Does "Urging Israel" Amount to "Change We Can Believe In"?

Israel forcibly removed Palestinian families from homes that its government declared to be under Jewish ownership last weekend.

Never mind that the Palestinians had been living on the land in Sheikh Jarrah for decades. But within hours, Jewish families settled into the evacuated homes.

In a statement on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded by calling the expulsion "deeply regrettable" and said that "the eviction of families and demolition of homes in East Jerusalem is not in keeping with Israeli obligations." She then urged the government of Israel to refrain from such provocative actions.

But Clinton's condemnations are as fruitless as they are correct, as unnecessary as they are obvious.

U.S. Policy Change

Expressing disappointment and calling on Israel not to repeat its "deeply regrettable" actions is ineffective, so when will America's policy change from a slap on the wrist to a handcuff to international law?

So long as Israel refuses to stop the construction of Jewish settlements and building the separation wall in the occupied Palestinian territories, the so called peace initiative will remain a political liability, rather than opportunity for progress for a just peace.

But perhaps the most promising development to emerge within Israel of late is the Israeli police's recommendation that Avigdor Lieberman, Israel's right-wing foreign minister -- whose racist sentiments and policies towards his country's own Arab minority have invited international condemnation -- be indicted on a series of corruption charges including bribery, money-laundering and embezzlement.

The decision, whether to press charges, ultimately lay in the hands of Menahem Mazuz, Israel's attorney general.

Lieberman's Corruption

If the criminal investigation, underway for over a decade now, materializes into formal charges, he will be forced to step down from his role as foreign minister.

Israeli television has already reported that a money trail has been found that tracks illegal donations through bank accounts opened in Cyprus. The reports are said to reveal enough evidence to formally charge Lieberman.

Whether Lieberman is forced to resign or not, it is clear that his political survival has depended on his ability to play to the fears of Israeli citizens and racist sentiments of much of Israel's ultra-nationalist minorities.

When mock elections were held in Israeli schools, reports flooded the media of high school students that had voted for Lieberman chanting "Death to the Arabs" (a toxic phrase that did not even distinguish between Israeli Arabs and Palestinians).

If the United States is serious about changing the deadlock surrounding the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, they would benefit from treating extremism and intolerance within Israel with the same approach they use in Palestine, Lebanon and across the region -- isolation, condemnation and most importantly, consequences.

In the lead up to Lebanon's most recent parliamentary elections, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announced in Beirut that aid to Lebanon would be reviewed according to which party won the elections -- the Western-backed March 14 coalition or the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance.

Parity in Punishment

Without this parity in "isolation and punishment", the U.S. will struggle to be taken seriously -- if not among Arab leaders, then on the Arab street -- in spite of Obama's uplifting address to the Muslim world in Egypt on June 4.

Earlier this year Obama went so far as to demand that Israel stop settlement activity on the West Bank as part of a peace deal leading to the creation of a new Palestinian state, but stopped short of an ultimatum.

But in the same speech and consistently over the past several months, Obama (who has delivered key speeches on the issue of race and racism inside America) has said that in order to advance the peace process Palestinians must reduce "anti-Israel sentiments" expressed in schools and mosques but made no mention of the controversy brewing in many of Israel's schools.

For Palestinians, the U.S. policy is that of condemnation and consequence. But for Israel it has consistently been one of subtle criticism and unwavering support.

Again, a parity in the political approach is lacking.

If nothing else, the shift in the tone of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas should be taken as a telling sign of the paramount importance for Israel to finally be coerced into a more pragmatic and principled approach to peace.

Fatah's Right to Resist

Abbas, the leader of Fatah, the more moderate of Palestine's two major political parties, has reformed his rhetoric and potentially his party's policies in recent weeks.

Abbas told a packed room of thousands of delegates at a conference on Tuesday -- the first in over two decades -- in Bethlehem, "Although peace is our choice, we reserve the right to resistance, legitimate under international law."

"We will not stand helpless in the face of Israeli incursions."

Abbas' mention of "the right to resistance" and "international law" echoes the talking points of Hamas and, more importantly, solidified Fatah as a resistance movement first, albeit one that is willing to move towards peace.

Al Jazeera English's Web site reported this week that a draft of Fatah's new program calls for new forms of resistance such as civil disobedience against Jewish settlement expansion and the separation wall.

The US government has supported Fatah over Hamas due to its willingness to negotiate with Israel and make necessary concessions, but Abbas' speech on Tuesday suggests that time for either of those possibilities may no longer be running out, but instead may have reached its expiry date.

In Arabic, the juxtaposition commonly used to ask whether someone is a Fatah or Hamas supporter is whether one is with the "Muqawamah" or "resistance" - referring to Hamas.

Fatah has repositioned its own approach to peace with Israel, it is time that the US does the same.

Follow Ahmed Shihab-Eldin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hamoods

Comments

[calbears]

The US cannot solve this conflict, because it's a co-belligerent to it. There is no, I repeat no, US administration that will back its allies such as Britain or other European powers that have a more reasonable approach to what after all Britain created, because it will not sacrifice an influential domestic constituency to do so. The only way forward is for the US to turn the problem back to the UN and other international parties and support international law and the UN resolutions on the question of Palestine.

If the US does not give up its monopoly on "peace making," I guarantee you that there will be no solution in our life times, because we are so close to a Palestinian leadership emerging that will say "we tried to get our freedom, not we want equality." As Ehud Olmert pointed out, this struggle will be much "easier," and "cleaner."

[ModernTimes1]

re.shorelive comment "Possession is NOT 90 percent of the law under international law. "
That;'s right. Therefore, Palestinian who have possession of many places in Judea and Samaria and Gaza have no legal right to it. I agree.
Palestinains had a chance to make it legal from 1947 on but rejected it. repeatedly.
PLO National Charter 1968:
"Article 19: The partition of Palestine in 1947, and the establishment of the state of Israel are entirely illegal, regardless of the passage of time, because they were contrary to the will of the Palestinian people..."

Speaking of never missing an opportunity to miss an opportunity."

[shorelive]

Who's the bigger large-scale thief and illegal occupier under international law? Who's being asked to vacate land and refuses to do so, only annexes and plans more expansion?

[BubbaC33]

Russia

[Macready]

great article thank you . . . I think action is necessary . . the US has to engage with the UN and impose economic and trade sanctions against israel and stoop all funding . . . financial and military to israel otherwise there will be no hope for peace in the Middle East and the Palestinians will continue to suffer while israel continues its expansionist policy . . .

a week ago I returned to London from Cairo . .. when I went to collect my luggage . . I had a huge shock . . . a plane from Tel Aviv was collecting their luggage from the same racks . . the situation was tense and I was muttering under my breath . . Free Free Palestine . . one thought really stuck . . these people all have homes . . . some have homes both in the UK or the US and in israel (they guys keep their feet in both the West and Israel -- what a bunch) meanwhile the Palestinians do not even have running water, their water is being stolen from them, so are they homes and their lands, they have no schools, their schools and homes were bombed under Operation Cast Lead, they lack proper hospital and health facilities, the list goes on and on and not only the Muslims but the Palestinian Christians are affected as well and yet . . . the Jews have two homes complete with all the

[Macready]

just want to finish . . many of these Jews have two homes with all the mod cons . . most Palestinians have no homes, no job, nothing. The israelis won't let contractors in to build new homes for the Palestinians . . . change we can believe in means real fundamental changes . . . that means NO to israel . . . israel must be made to comply with international law . . . it will take force and the West and the US are going to have to stop kow towing to the israelis and their lobbies and stand up for human rights and human dignity . . . and that means supporting the Palestinians and stopping the apartheid regime in israel in its expansionist tracks

[BubbaC33]

Your posting is wrong.

[arvay]

And get set for the usual piteous cry of "why to they hate us?'

[joeinvt]

Did these Jews steal their second homes from the Palestinians too? From my point of view if Jews want two homes, they should go to medical or law school or at least become investment bankers - not steal two homes from people who don't even have one home.

[yaskeptik]

I feel for you Macready, what a shock. I hope you complaned to Heathrow. How dare they to make you collect your luggage from the same rack as those from Tel Aviv ( btw what did you mean by "what a bunch"?). Did you have to throw money at them as Borat did, or muttering your prayer was enough?
I think people who have property in 2 countries are sick, even if they are respected professionals and bought them using their earned money as an investment for example. Although I hoped one day, somewhere in Portugal..., no can't do it, thanks for opening my eyes.

Now, seriously, may I suggest that if wellbeing of Palestinians is your biggest concern, you should add to your prayer so it'll be : "Free Free Palestine from Hamas, I-Jihad and other suicadal lunatics who subject ordinary people to suffering for their political gains".
Try it, because if it happens there will be change for the better...

This one would be more helpful methinks.

[MemoryAlpha]

Amused Observation:
So you wish to liberate the Palestinians from their own elected government, huh? Any other inconvenient democracies you wish to "liberate?" Lebanon? Venezuela?

[GZLives]

"Israel forcibly removed Palestinian families from homes that its government declared to be under Jewish ownership last weekend."

No, NOT its government but its Courts after a long legal battle. Arabs may have been living there for decades, but many are living in homes owned by Jews who were ethnically cleansed by the occupying Jordanians who illegally grabbed this part of Jerusalem in 1948. You also fail to add that this neighborhood was Jewish, or that while Jordan held this territory, it ethnically cleansed all the Jews or murdered them, trashed their synagogues and stole headstones from the Jewish cemetery to use for paving the military base.

One of the primary requests made in Cairo was that the Arabs stop their incitement and yet the supposed "moderate" Palestinian delegates of the Fatah Revolutionary Council are meeting for the first time in decades and the first item they passed on their agenda ...

"The sixth General Assembly of Fatah unanimously adopted on Thursday a proposal calling for the establishment of a committee which would investigate the death of former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat while abiding by the following guidelines: that Israel bears full responsibility for his death, that the issue continues to remain open, and that the investigation enlists international support. "

The incitement continues, the double talk continues, the selective facts continue and your piece here is so full of half truths or out and out falsehoods, you make my point better then even I could.

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
The courts are demonstrably biased toward Jews. When are millions of Palestinian refugees going to be allowed their right of return guaranteed under international law? When are places like Najd going to be rebuilt so that their true residents can finally return home?

Additional Observation:
Israeli courts do /not/ have jurisdiction over occupied territory. East Jerusalem is not Israeli territory.

[BubbaC33]

Your posting ignores the content of the posting you failed to reply to, as usual.
You always complain about Israel ignoring the boundaries of the partition, but Jordan was in direct violation of those borders with its capture of a part of Jerusaelm. It seems you only want tules applied when it hurts Israel.

[synick]

The short answer is there will be no right of return. This expectation is one of the major obstacles on the Palestinian side to peace. Arafat and now Abbas have perpetrated this myth to maintain power over their constituency deflecting from the core issues of peace and statehood. They have not been able recant for fear of their lives.
There are 2 groups of Palestinians with different agendas. There is the group that has been and still is resident in the West Bank and Gaza and there is the group that was displaced into UN refugee camps with no plan for expatriation (as would be normal anywhere else in the world). In order to maintain the political support of this second group, the PA continues to give false hope which has now become the central point of Palestinian negotiations (rather than the actual establishment of a state).
To be fair, the Israeli leadership has been unable to admit truths to their political constituency as well. First, that the current occupation is not benevolent, it is in fact brutal. And second, it is not necessary as the Palestinians do not present an existential threat to Israel.
Until both sides face up to their own misguided rhetoric there can be no progress on the key issues of statehood and peace.

[mommamia526]

I agree with GZlives. This was Court Action. Some of these cases have been dragging on for more than seventeen years according to reports. Also the occupants were squatters. Squatters are not legal renters and do not pay rent. Since these are Court cases a reputable Reporter who wants to report on the truth, should be able to come with the real facts. Notices to evacuate had been given to the squatters repeatedly, apparently. Now, the latest I read on this about one or two properties was that these were not even Arabs or Palestinians squatting in these properties, but leftwing agitators. many from the U.K., etc. and the properties were defaced not with Arab grafiti, but English grafiti. As for the Death of Arafat, all this grumbling is coming about after a previous report that Arafat was killed by Abbas. Who will ever know the real truth? He was in a hospital in Paris and cause of death is still a mystery and will not be released. Let the dead rest in Peace. As long as there are no facts, and incitement and inuendo only, this will help no one, certainly not the Palestinians. A Saudi Official has been reported to have made a statement that there will be no way that a Palestinian State will ever be possible, because the Hamas and Fatah crowds have different interests, different origins, and work for their own interests, not for any Palestinian population.

[MARNIE2]

ISRAEL, HAMAS, &PALESTINIAN PEOPLE [ALL-GROUPS] / Look at this way ,PEACE is far of [other-side] .Can ALL these GROUPS , BUILD A BRIDGE [tgether] to get to the other side to wards[PEACE] ???
THE VIEW is looking more like a BRIDGE TO NO WEAR ? ALL HEELS ARE dug in ? !

[arvay]

Let's hope that Obama realizes that his Cairo speech, among other things, has lit a fuse on the Mideast crisis.

Often, revolutions explode not when oppression is most intense, but when people see the possibility of change. By raising hopes in the Palestinian community, Obama has either started a process of re-balancing our diplomacy to create a solution -- which will involve undoing generations of blind adherence to Israeli objectives -- or has launched a dangerous public relations ploy that will backfire.

Disappointing Palestinian hopes after such promise will permanently alienate the Palestinians and the Islamic world from America. There will be no more credibility for US in the region or among Islamic states -- only permanent enmity, if Obama caves to Israeli pressure and its US fifth column.

For sure, there will be new uprisings, attacks from Lebanon and Gaza and a wider war, possibly nuclear.

[BubbaC33]

As soon as the US fully developes vehicles that do not need oil there will be no need to care about Islamic nations.

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
We already have, if you weren't aware. Nothing has changed.

[Aussieposter]

Tut tut......Liar liar pants on fire

Jody McIntyre, a British solidarity activist stated in the same press release: I woke up to the sound of a brick through the front window. By the time I could get up, I was being pushed out the door by Israeli forces. . The unjust policies of the Israeli government are not just written documents, they affect real families. The government has made the Hannoun and al-Ghawe families homeless, and their only crime is being Palestinian in a system that is racist against them.

The Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in East Jerusalem was built by the UN and Jordanian government in 1956 to house Palestinian refugees from the 1948 war. With the the start of the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem, following the 1967 war, settlers began claiming ownership of the land the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood was built on. Stating that they had purchased the land from a previous Ottoman owner in the 1800s, settlers claimed ownership of the land. In 1972, settlers successfully registered this claim with the Israeli Land Registrar.

The lawyer of the Sheikh Jarrah families went to Turkey to find these documents proving the settler’s landownership in the Ottoman Archives. The Ottomans were well known for neatly documenting all important events, stored by date. The original of the document that the settlers base their claims upon was not to be found in the archives.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61265

[BubbaC33]

If Jordan had done as Israel requested and stayed out of the 67 war Israel would not have re-gained control of Jerusalem.

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
Israel demanded that Jordan break a mutual defense treaty. One understands that breaking treaties is nothing to Israelis, but to the rest of the world that is considered impolite at best.

[JerryLevy]

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/6042/about-those-israeli-evictions-of-muslims-when-cant-a-landlord-evict-his-bad-tenant/

If you want to know the truth about the so called evictions.

[MemoryAlpha]

Query:
So when will Sderot be evicted so that the land owners of Najd can return?

[GZLives]

When they invent a memory select serum that makes everyone forget the fact that the Arabs declared war after war on Israel hoping to destroy it but lost each time ...

[phute]

There is nothing so called about these evictions - what is your problem? The truth? Obviously.

[ModernTimes1]

re."Never mind that the Palestinians had been living on the land in Sheikh Jarrah for decades."

1. The fact that these two families were placed there by Jordanians does not give them title to the property.
2. You're contradicting yourself.
If "living for decades" was enough to give title to property, than Jews living in the West Bank should be entitled to their property too. I KNOW you don't think that! Then stop being logically inconsistent with these case.

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
You rather conveniently forget about the 750,000 Palestinians who were driven off by Israel. Are you willing to see Sderot turned over to the rightful, original residents of Najd?

[Maysoon Zayid]

The eviction is based on a claim they owned this house over 50 yrs ago and the inhabitants are squatters, right? So do the same laws apply to the homes in Jaffa and Haifa the refugees owned in 1947? Since they have deeds are they allowed to evict the inhabitants living there now?

Great news!

[phute]

You suffer from a desperate need to slight others who don't have the same manic desire to defend zionism.
Try proving something contained in your posts - once in a blue moon.

[GZLives]

Not really , its just your passion to defend the myths and lies makes you see it all that way. This isn't about Zionism or all your code words, but about truth which you can't stand when it contradicts what you prefer to believe

[shotei]

Phute, then something tangible for you:
Can Jews come back to the Arab countries that expeled them with no right to take their assets with them? They're well over 2 million now. Or more reasonably, are Arab states willing to compensate Jewish nationals for that?

[shorelive]

You cannot compare individual property rights with territorial seizures of vast regions and talk about consistency in that simplistic fashion.

Yes, living for decades can and does give title to property, depending on the property laws observed there. If they were Anglo-Saxon laws or anything similar that recognizes squatter's rights, for instance, they most certanly would allow for the entitlement to a piece of land if it was inhabited long enough.. Force of arms and killing and driving off, however, are quite different.

[Freenation]

"She then urged the government of Israel to refrain from such provocative actions."

what 'urge' this is the best she can do?

[Rog49Thomas]

One applies pressure gradually.

Just wait until we "strongly urge".

That will be followed by holding our breath until they take action.
But of course that will only be used as the absolute last resort.

[Rog49Thomas]

Ahmed, I believe that will occur shortly after the Mahdi returns.

[bbsnews]

Israel has committed more than 300,000 violations of international law Bubba.

On one hand we have you, acting as if you know something, and on the other hand we have UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon who has spent the last several weeks telling a succession of Israeli ministers that each and every one of the colonies are illegal.

Hmmm, which one should we believe?

On resistance, there's not a single person in this forum who would endure an invader, coming in and killing and maiming your community and family members, bulldozing homes and little college girls, stealing your land and resources, and then you would give them candy and kisses.

Not a one of you would. No one would.

In America you would have a cross between the A-Team and Magyver wannabes resisting in ways yet to be imagined.

The Palestinians have every right to resist Israel taking 75% of the water resources to fill swimming pools and create lush green spaces (and then brag like they did something magical), they have every right to resist the illegal colonists who have grown to more than 300,000, what's more, they have the internationally protected right to resist.

[ModernTimes1]

You seem to advocate fighting. Fine,.
But it seemed to completely slip your mind that for the past 70 years Palestinian Arabs consistently lost every military engagement they've participated in. In Israel, Kuwait, Jordan, Palestine, Syria Lebanon and everywhere else. Moreover, every power they back seems to suffer the same fate from WW2 Germany to Nasser to Saddam Hussein to Soviet Union.
The ONLY path available to Palestinian state is to lay down their weapons and start negotiating for peace without the terrorist and/or revanchist options.
It's about time those who post irresponsible comments egging others to fight learn their lesson in history.

[MemoryAlpha]

Amused Observation:
Mentioning WW2 Germany puts you on rather shaky ground, doesn't it?

[phute]

Just more bluster.......yawn.

[bbsnews]

Moderntimes1,

I would just love it if everyone sat down and sang kumbaya and strummed the guitar and maybe you live in that world, I do not.

In the real world people will resist oppression and occupation and in the case of the Palestinians they experience far worse at the hands of the Israelis then Israelis ever experience from Palestinians..

You danced right around my observation. If some entity was doing to you and your family and your community as Israel is doing to the Palestinians and have done for decades, you would be resisting with every fiber of your being as would all your neighbors and your neighbors neighbors. Unless of course you are a True Pacifist(tm) and that of course would make you one of the first to be killed by the occupier.

Also note that Israel created Hamas about half-way through the occupation. They didn't just spring up as "Jew-haters" as the wingnuts might have you believe.

Thank you for mentioning WWII. It was due to that war that the United Nations adopted the principle that 'territory acquired by war is inadmissible' that Israel is wholeheartedly breaking.

Ironic isn't it? The abused becoming the abuser?

[Detournament850]

The United States should put pressure on Israel, albiet not the same kind of pressure put on regimes hostile to the US. The fact that Israel is one of our strongest allies in the middle east should be taken into consideration. However, without the US Israel has no big brother to turn to. Given enough pressure, by reduction in military hardware and economic aid, the US can help change Israeli policy. Granted, the US must have the political guts to ignore the Israel lobby. Not to mention convince the American people that the Palestinians are as worthy of civil rights and a home state as Jews all over the world are.

[courtb]

So wait, is the author praising Fatah in their quest to seem as willing to turn to violence as Hamas?

[BubbaC33]

The writer assumes facts that are not actually factual. Israel is not in violation of international law. When anyone claims ownership of the West Bank is Palestinian they are ignoring actual history. When Israel took the West Bank in 1967 it was lost by Jordan, not the Palestinian people.

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
Jordan recognizes the West Bank as Palestinian territory, along with more than one hundred countries around the world. Every member of the UN Security Council recognizes Palestinian sovereignty to some degree with the sole exception being the United States.

Recommendation:
Try again when your opinions align with reality.

[BubbaC33]

Your posting is absolutely wrong on a number of levels.
First, Jordan did not recognize the West Bank as a Palestinian homeland during the almost twenty years it controlled the territory. No demand was made during that time to create a Palestinian homeland. That idea has come to life only since the West Bank was taken by Israel.
Your idea of reality is not one based on facts or truth or honesty.

[shorelive]

That's a lie, since Jordan retained its legal right to the West Bank under all international law. It formally transferred those rights to the Palestinians after that. The right to those lands thus now belong solely to the Palestinians and their legal entity recognized internationally as the Palestinian Authority. Israel is an occupier that has tried to legitimize its war occupation by putting civilians on lands that never have and never will belong to it purely by force of arms.

[ModernTimes1]

Jordan ANNEXED West Bank. Translation: Jordan took it away from British-mandate Palestinains, both Jewish and Arab. Jordan never, EVER had legal right to the land.
Therefore they could not give anything that wasn't there's to begin with.
Making this even more despicable. the ONLY time Jordan pretended to give it Palestinians is 1967,when it was NO LONGER THEIRS TO GIVE... BUT NOT A SECOND BEFORE THAT.
Study history.