“Absence of hope for a peaceful settlement leads to despair, strengthens extremists and is a sure recipe for continuing violence and instability.” This was the general theme of Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast briefing before the UN Security Council on the 17th of September. He also voiced “extreme concern” at recent remarks made by Israeli PM Sharon in which he stated that Israel is not following the ‘roadmap’ and might stay in West Bank long after any withdrawal from Gaza.
At the same time, American officials are rallying in order to ‘protect’ Israel from the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolutions which are critical of the occupying state. “It’s very labor intensive but we can make some progress and we can build some alliances about trying to reduce what, is in our view, the clear ‘skewed’ treatment of Israel in these resolutions,” an American State Department official said on condition of anonymity. What is comical is that the US is protecting Israel from any consequences which might force Israel to adhere to the US drafted and adopted ‘roadmap.’
Ever since its creation, also known to history as its occupation of Palestinian land, Israel faced ‘skewed’ treatment by the UN. In 1947 a UN special commission devised a plan to partition Palestine, in order to pave the way for the creation of two states. Recognition of Israel as an independent state had two preconditions, stated in resolutions 181 and 194, granting Israel, a minority, 52% of historical Palestine and allowing Palestinian refugees to return to their homes which they were forced out of by heavily armed Jewish militants. Only under this pre-text would Israel be allowed to join the United Nations as an independent state.
Needless to say Israel did not adhere to this generous offer and continued to push its luck as the Soviet Union, the communist country, recognized Israel’s right to exist, in 1948, in defiance against the will of the rest of the UN.
The Soviet Union, being one of five permanent members of the UNSC was the first country to recognize Israel. Other permanent members followed the Soviets example and recognized Israel as an independent country with the right to exist, interestingly enough with the US being one of the last permanent member states to recognize the exclusively Jewish state. This resulted in ‘skewed’ treatment which was crowned as the UN retracted, in regards to the conditionality set forth as pretext to acknowledgments, ignoring UNGA recommendations on recognizing Israel.
Historically Israel has received nothing but UNGA non-binding resolutions which are rarely in favor of the Israeli occupation, but if anything it is the Palestinians who seem to get the will of the world ‘skewed’ throughout history with the help of Great Britain, the Soviet Union and today, the United States of America. Had these permanent members adhered to the will of the UNGA long ago, Israel and Palestine could be living in peace and harmony.
In the last year alone, the US stood in the way of 21 resolutions calling on Israel to halt assassinations, incursions, protect human rights, the construction of settlements and the wall, stop acts of collective punishment and much more. Yet with America undermining the UN as it did when it invaded Iraq, Israel continues to have rules and world desires ‘skewed’ in order to serve its agendas and further their illegal occupation of Palestine. This might seem like an act of support for Israel, but it is only isolating the Jewish state further, treating it as a country above the law, while undermining the United States and its supposed upheld values of freedom, equality, liberty and justice for all. P>With regional analysts believing the ‘roadmap’ has been all but abandoned by recent Israeli initiatives, including expansion of existing settlements onto occupied Palestinian land a clear violation of the text of the ‘roadmap’ agreement, Israel has not shown the will or the desire to bring security to its people through making a just and honest peace with the Palestinians, who are the actual owners of the land.
In the view of the overwhelming majority of the world, Israel is receiving positively ‘skewed’ treatment empowered by the permanent member of choice for the past four decades, the USA.
Prendergast ended his briefing by calling on Israel to abide by the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice to dismantle the separation barrier it is building on the West Bank and demanded that Israel pays for the olive and fruit groves and other agricultural land destroyed in the process. In order not to be viewed as ‘skewed’ treatment in his briefing Prendergast also called on the besieged Palestinian President, Arafat, to institute ‘tangible reforms’ of the security services so as “to take immediate action on the ground.”
The overwhelming majority of member states in the UN condemn Israel’s occupation and call for its end and have retracted by using resolutions 242 and 338 as the basis for a peaceful settlement, yet the ‘skewed’ treatment by the US to combat the world has assured Israel its continued violations and occupation, while coining the overwhelming majorities’ pseudo requests as ‘skewed’ treatment in favor of the occupied Palestinians!
Believing in Jerusalem
Date posted: May 27, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
Last week, Israel barred a UNESCO fact-finding mission from entering the country, charging that the Palestinians had ‘politicized’ the mission before it had even arrived. The mission was tasked with looking into conditions of historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, something Israel apparently found to be very threatening.
Looking at the state of Jerusalem’s eastern sector today, it is understandable why Israel would not want UNESCO or anyone else walking around the Old City, especially the Palestinian-populated parts of it. Because anyone who does, will see the devastation that Israel and its settlers have wreaked on one of the oldest and most beautiful cities in the world.
Excavation works are being conducted in and around the Aqsa Mosque to make way for more Jewish construction at the place where Waqf authorities say Ottoman and Abbasid artifacts have long been tucked away. A Muslim graveyard is being dug up just outside the Old City’s Jaffa Gate, to build – ironically – a museum of tolerance. Today, two stores were forcefully taken over by Jewish settlers in Al Hakari, one of the neighborhoods in the Muslim quarter and every day, it seems that more and more homes are either being demolished by Israeli municipality authorities or being taken over by Jewish settlers.
The “Judiazation” of Jerusalem is a term many Palestinians and Arabs use for what Israel is doing in the city. In a nutshell, it is the long-term plan Israel is gradually carrying out to change the Arab Palestinian character of Jerusalem. This means demolishing old and historical structures, displacing Palestinians, handing over their homes to settlers and trying to erase the Palestinian or Arab history of the city.
The sad truth is that, on the surface, Israel has succeeded in this to a large extent. Pockets of Jewish settlers now live in the heart of Muslim quarters and aim to take over more and more. Sheikh Jarrah, one of the more affluent Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem, is now pierced with Jewish flags waving from homes that have been wrestled from their Palestinian owners, and Israel’s light rail train cuts right down through Palestinian neighborhoods outside of the city center. The train, of course, is not meant to service the Palestinian population but rather to connect Jewish neighborhoods and settlements in the city, but the area confiscated from Shufat and Beit Hanina for its construction simply fell into the plan.
What the UNESCO mission would not have seen even if they made it into the Old City is the overall humiliation that the Palestinian population of Jerusalem must endure on a daily basis because of Israel’s military occupation. Trips to the Israeli ministry of interior must be made just to prove that one lives in the city for fear that their residency rights may be revoked; young Palestinian men are stopped randomly by Israeli soldiers to check their ID cards or just to harass them, and settlers are always given the luxury of maximum security whenever they walk the streets. If settlers want to march through the city, the Palestinians are told to close their shops, are barred for hours from reaching their homes if they run along the path of the march and are always the ones blamed if any kind of confrontation between the two sides breaks out.
Jerusalem is being squeezed by these measures more and more each day. But there is always that glimmer of hope, that strength that shines through proving that all is not lost. On Shavuot, Israeli settlers and extremists poured into the Old City, singing loudly, banging on the shop doors and waving huge Israeli flags. The sight was disconcerting to say the least. However, the afternoon of that same day, at Damascus Gate, passersby were met with a completely different scene. Palestinian flags waved in determined Palestinian hands under the threatening eye of heavily armed Israeli police and soldiers. The youths were fearless, demanding freedom, with strong, unrelenting voices.
The sight of the Palestinian flag waving at the entrance to Damascus Gate was a breath of fresh air. All is not lost and never will be because hope is eternal and determination and strength come from a never-ending spring.
That day at Damascus Gate is what all Palestinians must keep in their minds’ eye in spite of the daily oppression of the occupation. No matter how many missions Israel bars from entering or how many houses it takes over, there will always be those brave souls who, despite the risks, will always raise Palestine’s flag.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Let Mohammed rest in peace
Date posted: May 20, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
There is no point falling into the pit of countering the claims being made about the death of Mohammed Al Durra, the 12-year old boy from Gaza whose videotaped killing was seen around the world. The boy, crouching in fear behind is equally afraid father as bullets whizzed around them, was killed admittedly by the Israeli army. Later, the army recanted after investigating the tape, saying Durra was killed by Palestinian fire instead. Well now, Israel is changing its story altogether, saying he was not killed at all. In fact, he was probably not even wounded and the French channel that broadcast the footage and brought some pretty bad rap to Israel, had most likely filmed a charade.
The reason why I will not waste my time countering this claim is that even with the great lengths the Israeli government went to to prove that the boy was never killed, it could not provide any irrefutable proof that Mohammed Al Durra – who would be 25 now – is still alive. No pictures, no testimonies, no hospital or morgue officials giving statements to refute his death, have been provided. Only sketchy information about ‘poor quality footage’ and the fact that it seems as though the boy moved his arm after he had slumped over his father following the explosion.
My point is this: indeed, Mohammed Durra’s death was at least one of the catalysts that fueled the second Intifada, and thus, was an important event in the history of the Palestinians. However, more importantly – most importantly to me –is the fact that this is about a boy who died in sheer terror, with his distraught father futilely trying to shelter him from the barrage of bullets coming their way.
Mohammed Al Durra was a boy, with a life, a family and friends. He died a horrible death and now he is being made to die a second one. I did not know Mohammed or his family, but I can only imagine how awful it must be for them to read these claims now and feel the pain of losing their child all over again. If nothing else, this is disrespect for human life of the worst kind.
Some may postulate that the rehashing of the Durra case is a personal jab at the French cameraman who shot the footage, Charles Enderlin. Perhaps. But as a Palestinian who has seen the pain endured by numerous families who receive the horrible news that their sons or daughters have been killed by the Israeli army, my concern is for his family and for his memory. He should be left to rest in peace. If Israel has axes to grind with French journalists or with the international community for holding it accountable for its actions, then so be it. Israel is not lacking in the public relations department.
That being said, there is just one decent thing left to do. Leave Mohammed Al Durra and his memory alone.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
Recognition and justice is our demand
Date posted: May 13, 2013
By Joharah Baker for MIFTAH
This week Palestinians will commemorate Al Nakba, the catastrophe that befell the Palestinian people when Israel was founded. Every year, Palestinians hang placards pointing to the right of return, they carry keys symbolizing the homes they were forced to leave and could not return to and remember the Palestine that was lost to them 65 years ago.
This year will be no different. Every May 15, Palestinian recall their catastrophe and demand justice. They demand that they are granted the right of return for those who were made refugees virtually overnight and were then relegate to a life they did not choose. But more than anything, they demand recognition of the tragedy that befell them rather than a denial that it ever happened, or worse, that it was of their own making.
It has been 65 years since Israel was established in 1948, which means those who were cast into exile are either very old or have long passed. Those who experienced the Nakba are now few and far between, clinging to those few precious memories of a small garden in front of their house in Jaffa or of the salty smell of the sea in their neighborhood in Haifa. The rest of us are either descendants of these refugees or ordinary Palestinians who feel their cause is our cause because we are one people.
But the Palestinians have made one thing clear. The refugee issue will not die with the last refugee. It is felt nationwide, the loss, the injustice and the fact that those who were forced from their homes have mostly passed, longing for their beloved homes.
We cannot turn back time. What was lost has been altered, destroyed, changed or taken over by Israel’s newcomers. What we can do is hold on to the right to be recognized, for the injustice to be rectified in word and deed and for Palestine to never be lost in our minds or hearts.
Joharah Baker is a Writer for the Media and Information Department at the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH). She can be contacted at mid@miftah.org.
