Israel never fails to surprise the world with its open contempt for international law and the norms of international relations. After rejecting the historic International Court of Justice verdict earlier this month, Israel is embroiled in a serious dispute with New Zealand, sparked by two Israeli agents’ attempt to obtain New Zealand passports through fraud and deception. EI contributor Hasan Abu Nimah explains why New Zealand has reacted with unprecedented vigour to Israel’s crimes and the disputes’s significance beyond the two countries. Read more about Hanging the bell on Israel's neck
The positive spin on the negotiations to form a Likud-Labor-led coalition in Israel is that it will create a majority government capable of implementing a historic withdrawal of Israeli forces and settlers from the Gaza Strip, and that this will somehow “jump start” the peace process. But EI co-founder Ali Abunimah says that a coalition headed by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Labor leader Shimon Peres seems more a dying gasp for Israel’s existing political order which will not save Israel from its fundamental predicament. Read more about An alliance of failures in Israel
The International Court of Justice has determined that the present route of Israel’s West Bank Barrier is a serious and egregious violation of international law. In an interview given last weekend, Israeli Chief of Staff Moshe (Bogie) Ya’alon contested the applicability of international law. Such a system was appropriate for the conditions of World War II, he declared, but not for the present war on terror. Apparently, as Ya’alon envisions it, in this war the armed forces are bound only by their own law. Indeed, a battle is being waged in the world today over the status of international law. Tanya Reinhart comments. Read more about From the Hague to Mas'ha
On June 10, 2004, Amos Malka, head of Military Intelligence (MI) from 1998 until 2001, was interviewed in Ha’aretz. He castigated the reigning Israeli conception with regard to the Palestinian leadership. The conception is: The Oslo process was nothing more than a Trojan horse designed by Yasser Arafat to destroy the State of Israel. After four years of public silence, Malka states that his assessment, all along, has been completely different: At Oslo, the strategic goal of Arafat and the PLO was a viable Palestinian state beside Israel. Arafat wanted all along to reach a political solution, but his flexibility was limited by Palestinian public opinion. Read more about Imperial Misconceptions
“Just because the International Court of Justice ruled against Israel and, by extension, its US protector, on every point, does not invalidate the reasoning for the rest of the world. Rather, it is a wake-up call to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his supporters in the United States to reconsider their stands and return from orbit. You cannot cherry-pick international law, enforcing the parts you like on others and denying those that impinge on your interests.” Veteran UN analyst Ian Williams assesses the 9 July World Court advisory opinion on the illegality of Israel’s Apartheid Wall. Read more about "Mr. Sharon, tear down this wall!"
“Every time I visit Amman,” writes EI co-founder Ali Abunimah, “the US embassy here seems to have around it more high walls, concrete barricades and armored cars with menacing machine guns mounted atop.” Abunimah says this symbolizes the growing gulf between ordinary Jordanians and the US, even as Jordan’s government is seen as increasingly “pro-American.” He examines the growing opposition among Jordanians to US policies in Palestine and Iraq and explains why US policies actually help stifle full democracy in Jordan, rather than encouraging it. Read more about US policies in Iraq, Palestine, fuel Jordanians' discontent
He was the last breakfast companion I was expecting. Separated from me by a rack of toast and a handful of marmalade sachets was Mordechai Vanunu, the man who 18 years ago revealed that Israel had amassed a secret stockpile of nuclear weapons. Breakfast at the St George’s pilgrim guest house in East Jerusalem is usually a sedate affair, but on this occasion both he and I were skating unintentionally but dangerously close to arrest by Israel’s security services. Occasional EI contributor Jonathan Cook explains why Israel — and the US and UK — remains afraid of Vanunu. Read more about Why Israel is still afraid of Mordechai Vanunu
In February, press reports that cement imported from Egypt through Palestinian companies and ready-made concrete manufactured in the Palestinian village of Abu Dis were being used to build Israeli settlements and the apartheid wall provoked outrage among Palestinians. A commission of inquiry has now reported finding “compelling evidence and documents adequate for indicting those involved.” But Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah say that corruption within the Palestinian Authority has deep roots. Read more about Deep-rooted corruption in Palestine
“We have to make the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a mainstream concern and the only way we can do that is by effectively communicating the realities at ground zero for Joe and Jane Palestinian to the American public. Nobody would sign off on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if they knew what happened at ground zero, nobody. Only the most ardent and entrenched supporters of Israel.” This article is an edited version of a speech EI’s Nigel Parry gave at the “Palestine: Perception and Reality” panel at the 21st National Convention of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington DC, on Sunday 13 June 2004. Read more about Palestine: Perception and Reality
How can we explain the conjurer’s trick by which Sharon has turned into the darling of the Israeli peace camp? In the last Israeli elections, many voters who were fed up with Sharon voted for Labor candidate Amram Mitznah. But now their elected representatives are keeping Sharon afloat. On Monday, June 7, there were two non-confidence votes in the Israeli Parliament, one submitted jointly by the Beilin’s Yahad party and the Arab parties. The Labor party abstained, thus giving Sharon the majority he needed to survive. Tanya Reinhart comments. Read more about The address for protest is Labor's headquarters
