Strangely, even the sight on television of the body of a small boy, the same age as Cameron, being dug by hand from the bomb rubble, is not what has stayed with me strongest from the latest attack on the Palestinians. Instead, I recall most vividly a radio broadcast on the BBC World Service two days before the attack on Gaza began.
It was a banal, everyday story of Palestinian villagers being evicted from their land in the occupied West Bank, to make way for an Israeli “military zone”. These pastoralists had lost a thousand hectares to the Israelis in the last few years, and now these ancient villages were being finally, forcibly, evacuated in a vicious act of ethnic cleansing. The shepherds claimed that what this was really about, was the precious springs that watered their livestock. Work was already starting to divert their water to nearby, and illegal, burgeoning Israeli settlements.
The BBC World Service TV has this minute, at 9.00am GMT, started its news broadcast as usual from Ashkelon in Israel, highlighting rocket attacks on Israel. There is no mention on the BBC – there has never been any mention on the BBC, or anywhere in the Western mainstream media – that for at least 4,000 years Ashkelon was an Arab town, until in 1948 the entire, Arab population of 12,000 was driven out by armed force, many being massacred. Doubtless some older inhabitants of Gaza are refugees whose home is Ashkelon.
Israel is exercising its right of self-defence in precisely the same sense that Hitler was exercising the right of self-defence in Normandy in 1944 – ie not at all. Why the world puts up with this blatant ethnic cleansing and prolonged, agonizing genocide of the Palestinain people, I have no idea. It is not just about bombs and rockets and deaths now. It is about the shepherds being pushed out of their village in 2012 as part of the same process of the massacre of Ashkelon in 1948, all a process of genocide of the Palestinians in which Obama, Clinton, Cameron and Hague, as two wholw generations of western politicians before them, are actively complicit.
Just spotted Jack Straw *makes sign of cross* questioning Hague’s infuriatingly mendacious ramble on the subject of Israel (we don’t support the terrorists) and Syria (we do support the terrorists)….
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2012-11-20a.443.0&s=speaker%3A10574#g451.4
Straw: Given that the experience of the past decade or more is that Israel pockets any concession made by the west to accommodate its position and then not only does nothing but makes the situation worse—by illegal settlement building, for example—will the Foreign Secretary please reconsider his position on the British Government’s refusal to vote for the United Nations General Assembly resolution? He is a man of great fluency, and he normally convinces the House with his arguments, but I find his reason for that refusal utterly incomprehensible. It is not that I disagree with it; I simply do not understand why our voting for the resolution would make the situation worse. Surely it would make it much better.
B (FP) Hague: (translation) We’re sitting on our hands until the US gives us permission to vote against it.
watching the parliament debate gaza situation was quite laughable,
“israel is using advanced technology to carry out precision point laser guided attacks, the wicked Palestinians are firing haphazardly and sometimes killing innocent zionists”
the people you are attacking are about 50 years behind you technologically
Stop the slaughter, stop the crime, Free, Free, Palestine!
http://stopwar.org.uk/index.php/action-a-events/national-events/2051-november-24-stop-israels-war-on-gaza-national-demonstration-assemble-downing-st-12-noon
Wish Craig was around to make one of his rousing speeches. Glad he is better. I did not realize that he was in Ghana when he became ill and that he was still there.
PS Bus top billing BBC 1 News at One of course.
There is a battle raging in cyberspace too since Israel threatened to shut down the internet in Gaza. Israel is losing that one big time.
https://twitter.com/Op_Israel
The BBC’s herald to war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc etc, in fact anywhere where white skinned people are killing brown skinned ones, is now in Gaza City. I mean the pugnacious Wyre Davies. Hope he has a thick flak jacket. He definitely gets turned on by war.
Nevermind, Not just Scotland — but the north of Scotland for me! Good luck on Saturday to one and all. If you ever want to climb a Munro, give me a shout…
This is pertinent:
“As a general rule for understanding public policies, I insist that there are no persistent “failed” policies. Policies that do not achieve their desired outcomes for the actual powers-that-be are quickly changed. If you want to know why the U.S. policies have been what they have been for the past sixty years, you need only comply with that invaluable rule of inquiry in politics: follow the money.
“When you do so, I believe you will find U.S. policies in the Middle East to have been wildly successful, so successful that the gains they have produced for the movers and shakers in the petrochemical, financial, and weapons industries (which is approximately to say, for those who have the greatest influence in determining U.S. foreign policies) must surely be counted in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
“So U.S. soldiers get killed, so Palestinians get insulted, robbed, and confined to a set of squalid concentration areas, so the “peace process” never gets far from square one, etc., etc. – none of this makes the policies failures; these things are all surface froth, costs not borne by the policy makers themselves but by the cannon-fodder masses, the bovine taxpayers at large, and foreigners who count for nothing”.
– Robert Higgs (quoted by Arthur Silber in his blog “Once Upon a Time”)
Hope sight of Esler won’t set Craig’s recovery back!
Lessons fromn the Top
The most successful leaders educate, persuade and bring about change through the stories they tell, but we rarely have the background knowledge to explore how they do so.
Watch award-winning television and radio presenter Gavin Esler as he shares the leadership secrets he’s gleaned from thirty years interviewing the world’s greatest frontrunners.!!
http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1353503507.html
Pure self aggrandisement. He thinks some of the fairy dust rubs off on to him.
Just a moment there, Tom Welsh. Higgs is a guru of the Austrian School of economics. He supports an unrestrained market without reserve, and is wholeheartedly opposed to “The State”. He has a following among those members of the Tea Party who can read without moving their lips, few as they may be. Given that market forces have determined US foreign policy, according to the quotation, I’m inclined to think that the last paragraph is not intended ironically or sarcastically. Which rather changes the message of hope it seems to offer.
I still don’t see people seeing that this is just a convenient way for Israel to regain the agenda initiative against Iran after it failed to unseat Obama because he wasn’t doing enough for Tel Aviv.
With the asssassination of the Hamas military leader, Israel kicked off a campaign which the newly re-elected President had no alternative but to support unless he was willing to go after the traitors, headed by disgraced DCI General David Petraeus and his surrogate Paula Broadwell, who worked behind his back to unseat him.
Now it is just a case of the tail wagging the dog big time, and the poor Palestinians are just convenient cannon fodder.
This is just institutionalized war crimes that Hitler’s people could never get the necessary support, cowardice and excuses for.
I want Israel abolished as much as the next anti-racist but was Ashkelon really Arab four thousand years ago? I thought the arabisation of the middle east came much later. I only ask because the truth matters. Apart from that possible error, I agree with what’s being said here.
I’ve put this question on the Office of Tony Blair website (thanks, Mary, for the idea):
Could you please tell me how many times since March 2009, in the course of his activities as Quartet envoy, Tony has visited
(a) Gaza
(b) The Occupied West Bank
(c) Israel proper?
I’d also be interested in any visits to any of these that were NOT conducted under the aegis of the Quartet.
With thanks in anticipation,
Depends what you mean by Arabs, Levi. If “people from the Arabian peninsula”, then no. If “non-Jewish Semitic people with descendants in the area today” (Israel’s loose current working definition of people who can be safely humiliated), then, yes. Canaanites with a fair degree of civilisation, indeed.
http://www.bib-arch.org/e-features/canaanites-and-philistines.asp
Levi9909
Who do you think the “Philistines” who built ancient Ashkalon were? (Genuine question, but difficult to imagine any genuine unbiased archaeological research on the subject in that part of the world).
What Bibi said in the past:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25961.htm
Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shalom’s social media hacked and defaced.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/337378
Follow the money and ask yourself why Mr. Obama is sooo supportive of Israeli current actions.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/184762.html
Someone was asking earlier about the legal status of Gaza:
…Israel continues to exercise “effective control”, a legal designation with implications. As the Goldstone Report (paragraph 187) makes clear (supporting the conclusion of the 2003 ICJ decision), “in addition to controlling the borders, coastline and airspace… Israel continued to control Gaza’s telecommunications, water, electricity and sewage networks, as well as the population registry, and the flow of people and goods into and out of the territory while the inhabitants of Gaza continued to rely on the Israeli currency.”
To these facts can be added Israel’s continuing capacity and willingness to impose a siege on Gaza and to send in forces to arrest suspects, transfer them elsewhere, and put them on trial before the military courts that have been in operation since 1967.
Why is it important to recognise that Gaza is still occupied by Israel? Because this legal status speaks to issues far broader than the current war in Gaza and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Put simply, an occupying state has no legal right to wage a full-scale military war against an occupied population. Rather, the occupying state is legally obligated to protect the rights and prioritise the interests of this population, something Israel has manifestly not done in any part of the Occupied Territories.
(emphases mine – K)
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/11/20121121103831534612.html
We have the beginnings of a meet-up before Saturday’s London demo. Anyone else who’d like to join in, please see here:
http://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2012/11/thanks/#comment-381787
Another chilling quote from the above:
First, Israel tries to frame its policies as complying with international law in order to avoid accusations of war crimes. The success of this argument depends on its terminology, and the policies that flow from it, remaining unchallenged. Second, to the extent that state practice (especially the practices of powerful states) is the main means through which international law – especially the laws of war – evolve, the “Israeli model” of disregarding civilian immunity and using disproportionate force in the aggressive pursuit of security may attain influence and credibility beyond this conflict.
Conflict places stress ‘specifically on children’ of Gaza
According to former senior Israeli military lawyer Daniel Reisner, this situation is precisely the goal of Israeli legal reasoning, which seeks to achieve “a revision of international law… If you do something for long enough, the world will accept it… International law progresses through violations. We invented the targeted assassination thesis and we had to push it. At first there were protrusions that made it hard to insert easily into the legal moulds. Eight years later it is in the centre of the bounds of legitimacy.”
Bet you made Momma proud when you graduated from law school, Danny.
Bet there’s no market for their ‘solution’ in Gaza as Muslim burials take place before sundown on the day of death or as soon as possible thereafter.
RE: “The dark charisma Adolf Hitler”
I didn’t watch this but was surprised at the trailers. I thought the ‘it was all down to one evil fella’ propaganda was long relegated to the history channels.
If the bbc really are repeatedly warming us into israeli military adventures with such rubbish (would be interesting to know) then we are truly well beyond Chomsky & Hermann’s propaganda model. That this current doc is currently promoted to no. 1 on iplayer is appalling.
John Pilger speaks to Dennis Bernstein Dennis worked with Nora Barrows Friedman, who writes on Electronic Intifada, on the Flashpoints radio show on Pacific Radio.
An Interview With John Pilger
Israel’s Gaza Rampage: It’s Not Just War
http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/21/israels-gaza-rampage-its-not-just-war/
{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Bernstein}
@ All – PLEASE DO NOT BE SO CYNICAL.
THERE IS A GREAT DEMOCRATIC PROCESS WORKING IN THE WORLD.
JUST CONSIDER:-
HAMAS WAS DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED – THEN OUSTED – BECASUE THAT IS “BAD DEMOCRACY”
SO – HERE IS AN EXAMPLE OF “GOOD DEMOCRACY” AT ITS BEST:-
“November 20, 2012 For Immediate Release
[email protected] (202)225-5871
Undermining Peace in Gaza and Israel in One Minute Flat
How the House Defeated the Democratic Process “Unanimously”
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 20, 2012) – On November 16, 2012, the United States House of Representatives passed a resolution, H.Res 813, expressing “vigorous support” and “unwavering commitment” to the State of Israel while bombs were being dropped on Gaza and missiles were launched toward Ashkelon. The resolution expresses the official opinion of the House of Representative. The resolution was passed “without objection.”
It is unusual that legislation addressing a topic of such importance would be brought up without giving members of Congress any prior notice. The bill was introduced at 12:04 pm. The resolution was “agreed without objection” by 12:05 pm.
“There was no notice, no committee hearing, no discussion and no debate. In such a fashion, we achieve unanimity on great matters related to the Middle East,” said Kucinich.
Concerning this abnormal set of circumstances and addressing the tragic violence in Israel and the Gaza Strip, Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) today released the following statement.
“I object to H.Res.813, an unfortunately and unnecessarily one-sided resolution that was brought up on Friday, November 16th for consideration without any advance notice to members of Congress and which was completed in about a minute without any discussion. The hasty nature in which this resolution of such significance was considered undermines the unspoken, but operationally essential understanding, that bills of great importance will not be quietly tiptoed through Congress. A loss of Members’ confidence in Leadership results when House floor procedures are conducted in a manner frustrating to good faith. Such conduct can only add to the hyperpartisanship and the breakdown of comity in Congress that Americans find objectionable.
“Members must be given the opportunity to debate U.S. support of a military operation that is likely to be of significant consequence in talks between Israel and the Palestinians. This impacts the region and the world.
“Only one minute for consideration of a most consequential resolution in the House, when in the past week, the death toll in Gaza has climbed past 100, including 24 children. Over 800 people are reported to have been wounded. Rockets from groups in Gaza have landed in several Israeli towns. Three Israelis have been killed.
“This latest military escalation began after Israel assassinated Ahmed Al-Jabari, the head of Hamas’ military wing. According to Israeli negotiator Gershon Baskin, who secured the release of Gilad Shalit, Mr. Jabari ‘wasn’t just interested in a long-term cease-fire; he was also the person responsible for enforcing previous cease-fire understandings…On the morning that he was killed, Mr. Jabari received a draft proposal for an extended cease-fire with Israel, including mechanisms that would verify intentions and ensure compliance.’ Could anything be more destructive of peace than the assassination of a principal to ceasefire negotiations? And the House only has one minute to consider the ramifications of such action?
“The root of this latest flare up in hostilities is deep. Negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on a two-state solution have been virtually non-existent. Innocent people in Gaza continue to suffer under a blockade that has deprived them of everything from food and clean water to educational opportunities. Illegal settlements continue to be built in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, further diminishing prospects for a negotiated two-state solution.
“The hastily written, and even more hastily passed resolution, fails to mention any of that. In its deficiencies are writ the failures of our own Middle East policies. This latest outbreak in violence is deplorable and I am strongly supportive of Egyptian efforts to negotiate a ceasefire. Innocent people on both sides deserve to live without fear. Can the House Leadership spare a minute for that point to be made?”
### “
It seems to me there are documentaries about Hitler and the Nazis on TV pretty well all the time. It is quite a staple of the airwaves and there seems to me nothing illegitimate about that. I do not think there is any evidence that there is more of such during Israeli military actions. I think that if you start speculating that “Inglourious Bastards” or “Schindler’s List” or “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” are released to an IDF timetable, you are losing grip on reality.
@Mary
‘This morning, live from Gaza, Donnison was saying the same about last night’s ‘pounding’ (the BBC phrase) by Israel being the worst so far, the sound of a rocket going off was heard in the background. ‘That will be a rocket heading towards Israel’ he says. ‘The sirens there will be going off’. Seamlessly the cameras switched to Ben Brown in Ashkelon where the sirens were indeed going off. ‘I have to go now’ says Brown. ‘It is very dangerous standing here out in the open. I am going to the shelter’, as he hastened away.
If that wasn’t all planned, I will eat my kippah!’
Yes, it is very reminiscent of this broadcast by CNN’s Charles Jaco during the Gulf War:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isMtxbPdvzg
The siren scene starts at about 3.20, and the entire thing is fake. Brown, like his imperial predecessors, is following in the venerable tradition of western propaganda.
Gawain
Now that orchestration I can believe
“Just a moment there, Tom Welsh”.
Sure, what can I do for you?
“Higgs is a guru of the Austrian School of economics. He supports an unrestrained market without reserve, and is wholeheartedly opposed to “The State”.”
True enough, but I can’t see what relevance any of that has to the passage I quoted.
“He has a following among those members of the Tea Party who can read without moving their lips, few as they may be”.
That may well be true, but it doesn’t necessarily imply anything at all about either Higgs or his ideas. Aren’t you sidling up to an indirect kind of ‘ad hominem’?
“Given that market forces have determined US foreign policy, according to the quotation, I’m inclined to think that the last paragraph is not intended ironically or sarcastically. Which rather changes the message of hope it seems to offer”.
I didn’t see any message of hope at all, and having carefully reread that paragraph I still don’t. All I really meant to do was convey the idea that the outcomes in the Near East, far from reflecting policy failure, were exactly what was intended all along. I had read the Higgs quote this morning, and couldn’t imagine phrasing the idea better myself. So I used Higgs’ words.
Craig at 21 Nov, 3:18 pm: yes, TV has been awash with WWII stuff – films, documentaries, whatever – all my life. However, I disagree that there is “nothing illegitimate about that”. Nothing more illegitimate than usual, but it remains part of the never ending propaganda for war.
Ditch your TV licenses. The broadcast licenses of the foreign companies that contradict the mainstream corporate agenda are being withdrawn in any case. Use the Internet where you have to choose what you watch, and where you can block the adverts that keep the whole thing going. Why should some big company decide what you should consider important, in any case?
O/T Can somebody, Jon, or Clark, or somebody with technical expertise try to open this please and post its contents? It’s to do with the Julian Assange affair and says something about Billy McCormac commenting on the CIA (of which he might know more than is suspected) not being capable of something . . . Arbed, on the Anna Ardin liar blog post, cannot open it either. Thanks
http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&ved=0CE8QFjAE&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffr.goldenmap.com%2FTimbro&ei=2NysUIz4DYLK0QXW7IDgCw&usg=AFQjCNFwZO0odeYSxLdvcg_RTKHWzL3pRQ&sig2=U_9aQ071wmUu0MVg7z8iiw