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40 Years of Occupation
The 9th of
June was an international day of protest against the Israeli occupation. In Israel, several
events marked this anniversary, mobilizing several hundred people during the first
week of June. Hundred of thousands of dollars were spent on these events, which
hardly had any impact on Israeli society.
As expected, the only significant
event, despite its ridiculously small budget, was a demonstration initiated by
the coalition of anti-occupation organizations. Once again, it has been
confirmed that dollars cannot replace the mobilization and dedication of thousands
of benevolent activists.
On Saturday, 9 June, around
4,000 Israelis marched in the streets of Tel Aviv to denounce 40 years of
Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
The majority of the demonstrators were young and Jewish; unlike previous years,
the mobilization in the Arab localities of Israel
was weak, reflecting an overall disaffection of the political mobilization
among the Palestinian minority of Israel.
The demonstration was
very militant and colorful, as was the closing rally, during which Shawki
Khatib, chairman of the Follow Committee of the Arab population in Israel, former
Meretz MK Noemi Hazan, and representatives of the bereaved families spoke.
It took 40 years to
have Peace Now take its place in the coalition against the occupation, which
includes, among others, Ta’ayush, the Peace Bloc, the Women Coalition for a
Just Peace, the Alternative
Information Center,
Anarchists Against the Wall etc. Altogether, it’s a mixture of good and bad
news: on the one hand, it represents a positive political turn and the new
readiness of Peace Now to cooperate with what they used to call the
"radical opposition." On the other hand, it reflects the weakness of
Peace Now, who admitted that they have no possibility, today, to mobilize on
their own, autonomous initiatives with more than few hundreds demonstrators. Working
together was, however, a very important and promising experience.
Storm at the Top
The Confessions of Avram Burg
Avram Burg is a prince.
Second generation of the founding fathers of the State of Israel (his father,
Yossef Burg was the leader of the National Religious Party and minister of
almost all the Israeli governments, from the 1950s to the ’80s). He was, among
other things, Speaker of the Knesset and Chairman of the Jewish Agency. Before,
Burg was one the main figures of Peace Now and the left wing of the Labor
Party.
In 2003, Burg published
a kind of political testament in one of the Israeli dailies (published later in
the major European dailies under the title "The End of Zionism")
in which he declared that the Zionist project has failed, and is crumbling
under moral degeneration and corruption.
This weekend, with the
publication of his new book "Defeating Hitler,” Avram Burg was the star of
the Israeli media. No doubt, Burg's book will be one of the best-sellers of the
year. In "Defeating Hitler,” Burg throws huge rocks into the gears of the dominant
Zionist discourse. Discussing his book an interview from the 8 June Haaretz
weekend magazine, Burg states: "To define Israel as a Jewish State is the key
to its end. A Jewish State is an explosive"; The Israelis are very calm.
One more Arab, one less Arab. Ya'allah, it's alright. But in the end, the pile of
bodies grows high. The number of innocent people is so large that it can no
longer be contained.
To the question, "Do
you recommend that every Israeli take out a foreign passport?” Burg answers:
"Whoever can."
Some additional quotes
of Burg from the article: "The Law of Return is an
apologetic law. It is the mirror image of Hitler. I don't want Hitler to define
my identity." "We are already dead. We haven't received the
news yet, but we are dead. It doesn't work anymore. It doesn't work."
The reactions to Avram
Burg’s new political positions have been extremely severe. MK Orlev, from the
National Religious Party stated: "In fact, Burg declares the destruction (of
the Temple),
and suggests to the Jews to go back to the Diaspora." MK Otniel Schneler from Kadima adds:
"Burg is mistaken if he believes that by kicking Zionism, he will become a
new [Yeshayahu] Leibowitz."
Even MK Yossi Beilin,
from Meretz and a personal friend of Burg was very sad that "a person like
Burg, who is the salt of the earth, says such things. If this State is not the
State of the Jews, and there is no Jewish majority, such a State does not
interest me…"
Human Rights Violations in the Age of Neoliberalism
Until the 1990s, State
institutions were the main actors behind the restriction of citizens’ rights. On
some occasions, these restrictions were the result of deals between the
government and small political parties, whose support was necessary to keep a
parliamentarian majority. This is how, in the 1980s, a new law was going to be
adopted, forbidding the marketing of pork products: the religious parties made
it a condition for their support of the government. The Supreme Court of Israel
declared the law unconstitutional, because it limited the basic right of freedom
of trade.
Today, the "free
market" is replacing state institutions in restricting rights.
Last week, Haaretz
financial supplement, "The Marker" reported that
Israeli-Russian Billionaire Arcadi Gaydamak, has bought the Tiv Taam, an
important supermarket chain which has the specialty of selling non-kosher
products, like pork products and seafood. The man who, according to the French
judicial system, had made his fortune by trading arms with militia gangs in
Africa, and is not particularly known for his religious inclinations, openly explains
his decision to buy Tiv Taam by his will to "Judaize" Israel.
That last move
of–according to the international media–one of the most powerful international mafia
bosses, is part of his attempt to create for himself the image of a "real
Israeli," caring not only for the welfare of Israeli citizens (see
previous TOF) but also for the spirit of the state and society. It is also
connected with his decision to run for the mayor of Jerusalem, a city with a majority of religious
residents.
A mafioso who is
leading the "moral revolution" and imposing his "values" with
his billions: this is, in a nutshell, Israel in the age of neoliberal
dictatorship. And, because the supreme value of neoliberalism is the free
market and free enterprise, there is no chance, this time, that civil liberties
will be protected by the Supreme Court.
In Brief
In the Israeli
political system, the power of the government is limited by—among other
factors—the Legal Adviser of the Government, who, by law, has the power to
oppose quite many government initiatives, especially at the level of
legislation. One can say "had the power," because the Minister
of Justice, Daniel Friedman, has decided to submit to the Knesset an amendment
to the law concerning the nomination of the Legal Adviser: from now on, the
head of the appointing committee will not be nominated by a Supreme Judge—a
guarantee for its relative independence—but by the Minister of Justice, a
politically appointed position. A minor change that testifies, however, to the
general "counter-reform" orientation of the new political elite.
Academic Boycott—The Counter-Offensive
The decision of the British University and College Union (UCU) to
boycott cooperation with Israeli academic institutions has definitely made the
Israeli and the British establishments very nervous. The British Minister of
State for Higher Education, Bill Rammell, came especially to Israel,
together with the head of British academic institutions, in order to express the
British government’s strong reservations for the boycott decision. On Monday,
11 June, while meeting the Israeli Minister of Education, Yuli Tamir, he
declared: “I hope my visit here sends a strong message of the views of the
British government and people … a boycott is fundamentally wrong.” Later in the
day, he met also Israel
foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, in order to discuss a counter-offensive. Among
other actions, Rammell and Livni decided to convene a symposium on "bi-national
education.” Israeli-British bi-national education, not Israeli-Palestinian, of
course.
Summarizing his argument
against academic boycott, the British minister declared: “We believe that
education is a way to solve conflicts, not to strengthen them.”
I have a deal to
suggest to Minister Rammell: the British government will implement a full economic
and trade-boycott on Israel, which will be supported by the British academic
authorities, after which, the international boycott-coordination will work hard
to convince the UCU to withdraw its call for a boycott of Israeli academic
institutions, and instead give their active support to the trade-boycott on
Israel.
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