The Sinister Meaning Olmert's "Hitkansut"

Deporting Hamas Members of Parliament

By JONATHAN COOK

The policy of "hitnatkut", or unilateral disengagement, developed by Ariel Sharon needed a swift facelift following the withdrawal of settlers from Gaza last year. And Israel's prime minister-designate, Ehud Olmert, has found it in the related concept of "hitkansut", variously translated as "convergence", "consolidation" and "ingathering".

After all, Olmert could hardly campaign convincingly for a West Bank disengagement when it was clear Jewish settlers and soldiers would continue occupying a significant proportion of Palestinian land at the withdrawal's end. So convergence is usefully, and misleadingly, supplanting disengagement.

Many critics of Israel assume convergence is simply jargon disguising the government's intention illegally to annex swaths of West Bank territory. The grand land theft will be sold to the world as a painful withdrawal of Jewish settlers, even if the great majority (probably 80 per cent) are left in place and only the most remote settlements are dismantled.

But events this week suggest that the principle of hitkansut will have a far wider application than just to the West Bank settlement blocs, with results even more sinister than many had anticipated. Olmert's consolidation, it is becoming clear, will embrace Palestinians too.

The shape of things to come was hinted at this week in the wake of Monday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv by the small militant group Islamic Jihad. Rather than approving the usual indiscriminate military strikes against Palestinian population centres that characterised the Sharon era, Olmert pursued a low-key, but no less disturbing, response.

He revoked the rights of three Hamas MPs and a Palestinian cabinet minister, Mahmoud Abu Tir, to reside in Jerusalem. The intention is to deport them to the West Bank, behind the separation wall Israel is hastily completing, where they will lose all the rights they currently enjoy to live and work inside Jerusalem and Israel.

Apparently Israel is considering extending this punishment to other members of Hamas in Jerusalem and possibly anyone working for the Palestinian Authority.

Once upon a time, back in the 1970s and 1980s, Israel would regularly dump hundreds of Palestinian political activists at a time across the border in Lebanon. Now the border will be, more conveniently, much closer to hand: just a stone's throw from the centre of Jerusalem.

What are the grounds for the deportations? The official reason is the failure of Hamas to denounce the suicide bombing. Olmert told an emergency meeting of the cabinet: "Any member of a government involved in terrorism should not be granted any immunity in the form of his Israeli residency identification."

Let's ignore Olmert's gratuitous extension of the meaning of the word "terrorism", and concentrate instead on the extent of his chutzpah. Israel occupied East Jerusalem during the Six-Day war of 1967 and later annexed the Palestinian half of the city and its inhabitants to Israel in violation of international law.

Now Olmert, the former mayor of Jerusalem and a man well-versed in underhand manoeuvres in the holy city, is expelling Palestinians from East Jerusalem on the grounds that he doesn't like their politics.

Foreign minister Tzipi Livni observed that Israel had the right to revoke the residency of whomever it deemed disloyal to Israel. In other words, Olmert and his cronies are behaving as though Palestinian residency in Jerusalem is a right conferred by Israel ­ as though Palestinians are immigrants rather than the city's indigenous inhabitants living under an illegal and increasingly vicious occupation.

Of course, Israel's approach towards East Jerusalem and its residents is not new, though the degree of brazen cheek in Israel's singling out of Palestinian public figures for this treatment, and Olmert's happy courting of publicity over the abuse of their rights, is.

Despite the illegal annexation of East Jerusalem by Israel, Palestinians living there do not have Israeli citizenship. Instead, they are classified as "permanent residents", without voting rights or Israeli passports. Theoretically, their residency offers them rights of free movement inside Jerusalem and Israel, unlike West Bankers who since Oslo have been confined by curfews, checkpoints and now the wall.

But in practice, as the deportations prove, "permanent residency" is not necessarily so permanent. Israel has for some time been narrowing the terms of who qualifies for residency in Jerusalem: Palestinians who study or work abroad often find they are not entitled to return to the city; the recent revoking of family unification means many spouses and children of East Jerusalem residents are facing deportation; and the arbitrary route of the wall across East Jerusalem is putting some residents on the wrong side, making it all but impossible for them to reach jobs, shops, schools and hospitals in the city centre.

The reason for these measures and others by Israel ­ such as planning rules that make it almost impossible for East Jerusalemites to build homes to cope with their natural population growth; and the abuse of their rights to vote in Palestinian elections ­ is clear.

The hope is that under such relentless pressure most Palestinians will leave Jeruslem and seek residence in the West Bank, where they will have even less rights to withstand Israeli abuses and where they will pose far less of a demographic threat to an expanded Israeli state's "Jewishness".

But this week's deportation of Palestinian MPs who refuse to toe the Israeli line reveals yet another layer of Israel's plan. What Olmert hopes to achieve with "hitkansut" is not only consolidating the inclusion of Jewish settlers inside the expanded borders of the new Jewish state but also consolidating the exclusion of Palestinians who currently enjoy residency in territory coveted by Israel: namely East Jerusalem. While Olmert will be busy "ingathering" the settlers, he will also be busy "outgathering" Palestinians from Jerusalem.

However, unlike Olmert's plans for the consolidation of Jews, who will be gathered into a single, expanded Jewish state, Israel clearly has different vision of consolidation for the Palestinians ­ despite Sharon's weasly words to the United Nations last year about wanting to create a Palestinian state on the land left after the limited withdrawal from the West Bank.

Given the nature of the Jewish settlement blocs left after "hitkansut" ­ their fingers penetrating deep into the West Bank at strategic points ­ Palestinian land will be separated into a series of ghettoes, isolated and cut off one from the next.

In Olmert's consolidation plan, Jerusalem will be turned into a ghetto comprising only those Palestinians prepared to have no contact with or offer no support to the rest of their people, including their own elected representatives.

The West Bank, meanwhile, will be consolidated into a series of small ghettoes, based on the main cities, filled with Palestinians whose rights can be trampled on by Israel at will. And finally Gaza will be consolidated into yet another ghetto, disconnected from Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Palestinian politics, whether of the Fatah or Hamas variety, will be meaningless in such an environment. It is not hard to predict the response: the year-long Hamas ceasefire will be strained beyond breaking point. Terrorism ­ human bombs or home-made Qassam rockets ­ will be the only answer for Palestinians who want to resist the arm's-length occupation. That may suit Israel, offering it yet more excuses ­ in reply to the "terror" ­ to further "consolidate" the Palestinian population into smaller, more tightly controlled ghettoes.

At the same Israeli cabinet meeting at which the deportations of the Hamas MPs were agreed, ministers discussed changing the classification of the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians' government, from a "hostile entity" to the harsher status of an "enemy entity". The move was rejected for the time being.

One senior official told the Israeli media why: "There are international legal implications in such a declaration, including closing off the border crossings, that we don't want to do yet." Not yet. But soon, when the infrastructure of imprisonment is complete.
________________________________________________________

Jonathan Cook is a writer and journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. He is the author of the forthcoming "Blood and Religion: The Unmasking of the Jewish and Democratic State" published by Pluto Press, and available in the United States from the University of Michigan Press. His website is www.jkcook.net

Source: CounterPunch
http://www.counterpunch.com/cook04212006.html

Call It Like It Is, Genocide

letter:
Call It Like It Is, Genocide

Since the beginning of April, Israel has fired no less then 2000 artillery shells into Gaza. 26 people were murdered. No one said a word. We did not get on the front page of the New York Times, no one condemns their actions.

Emily Jacir

18 Apr. 2006

Since the beginning of April, Israel has fired no less then 2000 artillery shells into Gaza. 26 people were murdered. No one said a word. We did not get on the front page of the New York Times, no one condemns their actions.

Meanwhile the Israeli ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people continues and takes on a multitude of forms - so many in fact that it is hard to keep up or even begin to speak about how all these devices create a massive network of forces to wipe us off the face of the earth....the continued confiscation of lands, the destruction of houses, the constant shelling and shooting, not allowing humanitarian aid to reach Gaza, the cutting of all funding, stripping Palestinian's of their I.D. cards - especially those with Jerusalem I.D.'s (my cousin just had his torn to shreds on the Jordan border by Israelis who told him he will no longer be needing it), closures, strip searches, constant daily humiliation, the creation of ghettos, the construction of the apartheid wall, the denial of basic human rights, the system of permits and ID cards which are akin to South Africa's Pass laws during apartheid which the world condemned, the destruction of olive trees, the destruction of our farming economy, denying people entry into the country, the bombing of our soccer field in Gaza so that even in sports and culture they don't want us to exist. (FIFA thankfully is going to build us a new soccer field - thank god for sports organizations - at least they are doing SOMETHING) and on and on and on on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, while the rest of the world celebrated Easter the local indigenous Christian community were denied entry into Jerusalem. Bethlehem is sealed off by a 9m Israeli Wall and the traditional Easter procession from Bethlehem to Jerusalem was impossible for the first time in 2000 years. Israel once again prevented thousands of Palestinians the right to attend Easter celebrations while portraying a false image to the world of tolerance through the use of Christian tourists gleefully wandering around Jerusalem freely - having no idea of what the local situation is or the fact that local Christians - one of the oldest Christian communities in the world will never have that freedom in their own country.

In addition, besides the ring of settlements built around the city of Bethlehem now they are planning one for inside the city - similar to the horrific settlement inside Hebron.

The American/Israeli led campaign to wipe us off the map is succeeding with not a single European government coming to our aid or defense. In addition to Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan whom all are pandering to American interests to the region and are complicit in this genocide. Palestinians fleeing Iraq(because their lives are threatened) are trapped in the no-mans land between Jordan and Iraq as Jordan will not allow them to enter the Ruweished Refugee Camp.

The US and Europe has cancelled all aid until we agree to the principles of the bloody Road Map - which is asking us to agree to our own destruction.

Friends. let us call it like it is, this is genocide.



Since AP, NPR and others are sending out incomplete reports, we thought your news organization would like to make use of the following information:
Contact: If Americans Knew: 310.441.8580 / cell 415.847.1782

In the last two and a half weeks (since the previous suicide bombing) Israeli forces have killed at least 26 Palestinians -- at least 5 of them children -- and injured 161 Palestinian men, women and children. A college student lost her right eye today after being shot by an Israeli sniper last week.

There have been 369 raids by Israeli forces, mostly into the West Bank. Gaza has undergone sustained shelling by Israeli forces and continued closures, resulting in increasing lack of food and medical supplies. According to UN reports, between March 30 and April 12th, Israeli forces launched 2300 artillery and tank shells and 34 missiles into Gaza.

Since the current Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation and confiscation of Palestinian land began in fall 2000, approximately 3,863 Palestinians and 1,084 Israelis and have been killed. Among these have been approximately 720 Palestinian children and 124 Israeli children.

Today, in separate actions, several Palestinian youths were shot, one in the neck. Israeli forces are continuing their ongoing invasions of Nablus and other West Bank cities.

Today is Palestinian Prisoners Day. 9,400 Palestinian men, women, and children are in prison. According to numerous human rights reports, Palestinian prisoners are frequently tortured. Defense for Children International reports that 4,000 Palestinian children have been arrested in the past five years, 400 of them currently in prison, including a fifteen-year-old girl, who has been in prison for over a year after being shot in the stomach by Israeli soldiers. DCI reports that the arrests are increasing.

Additional Information from Defense for Children International:

According to DCI: "The process of arrest and detention of Palestinian children is a process of systematic abuse and mistreatment which flouts international legal standards and denies the basic human rights of detainees first as children and secondly as prisoners...[children are] handcuffed and blindfolded, humiliated and threatened and often beaten and kicked from the moment they are arrested up to and often throughout their interrogation and detention. They are deprived of sleep, food and access to the bathroom until so-called confessions are coerced out of them..."

At 5.30pm on Monday 10 April 2006, at least six artillery shells fired by the Israeli military fell on the family house of Mohammed Rabe'eya Ghaban in Beit Lahiya, in the north of the Gaza Strip. Shrapnel from the shells pierced the skull of Mohammed's eight-year old daughter Hadeel, killing her instantly. The shelling also resulted in the injury of eight other family members, including Hadeel's brothers and sisters:

Rawan Ghaban 1 and a half years old

Rana Ghaban 3 years old

Munir Ghaban 4 years old

Amneh Ghaban 9 years old

Ghassan Ghaban 11 years old

Bassam Ghaban 15 years old

Tahrir Ghaban 17 years old

The children's mother, 35-year old Sofia, was the eighth family member wounded in the attack.

Several neighbours were also injured including:

Jaqueline Mo'ein Maarouf 11 years old

Mariam Maher Al-'Assi 15 years old

for more information:

http://www.imemc.org/

http://www.ifamericansknew.org/

http://www.nad-plo.org/main.php?view=pmg_daily-reports

http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?docid=484&categoryid=1

http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?docid=483&categoryid=1

http://www.humanitarianinfo.org/opt/

--
Alison Weir
Executive Director
www.IfAmericansKnew.org
310-441-8580


Emily Jacir, originally from Bethlehem, grew up in Saudi Arabia, went to high school in Roma, Italy (and returned for part of college), received her B.F.A.(Texas) and M.F.A.(Tennessee) in America and then spent several years on the move living in Texas, Palestine, Colorado, France, and New York. She currently lives and works between Ramallah and New York City. For more background and links to her work see Jacir's page at the Khalil Sakakini Cultural Centre. Jacir's book, Belongings : Arbeiten/Works 1998-2003 (Buy from an independent bookstore, buy from Amazon) was published in 2004 by Folio.

Source: oznik.com
http://www.oznik.com/words/genocide-emily-jacir.html

Ahmadinejad: Oil Price Is Lower Than Value

By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press WriterWed Apr 19, 11:01 PM ET

Wading into oil politics for the first time, Iran's hard-line president said Wednesday that crude oil prices — now at record levels — still are below their true value.

In statements likely to rattle world oil markets, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said developed countries, not producing countries like Iran, are benefiting the most from the current high prices.

"The global oil price has not reached its real value yet. The products derived from crude oil are sold at prices dozens of times higher than those charged by oil-producing countries," state-run Tehran radio quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.

"The developed nations are the biggest beneficiary of the added value of oil products," he said.

The president, who is embroiled with the West and the United Nations over Tehran's nuclear program, stopped short of saying Iran would use oil as a weapon, a tactic much feared by his antagonists on the nuclear issue. Nor did he say what oil prices should be.

Oil prices leapt above $72 a barrel Wednesday, settling at a record high for the third straight day.

"The products derived from crude oil cost over 10 times the price of oil sold by producing states. Developed and powerful countries benefit more from its value-added than any party," Ahmadinejad said.

Oil prices should be determined on the basis of market supply and demand, the Iranian leader said.

"Oil is the major asset of nations possessing it. Its price should not be lowered on the pretext that it will prove harmful to developing states, thus permitting the world powers to benefit the most from it," he said.

George Orwel, an analyst at the New York-based Petroleum Intelligence Weekly said he thought Ahmadinejad was playing the oil card to resist pressure over Iran's nuclear program.

"They are using the oil as a political football. Every time there's an issue with Iran, the oil market freaks out," he said in a telephone interview.

Earlier this week, as oil prices pushed above $70 a barrel, ABN Amro broker Lee Fader said the trigger was heightened fear about U.S. military action against Iran, which has said it would go ahead with plans to enrich uranium in defiance of the United States, Europe and the U.N. nuclear agency.

Iran says its nuclear ambitions are peaceful, but the West fears it is intent on arming itself with nuclear weapons.

If the United States were to attack Iran, Tehran might try to cripple the world economy by putting a stranglehold on the oil that moves through the Strait of Hormuz — a narrow, strategically important waterway running to Iran's south.

While discounting Ahmadinejad's seriousness in his Wednesday comments about the value of oil, Orwel conceded the oil industry could not do without the 2.5 million barrels that Iran exports daily.

"Ahmadinejad is trying to show his muscle so that the Bush administration can realize the consequences on the oil market of further confrontation with Iran," Orwel said, adding that he fully expected Iran to threaten to cut off oil if the confrontation with the West continued.

While Ahmadinejad did not say he would use oil as a weapon in his dispute with the West, Interior Minister Mostafa Pourmohammadi said last month the oil card was in play.

"If (they) politicize our nuclear case, we will use any means. We are rich in energy resources. We have control over the biggest and the most sensitive energy route of the world," he said, referring to the Straits of Hormuz.

In keeping with Iranian leaders' tendency of late to contradict themselves, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki later denied Iran would adopt such a policy.

Iran is the world's fourth-largest oil-producing country and the second in OPEC.

Ahmadinejad urged oil-producing countries — within and outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries — to establish a fund to help alleviate the pressure resulting from high oil prices on Third World nations.

Oppenheimer & Co. oil analyst Fadel Gheit said he considered it unlikely that Iran had any intention of cutting off its oil, the lifeline of its economy.

Gheit noted, however, that there was some truth in Ahmadinejad's comment on developed countries benefiting most from increased oil prices, though the statement would likely be seen as an attempt at "fanning the flames" of a red-hot oil market.

"What he's saying makes a lot of sense. Unfortunately, the source of the comment is going to send jitters in the market," Gheit said.

"The street value (of oil) is triple what OPEC is making," Gheit added, referring to the value of a barrel of gasoline versus the value of a barrel of oil.

Gheit estimated that in London, where the retail price of gasoline is about $6 a gallon, about $150 worth of gasoline can be made and sold from every $50 barrel of oil.

"That is why Exxon Mobil and all the rest make so much money," he said.

___

Associated Press reporter Brad Foss in Washington and Tarek al-Issawi in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Source: AP via Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060420/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_oil

Pakistan approves unlimited visas for Sikh pilgrims

Lahore: Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has announced that unlimited visas would be issued for the Sikh pilgrims who would be visiting the Gurdawara Dera Sahib in Lahore, on the occasion of 400th martyrdom of fifth Guru Arjun Dev, on June 16.

The decision was taken last evening at a meeting held between Aziz and a visiting Sikh pilgrims in Islamabad.

According to sources, the Pakistani prime minister also agreed to attend the main function on June 16 besides issuing of memorial stamp on the occasion. The Sikh delegation told him that more Sikh pilgrims wanted to come to visit their holy places in Pakistan especially on 400th martyrdom day of fifth guru and for that the visa policy should be changed and free visas be issued to them.

The prime minister immediately agreed to the demand of liberal visa policy and assured them that he will issue necessary directions to the Foreign Office in this regard and all the Sikh pilgrims, who apply for visas for June’s function, would be given visas, reported The News.

Aziz said that his government was making every effort to make the visit of Sikh pilgrims comfortable so that they face no difficulty in visiting their holy places. He also greeted the delegation on the sacred occasion of Basaikhi.

He also reportedly agreed to set up a visa centre at Amritsar, provided the Indian government agrees to facilitate the pilgrims travelling on Nankana Sahib-Lahore-Amritsar bus service. He told the delegation that three big hotels will be constructed each at Lahore, Nankana Sahib and Hasanabdal to make the stay of pilgrims more comfortable besides other facilities.

Source: newkerala.com
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=42886