25 oct 2019
Ayham Sabah
In December 2018, 17-year-old Palestinian teen, Ayham Sabah, was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 35 years in prison for his alleged role in a stabbing attack targeting an Israeli soldier in an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
Sabah was only 14 years old when the alleged attack took place.
Another alleged attacker, Omar al-Rimawi, also 14, was reportedly shot by undercover Israeli forces in the Shufat refugee camp, in occupied East Jerusalem. He later succumbed to his wounds.
Although the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a “child” as “every human being below the age of eighteen years”, Israel chooses not to abide by that definition. In Israel, there are two kinds of children: Israeli children who are 18 years old or younger, and Palestinians children, 16 years and younger.
In Sabah’s case, he was detained for years to ensure that he was tried as an “adult” per Israel’s skewed legal standards.
According to research conducted by the Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, by the end of August 2019, 185 Palestinian children, including two younger than 14 years old were held in various Israeli prisons as “security detainees and prisoners.”
Thousands of Palestinian children are constantly being rotated through the Israeli prison system, often accused of “security” offenses, which include taking part in anti-Israeli occupation protests and rallies in the West Bank. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Association estimates that at least 6,000 Palestinian children have been detained in Israeli prisons since 2015.
In a statement issued last April, the Association, revealed that “98 percent of the children held had been subjected to psychological and/or physical abuse while in Israeli custody” and that many of them were detained “after first being shot and wounded by Israeli troops.”
While Gazan children are the ones most likely to lose their lives or get shot by the Israeli army, the children of occupied East Jerusalem are “the most targeted” by Israeli troops in terms of detention or prolonged imprisonment.
In 2016, the US and Israeli governments signed a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding, whereby, the US “pledges” to grant Israel $38 billion in military aid. The previous agreement, which concluded in 2018, gave Israel over $3 billion per year.
Most of the money went to finance Israeli wars and security for illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. A large portion of that money was, and still is, allocated to subsidize the Israeli prison system and military courts located in occupied Palestine – the kind that regularly detain and torture Palestinian children.
Aside from the US government, which has blindly supported Israel’s ongoing violations of international law, many governments and rights groups around the world have constantly highlighted Israel’s criminally reprehensible treatment of Palestinian children.
In a written submission by Human Rights Watch to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the State of Palestine last March, the group reported that “Palestinian children aged between 12 and 17 years from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, continue to be detained and arrested by Israeli forces.”
“Israeli security forces routinely interrogate children without a guardian or lawyer present, use unnecessary force against children during arrest, which often takes place in the middle of the night, and physically abuse them in custody,” HRW reported.
While the US government, lawmakers and media often turn a blind eye to such violations, Congresswoman Betty McCollum does not. The representative for Minnesota’s 4th congressional district has taken a stand against the prevailing norm in American politics, arguing that Israel must respect the rights of Palestinian children, and that the US government should not be funding Israel’s violations of human rights.
On April 30, McCollum introduced House resolution H.R. 2407 – “Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act”.
“I am introducing legislation to protect children from abuse, violence, psychological trauma, and torture,” she said in her statement to the Congress.
“The legislation I am introducing is expressly intended to end U.S. support and funding for Israel’s systematic military detention, interrogation, abuse, torture, and prosecution of Palestinian children.”
By introducing H.R. 2407, McCollum has broken several major taboos in the US government. She unapologetically characterizes Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights with all the correct terms – “torture”, “abuse”, and so on… Moreover, she calls for conditioning US military support for Israel on the latter’s respect for human rights.
As of November 17, H.R. 2407 has acquired 22 co-sponsors, with Rep. Mark DeSaulnier being the last Congress member to join the list.
This is not the first time that McCollum has taken such brave initiatives. In November 2017, she introduced the “Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act” (H.R. 4391). Then, she pushed the bill with the same vigor and moral clarity as today’s campaign.
The 2017 bill was not enacted in the previous Congress. McCollum is hoping to change that this time around, and there are good reasons to believe that H.R. 2407 could succeed.
One public opinion poll after another points to a shift in US perception of Israel, especially among Democrats and even US Jewish voters.
Eager to exploit the political chasm, US President Donald Trump accused Jewish Democrats who don’t support Israel of being “disloyal”.
“The Democrats have gone very far away from Israel,” Trump said last August. “In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you’re being very disloyal to Jewish people and very disloyal to Israel.”
In fact, it seems that an increasing number of American voters are now linking their perception of Israel to their perception of their own polarizing President and his relationship with the equally polarizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The above reality is now widening the margins of criticism of Israel, whether in the US Congress, media, or other facets of American life which have historically stood on the side of Israel despite the latter’s dismal human rights record.
While one hopes that McCollum’s congressional bill pays dividends in the service of human rights in Palestine and Israel, one hopes equally that the current shift in American political perceptions continues unhindered.
In December 2018, 17-year-old Palestinian teen, Ayham Sabah, was sentenced by an Israeli military court to 35 years in prison for his alleged role in a stabbing attack targeting an Israeli soldier in an illegal Jewish settlement in the West Bank.
Sabah was only 14 years old when the alleged attack took place.
Another alleged attacker, Omar al-Rimawi, also 14, was reportedly shot by undercover Israeli forces in the Shufat refugee camp, in occupied East Jerusalem. He later succumbed to his wounds.
Although the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a “child” as “every human being below the age of eighteen years”, Israel chooses not to abide by that definition. In Israel, there are two kinds of children: Israeli children who are 18 years old or younger, and Palestinians children, 16 years and younger.
In Sabah’s case, he was detained for years to ensure that he was tried as an “adult” per Israel’s skewed legal standards.
According to research conducted by the Israeli rights group, B’Tselem, by the end of August 2019, 185 Palestinian children, including two younger than 14 years old were held in various Israeli prisons as “security detainees and prisoners.”
Thousands of Palestinian children are constantly being rotated through the Israeli prison system, often accused of “security” offenses, which include taking part in anti-Israeli occupation protests and rallies in the West Bank. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Association estimates that at least 6,000 Palestinian children have been detained in Israeli prisons since 2015.
In a statement issued last April, the Association, revealed that “98 percent of the children held had been subjected to psychological and/or physical abuse while in Israeli custody” and that many of them were detained “after first being shot and wounded by Israeli troops.”
While Gazan children are the ones most likely to lose their lives or get shot by the Israeli army, the children of occupied East Jerusalem are “the most targeted” by Israeli troops in terms of detention or prolonged imprisonment.
In 2016, the US and Israeli governments signed a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding, whereby, the US “pledges” to grant Israel $38 billion in military aid. The previous agreement, which concluded in 2018, gave Israel over $3 billion per year.
Most of the money went to finance Israeli wars and security for illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank. A large portion of that money was, and still is, allocated to subsidize the Israeli prison system and military courts located in occupied Palestine – the kind that regularly detain and torture Palestinian children.
Aside from the US government, which has blindly supported Israel’s ongoing violations of international law, many governments and rights groups around the world have constantly highlighted Israel’s criminally reprehensible treatment of Palestinian children.
In a written submission by Human Rights Watch to the Committee on the Rights of the Child on the State of Palestine last March, the group reported that “Palestinian children aged between 12 and 17 years from the West Bank and East Jerusalem, continue to be detained and arrested by Israeli forces.”
“Israeli security forces routinely interrogate children without a guardian or lawyer present, use unnecessary force against children during arrest, which often takes place in the middle of the night, and physically abuse them in custody,” HRW reported.
While the US government, lawmakers and media often turn a blind eye to such violations, Congresswoman Betty McCollum does not. The representative for Minnesota’s 4th congressional district has taken a stand against the prevailing norm in American politics, arguing that Israel must respect the rights of Palestinian children, and that the US government should not be funding Israel’s violations of human rights.
On April 30, McCollum introduced House resolution H.R. 2407 – “Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act”.
“I am introducing legislation to protect children from abuse, violence, psychological trauma, and torture,” she said in her statement to the Congress.
“The legislation I am introducing is expressly intended to end U.S. support and funding for Israel’s systematic military detention, interrogation, abuse, torture, and prosecution of Palestinian children.”
By introducing H.R. 2407, McCollum has broken several major taboos in the US government. She unapologetically characterizes Israel’s violations of Palestinian rights with all the correct terms – “torture”, “abuse”, and so on… Moreover, she calls for conditioning US military support for Israel on the latter’s respect for human rights.
As of November 17, H.R. 2407 has acquired 22 co-sponsors, with Rep. Mark DeSaulnier being the last Congress member to join the list.
This is not the first time that McCollum has taken such brave initiatives. In November 2017, she introduced the “Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act” (H.R. 4391). Then, she pushed the bill with the same vigor and moral clarity as today’s campaign.
The 2017 bill was not enacted in the previous Congress. McCollum is hoping to change that this time around, and there are good reasons to believe that H.R. 2407 could succeed.
One public opinion poll after another points to a shift in US perception of Israel, especially among Democrats and even US Jewish voters.
Eager to exploit the political chasm, US President Donald Trump accused Jewish Democrats who don’t support Israel of being “disloyal”.
“The Democrats have gone very far away from Israel,” Trump said last August. “In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you’re being very disloyal to Jewish people and very disloyal to Israel.”
In fact, it seems that an increasing number of American voters are now linking their perception of Israel to their perception of their own polarizing President and his relationship with the equally polarizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The above reality is now widening the margins of criticism of Israel, whether in the US Congress, media, or other facets of American life which have historically stood on the side of Israel despite the latter’s dismal human rights record.
While one hopes that McCollum’s congressional bill pays dividends in the service of human rights in Palestine and Israel, one hopes equally that the current shift in American political perceptions continues unhindered.
22 oct 2019
Democratic U.S. presidential candidate, Elizabeth Warren, Sunday, said that she is open-minded with regard to making US aid to Israel dependent upon the acceptance of its government to halt its illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.
When asked about her position concerning Israeli illegal settlements and US aid to Israel, Warren asserted that the construction of illegal settlements is against official US policy.
“Right now, Netanyahu says he is going to take Israel in a direction of increasing settlements, but that does not move us in the direction of a two-state solution,” Warren added.
She pointed out that the official policy of the United States is one which supports a two-state solution, saying that “if Israel is moving in the opposite direction, then everything is on the table.”
Warren’s fellow democratic presidential candidates, including Bernie Sanders, also condemned Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank, and its policy towards Palestinians.
It is the right of all people to protest for a better future without a violent response,” Sanders tweeted last year.
“Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza remains a humanitarian disaster. The US must play a more positive role in ending the Gaza blockade and helping Palestinians and Israelis build a future that works for all,” Sanders added, according to Al Ray.
When asked about her position concerning Israeli illegal settlements and US aid to Israel, Warren asserted that the construction of illegal settlements is against official US policy.
“Right now, Netanyahu says he is going to take Israel in a direction of increasing settlements, but that does not move us in the direction of a two-state solution,” Warren added.
She pointed out that the official policy of the United States is one which supports a two-state solution, saying that “if Israel is moving in the opposite direction, then everything is on the table.”
Warren’s fellow democratic presidential candidates, including Bernie Sanders, also condemned Israel’s construction of settlements in the occupied West Bank, and its policy towards Palestinians.
It is the right of all people to protest for a better future without a violent response,” Sanders tweeted last year.
“Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza remains a humanitarian disaster. The US must play a more positive role in ending the Gaza blockade and helping Palestinians and Israelis build a future that works for all,” Sanders added, according to Al Ray.
18 oct 2019
The Zionist erasure of Palestinians from their landscape is no longer contested in the international arena.
The dispossession of Palestinians is treated as a historical fact removed from their legitimate right of return and ongoing human rights violations. Flawed as only the UN could conspire to be, the preservation of Israel is the priority.
The latter is now dissociated from the ethnic cleansing of Palestine which required a UN resolution in the first place.
The international organisation has been complicit since day one.
Israel and the US are all for continuing the forced disappearance of Palestinians. In his latest interview with Israel National News, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman stated that the so-called deal of the century will ensure the permanence of Israeli settlers.
Citing the evacuation of Gaza in 2005, Friedman stated, “I don’t believe that there is a realistic plan that can be implemented that will require anyone, Jew or Arab, to be forced to leave their home.”
This statement has an inbuilt contradiction – after all, Jewish settlements require Palestinian dispossession in order to exist – and was followed by an equally hypocritical reflection by Friedman: “It’s frankly an inhumane process, speaking about Jews or Arabs.”
Yet, his elaboration on the issue is clear; it is the “extreme adverse reaction among Israelis” which Friedman is concerned about, not the ongoing displacement of Palestinians to make space for more settler-colonists. It is clear that, far from being “inhumane”, evicting settlers would be a form of justice for the Palestinians.
It is necessary to mention that the settlements are deemed illegal and a war crime under international law. That, though, is just one component of the issue which also makes for convenient discourse among the complacent international actors.
Dealing with an illegality which the international community has no intention of reversing is the outcome of the same international community’s refusal to uphold the Palestinians’ right to return against the establishment of Israel’s colonial presence in Palestine.
The Palestinian Authority and the international community have failed consistently to link settlement expansion with Israel’s creation in historic Palestine.
Both have legitimised the earlier expansion and, as a result, created even more distinctions between Palestinians, despite their shared history of dispossession.
Friedman’s sweeping statement regarding the inhumanity of “uprooting” settlers has no moral justification. The complicity between the Israeli state and its settler population must be highlighted, in particular their dependency on each other to survive.
Israel’s colonial project is inherently inhumane; any ramifications which settlers experience cannot be portrayed as equivalent to Palestinian dispossession. Settler participation in maintaining Israeli colonialism is complicit in creating a permanent refugee problem among Palestinians, one which can only be solved if decolonisation and the Palestinian right of return from a refugee perspective are implemented.
It is inhumane to colonise a territory and ethnically cleanse its population, as Israel did to the Palestinians. Undoubtedly, however, the international community will legitimise Friedman’s aberration of a comment, first through its silence, and later by prioritising settler permanence over Palestinian dispossession, depending on how the deal of the century actually pans out.
The current international discourse is, therefore, incorrectly focused; it aids Israel’s colonisation of Palestine. It also reassures the US that, despite the divergences over the two-state compromise, there is no friction as regards the ultimate aim of eliminating Palestinians from their land through displacement and normalisation of the US-Israeli plan to reject the legal parameters of who is and is not a Palestinian refugee.
Palestinians must retain their own narrative, while settlers should be in a perpetual spotlight that highlights their wilful complicity in aiding Israel to keep up the displacement momentum — the ethnic cleansing — that it started in 1948.
The dispossession of Palestinians is treated as a historical fact removed from their legitimate right of return and ongoing human rights violations. Flawed as only the UN could conspire to be, the preservation of Israel is the priority.
The latter is now dissociated from the ethnic cleansing of Palestine which required a UN resolution in the first place.
The international organisation has been complicit since day one.
Israel and the US are all for continuing the forced disappearance of Palestinians. In his latest interview with Israel National News, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman stated that the so-called deal of the century will ensure the permanence of Israeli settlers.
Citing the evacuation of Gaza in 2005, Friedman stated, “I don’t believe that there is a realistic plan that can be implemented that will require anyone, Jew or Arab, to be forced to leave their home.”
This statement has an inbuilt contradiction – after all, Jewish settlements require Palestinian dispossession in order to exist – and was followed by an equally hypocritical reflection by Friedman: “It’s frankly an inhumane process, speaking about Jews or Arabs.”
Yet, his elaboration on the issue is clear; it is the “extreme adverse reaction among Israelis” which Friedman is concerned about, not the ongoing displacement of Palestinians to make space for more settler-colonists. It is clear that, far from being “inhumane”, evicting settlers would be a form of justice for the Palestinians.
It is necessary to mention that the settlements are deemed illegal and a war crime under international law. That, though, is just one component of the issue which also makes for convenient discourse among the complacent international actors.
Dealing with an illegality which the international community has no intention of reversing is the outcome of the same international community’s refusal to uphold the Palestinians’ right to return against the establishment of Israel’s colonial presence in Palestine.
The Palestinian Authority and the international community have failed consistently to link settlement expansion with Israel’s creation in historic Palestine.
Both have legitimised the earlier expansion and, as a result, created even more distinctions between Palestinians, despite their shared history of dispossession.
Friedman’s sweeping statement regarding the inhumanity of “uprooting” settlers has no moral justification. The complicity between the Israeli state and its settler population must be highlighted, in particular their dependency on each other to survive.
Israel’s colonial project is inherently inhumane; any ramifications which settlers experience cannot be portrayed as equivalent to Palestinian dispossession. Settler participation in maintaining Israeli colonialism is complicit in creating a permanent refugee problem among Palestinians, one which can only be solved if decolonisation and the Palestinian right of return from a refugee perspective are implemented.
It is inhumane to colonise a territory and ethnically cleanse its population, as Israel did to the Palestinians. Undoubtedly, however, the international community will legitimise Friedman’s aberration of a comment, first through its silence, and later by prioritising settler permanence over Palestinian dispossession, depending on how the deal of the century actually pans out.
The current international discourse is, therefore, incorrectly focused; it aids Israel’s colonisation of Palestine. It also reassures the US that, despite the divergences over the two-state compromise, there is no friction as regards the ultimate aim of eliminating Palestinians from their land through displacement and normalisation of the US-Israeli plan to reject the legal parameters of who is and is not a Palestinian refugee.
Palestinians must retain their own narrative, while settlers should be in a perpetual spotlight that highlights their wilful complicity in aiding Israel to keep up the displacement momentum — the ethnic cleansing — that it started in 1948.
16 oct 2019
The Palestinian BDS National Committee (BNC) said that the Saudi soccer delegation’s visit to occupied Palestine at this particular time can only be regarded as “an act of official normalization,” citing a decision by the Saudi team in 2015 refusing to enter the country.
"In the context of the dangerous official normalization of the Saudi regime - along with the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and others - with Israel and the growing normal security and political relations between them, [the visit] is part of the attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause through the so-called Israeli-US deal of the century," BNC said in a statement on Tuesday.
BNC also condemned “the types of sports normalization represented by some Arab countries hosting Israeli sports teams in international and regional championships, most recently in Qatar and the UAE, thus defying the Arab popular boycott of the occupying power.”
"In the context of the dangerous official normalization of the Saudi regime - along with the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and others - with Israel and the growing normal security and political relations between them, [the visit] is part of the attempts to liquidate the Palestinian cause through the so-called Israeli-US deal of the century," BNC said in a statement on Tuesday.
BNC also condemned “the types of sports normalization represented by some Arab countries hosting Israeli sports teams in international and regional championships, most recently in Qatar and the UAE, thus defying the Arab popular boycott of the occupying power.”
15 oct 2019
Lebanese president Michel Aoun has accused Israel of violating all international laws, conventions and norms and seeking to impose a new fait accompli on the ground.
Aoun made the remarks at the first conference of the Levant meeting, entitled: "Meeting and a Breakfast Prayer, Lebanon the Homeland of Dialogue and Civilizations", which was held in Beirut.
The president strongly denounced the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and its exposure to Judaization as “a flagrant violation of all international laws and resolutions, and a dangerous indicator of something being prepared.”
He said that Israel’s violations include settlement expansion, racist legislation and its disrespect for the inviolability of internationally recognized borders.
Aoun made the remarks at the first conference of the Levant meeting, entitled: "Meeting and a Breakfast Prayer, Lebanon the Homeland of Dialogue and Civilizations", which was held in Beirut.
The president strongly denounced the US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and its exposure to Judaization as “a flagrant violation of all international laws and resolutions, and a dangerous indicator of something being prepared.”
He said that Israel’s violations include settlement expansion, racist legislation and its disrespect for the inviolability of internationally recognized borders.
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