Palestinagrupperna i Sverige

…inträffar massakern i den palestinska byn Deir Yassin nära Jerusalem. Judiska terrorister mördar systematiskt och kallblodigt uppemot 250 människor – män, kvinnor och barn. Terroristerna tillhör bl.a. Irgunligan, som senare också ligger bakom mordet på Folke Bernadotte.

Vid tidpunkten för massakern i Deir Yassin var det drygt en månad kvar till dess att staten Israel skulle utropas. För att Israel skulle kunna utropas som en etniskt ren judisk stat ansågs det nödvändigt att fördriva den palestinska befolkningen från de områden som var tänkta att ingå i den judiska staten – annars skulle palestinierna vara lika många eller t.o.m. fler på dessa områden än judarna. Enligt den israeliske historikern Avi Schlaim var massakern i Deir Yassin den enskilt största orsaken till att palestinierna flydde från sitt hemland (se hans bok Collusion Across the Jordan, sid. 164). Fördrivningen av palestinierna hade emellertid börjat redan i slutet av år 1947, och massakern i Deir Yassin var varken den första eller den sista.

De skyldiga gick en ljus framtid till mötes. En av ledarna, Yitshak Shamir, gjorde en lysande politisk karriär och blev bl.a. israelisk premiärminister. Med både massakern i Deir Yassin och mordet på Folke Bernadotte i sitt CV kan man visst gå hur långt som helst.

Henrik Carlborg

Vice ordf. PGS

The amount of support being shown for Israel these days is almost embarrassing. The parade of highly-placed foreign guests and the warm reception received by Israeli statesmen abroad have not been seen for quite some time. Who hasn’t come to visit lately? From the German chancellor to the leading frontrunner for the American presidency. And the secretary-general of the United Nations is on his way. A visit to Israel has become de rigueur for foreign pols. If you haven’t been here, you’re nowhere.

The visitors are taken, of course, to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, the Western Wall and now to Sderot as well – the new national pilgrimage site. A few also pay a perfunctory visit to Ramallah; no one goes to the Gaza Strip, and they all have nothing but praise for Israel. Not a word of criticism on the occupation, on Israel’s violent operations in the territories, on the siege and the starving – with the exception of a few vague remarks on the need for a solution. Israel squeezes the Sderot ”informational” lemon for all it’s worth.

The mix of Sderot and the Holocaust, international Islamophobia and Hamas rule in Gaza do the trick. Israel hasn’t scored this kind of foreign-policy success since the days of the Oslo Accords. To judge by the declarations of our foreign guests and our hosts abroad, no other state in the world is more loved than we. A state that imposes a siege that is almost unprecedented in the world today in terms of its cruelty, that adopts an official policy of assassination, is embraced by the family of nations, if we are to judge by the words of the many statesmen who cross our doorstep.

It is, of course, pleasant to revel in this wave of support, but it is an illusion. Public opinion in most of the countries whose leaders are heaping all that praise upon us is not joining in. Israel remains a state without approval, sometimes even outcast and despised. The world sees images from Gaza on television – in comparison, Sderot looks like a resort – and it draws its own conclusions. The natural sense of justice that dictates support for the freedom struggles of oppressed people such as the Tibetan dictates natural support for the Palestinian struggle for liberation. The fact that it is a struggle between a Palestinian David and an Israeli Goliath only adds to the story. With the exception of the U.S., the world is indeed against us, apart from its statesmen. Therefore, we must not give in to the illusion: The current bout of official support for us is not genuine.

Also not genuine is the idea that blind, unconditional friendship is friendship. The support for Israel as a just enterprise that is extended by most of the West does not mean accepting all of its caprices. A true friend of Israel, one that is sincerely concerned for its fate, is only that friend who dares to express sharp criticism of its policy of occupation, which poses the most serious risk to its future, and who also takes practical steps to end it. Most of the ”friendly” statesmen do not understand this.

The stance of the European leaders is particularly perplexing. We’re not speaking about the U.S., with its Jewish and Christian lobbies, but rather opinionated Europe; it, too, has lost its ability to act as an honest broker, the type that wields its influence to bring an end to the conflict that endangers it, too. We need Europe, the peace needs Europe, but official Europe covers its eyes and automatically falls in line with the U.S. and its blind support for Israel and its boycott of Gaza. Angela Merkel, who received such a royal reception here last week, did not bring up any controversial issue in her speech at the Knesset. And so, her ”historic” speech turned into a hollow one.

The same behavior was displayed by her colleague in the European leadership, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, during the visit to his country of President Shimon Peres. The Israeli flags waving along the Champs-Elysees and the much-talked-about Israeli booth at the Paris Book Fair could not hide the fact that many French citizens are pained by the occupation. By not speaking about the siege on Gaza, the starvation imposed on it and the killing of hundreds of its people, Europe’s leaders are not meeting their political and moral obligations. Those who believe that only honest international intervention can bring an end to the occupation find themselves desperate and disappointed. Yes, Europe, precisely that continent that carries justifiable feelings of guilt about the Jewish Holocaust, should have found another way to come to Israel’s aid. Saccharine visits and sweet speeches in fact express a deep disrespect for Israel – and for European public opinion.

This blind friendship enables Israel to do whatever it wants. The days have passed in which every mobile home erected in the territories and every targeted assassination were carefully considered out of fear of international criticism. That time no longer exists. Israel has a carte blanche to kill, destroy and settle. The U.S. long ago gave up the role of honest broker, and Europe is now following in its footsteps. How depressing: With friends like these, Israel almost doesn’t need enemies.

Återigen har då den israeliska krigsmakten bombat Gaza sönder och samman. Den här gången bombades också ett av PGS biståndsprojekt i Gaza, vilket återigen understryker Israels totala nonchalans mot folkrätten. Ännu mer oroväckande – och häpnadsväckande – är att Israels biträdande försvarsminister Matan Vilnai hotat palestinierna med vad han kallade en “bigger holocaust”.

Rapporteringen från svenska medier av vad som hänt är inte helt korrekt, dessvärre. I Rapport 2008-03-03 påstods det att de israeliska attackerna är ett ”svar” på palestinsk raketbeskjutning. Denna analys ignorerar emellertid de större sammanhangen. Raketbeskjutningen i sin tur är ju ett resultat av Israels ockupation och isolering av Gaza-remsan, den kollektiva bestraffning som Israel utsätter dess befolkning för och det enorma lidande som Israels agerande orsakar. Sett mot den bakgrunden är det inte konstigt att palestinierna skjuter några raketer – konstigt är möjligen att de inte skjuter fler. Allra konstigast är förstås att SVT bortser från denna bakgrund när de ”analyserar” vad som händer.

Ett annat fel, som delvis hänger ihop med det föregående, är att det talas om att israeliska trupper nu ”lämnat” Gaza-remsan. Faktum är att Israel, nu liksom tidigare, kommer att ha total kontroll över allt som kommer in och ut ur Gaza-remsan. De kommer även i framtiden att kunna strypa eltillförseln till Gaza och kommer även i framtiden att låta palestinska grödor ruttna i hamnen i stället för att gå vidare till sin exportdestination. Gaza-remsan är i praktiken lika ockuperad nu som någonsin tidigare, vilket givetvis är huvudanledningen till det fortsatta våldet.

En del svenska medier behöver höja blicken och se de stora sammanhangen. De kommer då att inse att det som hänt nyligen i Gaza och Israel inte handlar om någon isolerad händelse i form av en raket som dödade en civilperson. De kommer då också att inse att våldet inte kommer att sluta förrän de stora frågorna får sin lösning – dvs. när en självständig palestinsk stat upprättas på Gaza-remsan och Västbanken med Östra Jerusalem som sin huvudstad. Tappa inte fokus på detta!

Henrik Carlborg

Vice ordf. PGS

At approximately 10:30pm on Wednesday 27 February, an Israeli air strike hit the Ministry of Interior building in Gaza City. The attack also destroyed the head office of Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) in Gaza, and killed Mohammad Nasser Al-Borey, a 6-month-old baby who was in his family home inside a United Nations school compound. The offices the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights had vacated last month fearing such an attack have also been damaged. Over 30 civilians were injured in this specific attack.

The PMRS head office was housing the main PMRS clinic in the Gaza Strip, including its main pharmacy, a mobile clinic, a loan centre for persons with disabilities and all administrative offices. The mobile clinic, all the medicine supplies and most of the equipment have been destroyed. The building itself is badly damaged and cannot be used again without extensive repairs.

This bombardment is part of ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip: over the last 24 hours, there have been over 15 people killed (including at least three children) over 30 people injured (including several children) in over 25 Israeli air strikes and artillery strikes. One of the artillery strikes hit a crowd of children playing football near a wedding hall in the Jabalia refugee camp, killing two children and injuring five.

Israel’s aerial bombing in the centre of a densely-populated city is an illegal means of warfare; it is clear that these attacks will directly cause civilian casualties and damage to civilian property and infrastructure. The targeting of schools, clinics and ministries is a war crime.

These attacks come amidst the ongoing collective punishment of the occupied civilian population of Gaza; this includes the restricting fuel, electricity, food, medical, and humanitarian supplies – resulting in humanitarian crisis. Since the start of 2008, 132 Gazans have been killed in Israeli attacks; it is estimated that over 44 civilians have died as a result of being denied access to medical care.

The international community has an obligation to ensure that international humanitarian law is upheld by all parties. International donors must take a stand against all ongoing violations, and particularly address the destruction of Palestinian civil society projects and infrastructure that they support.

Signatories:

ACSUR Las Segovias (Spain)

Al-Mezan Centre for Human Rights (Palestine)

Alternative Information Centre (Israel/Palestine)

Campaign for the Children of Palestine – CCP (Japan)

CISS – Cooperazione Internazionale Sud Sud (Italy)

Centro Regionale d’Intervento per la Cooperazione – C.R.I.C. (Italy)

Diakonia Regional Middle East Office (Sweden)

European Jews for a Just Peace Germany

Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement (Israel)

GVC – Gruppo di Volontariato Civile (Italy)

Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)

Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation (Sweden)

MAP-UK (United Kingdom)

medico international e.V. (Germany)

medico international Schweiz (Switzerland)

Mundubat (Spain)

Norwegian People’s Aid – Palestine

Norwegian Refugee Council

Olive Oil Campaign / Kampagne Olivenöl (Switzerland)

Palestinian Medical Relief Society – PMRS (Palestine)

The Palestine Solidarity Association of Sweden

Physicians for Human Rights – Israel

Terre des Hommes Italy

Women Against Violence (Israel)

Zochrot (Israel)

The Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai threatened in an interview with the Israeli Army Radio the Palestinians with a bigger “Holocaust”.There is little to comment on such a statement which clearly reveals the real intentions of the Israeli government towards the Palestinian civil population. In the last three days more than thirty Palestinians have been killed by Israeli indiscriminate attacks against the Gaza Strip.Among the dead were nine children under the age of fifteen. These children are not just numbers in the death toll, they have names and families:

1 Muhammed Al Bure` 6 month old
2 Deep Dardona 11 years old
3 Muneer Dardona 8 years old
4 Mohammed Dardona 14 years old
5 Mohammed Hamouda 7 years old
6 Amjad Sakane 12 years old
7 Anas Mana’me 8 years old
8 Bilal Hejazi 10 years old
8 Mohammed Hamade 12 years old

The International community should not tolerate or allow another “Holocaust” to take place nor should it tolerate any politician to use this evil terminology especially when it comes from a country that claims to be the “only democracy in the Middle East.