A-Infos (en) France, Le Monde Libertair #1672 - Israel, the ostrich policy by Pierre Sommermeyer (fr) [machine translation]

There are some days the news came. Three outposts have been regulated by the government in 
Jerusalem. One would think that the Arab Spring would bring beneficial effects in this 
area of ââthe Middle East, but it is not. Israel, like the power company, shut himself 
increasingly in a process that is only intended to stay in power a coalition of right and 
far right, almost fascistic. ---- The coalition government ---- Led by Netanyahu, it is 
supported by a range of parties ranging from the Labour left to the far right through the 
traditional right and the religious. This is the sacred union, national union. The 
opposition is represented by the center right (Kadima), from Likud, the main right wing 
party and for which there is no question of an alliance with the Arab parties or the 
radical left represented by Meretz.

For the religious parties who support the government and guarantee a majority in 
Parliament, there can be no question of any abandonment of the desire to return to the 
mythical Jewish borders. Any act of defiance against the recognized settlements or illegal 
can only weaken the majority. The religious and extreme right represent nearly a third of 
parliamentary seats. They are essential for any majority. Consequently, expect a 
significant change happens with a parliamentary process is the dream.

The colonies
Israeli settlers and their supporters have never recovered from the Gaza evacuation. It 
remains a deep trauma. Moreover, the settlements in Palestinian territory enclaves are an 
illegal international perspective. This decision was in March 1979 and was taken by the UN 
and has not been challenged since. This decision had no effect on Israeli policy! A little 
reminder now statistic: over 7 million and a half, Israel has almost 500,000 settlers, 
200,000 near Jerusalem and the others scattered in Palestine. Let us remember the Israeli 
claims of spring (World libertarian December 2011-February 2012) concerning the housing 
crisis in the country. Real estate speculation in full swing here as elsewhere, the 
colonies appear as a safety valve. It is a way to calm the social climate by making it pay 
to others. The existence of construction sites in these enclaves involves the use of a 
workforce close, that is to say from the occupied territories. Thus, the military 
administration had issued 20,000 work permits. Kav LaOved, an NGO committed to the defense 
of Palestinian workers working in the colonies, amounted to 10,000 the additional number 
of undeclared workers, much of which is used in agricultural colonies. To these workers, 
the Israeli labor laws are theoretically applied, they are more advantageous than those in 
the short term occupied territories under the Palestinian Authority. All this, plus a 
secure network of roads intercolonies, creates a situation almost inextricable that the 
Israeli leadership strives to more complex as soon as possible. But sometimes a grain of 
sand gets in his way. This is what happened in Hebron, in the heart of Palestine. Israeli 
police evacuated a dozen people, women, children, men occupied a house in this old city. 
Simultaneously the Minister of Housing published tenders "for the construction of 1,121 
homes, including 1,002 in settlement neighborhoods in East Jerusalem, occupied and 
annexed, 180 in a West Bank settlement and 69 in the occupied Syrian Golan" (AFP). A few 
days later, Netanyahu decided to legalize three colonies in which live a thousand people. 
The announcement shocked, to form, Israel's Western friends. But these ads are mainly used 
to sweeten the pill for the settlement of Migron. The Israeli Supreme Court has decided to 
evacuate the colony before 1 August 2012. It is on the activist anticolonisation request 
that the Supreme Court made its decision. It was built without government permission. 
According Akhshav Shalom (Peace Now): "Migron was constructed (ten years ago) on land that 
the State of Israel knew from his own land records, they belonged to a number of 
Palestinian families living in nearby villages of Burqa and Deir Dibwan. [...] The 
settlers established their colony on private Palestinian land with the cooperation of 
government and under the protection of the army and police. "The Israeli extreme right and 
religious extremist groups, have decided to make a casus belli. What about the Palestinian 
side?

In Palestine, a new generation?
Say that Palestine is an impasse, both inside and internationally, is an understatement. 
Recognition by the UN as an observer State, he joined Unesco, all this does not change the 
balance of power inside. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, has lost all 
hope of making a difference. By dint of having accepted Israeli diktats in internal 
security, there is no interest as a trader can exit from the impasse. Gaza remembers, 
meanwhile, under international sending some young future martyrs and send one or two 
homemade rockets into Israel with bombs inevitable return. Hamas, which takes a steady 
hand this strip of land, has just completed an almost clandestine renewal of its 
leadership. It seems that moderate members have been set aside in favor of "militants". 
Hamas continues to not want to recognize Israel as a state and consider the elections 
throughout Palestine reluctantly. How to break this deadlock? The key is in the hands of 
the rulers of Jerusalem, who knows it and does not want to use. His name is Marwan 
Barghouti. When the old peace activist Uri Avnery speaks of himself, he refers to as the 
Palestinian Mandela. He was arrested in 2002. Considered the head of the second intifada 
and several "terrorist" attacks in Israel he was arraigned. Avnery said that "his judgment 
was a farce, reminiscent more of a Roman arena gladiatorial combat than a judicial 
process." He was sentenced to life five times. Barghouti is from a prominent Palestinian 
family whose one member is the leader of the actions against the Wall around B'ilin. He is 
recognized as the undisputed leader of Palestinian prisoners and, because of its physical 
distance, did not take part in the conflict between Gaza and Ramallah. It just enjoy 
hearing his unquestioned for circulating a manifesto calling for action against Israel 
harden. This distribution was carried in near silence, as it goes against the habits of 
the Palestinian establishment.

Call for total non-cooperation
This seems to be the first steps of a campaign of civil disobedience. Let us quote Uri 
Avnery, who sees himself as the friend of Mandela in the Middle East:
"Marwan calls for a complete break from any form of cooperation, economic, military or 
otherwise. A central focus of this cooperation is the daily collaboration of Palestinian 
security services, trained by Americans, with the Israeli occupation forces.
- Marwan also calls for boycott of Israel, of Israeli products and institutions in the 
occupied territories and around the world. Israeli products should disappear from the 
shops of the West Bank and Palestinian products to be promoted.
- Marwan calls for an end to the comedy called "peace negotiations". Marwan proposes to 
formalize the absence of peace negotiations.
- Marwan focuses on Palestinian unity, drawing on his considerable moral force to put 
pressure on both Fatah and Hamas on
- Marwan Barghouti has lost all hope for peace by cooperating with Israel, or even with 
Israeli opposition forces. The Israeli peace movement is no longer mentioned.
- Marwan is also engaged in nonviolent action, having come to the conclusion that violent 
attacks yesterday were detrimental to the Palestinian cause instead of serving it. "
Uri Avnery ends his article by saying that, "as Nelson Mandela in South Africa of 
apartheid, the man who is in prison might be more important that leaders who are outside."

And solidarity?
The last major international action had the name "Welcome to Palestine." As the previous 
action, this time by air, he had this to reach Palestine. As before, it was a failure. 
Less tragic when the Israeli navy had intervened brutally in 2010. The question that 
arises is why and how such initiatives are taken while the result is expected in advance. 
The Israeli leadership was locked in a ghetto, both mental and material, as no such 
attempt can succeed. I believe, unlike Barghouti (it's easier for me I agree) that if 
there after, it can only come from within Israel. The lever possible is in the hands of 
those working on one side and the other of the border, on one side and the other of the 
wall. He must remember that the Anarchists against the wall as conscientious objectors 
need financial support to pay their lawyers as their fines?

Pierre Sommermeyer
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://ainfos.ca/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en