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Two new Israeli documentaries explore the moral failure of Zionism

Maureen Clare Murphy 19 July 2005


Two new Israeli films that premiered at this month’s Jerusalem Film Festival explore the moral failure that is inherent in Zionism. In the biographical documentary The Diaries of Yossef Nachmany, the Zionist leader largely responsible for the Judaization of the Galilee in the years leading up to the State of Israel is portrayed as conflicted by the ultimate consequence of Zionism — the expulsion and suffering of the indigenous Palestinian population. And in the important documentary Dear Father, Quiet, We’re Shooting … , we see that the Zionist enterprise is spiralling so far out of control that Israeli citizens are being made to collectively pay for the ideology of the extreme minority. 

A truce or a fig leaf?

Hasan Abu Nimah 20 July 2005


The world has suddenly noticed the renewed violence between Israelis and Palestinians, but not because Israel stepped-up extrajudicial executions and other attacks on Palestinians in recent weeks. Only when several Palestinian resistance groups responded did the matter rise to the top of the international agenda. Surprisingly there is little or no talk that the truce must be over with fighting erupting at this scale. Rather, we are in a very strange situation in which a truce and its opposite — open fighting — are said to exist at exactly the same time. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah explains this strange phenomenon. 

When Will it End?

Laila El-Haddad Gaza City, Palestine 18 July 2005


I spent much of the day talking to Palestinians trying to cross the Netzarim checkpoint today. It is a 6m deep trench dug deep into Gaza’s coastal road, which has in recent days been ripped apart by nocturnal armoured bulldozers that come out from behind the lone sniper in he distance, and dissappear before dawn when their work is done. The checkpoint, along with one further south at Abo Holi, has divided Gaza into three isolated segments for over five days now: Rafah and Khan Yunis in the south; dair al-Balah, Maghazi, and Nseirat refugee camps in the central Gaza Strip; and Gaza city, Beit Hanun, and Jabaliya in the north. 

Israeli-Palestinian truce put to test

Laila El-Haddad 17 July 2005


After a bloody day that saw 10 Palestinians killed, the fragile five-month Israeli-Palestinian truce seems to be in danger of unraveling. But analysts on both sides say this is simply a game of chicken weeks before Israel’s planned Gaza disengagement. Analysts say the violence is only intended to test the limits of the fragile truce. Sharon does not want to be seen as evacuating under fire, and Palestinian factions want the disengagement to appear as a victory. In the end, analysts say, it is in neither side’s interest to officially abandon the ceasefire before disengagement. Both sides are pushing it to the very edge. Israel’s mass of forces will not lightly decide to go in.” 

Israeli government proposes blocking Palestinian compensation suits

18 July 2005


Today, Palestinians are not able to sue the state for damages caused by combatant activity, broadly defined as, “…any action of combating terror, hostile actions, or insurrection, and action intended to prevent terror and hostile acts and insurrection committed in circumstances of danger to life or limb.” If the Knesset passes the new amendment to the Civil Wrongs Law, intended to excempt Israel from paying compensation to Palestinians injured by the security forces, it will almost completely block the ability of Palestinians to file for compensation, even for damage caused by illegal shooting, looting, negligence on training grounds, abuse and degrading treatment at checkpoints, or physical violence. 

Israeli army hides M16 in Palestinian ambulance

16 July 2005


A PRCS ambulance was stopped at Howwara checkpoint on route to Nablus. One of the soldiers opened the rear door of the vehicle aand ordered the team to step out. The soldiers asked if the car contained any weapons and the ambulance crew responded “no”. The soldiers then started searching the ambulance. The soldiers ordered the team to lift the seat opposite the patient’s bed, the team obeyed and were surprised to find an Israeli army M16 weapon in the seat. The soldiers immediately stepped back and pointed their weapons at the medical team. The soldiers questioned the crew about the source of the weapon. The soldiers then laughed and mocked the team as the soldiers removed the weapon. 

Israel launches air strikes in Gaza City

16 July 2005


The Israeli occupying forces increased their offensive as ten air strikes left four Palestinians dead and five others injured. Israeli forces also severely impeded Gazans’ movement by effectively dividing the Gaza Strip into three parts. On July 16, Israeli attack helicopters fired missiles at metal workshops, a medical center and an Islamic association in Gaza City, Khan Yunis, Al-Shati’, Deir al-Balah. Al Mezan emphasizes that the excessive use of force, killing of Palestinian civilians, extra judicial assassinations of Palestinians, tightening of control and infringements on peoples’ freedom of movement constitute grave breaches of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention. 

Israel threatens to invade Gaza, assassinates Hamas activist

16 July 2005


Israeli military extra-judicially executes a member of Hamas while standing near his home, this is the fifth death resulting from Israel’s policy of extra-judicial executions in the recent days. At 9.00 on Sunday, an Israeli sniper, positioned inside the military site located on the eastern edge of the settlement of Gani Tal, north-west of Khan Yunis, fired one bullet at Sa’id Aissa Siam, a Hamas member, 32 years old from al Amal neighbourhood in Khan Yunis. At the time of the shooting he was standing close to the door of his house, 150 metres away from the Israeli watchtower. The bullet hit him in the neck and exited from the other side, hitting the wall and shrapnel wounded his 60 year old father. 

With Middle East violence rising, Annan calls for efforts to negotiate settlement

16 July 2005


Voicing alarm at the renewed violence between Israel and the Palestinians in recent weeks, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on both sides to work for a negotiated settlement. In a statement released by his spokesman, the Secretary-General said the recent suicide bombing in Netanya and rockets fired from Gaza killing innocent Israeli civilians “are shocking and condemnable.” He also welcomed efforts by the Palestinian Authority security forces to prevent them. Mr. Annan noted that Israel “has resumed forceful action in the face of the serious deterioration that has shattered the lull in violence of the past few months.” 

How do you like your blue-eyed boy: The Rally in Bil'in

Zachary Wales Birzeit 17 July 2005


The demonstration in Bil’in against Israel’s illegal Annexation Wall has developed an almost ritualistic pattern that’s very typical of peaceful protests in Occupied Palestine, where Israeli soldiers tolerate passive resistance for so long before they fire tear gas or rubber-coated bullets — which break the skin and often kill — into the crowd. Doing this invokes stone throwing from local youths, who weather a day-to-day narrative of harassment, beatings and arrests, quite apart from what the internationals experience. If one believes in the adage that “the powerless don’t choose violence, violence chooses them,” then it could be applied here.