www.al-shabaka.org Al-Shabaka, The Palestinian Policy Network, is an independent, non-partisan, and non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and foster public debate on Palestinian human rights and self-determination within the framework of international law.
Announcing a new al-shabaka policy brief Reclaiming Self-Determination By Ali Abunimah Will a Palestinian state, no matter how sovereign, fulfill the Palestinian right to self-determination? Al-Shabaka Policy Advisor Ali Abunimah argues that in order to achieve true sovereignty, self-determination must return to the center of the Palestinian struggle. Read more | Download the PDF

I was going to meet with the Prime Minister [Fayyad]. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. But his office called me here in Amman this morning, and we had a long discussion.

 

He is pursuing policies, which, in my view, are quite sensible, policies of essentially developing facts on the ground. It’s almost—I think it’s probably a conscious imitation of the early Zionist policies, establishing facts on the ground and hoping that the political forms that follow will be determined by them. And the policies sound to me like sensible and sound ones. The question, of course, is whether—the extent to which Israel and the United States, which is a determining factor—the extent to which they’ll permit them to be implemented. But if implemented, and if, of course, Israel and the United States would terminate their systematic effort to separate Gaza from the West Bank, which is quite illegal, if that continues, yes, it could turn into a viable Palestinian state.

Well, those proposals can only be implemented if there's no resistance to them. In the West Bank by now there's very little resistance, because of Israeli violence which has indeed subdued the population. And by now because of collaborationist Palestinian forces. As I'm sure you know Israel, the United States, with its allies, the Arab dictatorships -- Jordan, Egypt -- have trained security forces, Fatah security forces, whose main task is to subdue the population. If they have a demonstration, you know, against the atrocities in Gaza, instead of the Israeli army going in, they'll do it. That's a typical colonial pattern. The whole history of colonialism works like that. I won't run through the details but it's absolutely common, very common. Like, say, India, the population was mostly kept under control by Indian soldiers under British command. It's just a typical and natural procedure. In Chechnya today it's kept subdued and quiet and developing and so on under Chechen military forces with the Russians in the background in case anything goes wrong. It's routine and its being duplicated in the West Bank. Well, okay, so they've pretty much subdued protest in the West Bank so they can carry out their policies without disturbance, but they haven't yet subdued Gaza. In Gaza you still have resistance.

A couple of months later, in January 2006, Israel rejected the agreement as did the United States. And the reason is the Palestinians had committed a really grave crime. They voted the wrong way in a free election. And you don't do that. The Godfather doesn't like that and therefore you have to be punished. And so the international community has to write uplifting articles about our yearning for democracy, so again, that's how international affairs work and how our cultural system works...

On the very day Haaretz reported this:

Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch on Wednesday said that Israel will demolish Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem in the coming days despite the renewal of indirect peace talks...

Renowned Israeli journalist and Israel Prize Winner Nahum Barnea, writing in Yediot Aharonot bemoaned the surplus Arab population in Jerusalem -- and the surplus haredi religious Jews in the city spoiling it for people like him -- Israel's unreflexively racist, Ashkenazi and Zionist ruling elite. It's hard to imagine a prominent figure writing in say The Chicago Tribune about how "too many" Latinos or African Americans were spoiling the city for its white people. That's not to say some might not think it, but all but the fringes in America know this is racism of the rawest kind. In Israel, it's normal. Here's some excerpts of what Barnea says. First of all he glorifies with nostalgia, the period right after Israel's occupation of the city in 1967, when it began its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the eastern part in earnest:

Jerusalem was not only holy and patriotic. It was also cool, colorful, and fascinating. All one needed to do was to sit in the morning on the balcony of Gingi’s café, near the Jaffa Gate, drink a sweet Turkish coffee, watch the crowds pouring into and out of the Old City, and take in the scent of the great wide world: Various types of priests, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Palestinian females from the villages, pilgrims and their crosses, backpackers searching for cheap hostels overflowing with hashish, hummus-loving Israelis, and tourists from across the world.

Then darkness (literally!) falls:

... According to city hall figures, a total of 191,000 students study at city schools; 130,000 of them study in haredi or Arab institutions. This means that an overwhelming majority of the city’s children are being educated in an anti-Zionist system. As the main language in haredi schools is Yiddish, while Arabic reigns supreme in east Jerusalem schools, we can say that Hebrew is a minority language in Israel’s capital. As result of the above is that the city is less diverse and less interesting....

And then:

...Yet what’s more infuriating is the fact that so little had been done in order to influence the demographic erosion. Jerusalem took advantage of the Russian immigration wave to a much lesser extent than other cities. Not much had been done to open factories and create jobs. Hebrew University has lost its prominent status and became just another university in the eyes of the government; just another college.

Now Barnea can be satisfied as the Israeli government is working as hard as international pressure will allow to ethnically cleanse the city of Palestinians in the name of... "diversity."

AMEC, Centre for African Studies, UCT and Intercultural and Diversity Studies, UCT are hosting Ali Abunimah to speak at the University of Cape Town.
Title: "After the failure of partition in Palestine/Israel: what a just solution can look like".

Date: Monday 19 April
Venue: Lecture theatre 3, Graduate School of Humanities Building, Upper Campus, University of Cape Town
Time:13:00-14:00

Mr. Ebrahim Ebrahim, deputy minister of foreign affairs of South Africa presented the government's official position on Palestine-Israel this morning at the Afro Middle East Centre conference in Pretoria. It offers boilerplate support for the not very credible "peace process," but there was an oblique not toward the growing movement for a single democratic state on the South African model. Here are my notes of what he said:

South Africa has accepted view of Palestinian leadership, both Fatah and Hamas, of a two state solution. This calls for viable, independent Palestinian state living side by side in peace with Israel based on 1967 borders. Such a solution needs to address the right of return of refugees.
We are aware that increased colonization making it impossible for state based on the 1967 border. Many views say that two states no longer possible.

But as a party or government we must seek guidance from the Palestinians on what the future should look like.

As govt of South Africa, we have criticized policies such as further partitioning of occupied territories and other restrictions against the people of Palestinian. Denounced use of force against civilians, and the economic strangulation of Gaza. Denounced Israeli policies in Jerusalem, judaization policies that threaten its character as home to the three monotheistic faiths.

We continue with our efforts no matter how small to call for unity within the Palestinian forces for the purposes of achieving Palestinian statehood.

Our policy is informed not only by our own history of liberation, but by positions adopted by the international community. We are aware of other positions being advocated with regard to the Palestine-Israel conflict. We are not blind to the fact is that many of Israel's actions seem designed to prevent the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

 Man wearing T-shirt with insignia of "Israel Defense Force"