23 August 2018
Diary of a Corbynista
Palestinian Holiday
by Don Urquhart
3 August
When people ask what all the fuss is about in Palestine, they could start to inform themselves by reading Oliver Holmes’ article in today’s Guardian:
Activists who attempted to sail a fishing boat carrying aid to Gaza but were intercepted by the Israeli navy have complained of violence during a boarding operation….
“Some participants were repeatedly tasered, including in the head. Others were punched or had their head beaten against a wall by IOF soldiers. Zip-cuffs were used in a manner which cut off circulation,” Freedom Flotilla said…..
Mike Treen, an activist and union leader from New Zealand, said on his return to Auckland that Israeli soldiers had worn balaclavas as the activists linked arms. “They just started tasering us, beating and tasering us to get out the way,” he said, adding that many had had their belongings confiscated….
Torstein Dahle, head of Ship to Gaza Norway, which organised the mission, said the idea was in part to raise awareness for Gaza’s fishermen who face attacks from Israeli forces and are restricted to six nautical miles from the coast….
Dahle said Mikkel Gruner, a Danish citizen who lives in Norway, was badly beaten. “He was hit by blows. They destroyed his glasses,”…
The boat’s captain accused Israeli authorities of illegally boarding the vessel in international waters. “We were closer to Egypt than Israel,” Herman Reksten said when he returned to Norway. “I still have a headache from being hit in prison.”
4 August
There were further demonstrations in Gaza yesterday. Al-Masdar News reported that one of the fatalities was 15 years old. Here is their report:
Another Child is Executed in Gaza by Israeli Sniper Fire
A 15 year old Palestinian child has died in hospital this morning, of his wounds sustained by Israeli Sniper fire during yesterday’s demonstrations.
The Gaza Health Ministry confirmed the death, this morning, of Moaz Ziad Al-Suri (15 years old). Moaz Ziad Al-Suri was shot, East of Al-Buriej Refugee Camp, during this Friday’s demonstrations.
The 15 year old was one of 90 Palestinians shot yesterday by Israeli Regime Snipers. At least 220 Palestinian demonstrators were injured yesterday; two were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces.
Upwards of 160 demonstrators have been killed by Israeli Sniper fire, since the 30th of March this year, 17,000+ have been injured.
Moaz Ziad Al-Suri is reportedly the 28th child to have been executed in Gaza this year, by Israeli sniper fire.
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/another-child-is-executed-in-gaza-by-israeli-sniper-fire/
5 August
Yesterday tens of thousands of people gathered in Tel Aviv to protest against Israel’s new law declaring it the nation-state of the Jewish people, which has provoked outrage among the country’s most integrated minority, the Druze.
https://hamodia.com/2018/08/04/israeli-druze-rally-nationality-law/
In July the Knesset passed a new Nationality Law, here summarised by Jewish Business News:
The law removes all those who do not belong to the tribe from the Israeli core. It turns the Druze community in Israel from friends into an embittered population. It says to Bedouin, Christians, Muslims, to Arab newscaster Lucy Aharish you have no part in life here. At best, you are leftovers.
https://jewishbusinessnews.com/2018/07/31/nationality-law-anti-israeli-law/
6 August
In yesterday’s Haaretz, Yotam Berger reported on a plan for waste disposal in the West Bank. Some critics believe that it is a ruse aimed at expanding Israeli settlements.
Israel’s Green Plan for West Bank Blasted as Step Toward Annexation
The government is promoting a plan costing billions of shekels for a variety of environmental programs throughout the West Bank. Among other things, the plan will advance the construction of a large waste recycling facility in the area of Mishor Adumim, east of Jerusalem, where waste from inside Jerusalem will be recycled.
MK Mossi Raz (Meretz) argued that the plan is an attempt to divert budgets to the settlements. “Although at first glance it looks as though the ministry wanted to protect the environment, the government plans clearly demonstrate that the goal is to prepare the ground for annexation. The building of infrastructure in the occupied territories by the State of Israel, without cooperation from the PA, intensifies Israel control in the territories, and thereby in effect is bringing us even closer to the day when the Israeli government will annex the territories.”
7 August
The Jerusalem based human rights organisation B’Tselem today published a report on the West Bank settlements telling a story of vandalism by the settlers and intimidation of local people:
In just over two months, from the beginning of May to 7 July 2018, B’Tselem documented 10 instances in which settlers destroyed a total of more than 2,000 trees and grapevines and burned down a barley field and bales of hay. In some places, the settlers left behind them graffiti slogans in Hebrew, reading “No to farmer terrorism” and “There’s not a place we won’t reach”.
https://www.btselem.org/settler_violence/20180802_settlers_destroy_2000_palestinian_owned_trees
8 August
Today in Haaretz, Yotam Berger describes how the Israeli government promotes “illegal” settlements in the West Bank:
Yesh Din’s attorney, Shlomi Zecharia, said, “The inhabitants of the villages near the outpost have become hostages to the policy that abundantly rewards prizes and gifts to ideological criminals. Cutting off farmlands by means of a false [expansion of] jurisdiction is extreme, disproportionate and needless, and in fact is intended to perpetuate restrictions on and infringement of Palestinian property, this time under the official auspices of the government.”
One of the immediate consequences of designating the expanded area as part of Amichai is that responsibility for enforcement of construction laws will no longer be in the hands of the Civil Administration, but rather will fall to the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. Except in the rarest cases, the council does not enforce the law against illegal construction in its jurisdiction.
9 August
Today’s Middle East Monitor highlights a European Union plan to invest in Gaza’s infrastructure and the hostility of Israel’s government to such projects:
Israeli media said the EU had prepared a plan for transport in the occupied West Bank which included “the establishment of an airport, a port and a railway to link the Gaza Strip with the West Bank”. The EU did not officially inform the Israeli government of the plan…..
Meanwhile, the Knesset member Moti Yogev commenting on the EU plan saying: “The Europeans are acting insolently behind the back of the State of Israel, against the Israeli interest, with the aim of establishing a Palestinian state.”
EU officials dismissed the criticism stating: “We do not need approval from Israel to formulate the master plan on transportation, and therefore we did not ask for such approval. The project is part of the EU’s overall investment in the PA’s governmental activities and in the future vision for the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180809-israel-rejects-eu-plan-to-link-gaza-to-the-west-bank/
10 August
Haaretz reports the Israel government’s surprise that one of the first actions of the new Colombian government was to recognise Palestine. 137 of the 193 United Nations members have now done so. It’s pretty much the third world while North America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand are hanging back.
11 August
The Israel/Gaza propaganda war intensifies. The BBC reported on its website under the following headline:
Israeli airstrikes kill woman and toddler
According to the Jewish Chronicle the Board of Deputies of British Jews complained that the headline was misleading and the BBC changed it:
Gaza airstrikes ‘kill woman and child’ after rockets hit Israel
The Times of Israel has the BBC rethink being undertaken as the result of a tweet from Emmanuel Nahshon from the Israeli Foreign Ministry:
@BBCWorld this is a formal complaint by @IsraelMFA. This title is a deliberate misrepresentation of reality (that’s the polite equivalent of “this is a LIE”, if you don’t get it). Israelis were targeted by Hamas and IDF acts to protect them. Change it IMMEDIATELY!!! @IsraelMFA.
https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/bbc-changes-gaza-israel-headline-after-communal-anger-1.468139
https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-to-lodge-formal-complaint-over-bbc-coverage-of-gaza-violence/
12 August
Yesterday’s Sun newspaper makes much of a video clip showing Jeremy Corbyn speaking 5 years ago and, according to them, depicting Israel as comparable to Nazi Germany. Actually he does not mention Nazis or Germans:
The Palestinian people are generally very poor and in the case of Gaza, virtually imprisoned within that very small area and facing environmental disaster and catastrophe.
And in the West Bank, under occupation of the very sort that would be recognised by many people in Europe who suffered occupation during the Second World War, with the endless road blocks, imprisonment, irrational behaviour by the military and the police.
A similar approach in the Telegraph and, I assume, the rest of the anti-Corbyn smear operation.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/6990190/jeremy-corbyn-anti-semitism-west-bank-occupation/
13 August
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics has issued a report on youth unemployment in the occupied territories. Here’s a summary by Middle East Monitor:
Youth unemployment in the West Bank rose from 25.6 per cent in 2007 to 27.2 per cent in 2017 while youth unemployment in the Gaza Strip has increased at a faster rate from 39.8 per cent in 2007 to 61.2 per cent in 2017.
Unemployment in Gaza has increased in recent years as a result of Israel’s siege of the enclave and the closure of its land and sea ports.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20180813-report-palestine-unemployment-up-to-41-in-2017/
http://www.pcbs.gov.ps/pcbs_2012/PressEn.aspx
14 August
In 2014 Jeremy Corbyn attended a wreath-laying in Tunis. The anti-Corbyn smear operation has clearly decided that this is the one to go on at the moment.
Smear Central, also known as The Sun, reveals in big bold letters the conclusion they draw:
Jeremy Corbyn is unfit to be Labour leader – and cannot be allowed near government.
Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Corbyn’s actions at the Tunis wreath-laying.
The BBC’s Tom Barton reported the Labour leader’s reaction:
In his reply, Jeremy Corbyn described the Israeli Prime Minister’s accusations as false. But he also took the opportunity to say that the killing of Palestinian protesters in Gaza by Israeli forces deserves “unequivocal condemnation”. His supporters say the purpose of Benjamin Netanyahu’s message is to shut down that sort of criticism of Israel’s actions.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45170622
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7009508/corbyn-is-unfit-to-be-labour-leader/
15 August
According to The Anadolu news agency, the Israeli army raided a Palestinian school in Bethlehem on Monday.
Coordinator of the Popular Resistance Committees Ahmed Salah told Anadolu that the Israeli occupation force raided Said Bin Al-As School and detained teachers and students. It was not clear how many people had been held as a result of the raid.
He said that the Israeli occupation forces raided the school while students were sitting exams.
Israeli authorities have destroyed or confiscated at least 12 Palestinian school buildings since 2016, and 44 Palestinian schools, including Khan al-Ahmar’s, are currently at risk of demolition.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/israeli-army-raids-palestinian-school-in-west-bank-video/
16 August
Haaretz reports on the plight of the Samaras family evicted by settlers from their Bethlehem apartment:
A Palestinian family was evicted last week, in defiance of a court order, from their apartments near Bethlehem where they had lived for decades, after Jews bought the building from a Christian group.
According to the family, a large group of Israelis, some of them armed, evicted them, then used a bulldozer to demolish the two apartments where they had lived.
The family said that prior to their eviction on August 6, they had filed a harassment complaint with the police in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. They also said they reported the eviction itself in real time. Nevertheless, they said, police failed to intervene.
17 August
Ariyana Love in Middle East Rising has a startling report on the use of chemical weapons in Gaza. She claims that Israel is using Gaza as a testing ground for these and other types of armament. There’s some video footage.
Fake news? Read and decide for yourself.
http://www.middleeastrising.com/israel-tests-chemical-weapons-gaza-protesters/
18 August
According to Reuters the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issued a report yesterday proposing a UN force in Gaza to protect the Palestinians from the Israeli occupation forces:
The United Nations General Assembly requested the report in a resolution adopted in June that condemned Israel for excessive force against Palestinian civilians and denounced the firing of rockets from Gaza into Israeli civilian areas, but did not mention Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza.
Armed U.N. peacekeepers or armed forces from a group of like-minded states operating under a United Nations mandate could be deployed to offer physical protection, Guterres said. This option, however, would need a Security Council mandate and the United States, a close ally of Israel, would likely wield its veto.
19 August
One of the consequences of the Gaza occupation is a severe reduction in medicines and medical services particularly for cancer patients as here outlined by Medical Aid for Palestinians:
Some cancer treatments, including all radiotherapy and increasingly chemotherapy, are completely unavailable in Gaza. This means many patients require costly referrals to hospitals in East Jerusalem, the rest of the West Bank, or abroad. Israeli authorities’ restrictions on the granting of exit permits for patients continue, however. In June, 10% of all requests for patient permits were denied and 27% not responded to by the date of the appointment, meaning that patients were not able to get to the care they needed. Cancer patients comprised nearly a third (31%) of all applications.
At the same time, more than half of all exit permits for patients’ companions – usually family members seeking to travel to accompany someone to treatment – were denied or delayed. This week the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on the case of a three-year-old child, Louay Al Khoudari, forced to undergo cancer treatment in the West Bank without either parent after his mother was denied a permit to travel with him. This case follows concerns recently raised by a group of Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups of “collective punishment” of cancer patients themselves denied access to treatment due to accusations over family members’ political affiliations.
20 August
Muhammad Abu Ghanam was shot by the IDF and taken to al-Makassad hospital in East Jerusalem. The Israeli police obstructed the ambulance coming to pick him up, and were intent on arresting him, causing chaos in the hospital and preventing any efforts to offer him medical assistance. He died and the police subsequently attempted to confiscate his dead body.
The Israeli human rights organisation B’Tselem has a detailed report including a video.
I have been unable to find any mention of this incident in the British mainstream media.
https://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20170810_police_raid_east_jerusalem_hospital
21 August
The Smear Corbyn operation trundles on. With the Tunis wreath-laying running out of steam they have turned to a meeting Corbyn had with Hamas parliamentarians in 2010. Here’s the Sun:
Jeremy Corbyn bragged about cosy takeaway dinner with sinister Hamas boss — who urged jihadis to slaughter innocents
and the Mail
Jeremy Corbyn faces new storm over his undeclared trip to visit Hamas chiefs as Tory MP reports the Labour leader to commissioner for ‘breaking parliamentary rules’
The Telegraph:
Exclusive: Jeremy Corbyn attended a conference with Hamas military leader jailed for terror attacks which left 100 dead
The Times:
Jeremy Corbyn referred to watchdog over 2010 Hamas visit
And the Jewish Chronicle:
Corbyn boasted about ‘takeaway dinner’ with Hamas chief
All neatly coordinated.
I have to believe that such headlines are aimed at pummelling the Tory faithful to keep them on message. However, there are Conservatives who would never have considered voting for Corbyn until becoming aware of the concerted propaganda operation against him. The word in Labour circles is that membership has increased since the smear campaign started.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/7052556/jeremy-corbyn-dinner-with-hamas-boss/
https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/corbyn-boasted-about-takeaway-dinner-with-hamas-chief-1.468513
