Only Arabs are Terrorists

‘Dwayat’s actions were heinous and murderous, but was he a terrorist?’

By Kim Bullimore – The West Bank

On 2 July, Husam Taysir Dwayat, aged 30, took the bulldozer he was driving and rampaged through West Jerusalem’s Jaffa St, killing 3 people and injuring at least 66 others. Dwayat, a Palestinian Arab, who had worked for a number of years as a part of a construction team, held a Jerusalemite ID, which gave him Israeli residential rights but not Israeli citizenship. Dwayat’s murderous rampage eventually came to an end when he was shot and killed by an off duty Israeli soldier, who is now being hailed a hero. Dwayat’s actions were heinous and murderous, but was he a terrorist? Israel’s media quickly labeled him one and continues to do so, as have the majority of Israel’s political establishment including the Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, the Defense Minister, Ehud Barak and the Vice Premier Haim Ramon.

In 2007, the US State Department annual Country Reports on Terrorism defined terrorism as being the “premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by sub national groups or clandestine agents”[1]. For the past 6 years, this is the definition that has been consistently used by the US State Department, with the key point being that “terrorism” is politically motivate, thus distinguishing it from murder or other aggressive acts.

According to the Israeli police, however, Dwayat had no record of being involved in political activity and that the announcements by a number of previously unknown political groups claiming that Dwayat was a member were false [2]. According to the Israeli police, his family, neighbours and his Jewish ex-girlfriend, however, Dwayat did have a criminal record, including charges and arrests for drug felonies, theft and physical assault.

Dwayat’s Jewish girlfriend of six and half years, with whom he had a child, informed the Israeli media that far from hating Jews, he had never shown any ill will to Jews and had no political affiliations. In an interview with Haaretz TV online, Dwayat’s ex-girlfriend said that he “didn’t have any problems with Jews”, going on to say “I don’t think the attack had any nationalist motivations” [3]

So if Dwayat’s murderous act was not politically motivated, if he was not acting as part of a “sub national groups or clandestine agents”, why is he being labeled by the Israeli media, politicians and other state officials “a terrorist”? Why if he acted alone, in what Israeli security forces and police believe to be an unpremeditated act, is Dwayat being marked as a terrorist?

The answer is, of course, simple. Dwayat was a Palestinian Arab, so quid pro quo, he must be a terrorist. This fact and this fact alone is the reason for him being labeled a terrorist.

The anti-Arab racism in this labeling of Dwayat is clearly evident when you ask two simple questions:

(a) If the person who had carried out the bulldozer attack had been identified as Jewish would he have been automatically deemed a terrorist? The answer is almost certainly no.

(b) If the person had been a non-Jewish but also non-Arab, would he have been labeled automatically a terrorist. Again, the likely answer again would have been no.

But Dwayat was a Palestinian Arab, and a Muslim to boot. So of course, he must be a terrorist.

In the days after the murderous act, all three Israeli political leaders, raised the flags of demagoguery and popularism, attempting to out do each other calling for the collective punishment of not only Dwayat’s family but also all the Palestinian people.

On Friday, July 4, Barak ordered the Israeli security forces to issue injunctions calling for the demolition of not only Dwayat’s family home but also the family home of Alaa Abu Dhaim who carried out the attack which killed 8 students studying at Mercaz Haray Yeshiva which conducted a joint religious and military training program.

The day before, on July 3, Olmert had reiterated his call to demolish Dwayat’s family home in East Jerusalem saying “This attack which came from within Israel, into Israel. It creates a string of scenarios we never thought we would have to deal with in the past. We have invested thousands in the construction of the security fence. While it has been effective, it turns out that a fence cannot give us the answer to the problem of terror which comes from our side” [4].

Olmert went on to say that Dwayat’s family should also be stripped of any social security benefits, saying “I think we need to be tougher in some of the means we use against perpetrators of terror… If we have to destroy houses, then we must do so, if we have to stop their social benefits then we must do so. There cannot be a case where they massacre us and at the same time they get all the privileges that our society provides”

However, far from destroying the family homes of all apparent terrorists with Israeli citizenship or residency and stripping their families of Israeli social security benefits, such punitive actions are only being directed at one ethnic group – Palestinian Arabs - revealing once again both the strident anti-Arab racism of the Israeli Zionist state and its apartheid nature.

This is starkly revealed when considering the Israeli state reaction to the terrorist attack carried out three years earlier, by Eden Natan-Zada, a 19 year old Jewish soldier.

On August 4, 2005, Natan-Zada, carried out a pre-mediated terrorist attack in Shfaram in Northern Israel. The attack resulted in the murder of 4 Israeli citizens and the wounding of at least 10 others before the terrorist was killed.

Natan-Zada, who was politically opposed to then Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan from Gaza, was an army deserter who had sought sanctuary in the illegal Israeli settlement of Tappauch in the Occupied West Bank. Natan-Zada was a member of the illegal Israeli settler group, Kach, who are followers of the anti-Arab racist, Rabbi Meir Kahane [5]. Kach, along with Kahane Chai founded by Kahane’s son, are the only two Jewish groups listed as terrorist organisations by both the US and Israeli governments. In Israel, Kach and Kahane Chai were outlawed in 1994 after another of Kach’s members, Baruch Goldstein, massacred 29 Palestinian men, women and children at prayer in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Occupied Hebron.

While at the time Ariel Sharon acknowledge Natan-Zada’s act as one of terrorism, there was never any call by Sharon or Olmert or Barak (who were elected politicians at the time) or any other Israeli politician for the demolition of Natan-Zada’s family home or for his family to be stripped of any of their social security benefits, despite the young soldier’s pre-mediated and politically motivated massacre of four Israeli citizens.

One of the reasons for this can be found in the simple fact that the Israelis killed by Natan-Zada were not (European) Jews but Palestinian Arabs who held Israeli citizenship. A little over three weeks after Sharon publicly stated that Natan-Zada was a terrorist, an Israeli inter-ministerial committee in the Department of defense declared that Natan-Zada’s murderous attack was not “terrorist” because he was a serving soldier (this was despite the fact that he was an army deserter)[6]. As a result, those killed by Natan-Zada were denied not only recognition of being victims of terrorism but also their families were denied the right to ongoing state compensation, which the families of Israeli Jews killed in terror attacks receive.

Nazia Hayek, the brother of one of the four people killed by Natan-Zada said at the time that financial compensation was not their main interest as it would not bring back his brother. Instead, according to Hayek, the ruling which stated that Natan-Zada’s act was “neither terror or an act of hostility” sent a message to all extremists that “it was permissible to kill Arabs and [it] does not count as terror”[7]

Like Baruch Goldstein, Natan-Zada far from being reviled as the terrorist he clearly was, instead like Goldstein before him, he was cannonised by the Israeli right wing. While Israeli police moved quickly to remove the mourning tent erect for Dwayat by his family in the wake of the Jerusalem bulldozer attack, in the wake of Natan Zada’s murderous attack it was reported that the illegal settlement of Tappauch built a library in his honour. Similarly, Goldstein was also honoured with celebrations in his names and shrines was built in his honour (which took the Israeli police more than 6 years to remove).

In addition, unlike the solider who shot and killed Dwayat, the Palestinian Arab Israelis who neutralised Natan-Zada, killing him in order to prevent him from killing more innocent people, were not hailed heroes by the Israeli state. Instead, they have been persecuted and hounded.

In June 2008, the Israeli Haifa District Prosecution subpoenaed 12 Shfraram residents to attend a pre-trailing hearing about the 2005 killing of Natan-Zada [8]. Previously in 2006, six Palestinians with Israeli citizenship had also been arrested for the murder of Natan-Zada and held under house arrest. It was only with threats of mass rioting by the residents of Shfraram and surrounding villages and towns that they were they eventually released.

Over the past decade, numerous studies conducted by Israeli organisations have revealed increasing levels of discrimination and racism against so-called Israeli Arabs by both the Israeli state and by Jewish Israeli citizens.

In 2007, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) released a report which revealed that the incidents of anti-Arab racist attacks had increased by 26% and that the expression of anti-Arab views had doubled in the last couple of years. The poll conducted by ACRI revealed that 50% of Jewish Israelis did not believe Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel should have equal rights and that the Israeli government should encourage “emigration” of Palestinian Arabs from Israel. According to the poll, almost 75% of Jewish Israeli youth also believed that Palestinians and Arabs were less intelligent and less clean than Jews [9]. ACRI noted that media played a significant role in “intensifying the Arab image as negative and terrorising”. At the time of the report, Arab Knesset member, Mohammed Barakeh, from Hadash (the Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) said the poll was “the natural outcome” of the anti-Arab policies held by successive Israeli governments

A similar poll conducted by Geocartography Institute.in March of 2007, revealed that 75% of the 500 Jewish men and women who participated in the poll would not live in the same building as an Arab, while 60% would not allow an Arab into their home and 50% believed marrying an Arab was “national treason” [10].

The automatic declaration of Dwayat as a terrorist by Olmert, Barak and the Israeli media, simply because he was a Palestinian Arab rather then because he carried out a politically motivated act reveals that the “us” that Olmert spoke about on July 3 does not include the Palestinian Arab citizens or residents of Israel. This along with Olmert and Barak’s immediate call to conduct punitive collective punishment (which is illegal under international law) against Dwayat’s family reveals starkly the apartheid nature of the Israeli state.

If Palestinian Arabs were part of Olmert’s Israeli “us” and Israel was not engaging in widespread apartheid policies, then Dwayat would not have been automatically labeled a terrorist and the punitive policy against his family would also not been enacted, just as such punitive punishment was never enacted against the Jewish family of Eden Natan-Zada.

It seems in Israel, however, only Palestinian Arabs can be terrorists in the eyes of the Israeli Zionist state and many of its Jewish citizens.

-Kim Bullimore is currently living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, where she is a human rights volunteer with the International Women’s Peace Service (www.iwps.info). She contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit her blog: www.livefromoccupiedpalestine.blogspot.com.

Notes

[1] 2007 Country Reports on Terrorism, US State Department
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2007/103715.htm

[2] Haaretz service (2 July, 2008) Barak: Israel must respond immediately to Jerusalem attack, Haaretz
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998330.html

[3] and [4] Haaretz, Barak orders demolition of Jerusalem, yeshiva terrorist’s homes, 4 July, 2008, Haaretz http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998668.html

[5] Cook,J., (14 June, 2006) For Arabs only: Israeli law and order http://www.counterpunch.org/cook06142006.html

[6] and [7] Khoury, J., Eldar A., and Sinai, R., (30 August, 2005) MK submits bill to include Jewish attacks under terror law, Haaretz, http://www.kibush.co.il/show_file.asp?num=7659

[8] Raved, A., (15 July, 2008)  Haifa prosecution considering new indictments in the death of Eden Natan Zada, YNet http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3555829,00.html

[9] Israeli anti-Arab racism ‘rises’ (10 December, 2007, BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7136068.stm
and
Zino,A., (8 December, 2007) Racism in Israel on the rise, YNET
http://www.ynet.co.il/english/articles/0,7340,L-3480345,00.html

[10]Nahmais, R., (27 March 2007) Marriage to an Arab is national treason.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3381978,00.html

tarboush tip to Mazinx

Settlers assault more Palestinian civilians

A group of West Bank settlers on Saturday beat a 31-year-old Palestinian man in the southern Hebron Hills, after having tied him to a telephone pole.

Left-wing activists later videoed a settler kicking Madahat Abu-Kirash, the victim, as he remained tied up and was surrounded by Israeli security forces. The soldiers subsequently removed the settler from the scene.

Hebron police opened an investigation into the incident after Abu-Kirash submitted a complaint, claiming that he had been beaten all over his body.

According to the left-wing organization Ta’ayush, whose members were close to the scene of the assault and witnessed part of it, the incident began when residents of the settlement of Asael accused Abu-Kirash of setting a field alight a few hundred meters away from their homes.

Abu-Kirash, a teacher, told the settlers in response that he had come to perform agricultural work on land he owns. He denied any connection to the fire.

Ta’ayush members said that the Palestinian’s explanation was of no avail, and the settlers proceeded to forcibly take him to the bounds of the settlement, where they tied him up and beat him.

IDF troops who were called to the area gave him medical treatment on the spot, after which a Red Crescent ambulance took him to a hospital. Abu-Kirash later returned to his home from the hospital.

“When we arrived at the scene there were already lots of the army’s troops. I saw a settler approach him and kick him, as he was tied to the pole… [Abu-Kirash's] whole body was bound up, I saw they bandaged a head wound and he was half unconscious,” said a Ta’ayush activist who was present during the incident.

The chairperson of the South Hebron hills regional council, Zviki Bar-Hai told Haaretz that those responsible for starting the fire and setting the nearby fields ablaze were not from the area, rather they were either Palestinians or extreme left-wing activists.

Bar-Hai claims he demanded that the police and army investigate what happened. “But what is clear,” he said “is that occasionally on Shabbat these provocateurs instigate commotion, just last week they called IDF soldiers Nazis.”

haaretz

Settlers in the West Bank don’t honor truces

Israeli security officials said Friday that students from a far-right Jewish theological seminary at a West Bank settlement recently built a crude rocket and fired it at a nearby Palestinian village, although it failed to reach its target.

The officials said troops in the area heard a loud explosion and initially thought Palestinians were attacking the settlement of Yitzhar, where the seminary is situated. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the incident, which occurred about two weeks ago, is still being investigated by police and agents of the Shin Bet security agency.

Police spokesman Danny Poleg said detectives searched the settlement Thursday and questioned residents but made no arrests and found no explosives. He would not comment further.

The Israeli daily Maariv, which reported the incident Friday, said police believe the perpetrator probably found rocket-making instructions on the Intern

Yitzhar is a known hotbed of ultranationalist Israelis who believe that the West Bank is part of the biblical land of Israel promised to the Jewish people by God. They oppose any concessions to the Palestinians.

An instructor at the seminary was arrested in 2006 on suspicion of inciting violence against Arabs.

Yitzhar residents have repeatedly fought farmers from the Palestinian villages that surround their hilltop settlement and have clashed with police sent to supervise demolition of unlicensed buildings in the area.

In 2006, the Israeli army withdrew troops stationed at Yitzhar for its protection, citing repeated settler attacks on soldiers and destruction of military equipment.

In other news from Yitzhar

LIVELIHOOD GOES UP IN SMOKE

Palestinian olive trees burn after being set ablaze by Israeli settlers from the Yitzhar settlement on Thursday June 19 , in the West Bank village of Burin (AFP/Getty Images)

The Neo-Nazi Israeli Thugs(settlers)

Israeli settlers from the Yitzhar settlement watch after a Palestinian olive tree field was set ablaze by a group of Jewish settlers on June 19, 2008 in the West Bank village of Burin.(AFP)

A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli settlers (unseen) from the nearby Yitzhar Jewish settlement try to set ablaze her olive tree field on June 19, 2008 in the West Bank village of Burin.(AFP)

Kidnapping Couples : Israels attempt at forced segregation

The Israeli army invaded the village of Hussan located near Bethlehem city in the southern part of the West Bank. During the invasion on Thursday morning the soldiers kidnapped a Palestinian man and his wife that is from Jewish origins.

Mohamed Hamamerh, 25, met his wife Melissa, 23, several months ago when he used to work at the settlement of Bitar Illit, an Israeli settlement built illegally on the land of Hussan village.

When the young couple decided to get married, they came to Bethlehem city were Melissa converted to Islam. They were married last month during a large wedding at Hussan village, Hamamerh’s family reported.

The settlers of Bitar Illit attacked the village of Hussan, demanding that Melissa was kidnapped and forced to get married, which the family of Hamamerh denies.

The village told media sources in Bethlehem that the settlers threatened to send the Israeli army to get Melissa out using force, which was done today. Witnesses said that the army surrounded the couple’s home and then kidnapped the two, and took them to an unknown location.

The Hamamerh family said that the settlers are using the army forces as a tool to force their son to divorce his wife.

Translated by: Ghassan Bannoura – IMEMC News

BBC obtains video of settlers beating shepherds

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7451691.stm

Footage from a video camera handed out by an Israeli human rights group appears to show Jewish settlers beating up Palestinians in the West Bank.

An elderly shepherd, his wife and a nephew said they were attacked by four masked men for allowing their animals to graze near the settlement of Susia.

The rights group, B’Tselem, said the cameras were provided to enable Palestinians to get proof of attacks.

A spokesman for the Israeli police said that an investigation was under way.

So far, no-one has been arrested.

Baseball bats

For the past year, B’Tselem has handed out video cameras to Palestinians as part of its “Shooting Back” project.

The Palestinians said they were attacked after refusing to move

The BBC has been given exclusive access to the footage of this particular attack, which happened earlier this week. The date and time on the camera footage shows that it is Sunday afternoon.

Over the brow of the hill walk four masked men holding baseball bats. To the right of the screen, in the foreground, stands a 58-year-old Palestinian woman.

Thamam al-Nawaja has been herding her goats close to the Jewish settlement of Susia, near Hebron in the southern West Bank.

Within a few seconds, she, along with her 70-year-old husband and one of her nephews, will be beaten up.

As the first blows land, the woman filming - the daughter-in-law of the elderly couple - drops the camera and runs for help.

‘Ten-minute warning’

Mrs Nawaja spent three days in hospital after the attack.

Returning to the small Palestinian encampment close to the red-roofed houses of Susia, she stepped slowly and unsteadily out of the minibus.

They don’t want us to stay on our land, but we won’t leave - we’ll die here Thamam al-Nawaja

A dark stain showed through the white gauze covering her broken right arm. Her veil was lifted gingerly away from her lined face. A bloodshot eye and intersection of scars revealed a fractured left cheek.

“The settlers gave us a 10-minute warning to clear off from the land,” she told me, her voice a tired, cracked whisper.

She and her husband had stood their ground. It is at this point that her voice grows louder.

“They don’t want us to stay on our land. But we won’t leave. We’ll die here. It’s ours,” she added.

Indeed, the rest of the world regards Jewish settlements in the West Bank such as Susia, as illegal, built on occupied territory.

Those settlements have been a large part of the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis for the last 41 years. The daily confrontation is not often caught on camera. That, now, is beginning to change.

Video proof

The attack near Susia was filmed with one of 100 video cameras that B’Tselem has handed out to Palestinians in the region.

When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened - they now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon Oren Yakobovich B’Tselem

The thinking behind the project is that when trouble flares, rather than just giving a statement to the Israeli police or army, video carries much more weight.

“The difference is amazing,” says Oren Yakobovich, who leads the Shooting Back project.

“When they have the camera, they have proof that something happened. They now have something they can work with, to use as a weapon.”

We asked a spokesman from the Susia settlement for a comment on Sunday’s incident. He declined.

Inside one of the tents belonging to the Palestinians living near Susia, we watched the footage of the aftermath of the attack - the victims slumped by the roadside, bloodied, waiting for an ambulance.

The bright, wide eyes of the children shone with the light of the small television screen.

Violence against Jews as well as Palestinians has long scarred this place. Video may now may be giving us a new and raw view.

But for most people here, the only answer - a political deal - remains out of sight.

How Israelis really feel

So I am reading Haaretz and come across this story:

A group of Palestinian shepherds on Sunday said that six masked settlers attacked them with clubs and rods earlier in the evening near the West Bank settlement of Susya.

Four of the Palestinians were wounded in the incident, one of whom, a woman, was later taken unconscious to the Soroka medical center in Be’er Sheva for treatment. The three others were lightly wounded and received treatment at a hospital in Hebron.

The Palestinians told police that their assailants were settlers from Susya, which is located in the southern Hebron Hills.

I mean this is a pretty clear article. Four shephards were attacked and a woman was injured to the point that she passed out. This article simply states an event. Here is the Israeli reponse:

Vik said:

Who cares about the daily life of the Palestinian population?? I dont. Until every single israeli can sleep safely without the fear of a rocket attack, i dont care of the PALs live a daily nightmare.

Keep the jets flying over gaza at all hours. Let those PALs fear that they will get bombed all day and night.

Gabe elaborate by saying:

IF THIS WERE TRUE I WOULD APPLAUD THE SETTLERS for having baytzim to defend their land and their country. However I think this is just a con job to gain entrance into Israel via the back door and the whole incident did not EVEN happen.

I have been to Hevron and I know the Arabs living there and the lies amd dirty propaganda tricks have no ending.

Beware of Terrorist scum acting like settlers to even personal scores!!!!!!!!

Hilda notes that the shepherds should be convicted without a trial before going on to say:

Why does this paper always believe the lying Pals? It`s a joke They were masked but we knew they were Jews and from whence they came. The truth is they wanted an excuse to get into Isrel so they could do some dirty work They`ve done it before. How come you are so gullible?

Paul Henzon questions the role of women:

One of the Palestinian sheperds was a woman? Did this beating incident happen before or after the UFO abducted these shepherds?
What were these shepherds watching? Flying pigs?

Nemesis:

4 pals are beaten up and it makes the front page.
Israeli victims of suicide terror bombings,qassams Sderot,Yeshiva murders don`t seem to attract the same news coverage.
Why is that Haaretz?
BTW,better check that alleged female pal that may be allowed into Israel for medical treatment…for a bomb belt.

Adam, an outsider, states:

As an outsider to Israel, I find it trully inspiring to watch Israel make every effort to look after their enemy`s welfare, lifestyle and needs, at the same time as protecting their own people from the fire of their enemy.

Akram Zekaria:

The Palestinians can`t be trusted as far as been thrown

Clarence Darrow in a response to someone invoking “the alamo” seeks to marginalize the Palestinian claim to the land by saying:

the Spanish took Mexico from the French and the French from the Amerindians and the Amerindians from the Palestinians.

Gabe1:

Never happened and if it did than I applaud it. About time your terrorists and their facilitators and shields paid a price. You are squeeling like pigs when the shoe is on the other foot. About time if it did happen.

Mary Ashkelon:

My grandson is stationed in Susiya and told me he was on guard duty and NOT ONE soldier in the IDF there KNOWS anything about this incident. The soldiers are always called out to investigate. Haaretz let us wait for proof before printing - the Susiya settlers are not brutal terrorists!!!!!!!

MR thinks the “dirty pals” are up their tricks again:

Even after a Pal terrorist attack, some (or more) terror organizations take responsibility and that`s how everybody knows who did it.

It would be extremely weird for religious Jews to harm anyone on Shavuot but it would be very common for “the others” to do this in order to score some points in the media.

Very strange story. It fits too well to a certain propaganda.

Equal rights (ha):

The shepherds are lucky if they were only beaten.

Janet:

Are always ready to shoot another Pallywood incident.Shepherds who just happened to be conveniently there,another case of a sheep,crying wolf.A fictitious made up attack.

Is it odd to have shepherds on farmland???

Hilda is back again:

Given that we know from past experience that these Arabs lie to gain what they want –attention from the media. In any event it takes two to tango and to fight. We do not know if these so called peaceful shepards and shepardesses were engaged in some kind of terrorism before they were beaten or if they were even beaten

Akrem again:

it is their right and as part of
their duty and part of the reason why they
are there. Israel is a State that needs to
*defend itself* in which ever way necessary &
possible.The Palestinians are above all the laws
So,why blame the settlers when some times takes the law in their own hands,and as I said,being
a match to the lawless Palestinians ??
As for me I solute them and gratful to what
they have done and what they will be doing and I am the unlucky one who is not with them.They are the foot soliders of Israel & may G-d bless them one and all..

Anthony:

Yes beating is necessary, these natives are to be considered untermenschen or as Mehagem Begin once said “two legged beasts” or as the sweet Golda once said ” I hate them because they allow us to beat them”

Baruch Gold (yeah i know):

First this report is unsubstantiated.There are no credible sources for it to be even considered news. Besides that I think it`s a testament to the differences of Arab and Jew. Jews allegedly beat some Arab shepherds and even if that is true they were just beaten. If this had been attack by Arabs on Jews all the men would have murdered along with their families if possible.

Truly amazing

Edward Said is rolling in his grave

As is their wont, hard-line supporters of Israel have been pushing Barack Obama quite hard. He is, to them, an unknown commodity with questionable ties. Progressive Jewish opinion, on the other hand (and Arab Americans, as well), finds Obama appealing both because of his messages of hope and change and, specifically, because of comments he has made that indicate openness to a more nuanced discussion of Arab-Israeli peace-making. They latched on to, for example, comments he made to Jewish leaders in Cleveland on February 24th, where he appeared to reject identifying being pro-Israel with “adopting an unwaveringly pro-Likud view of Israel,” and his statement to a Jewish reporter that “in order to make progress in Arab-Israeli talks…both sides should be held accountable to previous agreements.”

There was, therefore, keen interest in how Barack Obama would address these concerns in his remarks before AIPAC’s policy conference today. For the most part, his speech pushed all the “right” buttons. It included a personal narrative that connected his story with that of the Jewish people, including his uncle’s role in the World War II liberation of a concentration camp at Buchenwald, and the larger narrative of the historic bonds between the African American and American Jewish communities based on a shared commitment to liberal values and forged in the American civil rights movement.

In addressing matters of foreign policy, the nub of the matter for AIPAC, Obama did his fair share of genuflecting and oath-taking, most of which is expected before an AIPAC audience that insists upon such displays. But, on the whole, Obama’s speech was less troubling than many others delivered before AIPAC, and contrasted favorably with the AIPAC “talking point” litany delivered one hour later by Senator Clinton.

He was properly tough on Iran, but correctly took on John McCain’s refusal to criticize the central role that the debacle in Iraq has played in destabilizing the Middle East while emboldening Iran and extremism. He repeatedly emphasized the need for principled diplomacy as the way to move forward. He smartly contrasted his commitment to peace-making with the neglect of the Bush administration by pledging active involvement in the search for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and Israel and Syria, and noting the responsibilities of all parties in the Middle East to contribute to that process. He specifically called on Israel to “take appropriate steps — consistent with its security — to ease the freedom of movement for Palestinians, improve economic conditions in the West Bank, and to refrain from building new settlements.” He urged support for Palestinian President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad, and emphasized that “Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper.”

“Most Israelis and Palestinians want peace,” Obama noted, “we must strengthen their hand. The United States must be a strong and consistent partner in this process — not to force concession, but to help partners avoid stalemate and the kind of vacuums that are filled by violence.”

If he had stopped there, it might have been an acceptable speech to all sides, but he went further, including a deeply troubling reference to Jerusalem which he said “will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” Left unexplained, this was both unnecessarily provocative and contradictory. If the U.S. is not to “force concessions,” then why predetermine the status of Jerusalem, one of the more sensitive and complicated issues in the negotiations, in a speech to AIPAC? And if Palestinians need a state that is “contiguous,” “cohesive” and “prosperous,” how does that occur when one has cut the heart out of the center of the West Bank? (Note: it has been a Palestinian position that Jerusalem can “remain the capital of Israel” and can “remain undivided” as long as that does not preclude the Palestinians from also having their capital in a “shared” city.)

The AIPAC audience may have cheered, but Arabs, who called me from East Jerusalem, where they were watching the speech on TV, were deeply disheartened, as were Israeli peace activists with whom I spoke.

Better than McCain? Of course. More thoughtful than his predecessors? Clearly. But for those who have embraced Obama’s “change we can believe in” slogan, a few doubts have now crept in.
-James Zogby

Letter from the black balloon organizers

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your participation in the Justice is the Key to Tomorrow:
21,915 Black Balloons Over Jerusalem event on May 15, 2008, commemorating 60 years of our dispossession. Whether you are outside of Palestine and made a financial contribution to the action or sent a message of support, or whether you are in Palestine, wrote a letter, helped collect letters from children, spent hours blowing balloons, or were in one of the launch locations at lift off, your participation helped make this action a success. Balloons were launched from the Qalandia refugee camp (Ramallah / Jerusalem), from the Aida refugee camp (Bethlehem), and from various locations inside Jerusalem, including the Old City, the Hebrew University, and Shuafat / Sahel.

Many of the things that could go wrong when planning such a big action, did go wrong, including the first batches of balloons deflating as we worked through the night to inflate the many thousands, and the direction of the wind not carrying the balloons from the camps into Jerusalem as we hoped. Nevertheless, we feel that this symbolic action helped send a strong message to the world. We sent up messages of hopes and dreams from thousands of Palestinian youth. Some of these messages were politically sophisticated, and others were as simple as “I hope to someday be able to swim in the sea.”

See pictures of the event here: http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=11892661164&view=all <http://www.facebook.com/photo_search.php?oid=11892661164&view=all>

We wish that we could stop the count at 21,915, but the current situation on the ground in the Occupied Palestinian Territory is bleak. To us, this only means that we must intensify our efforts at fighting the occupation. We are encouraged by the wonderful local and international support for our action and we look forward to continuing to work together towards justice.

In solidarity & struggle,
Gaza 3ala Bali and the Black Balloons Launch Team