A tartaruga e o Obama: corrida contra o tempo no Médio Oriente

fonte:Palestine Chronicle



The Tortoise and Obama: Racing Against Time in the Middle East

US President Barack Obama in Israel.

By James Gundun

Nobody likes anti-climax, except for maybe Israel. After heightened speculation that President Obama was hammering out his own Middle East peace plan, the smoke cleared and left nothing behind. Apparently Obama has no new plan, only the desire to mediate negotiations between Israel and Palestine. But was it wise to flicker out after all the buildup? President Obama has very low odds of signing a two-state solution in two years, which apparently is the deadline he’s set.

Israel is more like the hare in this race, confident of winning and prone to lapses in judgement. Never believing the Palestinians will catch up, Israel has grown accustomed to acting unilaterally without fear of reprisal from America or the international community. But while Israeli is in a rush to beat the demographic trends of Palestinians, President Obama is in an even greater rush to win Muslim popularity. Everyone knows how this fable ends.

Obama will encounter fierce resistance from the Palestinians if his intention is to mediate a two-state solution within a two year deadline. Without a new plan Obama is signaling he’s going to stick with Israel, the only actor celebrating the status quo. Of all the arenas he has stepped into, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is most immune to Obama’s oratory.

Beautifully crafted rhetoric won’t convince either side to compromise on core demands like Jerusalem or the rights of refugees. What he needed was a moderate plan and courage. Now President Obama is resting his full weight on the Arab Peace Initiative.

But the stress may prove too much.

The Arab Peace Initiative isn’t aligned with Israel’s demands. It must be modified to succeed, but weakening the Palestinian side of the Initiative is bound to insult King Abdullah. Palestinians aren’t likely to settle for anything less than the Initiative outlines either, leading one to wonder what President Obama is hoping to sell. Palestinians aren’t buying Israel’s arguments and continue to lose faith in fair negotiations. Settlements are the tip of the iceberg, buying refugees off is insulting, and Israel wants all of Jerusalem.

The middle ground of this conflict is like hunting for Big Foot – it may not exist.

Especially confusing is why President Obama believes he can strike a deal based on the Arab Peace Initiative within two years when all evidence on the ground suggests a two-state solution is more than two years away. Obama can't even obtain a settlement freeze in eight months, so how can he finalize two states in two years? Only one factor truly dictates a rushed approach: the Gaza blockade. Gazans don’t have the time that West Bankers have, but as Obama still refuses to open a dialogue with Hamas, Gaza doesn’t seem to be his motivation.

The realist reason for such haste is Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s recent unilateral proposal for a Palestinian state. If the cause was noble, in that Obama wants the diplomatic process to align with PA movements on the ground, then pushing for two years to synchronize with Fayyad’s plan is a good idea. But this theory isn’t plausible. Rather, Obama has heard an outpouring of Israeli acrimony after Fatah's convention and is trying to fend off Fayyad’s momentum. He definitely put pressure on Israel, but then it passed to Obama. Now he's feeling the heat.

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman spearheaded the assault, telling reporters, “Palestinian unilateral initiatives do not contribute to a positive dialogue between the parties, and if the unilateral initiative presented by Salaam Fayad is promoted, it will not go unanswered.”

Palestinians can only laugh in uneasiness believing that most unilateral initiatives come from Israel, yet apparently they remain the problem. The peace process isn't’ moving anywhere at this rate. President Obama must reconsider his strategy, which is too dangerous to employ. He seems to relying on personal character to mediate negotiations, ignoring the fact that this conflict isn’t about him. Yes he is popular around the world, but definitely not in Israel and only marginally in Palestine.. Goodwill alone, even if he had Israeli favor, cannot alter the reality in Jerusalem. He’s going to need lots of time, so why set an impossible deadline?

It’s not easy coming up with alternative solutions in Israel and Palestine, but what can be helped is taking the foot off the gas. Obama and his team have been racing full speed for eight months and the peace process has barely moved. While he’s understandably eager to end the conflict and score Muslim popularity, he’ll only lose when he fails to meet his own criteria. Working with Fayyad may postpone his deadline - if progress is visible. Slow and steady is likely to win this race.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a marathon, not a sprint.

- James Gundun is a political scientist and counterinsurgency analyst based in Washington D.C. He contributed this article to Palestine Chroincle.com. Contact him at: www.hadalzone.blogspot.com.

Israel atira contra equipas médicas

fonte:EI


Israel targets medical teams
Mel Frykberg, The Electronic Intifada, 5 September 2009

Israeli soldiers stop a Palestinian ambulance driver during an operation in Kalil village near the West Bank city of Nablus, August 2008. (Rami Swidan/MaanImages)

JALAZONE, occupied West Bank (IPS) - Fourteen-year-old Muhammad Nayif's mother broke down as she spoke to IPS. Nayif died after being shot three times in the chest by Israeli soldiers Monday night.

Palestinian medical personnel who tried to reach the critically injured boy near the Jalazone refugee camp north of Ramallah were threatened at gunpoint by Israeli soldiers and shot at.

"We were sure that the boy was seriously wounded and needed urgent medical attention," said Sameh Barghouti, a medic in the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) ambulance which tried to evacuate the youngster.

Nosso dom do silêncio

fonte: Palestine Chronicle

Our Gift of Silence
We must rise to the challenge, possibly even before Shalit’s next birthday.
By Ahmed Barqawi

The lack of subtlety in Israel's policy of aggression and land theft towards the Palestinians can only be attributed to our gift of silence, one for which the Israelis' are appreciative and fully exploitive of.

AFP -Agence France-Presse- reported last Monday that French President Nicolas Sarkozy had sent a letter to the family of Israeli captive Gilad Shalit on the occasion of the soldier’s twenty-third birthday which coincided late last month.

In his letter; Sarkozy vowed France's relentless efforts for the freedom of the Shalits’ son, expressing that his thoughts are with them and their son especially on his fourth birthday spent in captivity.

How heartwarming it must be for Gilad's parents, Aviva and Noam, to have on their side the unyielding support of the president of one of the most powerful countries in the world today, the chief resident of the Elysse palace himself, one can imagine the sort of comfort and consolation that they feel to have renowned world leaders carrying their son's "cause" around, campaigning for it on every possible international platform that there is, and why won’t they feel that way; their son garners a great deal of media attention (including Arabic ones), receiving honorary citizenships left and right from the cities of Paris, Rome and Miami, and his “problem” is actually talked about and discussed incessantly in the same hallways and corridors that hold talks of major international issues like the nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea.

Candle vigils are held for him all over the world, gatherings are routinely organized in Israel and in various parts of Europe, and extensive diplomatic efforts are tirelessly exerted all the time to figure out a way to bring one Israeli soldier back to his home (read military base) safe and sound notwithstanding the fact that he was captured during a hostile military operation, fully outfitted with his military uniform and artillery; and chances are had he not been captured; he would’ve probably been facing charges of war crimes right about now for shelling white phosphorous on civilian targets in Gaza.

And given all of that; you’d think with more than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails including a number of elected members of parliament; several confirmed cases of torture, psychological abuse (and evidently organ theft) of adult as well as underage Palestinian detainees not to mention 1.5 million imprisoned in the huge solitary confinement that is Gaza with no food, proper medical care or in many cases; with no roofs on top of their heads; you'd think the whole world should be on fire; outraged and mobilized on all levels –political as well as civil- towards salvaging the waning remains of human rights and civil liberties in the occupied territories; but alas we stand in silence; turning our heads the other way as if everything there is as it should be and going according to the plan.

Does Gilad Shalit’s case seriously symbolize the absolute worst of the worst cases of injustice to befallen upon a human being and for which world leaders should reserve their compassion and concern?

Nonetheless, Sarkozy's stance towards resolving Shalit's issue is in a way quiet understandable; after all Gilad Shalit is a French citizen; but what's not comprehensible and even inexcusable; is the ruthless indifference that Arab regimes patently and systematically practice towards the plight of Palestinian people; our rich oil producers are conveniently sidetracked with bailing out western economies (and they're always dependable when it comes to that); while other countries are too busy supplying ridiculously exorbitant amounts of Gas to Tel Aviv; and for the Palestinians what do we have? Aid conferences of course to pacify the public with, the last of which was in Sharm Al-Shaikh following the catastrophic outcome of the December/January Operation Cast Lead in Gaza; and now five months later; we know for a fact that it was as much of a frivolous conference as it was deceitful, it merely acted as a band-aid for a fatal bullet wound, and I am mystified that some of these very same regimes even seem to think a "band-aid" is always more than enough when it comes to Palestine.

How completely desensitized and uncaring we have become to the sheer horrors the Palestinians face each and every day in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem, the whole world literally sat and watched ever so idly -in the comfort of its own double standards- how two Palestinian families were forcibly driven out of their houses at gunpoint in Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood in Jerusalem and into the streets in some sort of a public display of Israel’s colonialist agenda and expansionism policies notoriously for all the world to see.

And to that end; early last month; a group of cyclists were banned by Egyptian authorities from crossing the Rafah border into the Gaza Strip after what certainly has been a physically excruciating journey biking all the way from Ireland, these cyclists subjected their bodies to tremendous pain for a good cause in solidarity with Palestinians just for Egyptian authorities to dismiss their honorable mission on a whim without even the courtesy of a logical explanationg, and did that even make the news? Of course it didn't.

It seems that we have caved in to the indoctrination of the mainstream media when we’d only have the briefest of moments to sympathize before that now famous and fleeting timeline for our sympathy ends turning it into complete apathy and disregard for a continuous human tragedy that’s only worsening by the minute especially in Gaza; and most of us –as human beings- do not even realize that in doing so we immediately become a huge part of their incalculable measure of suffering, loss and daily torment, let's face it; we do inhabit an informative and over-communicative world today; thus our silence can only be construed as either consent or lack of interest, and I don't know which is worse.

The fact that we stand hushed and lulled is an overpowering indictment of our selves and it’s simply inhumane; that is why we don’t just owe it to the Palestinians -for whom we are certainly duty-bound to support-; but most importantly we owe it to our own moral integrity which constitutes the backbone of our humanity, but now and thanks to a methodical and well-organized indoctrination by the mainstream media, our moral integrity is thinning and it’s thinning fast and lest we shake the cobwebs of fear and ignorance off of our eyes and rise to the challenge, our own sense of humanity will completely erode soon, possibly even before Shalit’s next birthday.

- Ahmed Barqawi contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com.

"Sense of duty": entrevista com o jornalista Bilin

fonte:EI


"Sense of duty": interview with Bilin journalist
Jody McIntyre, The Electronic Intifada, 4 September 2009

Haitham a- Katib at home with his son Mohammed. (Hamde Abu Rahme)

Haitham al-Katib is a journalist living in the occupied West Bank village of Bilin. During the last few months, village residents have been the victims of constant night invasions by the Israeli military. The goal of these raids is to crush the village's campaign of nonviolent resistance to the confiscation of their land. Al-Katib films the night raids, as well as the weekly nonviolent demonstrations against the wall, and has become a well-known figure for his brave attempts to document the struggle. The Electronic Intifada contributor Jody McIntyre, currently based in Bilin, interviewed him about his work.

Jody McIntyre: What's your daily routine at the moment?

Haitham al-Katib Because of the raids, I don't sleep at night. Instead, I walk around the village with friends as well as international volunteers, to watch for soldiers. They come with dogs and masked faces, and break into the houses without knocking on doors, usually between 2 to 4am, so now our children are terrified that it will be their house next. When I was 15 years old I was put in jail myself, so I know how it feels. I was only a kid, and I was really afraid, so now I feel like I have a responsibility to try and stop it from happening to our next generation.

On Fridays, I film the nonviolent demonstrations at the wall. The occupation forces have stolen over half of our land to build settlements and the wall, so we go to protest against this. This year, at one such demonstration, they killed a close friend of mine, Bassem Abu Rahme. He had his arms in the air and was telling them not to shoot because they had injured an Israeli girl, and they murdered him right there. I used to be a photographer, but after that incident I realized how important video is to show the truth; the Israeli army later claimed that Bassem was hurling rocks at them when he was shot. I was photographing Bassem at the time and I thought he was just injured, but when I realized something wasn't right, I dropped my camera from the shock.

JM: How do the night raids affect your family life?

HK: I've lost my regular job as an electrician since the night raids began, so now my family and I are in a very difficult situation financially. Not just my family, but everyone in the village sleeps in normal clothes now, fearing they could be the next person to be dragged from their bed with automatic weapons pointed at their face. I can't sleep in my house at night, because I know there could be another invasion, and I want my children to sleep instead.

My youngest son, Karme, is two years old; he was diagnosed with leukemia at just eight months. I used to take him to the hospital in Jerusalem every day, but recently I've been finding it increasingly difficult to obtain the permit I need from the Israeli authorities, so my wife goes instead. The [Palestinian Authority] was paying for Karme's healthcare, but its support is unreliable - earlier this year it suddenly stopped paying for a month, and I had to find 20,000 NIS [New Israeli Shekels, about $5,255] for the medical costs. There is no way my family can afford these hospital fees.

JM: Why do you film the night raids?

HK: Because I feel a [sense of] duty to show the world the reality of what is happening in Bilin. Also, I think if my camera wasn't there the Israeli soldiers would be even more brutal, and would stay in the village for longer during the raids. We also go out with the intention of stopping the violent arrests of our children, although that has proven impossible.

JM: Have you ever been hurt while filming?

HK: Yes, many times! During a recent night raid, I saw the soldiers looking to grab me, so I started running and gashed my leg on a piece of metal that was sticking out from underneath a car. The soldiers just left me when they saw I was lying on the ground.

In fact, they often attack me during the raids and try to break my camera. In the most recent raid they succeeded -- one of the soldiers saw me filming and grabbed the screen of the camera, yanking it twice to completely destroy it.

I've also been injured many times during the weekly nonviolent demonstrations at the wall. On one occasion, I was photographing and a soldier told me if I didn't stop he would shoot me in the head. I didn't believe him, so I stepped to the side and continued to take photos, and he shot me with a rubber-coated metal bullet right between my eyes, which broke my skull. While I was lying in intensive care, the one question on my mind was, "Why?" I didn't do anything wrong, I was just taking photos, but perhaps the soldiers didn't want the world to see the truth of their actions, while they preach about Israeli "democracy" in the mainstream media.

But it's not only me; hundreds of people, including many journalists, have been injured during our nonviolent demonstrations.

JM: What are your plans for the future?

HK: My dream is to teach lots of people in the village how to film, so that when the mothers have their children snatched from them they can show the whole world.

Next week, I am going to Switzerland with Shai Pollak, an Israeli activist and filmmaker, and close friend of mine, to show Bil'in, Habibi [a film Shai made about our village's campaign of nonviolent resistance] at the Biennale libre de l'image en movement film festival in Geneva. I hope we can use the film to show the world that the wall is not for security, as Israel claims, but solely for stealing our land and building illegal settlements.

JM: Do you see an end to the occupation?

HK: I think our struggle for freedom may continue for a long time, but I truly believe we will get there one day. If Palestine follows the model of Bilin, we will be free.

Jody McIntyre is a journalist from the United Kingdom, currently living in the occupied West Bank village of Bilin. Jody has cerebral palsy, and travels in a wheelchair. He writes a blog for Ctrl.Alt.Shift, entitled "Life on Wheels," which can be found at www.ctrlaltshift.co.uk. He can be reached at jody.mcintyre AT gmail DOT com.

OCHA/UN: Relatório Semanal sobre Protecção de Civis: 26-08/01-09/2009

fonte:Forum Palestina

Este é o relatório semanal produzido pela OCHA - Gabinete de Coordenação dos Assuntos Humanitários das Nações Unidas nos Territórios Palestinos Ocupados e referido ao período de 26 Agosto a 1 Setembro 2009.

Este relatório visa fazer o balanço de diversos eventos com impacto nas condições humanitárias e da protecção às populações civis.

O texto que adiante apresentamos refere-se apenas ao rationale do documento.

Quem o quiser analisar mais detalhadamente poderá encontrá-lo, em inglês, neste link: Protection of Civilians Weekly Report.

No relatório desta semana destaca-se:

• Dois palestinos foram mortos, incluindo um jovem de 15 anos de idade (Ramallah), e outros 12 ficaram feridos em todos os Territórios Palestinos Ocupados.

• Começou o novo ano escolar com milhares de estudantes afectados pela escassez de salas de aula em Jerusalém Oriental e na Cisjordânia, enquanto o acesso às escolas em Gaza foi dificultado pela combinação de diversos factores, como a falta de materiais de construção para a reconstrução e reparação das escolas danificadas e a escassez de materiais educativos.

• O acesso a Jerusalém Oriental para portadores de identificação da Cisjordânia, na primeira sexta-feira do Ramadão, foi mais organizado do que no ano anterior.