Israel’s 60th Birthday

The following from Global Research:

On May 14, Israelis will commemorate the 60th anniversary of their “War of Independence” and founding of the Jewish State. It also marks 60 years of Palestinian Nakba suffering. The web site www.alnakba.org recounts the history:

– from the late Ottoman empire period; to

– the birth of Zionism; to

– the early Jewish colonization of Palestine; to

– the 1917 Balfour Declaration support for a “Jewish national home in Palestine;” to

– the simultaneous British betrayal of the indigenous Arabs; to

– the British occupation; to

– its delayed promised end; to

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We are told children are the theme of this years 60th birthday celebrations.  But what they mean is - Israeli children are the theme - as tight restrictions are placed on Palestinian kids: preventing them from taking part in their annual visit to the holy city.  Why the restrictions?  We can only presume security is tightening for Israel’s celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

The Israeli Government has imposed a new travel restriction which has prevented Palestinian Christian children from traveling to Jerusalem for this year’s annual Children’s Journey to Jerusalem, according to Bethlehem office of the event’s sponsoring organization, the Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation (HCEF).   As a result of the new restriction, the event has been. postponed

This year, for the first time, the Israeli Government surprised the organizers of the event by announcing that the children, ages 13 and under, would require permits to enter the Holy City.  With great effort, HCEF managed to submit applications for the permits three weeks before the scheduled date of the event on May 2, but on April 30 Israeli authorities told HCEF that there was not enough time to consider the applications.

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A good article by Larry Derfner - its also worth remembering that Israeli Arabs have been threatened with another nakba for not celebrating.

On May 8, Israel’s 60th Independence Day, 80 percent of the country’s population—the Jewish citizens—will be celebrating or at least identifying with the holiday.

Twenty percent, the Arab citizens, will not be.

More and more Israeli Arabs view Independence Day, which celebrates Israel’s victory over the Arabs in the 1948 War of Independence, as the Day of Catastrophe, or Nakba in Arabic. Israel’s 1.4 million Arab citizens are descendants of the Palestinians who remained in the country after the war, which turned the great majority of their people into refugees, cost them a state, and set the stage for six ensuing decades of bloody conflicts. “For us, it’s a day of sadness, of mourning,” says Amira Shawahna, a teacher marching in the recent annual Israeli Arab “Land Day” protests in Galilee against the state’s historical policy of expropriating land from Arab localities and giving it to Jewish ones.

In Nazareth and other Israeli Arab cities and villages, residents will again commemorate what they call the nakba by visiting some of the hundreds of onetime Arab villages whose residents either fled or were expelled during the 1948 war and which were later given over to the burgeoning Jewish majority.

President Bush and other world leaders are due in Israel for the holiday (Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948, which is why some official events will be held on that date even though the date is marked in Israel according to the Hebrew calendar and thus falls this year on May 8.) Parades, concerts, and fireworks are planned nationwide.

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Some upcoming events in the UK really worth attending - 

Windsor JNF dinner Protest

MONDAY 7TH APRIL, 6PM ONWARDS
 
‘COME SPOIL ISRAEL’S 60TH BIRTHDAY BASH AT WINDSOR CASTLE’
 
Demonstrate against Israel’s 60th Birthday celebrations at Windsor Castle, Windsor, Berkshire.  Come with banners and placards and join us at the main entrance to the castle, Henry V111th Gate, Castle Hill, Off High Street, Windsor, Berks.
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In the 1980’s a group of Israeli researchers began to re-examine the historical record surrounding the foundation of Israel in 1948. This is an interesting and important year that Ilan Pappe describes as a departure point for history. For one side, the Israelis, it was “a miracle, the best year in Jewish history” where the Zionist colonial project achieved its goal of building an independent Jewish State. Yet for the other side it was a disaster, the worst year in their history, what the Palestinians call the Nakba (Catastrophe), “almost the Holocaust.”

In May Israel will celebrate this event calling it their 60th ‘birthday’ and are inviting world leaders and the global media to attend. In other words - they’re not just celebrating while Palestinians are mourning they are using it as a photo opportunity!

With this in mind we propose a competition to create artwork that either commemorates the Nakba or highlights the offensive and indecent nature of celebrating while others mourn.

As the global celebrations run into 2009 so will the competition. We will however pick a handfull of the best from the 14th - 16th of May that will be distributed to the media and journalists.

All the artworks will be displayed on the ‘Artwork Competition‘ page and will be added to this flickr group (flickr pool RSS feed). To submit an artwork either post a link in a comment, email the artwork or add it to the flickr group. Also could bloggers that are willing to distribute the winning entries leave a comment to show their support?

Thumbnails

In the future they will be posted here.

A little background on the new UK ambassador Ron Prosor who is using the 60th Birthday to promote a more positive image of Israel. Strange topic to choose for PR considering it raises the issue of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

Haaretz: Israeli PR efforts in Britain have kicked up a notch since Prosor became ambassador two months ago. As a former Foreign Ministry director general, he is focusing on speeches to new kinds of audiences, frequent television appearances and press interviews.

“I’m not afraid to appear anywhere, and there is no platform - suitable of course - that I will not utilize for PR work,” Prosor says.

Among other venues, he delivered a speech at St. Antony’s College, Oxford, the day after that institution invited Holocaust denier David Irving to speak.

Prosor says he wants to influence British public opinion, which he says is more extreme than the political establishment in its criticism of Israel, and hugely influential.

“If something remains of the British Empire’s power in the world, it is the British media’s impact,” he says.
“So I will go to universities, to trade unions, to relevant conferences. So long as somebody gives me a platform - I will come.”

more from the Jerusalem Post

Israel’s new ambassador to London is spearheading a new campaign to make Israel’s case more succinctly in the country’s media and has vowed to work more closely with the UK’s Jewish communities to do so.

As part of a bold new strategy, Ambassador Ron Prosor, who arrived in the UK in November, wants to focus on media perceptions of Israel.

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American Government putting pressure on Israel with threats of a birthday boycott?

JN: US President George W. Bush would very much like to be in Israel to commemorate the reborn Jewish state’s 60th Anniversary this May.

There’s just one small proviso: Israel must make some serious progress in implementing its commitments to the Palestinian Arabs under the ‘Road Map’ before the American leader will agree to come.

This incidence of political blackmail was revealed Monday in a report posted on the Jerusalem-based website Israel Today.

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PA urges Palestinians to  return to Israel on 60th anniversary

JP:The Palestinian Authority is planning to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary by calling on all Palestinians living abroad to converge on Israel by land, sea and air.

The plan, drawn by Ziad Abu Ein, a senior Fatah operative and Deputy Minister for Prisoners’ Affairs in the Palestinian Authority, states that the Palestinians have decided to implement United Nations Resolution 194 regarding the refugees.

Article 11 of the resolution, which was passed in December 1948, says that “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.”

The initiative is the first of its kind and is clearly aimed at embarrassing Israel during the anniversary celebrations by highlighting the issue of the “right of return” for the refugees.

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The celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine seems to be spreading from one city to another. Its promoted as being “a historic and fun day for one and all.” Funny that - its a day where Palestinians will be mourning the Nakba (or catastrophe) . Its their holocaust commited by Israel and they’re likely to be hurt and antagonised by pro-Israeli’s dancing on their graves: hardly fun for all. Peace will not be reached until theres an understanding and atonement for the crimes of the past.

Is there a protest organised for this event? Please let me know.

The march on the 29th June 2008 now has its own website here. For a previous bit on this see here.

The Story of the Parade

The Salute to Israel Parade is no stranger to New York, but this year, for the first time, it is coming to London and Manchester! This special one-off event will celebrate 60 years of the State of Israel and will be one of the largest gatherings in the world in support of the country.

The Salute to Israel Parade will be a public celebration of the 60th Anniversary and will demonstrate affirmation of solidarity with and support of Israel, as well as an expression of unity within the British Jewish community, transcending religious and political affiliations. The Parade itself will feature a procession featuring floats, marchers and bands performing, representing all parts of the British Jewish community.

This will be a historic and fun day for one and all, so do not miss out on this historic event.

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Looks like the Zionist Federation is targeting UK schools with its birthday celebration propaganda.  Will British schools help them celebrate the ethnic cleansing in Palestine?

While I think its good children should learn about science its wrong that it should be used as a trick in a political campaign to make them think positively of the worlds leading criminal state.

Concern over lack of funds for Israel 60th
08/02/2008
By Dana Gloger
LONDON’S Israeli embassy will not receive any extra funding from the Foreign Ministry to mark the state’s 60th-anniversary celebrations after the Israeli government said it will not be allocating additional money to any of its outposts across the world.

This has left the embassy in London, as well as others worldwide, having to dip into their own budgets if they wish to mark 60 years since independence.

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“The visit does not have a high political agenda. It is more of a symbolic visit.”

To have no real political agenda in a time of great crisis for the Palestinians is to be complicit in Israel’s war crimes and refusal to negotiate peace.

Shame on Merkel travelling to Israel to celebrate 60 years since the beginning of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

A rather more interesting trip took place recently involving German intellectuals. See Israel’s creation made Palestinians victims of the Holocaust and No more preferential treatment for Israel.

The Local: German Chancellor Angela Merkel travels to Israel on Sunday for a visit of major historical significance more than 60 years after the end of World War II, writes AFP’s Simon Sturdee.

Merkel will be the first German chancellor to address the Knesset when she gives a speech at the Israeli parliament on Tuesday, an honour reserved normally for heads of state.
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Australians voicing opposition to the PM’s motion put before Parliament to recoginse and congratulate Israel on its 60th birthday placed this advert in a national paper The Australian.

Not in Our Name

We, as informed and concerned Australians, choose to disassociate ourselves from a celebration of the triumph of racism and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians since the al-Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948. As we write, Israel continues to expand illegal Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank including Arab East Jerusalem.

Australia and Australians should not give the Israeli people and its leaders the impression that Australia supports them in their dispossession of the Palestinian people. Israel has poisoned our (the West’s) relations with the whole of the Arab and Muslim world. Rather than celebrating the creation of the State of Israel, we should be recognising the people of Palestine, those who were dispossessed, those who lived and died as refugees, those who continue to live and die and suffer at the hands of the State of Israel, and those who will continue to suffer and die in the future until justice is done.

From 1948.com.au

• Advert
• Reason for the advert

Background

• Australia to celebrate colonialism and ethnic cleansing
• Colonialism - Bad for Australia, Good for Israel
• Will Australia celebrate Israel’s 60th Birthday?

Big thanks to Ann for sending me this!

The Australian Government will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The morning of the vote a group arranged an advert in a national paper titled not in our name -

“Australia and Australians should not give the Israeli people and its leaders the impression that Australia supports them in their dispossession of the Palestinian people,” (a friend was involved who will soon forward me a copy - thanks Ann!)

The following by Sonja Karkar on the Electronic Intifada:

So much for the new Australian government taking an even-handed position on Israel-Palestine. Before our politicians even warmed their seats in the new parliamentary sittings, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced that he will lead a parliamentary motion to honor Israel on 12 March acknowledging Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. The opposition leader will second the motion. Then, celebrations will take place at a reception in the Mural Hall of Parliament House.
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I love the contradiction that the Australian Government recently appologised for its colonial treatment of its own indigenous population - yet now it celebrates the same treatment of Palestinians. Why do I love it? Because it exposes these fraudulent politicians as being committed to power and spin rather than real values. Alan Ramsey in the Sunday Morning Herald:

You might recall Labor’s Julia Irwin and her efforts 5½ years ago to debate Israel’s theft of what used to be the Palestinians’ half of Palestine. On September 26, 2002, Irwin gave formal notice that she wanted Parliament to debate Israel’s continued military occupation, in defiance of the United Nations, of the West Bank and Gaza for 35 years. Despite thuggish efforts to shut Irwin up, the Howard government allowed her four-point motion to go ahead in the House of Representatives six weeks later but restricted debate to six MPs, each given only five minutes’ speaking time.

As a “debate” of the core malignancy convulsing the Middle East ever since the UN partition of Palestine in 1948, it was a travesty. It was also one of those extremely rare occasions that the easily intimidated Australian Parliament, ever mindful of Jewish financial support of party coffers, has debated the Middle East at all.

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The Australian: A BIPARTISAN motion congratulating Israel on 60 years of statehood has provoked division in federal Labor, with one government MP threatening to boycott the vote and union heavyweights accusing the Jewish state of racism and ethnic cleansing.The parliamentary motion is due to be passed by MPs today, commemorating 60 years of friendship between Australia and Israel.

The motion provoked a clash between Kevin Rudd and Labor MP Julia Irwin yesterday after Ms Irwin questioned why the Government was supporting the gesture, given Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.And today a group of individuals and organisations, including the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union, the Maritime Union of Australia and South Australian Democrat MP Sandra Kanck, have put their names to an advertisement in The Australian condemning the motion.

“We, as informed and concerned Australians, choose to disassociate ourselves from a celebration of the triumph of racism and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians since the al-Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948,” the advertisement reads.

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