New Western foreign policy: Censorship.
The Israeli Apartheid Week, an initiative aiming at making people aware of the apartheid policies Israel has against the Palestinian population (both in Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip), is now taking place in many countries all around the world, such as in the UK, France, Italy, the US, South Africa and so on.
Unfortunately, though, not everywhere it is easy to organize such an event. You may wonder why, given that the Israeli Apartheid Week constitutes a series of conferences, debates, mobilizing campaigns, organized by the civil society and that hosts not only Palestinian activists and western militants, but also Israeli academics. The reason is simple. Two intervening factors do not allow a serious, even-handed and above all needed debate on Israel and Palestine: European and American condescendence towards Israel dominant discourse and the power of the Israel lobby.
Some remarkable events drew my attention and need to be explained.
On February 16, Ilan Pappe, an Israeli historian having written many books concerning the so- called Palestinian question, has been prevented by the Italian PUBLIC university Roma 3 from having a debate, in which he had to talk about the use and abuse of identity in Europe and the Middle East, at the Center for Italian and French studies. The university told Pappe and the organizers that the event had to be cancelled for procedural issues, though it has been perceived by Pappe and the organizers themselves as a “Zionist intimidation” and as one of the endless attempts to silence any critical discourse over Israel and its policies.
Not surprisingly, indeed, on the 13th of February, an article appeared on the website Informazione Corretta (a website aiming at giving an “impartial” version of what happens in Israel and the Middle East according to the founders) announced with satisfaction that thanks to the “roman friends” the debate (that they defined “full of hatred”) in the venues of the university had been cancelled. The article does not specify who those “roman friends” were , though a letter of protest addressed by Pappe and the organizers to the university argues that the Israeli ambassador in Rome and the always busy Israel lobbies exercised a massive pressure on the university. Eventually, the event took place anyway but in an inappropriate venue, given the number of participants who attended the conference.
That same university has also revoked the authorization to screen the documentary The Fading Valley by the Israeli director Irit Gal, dealing with water issues in Palestine, that was planned for the 27th of February. It is not so well reknown, but put it simply, Israel steals, illegaly, most of Palestinian water resources leaving Palestinian without water, which in turn obliges them to purchase it, at high costs, from the Israeli water company Mekorot. The screening was organized by the No Acea Mekorot Committee, that tries to end the agreement between Mekorot and the the Rome’s water utility Acea. The Committee reports that the university cancelled the event because it received a phone call by the Israeli Embassy in Rome.
Even more sad is what happened, last November, in the Museo della Resistenza, della Deportazione, della Guerra, dei Diritti e della Libertà, in Turin. The Museum, indeed, was hosting an exhibition, organized by the UNRWA, aimed at shedding light on the Palestinian plight since 1948. The Jewish community in Turin not only expressed its disagreement with the exhibition, by saying that it was organized by an anti- Semite organization such as the UNRWA, but it also threatened to withdraw from the Museum. The exhibition has not been withdrawn from the Museum, though the latter had to post a notice on its website to give voice to the discontent of the Jewish community. Additionally, the events scheduled during the exhibition, namely a roundtable, involving also the participation of a member designated by the Jewish community, and a reading of the poems of Mahmoud Darwish, have been canceled as well, because of the same pressures.
Let’s now turn to another country I’m particularly concerned with. France. The reason for that is that I’m living here and the more time I spend here the more I realized how hypocritical France and its society are.
Last week I had the chance to attend a conference- debate organized by the association AFPS, that managed to invite in Paris Max Blumenthal, who is, as he defines himself, an “American, white, Jewish”. He exercises the profession of journalist and writer and he is also a militant of the BDS campaign. The association had also managed to organize the same conference in the venues of the University of Paris 8/ Saint Denis, in collaboration with the students of the said university. The topic he has addressed in the first conference, held on the 3rd of March, was about the last attack against the Gaza Strip, that he had the chance to document. The second conference, that had to take place in Paris 8 on the 9th of March, was titled “Israel apartheid is real” and it was supposed to be attended also by a Palestinian activist, Bilal Afandi.
Whereas the first conference took normally place in the venues of an associative organization, the one to be held at the university found many obstacles on its way to take place. Indeed, after a first approval by the university, the organizers and Blumenthal were finally told that the conference couldn’t be held. After an arm wrestling between the students and the university, the conference was then approved. Though, just few days before, the university notified the organizers about the cancellation of the conference, due to logistic problems, such as the lack of an appropriate venue, and other problems, such as the presence of a controversial speaker and the risk for disorders. As Blumenthal had argued in the first conference, he was not surprised of such a decision, given that the obscurantist powers are always at work to silence debate.
Be that as it may, few hours ago I’ve been made aware that the conference took place in any case, probably because of massive pressure from students and the civil society.
Though, this doesn’t make me happier. Yes, the conference took place, but the organizers and the speakers had to fight and to resist in order to exercise their legitimate right to express their opinions in a country that proclaims itself the mother of the revolution and the keeper of freedom of speech and of expression.
We are assisting to creepy forms of censorship across Europe where, in the words of Ilan Pappe, “Ridiculing the prophet Muhammad in cartoon is the litmus test for a society that cherishes freedom of speech; however an open candid conversation about Israel and Palestine is disallowed as an incitement”.
I’ll let you judgning whether or not censorship is the current (and cheaper) Western foreign policy towards the Middle East, for me it is a kind of.
Not only Palestinian lives are not worthy to be lived and grieved when they are violently stolen, but none is even allowed to criticize governmental policies, in our case the Israeli ones, without being accused of anti- Semitism. The most disturbing thing is not that the Israel lobby tries to silence every candid debate about Israel/Palestine (indeed they act as every other interest groups), but the fact that European countries and institutions succumb to these unabated pressures.
The fact that public universities, the venues par excellence of public discussions and freedom of speech, accept the Israeli rhetoric and obey to these heinous power dynamics is terribly worrisome for our times. Indeed, they foster the Israeli rhetoric, endorsed by all the Western governments, concerning the Palestine/ Israel conflict, presented as a “clash of civilization” (where it is absolutely not the case) and whose only aim is radicalization.
This dominant rhetoric has not only the effect of producing (willful) misunderstanding on Palestine and Palestinians, but has also detrimental effects on the Arab countries and Arab communities living in Europe and more broadly in the West. Indeed, afraid of being condemned of anti- Semitism, of hate against the West and radicalized opinions, Arabs feel prevented from publicly expressing any kind of disagreement against discriminatory, biased and partial politics and measures.
Almost one month after the attacks on the French magazine Charlie Hebdo, Europe and the West in general should engage in a serious and deep reflection of what they mean for freedom of speech and freedom of expression. And, if the conclusion will be that only the opinions in line with the dominant discourse are worthy and legitimate to be expressed in public, then, for intellectual honesty, they should declare that. If there’s a double standard, as it is the case, then there’s nothing more heinous than hiding behind speeches that substantially mean anything.
In the meanwhile, it is up to us to fight censorship and obscurantism with all the energy we have. Not only for Palestinians, but also for ourselves.
Sources
http://www.museodiffusotorino.it/ArchivioNews/1222/comunicato-del-museo
http://www.informazionecorretta.com/main.php?mediaId=0&sez=440&id=57187
Paris university reverses decision, allows Israeli apartheid event with Blumenthal
Palestine and International (in)- Justice
One just needs to recall Antonio Cassese to understand and appreciate the value of international justice.
In an article published in 1998, Cassese analyzes the reasons why international justice is better than amnesties, revenge and forgetting.
As for revenge, it seems evident that it is not even a solution to be taken into consideration, because, as he says, it is a private form of justice that does not serve the main aims of justice itself, indeed it contradicts the very principles upon which justice is based.
As for forgetting, not only we could recall the German philosopher Habermas, according to who memory is essential for human beings and society because it is an indispensable tool to learn lessons from the past, but we should also consider that it is an impossible option with regards to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Indeed, Cassese argues that, even if genocides and crimes against humanity could be forgotten by some, the victims and the descendants of the victims will never forget what happened in the past. Besides, forgetting the victims of appalling crimes such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity is as killing those people once again. It is ending the bloody job started by someone else without our consent. This is the reason why we should all remember as far as possible all the victims of all the crimes whenever and wherever they have been committed.
As for amnesty, while some societies can adopt it voluntarily as an option in periods of transition, in order to prevent more and harsher conflicts within one’s society, as it happened in South Africa, Guatemala, Haiti and others, in some other cases, amnesty is unconceivable and it might even be counterproductive. Indeed, amnesty could bring to impunity, that in turn encourages more criminals to commit crimes because no punishment is foreseen.
In the second part of the article, Cassese reviews the reasons why there should be international justice in lieu of national justice. First, international justice, or at least the criminal one, is more appropriate to be dealt with by international justices because it refers to crimes of war and crimes against humanity, which are a part of international law. Secondly, because international tribunals are in a better position to analyze and state on those crimes than national tribunals. Indeed, international judges are not, or better said should not be, politically biased; international tribunals might have more means to acknowledge facts happened in different countries; politically, they might meet less resistance by citizens, because “national feelings are hurt less”; they contribute to internationalize and universalize crimes that are a matter of concern of the whole world.
This post is not aimed at giving a course on international justice (which is not my field of specialization), but these short paragraphs serve the purpose of introducing Palestine’s accession to the International Criminal Court.
After the failed adoption of a proposed resolution to the Security Council that aimed at setting a timeline to end the (never ending) Israeli occupation of Palestine, the Palestinian Authority decided to join the International Criminal Court (from April Palestine will be a member of the ICC) and to accept its jurisdiction under Article 12 (3) of the Rome Statute over the crimes committed since the 13th July 2014.
The reactions to this decision have been far too shameful. First, John Kerry tried to convince Abbas to not go before the ICC. Secondly, the same threatened to withdraw the funding from the ICC and the Palestinian Authority. Thirdly, Israeli politicians criticized this choice, alleging that it will hamper further negotiations and that in any case Israel will do whatever is in its hands to hinder the international justice.
More than that, Israel has also decided to not transfer revenues to Palestinians. These tax revenues are collected by Israel on behalf of Palestinians, that should be transferred, under mutually signed agreements, to Palestinians. This money is Palestinian money and the measure Israel took is absolutely unlawful.
More recently, Israel also announced a lobbying campaign to persuade Australia, Germany and Canada to withdraw their funding from the ICC.
The ways in which the legal, diplomatic and peaceful means the Palestinians are using to achieve their goals have been welcomed is all but worrisome, creepy and disgusting. Those same States that proclaim themselves democratic, respectful of the rule of law and that pretend to present themselves as an example to follow (one worldwide and the other in the Middle East), then criticize Palestine for aiming at freedom, life, independence and dignity.
Be it as it may, the Prosecutor of the ICC, Mrs. Fatou Bensouda, announced, on 16 January, that she opened a preliminary examination into the Palestinian situation. The examination will focus on preliminary legal considerations, it will take years and, even if the ICC pretends to be an independent and impartial body, it is likely that this examination will not give birth to any further serious investigation. There are all the reasons to be pessimistic, though we might expect other developments and probably for once we could assist to the predominance of justice over politics and diplomacy.
Whatever will happen from now on depends highly on us, citizens. We should do whatever possible to commit our national governments to international justice and human rights. Impunity cannot last forever and this is the moment to prove that.
Sign the petition to ensure that our governments secure funding to the ICC: https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/The_governments_of_Australia_Canada_and_Germany_Please_continue_to_fund_the_International_Criminal_Court/
Sources:
Antonio Cassese, “Reflections on International Criminal Justice”, in The Modern Law Review, Vol. 61, No.1, 1998, pp. 10
http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/press%20and%20media/press%20releases/Pages/pr1083.aspx
Atash (Thirst)
In the coverage of the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, an issue is often disregarded and underestimated, if not completely forgotten.
Water.
It is needless to say that water is essential for the sustainment of life on earth and that it is the condition sine qua non for the enjoyment of all basic rights.
In western societies, we often forget the importance of water and we take it for granted, because we have it all the year and none will stop the flow of water coming in our houses.
Though, in other regions of the world, water can be the most precious thing to obtain and access to safe- drinking water for both personal and domestic purposes can be a real fight and, sometimes, a hope.
This is what happens in Palestine. In the last post, I was talking about the Dead Sea, that is a shared water resource between Israel and Palestine. But, Israel and Palestine share other water resources, such as the Jordan River (Israel/West Bank/Jordan), the Mountain Aquifer (West Bank/Israel), the Coastal Aquifer (Gaza/Israel). All these water resources should be equally shared among the riparians, that should benefit from their own natural resources, according to the 1997 UN Watercourses Convention, to the two 1966 International Covenants on Human Rights and to the principle of permanent sovereignty over natural resources.
Nonetheless, the situation in Palestine is different. Palestinians don’t have access to the Jordan River and the Dead Sea; Israel has appropriated 80% of the water of the Mountain Aquifer and the Coastal Aquifer is highly polluted, only 5% of its water can be used for domestic and agricultural purposes. The responsibility of the pollution is always put on Hamas (that won the elections in 2006) and its mismanagement of the Gaza Strip. Though, once again, this assumption doesn’t reflect the reality. Israel maintained its own settlements in the Strip until 2005, over pumping and over abstracting water from the Coastal aquifer, severely damaging it, because those activities resulted in the salinization of water. Then, the situation aggravated when Israel withdrew and dismantled the settlements, when bombed Gaza (2008- 2009 and 2012) and when imposed the blockade of the Strip, preventing the arrival of materials needed for the reparation and construction of water facilities. Moreover, it doesn’t provide funding to the Strip to maintain and repair the infrastructures, alleging that, after the withdrawal, Gaza is no more occupied and Israel bears no responsibility for it (Gaza is still occupied under international law, even if this argument is challenged by Israel).
As for the Mountain Aquifer, the water abstraction quotas and mechanisms for its joint management has been set in the 1995 Interim Agreement on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The agreement deals in greater details with water issues (abstraction quotas, joint cooperation, maintenance, permits for drilling). I can’t analyze it here because it’s really complicated (if my article will ever be published on a specialized journal, I will post it here). Suffice here to say that Palestinians should be blamed for having signed the Oslo Agreements, because they legalized the illegal situation with an international agreement, allowing Israel to exploit 80% of the Mountain Aquifer, and because, without a legal understanding, they signed an agreement that poses on Palestinians great obstacles, because the previous legislation can be amended only with the consent of Israel (so Palestinians can’t change the former military orders that still rule the water sector). Though, without blaming only Palestinians, we have to understand the huge imbalance of power between Arafat and the PLO and Israel. The Oslo Agreements legitimized Arafat and Fatah and, finally, they led to a more intensive international activity of the PLO world- wide. In the meanwhile, Israel had the support of all the international community. So, why Palestinians signed those agreements is widely understandable. Moreover, it has been demonstrated that Israel has violated the Oslo Agreements, abstracting 50% more than what it was entitled to.
Unfortunately, not only Israel has violated the Oslo Agreements, but it has built the Apartheid Wall (demolishing 31 wells on the Green Line) and still violates the humanitarian law and the human rights law, in numerous ways.
The result is that Palestinian authorities can’t project water infrastructures and facilities, can’t drill new well and repair existing ones and Palestinian citizens don’t have a continuous access to water. Thus, the only solutions for Palestinians are: relying on water tanks and buying water from Mekorot, the Israeli public company that manages water and that sell Palestinian water to Palestinians at higher prices than in Israel (Mekorot stops the flow of water in Palestinian houses and farmers whenever it deems fit, above all in the summer season when water is more needed). Crazy!
In towns, the water consumption, even if below the WHO guidelines (that recommends 100 l/p/d), is “acceptable” (72 l/p/d), but in villages the water consumption, in certain areas, is extremely low (15 l/p/d). Moreover, villagers and farmers who try to collect water from springs are often attacked or prevented to reach the springs by settlers.
It’s clear that in such a situation access to water is everything but a fight. Water is not only essential for leading a life in safety and dignity, but it is also essential for States. The central control of water resources by a State is an expression of its sovereignty and its independence. A State can’t be sovereign and independent if it is not able to provide to its citizens the essential natural resources. That’s why, in the current negotiations, water is one of the most important issues. Water is indispensable for domestic purposes, but also for agriculture and industry. Briefly, everything depends on water.
Then, finally, the water situation in Palestine came in the international arena when the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schultz, in visit to the Israeli Knesset on 12 February, mentioned the unjust and unequal access to water in Israel and Palestine, saying that Palestinians have access to less water than Israelis in Israel and settlers in the West Bank. After this “incident”, many right- wing members of the Knesset left and Schultz was condemned, as always, of anti- Semitism.
And then, the European race to demonstrate that he is pro- Israel and a friend of Israel began. Not only. Israeli media and Jewish forums started to argue that times are changing and that the international support for the State of Israel is decreasing just because facts are called with their appropriate names and because the occupation is shown in public, with all its tremendous consequences on the Palestinian population.
But, this is not true. Israel is not losing the support of the US; the BDS movement, even if it has reached some important results, has not yet gained the full support it deserves; the occupation continues and no one serious action has been taken against Israel for its violations of international law.
The fact that, nowadays, more things are known about Palestinians and their living conditions won’t change anything on the ground. Israelis will be seen as entitled to maintain soldiers in the Jordan Valley to control the border with Jordan (what crazy sovereign State would be able to accept that?), to prevent refugees to come back either in Israel (many of them neither wish to) or in the West Bank (many of them would be happy to be entitled to go back in Palestine and I am one of them), to maintain settlements in the West Bank, while subjecting them to Israeli rule (in my personal opinion, settlers can continue to stay in the West Bank as far as they will be subjected to the laws of the Palestinian State, without differences of religion and race), to require Palestinians to recognize Israel as the Jewish State of Israel, and so on.
More perplexing (and disgusting) is the fact that, still today, all those who try to criticize illegal practices and show and name things for what they really are, are demonized and targeted of anti- Semitism. Criticizing illegal practices is not hate- speech or anti- Semitism. It is honesty. It is commitment to the universal value of human beings. It is disdain for every human right violations. It is hope for a better future. It is total commitment to justice.
Unfortunately, times are not changing. After sixty- six years, Palestinians are still considered less humans and less worthy of justice. Maybe things will change. But the path is still long.
For further readings on the water issue in Palestine:
Jan Selby, Water, Power and Politics in the Middle East. The other Israeli- Palestinian Conflict, I.B. TAURIS&Co., 2003, pp. 275
Shehadeh, Questions of Jurisdiction: a Legal Analysis of the Gaza- Jeircho Agreement, in Journal of Palestine Studies, 1994, vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 18- 25
Amery, Wolf, Water in the Middle East: a Geography of Peace, University of Texas Press, 2000, pp. 293
Assaf, Water as a Human Right: the Understanding of Water in Palestine, in Global Issue Papers, 2004, No. 1, Supplement 4, pp. 136- 165
Dombrowsky, Water Accords in the Middle East Peace Process: Moving Towards Cooperation?, in Hans Gunter, Liotta, Marquina, Rogers, Selim, Security and Environment in the Mediterranean- Conceptualising Security and Environmenal Conflict, 2003, Springer, pp. 729- 744
Amnesty International, Troubled Waters- Palestinians Denied Fair Access to Water, Israel- Occupied Palestinian Territories, 2009, pp. 104, available at <http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE15/027/2009>
B’Tselem, Water supplied in Gaza Unfit for Drinking; Israel prevents entry of materials needed to repair system, 23 August 2010, available at <http;//www.btselem.org/gaza_strip/20100823_gaza_water_crisis>
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Thirsting for Justice, Violations of Human Right to Water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, A Report of the 30th Session of the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, May 2003, pp. 43, available at <http://cesr.org/downloads/Thirsting%20for%20Justice%20-%20Right%20to%20Water%20in%20OPTs.pdf>
The Other Facet of your Facial Mud Musk from the Dead Sea
View of the Dead Sea from Masada, Israel, November 2013.
The Dead Sea is a magic, wonderful, evocative place.
The Dead Sea is a salty lake located in the middle of the desert, where, often, there is a faint mist that makes the atmosphere fairy- like with pastel colors, such as pink, blue and beige. On its water, when the mist disappears, you can see the Jordanian banks reflecting on the lake on the opposite side of it. When you bathe in the Dead Sea, you can feel the light sensation of floating without efforts on the water.
Unfortunately, the Dead Sea, this dreamy unconscious aside, is a sad place of apartheid and dispossession for Palestinians.
The Dead Sea is shared by Jordan (east), Israel (south- west) and Palestine (north- west). As an international water resource, its waters and natural resources should be equally shared among the riparians. Though, after the so- called Six- Days war Israel captured the West Bank and Gaza Strip and, among other things, it appropriated the Palestinian water resources, including the Dead Sea. Since then, Palestinians are prevented from living on the shores of the Dead Sea, because the whole area has been declared Area C, where Israel retains full military control. Vast portions of the land has been declared closed military areas, paving the sole for the establishment of Israeli settlements, such as Kalia, Ovnat, Beit Ha’arava, Mitzpe Shalem. The consequence has been a complete change in the cultural and human landscape of that piece of land (as in all Palestine, by the way). Indeed, if you go in the Dead Sea area through the West Bank (as I did), leaving from Ramallah and passing through the Jordan Valley, you will not see anything reminding you that you’re in Palestine. The signs are in Hebrew or in Russian (more and more settlers are Russians), there are settlements everywhere and there are no Palestinians living or working there.
As the area is subject to Israeli rule, concerning security, planning and construction, since 1967 Palestinians have no role in the administration and use of the territory and of the natural resources. But, that’s not all. In 2007, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has reported that Palestinians with West Bank IDs were prevented from having access to the Dead Sea[1]. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, an Israeli organization, reported that Palestinian access to beaches have been often denied at the checkpoint located near the settlement of Beit Ha’arava and that, when interviewed, two reservists of the Israeli Army argued that the checkpoint didn’t serve security purposes, but economic interests and that Palestinians were (and are) prevented from going to the beach because “their presence offends the Jewish population”.
Not only Palestinians with Palestinian identity cards are prevented to go to the Mediterranean Sea, that is under Israeli jurisdiction, being located in Israel, but they are also denied the enjoyment of their own beaches on the Dead Sea, because the fashionable Israeli (see settlers) resorts don’t want them to bother the Jewish population or the tourists[2].
Aside from these shameful forms apartheid and racism, there’s also an economic and environmental dimension in the use and exploitation of the Dead Sea.
As for the environmental dimension, the Dead Sea is located more than 400 meters below sea level, constituting the lowest point of Earth’s dry land. Moreover, it is considered one of the world’s saltiest bodies of water, thus being a particular, unique and precious resource for the environment and the ecosystem. Additionally, the areas is rich in fresh water resources, such as springs, groundwaters and other surface waters. Though, during the years the water level of the lake has dropped and the other natural resources have been depleted. Indeed, the Dead Sea is hydrologically linked to the Jordan River (shared by Israel, Palestine, Jordan, but whose access is prevented to Palestinians since 1967), that is in turn hydrologically linked with the Lake Tiberias (completely located in Israel, but whose waters should be shared equally between Jordan, Israel and Palestine): Israel, since the 50s, has over pumped water from the Lake Tiberias, through the National Water Career, in order to realize its dream of making the desert bloom (the Naqab, or Negev desert, that is irrigated with water coming from the north). This practice has reduced the tables of the Jordan River and subsequently of the Dead Sea, damaging the environment and the ecosystem and making a future Palestinian exploitation of the Dead Sea almost impossible, because the damages are irreparable.
As for the economic concerns, the Dead Sea is rich in minerals, sand, silt, salt and mud: materials that are used in the cosmetic industry and not only, because research is done on the benefits of the Dead Sea mud in the care of skin related disorders. Moreover, the unique features and location of the Dead Sea provide an amazing location for tourism.
Though, only Israel, the settlements and private Israeli companies benefit from the economic exploitation of the Dead Sea.
The access to beaches is controlled by kibbutzim and settlements: access to beaches is with fees (between 25- 50 NIS, that is between 5- 10 €).
Moreover, the companies located on Palestinian land, whose activities range from extracting to processing and elaborating mud, salt, etc, have a business market that amounts to about 29 million USD and cover 58 per cent of the international market of Dead Sea cosmetics[3].
One of the most famous Israeli companies is AHAVA Laboratories Ltd., that is located in the settlement of Mitzpe Shalem. Ahava is the only company licensed by the State of Israel to mine the mud in the area and offers a wide range of products, realized from the exploitation of the minerals and mud of the Dead Sea. This company has huge businesses and it is one of the main exporters of Dead Sea products and cosmetics. The company also invests huge amounts of money in research, for skin care and nanoparticles (in 2007, it was a partner of the Framework Programme of the European Union for Research & Development, thus benefiting from the EU fundings –i.e. our money!- for its projects. In 2013, the European Union has released new guidelines on labelling products coming from Israeli settlements and they should be banned from the EU market, but I wasn’t able to find these guidelines on the website of the EU, so I’m not sure of the purposes and the effects –news are available on the online versions of the most important newspapers ).
There’s only a problem in these businesses: THEY’RE ILLEGAL!
I don’t want to bother you with legal stuff, so I’ll be concise. First, settlements are illegal under international humanitarian law (Art. 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention). Second, Israel is the occupying power in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, thus it has to abide by the obligations laid down in the Geneva Conventions and in the Hague Regulations: Israel has the duty to restore and ensure public order and civil life, abiding by the existing laws in the occupied territory, unless absolutely prevented and it has to balance its own military interests with those of the local population (Art. 43 Hague Regulations); Israel can benefit from the “fruits” of public immovable properties (as water resources are) and can administer them as an usufructuary, BUT it is prevented from exploiting these resources at an unsustainable rate and it can’t prohibit the local population from accessing, exploiting and using their natural resources, because the occupation is a temporary state of affairs and the permanent sovereignty over natural resources lies on the local population, that is Palestinians. Third, Israel can’t use and appropriate the public property for other reasons than maintaining public order and safety: this situation amounts to the crime of pillage (Art. 8(2)(b)(xvi) International Criminal Court Statute; Art. 33 Fourth Geneva Convention). The occupant can’t use the property of the occupied territory to benefit its own economy and its own inhabitants.
As it has been seen, Israel is in contradiction of all these provisions. Not only Israel should dismantle the settlements, but also the AHAVA company and it should relocate them inside the Israeli territory. Moreover, it should pay compensation for the illegal and irreparable exploitation of the Dead Sea natural resources. But also, Third- Party States are responsible: as many of the above- mentioned violations are violations of peremptory norms, the whole international community (and above all the States Parties to the Geneva Conventions) shouldn’t recognize the unlawful conduct, should condemn it and require Israel to take measures to stop the violations.
Aside from the international community’s obligations, also we, as a civil community, can make a difference. We are always told that we can’t change the world and that we can’t make the difference. Probably, we can’t change the world. But, for sure we can make the difference.
How?
For example, we can check the Dead Sea cosmetic products we buy and stopping to buy those who use mud and minerals extracted and elaborated by AHAVA.
Or, when we go on holidays in Palestine we can avoid to go in beaches with fees located in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, because the money we pay will support the settlements and, consequently, the apartheid regime and the occupation.
These are little steps, maybe useless. But, at least, we will be responsible tourists and citizens, unwilling to support illegal and inhuman situations.
[1] UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Protection of Civilians Weekly Report (17- 23 October 2007)”, available at <http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Weekly%20Briefing%20Note%20230.pdf>
[2] See <http://www.acri.org.il/en/2008/06/10/acris-petition-to-high-court-against-dead-sea-roadblock/>.
[3] Al- Haq, “The Pillage of the Dead Sea: Israel’s Unlawful Exlpoitation of Natural Resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, 2012, available at <http://www.alhaq.org>.
Do Palestinians have some form of peaceful resistance against the occupation?
With great disappointment, I found myself another time stuck with the Palestine question during an University interview.
I know that my surname has always engendered questions such as “where are you from?”, “what do you think about the conflict?”, “do you see any possible viable solution?”, “don’t you think that Palestinians should make concessions?”, “ehm…where Palestine is?” and so on. For all my life, I explained my origins, the Palestinian question as far as I was able to and answered stupid questions, such as “Refugees do still live in tents?”. Many times, I was really really happy to find people, with absolutely no knowledge of the issue, interested in Palestine and I think I have drawn many of the people I met to be more sensitive to the issue and, then, I discovered that a lot of them started to read books, graphic novels and newspaper articles dealing with the Palestinian- Israeli conflict. Of course I am partisan, but I have always tried to let them finding their answers and I tried not be simplistic or to trespass in an overall condemnation of all the Jews in the world, because it is not fair.
But, today it was too much. The red line has been crossed. No, I’m joking. If I begin talking about red lines that have been crossed, I will end up to be ridiculous as Obama with the Assad regime in Syria. However, what happened today made me feeling at the same time hopeless and motivated.
I’ll explain you why.
I was talking with the professor making the interview about the ongoing negotiations between Palestine and Israel. At a certain point, he asked me why Palestinians don’t try peaceful and non- violent protests against the occupation, as the sit- in of Ghandi.
My first thought was “Stand up and run away. You’re talking with an alien. Does he read newspapers? Does he live in the same world as me?”.
Instead, I decided to answer the question politely. I explained him that every week there non- violent protests around the West Bank, where men, women, children and old people participate. Though these people are completely disarmed, soldiers EVERY SINGLE TIME disperse the protests using tear gases, pepper spray gases, rubber- coated bullets, imprison some young men and, often, injure or kill people.
Everyone who has the courage to read Palestinian newspapers or blogs or even Israeli newspapers and blogs or who wants to have serious information knows that. It is not necessary to be a geek or a Palestinian activist to be aware of what happens in Palestine whenever there is a protest.
The fact that a professor in one of the most important American universities specialized in international relations and international affairs didn’t know that, really disappointed me. I understand that the New York Times doesn’t talk about these weekly protests in the West Bank. But… But… It is not a justification! I mean, these non- violent protests are an important form of resistance for Palestinians. Palestinians put at risk their life participating in those protests. They really believe that one day non- violent persons will be heard. They really think that it’s the only thing they can do to not give up. Even if I have firmly criticized the young Palestinians I met during my stay in Palestine, because what I saw was a completely annihilated society, where there is no sense of community, national identity and political ideology and where everyone just thinks about him/ herself, many Palestinians are actively engaged in a non- violent struggle. And, to be fair, their life is a daily endless struggle.
The fact that almost anyone knows that is easy to explain: the mainstream media are constantly at work to give just one version of the conflict and don’t shed light on the criminal actions undertaken by Israelis. Once again lobbies and misinformation at work.
Then, it is too much naïve to compare the situation of Gandhi to that of Palestine. Times have changed and if the British colonization ended it wasn’t only Gandhi’s job. Evidently, Britain had no more economic interests there or, more likely, other big world economies pushed Britain to leave because they didn’t want the UK to remain one of the most powerful empires in the world. Without doubts, Gandhi was helped by Western support.
Palestinians have no support at all. No Arab support. No Western support. No Asian support. They have always been, and still are, alone. Nobody backed them. Nobody helped them. Nobody had an even- handed approach to the Palestine- Israel conflict.
I don’t want Palestinians to be helped by foreigners. Honestly speaking, they don’t need anyone teaching them how to resist, how to protest, how to build a State. But, I recognize that in a more and more interdependent world, little States with inexistent economies needs to be backed. If anyone is willing to do that, then I would like that anyone backs or supports Israel, financially or in any manner whatsoever. But, this is fanta- diplomacy.
Be it as it may, discouragement aside, this event once again convinced me that I have to prosecute this blog. I began thinking that it wasn’t so useful, because the Palestinian situation (or at least soldiers’ violence against peaceful protesters) is well known. But, it’s not true. So I invite everyone being aware of what happens in Palestine to spread the information as much as she/ he can. Every contribution is needed, welcomed and useful.
For those who don’t know anything about protests in Palestine, I suggest here a documentary and a website. The documentary is “5 broken cameras” co- directed by Palestinian Emad Burnat and Israeli Guy Davidi, that is about the Friday protest in the village of Bil’in. The website is that of the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian movement that aims at strengthening and supporting the non- violent resistance of the Palestinian people in the West Bank (http://palsolidarity.org/about/).
Breaking the Silence
I decided to write a blog talking about Palestine, Israel, the conflict, the life there and so on, when I last went there. Then, because I am a lazy person, I didn’t start it. But, the idea continued to be in my mind.
Why another blog on Palestine you may wonder. Palestinian and Israeli newspapers already deal with those issues, as well as the main American, French and English newspapers do. Moreover, there are a lot of independent blogs denouncing what happens in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in the Gaza Strip.
So, why another one?
The reasons are numerous.
First, all these newspapers are partisans and they advocate the points of view of a party instead of the other and they are extremely politicized. I don’t blame the fact that most newspapers take a right-wing or left- wing approach. It is normal and it’s an inherent right of every writers or journalists to support one political and ideological vision of the world and of the reality. Also because journalism teaches us that it’s almost impossible to be objective. Does it mean that we can’t do information? That anyone is entitled to tell stories or write editorials? And does it imply that I am objective while the rest of the world is not? No. Not at all. What I want to say is that intellectual honesty requires a declaration of purposes and an official stance on whatever we state. So, I declare that my view of the conflict is not impartial: to the contrary, is partisan because I am Palestinian. And, as many Palestinians I live the sufferance of having been uprooted by my homeland and forced to live in countries where I feel like a guest and I know what humiliations a Palestinian can suffer.
Secondly, newspapers, books and blogs don’t reflect the voice of Palestinians. Newspapers and books have an editorial policy they have to follow, so they can’t freely express their opinion or they can’t report what really happens to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, to Palestinians in refugee camps in the neighboring Arab countries and neither to Arab Israelis living in Israel. Moreover, even the Palestinian newspapers aren’t free. They support one party or the other. Thus, they depict something that can be far from the reality. As for the blogs. Well, they are often written either by internationals or by alleged left-wing Israelis and I honestly thank them for their huge contribution to the public debate, for their willingness to break the wall of disinformation and silence surrounding the Palestine- Israel question. But, still, where is the Palestinian voice?
Thirdly, and most importantly, I want to add my voice to debate. I want to be another critical and disobedient voice in the public space, fed and dominated by the same old rhetoric: Jews have suffered the Holocaust, they have right on the Holy Land because they are God’s elected people, they had to build a Jewish State to protect themselves from an anti- Semite world, they are willing to negotiate with Palestinians and if the conflict has not yet been solved is because Palestinians don’t want peace, a viable independent Palestinian State is not possible because Palestinians constitute a threat to the Jewish State and they will not be able to prevent and fight terrorism. This is just an exemplification of the much more detailed and complex mainstream version Israelis, Jewish lobbies and media spread and support. Post by post we will try to cast doubts on these statements, to have a more critical and nuanced point of view.
Before starting, few considerations are compulsory. I am not an anti- Semite. The reason is self- evident: as I have half European blood and half Arab blood, I am Semite myself, so I can’t hate myself and my ethnic roots. I am not racist and I reject every form of hate or discrimination based on sex, religion, race, political opinion and so on. I don’t like categorization, so I neither like the epithet of anti- Zionist, but if being anti- Zionist means being anti- colonialist and fighting all forms of colonization (even the creepiest ones), so I am. But, I am not anti- Israelis: first, I have never met one, so I don’t know all the differences and complexities there are in their society and, then, I don’t want to play their game. That means, they are in Israel, this is an unchallenging reality and I don’t want that the ethnic cleansing they have done to Palestinians to be done to them. This would mean lowering ourselves to their level. And, we don’t want this.
A last remark. I speak on behalf of myself. I don’t speak on behalf of the Palestinian people in its entirety, but maybe they will share with me some ideas and key- points. This blog is addressed to anyone, so I will try to be as much as I can exhaustive. This blog isn’t a newspaper, so it will be updated when possible. My background is international law, so sometimes I will be extremely boring for many, but international law constitutes one of the strongest tools Palestinians have to defend themselves (even if they never contributed to its formation. Remark that could open a huge debate on the value and the validity of international law). I would like to refer always to Palestine, but as it is divided between the West Bank and Gaza Strip and the situation is different in many ways in the two territories, I am obliged to talk about Occupied Palestinian Territories, West Bank and Gaza Strip.
I dedicate this blog to Palestinians, hoping that the considerations I develop in it could help to form a new and stronger public opinion and political élite, that will substitute the disappointing existing one.
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