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IPSC & Phoenix magazine publish 16-page feature on Palestine

category national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report author Friday May 21, 2010 23:53author by Kev - IPSC (pers cap)author email info at ipsc dot ie Report this post to the editors

Prominent Irish, Palestinian and South African public figures call for boycott of Israel

Yesterday, Thursday 20th May 2010, saw the publication of a landmark document, a 16-page full colour feature entitled Goldstone Report Feature: War Crimes in Apartheid Israel. The document features contributions from many leading anti-apartheid campaigners, trade unionists, politicians, journalists and other public figures, including Kader Asmal, Col. Desmond Travers, Minister Ciaran Cuffe and Jamal Juma'.
Cover of the IPSC/Phoenix Booklet
Cover of the IPSC/Phoenix Booklet

Coming bundled with the May 20th edition of Phoenix magazine, the booklet is notable not only for the range of it's contributers, but also for the fact that it features Irish politicians from all the Dail parties calling for sanctions against Israel - chiefly the suspension of Israel from the Euro-Med Agreement.

It takes the Goldstone Report as its point of departure for a critique of Israeli impunity, and asks whether the EU, instead of taking Israel to task for its crimes, has instead been complicit in those crimes. It also encourages civil society to support the international BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) campaign against apartheid Israel until it ends its crimes against the Palestinian people. Topics covered in the feature include: Operation Cast Lead and the Goldstone Report; Israel's apartheid regime; Ireland's obligations to the victims of war crimes; Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS); Trade Union solidarity with Palestine; Irish/Israeli military links; CRH and the Apartheid Wall; and EU-Israeli relations.

The publication was launched at a press conference in Buswell's Hotel chaired by Dr. David Landy (Chair of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign) and on the panel were Adnan Shabab (representing the Palestinian Delegation to Ireland), Sen. Mark Dearey (Green Party Foreign Affairs spokesperson), Chris Andrews TD (Fianna Fail), Aengus O Snodaigh TD (Sinn Fein spokesperson on Justice and Equality and International Affairs), Sen. David Norris (Independent), Michael Taft (representing UNITE trade union) and Anne Speed (representing ICTU).

Speaking at the conference, Dr. Landy said: "The Goldstone Report is a central document – not simply for Palestine and Israel but for the future of international law. The issue of whether it is ratified and acted on will shape the world we live in. For Palestine it will answer the question – is the international community prepared to tolerate Israeli massacres and grant impunity to Israeli war crimes? The answer we give will determine whether Israel feels it can conduct future war crimes with impunity.

Dr. Landy continued: "We are delighted that people from all political parties and walks of life are featured in this supplement. The supplement showcases the diversity of voices speaking out on Palestine, in Ireland and abroad. In it, the writers move beyond rhetoric and indicate the concrete actions that they felt we, as a nation, should take." (Dr. Landy's full speech is available here: http://www.ipsc.ie/multimedia/IPSC_Launch_of_Phoenix_Su...y.mp3)

It is hoped that this booklet - which will also be available from the IPSC and selected bookshops - will become an educational, lobbying and mobilising tool for Palestinian solidarity in Ireland.

IPSC/Phoenix Booklet on Palestine - Contents

Law, Ethics, Politics and Israel: The Case for Disengagement – Kader Asmal
Operation Cast Lead – Harry Browne
An Ethical Tradition Betrayed – Hajo Meyer
The Goldstone Report – Lara Marlowe
Operation Cast Lead and the Dahiyia Doctrine: All Fall Down! – Col. Desmond Travers
Ireland’s Obligations to the Victims of War Crimes – Paul Callan SC
Goldstone and the attack on Palestinian civil society – Jamal Juma'
Kairos – A Moment of Truth
Trade Union Support – Jack O’Connor & Jimmy Kelly
Overcoming Apartheid: South Africa & Israel – Ronnie Kasrils
EU-Israel Perspectives – Chris Andrews TD, Ciarán Cuffe TD, Jim Higgins MEP, Senator David Norris, Proinsias De Rossa MEP and Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD
Palestinian Representatives Call for Sanctions - Usama Hamdan & Dr. Hikmat Ajjuri
Irish/Israeli Military Links – David Cronin
CRH: The Ethics of Profiting from Oppression

Related Link: http://www.ipsc.ie

Press Conference: (L-R) Adnan Shabab, Sen. Mark Deary, Chris Andrews TD, Dr. David Landy, Sen. Mark Dearey, Chris Andrews TD, Aengus O Snodaigh TD, Sen. David Norris, Michael Taft, Anne Speed
Press Conference: (L-R) Adnan Shabab, Sen. Mark Deary, Chris Andrews TD, Dr. David Landy, Sen. Mark Dearey, Chris Andrews TD, Aengus O Snodaigh TD, Sen. David Norris, Michael Taft, Anne Speed

Cover of the Phoenix issue this supplement is bundled with (it will also be available from the IPSC and some bookshops)
Cover of the Phoenix issue this supplement is bundled with (it will also be available from the IPSC and some bookshops)

author by Contrarianpublication date Mon May 24, 2010 12:01author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Looks like a sizeable piece of work all right.

Is all the focus on the Israelis or does it cover war crimes perpetrated by Hamas? Like the targeting of rockets at purely civilain targets - worse still, timing those rocket attacks when young children are on their way to school. Or the treatment of Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit, kidnapped from INSIDE Israel and kept in captivity without contact with the outside world, contrary to the Geneva Conventions.

If it is even handed in its treatment of war crimes, then its to be welcomed. If not, then its simply one-sided propaganda and should be dismissed as such.

author by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite partypublication date Mon May 24, 2010 14:22author address author phone Report this post to the editors

seems balanced to my biased eyes,contrarian.Hajo Meyer,in his contribution gives the Hebrew word 'teshuvah', apparently a classical Jewish concept meaning to desist from a false direction.I have little doubt Islam has an equivalent term that would apply to the reactionary elements in Hamas.But then Israel fed Hamas till it turned into yet another blowback Frankenstein.Well done Phoenix, and all involved.check todays news on Israel's collaboration with Apartheid South Africa's nuclear ambitions.Also Australia's expulsion of personnel over passport cloning for assassinations while Cowen and Martin keep the heads down.Meantime Iran is still Obama's and Clinton's public enemy number 1.That tail of Zion sure wags a mean Uncle sam.

author by Duke Nukempublication date Tue May 25, 2010 09:38author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Time to call time on this bankrupt nuclear apartheid pariah state that thumbs it's nose at the whole world, even it's American master, proliferating nuclear weapons, murdering opponents using forged passports and stolen identities, collectively punishing whole populations, spying on their allies and stealing their technology, discriminating against their own minority population, invading and butchering their neighbors in their thousands, flouting international law and agreements and building illegal settlements on stolen land.

author by Sean Ogpublication date Wed May 26, 2010 10:00author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Teshuvah means " returning " to Gods ways according to dictionary
or in other words " repentance "

Might be worth thinking about why Israelis have been driven to the desperate actions
ascribed to them -- or is it the old Catholic idea of Original Sin which has gripped our polticians here ?

author by Tompublication date Wed May 26, 2010 11:16author address author phone Report this post to the editors


Sean Og,

I'd say that you could look towards the despicable actions of Europeans to see the genesis of the despicable actions of Israelis towards Arabs. That is, if you didn’t want to look at it myopically in order to explain away human rights abuses and continuing illegal actions which are tantamount to war crimes.

Fair play to the IPSC and Phoenix for putting that document together .

Slán,
Tom

author by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite partypublication date Wed May 26, 2010 13:06author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Shakey ground, Sean Og.Does your retaliatory logic mean the Palestinians are now to be justified in responding to Israeli state terrorisation by displacing some even weaker population and ethnic cleansing them into concentration camps where they can be collectively punished for the crimes of THEIR most desperate reactionaries.And doesn't that Original Sin gig originate in that book of Jewish folk tales they call ' the bible'. Which,after all just means 'the book'. If Hans Christian Anderson had a story saying us decendants of Hansel and Gretel originated in Mecca can we claim the Saudi oil?The twenty first century wont reach the twenty second if we base global behaviour on the glorification of exclusive tribal territorial claims.That shit should be left up the trees in Olduvai, unless you're on another one of those racial suicide missions that finish in pathetic little bunkers in oceans of collateral damage.It doesn't really matter whether you spell it as Gotterdammerung or Ragnarok or Armageddon or whatever the Wahhabi equivalent is.Even the bible doesn't ask for five hundred eyes for an eye, which would approximate to the operation Cast Lead retaliation rate.

author by Sean Ogpublication date Wed May 26, 2010 18:40author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I think you will find Original Sin was not a concept developed until the Jewish sect called Christianity broke away from mainstream Judaism as it is not mentioned in the Hebrew i.e. Jewish Bible [i.e the "Old Testament ".]

O S is entirely a Christian concept and useful for those who historically believe Jews can never do any good and are ipso facto guilty .
This concept suits some people poltically as well .
One of two of the recent Popes attempted "Teshuva " after Vatican 2 etc

author by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite partypublication date Thu May 27, 2010 11:44author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Funny.I thought the Original sinners were Mr and Missus Adams bar Jehovah of Eden Gardens Estate.Doesn't that originate in your Jewish Old Testament?As for those idiots 'who think Jews can never do any good and are ipso facto guilty' I think they will find any concept useful to further their ends, just as those ignorant enough to think the same way about any 'othered' group,whether it is Paddy with his Travellers or the Aussies with their Abos ,Zionists and neo-cons with their 'ragheads' or Nazis with their 'vermin' will clutch any straw that saves them the bother of thinking out the contradictions in their opinions.As for Popes,if teshuvah was the worst of their crimes the kids could sleep a lot more securely.Nice herring all the same,shame obout the bluish tinge round the gills.Meantime the Gaza genocide bubbles on while we amuse ourselves arguing as to whose pinhead contains the most angels.

author by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite partypublication date Thu May 27, 2010 20:43author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Contrarian's original comment suggested ,if the memory serves,that one sided propaganda be dismissed.I suggest Sean Og is off topic.The Phoenix suppliment is far more balanced and considered in its treatment of the issue.If we cannot maintain at least an equal balance we are not up to discussing these issues.Does Sean Og contend the suppliment is unbalanced? Let him be specific to the issue.Correct me if I am wrong.

author by Contrarianpublication date Thu May 27, 2010 21:18author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Sean Og, I'm sure can speak for himself, but I would find it hard to call the Phoenix/IPSC supplement balanced. For the following reasons:

1. The total and complete absence of any comment or reply from the Israeli point of view. Were they offered a right of reply or given an opportunity to comment? If not, isn't that a basic principle of good journalism abandoned.

2. Lots of coverage of Palestinian dead and injured, colour pictures, eyewitness accounts, comments from grieving relatives - none whatsoever from the Israeli side. Rockets, suicide bombers, mortors all aimed directly at civilian population with the intention of maximizing death and injury.

3. Use of the phrase "Apartheid wall" - for most of its length it's a FENCE not a wall. I guess "wall" sounds more dramatic though. And it has succeeded in reducing suicide bombings to almost negligible levels.

4. Use of the quite offensive term "the Jew" by Kadar Asmal to describe those Israelis he alleges (incorrectly) enjoy more rights than others.

5. The quite risible series of maps (a particular favourite of the IPSC!) that compare apples with oranges in describing the evolution of ownership and political/military control of land over time.

There's more but why go on? If people want to reduce complex issues to black and white good/bad stereotypes, so be it. The Israelis are, admittedly no angels, but the Palestinian leadership (rather than the Palestinian people who have suffered dreadfully) also bear a huge share of the responsibility.

author by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite partypublication date Fri May 28, 2010 02:51author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Might do you no major harm.Lets look at your points.

1. The Israeli point of view?I doubt its the Palestinian perspective you are driving so forcibly,Contrarian.

2.The casualty rates belie your statement.Whose figures and intentions would you offer as a comparison?

3.I lived and worked under the Berlin wall.That was mostly fence too.It wasn't particularly 'dramatic'.Mostly sweat and stress.Bit like warsaw circa '42.

I'll leave the other two for later.We all bear responsibility.Lets try to be responsble instead of so reactive.As you originally said, lets try and keep it so it can be " even handed in its treatment of war crimes".This shit needs a referee, and Uncle Sam is sleepin on de stool.Again,if I misquote you,correct me.Shalom.

author by hbpublication date Sat May 29, 2010 14:47author address author phone Report this post to the editors

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/24/isr...frica

On 5 January 2009 the Israeli army rounded up around 65 Palestinians (including 11 women and 11 children under the age of 14) in Gaza, several of whom were waving white flags. After handcuffing the men and stripping them to their underwear, the soldiers marched their captives 2km north to al-Atatra and ordered them to climb into three pits, each three metres high and surrounded by barbed wire. The prisoners were forced to sit in stress positions, leaning forward with their heads down, and prohibited from talking to one another. On their first day they were denied food and water. On the second and third, each was given a sip of water and a single olive. On the fourth day the women and children were released and the men were transferred to military barracks. . . . .

author by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite partypublication date Sat May 29, 2010 16:20author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Again,well snared,excellent balanced article.But drop the Zioracist noise.Check out Gush Shalom,and remember there are plenty of Jews and Israelis who despise their sick rulers as much as you do.Inflamatory language can drive potential allies into enmity.Keep it even.And keep scouting up the materials.Shalom.

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