Occupied Gaza like apartheid South Africa, says UN report

[Violet_Crumble]

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem
Friday February 23, 2007
The Guardian

A UN human rights investigator has likened Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories to apartheid South Africa and says there should be "serious consideration" over bringing the occupation to the international court of justice.
The report by John Dugard, a South African law professor who is the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, represents some of the most forceful criticism yet of Israel's 40-year occupation.

Prof Dugard said although Israel and apartheid South Africa were different regimes, "Israel's laws and practices in the OPT certainly resemble aspects of apartheid." His comments are in an advance version of a report on the UN Human Rights Council's website ahead of its session next month.

After describing the situation for Palestinians in the West Bank, with closed zones, demolitions and preference given to settlers on roads, with building rights and by the army, he said: "Can it seriously be denied that the purpose of such action is to establish and maintain domination by one racial group (Jews) over another racial group (Palestinians) and systematically oppressing them? Israel denies that this is its intention or purpose. But such an intention or purpose may be inferred from the actions described in this report."

He dismissed Israel's argument that the sole purpose of the vast concrete and steel West Bank barrier is for security. "It has become abundantly clear that the wall and checkpoints are principally aimed at advancing the safety, convenience and comfort of settlers," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2019547,00.html

[azurnoir]

1. Israel will continue

in this manner as long as the only international action(s) are tongue clucking and finger wagging. With the US acting as enabler. Will the US do anything don't hold your breathe any politician who would dare suggest any actions such as withholding monies or weapons will soon have his or her career ended with shrieks of anti-semitism.

[breakaleg]

2. Beit Hanoun

Beit Hanoun in Northern Gaza, with a population of 40,000, was subjected to particularly
vicious military action in November in the course of “Operation Autumn Clouds”. During a
six-day incursion 82 Palestinians, at least half of whom were civilians (including 21 children),
were killed by the IDF. More than 260 people, including 60 children, were injured and hundreds
of males between the ages of 16 and 40 were arrested. Forty thousand residents were confined to
their homes as a result of a curfew as Israeli tanks and bulldozers rampaged through their town,
destroying 279 homes, an 850-year-old mosque, public buildings, electricity networks, schools
and hospitals, levelling orchards and digging up roads, water mains and sewage networks.

--snip--

11. Israel’s assault on Beit Hanoun on 8 November 2006 culminated in the shelling of a
home which resulted in the killing of 19 persons and wounding of 55 persons. The house,
situated in a densely populated neighbourhood, was the home of the Al-Athamnah family, which
lost 16 members on that fateful day. Of the 19 killed, all civilians, 7 were women and 8 children.
I visited the destroyed home on 3 December and spoke to Mrs. Sa’ad Alla Moh’Al Athamnah,
three of whose sons were killed and whose husband and a son were seriously wounded. Israel’s
explanation that a “technical failure” in the radar system of the artillery was to blame is
questionable on a number of grounds. First, 12 to 15 high explosive artillery shells were fired
over a time span of 30 minutes. Secondly, the home is located close to open fields that Israel
probably suspected were used to launch Qassam rockets. Thirdly, the home had been occupied
for the previous three nights by IDF soldiers who made a full inventory of the occupants of the
building.


--snip--

There was so much focus on the number of civilian deaths in that one family that I didn't realize that the IDF had been in that house before that day. Nor did I know the extent of the damage to the homes in town - 279 homes destroyed?! Holy shit!

http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/4session/A.HRC.4.17.pdf

[Englander]

21. No wonder Desmond Tutu was blocked from entering Gaza.

Any Occupying Power committing those kinds of atrocities would want to keep any UN fact-finding
mission from investigating the facts & documenting the full horror of what was happening.
"Serbia with nukes".

"Israeli official 'not sorry' Tutu's probe into Beit Hanun strike canceled"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=124&topic_id=158771

[breakaleg]

3. The Wall

I could go on and on about this, but I'll just stick to this part.

27. The 75 km Wall being built in East Jerusalem is an instrument of social engineering
designed to achieve the Judaization of Jerusalem by reducing the number of Palestinians in the
city. The Wall is being built through Palestinian neighbourhoods, separating Palestinians from
Palestinians, in a manner that cannot conceivably be justified on security grounds. It does,
however, have serious implications for the human rights of some 230,000 Palestinians living in
Jerusalem.

28. Palestinians living on the west side of the Wall will be allowed to retain their Jerusalem
identity documents, which entitle them to certain benefits, particularly in respect of social
security, but they will find it increasingly difficult to travel to cities in the West Bank such as
Ramallah and Bethlehem, where many of them are employed. Moreover, if they elect to reside
in the West Bank in order to be nearer to their places of work, they risk losing their Jerusalem
identity documents and the right to live in Jerusalem because under Israel’s so-called centre of
life policy, Palestinians must prove that they currently live in the city of East Jerusalem to
maintain their Jerusalem residency rights. Those relegated to the West Bank as a result of the
construction of the Wall, who number about a quarter of the city’s Palestinian population, will
lose their Jerusalem identity documents and the attendant benefits. They will also require a
permit to enter Jerusalem, and will be allowed to enter the city by only 4 of the 12 crossings in
the Wall, which will considerably increase their commuting time and impede their access to
schools, universities, hospitals, religious sites and places of employment.



http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/4session/A.HRC.4.17.pdf

So, because of the placement of the wall, Israel will arbitrarily strip the Palestinians outside of it, who still live IN Jerusalem, of their identity documents? And they are getting away with this?
This is completely outrageous.

Please don't tell me Israel is a democracy again. Democracies don't do this.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. The Human Rights Council is a joke.

And, it is less funny than the joke it replaced!

[breakaleg]

5. Did you read this? It's hardly funny.

[Behind the Aegis]

11. I didn't say the report was funny.

The "joke" is this lop-sided anti-Israeli laughable excuse for further Israeli-bashing, all the while pretending to give a flip about Palestinians as has been done by this JOKE of a "council!"

[azurnoir]

13. Seriously, what long term benefit does Israel get

sooner or later the actions of the Israeli government will be suffered by all Israelis and very likely in a form far more serious then a few missiles home made or not. While the US is Israel's protector even that will only go so far, I do not believe our present administration or future ones will allow the US to take serious losses on Israel's behalf and not many other nations will either, if at all.

[Behind the Aegis]

14. I didn't address anything of the sort.

What is the point of your post? I was commenting on, yet another, bigoted group 'playing' as purveyors of "Human Rights," when they are doing anything but. Like any country, Israel has her share of warts, but it seems this "human rights" group is only concerned with those warts while epidemics of warts break out all over the world! If this group only attacked/addressed issues involving Iran, North Korea, or Sudan, all the while ignoring the situation in Israel, the group would be considered biased and practically useless.

[azurnoir]

17. I checked out their website

got some of their meeting agenda's, Israel never got mentioned in any of the stuff I read, I was not being selective, literally there is no way tobe without extensive prior knowledge. Nepal seemed to be high on their list though. My point was the question. because by bashing the massager you also seamed to bash he message, although I could be wrong

http://www.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/

[Behind the Aegis]

18. If what you say is true that...

"I checked out their website got some of their meeting agenda's, Israel never got mentioned in any of the stuff I read, I was not being selective, literally there is no way tobe without extensive prior knowledge." Then, explain this...http://www.ohchr.org/english/press/pr_hrc.htm

[azurnoir]

20. because i started from the link I posted

from there I clicked issues and got a word.doc I had to download that's why, seriously I did not see the page from your link.
on edit- I did my own google search-un human rights council

[azurnoir]

32. In addition I clicked the on the 4th session link

Israel is one of one hundred and sixteen items on their agenda which does include Darfur, in my other post I was referring to past meetings in which Israel was not mentioned. Your post was that they were lop sided, does that mean because of this springs mention only? Yikes, I was more disturbed that the US had not been more castigated.

[azurnoir]

19. delete

[Tom Joad]

9. Rerminds me of the laughing Israeli cabinet. Laughing at hungry Palestinians.

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9785

The Hamas team had not laughed so much in a long time. The team, headed by the prime minister's advisor Dov Weissglas and including the Israel Defense Forces chief of staff, the director of the Shin Bet and senior generals and officials, convened for a discussion with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on ways to respond to the Hamas election victory. Everyone agreed on the need to impose an economic siege on the Palestinian Authority, and Weissglas, as usual, provided the punch line: "It's like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but won't die," the advisor joked, and the participants reportedly rolled with laughter. And, indeed, why not break into laughter and relax when hearing such a successful joke? If Weissglas tells the joke to his friend Condoleezza Rice, she would surely laugh too.

But Weissglas' wisecrack was in particularly poor taste. Like the thunder of laughter it elicited, it again revealed the extent to which Israel's intoxication with power drives it crazy and completely distorts its morality. With a single joke, the successful attorney and hedonist from Lilenblum Street, Tel Aviv demonstrated the chilling heartlessness that has spread throughout the top echelon of Israel's society and politics. While masses of Palestinians are living in inhumane conditions, with horrifying levels of unemployment and poverty that are unknown in Israel, humiliated and incarcerated under our responsibility and culpability, the top military and political brass share a hearty laugh a moment before deciding to impose an economic siege that will be even more brutal than the one until now.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. .

:shrug:

[cali]

22. I agree that the Human Rights Council is pathetic

to the point that the new SG has directed some pointed criticism at it, but that doesn't mean that this report is a joke- or inaccurate. The treatment of the Palestinians in the WB and Gaza is deplorable. The Occupation IS the problem.

[shance]

6. Have you seen a picture of the wall? It is huge.

It is unbelievable what is happening to the Palestinians.

For years, I had no idea what was going on over there really.

We are so censored.

[breakaleg]

7. I've known about the placement of the wall and it's effect on travel of Palestinians.

What I didn't know what that Israel was going to use this as a way to strip Palestinians of their citizenship rights.

[shance]

16. I don't think many Americans did. We've been censored from the real news.

nt

[Shaktimaan]

33. you're kidding, right?

Our news is far from censored.

I learned something during my younger days as a University animal rights activist that has proven itself to be applicable to any issue with more than one side. I relied heavily on several mainsteam, seemingly credible souces for much of my information such as PETA and John Robbins, (author of "Diet for a New America.") While I realized that these sources had a specific agenda I trusted that they were honest and, because their cause was just, had no need to disseminate anything other than valid, accurate information. I believed that their chosen cause was proof of their integrity. I know, I know, I was beyond naive, I was dumb. I fully admit that.

The obvious lesson learned was that there are always two sides to any story worth hearing. And both sides usually have valid points. Because of this, any organization that proclaims itself to be both a champion of a single party to an issue, and especially if they also sell themselves as the side fighting for justice, (or humanity, freedom, anything really that automatically classifies the opposing side as simply being oppressors or nazis) you should never automatically accept anything they say as fact without checking it out from an impartial source. It's still fine to go to these organizations or individuals, they are a useful resource to learn about the beliefs and arguments that either side holds and since they are more dedicated than any impartial source you can learn some stuff that's not often talked about in the mainstream media. But you always have to remember that their goal is not to educate you about the (likely complex or controversial) facets of the issue they represent but to draft you to THEIR cause. And since many feel that right is truly on their side alone, bending the truth is acceptable if it helps them. The ends justify the means, so to speak.

It is sad that the UN Commission on Human Rights is as incredibly biased as it is. It really is insane, have you seen their page of press releases? But there are plenty of honest brokers of news out there, some who are dedicated to the Palestinian's cause like Peace Now or B'etselem. This guy though is not one of them.

[Shaktimaan]

31. Gosh, neither did I.

Probably because they haven't.

Seriously, I think you're misunderstanding the reality of the situation. If you're relying on your above source for this information then it isn't surprising because it looks like they are trying to deliberately misrepresent the situation in such a way that readers come away with an innaccurate understanding of it, such as the one you present here.

[Tom Joad]

8. South Africa apartheid was a "sunday picnic" compared to Israel's version.

COSATU president (South African trade union)declared that South Africa’s apartheid policies had been ‘a Sunday picnic’ compared to the state of Israel’s brutal treatment of Palestinians.

‘Apartheid was characterised by killings, hangings, disappearances, arrests, exile, confiscations, inferior education, rapes and the creation of bantusans.

'All this was a Sunday picnic compared to what is happening to the Palestinians. I say with confidence that Israel is an apartheid state’ said Mr Madisha.

[Tom Joad]

10. Now, lets talk about our response.... Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions

http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?list=type&type=167

A decade before Nelson Mandela was set free, only a small minority of folks knew about the situation in South Africa, and even fewer people were organized to do anything about it. Yet a grassroots-led movement changed everything, it became an uncontrollable flood! from University-based demands for divestment, to boycotts of targeted corporations, and then eventually action in Congress. Don't expect any leadership to start in Congress (it rarely does on any issue), civil society must (again!) take matters in our own hands and make change!

Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions is the nonviolent, civil response to a great injustice. We can make this happen.

The US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation is a good place to start. Organize in your community.

[breakaleg]

12. About the boycott...

On what basis do you boycott these companies? I have no issue with boycotting Israeli goods. But on many of these lists I see companies who's president donates to Israel and they suggest a boycott for this reason.

What are your thoughts on which companies we should boycott?

[Scurrilous]

23. Israel occupation resembles apartheid, expert says

Independent report commissioned by UN compares Israel's actions in West Bank, Gaza to apartheid South Africa. Charges draw angry rebukes from Israel


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3368610,00.html

<snip>

"An independent report commissioned by the United Nations compares Israel's actions in the West Bank and Gaza to apartheid South Africa - charges that drew angry rebukes from Israel and were sure to revive charges that the UN Human Rights Council is biased against the Jewish state.

The report by John Dugard, independent investigator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the council, is to be presented next month, but it has been posted on the body's Web site. In it, Dugard, a South African lawyer who campaigned against apartheid in the 1980s, says "Israel's laws and practices in the ( Palestinian territories) certainly resemble aspects of apartheid."

The 24-page report catalogues a number of accusations against the Jewish state ranging from restrictions on Palestinian movement, house demolitions and preferential treatment given to Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

"Can it seriously be denied that the purpose of such action is to establish and maintain domination by one racial group - Jews - over another racial group - Palestinians - and systematically oppress them?" he asks."

[Tom Joad]

24. It is much worse, of course, than South Africa apartheid.

[Porcupine]

26. There were no walls around the Bantustans for starters....

and black South Africans had a much wider freedom of travel than Palestinians.

Where South Africa relied on black labor Israel has now shut down most Palestinian economic activity.

I'm sure there are more comparisons that could be made.

[The_Casual_Observer]

25. They'll be a few DUers closely monitoring & responding to posts

on this thread for sure.

[cali]

29. Monitoring? Responding?

You sound a wee bit paranoid.

[PassionateAttachment]

27. Joe Wilson - June 14, 2003

Joe Wilson - June 14, 2003

"The real agenda in all of this of course, was to redraw the political map of the Middle East. Now that is code, whether you like it or not, but it is code for putting into place the strategy memorandum that was done by Richard Perle and his study group in the mid-90's which was called, "A Clean Break - A New Strategy for the Realm." And what it is, cut to the quick, is if you take out some of these countries, some of these governments that are antagonistic to Israel then you provide the Israeli government with greater wherewithal to impose its terms and conditions upon the Palestinian people, whatever those terms and conditions might be. In other words, the road to peace in the Middle East goes through Baghdad and Damascus. Maybe Tehran. And maybe Cairo and maybe Tripoli if these guys actually have their way. Rather than going through Jerusalem."

19:46: http://next.epic-usa.org/epicdev2/_media/2003forumaudio/28-lecture-wilson-32.mp3

"On the other ones, the geopolitical situation, I think there are a number of issues at play; there's a number of competing agendas. One is the remaking of the map of the Middle East for Israeli security, and my fear is that when it becomes increasingly apparent that this was all done to make Sharon's life easier and that American soldiers are dying in order to enable Sharon to impose his terms upon the Palestinians that people will wonder why it is American boys and girls are dying for Israel and that will undercut a strategic relationship and a moral obligation that we've had towards Israel for 55 years. I think it's a terribly flawed strategy."

13:33: http://next.epic-usa.org/epicdev2/_media/2003forumaudio/29-lecture-qa-32.mp3

[cali]

28. Joe Wilson, as in Valerie Plame? n/t

[Scurrilous]

30. Israel occupation resembles apartheid, expert says

This thread has been combined with another thread.

Click here to read this message in its new location.

[Englander]

34. Apartheid looks like this

>snip

Checkpoints came to dominate Palestinian life in the West Bank (and, before disengagement, in Gaza too) long before the outbreak of the second Intifada in late 2000, and even before the first Palestinian suicide bombings. They were Israel's response to the Oslo Accords, which created a Palestinian Authority to govern limited areas of the occupied territories. Israel began restricting Palestinians allowed to work in Israel to those issued with exit permits; a system enforced through a growing network of military roadblocks. Soon the checkpoints were also restricting movement inside the occupied territories, ostensibly to protect the Jewish settlements built on occupied territory.

By late last year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 528 checkpoints and roadblocks were recorded in the West Bank, choking its roads every few miles. Israel's daily Haaretz newspaper puts the figure even higher: in January there were 75 permanently manned checkpoints, some 150 mobile checkpoints, and more than 400 places where roads have been blocked by obstacles. All these restrictions on movement for a place that is, according to the CIA's World Factbook, no larger than the small US state of Colorado.

As a result, moving goods and people from one place to the next in the West Bank has become a nightmare of logistics and costly delays. At the checkpoints, food spoils, patients die and children are prevented from reaching their schools. The World Bank blames checkpoints and roadblocks for strangling the Palestinian economy.

Embarrassed by recent publicity about the burgeoning number of checkpoints, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last December, that there would be an easing of travel restrictions in the West Bank. All to little effect, according to reports in the Israeli media. Although the army announced in mid-January that 44 earth barriers had been removed in fulfilment of Olmert's pledge, it later emerged that none of the roadblocks had actually been there in the first place.

WATCHING THE CHECKPOINTS: Contrary to the impression of most observers, the vast majority of checkpoints are not even near the Green Line, Israel's internationally recognised border until it occupied the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. Some are so deep inside Palestinian territory that the army refuses to allow Machsom Watch to visit them. There, the women say, no one knows what abuses are being perpetrated unseen on Palestinians.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/833/re91.htm