Signs of the Times for Fri, 03 Feb 2006

'Israel is trying to push us out of Jordan Valley'

By ORLY HALPERN
BARDALEH, WEST BANK
Jerusalem Post
30 Dec 2005

The Palestinian Authority and Palestinian farmers are accusing Israel of trying to force Palestinians out of the Jordan Valley through economic pressure and physical barriers. Israel denies the charge, saying that new restrictions derive solely from security considerations.

"Israel has been systematically making life difficult in the Jordan Valley in order to reduce the number of Palestinians living there," Ghassan Khateeb, Minister of Planning of the Palestinian Authority, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

The IDF's recent decision to prevent Palestinian agricultural produce from crossing the Beka'ot checkpoint into Israel is putting Palestinian farmers in debt and threatening their ability to farm their land next year, he added. The IDF has also closed checkpoints west of the valley, barring entry to Palestinians not from the area. As a consequence, hundreds of Palestinian families from outside the valley are now squatting in tents inside the valley, so as to able to stay at their jobs there.

Israel said the entry ban on Palestinians from outside the region is security related. "This is not a policy," said a spokesman from the Prime Minister's Office, Ra'anan Gissin. "This is a security issue. We need to protect terrorists from entering Israel." The banning of vegetables from crossing through the Beka'ot Cargo checkpoint is also for security reasons, he said.

If the good were being blocked for security reasons, Khatib asked, why were they allowed to be transported the long distance to the Jalama checkpoint, north of Jenin, via checkpoints for which special permission is granted?

A report published in October by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that "The Jordan Valley has become increasingly out of bounds for Palestinians living in other parts of the West Bank." The report was released before the new regulations were introduced at the Beka'ot checkpoint.

The Jordan valley is fertile and sparsely populated - with approximately 6,250 Israelis, who live in 21 settlements, and 53,000 Palestinians (including the population of Jericho).

For generations Palestinian villagers in the valley have relied on manpower from the villages in the mountains above to cultivate and harvest the land. Settler farmer also rely on Palestinian labor. The Palestinian farmer in the valley export almost exclusively to Israel through the Beka'ot checkpoint a few hundred meters north of Bardaleh, the northernmost Palestinian village here.

The ban on such exports was introduced on October 13. Initially, an IDF spokesman told the Post, "We are not aware of any prevention of agricultural goods through the Beka'ot checkpoint." However, Adam Avidan, spokesman for the Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, confirmed that a regional IDF commander had signed an order which prevents vegetables from crossing the checkpoint.

"It's strangling us," said Issa Muhammad, 45, who owns 165 dunams in Bardaleh. Muhammad grows cucumbers, squash, peppers and eggplant. He has transported vegetables to Jalama, instead, but says the extra cost means he barely breaks even. If the ban is maintained, he said, "the farms won't be able to pay for pesticides, seeds and plastic for greenhouses. Many of us won't be able to sow our fields next year."

The entry restrictions have been in force since May. Only Palestinians with an address on their identification card from the north of the Jordan Valley are allowed to reside there. All others need special permission, which must be obtained through the District Coordination Office. Among those affected are Palestinian women born outside the valley but married into a family here, who say they are afraid to leave for fear they won't be allowed to return.

Entry permission is given to hundreds of Palestinian day laborers working in the settlements. They leave their villages early every morning and return in the evening, although they often wait hours at checkpoints in each direction. However, Palestinians claim that few of their landowners are granted permission to bring in such laborers. Israeli officials said they would look into this allegation.

One consequence, local Palestinians say, is that many Palestinians from the town of Tubas - a 22-kilometer drive from Bardaleh in the valley below - are now squatting in the valley's villages. Locals estimate that more than 1,000 such Palestinian families spend nine months of the year in plastic tents on the land so that they won't be prevented from getting to work, with their children crowding the classrooms of local schools.

Jordan Valley Palestinians have held two demonstrations at Beka'ot in the last month. Another is planned for next week.

Israel: Democracy of lords and masters

By Ze'ev Sternhell
29 Dec 2005
haaretz

"Abusive practices," the repeated chopping down of olive trees, the theft of lands near the settlement of Modi'in Illit and the regular pogrom that is the daily lot of Hebron's Arabs (and these are examples only from the news of recent days) can surprise only those who never wanted to know. Among them, unfortunately, are many of those who work in the mass media.

The actions of the Border Police, as well as other units that operate in the service of the settlements, have long been known. For over 25 years, from the Karp Report to the recently issued Sasson Report, everyone knows the law is not enforced in the territories, and therefore the police are not required to make an effort to deal with violators. There is no longer talk of basic norms of universal morality: In a colonial society, there are different types of human beings, and therefore, different rights and different values, as well.

But the settlers do not bear sole responsibility for the oppressive regime beyond the Green Line; they only exploit the situation to make the lives of the inhabitants intolerable, in the hope that Palestinian society will disintegrate, so that when the time comes, it will be possible to get rid of it entirely. To the same extent, it is not the soldiers themselves who are to blame for harassing the population, and in the case of "an abusive practice" reported in Haaretz, they are not the only ones who bear direct responsibility for killing the Palestinian who was tied to his donkey. The heads of the military hierarchy and senior government leaders are personally responsible for these acts.

These are the people who control the "system," with the lower field ranks at the bottom and the chief of staff, the minister of defense and the prime minister at the top. A government that was capable of carrying out the disengagement will have no difficulty, if it so wishes, in imposing law and order in the territories. If it does not do so, it means the crimes are being carried out with its knowledge. After all, that is our daily complaint to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), in spite of the fact that his ability to control what happens in distant Gaza is light years away from the ability of the Israeli government to impose its authority in the West Bank.

But what can we really expect when the defense minister in charge of the territories is a spineless opportunist? Is this a man who will risk losing votes to preserve our humanity? And what about a chief of staff who, when he was the commander of the Israel Air Force, boasted - apropos dropping the one-ton bomb on a residential building in Gaza - that when he himself drops a bomb, he feels nothing more than "a slight blow to the wing of the plane"?

None of these people hears or sees. Not the minister of public security, whose policemen were unable to locate those who chopped down the trees and who is responsible for the Border Police; not the attorney general, a weak man and a legal expert with narrow horizons who curtailed his role from the very beginning and not the justice minister, who also prefers not to get involved in an issue that is not exactly popular. That is liable, after all, to disturb a successful trip to some mall or other.

However, what about Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the one-man ruler of Israel, beloved by the people and a favorite with the media, who wants to be David Ben-Gurion? For Ben-Gurion, who was neither a socialist nor a social-democrat, but no less of a radical nationalist than Sharon and a politician who was willing to use any means, basic human morality was still considered a fundamental component of the overall national strength. An army, police force and police investigation unit that sees nothing wrong with this new type of abuse, which ended in the death of the victim, are highy dangerous to Israeli society. This brutalization of Israeli society is a danger to our future.

However, those who should have been the first to object and come out in defense of the Arabs, if only for their own selfish interests, are the settlers. The disintegration of basic precepts of the rule of law endangers all of society, but those who are more exposed are the minority groups within it. Trampling human rights in the territories is only a first stage. During the disengagement we saw how easy it is to undermine these rights, even among Jews. Mass administrative detention of activists and leaders of the settlements is a far more likely possibility than it seems at present. Human rights, justice and equality before the law are indivisible. An army that is prepared, as in Hebron, to allow regular abuse of Arabs, a police force that does not want to find and arrest felons, a government that bears supreme responsibility for the injustices become accustomed to living outside the law and consider these injustices an acceptable norm.

If, after the elections, we do not get a government that is willing to stop the bankruptcy of the investigative and prosecution system in the territories and does not fundamentally change the reality of life there, without any relation to the nature of the future final status agreement, an integral part of the foundations of Israeli democracy will be lost. Without protected human rights, democracy is an empty word.

Democracies of lords and masters, of the type that rules in the territories, that strictly adhere to the formal rules of majority decision only among the ruling nation, have existed in other places as well: They disappeared and no longer exist.

Comment: Israel seems to be a psychopath magnet, just like the Old West was in the U.S. The difference is that Israel runs a very good risk of being obliterated in a nuclear war... hmmm...

Israel considers protesting BBC show on `secret weapons'

By Sharon Sadeh
haaretz.com
30 Dec 2005

LONDON - Israel is considering lodging a vehement protest after the BBC airs a national program Sunday about the country's nuclear program, dubbed "Israel's secret weapon."

The program reportedly examines the "double standard" of the international community with regard to Israel's and Iraq's unconventional weapons.

The program allegedly claims the army used some form of unidentified chemical weapons against Palestinians in February 2001. It focuses on efforts made by Israel to cover up its development of unconventional weapons, among other things referring to Mordechai Vanunu, serving an 18-year term for passing information about Israel's nuclear program in Dimona to a British newspaper...

Abbas may postpone Palestinian elections

Last Updated Mon, 02 Jan 2006 11:03:17 EST
CBC News

Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas says he will postpone the Jan. 25th parliamentary elections if Israel stops Jerusalem Arabs from voting.

The announcement comes after top members of his Fatah party pressured him to delay the election because of a fierce challenge from the Islamic group Hamas. They are worried Hamas will have a strong showing at the polls.

"We all agree that Jerusalem should be included in the elections," Abbas said in Doha, Qatar. "If it is not included, all the factions agree there should be no elections." His comments were carried on the Al-Jazeera satellite channel.

Comment: And why should Israel have any say in who votes and who does not in a Palestinian election?

A Glossary of Dispossession

December 25, 2005
By Paul de Rooij

During 2005 the Israelis and most main media trumpeted the "disengagement" from Gaza, and claimed that bold steps had been taken to resolve the conflict. Despite these claims, the reality is that more Palestinian land has been stolen, many have been dispossessed, and ethnic cleansing has been exacerbated especially in Jerusalem. Meanwhile Israelis are orchestrating a propaganda campaign to hide this latest sordid chapter of dispossession. The main feature of this campaign is its invisibility: Israel and its media surrogates are effectively diverting attention from what is happening on the ground. There are virtually no reports about the progress of the construction of the wall and the effect it is having on those caught in its path. Furthermore, it is evident that events have been stage-managed and over hyped to divert media attention elsewhere, e.g., the hoopla surrounding the eviction of the settlers in Gaza [1]. The third feature is the adoption of propaganda-tainted words; these are a subtle means of altering the perception of the Palestinian condition and the nature of Israeli actions -- and these are the focus of this article.

Words are very important. Words frame issues, palliate, mollify, exculpate or even hide sordid acts. Words like "disengagement", "viable state", "barrier or fence", etc., alter our understanding of the Palestinian condition under the unrelenting ethnic cleansing that has been the norm during the past decades. Invariably western media and its coterie of "analysts" use propaganda-tainted words when referring to Israeli actions and the Palestinian condition. The list below analyses a few of the prevalent words that hide or exculpate the dispossession of millions [2].

Abused terms or curious new terminology (alphabetic order)	Translation
American arbitration	"Honest broker" -- all over again The Israelis refuse to engage in any negotiations with the Palestinians; all the "disengagement" measures were imposed unilaterally. However, the semblance of negotiations is necessary and the US has adopted the role of arbitrator. The US seeks to create the appearance that negotiations are taking place even though the Israelis refuse to have face-to-face talks. The US has taken on this role despite the fact that it funds Israel to the tune of billions of dollars, shields them diplomatically from international censure, and so on. Usually a mediator is a neutral party without a conflict of interest. Never mind, for propaganda purposes the US still can be called "honest broker" or "arbitrator".
Apartheid lights	Traffic lights favoring Jews "... a B'Tselem researcher from the Shuafat refugee camp, cites the existence of a relatively new term in the lexicon of discrimination in the eastern part of the capital, "Apartheid traffic lights." There are almost no traffic lights in the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem. Stoplights exist mainly in those rare locations where there is Jewish traffic. In these cases, for example the stoplights north of the French Hill intersection, the time allotted to Arab traffic from the direction of Shuafat is much less than the time allotted to cars coming from the Jewish neighborhood. As a result, during many hours of the day there are long lines of vehicles waiting at the intersection on the "Arab" roads." [3]
Concessions	Desire for a goodwill response to Israeli unilaterally imposed measures In mid-2005, when the Israelis unilaterally imposed measures in what came to be known as the disengagement, the Israelis and their apologists expressed a desire for Palestinian "concessions" in response to Israeli "goodwill". Their assumption is that Israeli actions are permeated with goodwill towards the Palestinians -- surely the first case of ethnic cleansers demonstrating goodwill towards their victims. There are numerous counter-examples demonstrating sheer Israeli mean-spiritedness towards Palestinians. It is instructive to read about the recent negotiations surrounding the border crossings between Gaza and Egypt, or the transport link between Gaza and the West Bank. In Gideon Levy's words: "Anyone reviewing these press accounts will discover the main components characterizing Israel's behavior toward the Palestinians -- the evasiveness, the lack of a modicum of goodwill and the failure to honor agreements." [4]
Conflict Management	Suppressing the resistance; alternative to peace Israel is imposing a "solution" on the Palestinians, and this is called the "disengagement". Since there are no negotiations, there is no reason why the Palestinians should accept the outcome and some may decide to pursue the armed struggle. "Conflict management" talks are discussions with Palestinian collaborators to suppress the armed resistance. (q.v. peace)
Controversial	Illegal Mainstream journalists are incapable of suggesting that building colonial settlements is illegal. The euphemism of choice is "controversial". Of course, later on they will suggest that it is "not reasonable" to remove the colonial settlement -- it was merely controversial, not illegal or unethical [5]. (q.v. it is not reasonable)
Disengagement	Occupation by other means and an intensification of ethnic cleansing The so-called disengagement was the imposition of a series of unilateral measures that led to the redeployment of Israeli forces in Gaza, limited removal of the settlement colonies, and an acceleration of the dispossession and ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and Jerusalem. While the propagandists sought to emphasize the pullout from Gaza, it is clear that they sought to hide the sordid developments in the West Bank, or the implications for the Gazan population of the Israeli control from the perimeter of the enclave.
Ethnic thinning	Retail ethnic cleansing Jerusalem city officials recently revealed a new master plan for the city: "The plan involves thinning out the population in all quarters of the Old City, except the only one restored so far -- the Jewish Quarter -- as a means of slowing down the rapid population growth." [6]
Internal security	Repression on the Palestinian reservations The only role accorded by the Israelis to Palestinian Authority is for "internal security", i.e., repressing its own people. Israel would dearly like to see the PA repress all the armed groups, and "dismantle the terrorist infrastructure."
Israel Proper	Conceded theft (proper theft) "Israel proper" is a propaganda term for Israeli land over which there cannot be negotiations -- this land was stolen, but now it should be considered to be "Israeli" without referring to its dubious origins. All of Israel was established on land stolen from the native Palestinian population, and the implication of "proper" is that the land has now been granted to Israel by whoever uses this term. The implication also is that one shouldn’t discuss the 1948 ethnic cleansing and the mass dispossession of the native population. The fact that this term concedes most of the land stolen in 1948 is part of the problem: it views the conflict only in terms of the 1967 conquest to the exclusion of the land and rights of the Palestinian refugees and those who managed to remain in what is now Israel. Furthermore, since Israel doesn’t have defined borders it follows "Israel proper" has no defined borders either. The demarcation of UN resolution 181 should have been a border for Israel, but until recently the Green Line demarcated "Israel proper", and slowly the wall will be considered the border of Israel "proper"; that is, until Israel decides to annex yet more land to incorporate one of its colonies in the West Bank or to appropriate another section of Jerusalem. And, of course, one should not forget that "Israel proper" also includes land stolen from Syria in 1967. The meaning of "proper" is constantly expanding. The "proper" designation seems to apply only to Israel, and there isn’t another country with border or land disputes which is referred to in the same manner. For example, there isn't a term "Britain proper", although it has an illegitimate claim over some islands, Gibraltar... Or the US with a dubious claim over Guantanamo, Diego Garcia (although it was the British who ethnically cleansed the islands for the US), Puerto Rico...
It is not reasonable to expect the settlers to be removed...	The thieves cannot be evicted If removing 8,000 settlers from Gaza created such a ruckus, then "it is not reasonable" to expect to remove the settlers from the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Even though the colonial settlements are illegal under international law, and their construction was rightly seen as a means of precluding a peaceful negotiated settlement, the Israelis and their apologists aim to portray the settlements in the West Bank as permanent and beyond contention -- soon they will be considered part of "Israel proper".
Light killing	Sanctioned murder "Even before the current intifada, in Hebron in 1996, an Israeli settler fatally pistol-whipped 11-year-old Hilmi Shusha. An Israeli judge first acquitted the murderer, saying the child "died on his own as a result of emotional pressure." After numerous appeals and under pressure from the Supreme Court, which termed the act "light killing", the judge reconsidered and, as the Aqsa Intifada was raging, sentenced the killer to six months, community service and a fine of a few thousand dollars. The boy's father accused the court of issuing a "license to kill." Gideon Levy of Ha'aretz eloquently described the fine as the "end-of-the-season clearance price on children's lives," referring to the findings of B'tselem, Israel's leading human rights organization, which documented dozens of similar cases in which perpetrators were either acquitted or received a slap on the wrist." [7]
Look forward and find innovative solutions	Ignore history and avoid references to justice At a recent Harvard Univ. lecture, Shimon Peres stated that: "we should look forward and find innovative solutions." This was deemed to be such a sagely remark that it was used as a preface to the Dershowitz vs. Chomsky Harvard Univ. debate on 29 Nov. 2005. What Peres is suggesting is that the history of the conflict be ignored, and that proposed solutions shouldn’t address the injustice perpetrated in the past, i.e., ruling out restitution, compensation. The Rand Corporation's recent plans are "innovative solutions": railroads, tunnels, bridges, high tech checkpoints -- preferably paid for by the US or the EU. All of these don't address the need to rectify the injustice of the 1948 and 1967 phases of the ethnic cleansing and the incessant house demolitions. Restitution is necessary, but Peres will not consider it an "innovative solution". Of course some history is more equal than others; when it comes to WWII, then one should never forget history, and always seek restitution for former Jewish property. When it comes to the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, then this chapter should be ignored -- one should only "look forward" -- and there should be no suggestion of restitution. However, it is up to the victims of a conflict to declare "let bygones be bygones" or to forsake their claim to restitution; it is certainly not up to Shimon Peres, a representative of the ethnic cleansers, to say so.
Managing resources	Stealing resources A few years ago Israeli water management experts met their Palestinian counterparts to agree on managing water resources. Some agreements were obtained, but later the Palestinians discovered that the Israelis would be pumping more water than agreed (Israelis installed a 40 inch pipe, far larger than that stipulated in the "agreements"). Palestinians also found that they would have to purchase most of their water from the Israeli water companies instead of pumping it themselves [8]. Furthermore, Palestinians found that future increases in water demand would have to be met from "new sources", i.e., buying it from Israeli desalination plants -- while at the same time Israelis will pump more water from the West Bank aquifer. Natural gas fields off the coast of Gaza are "managed" by an Israeli company, and no revenue from this resource is forthcoming to the de jure owners of the resource. Under the Geneva conventions, an occupying power is not allowed to exploit natural resources belonging to the occupied territories unless the occupied population consents.
Moderate	Right-wing extremist Now that Ariel Sharon has decided to split away from the Likud party, commentators often state that his new party will be "centrist", and that Sharon should be viewed as a "moderate". Gideon Levy's interpretation is very revealing: "Sharon and Mofaz, the moderates, are responsible for the most brutal policy Israel has ever conducted in the territories. In fact, they are today the two most extreme politicians on the right. Shimon Peres, who is portrayed as even more moderate than them, has given his full support to their policy. Therefore, he is also an extremist. Avi Dichter and Moshe Ya'alon, the next great hopes of the right and the "moderates," stood at the helm of the two organizations that carry out violent and brutal actions, without restraint, against a helpless civilian population. They cannot be considered moderates by any standard. They are responsible for much more injustice, killing and destruction than the entire "extreme" right. ... The distinction between extremists and moderates in Israeli society must, therefore, undergo an urgent revision. The use of these terms in their current formula is misleading. In this way, Sharon and, in fact, Peres have succeeded in deceiving Israelis and the entire world in presenting themselves as moderates. But a moderate is only someone who recognizes the existence of the Palestinians as a people with equal rights and who is ready to draw the obvious political conclusions from this. Whoever does not recognize the rights of the other and ignores its existence is an extreme rightist, regardless of whether his name is Feiglin, Mofaz, Netanyahu or Sharon." -- Gideon Levy, "Feiglin is preferable", Haaretz, 25 December 2005
Near East	Nearer to you AIPAC, the principal pro-Israeli political action committee in the US, created a pro-Israel think tank with this curious name: Washington Institute for Near East Policy. One wonders why it wasn’t named the "W.I. for Israeli Affairs". Reason: Israel doesn’t want to be seen as part of the Middle East, and prefers to be seen as part of the "near" East. That is, nearer to Europe.
Negotiations	If it is yours, we negotiate Israelis have an attitude that if there is a land or resource dispute, then they are willing to negotiate as long as they are putatively under control of the other party. However, when the land or resource is within "Israel proper" then no negotiations should be countenanced. (q.v. managing resources, and Israel proper) Any right to which the Palestinians aspire is a bargaining chip. The right to travel, travel documents, communications between the West Bank and Gaza, allocation of fisheries, etc., all are bargaining chips used by Israel to get more concessions, especially on "security". Negotiations don't deal with anything substantial, but with basic rights that "westerners" would take for granted.
New anti-semitism	Criticism of Israel Consider that Israel is currently ethnically cleansing large areas of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. It is implementing draconian measures against the remaining Palestinian population with the intent of forcing them to emigrate. Yet, when one criticizes these actions, or let alone condemns them, then one is accused in turn of "anti-semitism"! The claims of "new anti-semitism" are a smokescreen to deflect attention away from sordid Israeli deeds. Consider also that those who are prone to label criticism of Israel as anti-semitism are themselves anti-Arab racists and prone to negate the humanity or even the existence of the Palestinians.
Outpost	Demarcation for a new colony "An Israeli structure (civilian or military) beyond the 1949 Armistice Line that did not get official recognition by the Israeli government. More often than not, these outposts have the tacit approval of the Israeli government and are the precursors to new colonies. Israeli governments usually delay their recognition of those outposts for political considerations." [9]
Peace (NB: Ariel Sharon's pronunciation of this word is closer to "piss").	Yep, a dirty word Arnon Soffer is one of Israel's Dr. Strangeloves, and the "father of the wall". Consider what he thinks of "peace": Question: What will the end result of all this killing be? Arnon Soffer: The Palestinians will be forced to realize that demography is no longer significant, because we’re here and they’re there. And then they will begin to ask for "conflict management" talks -- not that dirty word "peace." Peace is a word for believers, and I have no tolerance for believers -- neither those who wear yarmulkes nor those who pray to the God of peace [10]. Peace is indeed a dirty word when it is uttered without reference to justice. Justice is a more potent concept than peace, and maybe a superior slogan for those concerned with the Palestinian condition.
Population register	Prison warden register book Before the "disengagement" Israel controlled the population register, and all Palestinian births, deaths, marriages, and change of residence had to be reported to the Israeli authorities. After the so-called disengagement the Palestinian Authority in Gaza is still required to report these data despite the fact that it putatively has gained more independence [11].
Preserving the settlers' security	Security for the ethnic cleansers... "On the ground, the creation and maintenance of [the colonial settlement of] Ariel entailed and continues to entail untold hardships to the Palestinians who happen to live in the nearby town of Salfit and in numerous villages a long distance all around. Palestinian inhabitants are exposed to ongoing confiscation of their land so as to feed the land hunger of the ever-expanding Ariel settlement, and their daily life are subjected to increasingly stringent travel limitations in the name of 'preserving the settlers' security'." [12]
Respond	Collective punishment After each suicide bombing or violent action against Israelis there are incessant calls for a "response". The Israeli cabinet meets to determine which act of collective punishment will be implemented. The Israeli government uses the Palestinian population in the occupied territories as hostages, and inflicts collective punishment as a means of "deterrence". Israelis are always allowed to respond; this is the prerogative of the occupier. Palestinians are never allowed to respond, that would be referred to as "terrorism". This is what Dr. Majeed Nassar, a doctor in Beit Sahour, has to say about this: "The absolute security notion expresses Israel’s narrow-minded ideology revealed through [...] its policy and its psychological structure: [...] The transformation of the notion of security for the Israeli citizen into an abhorrent racism that allows Israel to imprison an entire population by putting them under siege in an attempt to force the Palestinian resistance movement to surrender." [13]
Road map	Road to nowhere Dov Weisglass's (Ariel Sharon's right-hand man) statement that negotiations had been placed in formaldehyde and the subsequent US approval of the so-called "disengagement" process put a stake through the heart of the "road map" and rendered the Quartet arbitration group meaningless. Even though the "road map" was clearly dead, US State Dept. officials, the US president, and media commentators still suggest that Palestinians should follow the "road map". That is, Israel imposes unilateral measures, and yet some still suggest that the Palestinians should follow a defunct "road map". `On` 26 Dec. 2005, when the BBC reported on the construction of more houses in the occupied territories it stated that the "move appears to breach commitments by Israel to freeze settlement activity in occupied territory, under the US-backed 'road map' peace plan [BBC Online, "Israel to build new settler homes"]." The frequent references to the "breaching of the roadmap" have all to do with propaganda. That is, the BBC or CNN prefer to state that a certain Israeli policy, say, building more houses on occupied territory, "breach the road map", instead of stating that it "breaches international law". The "road map" remains as a subterfuge to avoid stating that Israeli actions violate international law.
Security barrier or fence	The Wall To give an impression that a journalist or a newspaper is "balanced" when reporting on the wall, the term "barrier" will be used. Pro-Israeli media will usually refer to it as a "fence". Furthermore, "security" is the adjective often attached to the "barrier" term, e.g., Donald MacIntyre, The Independent journalist, always uses the joint term: "security barrier". However, the word security in this context prejudges the purpose of the wall, and it is an Israeli-centric interpretation of its purpose. In reality, the wall is a means to annex more land, create miserable conditions for the Palestinians, and to impose a boundary. Chomsky has described the wall as a weapon, and this is a more accurate assessment of its purpose [14].
Security zone	Free fire zone In late December 2005, Israel declared a security zone, i.e., an arbitrary area next to the border with Gaza (on the Palestinian side) where anyone found there would be shot. Furthermore, Israel is also developing automatic machine guns emplaced on the wall which will shoot at anything within an arbitrary distance. Even when the nature of these killing zones is known, some journalists refer to them as "security zones", e.g., Donald MacIntyre, "Israel launches Gaza air strikes amid reports of 'security zone'", 28 December 2005. In Vietnam, the US army instituted "free fire zones", i.e., whoever was seen there would be killed (similar to the Israeli plan), land mines scattered, or artillery would fire at random into an area. NB: This amounted to a war crime. The "security zone" is a euphemism for "free fire zones" which was itself a euphemism for "killing zone".
Removal of settlements	Partial measures Israel is willing to give up some of its colonial settlements, but it isn’t willing to give up "settlement blocks". This is a crucial distinction made by Prof. Jeff Halper, founder and director of ICAHD. Israel seeks to keep control over the settlement blocks, i.e., a far larger area [15]. It is important to note that one of the recommendations made by military strategists to smash the intifada was to: "carry out 'temporary' withdrawal of Israeli settlers from exposed and strategically low value isolated settlements..." [16].
Sovereignty	Palestinian reservation management Danny Rubenstein, a Ha'aretz correspondent, recently stated on a US radio program that the Palestinians should make the most of their newly acquired "sovereignty" granted to them under the disengagement plan. Consider that the Palestinian Authority has no control over its borders, resources, must still supply Israel with a detailed population register, and can't even issue travel documents...[17] When General Amos Yaron, the architect of the wall, was asked if the construction of the wall was taking into account the environmental impact on the Eastern side of the wall (the Palestinian enclave), his answer was: "As a matter of fact, in reality we consider both sides as ours, we are the masters. For us there is no difference between the two sides" [18]. So much for "sovereignty".
Suicide bomber!	The poor man's precision bomb
Transportation contiguity	Bridges and tunnels between the quartered reservations Israel has been busy building exclusive roads between the colonial settlements and the main Israeli population centers. These roads intentionally quarter the West Bank into isolated enclaves to preclude the formation of a Palestinian statelet on the West Bank. And now, to fulfill Bush's vision of a "viable" state, there must be "transportation contiguity." This refers to the bridges and tunnels that need to be built to connect the disjoint Palestinian enclaves. It is impossible to create direct roads between the colonial settlements and the main Israeli cities, and at the same time create a coherent transportation network that will join the Palestinian population centers. The infrastructure created to demolish the potential of a Palestinian state cannot coexist with a coherent transportation infrastructure meant to unite it. Of course, Palestinians will not be allowed to use the roads built for the colonial settlements -- for the most part these roads are for Jews-only.
Viable state	Palestinian reservations Just like a "viable erection" doesn’t portend the onset of high impact sex, a "viable state" doesn’t indicate the formation of a sovereign state or a vibrant economy. Casting further doubt on what is meant by "a viable Palestinian state" is the fact that on several occasions an AIPAC audience cheered the term every time president Bush uttered it [19]. The term "viable state" is a codeword for a state bereft of sovereignty, a dependent economy, and subject to further Israeli whims, e.g., veto on policies, political candidates, control over resources, acquisition of armaments, etc. The main function of such a state is to become a dumping ground for the Palestinian population from areas Israel seeks to colonize. Palestinians should consult the American Indians to determine how "viable" their reservations are.
Vision	The vision thing President Bush seldom refers to his "vision", and just like his father, derisively refers to it as the "vision thing". However in 2002, Bush stated that he had a "vision of a Palestinian state", and predicted that it would be established in 2005. What the transcript of his statement doesn’t capture is Bush's composure when he uttered this statement -- chuckling before and after the statement. The establishment of the state was later delayed because of Palestinian violence (of course!) -- another vision postponed [20].

Paul de Rooij is a writer living in London. He can be reached at proox@hotmail.com (NB: all emails with attachments will be automatically deleted.)

Paul de Rooij © 2005

Endnotes

[1] The construction of the wall is barely covered, and the consequences for those isolated by wall seem to be ignored. Some of the villages on the Western side (seam area) of the wall have been devastated by the wall's construction, yet a search of the internet reveals that their cases haven’t been mentioned by the major media! It is also very likely that the avian-flu threat has been over hyped for similar reasons. Proof that the avian-flu coverage has been used for propaganda purposes is the fact that this issue will die down and disappear in short order. After a few weeks another "mega threat" will be conjured up, e.g., Iranian nukes, an asteroid on a collision course with the earth...

[2] For an earlier glossary of abused language see my "Glossary of Occupation", 12 September 2002 (www.counterpunch.org/rooij0912.html). There is a more detailed description of why it is important to understand the hidden meaning of words, and why one should be careful with the words one uses.

[3] Danny Rubinstein, "The battle for the capital", Ha'aretz, 31 March 2005. There are several other articles on the same topic; however this summarizes it rather well.

[4] Gideon Levy, "The safe passage: The history of a farce", Ha'aretz, 11 December 2005.

[5] See for example: Jonathan Marcus, "'Greater Jerusalem' takes shape", BBC Online, 25 March 2005.

[6] Nadav Shragai, "New Jerusalem master plan seeks to curb Old City overcrowding", Ha'aretz, 14 September 2004

[7] Omar Barghouti, "Executing Another Child in Rafah", CounterPunch, 25 October 2004.

[8] Lecture by a Palestinian water resources expert at SOAS October 2004.

[9] Glossary of terms compiled by Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem (ARIJ) http://www.poica.org/glossary/glossary.php#a4

[10] Arnon Soffer, interview with Ruthie Blum, " ONE on ONE: It’s the demography, stupid", The Jerusalem Post, May. 20, 2004.

[11] It is instructive to read Amira Hass's articles about this issue. See her "Go study in Australia?", Ha'aretz, 14 December 2005.

[12] Uri Avnery, "You brought the boycott upon yourselves: Gush Shalom letter to Bar Ilan University", 26 April 2005. (http://www.corkpsc.org/db.php?aid=17646).

[13] Dr. Majeed Nassar, "Israel’s Strategy of Absolute Security", 25 February 2002 (later published in Arabic).

[14] Noam Chomsky, "A Wall as a Weapon", New York Times, 23 February 2004.

[15] Talk by Prof. Halper at SOAS, 2004.

[16] Anthony Cordesman, "Israel versus the Palestinians: The Second Intifada and Asymmetric Warfare", October 2000. http://www.corkpsc.org/db.php?aid=22619<<br>

Israel detains Palestinian candidate in East Jerusalem

www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-03 20:11:49

RAMALLAH, Jan. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Israeli police detained a campaigning Palestinian candidate in East Jerusalem on Tuesday, Palestinian sources and witnesses said.

Mustafa Barghouti, head of the independent Palestine list for the coming Palestinian legislative elections due on Jan. 25, was detained for not having a permission to enter the Old City, the sources said.

Palestinians Tortured by Israelis Awarded NIS 2.4 Million

By Zvi Harel
Haaretz
1 Feb 06

The Defense Ministry a few days ago gave NIS 2.4 million to 28 Palestinians who were tortured by the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service. The payment was made after an out-of-court settlement was reached with the plaintiffs, who agreed that suits brought to the Tel Aviv Magistrate and District courts would be turned down.

One of the plaintiffs, Benan Oudeh, 31, of Qalqilya, arrested a few years ago for throwing stones, told Haaretz yesterday that his testicles were beaten so badly in the interrogation room that they had to be amputated.

Oudeh's attorney said his client received only NIS 120,000, and was determined to be credited with a urological disability of 20 percent and a psychiatric disability of 10 percent.

Long negotiations in the case, first brought to court in 1996, ended in a settlement whereby the state would make the payment without admitting to the torture.

All the plaintiffs testified that they were shaken, tied in painful positions, had their heads covered with sacks and were prevented from sleeping, techniques that were common at the time but have since been outlawed by the High Court of Justice.

According to their lawyers, some of the plaintiffs were subject to more extreme torture, including the witholding of food and drink, being forbidden to go to the toilet, threats of imprisonment of family members and confinement in a very small cold cell.

Another plaintiff, Hassin Zid from Qalqilya, who was arrested at age 17 on suspicion of throwing a Molotov cocktail said he was handcuffed, sprayed with tear gas, tied from the ceiling and beaten with clubs and a water pipe.

The military court determined that he was unfit to stand trial and he was released and hospitalized in a psychiatric facility. Zid was awarded a 30-percent psychiatric disability, according to attorney Bshara Jabaly, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.

Another plaintiff, Ahmad Mar'i, from Nablus, said interrogators humiliated him by showing him pornographic pictures and suggesting they were of his wife and daughters, and on another occasion, when he was unable to stand, an interrogator forced him on his feet, forced his mouth open and spit into it.

The plaintiffs were divided into two categories: torture victims who were determined not to have incurred permanent disabilities, who were awarded between NIS 15,000 to NIS 38,000 each, and those with permanent disabilities, who received between NIS 50,000 to NIS 435,000 according to the extent of the disability.

Another attorney for the plaintiffs, Dan Assan, said yesterday that the settlement, although made out-of-court still set an important precedent in that compensation was paid in suits of a class-action type. Moreover, he said that about half the plaintiffs were compensated according to no other evidence than their testimony of torture. Assan added that most of the plaintiffs had not been defined as "ticking bombs" and were released following their interrogation.

© Copyright 2006 Haaretz.

Journalist questions Israel's decision on ex-Yukos owner

RIA Novosti
2 Feb 06

TEL AVIV - An Israeli journalist appealed Thursday to the highest judicial authority in the country to investigate the legality of granting Israeli citizenship to an exiled Russian tycoon and Israel's refusal to extradite him to Russia.

"We ask the Supreme Court to instruct the legal advisor to the government, the Prosecutor's Office and the Justice Ministry to answer why they have not yet taken action on the inquiry of Russian law enforcement authorities about [former Yukos co-owner] Leonid Nevzlin," Yuli Nudelman said.

Jewish Riots fail to stop settlement demolition

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem
Thursday February 2, 2006
The Guardian

Five thousand police and soldiers sent to demolish an illegal Jewish outpost on a West Bank hilltop yesterday faced thousands of young Israeli settlers who had promised a battle over Amona.

After a bit of pushing and shoving on both sides, the restraint shown by the security forces during last year's Gaza withdrawal quickly gave way to riot police charges on horseback, water cannon and not a few punishment beatings as the police and army spent hours plucking about 3,000 young settlers from roofs and prising them from the condemned buildings.

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Paul de Rooij © 2005

Endnotes

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