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November 28, 2006 11:26 AM

By WILF DINNICK

How easily the media covering the Middle East is duped.

There is so much talk about the resumption of Peace Talks all because of a shaky three day old cease-fire and Israeli Prime Minister reiterating an old policy speech.

Let us look at what the politicians are really saying and what the people on the street are saying about these new developments.

How 'organic' is this new chance at peace? Is it a coincidence Olmert and Abbas are moving towards holding talks just as President Bush arrives in the region and his government is desperate to solve problems in the Middle East?

This is important because the Bush administration has been absent trying to broker peace in this conflict so far and many people will ask themselves whether the US has the integrity to get people in this region to listen?

Let us look at what Olmert said that got so much attention.

"I am coming today from here to offer you to take a different path, a path which offers a chance for a different future for you, as well as for us."

The path he is offering is not new. This was from a speech Ariel Sharon might have delivered several years ago. We learn the Israeli government would release many Palestinian prisoners if the Israeli hostage Gilad Shalit is released. That is not new. A Palestinian state is possible. Not new. Olmert made it clear there would be no Right of Return, or refugees returning to Israel. Not new and a big problem that still has no solution.

Here is where we go a bit deeper! King Abdullah of Jordan then responds, "Jordan will not accept any settlement that comes at its expense,"

Now the King of Jordan needs the Right of Return to be accepted. Almost half of Jordan's five and half million people are Palestinians who either fled or were driven from their homes in either 1948 or 1967 Arab-Israeli war. If those people stay in Jordan and become 'citizens' that means Jordan could eventually become a Palestinian state.

A Palestinian friend who lives in east Jerusalem tells me his father was driven from his home and land (200 acres) in 1948. It was taken from his family and he wants it back.

"It is not for Israel or the US to just send me some check and tell me what it is worth. It is priceless to me"

Someone will have to convince all those people that they can never get their property back and that will be difficult for many to accept.

Olmert did not mention what this Palestinian state would like and that is not new. If it is anything similar to what he had hinted  when he first came to power, following the route of The Wall, then it will be unacceptable to even moderate Palestinian President Abbas.

The Cease Fire.

The cease fire was brokered by Abbas and Olmert. But who really supports the cease-fire?  One small example -- today the head of Israeli Defense Forces admitted he was only partially consulted by the Prime Minister about the cease fire. That was a blatant slap in the Prime Minister's face. He added any violation would be meet with a harsh response. So does Olmert really have the crucial support of the military?

Let us close our eyes and jump forward to when Olmert and Abbas are sitting across from one another at a negotiating table... if everything falls into place.

Both sides are still so far apart in their public statements about what could and would be acceptable to either side... few Palestinians or Israelis have any confidence in talks

Both sides in this conflict are exhausted by promises of peace, talks that go nowhere and of deals that fall apart.

It seems only some media covering the Middle East are the ones trumpeting a new chance at peace.

November 28, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

Human Shields?

November 22, 2006 12:02 PM

By WILF DINNICK

Jamila Shanti is a philosophy professor and feminist in the Hamas movement in Gaza. We met on the roof of a home in Jabiliya refugee camp.

She had led a group of women there to be human shields after learning Israel was about to send a missile into the house.

The story got attention around the world -- women braving Israeli jets and missiles to protect a Palestinian home. They quickly became celebrities in the Palestinian cause.

The Palestinian Prime Minister and other politicians began rushing to the house to have their pictures taken with the women.

Shanti said she had been asking for ways to help the ‘resistance movement’ in Gaza but the Hamas leadership had ignored her offers until last month when

Israeli soldiers surrounded a mosque where Palestinian militants were hiding. Shanti and a group of women went to the mosque as a human shield.

The men escaped, some wearing women’s clothing. It was deadly gamble. Two unarmed women were shot dead by Israeli soldiers.

When Israel threatened to destroy the home of a Palestinian militant, Shanti rushed to the roof of the house with some of the same women to create another human shield. There was lots of talk about whether this was going to be a new tactic. Shanti said she had organized groups of women to be dispatched to any home in Gaza that was being threatened with an air strike

The reality is the act of being a human shield for homes in Gaza is merely symbolic. The roof we were on last week was the home of a low-level militant. He is hardly a leader or high ranking activist. Furthermore, if they wanted to kill him they would have hit him in his car or walking in the street when there were fewer people around him. Palestinians will say that Israeli air strikes in Gaza are merely ‘messages’ and not real military targets. 

In a war where images are so important in winning public opinion, some Palestinians told me they think the human shield tactic actually back-fired. One man told me because Israel did not hit the house the army was seen as ‘sensitive’ and perhaps the world would forget what happened the week before when shells rained down on several house killing 20 civilians.

When I asked Shanti if she thought it worked, she smiled and said, ‘they are afraid’ as she pointed to the sky where Israeli jets and helicopters often circle before hitting a target.

November 22, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (4)

Hamas, Bush and Olmert

November 13, 2006 9:27 AM

By WILF DINNICK

When Hamas said it had ended its two year truce with Israel and threatened to attack US targets in America there was fear another round of terrible violence would begin. The reason there has been no attacks? Many are waiting for the results of today’s meeting between Bush and Olmert.

The Israelis will likely have to offer something to the Palestinians. The meeting at the White House will likely involve just what kind of deal the Israelis and Palestinians can do in order to stop any revenge attacks by Hamas or other Palestinian militants for last Friday’s shellings.

There is still so much outrage and anger after the Israeli shelling of the Beit Hanoun neighborhood in Gaza last Friday. The twenty killed were added to a gruesome list of more than three hundred and fifty killed since the Israeli Army began its offensive in Gaza back on June 25th, when the Israeli soldier, Cpl. Shalit,  was taken hostage by Palestinian Militants.

Further angering Palestinians and many in the Arab world was the explanation for the shelling -- “a technical failure of the Israeli artillery”. It was not a full apology and it did not explain why more than a dozen shells landed and continued to hit  homes over a sustained period of time. It was not just one errant shell. There was further outrage after the U.S. vetoed a UN resolution condemning the Israeli attack.

The deal likely being discusses will include the United States giving the ‘green light’ to a Unity Government for the Palestinians. If that happens the Hamas Prime Minister will likely step down and that would end the devastating nine month International aid boycott in the Palestinian Territories.  Any deal is also said to include a prisoner swap.  At least 1000 Palestinian prisoners would be exchanged for Shalit and there would be a truce between militants firing rockets into Israel and the Israeli Army’s offensive in Gaza.

After Bush and Olmert meet it will likely take about a week of negotiating here on the ground to see whether there really is to be a deal and Hamas will not follow through on its threats of attacks, avoiding any more senseless bloodshed.

November 13, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

No Politicians Allowed.

November 06, 2006 10:46 AM

By WILF DINNICK

Everyone here seems to be talking about David Grossman’s speech. The famed Israeli author spoke at Rabin’s Memorial this weekend. It is the 11th year since Rabin was assassinated. At this year’s rally no politicians were invited. That was probably a good thing because Grossman would have made it terribly uncomfortable for any Israeli politician sharing the stage with him.

Grossman spoke to about 100,000 people in Rabin Sq in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. He did not go easy on the Prime Minister, leaders of the Israeli army or the Palestinian Government, zeroing in on the lack of will to create a lasting peace.

“When was the last time a prime minister formulated or took a step that could open up a new horizon for Israelis, for a better future? When did he initiate a social or cultural or ideological move, instead of merely reacting feverishly to moves forced upon him by others?”

While Israel was fighting Hezbollah this summer Grossman decided to speak out against the war. It was only a short while later his 20-year-old son, who was serving in Southern Lebanon at the time, was killed.

Over lunch today a well-known Israeli journalist told me Grossman’s speech was poignant for many Israelis. Israel is a country without direction right now and no leadership, perhaps it is the worst it has ever been, he told me. It is both governments, he said, Palestinian and Israeli, that appear directionless. It is a frightening prospect, he added, for any chance at peace or even calm in the region.

While Grossman spoke on that cool and rainy Saturday night in Tel Aviv, the Israeli Military was in Bet Hanoun in Gaza in the middle of Operation Autumn Leaves. It was another attempt to stop the Palestinian militants from firing rockets into Israel.

There was a familiar cycle of violence.

48 Palestinians were killed and two hundred people were injured. Dozens were arrested. The town of Bet Hanoun is now in shambles – infrastructure for water, phones, power and the roads are all destroyed.  On the fifth day of the operation, when Israeli military officials said the IDF had accomplished most of its goals, another 10 rockets were fired into Israel.

Grossman ended his speech with a call to action.

“I call on all those who listen, the young who came back from the war, who know they are the ones to be called upon to pay the price of the next war, on citizens, Jew and Arab, people on the right and the left, the secular, the religious, stop for a moment, take a look into the abyss. Think of how close we are to losing all that we have created here. Ask yourselves if this is not the time to get a grip, to break free of this paralysis, to finally claim the lives we deserve to live. “

Full Speech:  http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/784034.html

November 6, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (0)