Month: January 2017

“. . . the internationally driven ‘statebuilding’ project . . . solely geared towards Israeli needs . . .” (Pogodda and Richmond)

Harold KnightLeave a comment
al-faraa
The streets in Al Fara’a Refugee Camp  (Photo: ahote’s_photolog, Flikr, Aug. 29, 2008)

❶ .  Israeli forces kill Palestinian man during predawn raid in al-Faraa
. . . ❶― (a) Israeli forces fire tear gas in elderly Palestinian woman’s home during night raid

  • Background: “Palestinian Unity and Everyday State Formation: Subaltern ‘Ungovernmentality’ Versus Elite Interests.” Third World Quarterly 

❷ . Ministry of Information: Occupation is the root of all evils
❸ . Israeli forces destroy water pipeline serving Bedouin villages in northern West Bank
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❶ . ISRAELI  FORCES  KILL  PALESTINIAN  MAN  DURING  PREDAWN  RAID  IN  AL-FARAA 
Ma’an News Agency 
Jan. 10, 2017 ― A Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces during an overnight raid in the al-Faraa refugee camp  . . . Israeli and Palestinian sources reported, although they widely diverged over the circumstances of the man’s death.
___A member of the politburo of the Palestinian People’s Party (PPP), Khalid Mansour, told Ma’an that an Israeli intelligence officer “executed” Muhammad al-Salihi, 32, during a raid in his home.
___Al-Salihi and his mother were surprised when Israeli forces entered and ransacked their homes, Mansour said.
___”Muhammad started to shout at them because he thought they were thieves, and the soldiers immediately showered him with bullets at point-blank range, before the very eyes of his elderly mother,” Mansour recounted.
___According to the PPP official, medical sources at the Turkish hospital in Tubas said al-Salihi had been shot at least six times, including in the upper body.     More . . .

. . . ❶― (a) ISRAELI  FORCES  FIRE  TEAR  GAS  IN  ELDERLY  PALESTINIAN  WOMAN’S  HOME  DURING  NIGHT  RAID
Ma’an News Agency 
Jan. 10, 2017 ― Israeli forces injured an elderly Palestinian woman with during an overnight raid in the village of Kafr Qaddum in the occupied West Bank district of Qalqiliya, witnesses told Ma’an on Tuesday.
___Israeli soldiers broke into the home of Shafiqa Ahmad Abd al-Qadir Jumaa late on Monday night and fired tear gas inside her house, causing her to suffer from tear gas inhalation.
___The eyewitness sources added that Jumaa also sustained minor bruises during the raid.     More . . .

  • Pogodda, Sandra, and Oliver P. Richmond. “Palestinian Unity and Everyday State Formation: Subaltern ‘Ungovernmentality’ Versus Elite Interests.” Third World Quarterly 36.5 (2015): 890-907.    SOURCE.

Recent political developments give rise to cautious optimism about prospects for Palestinian statehood: In November 2012 an overwhelming majority of countries (138 out of 193) recognised Palestine’s demand for sovereignty by granting it non-member state status in the UN. While this move falls short of bestowing Palestine with the characteristics of genuine statehood, it demonstrates growing international support for Palestinian sovereignty. The unprecedented level of pro-Palestinian protests worldwide in 2014 (condemning Israel’s latest attack on the imprisoned population of Gaza that summer) suggests that international awareness of Israel’s human rights violations in Palestine is growing.
[. . . . ]  In the case of Palestine external intervention through direct, structural and governmental power has systematically prevented the formation of a state. Starting with the British Mandate for Palestine (and its abuse by implementing the Balfour Declaration14) and continuing to Israel’s military occupation and the internationally driven ‘statebuilding’ project, external forms of power have historically undermined local politics in the pursuit of security and geopolitical interests. Israel’s direct, structural and bio-power have fragmented the territorial, social and political unity needed for the formation of a Palestinian state. Internationally financed statebuilding efforts meanwhile remain within the liberal peace and subsequent neoliberal state framework: limited and focused on security and institution building, rather than on an emancipatory social contract and social justice. Even the liberal character of this enterprise is debatable, given that neither democratisation nor trade liberalisation has been pursued, while security measures are solely geared towards Israeli needs. In addition, the internationally sponsored Israeli–Palestinian peace process has tried to establish a governmentality that aimed to make the current ‘matrix of control’ acceptable as a step towards Palestinian sovereignty [. . . .]  

❷ . MINISTRY  OF  INFORMATION:  OCCUPATION  IS  THE  ROOT  OF  ALL  EVILS  
Palestine News Network – PNN
Jan. 10, 2017 ― The Ministry of Information on Tuesday said that it has followed “with much shock and little surprise” the Israeli orchestrated incitement against the Palestinians following yesterday’s truck incident in occupied Jerusalem.
___“Israel wasted no time in drumming up venomous incitement campaign attempting to connect our people with terror and ISIS for obvious reasons related to political gains,” statement said. “The haste of making committing incitement only indicated to the relentless Israeli racist mentality built on demonizing our people and just cause to whitewash the Israeli occupation that is facing a growing international isolation and condemnation.”
___The Ministry of Information further considered the statements mouthed by the Israeli PM Netanyahu and many of his government echelons as a continuation to turning a blind eye to the criminality of occupation as the root of all evils instead to attempt to distract the world with windmill battles.     More . . .

al-ras-al-ahmar
Al-Ras al-Ahmar village near Tamun town, north of the Jordan Valley. (Photo: KhamakarPress, Nov. 11, 2016)

❸ . ISRAELI  FORCES  DESTROY  WATER  PIPELINE  SERVING  BEDOUIN  VILLAGES  IN  NORTHERN  WEST  BANK   
Ma’an News Agency
Jan. 10, 2017 ― Israeli forces destroyed a pipeline supplying water to four Bedouin communities in the northern Jordan Valley, a Palestinian official said on Tuesday morning.
___Muataz Bisharat, who monitors settlement-related activities in the Jordan Valley, told Ma’an that bulldozers under Israeli military protection destroyed part of an 11-kilometer water pipeline supplying the villages of al-Ras al-Ahmar, al-Hadidiya, Khirbet Makhul, and Khirbet Humsa.
___Bisharat added that the pipeline was funded by international NGO Action Against Hunger  four years ago.   More . . .

And so the Trump/Friedman assault begins

Harold KnightLeave a comment

PLEASE NOTE: This blog will resume its coverage of news from Palestine shortly. However, today it is important to begin to make clear the drastic shift in American policy toward Israel that will take place on January 2o. Thank you.

Senators Threaten to Cut Worldwide Embassy Security If U.S. Doesn’t Move Its Israeli Embassy to Jerusalem

___In 1995, Congress passed a law requiring the federal government to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama all campaigned on relocating the embassy and executing this law. But once in office, every one of them invoked a waiver in the law that allows them to hold off on the move if they deem it necessary to the national security interests of the United States to do so.       ___Moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem would be seen as a green light to some Israeli government officials, such as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who seek to make Jerusalem the undivided capital of the state of Israel. That, in turn, would preclude the Palestinians from establishing a state that includes East Jerusalem. Most international observers believe that this would render the two-state solution impossible and thus be damaging to peace.       More . . .
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Call to direct action for [American] readers

Act Now

PUSH BACK AGAINST ILLEGAL ISRAELI SETTLEMENTS – ACT NOW TO STOP HOUSE/SENATE RESOLUTIONS
We need you to ACT NOW to push back against illegal Israeli settlements! Congress has spent its first two days in session trying to back away from decades of U.S. policy on illegal settlements.
___Yesterday, the House and the Senate introduced legislation that would object to United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 “as an obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peace.” H.R. 11 & the yet un-numbered Senate companion bill are unfounded and unwise criticisms of the Obama administration for abstaining from the UNSC resolution which condemned Israel for its settlements in the occupied West Bank.
___Contrary to what these bills (H.R. 11 & S.R. X) say, they do NOT aim to support the peace process. That was made even more clear when Rep. Peter King [R-NY-2] introduced an amendment that would DELETE any reference in the House bill to a two-state solution, which is a shocking abandonment of core U.S. policies. Simply put, these bills are about Congress trying to protect Israel from any criticism of illegal settlements.
More-including form for contacting members of Congress.
(Please forward to your American friends.)
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Trump’s Pick for Israel Ambassador Is No Diplomat

THE ATLANTIC
David A. Graham
Dec. 16, 2016
David Friedman, a bankruptcy lawyer, believes Israel can annex and settle in the West Bank, wants to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and called a liberal American Jewish group “worse than kapos.”
___There was a time when Donald Trump’s statements on Israel rattled hardliners who were concerned he would be too friendly to Palestinians. In February, when Joe Scarborough asked him who was to blame for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Republican candidate replied, “I don’t want to get into it for a different reason, Joe, because if I do win, there has to be a certain amount of surprise, unpredictability. Let me be sort of a neutral guy, let’s see what—I’m going to give it a shot. It would be so great.”     ___Those days are long gone, a fact made clear by President-elect Trump’s decision to appoint David Friedman, an extreme hard-liner on the right, as his ambassador to Israel. Friedman, like many of Trump’s picks for Cabinet jobs, does not have any directly relevant experience, and the two men previously worked together when Friedman, a bankruptcy attorney, represented him in past bankruptcy proceedings.
___But Friedman advised Trump on Israel policy during the campaign and has left behind a long trail of statements indicating his views, including equating liberal Americans Jews to “kapos” who assisted Nazis in ghettos; labeling President Barack Obama an anti-Semite; and suggesting Israel should annex the West Bank.    More . . .