report. The sky’s the limit.
This in turn might place pressure on Israel’s leaders to be more flexible in the positions they adopt in peace talks. When faced with a choice of recognizing a Palestinian state and withdrawing to 1967 borders, this might seem more palatable than spending a few years awaiting trial at the Hague. Israel’s generals and leaders, not particularly known for their selflessness, would likely prefer self-preservation to standing on principle and refusing a peace deal if it meant they might spend some of the best years of their lives in a prison cell.
The reverse may be true as well, as some Palestinian militant leaders might find it far more convenient to soften their militancy and political demands rather than being called to the Hague to explain their own attacks on Israeli civilians.
Israel’s recently appointed Mossad chief, Tamir Pardo, whose identity was reported here before being published in the Israeli media, has named his new senior command. His top deputy will be Yossi Cohen. No Israeli media source has yet reported his name. Israel’s News1, which calls him Y., says his most recent posting was as director of Tsomet, the department responsible for running Mossad’s agents around the world. Haaretz reports that in the earlier part of his career he specialized in intelligence gathering.
At this time, I don’t have any other specific information about Cohen or his background.
Bibi Netanyahu, preceding his visit to the U.S., in which he will address a Joint Session of Congress and meet the president at the White House, has done the world a deep disservice by offering nothing in a speech that outlines his position regarding peace negotiations and resolving the conflict. His position might reasonably be characterized as the Three No’s in deference to the Khartoum Declaration by the Arab League, though in Bibi’s case we have to expand the number of no’s to four (at least):
1. No to peace negotiations with a Palestinian unity government
2. No to sharing Jerusalem
3. No to the Right of Return within Israel proper
4. No to any agreement that doesn’t recognize Israeli a priori as a “Jewish state”
The very language of the speech showed the hopelessness of Bibi’s position as he called the undetermined West Bank territory Israel would cede to Palestine part of “our homeland…the land of our fathers [in which] we have historical rights” This marks Bibi just as much of a rejectionist as those in Hamas he excoriates. If the Occupied Territories are part of the Jewish homeland, then why can’t Israel proper be considered by the Palestinian rejectionists part of their inalienable homeland? It’s a zero sum game no matter who’s playing it. But in Bibi’s mind only Israel gets to play the game while the Palestinians have no right to do so. All of which of course makes no sense to anyone but Bibi and his supporters.
Bibi’s “proposal” is a marked retreat from what Ehud Olmert offered Abbas a few years ago in a deal that most thought even then was skewed in Israel’s favor. So from the get-go this is a non-starter. Bibi knows it. Tzipi Livni (and no, Ethan Bronner, the party she heads is not “center-left” except in the mind of a liberal Zionist like yourself) stated the obvious:
“If you do not initiate, decisions will be made for Israel,” Ms. Livni said. “You have missed your opportunity to provide Israel with a vision. You are going to the United States without initiatives for peace.”
I can’t for the life of me understand why he even bothers going through the motions. One reason, I suppose, is that he believes by appealing to the U.S. Congress, which he imagines to be a pro-Israel bastion, he can go over Obama’s and the world’s head; and this somehow will magically prevent creation of a Palestinian state. At some point, Israel and Bibi will have to realize that the U.S. will become irrelevant if enough of the world unite around the consensus that a State must be created for Palestine. But clearly, they’re at the stage of magical thinking and haven’t yet faced up to the sober realities of their position.
There were a few faint yeses in his speech: yes to resuming the $90-million tax revenue transfer to the Palestinians and yes to returning some unspecified portions of West Bank territory to the Palestinians. But the yeses in this presentation were vastly drowned out by the no’s.
If you combine Bibi’s No speech to Israel’s abysmal performance yesterday in murdering unarmed protesting civilians on three different borders and the response such mayhem generated on the world stage, momentum should continue building for declaration of a Palestinian state in the UN this September. This is a train wreck rapidly approaching for the Israeli government. One wonders whether they’ll just stand by and watch it happen; or whether there is some rabbit (like a U.S. full court press against the proposal) they anticipate pulling out of their hat to prevent what appears almost inevitable.
If there is a Palestinian state declared, the question becomes, what then? Do the Palestinians and the UN have a game plan that will transform the Occupied Territories into a state of Palestine? And is that plan viable and feasible? I trust that the Palestinians and hopefully the EU and others (not the U.S. unfortunately) are pondering these questions now. Because a Palestinian state in name only is a recipe for disaster regarding Palestinians expectations.
I’d suggest we should add a new nickname for the Israeli prime minister: Bibi “Why Bother” Netanyahu.
“Something’s Happenin’ and Ya Don’t Know What It is, Do Mr. Netanyahu?”
Last week, Israeli intelligence sources trumpeted the notion that Israeli Palestinian citizens and their West Bank/Gaza counterparts might plot an uprising around Nakba Day that they hoped would turn into a sort of civil war or perhaps Third Intifada. There were banner headlines about how Israeli forces were preparing to meet every eventuality and would deal with sternly with troublemakers and that the citizenry, by which they meant the Jewish citizenry, had nothing to worry about.
As always seems to happen with these things and Israeli intelligence, they were shocked when it turned out that the Nakba Day protests took on a life of their own when a private settler security guard in an illegally occupied home in Beit Yonatan shot a 17-year-old boy, Malid Said Ayash, who died shortly thereafter. Thereafter, all hell seemed to break loose, but in ways that the intelligence establishment hadn’t at all predicted. Protests were held by the usual suspects in the usual places in villages along the Separation Wall. But Palestinians and their sympathizers also massed on three other borders which had rarely before seen such demonstrations. Thousands trampled the border fences underfoot in the Golan, in Gaza, and on Israel’s Lebanese border and broke through the barrier. All who did so were unarmed, though the IDF has planted false claims that some were armed.
The army responded to these civilian protestors in the only way it knows how, it killed them, and in fairly large numbers (close to 20 dead in various rallies at various locations).
Since the numbers of protests and what occurred is so large I thought it useful to compile a compendium in order to better wrap our minds around developments and understand their possible meaning. The main question is: is this a blip on the screen of anti-Occupation activism or is this an ever intensifying level of protest which should deeply worry those Israel’s who maintain the Occupation? Is this the beginning of a Third Intifada? Or an Israeli version of the Arab Spring sweeping through Arab capitals from Cairo to Damascus? Or is it a one-hit wonder, part of an annual rite of Nakba Day protests which rock the Palestinian community each year only to subside after a day or so?
Given the number of deaths and numbers of frontline states involved (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine) it seems to me this is a new chapter in the resistance. A bold non-violent stroke that almost predictably has been met by the type of massive violent crackdown used by Arab tyrants like Assad who is prepared to mow down his own citizens in their homes in order to preserve his power. I have written numerous times here in the past few months that Israel in using such murderous tactics is showing itself to be no better than the dictators, despite the fact that Israel claims it is a beacon of democracy in an otherwise bleak authoritarian Mideast landscape. Responses like this prove otherwise.
Nakba Day Facebook page
Israel is used to fighting wars on one front and with difficulty has fought wars on two fronts. But if these developments heat up and take on a life of their own, this would be a movement on multiple-fronts the likes of which the country has never seen. Not to mention that so far, at least, the unrest seems non-violent and unlike any previous war-time scenario Israel has faced. It’s almost like Israel is entering an entirely new scenario which is not war and something different than an Intifada. Perhaps it’s a regional Intifada, rather than a purely Palestinian one–though the Palestine issue is fueling the protests clearly. Israel has laughably blamed Iran for the protests claiming as usual with no evidence that the protests “bear the mark of Iran.” When you’d rather deflect attention from the fact that non-violent demonstrators are acting against what they perceive as an unjust, oppressive system imposed by Israel on Palestinians, what better way to do it than invoke the bogeyman: Iran?
As I wrote in the first line of this post, there’s also another phenomenon stirring which Israel does not understand (Hebrew). Just as social networks helped organize protests and topple dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and brought others to their knees in Libya, Yemen, and Syria, the Nakba events also show evidence of a sophisticated use of digital technology (Hebrew) to mobilize for political action. In the eyes of the Israeli media, these groups show signs of a dastardly conspiracy by anti-Israeli agitators to organize the events and by implication, attempt to topple the Israeli regime. While most of the rest of the world tends to see such organizing in the way it viewed the Facebook Revolution which was brought to life in Tahrir Square: as legitimate expression of grievances long-held and never addressed. The truth of digital revolutions is they only work where the slogans resonate with the populace and injustice festers. Israel would prefer to see all of this organizing as the work of Hezbollah, Syria and Iran, when the truth is that without the spark represented by Occupation there could be no conflagration.
Here are the protests I’ve researched (thanks for the assistance of Dena Shunra) beginning with those that involved deaths, moving to those in which demonstrators were wounded (with no deaths), and finally protests in which there was Israeli violence, but no dead or wounded:
In Majdal Shams (on Syria/Israel border), Ynet reports at least four Syrians were killed and dozens wounded by Israeli fire when thousands crossed the border in the Golan Heights and headed to Majdal Shams. The area was declared “closed military zone”.
In Maround Al-Ras and Naqoura, Ynet reports, according to Lebanese Al-Mustakbal news network, six Lebanese demonstrators were killed and 60 wounded by Israeli military fire, or by Lebanese military fire, according to Israel. In these situations I’ve found that IDF claims, when contradicted by credible counter-claims, are usually wrong. Given that Israeli forces killed demonstrators on two other fronts today, claiming they didn’t use lethal fire on the Lebanese border seems to stretch credulity. Reuters says ten killed. Maan provides higher figures of 14 killed, 112 wounded.
In Gaza, one man was killed, (Reuters reports two dead) at least 45 wounded (including a journalist and many children) when Israeli army used a tank to shell demonstrators by the fence.
Nabi Salah: 25 Palestinian and/or Israeli peace activists & two Border Patrol soldiers wounded, 34 Palestinian and/or Israeli activists arrested
Al-Arob, Beyt Ummar, Bir Zeit, Annata: tear gas canisters shot at protesters. Israeli military claims that stones were thrown and tires burned.
Issawiya: approximately 60 Palestinian and/or Israeli activists arrested.
Bir’am: 9 arrested, unknown number wounded due to violence & mace according to Ran Cohen of PHR-Israel
Qalandia: 250 wounded, 40 seriously, 15 with a rubber-coated bullets, two from live fire. Also, from Hadas Ziv, Media Outreach coordinator for PHR-Israel: shooting at Kalandia. army goes into crowd, hits 2, and takes them on MDA ambulance into Israel. Dr. Moustafa Bargouthi from the Medical Relief told PHR Israel that there are 90 wounded, 10 seriously (head and abdominal from rubber bullets). Many are treated in Medical Relief field hospital. Recently they have started to use live fire. He also told us of mistaarvim (Border Police disguised as Palestinian activists who either provoke violence or arrest victims depending on circumstances) that are arresting demonstrators.
Leehee from Anarchists against the Wall notes another report from the scene: “I was among the medics from 12:30 till 13:30 and there were already dozens of injuries mostly light ones due to gas and rubber bullets.” she described how many ambulances come and go, evacuating around 50 people every half an hour. “At around 13:30 they [Israeli army] intensified the shooting, and at around 14:30 they started with live ammunition” – PHR-Israel report here.
Shuafat Refugee Camp, May 14th (but still relating to Nakba Day events): tear gas etc. in Shuafat. Palestinian paramedics are not allowed in.
Al Walaja: IDF Disrupts Nonviolent March–Prominent political analyst, author and professor, Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh was arrested along with two other Palestinians as they protested in the village of Al Walaja, near Bethlehem, on 15 May 2011. According to Dr. Qumsiyeh’s press release, the three were arrested while participating in a non-violent march of civil disobedience towards the Green Line. As of six o’clock on Sunday night, Dr. Qumsiyeh was still in detention at the Israeli military compound close to Rachel’s Tomb.
According to reports, Israeli forces bombarded the protest in Al Walaja with tear gas, forcing protesters to find refuge in the village’s houses. Five more were arrested after IDF soliders raided homes. According to the press release, three Palestinians, one Irish and another international were arrested from homes.
The original village of Al Walaja was expelled in 1948 and gradually resettled across the valley, near Beit Jala in the Bethlehem district. The march today planned to march from the newly settled Al Walaja to the village’s original lands, which is now forested with a nature reserve.”
East Jerusalem: two days ago in a demonstration outside Beit Yonatan, a neighborhood in which settlers have illegally dispossessed Palestinian residents, a private security guard killed Malid Said Ayash, 17, with a bullet to the chest. Subsequently, dozens of people wounded (in dozens of reports).
Non-lethal force, no one wounded:
Acco/Acre: Dozens of youths waved Palestinian flags & called for the right of return. Israeli police forces confiscated the flags and detained one of the youths for interrogation.
Tel Aviv: Left-wing activists protested in the evening in support of the Nakba Day protests, flew Palestinian flags & chanted anti-military slogans. Local residents threw eggs at them from nearby windows, right-wing counter-protesters changed “Am Yisrael Chai”.
Out of control truck driven by Palestinian with Israeli citizenship kills one man [Avi Morag, 28], wounds 17 others, and damages or destroys 15 cars. The driver accused of being a Nakba Day attack, although he claims that his truck blew a tire and went out of control. In response, Tel Aviv residents demonstrated, demanding “Death to the Arabs.”
Jordan: Jordanian forces prevent protesters from reaching Israeli border, 20 wounded (both police and demonstrators).
Ran Cohen, head of PHR-Israel (Physicians for Human Rights) reports that he saw no evidence of protesters being armed (countering Israeli army spin claiming that there had beeen shooting from among them) on twitter,
Truthout has just published my latest piece on the Hamas-Fatah unity deal and the repercussions it has had for the ongoing peace process, including George Mitchell’s resignation, and leading up to the battling speeches by Bibi and Barack later this month.
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The current round of Nakba Day bloodshed was “kicked off” a few days ago by a demonstration outside an illegal settler home in the Beit Yonatan neighborhood of East Jerusalem. It was just an ordinary day in which Silwan residents were protesting yet another eviction and displacement by the radical settlers attempting to Judaize that part of the city. Suddenly a window flung open from the settler lair and shots rang out. One of the notorious private security guards employed to protect the settlers had killed again.
