Israel Begins Arbitrary Deportation of Palestinians from Jerusalem
We knew this was coming. It’s part of the Netanyahu administration’s plan to ethnically cleanse east Jerusalem of Palestinians – the kind of deportation that violate the moral law and as such are condemned vigorously by Gaudium Et Spes. Add that to war crimes in Gaza and see what you get. Here’s Juan Cole:
“The new Israeli policy of deporting Palestinians from the West Bank on arbitrary grounds has kicked in with Ahmad Sabah, who has just been deported to Gaza and separated from his family in the West Bank. The measure contravenes the Geneva Convention of 1949 on the treatment of occupied populations, and it also goes contrary to the undertakings Israel made toward the Palestine Authority in the course of the Oslo peace negotiations.
The episode underlines the ways in which their forced statelessness leaves Palestinians (almost uniquely among major world nationalities) completely vulnerable to loss of the most basic human rights. That he was forcibly moved to Gaza by the Israelis suggests that many of those singled out for potential deportation from the West Bank may be moved to the small slum along the Mediterranean, which the Israelis have cut off from its traditional markets and which they keep under a blockade of the civilian population (a war crime). The Israeli establishment has decided not to try to colonize Gaza, and its isolation and hopelessness make it an attractive place for them to begin exiling West Bank residents, thus making more room for Israeli colonists.”
And while the Obama administration challenges this policy rather tepidly (with no hint that the massive military subsidies will be withdrawn), the US Congress still leans toward Israel. For such a strongly nationalist country, this “special position” is bizarre. It is not even a partisan issue. One of the most obnoxiously outspoken defenders of all-things-Israel is Chuck Schumer. Will America ever wake up to the enormity of the human rights abuses being committed by Israel? (And please spare the consequentialist responses). Can the inpregnable alliance of the Jewish lobby and the apocalyptic evangelicals ever be sundered? For when Sarah Palin and Chuck Schumer are on the same page, it’s time to despair…
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Good post, MM. As bizarre as the worldview is, the Jews, the Christian zionists, and the neocons have an incredible hold on American politics as far these issues are concerned. I cannot understand how such thought can be defended on any grounds other than consequentialism. The objective end they are trying to achieve is apparently worth the means. We’ll have the Second Coming of Christ if we defend Israel, haven’t you heard? And better yet, it’ll be the “end of history” if we defeat those darn Muslims who upset Western values of negative freedom and loose morals.
One of the things I’ve noted, and it does give hope, is that many pro-Israel defenders, when they go to Israel, come back seeing what the problem is and go against their absolute defense of all things Israel does. The sad part is that it has been too few in power who have done this, though it does seem that things are changing, and Israel is getting nervous about that. Either Israel will adjust and move on, or it will get violent. I fear the second is the direction it is going, but it is not too late for the first to happen once they push everyone away.
It would do folks who criticize the policies of the Likudniks to try to get to know more Israelis.
You would then get to know that those who generally align in Israeli politics as “doves” actually think that the REAL cause of Zionist intransigence over land grabs and expansion into “Eretz Israel” is the pressure by rich, “neo-conservative” Jewish members of organisations like AIPAC, who exert exorbitant pressure upon American governments that is hugely disproportionate to their actual numbers among the overall population of American Jewry.
It is estimated that more than 40% of the Israeli population support “land for peace,” but are not allowed to have their way because of the peculiarity of Israeli Parliamentary politics, and because of what amounts to American economic and financial support for intransigent, right-wing Zionists.
An exact equivalence can be made between what Eric Erickson once characterized as the Orangemen’s rush to “hide behind the skirts” of the British military, as well as the refusal of both sides, in the Northern Irish conflict, “to grow up” politically, a kind of immaturity which was actually facilitated by the humanitarian but misguided British policy of “protecting” both sides from mutual genocide.
America needs to cut off much military aid to Israel and thus force her to accept, among other things, the choice she WILL eventually have to make, between becoming a pluralistic society or an apartheid, fascistic one, because of the “ticking time bomb” of Arab population demographics.
Any word from the Obama administration about this? I hadn’t heard about this until this post so I must have missed him say anything if he did.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20003254-503544.html
Indicates what is going on, Michael. Basically, Obama’s policy is not good enough, but even a minor step away from previous policy is causing all kinds of problems (http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/42942)
Some say this is going to test where Obama stands: http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/73270
Wow! Thank you for this, Henry.
So did the move to build more settlements come with this deportation order? I had seen obama react properly to the settlement announcements but I hadn’t heard about the deportation stuff.
Interesting how similar Arizona & Israel’s plans are. Checking papers based on ethnicity then deporting if they aren’t up to par. I wonder if the economic recession is allowing government to play up fears of the immigrant.
According to Al Jazeera, Ahmad Sabah spent the last nine years prior to being deported to Gaza in an Israeli prison.
I’m not sure why, given that, Juan Cole is upset that Ahmad Sabah is being deported in order to make room for Israeli colonists. I would assume Cole would think that Israeli colonists belong in jail.
Sorry, the link:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/04/2010422124915701529.html
Here’s a good movie.