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Israel is planning a major land-grab in East Jerusalem worth tens of billions of dollars.

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has informed the Supreme Court that the state plans to apply the law on abandoned properties in East Jerusalem. This will mean that Israel can “legally” take over thousands of acres and buildings that are the property of Palestinians, some of whom fled to what the state claims were “enemy states” during the Israeli “War of Independence” and others who have property in East Jerusalem but reside in the Occupied Territories.

The issue was brought before the Supreme Court after four cases were tried in the Jerusalem District Court, which ruled in favour of the owners in two cases and against in two. A special legal panel later ordered the Attorney General to tell the District Court whether it intended to apply a 1950 law to properties in East Jerusalem.

The total worth of the property belonging to the four applicants that was seized in Abu Ghneim mountain is estimated at $10 billion—equivalent to the Israeli defence budget for a year.

The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz noted that a legal shift was underway. In 1968, “Meir Shamgar, who was attorney general at the time, presented a legal opinion in which he concluded that the law should not apply to properties of Palestinians in East Jerusalem whose owners lived in the territories.” He wrote, “We did not see any justification that annexation of East Jerusalem should in itself bring about taking over properties of persons who were not essentially absent, but rather were present at the time their property came under our control.”

In 2005 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who at the time was finance minister and whose department was in charge of abandoned properties, was warned by then Israeli Attorney General Menachem Mazuz “that applying the law vis-a-vis to residents of the territories could have serious international consequences.”

Mazuz enlarged on these remarks by saying, “The interest of the State of Israel is to avoid opening new fronts on the international scene in general, and in international law in particular.”

Ha’aretz quoted him telling Netanyahu that there was no logic in applying the law to East Jerusalem properties: “The properties became abandoned due to a unilateral action taken by the State of Israel … at a time when both the properties and their owners were under the control of the state … Essentially these are ‘present owners,’ whose rights to their property were stripped because of a broad, technical formulation of the law.”

Netanyahu clearly feels he is in a better position internationally to carry through annexations. The four owners in the Jerusalem District Court cases have been ordered to submit formal requests to a special committee on abandoned properties, asking for the properties to be released. The statement makes clear that “the deliberation will be held on the basis of the view of the state and the custodian of the properties that they are indeed abandoned.”

In addition to confiscating land claimed to be vacant, and demolishing Palestinian homes built without permits that are almost impossible to secure, Israel has for many years used the excavation and reclamation of Jewish historical sites as a reason for the removal of Arab dwellings within East Jerusalem.

In recent weeks, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat has pushed through plans for a biblical recreational park in the Silwan district of East Jerusalem through the Jerusalem Planning and Building Committee. It will mean the destruction of 22 Palestinian homes declared illegal by the Jerusalem municipality. Hundreds of Arab and Jewish Israelis marched through the Silwan neighbourhood in protest against the park, in what was claimed by the organisers to be the biggest demonstrations against the takeover of East Jerusalem by Israeli settlers.

In March, Barkat dismissed United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s request for a halt to the demolitions, but was told to hold his plans in abeyance by Netanyahu.

At the time President Barack Obama had been forced to rebuke Netanyahu after Israel announced the building of 1,600 more Jewish homes while Vice President Joseph Biden was visiting Jerusalem. A “partial freeze” was declared by Netanyahu in order to alleviate Obama’s embarrassment and allow the Arab states to continue their own collusion with Washington.

This freeze runs out in September, but since then Obama has done everything possible to champion Netanyahu’s government and legitimise its plans to seize East Jerusalem and vast swathes of the West Bank. On July 7, Obama praised Netanyahu as a man who is “willing to take risks for peace” at a White House meeting, just five weeks after the May 31 raid on the Mavi Marmara Gaza aid convoy in which Israeli forces murdered eight Turkish activists and a dual Turkish-US national. He echoed Netanyahu’s demand that the Palestinian Authority resume face to face talks with Israel, while saying nothing about Israel’s intention to resume in full its settlement construction drive.

The “absent property” case being brought before the Supreme Court and the pushing through of the recreation park project is the payoff for Obama’s endorsement, alongside the renewed bulldozing of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu’s government insists that Jerusalem must remain the undivided capital of Israel and opposes the demand of the Palestinians that East Jerusalem should be the capital of their putative state. A quarter of a million Palestinians are estimated to live in East Jerusalem. Since the Israeli capture of Jerusalem in the 1967 war an estimated 200,000 Jewish settlers have moved into the area. This influx breaches international laws concerning the colonisation of an occupied territory.

Such was the haste in pushing through the Silwan park plan that no less than 250 defects were found by the departments empowered to inspect building plans. Jerusalem City Engineer Shlomo Eshkol put forward a separate list of 30 criticisms, including demands for major changes. The municipality’s legal advisor also found it did not meet the legal standards necessary. Barkat dismissed the legal arguments by hiring a private lawyer to oversee the plan on behalf of the municipality. He dismissed his Deputy Mayor Pepe Alalo of the Meretz Party for voting against the Silwan Plan and threw out the remaining three Meretz councillors. Meretz advances itself as a pro-peace party. The municipal coalition is now dominated even more by ultra-Orthodox partners. Meretz now forms a rump four-man opposition alongside Meir Turgeman of the Lma’an Yerushalem party.

The proposed park is being given such priority status because it is the start of a bigger plan to force out the Palestinian communities, providing a centre for an upmarket bar and restaurant area.

A few days later, a blueprint was released for the whole of East Jerusalem that will include plans to expand Jewish neighbourhoods. Most of the land earmarked for development is privately owned by Arabs. Ha’aretz reported that when the plans were first touted, right wing elements complained to the Interior Ministry that it would mean large residential areas for the city’s Arab population. The protesters said that land earmarked for recreational use and for Jewish residents would be lost. On the orders of the Mayor, changes were made in line with broadening the Jewish presence in the Holy Basin of East Jerusalem. It claims that a non-governmental organization, The Elad, that is close to Barkat, bought up homes in the village of Silwan in order to “Judaize” the area.

By Danny Richardson

Source: WSWS.org via Countercurrents.org

On June 2, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) approved formation of an international committee (like the Goldstone Commission) to probe the Flotilla attack, saying it will include lawyers and international law and human rights experts, its findings to be presented in September (during the Council’s three week session in Geneva) after visiting Gaza and contacting Israel, Turkey, Greece, and the Freedom Flotilla coalition.

HRC’s panel includes:

— Desmond de Silva, a UK lawyer and former chief prosecutor for the Sierra Leone Special Court investigation into widespread killings there;

— Karl Hudson-Phillips, a former International Criminal Court (ICC) judge and former Trinidad and Tobago attorney general and parliament member; and

— Malaysia’s Mary Shanthi Dairiam, active in gender equality issues, including on the UN Development Program’s gender equity task force.

In emergency session, the HCR criticized Israel’s “outrageous attack on aid ships attempting to breach a blockade on the Gaza Strip,” calling it “piracy, (an) act of aggression, (a) brutal massacre, (an) act of terrorism, (a) war crime, (a) crime against humanity -unprovoked….unwarranted….atrocious, (and) brutal,” calling activists “peaceful…innocent…noble…unarmed, (and) defenseless,” setting the tone for what’s to come, HRC president Sihasak Phuangketkeow saying:

“This is not about finger-pointing. It’s about establishing the facts of what took place because the incident was a humanitarian tragedy and it’s in the interests of everyone. So I’m hopeful and I’m urging all the parties concerned to render their full cooperation, because it is in their interests and it’s in the interests of the international community as a whole.”

“The expertise, independence and impartiality of the members of the mission will be devoted to clarifying the events which took place that day and their legality.”

Israel’s response was expected, a foreign ministry official saying the HRC acted in haste as part of its “obsession against Israel. The Israeli probe, conducted with transparency, makes the organization’s probe completely unnecessary.”

Israel, of course, won’t cooperate, and plans a whitewash like its July 20 Gaza Operational Investigations: Second Update, responding to the Goldstone Commission and other reports of widespread Cast Lead crimes of war and against humanity.

No serious investigation was conducted, the report citing only four criminal indictments – two for using a minor as a human shield, one regarding an attack on a family waving a white flag, and the other for credit card theft.

Hundreds of other serious crimes weren’t addressed, including high level culpability, a few low-level soldiers marginally hung out to dry to absolve government and IDF officials – Israel’s usual coverup of appalling war crimes.

Evidence of the Report’s Whitewash

On January 4, 2009, the Abu Hajjaj family was attacked, despite carrying clearly visible white flags, resulting in two deaths, Majeda Abu Hajjaj and Raya Abu Hajjaj, mother and sister. Yet Israel “found gaps between (soldiers and Palestinian) testimonies,” making it “impossible to make a criminal connection between the described incident,” relying instead on soldier versions to whitewash the crime’s severity. In addition, investigators gave no credibility to complainants’ sworn affidavits, or requested corroborating evidence to confirm them.

Willfully killing civilians is murder, a grave Fourth Geneva violation. One soldier was charged with manslaughter for shooting a “man,” yet none were killed, only a mother and her sister.

On January 3, Israeli forces attacked the Al-Maqadma mosque near the Jabalia camp, an air-to-ground anti-personnel missile carrying small cube-shaped fragments for maximum effect killing 15 civilians and injuring 40 others. Israel claimed it targeted a “terror operative” spotted firing rockets.

Yet sworn affidavits and investigations showed no hostilities or military activity in the area, a conclusion Israel didn’t contest, saying collateral casualties were unintentional. However, both the attack’s timing, shortly after sunset prayers, and the weapon used disproves the IDF’s claim, the Goldstone Commission concurring, another grave Fourth Geneva violation.

Yet the officer in charge was merely disciplined even though he willfully attacked a mosque at prayer time.

On January 5, Israeli forces fired two tank shells with flechette darts at a condolence ceremony, killing five civilians and injuring 17 others. Yet according to the commander and his forces, no civilians were present, just “visually identified….terrorist operatives,” attacked while loading a “Grad rocket” on “open terrain.”

None were there, just a clearly identifiable condolence tent on a sidewalk about 10 meters wide on a road around 22 miles long in a residential area, not “open terrain” as claimed. Many civilians were present, ones soldiers claimed weren’t seen, saying combatants were attacked – a bald-faced lie, proved by dead and injured civilians, one of hundreds of grave Fourth Geneva violations during Cast Lead, preceded and succeeded seamlessly by many others.

Yet no investigations were conducted, no assailants charged, and no justice rendered, including by Israel’s whitewash investigation, the same kind examining the Flotilla massacre.

Israeli Cast Lead Coverup

The Goldstone Commission exposed and condemned numerous Israeli war crimes, concluding that:

“the Israeli military operation was directed at the people of Gaza as a whole, in furtherance of an overall and continuing policy aimed at punishing the (entire) population, and in a deliberate policy of disproportionate force aimed at (civilians. These are war crimes because) no justifiable military objective” was pursued.

Yet on July 6, IDF Military Advocate General, Maj. Gen. Avichai Mendelblit reported only the following:

— a Lt. Colonel was summoned to a disciplinary hearing “for having deviated from military directives pertaining to the prohibition on the use of civilians for operational activity;” a mild reprimand resulted despite serious Fourth Geneva breaches;

— a staff sergeant was indicted for manslaughter, absolving him of cold-blooded murder; his punishment will be minimal;

— a criminal investigation was ordered “to clarify the circumstances of a specific incident;” expect no prosecutions to result; and

— a captain was disciplined for “his failed professional judgment in authorizing an attack against a (claimed) terror operative,” killing and injuring only civilians.

Gen. Mendelblit claimed over 150 incidents were examined and nearly 50 investigations launched since Cast Lead’s conclusion.

Only mild disciplinary actions resulted besides one manslaughter indictment, despite a 23 day rampage, committing extensive crimes of war and against humanity, killing over 1,400, injuring over 5,000, many permanently disabled, (civilians in most cases affected), and inflicting massive destruction and devastation, unaddressed or relieved under siege. Gen. Mendelblit instead said:

“Operation Cast Lead was limited in the scope of fire and forces used. IDF soldiers operated in crowded urban areas while Hamas made deliberate and cynical use of the Palestinian population (they were protecting), creating a complex security situation. Hamas operated from within civilian homes, schools, kindergartens, mosques, hospitals and UN facilities (bald-faced lies) while the population in the Gaza Strip was made hostage” – not by Hamas, its legitimate government, by Israeli marauders, rampaging, killing and destroying lawlessly, omitted from the general’s account.

Israel’s Inquiry Commission – Whitewashing the Flotilla Massacre

On June 14, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced its formation, an internal probe to suppress truths, its members including:

— former Israeli Supreme Court Justice, Jacob Turkel, heading it, a man with little inquiry commission experience;

— Amos Horev, a retired Israeli major general, a prominent military-industrial complex figure; and two non-voting foreign observers:

— David Trimble, head of Northern Ireland’s Ulster Unionist Party, First Minister of the Good Friday Agreement’s power-sharing government, Conservative Party life peer, earlier involved with loyalist death squads and Royal Ulster Constabulary killers (RUC); and

— Former Canadian General Ken Watkin, earlier involved in whitewashing Canada’s role in committing Somalia atrocities in the early 1990s.

A June 15 Haaretz editorial was unimpressed, saying:

“….the committees membership nor its authority is suited to meet the challenges posed by the affair. (It’s more) a public relations tool (than a body appointed) to bring justice to bear on those found responsible. It would have….been better if the (committee) had never been born, sparing us the deceptive appearance of a real investigation,” what the commission will scrupulously avoid, its findings to be willful coverup, blaming the victims, not their assassins or culpable high-level officials.

An Israeli military inquiry was also conducted, headed by retired Major General Giora Eiland, his released July 12 findings calling the Flotilla attack justified, according to an official summary made public – Eiland submitting a classified 150 page report to IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and Ehud Barak, Israel’s Defense Minister. Its conclusions were as follows:

Claim:

“….there were no wrongdoings and no negligences in any fundamental areas during a complicated and complex operation.”

Fact Check:

Nonviolent unarmed activists were delivering humanitarian aid to besieged Gazans. In an operation planned weeks in advance, they were willfully attacked in international waters, up to 15 murdered in cold blood, commandos given names and photos of targets, incriminating evidence found on board the mother ship, the Mavi Marmarra.

Claim:

— “But on the other hand, there were mistakes that were made in decisions, including some taken at relatively high levels, which meant that the result was not as had been initially anticipated.”

Fact Check:

The “anticipated” result was hostile interdiction, assassinating nonviolent activists, seizing their cargo, arresting participants on board, treating them harshly in detention, expelling them from Israel, concealing murder and barbarism in international waters, and blaming victims for their attackers’ crimes.

Assassinations and related violence were carried out as planned, using commandos, trained killers as the assault force, not Israel’s equivalent of America’s Coast Guard, charged with maritime law enforcement, search, rescue, and other non-combat functions.

Claim

— “not all possible intelligence gathering methods were fully implemented and (the) coordination between Navy Intelligence and the Israeli Defense Intelligence was insufficient.” In addition, “the anticipated level of violence used against the forces was underestimated.”

Fact Check

Faced with worldwide condemnation, the inquiry blamed intelligence failures, not a well-rehearsed operation conducted as planned.

Claim

“the operation relied excessively on a single course of action.” No other was prepared for in “the event of more dangerous scenarios.”

Fact Check

The attack was carried out as planned, every detail rehearsed for precision, including the pre-attack filming on a ship resembling the Mavi Marmarra, showing commandos were attacked, not activists – fiction, not fact.

Claim

“….as far as is currently known, no country in the world holds the ability to stop a vessel at sea in a non hostile manner.”

Fact Check

The US Coast Guard and comparable agencies elsewhere do it routinely as necessary, seldom encountering violence and not initiating it themselves.

Claim

“….alternative courses of action could have existed had the process of preparation begun enough time in advance….”

Fact Check

Preparations began weeks in advance, including detailed intelligence on the number of ships and activists, their names and home countries, photos of targets to be assassinated, dates of departure and expected arrival, and a well-rehearsed commando interdiction operation.

Claim

The inquiry “determined that the Navy Commando soldiers operated properly, with professionalism, bravery and resourcefulness and that the commanders exhibited correct decision making….the use of live fire was justified and that the entire operation is estimable.”

Fact Check

Commandos are elite combat forces trained to kill “professionally.” They followed precise orders assassinating nonviolent activists in international waters – a lawless cowardly act against unarmed civilians.

Claim

The inquiry “noted with favor the various stages of medical evacuation of the injured by air and by sea, including the injured passengers of the Mavi Marmarra.”

Fact Check

Commandos treated activists harshly, firing from helicopters before boarding, followed by gas bombs, other weapons, beatings, and dumping some bodies overboard. There was no provocation and no warning given. The attack was premeditated and vicious, some passengers shot multiple times in the head at point blank range.

Dozens were injured, at least 20 seriously. Everyone was taken prisoner. The few commandos hurt were treated by the ship’s doctor. He was shot in the arm while aiding victims. Wounded passengers were searched and handcuffed like the others. Throughout the ordeal, soldiers were hostile and abusive, injured activists further mistreated, kicked, struck with weapons, and in some cases shot again.

No compassion whatever was shown. Some wounded passengers weren’t taken to the hospital on arrival at Israel’s Ashdod Port. Although hurt, bleeding and needing treatment, they were kept on board, doctors prevented from helping them.

From interdiction to assault to seizure to detention to deportation, the entire procedure was harsh, demeaning, and degrading, the slightest reaction met by blows, some unharmed activists injured en route to the airport for deportation. Others, before and during detention, were seriously beaten, some tortured. Five stayed behind hospitalized, too injured to leave. The whereabouts of some remains unknown.

General Eiland said “the issue should be viewed with perspective,” believing Israel won’t incur long-term damage, saying:

“….there’s a tendency to draw general conclusions based on a single incident….(In addition), the fact that the IDF examines itself and others do not, results in that only the ‘errors’ of the IDF are publicized.”

America, Britain and other nations do self-examine, as shamelessly as the above account using coverup to suppress the truth and avoid accountability. And when abuses are too great to hide, one or more low-level soldiers are charged to absolve chain of command crimes, including high-level civilians, how Israel, America and other nations duck responsibility for lawless acts of violence, ones carefully planned in advance.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/

By Stephen Lendman

29 July, 2010

Countercurrents.org

The late Howard Zinn’s new book “The Bomb” is a brilliant little dissection of some of the central myths of our militarized society. Those who’ve read “A Terrible Mistake: The Murder of Frank Olson and the CIA’s Secret Cold War Experiments,” by H.P. Albarelli Jr. know that this is a year for publishing the stories of horrible things that the United States has done to French towns. In that case, Albarelli, describes the CIA administering LSD to an entire town, with deadly results. In “The Bomb,” Zinn describes the U.S. military making its first use of napalm by dropping it all over another French town, burning anyone and anything it touched. Zinn was in one of the planes, taking part in this horrendous crime.

In mid-April 1945, the war in Europe was essentially over. Everyone knew it was ending. There was no military reason (if that’s not an oxymoron) to attack the Germans stationed near Royan, France, much less to burn the French men, women, and children in the town to death. The British had already destroyed the town in January, similarly bombing it because of its vicinity to German troops, in what was widely called a tragic mistake. This tragic mistake was rationalized as an inevitable part of war, just as were the horrific firebombings that successfully reached German targets, just as was the later bombing of Royan with napalm. Zinn blames the Supreme Allied Command for seeking to add a “victory” in the final weeks of a war already won. He blames the local military commanders’ ambitions. He blames the American Air Force’s desire to test a new weapon. And he blames everyone involved — which must include himself — for “the most powerful motive of all: the habit of obedience, the universal teaching of all cultures, not to get out of line, not even to think about that which one has not been assigned to think about, the negative motive of not having either a reason or a will to intercede.”

When Zinn returned from the war in Europe, he expected to be sent to the war in the Pacific, until he saw and rejoiced at seeing the news of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, 65 years ago this August. Only years later did Zinn come to understand the inexcusable crime of the greatest proportions that was the dropping of nuclear bombs in Japan, actions similar in some ways to the final bombing of Royan. The war with Japan was already over, the Japanese seeking peace and willing to surrender. Japan asked only that it be permitted to keep its emperor, a request that was later granted. But, like napalm, the nuclear bombs were weapons that needed testing. The second bomb, dropped on Nagasaki, was a different sort of bomb that also needed testing. President Harry Truman wanted to demonstrate nuclear bombs to the world and especially to Russia. And he wanted to end the war with Japan before Russia became part of it. The horrific form of mass murder he employed was in no way justifiable.

Zinn also goes back to dismantle the mythical reasons the United States was in the war to begin with. The United States, England, and France were imperial powers supporting each other’s international aggressions in places like the Philippines. They opposed the same from Germany and Japan, but not aggression itself. Most of America’s tin and rubber came from the Southwest Pacific. The United States made clear for years its lack of concern for the Jews being attacked in Germany. It also demonstrated its lack of opposition to racism through its treatment of African Americans and Japanese Americans. Franklin D. Roosevelt described fascist bombing campaigns over civilian areas as “inhuman barbarity” but then did the same on a much larger scale to German cities, which was followed up by the destruction on an unprecedented scale of Hiroshima and Nagasaki — actions that came after years of dehumanizing the Japanese. Zinn points out that “LIFE magazine showed a picture of a Japanese person burning to death and commented: ‘This is the only way.'” Aware that the war would end without any more bombing, and aware that U.S. prisoners of war would be killed by the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, the U.S. military went ahead and dropped the bombs.

Americans allowed these things to be done in their name, just as the Germans and Japanese allowed horrible crimes to be committed in their names. Zinn points out, with his trademark clarity, how the use of the word “we” blends governments together with peoples and serves to equate our own people with our military, while we demonize the people of other lands because of actions by their governments. “The Bomb” suggest a better way to think about such matters and firmly establishes that

By David Swanson

David Swanson is the author of “Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union”

Today July 6th of 2010 is the day that Chris Busby, Malak Hamdan Entesar Ariabi released their epidemiological study on the health problems the people of Fallujah are suffering from. The full study can be downloaded here, free of charge. You may not have heard of these men yet, but I am quite sure their names will be found in the history books. The reason for this is that they have gathered scientific evidence of the genocide the people of Fallujah are suffering from at the hands of the imperialists that invaded Iraq. Unfortunately, they have not yet raised much attention to their discoveries, and thus I feel compelled to help with this myself.

A few days ago, on 2 July, they released a press release on Uruknet that showed some of their findings. It was entitled “Genetic damage and health in Fallujah Iraq worse than Hiroshima”. In April, they announced preliminary findings on Global Research, a site I suspect most of you are familiar with. Please realize that when people discover horrendous atrocities, that the mainstream media refuses to touch, they come to you, the Truth movement, and it is you that are responsible for this information becoming public. Before 2003, before the invasion of Iraq war, the slaughter of Fallujah, and so much more, you were trying to raise awareness of Gulf War Syndrome, the epidemics of cancer and birth defects in Southern Iraq due to Depleted Uranium, and were generally met with ridicule and disbelief.

Now that the horrors you warned of are slowly being revealed to the world, all of you have reason to be proud of your hard work. Not just the main activists (Leuren Moret, Doug Rokke, and many others) but all of you who contributed in their own way by reposting their stories to blogs, forums, writing to politicians, and everything else you did to raise awareness to this atrocity. If people listened to you much of it could have been prevented. I find it important you realize you should be proud of yourselves for the effort you took while most people around you did nothing.

I also have a lot of respect for the team of 11 people that went house to house in Fallujah to gather the data. People in Fallujah are suspicious of authorities (they have every reason to), and they were suspected of being part of a secret-service operation. In one case they were unfortunately met with physical violence. The team nonetheless completed the survey, despite the risk they faced from both the threat of physical violence, and of course by simply being in such an unhealthy environment.

With that said, let me move on to the study itself. As shocking as the information announced in the press release and the preliminary findings was, the complete results they showed in their study are worse. The press release mentioned that: “infant mortality was found to be 80 per 1000 births which compares with a value of 19 in Egypt, 17 in Jordan and 9.7 in Kuwait”. What the press release did not mention was that this is the period of 2006 until 2010. Unfortunately, from 2006 to 2010, the infant mortality continued to rise.

As the full study mentions, when we only look at 2009, and the first two months of 2010, we find that the infant mortality rate now is not at a level of 80 children out of 1000 that die within a year, but at a horrific rate of 136 per 1,000 births. When we look at the table in the study, we find that in 2008, 6 infants (age 0-1) died, compared to 0 in 2005, and only 1 in 2004. In 2009, 10 infants died. However, in the first two months of 2010 that the scientists studied, they found that 6 infants had died. Thus, in only the first two months of 2010, as many infants died as in the entirety of 2008. If the rate for 2010 were to continue (and this is not guaranteed, it could be lower, but due to the rising trend it is more likely to increase further), in 2010, 36 infants will die, compared to only 1 in 2004.

Although I should have known better, I had hoped that the situation was easing in Fallujah, or at least not getting worse, because I had not heard much news recently, but instead, the situation is only getting worse as we speak. A further finding the scientists made was that in the category of children aged 0-4, there are only 860 boys per 1000 girls. A normal ratio is 1050 boys per 1000 girls. This is evidence of genetic mutations.

The reason for this is that girls have two X-chromosomes, while boys only have a single X-chromosome. Thus, if one of a girl’s X-chromosomes suffers from a genetic mutation, the girl still has another functional copy. However, if a boy’s X-chromosome suffers from the same genetic mutation, he has no functional copy of the same gene left, and this can cause the boy’s death. However, the skewed birth ratio can also be (partly) caused by another effect the scientists didn’t mention in their study: The endocrine disrupting effect of Uranium.

At levels below the EPA standard, Uranium is a potent endocrine disruptor. Endocrine disruptors are chemicals that have a hormonal effect on humans, and Uranium works as an estrogen (female hormone) in the human body. This causes a lower number of male children to be born. Thus, the skewed birth ratio could be the result of the hormonal effect of Depleted Uranium as well, besides being caused by an increase in genetic mutations.

Another fact the researchers have discovered needs to be mentioned as well. Their study has found there has been a sharp decline in the birth rate. As they mention: “It is clear that the 0–4 population, born in 2004–2008, after the fighting, is significantly 30% smaller than the 5–9, 10–14 and 15–19 populations.” This is what I call depopulation in action.

Unfortunately there is an epidemic of cancer in Fallujah as well. This is to be expected, but it has not received a lot of attention so far. There are 4.2 times more cases of cancer than you would expect for the region. For childhood cancer, there is a 12.6 relative risk. Brain cancer, breast cancer and lymphoma are all particularly higher than you would expect, but worst of all is the epidemic of Leukemia, at a 22.2 times relative risk, and 38.5 in the age category 0–35. These are the exact types of cancers we would expect if the cause was radiation exposure. Veterans exposed to Depleted Uranium also suffer from epidemics of Leukemia for example. Children are most sensitive to the effects of radiation due to their rapidly dividing cells.

All evidence shows the disaster is caused by Depleted Uranium. It’s not stopping, but only getting worse, and will continue to get worse. We are now in 2010, and the intense fighting happened in 2004. In Basra, the intense fighting happened in 1991. In 1998, the increase in birth defects began to get seriously noticeable, and in 2001, ten years later, it had gone through the roof. In 2005, the cancer rate was still rising in Basra. Thus there is little reason to believe the situation is going to get better anytime soon unfortunately.

I would not wish what is happening to my worst enemy. Then surely I would not wish it upon the great people of Iraq, who managed to build a first world country in the desert, where people of different faiths intermarried, and Muslims and Christians ran the secular government together. Women were in university, and did not have to hide their beauty. Now they will cover their bodies, to hide the scars of cancer and birth defects that will plague the great people of Iraq for decades to come. Those left 50 years from now will still ask themselves when they get cancer if the Depleted Uranium could be responsible. They suffer every bit as much as you and I would if this were to happen to us. Therefore I do not see the survivors of this genocide forgiving us anyday soon.

I do not think we would forgive and want to be friends with people that send their soldiers to invade our countries, destroyed our DNA with their radioactive weapons, and do not show an ounce of regret or guilt either. When we saw what they had done to our children, born deformed and suffering from cancer, we would fight the invaders until they were all dead, or had all left our country. Do not interpret this as a call for violence, I am merely stating the obvious: If you harm someone’s children, they will fight you until death, without a moment of doubt in their mind. When you mourn the 4.400 dead American veterans, or the hundreds from other countries, think about that. They can not point at their commanders, they have an own responsibility to do no harm to others, and they failed to live up to it. At all times, tell anyone you know in the military to desert when they get the chance. It’s never too late to return from evil.

And this evil unfortunately seems to be quite out in the open. When Israel bombed Gaza, they called it “Operation Cast Lead”, a poetic description of Depleted Uranium (Uranium generally being described as being denser than lead, which is supposedly why it’s used). When Americans took over Fallujah, they called their slaughter, Operation Phantom Fury. I would again call this a poetic description of what they did to the people of Fallujah. The American military establishment was furious about the death of 4 of its elite warriors, the Blackwater contractors whose bodies were hung from a bridge. Thus, they unleashed their “phantom fury”. The invisible radiation that human senses can not detect, that destroys every living thing it touches. If poisoning an entire city with radiation is not a form of “Phantum Fury”, I don’t know what is.

Any possibility for reconciliation is not helped by the reaction I see from people on the Internet to these stories. “Wow, all this for hanging the bodies of burned dead American contractors from the bridges and desecrating them. I do not feel very sorry for them.” Is what one individual responded. When news of an epidemic of blood cancer in the Gaza Strip due to Operation Cast Lead was revealed, someone responded with: “With any luck maybe they will stop breeding on the strip.” Dr. Daud Miraki posted a number of images of the children born in Afghanistan and wrote in an e-mail to Jeff Rense about the response he got: “For the past few days, I have been going through hell receiving rotten and hate-filled email from some of the sick and stupid people in America. They make fun of the babies…and they curse Islam and I and my family.

I do not know what kind of sick individuals it takes to say such things. It seems to be predominantly those in the middle of the political spectrum, the people who believe that the Democrats and Republicans give them a choice, and who believe what they see on TV.

Communists, Anarchists, White Nationalists, Black Nationalists, Islamists, they are all appalled by the use of Depleted Uranium and oppose it. These are the people who the media calls extremists, because they don’t fit into the controlled opposition, and who we are taught to fear. Instead, the people I find who ignore, or worse encourage this genocide are those from the political mainstream. If there is anyone I fear, it is those in the political mainstream, composed of people too scared to think for themselves and who think nothing will happen to them if they cheer for those in power. They are the people who make this genocide possible.

(David Rothscum)

The razing of a Bedouin village by Israeli police shows how far the state will go to achieve its aim of Judaising the Negev region Israeli police razed the Bedouin village of al-Arakib, destroying around 45 homes, in just three hours

A menacing convoy of bulldozers was heading back to Be’er Sheva as I drove towards al-Arakib, a Bedouin village located not more than 10 minutes from the city. Once I entered the dirt road leading to the village I saw scores of vans with heavily armed policemen getting ready to leave. Their mission, it seems, had been accomplished.

The signs of destruction were immediately evident. I first noticed the chickens and geese running loose near a bulldozed house, and then saw another house and then another one, all of them in rubble. A few children were trying to find a shaded spot to hide from the scorching desert sun, while behind them a stream of black smoke rose from the burning hay. The sheep, goats and the cattle were nowhere to be seen – perhaps because the police had confiscated them.

Scores of Bedouin men were standing on a yellow hill, sharing their experiences from the early morning hours, while all around them uprooted olive trees lay on the ground. A whole village comprising between 40 and 45 houses had been completely razed in less than three hours.

I suddenly experienced deja vu: an image of myself walking in the rubbles of a destroyed village somewhere on the outskirts of the Lebanese city of Sidon emerged. It was over 25 years ago, during my service in the Israeli paratroopers. But in Lebanon the residents had all fled long before my platoon came, and we simply walked in the debris. There was something surreal about the experience, which prevented me from fully understanding its significance for several years. At the time, it felt like I was walking on the moon.

This time the impact of the destruction sank in immediately. Perhaps because the 300 people who resided in al-Arakib, including their children, were sitting in the rubble when I arrived, and their anguish was evident; or perhaps because the village is located only 10 minutes from my home in Be’er Sheva and I drive past it every time I go to Tel Aviv or Jerusalem; or perhaps because the Bedouins are Israeli citizens, and I suddenly understood how far the state is ready to go to accomplish its objective of Judaising the Negev region; what I witnessed was, after all, an act of ethnic cleansing.

They say the next intifada will be the Bedouin intifada. There are 155,000 Bedouins in the Negev, and more than half of them live in unrecognised villages without electricity or running water. I do not know what they might do, but by making 300 people homeless, 200 of them children, Israel is surely sowing dragon’s teeth for the future.

By Neve Gordon

28 July 2010

Guardian.co.uk

Early morning on 27 July, Israeli bulldozers, flanked by helicopters and throngs of police, demolished the entire Bedouin village of al-Araqib in the northern Negev desert. Despite their land rights cases still pending in the court system, hundreds of al-Araqib villagers were instantly made homeless a month after Israeli police posted demolition orders.

Eyewitness reports say the police were accompanied by several busloads of right-wing Israeli civilians who cheered during the demolitions.

The Electronic Intifada spoke with Dr. Yeela Ranaan of the Regional Council for Unrecognized Villages (RCUV) in the Negev, who was in al-Araqib all day long during the demolitions.

“Approximately 1,500 Israeli police came at 5:30 in the morning and evacuated everyone from their beds,” Ranaan said. “They brought tear gas and water cannons, but didn’t use them. There was a handful of Israeli peace activists who had come the night before to stay with the villagers, and the police beat them up and detained them. Once they evacuated everyone in the village, they started to demolish it. It took three hours to flatten the village. For the people of al-Araqib, it was a nightmare to see their village destroyed.”

Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, al-Araqib villagers have been fighting for recognition in the courts. Ranaan told The Electronic Intifada that in the early 1950s, after they were forcefully expelled from their land by Israeli forces, villagers were fined for “trespassing” in their own homes by the Israeli government. Israel has refused to acknowledge al-Araqib villagers’ land deeds and receipts of land taxes paid to the Ottoman authorities well before Israel’s establishment.

“As we speak, the fate of al-Araqib hasn’t been decided in a court,” Ranaan said. “Despite this, Israel came and demolished the homes. Israel is not just changing the facts on the ground, it’s erasing them.”

“Israel is treating us like cockroaches”

More than 110,000 Palestinian Bedouin live in dozens of so-called “unrecognized villages” throughout the State of Israel, and nearly 80 percent live in the Negev. Since 1948, Israel has refused to acknowledge the villages, and therefore deny basic services such as water, electricity, roads, schools and waste management.

During the demolitions yesterday, Sulaiman abu Mdian, a 29-year-old father of four who works as a chicken farmer, told CNN that “the State of Israel is treating us like cockroaches.”

In an emailed press release following the destruction of al-Araqib, RCUV admonished the Israeli government’s policies of accelerating home demolitions against Palestinian Bedouin communities across the state.

“The destruction’s declared aim is to facilitate plans by the Jewish National Fund to plant a [forest] on the site,” the release stated. “We regard this demolition as a criminal act. Bedouin citizens of Israel are not enemies, and forestation of the Negev is not a reasonable pretext for destroying a community which is more than 60 years old, dispossessing its residents and violating the basic rights of hundreds of Israeli civilians, men, women and children.”

“This act by the state authorities is no ‘law enforcement’ — it is an act of war, such as is undertaken against an enemy,” RCUV added. “This act cannot be dissociated from yesterday’s statement by Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, who at the cabinet meeting sounded a warning about ‘a situation in which a demand for national rights will be made from some quarters inside Israel, for example in the Negev, should the area be left without a Jewish majority. Such things happened in the Balkans, and it is a real threat.’ Presenting the Bedouin citizens of Israel as ‘a real threat’ gives legitimacy to the expulsion of Israel’s Bedouin citizens from the Negev in order to ‘Judaize’ it. We call on all who care for democracy to give their support to this threatened community.”

The Electronic Intifada asked Ranaan if the situation in al-Araqib will look similar to what’s happening in the nearby Bedouin village of Twail abu Jarwal, which has been demolished more than forty times in the last few years.

“These are the two villages that the Israeli government wants to beat, to make an example of,” Ranaan remarked. “The government is experimenting with these villages. People in al-Araqib and Twail abu Jarwal have more determination and more resources than other villages. Israel wants to find out how much force is needed to evacuate and erase a village. They want to replicate the methods. And they want villagers elsewhere to see what’s happening here as a threat.”

Ranaan told The Electronic Intifada that solidarity actions are being planned as villagers of al-Araqib set up temporary housing on their land.

“They already put up a few tents, and they’ll be staying at different locations until every family will put up a makeshift home on their land,” she said. “But they know that their homes will be demolished again and again. People should put pressure on the Israeli government. International pressure is important. Activists can come and visit, and they can join villagers on their land for Friday prayers. The more people in solidarity, the stronger they are. Once their resistance breaks, then we’ve lost everything.”

More al-Walaja land confiscated

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, Israel announced construction of at least 100 settlement colony units in the Bethlehem district as Israeli bulldozers and construction vehicles confiscated more Palestinian land in al-Walaja. At the same time, Israeli occupation forces demolished homes in Area C, continuing a pattern of increased demolitions and rights violations there in the last few months.

The 1995 Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip (also known as Oslo II) categorized land in the West Bank into areas A, B and C. According to the agreement, Area A is under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Area B under the joint control of Israel and the PA. Approximately 95 percent of the Palestinian population live in these two areas, though they make up only 40 percent of the land area. Israel has full military control over Area C.

Secretary General of al-Mubadara Palestinian National Initiative Dr. Mustafa Barghouti told the Bethlehem-based Maan News Agency that Israeli forces began bulldozing land and constructing barbed wire fence on al-Walaja land in “an attempt to thwart Palestinian land owners from protesting the confiscation” (“Barghouthi: 100 settlements underway in Beit Jala,” 18 July).

Barghouti reported that the work began in secret to “avoid the exposure of the Netanyahu government’s false claims of freezing settlement construction.”

Israel is also finishing construction of its wall in the Bethlehem suburb of Beit Jala, next to al-Walaja. When finished, the wall will completely encircle the Bethlehem area and will cut off thousands of Palestinians from their land. Israel began building the wall in the Bethlehem district in 2004.

Palestinian residents of al-Walaja and Beit Jala, accompanied by international human rights activists, have been trying to resist the ongoing encroachment of the wall and settlements in the area. Protesters have been fired upon by Israeli forces using stun grenades and tear gas.

Property destruction in Jordan Valley

And last week, Israeli forces destroyed Hmayyir and Ein Ghazal in the Farasiya region of the Jordan Valley, demolishing approximately 55 homes, livestock pens, tents, clay ovens, bathrooms and storage structures. More than a hundred Palestinians were displaced, including 52 children. The villages had been declared “live fire zones” by Israeli officials last month, and eviction orders were posted on the homes of families in the village, according to Amnesty International.

Amnesty stated in a press release that along with the Farasiya villages, families living in the smaller villages of Ein al-Hilwe and Ein al-Beida — also in Area C — were served with eviction and demolition orders.

Philip Luther, Amnesty’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, stated in the press release that “these recent demolitions intensify concerns that this is part of a government strategy to remove the Palestinian population from the parts of the West Bank known as Area C, over which Israel has complete control in terms of planning and construction” (“Israel intensifies West Bank home demolitions,” 21 July 2010).

Amira Hass reported for the Israeli daily Haaretz that during the past year, the Israeli military had set up “hundreds of warning signs” near Palestinian villages and farming areas, marking them as “closed military areas … Such a sign was set up at the entrance to Farasiya” (“IDF destroys West Bank village after declaring it military zone,” 21 July 2010).

Haaretz spoke to a coordinator with the popular committee in the Jordan Valley who reported that Israel has consistently cut off Palestinian farmers and villagers from their water sources, destroyed drinking and irrigation pipes from streams and prohibited them from using water wells that the Israeli water company Mekorot had established in the region.

“Since 1967, Israel has prevented Palestinian communities in the Jordan Valley from growing, whether by cutting off their water supply, declaring large areas as live fire zones or banning all construction,” Hass reported.

BEIJING, July 13 (Xinhuanet) — Upon the end of the Cold War, when a hegemonial, unipolar world order began to unfold, it was no coincidence that the notion of “clash of civilizations” suddenly became the basic paradigm for the interpretation of global power relations and, subsequently, for the legitimization (or justification) of neo-imperial policies. In a unipolar environment, enemy stereotypes such as those triggered by the clash of civilizations doctrine are an indispensable ideological tool to bolster the respective hegemon’s claim to power (which is virtually directed at the entire world).

A just world order, however, requires a balance of power, which can best be achieved in a multipolar framework (and for which the multilateral mechanisms, including those of collective security, of the United Nations Organization, were originally created). One of the basic principles on which a just and harmonious world order is to be based, is the notion of “dialogue of civilizations.” An international system that is stable and ensures peaceful development of all the members of the international community, and not just the privileged few, must be founded on the norms of sovereign equality and mutual respect. This makes it imperative that no country impose its own civilization upon the others, a policy that – through all of history, until the most recent project of a unilateral “New World Order” – has been proven to increase tensions and even provoke armed confrontations.

Unlike in a hegemonial (unipolar) constellation – where the dominant power claims civilizational supremacy and aims to indoctrinate the rest of the world about democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, etc. –, a multipolar balance of power, in order to be stable, requires harmonious relations that are characterized by mutual respect, peaceful interaction, coordination and integration of policies among equal partners. Since, in such a constellation, no party will try to subjugate the others or to interfere into their sovereign domain, whether in the political, economic, social or cultural field, harmony among nations will not lead to uniformity.

Dialogue among civilizations and cultures is one of the basic elements, or preconditions, of harmony – at the domestic as well as the transnational (or global) level; it promotes unity in diversity and directly contributes to durable peace among nations. As pro-active approach, dialogue goes one step further than mere (static) co-existence between different cultural communities and states; it involves co-operation and mutual engagement. This kind of positive interaction between cultures and civilizations allows each civilization to develop and prosper according to its own parameters, while benefiting from the others’ experience. Such an orientation will eventually ensure the humane dimension of globalization, providing fair and balanced opportunities for all states and peoples in the development of their potential and in the use of the world’s resources, in the material as well as the spiritual sense.

The maintenance of peace and the promotion of human rights, two of the fundamental purposes of the United Nations, require harmonious relations between states that cannot be achieved with a unilateral approach or with traditional power politics since they negate the sovereign equality of nations. A just world order, indeed a harmonious world, can only be built on dialogue, which incorporates the very essence of the principle of mutuality.

(Source: Int’l Conference on the “Dialogue of Civilizations and a Harmonious World”)

‘The stray wind brings the smell

Of days I have known

And the half forgotten smiles and tears

Give the heart a sudden turn…’

As one negotiates through the thick bountiful foliage across the serene reservoir, one can sense the seething anger and discontent. In complete contradiction to the pleasantly rich and green milieu, the hearts of the people here are dry and barren. We have entered the reservoir area of the Bargi dam, the first dam (or rather temple of modern India as described by Nehru!) amongst a chain of 30 major dams constructed on river Narmada .

Our travel takes us to Bagdari, a displaced village in Ghansour Block where we are welcomed by quite a few people. One of the activists of the Bargi Visthapit Evam Prabhavit Sangathan (BVPS) introduces us to the ‘Sarpanch pati’ and updates us on the exemplary work undertaken by the members of the sangathan towards the implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA). The residents are primarily tribals and have applied for 122 pattas (1 for community rights) of which they have already received 52! Rajkumar bhai, who leads the campaign, informs as a matter of fact that they have been able to use the special clause for the displaced under the FRA. Self affidavits are very accepted by the state! While I brood about the influence that the sangathan has over powerful stakeholders like the state, a group of extremely vibrant women of all ages come and join us.

The women proudly update us about the genesis of BVPS. In 1986-88, Narmada Bachao Andolan activist Medha Patkar and B.D..Sharma visited the area and saw the plight of the oustees. There was widespread dissatisfaction among the displaced peoples owing to Government’s insensitivity, lack of political will to address their problems, and unclear policies pertaining to rehabilitation. Around the same time, peoples’ resistance to the Sardar Sarovar dam was gathering momentum. Slowly, an organisation of the oustees began to take shape. In 1991, the peoples’ organisation Bargi Bandh Visthapit Evam Prabhavit Sangh came into being demanding just governance. Twenty years down the line, the movement doesn’t seem to be tiring! In fact, they have modified their demands according to the changing times!

Further discussions lead us to ghastly facts about the blatant usurpation of people’s rights with impunity! For 162 villages that were supposed to be displaced, only 3-5 ‘model’ villages were constructed to accommodate the residents. In all, 26,797 ha of extremely fecund land got submerged out of which 55% was under private ownership (mostly tribals) . People who had land holding were ‘counted’. The rest were not considered humans!

Let’s also look at some of these ‘model’ villages. Gorakhpur, which housed a plenteous population, saw starvation deaths of families who owned land but later were coerced to eke out a living. People were also forced to cremate their near and dear ones due to paucity of wood 

The second village, Jamunia was situated amidst rocky terrain with forest on its sides. The residents, who had no other source of livelihood apart from the forest for themselves as well as their cattle, were barred mercilessly from venturing into the woods by the Forest Department through a trench! Singodha, the third model village, was in the middle of nowhere! The question of placing people with broken hearts and empty pockets never arose! Till date, the structures wear a desolate look!

When the situation of Model Villages is so pathetic, one can only imagine the situation of other villages awaiting rehabilitation. In most villages, the emphasis of rehabilitation work was around construction of buildings which were absolutely futile to the oustees. Can a concrete structure alone guarantee bountiful blooming life?

So where are the people? Well, for those who have not noticed, many are still on the rocky islands amidst the water. They have moved up, sold off their cattle and live in abject penury cultivating the land when water recedes. There are no basic amenities in terms of infrastructure or services. In times of medical emergency, people have to ferry across the reservoir to reach Barginagar! The rainy season is the worst with people being forced to move further up, high incidences of diseases and no mobility. So, one easy way of devoiding people of their riparian rights is to build a human-made lake around a river and dispose them off to uninhabitable areas…

This is not the end of the harrowing tale! Ranital, a slum in Jabalpur, is home to many oustees! Without any social fabric, basic amenities and a riverside which in many ways symbolized hope, people pick up the shards of their lives working as daily wage labours and rickshaw pullers…People who were very acclimatized to using the abundant and pure waters of Narmada for nistar (animals) have no option but to use the scanty and filthy sewage water for themselves!

So what happened to the compensation? Where did it disappear? How much did they get? Well, people without any land were not entitled to any compensation! The land owners, on the other hand, received a meager amount of Rs 500-3000 per acre depending upon the whims and caprice of the officials! Most of liquid money created a sellers’ market and land prices zoomed up! With no experiences of savings and dubious transactions by many officials, this money was spent swiftly leaving the oustees with no tangible support!

In Garahaat, the villagers tell us about the high incidences of migration. While a flimsy livelihood base made them vulnerable; with the displacement, people have been robbed off their basic existence. Lac culture, which was very common, has become completely extinct! In this area, there is over 80% migration with people moving out to Bhopal and Nagpur as daily wage labour twice a year.

In the same village, we also met the fisherfolk (into a forced livelihood). One of the rehabilitation plans also involved setting up fishery co-operative because Narmada Bachao Andolan(NBA) was requested to help plan the Socio-economic rehabilitation of the oustees. This led to GOMP giving rights of fishing and sale in the Bargi reservoir to the oustees on co-operative basis, which led to the formation of the Bargi Bandh Visthapit Matsya Utpadan Avam Vipanan Sahakari Sangh Maryadit in Sep.1994; a federation of 54 primary co-operative fishing societies, with oustee fishermen (certainly not women!) as members.

As on date, the fisherfolk have to sell off their catch @ Rs 16/kg; a rate which is much below the market price. The yield has plummeted drastically with no new seedlings being added by the state. The collaborative effort has resulted, if not for anything else, into one which is fraught with red-tapism, pending policy decisions and non availability of funds. At the time of writing this, there were major policy level changes being suggested in the fishery co-operative policy with PPP being introduced which itself is insidious in usurpation of the rights of people.

A day later, we visit another feather in the crown of the MP state government! The newspapers are fraught with the setting up of a nuclear power plant in Chutka. A closer look prompts us to question the very basics of our development paradigm.

Two decades after displacement from the Bargi dam, the villagers of Chutka, Kunda and Tatighat are about to be uprooted again. This time, again, for a greater common good? Yes, a nuclear power plant which is proclaimed to be the most esteemed thing happening to Madhya Pradesh. Deepchand, one of the activists of the Chutka Parmanoo Sangharsh Samiti laments ‘It took two generations for us to recover after being ousted by the Bargi dam. Now its going to take three more. Our lives are completely ruined!’

One feels the nip in the air mixed with panic and resignation! In 1990, when they got displaced, the residents of this village received a compensation as meager as Rs 900/acre of irrigated fertile land.

Just one day back, a couple of scientists visited this area and the entire operation was classified! The site selection and mapping are being done and the state claims good reason to keep it confidential since this matter, willy nilly, involves arms! Construction work for a residential colony has already begun about 6 km away from here.

I find myself looking into the desolate eyes of people…These looks pierce right through me. Have you done anything about it? Basori Singh Meshram, one of the leaders, informs ‘We have written to the MP and later a letter to Rahul Gandhi as well, demanding justice’. This is PESA area, I argue. Have you taken a resolution in the gram panchayat? A negative reply gets us immediately to draft a resolution. I see hope. Espite the fact that in Plachimada; with vehement opposition from the gram sabha, the Pepsi factory did get set up!

Our meeting ends on a brighter note with Rajesh bhai, another leader of BVPS reading out the resolution amongst thunderous claps! As we leave, there are slogans which clearly send the message that the residents will not budge from this area. While sitting the vehicle, Rajesh asks some of the leaders to do a participatory survey ascertaining the land and property as well as work out a compensation package…Is it the wary wisdom and knowledge that no matter what, the people will get displaced? Anyone listening?

By Sarika Sinha ActionAid International India

30 June, 2010

Countercurrents.org

There is a considerable amount of misunderstanding about the BDS (Boycott Divestment and Sanctions). As John Berger explained a while back, BDS is not a principle but a strategy; it is not against Israel but against Israeli policy; when the policy changes BDS will end.

BDS is also not about a particular solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but rather the demand that Israel abide by international law and UN resolutions. It is accordingly something that you can support if you are for a two state solution or a one state solution. You can even support it as a Zionist. It arises from the realization, following years of experience, that the Occupation will not end unless Israelis understand that it has a price.

In a sense, the fact that a boycott is required is a sign of weakness following the polaristaion and marginalisation of the left in Israel. On the one hand, we have more or less used all the other weapons we have in the arsenal of non-violent resistance and the situation on the ground is only getting worse. On the other hand, we are witnessing the development of a proto-fascist mindset in Israel. I am, for example, extremely anxious about the extent that the space for public debate in Israel is shrinking.

One of the ways of silencing any dissent is the through the demand for loyalty, so that a slogans you hear a lot now is “no citizenship without loyalty.” This slogan reflects the inversion of the republican idea that the state should be loyal to the citizen and is accountable for inequities and injustices. It is a manifestation of the complete reversal of the republican relationship between state and loyalty and the adoption, instead, of a logic similar to the one that informed Mussolini’s Italy. It is – as Gramsci once said – part of the morbid symptoms of our times.

One of the expressions of these symptoms is the increasingly violent attitude towards any kind of dissent within Israel. I have received more death threats following my criticism of the flotilla fiasco than ever before. When I walk on campus people ask in jest if I am wearing a bullet proof vest. Such jokes have a menacing undertone. Therefore it is not all that surprising that only three professors in Israel openly support a boycott; many others are in the closet because supporting BDS is not considered to be a legitimate form of critique and people who back it are in danger of being punished.

And yet, there is also a sense that the pro-government proponents have gone too far. They are not only targeting people on the far left, but practically everyone who is even slightly critical of government policies. A couple of months ago a high school principle who objected to military officers coming in to speak to his pupils, was all but crucified. Clearly the outrage of so many Israeli academics against the assault on academic freedom has little to do with the boycott, but is rather against the attempt to silence any kind of critique. There is an ever-growing sense that public discourse in Israel is dramatically shrinking. Thus, the provost of Haifa University, who courageously criticized the Minister of Education and the assault on academic freedom, is by no means a left-winger but is simply outraged at the current developments. He would never otherwise support my stance on the boycott.

BDS Campaign Wants Israel To Abide By International Law

By Neve Gordon

11 July, 2010

The Observer