Edith Garwood - “Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations fail because the root problem has not been addressed”
Sixty years ago, more than 700,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes, not knowing where they were going, not knowing when they would return. This displacement of over half of the indigenous inhabitants of Palestine created the largest and oldest refugee population today and is the root of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. This tragedy is called Al Nakba in Arabic.
We are often told the Palestinians fled of their own accord, but British and Israeli archives opened in the late 1970s tell a different story. The indigenous Arabs — Muslim, Christian, secular — were systematically driven out of areas desired for a new Jewish state.
Jews fleeing anti-Semitism in Europe started migrating to Palestine in the mid-19th century. The United Nations, attempting to quell conflicts between indigenous inhabitants and the new immigrants, proposed dividing the area.
Jewish immigrants accepted it, but the Arab side rejected it as unjust as it gave 55 percent of the land to the new immigrants while they were only one-third of the population and owned only 7 percent of the land at the time.
Really excellent commentry on the Windsor Castle event by Jews Sans Frontieres. The end I found especially funny, when you read through the comments you can’t help but notice some truth to it:
Apparently, the royal celebrations of 60 years of ethnic cleansing of Palestine and relentless aggression towards its natives and neighbours was a bit of a damp squib, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency drawing on a report in the Jewish Chronicle.
Prince Edward became the first royal officially to participate in Israel’s independence celebrations at a JNF-UJIA dinner at Windsor Castle on Monday.
Standing in for his father, the Duke of Edinburgh who had been hospitalised with a chest infection several days earlier, the Earl of Wessex attended a champagne reception for the 300-strong gathering.
Even though he left before dinner, he greeted guests including Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosor and Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks.
Wow, how exciting! The Earl of Wessex no less, and even he had better things to do than break bread with a bunch of rich zionists. Ponder this, the Earl of Wessex? The Earl of an earldom that doesn’t exist greeting activists for a state that shouldn’t exist. Was there a message from the royals there?
A student group in Florida is celebrating Israel’s 60th Birthday in order to remind people that Israel “is a country like every other country.” The only problem is that Israel is NOT a country like any other. Its a colonial project where the Europian settlers ethnically cleansed the natives 60 years ago - which this group are now celebrating. Its also a racist country concerned with its “demographic problem” that it should have a majority Jewish population to remain a “Jewish State.” Not to mention the continued occupation, murder and dispossession of the natives population.
A Jewish student organization on Florida State’s campus plans to celebrate Israel’s 60th birthday with free hookah, Israeli food and an attempt to break the world record for biggest dance circle.
Hillel’s celebration, “Blue and White on the Green,” will go for 18 hours, starting at 8 p.m. Saturday and ending at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Events include musical and dance performances on FSU’s Union Green, a showing of the movie “West Bank Story” and a bonfire for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows.
Melanie Annis, Hillel’s director, said the purpose of the event is to get people to recognize that Israel is more than what’s portrayed in the media.
Birthday Bash, a.k.a. disgusting celebration of 60 years of ethnic cleansing, plans are unveiled.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel rolled out its plans for this year’s 60th anniversary celebrations Sunday, promising aerial displays, concerts and a nationwide laser light show in a package with a $28 million (¤18 million) price tag.
At a news conference to announce the events, Cabinet minister Ruhama Avraham Balila said some of the budget would go on projects which would last far beyond this year’s Independence Day celebrations, including a 1,200 kilometer (750 mile) trans-Israel bicycle trail, a footpath circling the Sea of Galilee and renovation of war memorials around the country.
Some of have already begun, while others run through September.
A stream of world leaders and other VIPs are to visit Israel for the birthday celebrations, with U.S. President George W. Bush scheduled to arrive on May 14, she said.
Israel declared statehood in 1948 after Britain ended 31 years of U.N.-mandated rule over Palestine. The date is marked in Israel according to the Hebrew calendar and falls this year on May 8.
One project is a youth drive to collect 1.5 million marbles, representing the number of Jewish children who perished in the Nazi Holocaust. The marbles will be encased in a monument to the dead children near Tel Aviv.
«We hope that when children see what one and a half million actually looks like, rather than as an abstract number, it will really bring home the reality of what happened,» said Haim Goldberg, head of the steering group for the anniversary observances.
While Independence Day is marked with by fireworks and dancing by Jewish Israelis, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and many of the 1.4 million Arabs who are Israeli citizens see the founding of the Jewish state as a tragic event which they call it al-Naqba, Arabic for «the catastrophe.
Avraham Balila acknowledged the sensitivity of the commemoration for Israeli-Arabs _ who make up about one fifth of the country’s population _ and said this year’s program would include a workshop on coexistence for Jewish and Arab youngsters and a Bedouin festival in the rundown Bedouin desert town of Rahat.
Kissinger, along with every other living former secretary of state, has signed on as a vice-chair of the National Committee for Israel 60, which will coordinate events to celebrate Israel’s anniversary.
Co-chairing the national commemoration are former American presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
It looks like Israel has a strangle hold over US elite opinion. I guess, with these big names, celebrations in the USA of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine are going to be quite spectaculor (not to mention sickening). I had heard about Bush and Clinton chairing this commemoration from around last November - but it wasn’t confirmed.
Its not much of a surprise that Kissingers on board - war criminals have all got to look out for each other after all. He learned that lesson after seeing what happened to Pinochet in the UK. Chomsky famously quotes his genocidal orders in Cambodia: “anything that flies on anything that moves.” I’m sure he fits in well in Israel - this appears to be there unofficial motto.
The Trails of Henry Kissinger
Kissinger’s Cold War schemes of bombing Cambodia, the genocidal invasion of East Timor by Indonesia and the coup and related atrocities in Chile are all well researched in this 80 minute film.
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.
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.
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.
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.
“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.
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. (more…)
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.
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!)
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. (more…)
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.
