Israel To Resume Building Settlements In Palestine

Richard S. Dunn - August 13, 2021

In light of the ideologically bankrupt, politically backward, and nationally treacherous decision by the African Union (AU), to grant Israel Observer status in the Organization, it is important to examine again in context, how idiotic this decision was. Israel has reported that it plans to resume building settlements for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank; an action that is illegal under International Law.

Whilst this is pending, Democracy Now is reporting that a group of forty-five enlightened Jewish-American leaders are calling for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), to apologize to Congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocassio-Cortez, for linking them to terrorism and using islamophobic language. Such actions by Zionist groups and supporters are not new, just a continuation of the irresponsible, self-serving, and narrow nationalistic ideology of the Zionists. This is the type of State the AU has admitted into its Organization.

Some weeks ago, the supporters of Zionism verbally attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar for speaking truth on the House floor, regarding the continued atrocities against the Palestinian people, by Israel. Within the same period, ultra-nationalist groups have carried out marches in Jerusalem, with some shouting “death to Arabs.” What is the “sticking” point is that Rep. Omar Tweeted in part; “..We must have the same accountability and justice for all victims of crimes against humanity. We have seen unthinkable atrocities committed by the U.S., Hamas, Israel, Afghanistan and the Taliban.”

There are thousands of governmental and non-governmental documents outlining United States’ involvement in coups, destabilizations, assassinations, and elections; the US has never supported a progressive government, Party or Movement anywhere in the world. The US has supported despotic and genocidal regimes in Iran, Indonesia, Bolivia, The Congo, all across Latin America and the Caribbean notably Guyana, Jamaica, and Grenada. Through the CIA and its Covert Action, they have provided “political advice; subsidies to individuals; finance and ‘technical assistance’ to political parties; support to organizations, including trade unions, and cooperatives as well as business firms etc.; covert propaganda; paramilitary political operations designed to overthrow a regime or to support a regime.” This was clearly stated by Richard Bissell who was a senior  officer of the CIA’s Clandestine Services. Even within its own borders the US has carried out atrocities. Revisit COINTELPRO, the number of political prisoners still locked up, not the least of them being Sundiata Acoli, Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu Jamal.

The Israeli/Palestine conflict although not difficult to understand or complex, is nevertheless an extensive one; there is not enough space in this column to give it due justice. The recent atrocities against the Palestinian people, is an ongoing war against a sovereign people for at least 73 years, in its current form.

The United Nations General Assembly in Resolution 2202A (XX1) declared Apartheid a “crime against humanity;” the Security Council endorsed the designation in Resolution 556(1984). Apartheid is defined as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” In addition to the apartheid definition, the General Assembly of the UN declared in resolution 96 (1) of 1946 that “genocide is a crime under international law, contrary to the spirit and aims of the United Nations and condemned by the civilized world.” Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, lists acts of genocide as: “(a) killing members of a group; (b) causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to members of the group; (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group and (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”

All genuinely peace-loving people welcomes the cease fire between Israel and Palestine. The 11 days of bombardment from Israel have resulted at last count in the deaths of at least 243 Palestinians with sixty-six of them being children. The Israeli airstrikes destroyed nineteen health care facilities and doctors were killed; an airstrike in Gaza killed forty-two people in an area near al-Shifa hospital. Defense and retaliation from Palestine are inevitable and justified. If the banal phrase “Israel has a right to defend itself” has any context then, so too does Palestine. Israel is an occupying, apartheid, and genocidal force in Palestine.

Apart from our international solidarity obligation, Israel is no stranger to apartheid and repressive actions. Israel was the main supplier of weapons to the apartheid regime of South Africa, which not only oppressed its own people but conducted military incursions in neighboring States. The treatment of the Ethiopian Jews, the Falasha, is well documented and Israel bears no responsibility for their racial discriminatory  actions. Ethiopian women immigrating to Israel, are forcibly injected with birth control, prior to their entry into Israel. An Israeli government official has admitted that women of Ethiopian decent were injected with Depo-Provera, a long-acting contraceptive. This is forced sterilization by any definition.

 The compelling Human Rights Watch report Titled in part A Threshold Crossed has stated:” Since the founding of the State of Israel, the government has systematically discriminated against and violate the rights of Palestinians inside the state’s pre-1967 borders, including by refusing to allow Palestinians access to hundreds of acres of land that were confiscated from them. Israeli authorities refuse to permit the more than 700,000 Palestinians who fled or were expelled in 1948, and their descendants, to return to the occupied territories…” Residency restrictions also prevent many Palestinian’s spouses & families from living together in Israel.

Here in the United States taxpayer’s money is used to subsidize Israel to the tune of $38B yearly, which has nothing to do with the security of Israel. Taxpayers must call on their elected representatives to stop allowing Israel to scare them by using the antisemitic baseless propaganda and meantime, exercising double standard.

The solution to the Israel/Palestine conflict is simple and straightforward. Israel must withdraw its military forces from the occupied Palestinian territories; end the blockade; stop the demolition of homes; stop the illegal and immoral expansion of settlements in the occupied territories; end its constant harassment and attacks on Palestinian citizens and agree to a two-State solution. This must be based on Palestinian rights to self-determination, independence, and mutual respect. Israel is the antagonist in the region and the source of the conflict; it is an occupying force based on national chauvinism, racism, and hegemony; conducted on the theory and practice of apartheid and genocidal conditions. The United States is complicit in the belligerence of Israel and does nothing to aid the peace process; the Biden Administration is hypocritical in its response to the current conflict, which is US reactionary Foreign Policy all over again, but just with a different face.

Richard Dunn can be contacted at – contact@makingitplain.net