UN Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, International Criminal Court Prosecutor, International Court of Justice President: Investigate the Possibility that Israel is Committing the Crime of Genocide Against the Indigenous Palestinian People.
A conference was held in London yesterday, hosted by MEMO entitled “International perspectives on apartheid and decolonization in Palestine” and included a diverse group of academics and writers discussing three broad themes: apartheid, genocide and decolonisation.
Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230205-international-perspectives-on-apartheid-and-decolonization-in-palestine/
For this generation to succeed in reclaiming the struggle for justice, they must also reclaim a unifying discourse, not only to reconnect their own fragmented communities throughout historic Palestine, but also to re-establish solidarity lines of communication across the globe.
I say “re-establish”, because Palestine was a common denominator among many national and indigenous struggles in the Global South. This was not a random outcome. Throughout the 1950s, 60s and 70s, fierce wars of liberation were fought across continents, leading in most cases to the defeat of traditional colonial powers and, in the likes of Cuba, Vietnam and Algeria, to true decolonisation. With Palestine being a compounded case of western imperialism and Zionist settler-colonialism, the Palestinian cause was embraced by numerous national struggles. It was, and remains, a raw example of western-supported ethnic cleansing, genocide, apartheid and hypocrisy, as well as awe-inspiring indigenous resistance.
Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20221114-palestinians-are-native-americans-not-red-indians-its-time-to-liberate-our-language/
The existence of Israel has meant nothing but unremitting bloodshed, oppression, displacement, immiseration, apartheid, military occupation, massacre and a long genocide directed against an entire population for more than 73 years.
Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211204-arab-masses-will-always-oppose-the-existence-of-racist-israel/
Our people can relate to the genocide committed against Native Americans who, like Palestinians, coveted their land until it was stolen from them. No group was more familiar with the fertile land in America than its indigenous people, who taught the white European colonists how to successfully harvest it. These colonialists in turn enslaved the Natives, and subsequently brought black slaves from West Africa to further “develop” the land and the country. This process is quite similar to the one where Jewish refugees (at first) came to Arab Palestine from Europe and were taught by indigenous Palestinians how to cultivate the land in the Mediterranean (something European Jews were not accustomed to). Palestinians enthusiastically welcomed Jewish refugees and helped them settle, until Palestinians were ultimately betrayed by the Zionist Movement. This resulted in genocide, with many Palestinian families murdered and led to the expulsion of Palestinians from their homes (and for many the forced migration from the region), and eventually the confiscation of Palestinian land which is still occurring today. This entire process in Palestine is a systematic colonisation as it was for the Native Americans.
Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211119-its-time-to-decolonise-thanksgiving/
One of the most interesting aspects of this conversation on language is that the Hebrew language has been used by the State of Israel since its establishment in 1948 as the language of oppression. In the minds of Palestinians, anywhere in Palestine, Hebrew is rarely the language used to communicate culture, literature, social coexistence and such. Instead, every military ordinance issued by the Israeli army, including closures and home demolitions, let alone the proceedings of military court hearings, and even the racist anti-Palestinian chants in football stadiums, are communicated in Hebrew.
…BDS does not target Israelis as individuals and, under no circumstances, does it target Jewish individuals because they are Jews, or the Hebrew language, as such. Israel, on the other hand, continues to target Palestinians as a people, downgrades their language, dismantles their institutions and systematically destroys their culture. This is rightly referred to as cultural genocide, and it is our moral responsibility to stop it.
Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211019-the-cultural-genocide-in-palestine-on-sally-rooneys-decision-to-boycott-israel/
I’m not talking to you, anti-Zionists, terror supporters, enemies. You’re here by accident because Ben Gurion didn’t finish the job.
Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20211014-ben-gurion-didnt-finish-the-job-of-ethnic-cleansing-says-israel-minister/
On Friday 24 September a conference titled “Peace and Recovery” was held in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq… It’s call for Iraq’s recognition of the Israeli settlement state coincided with the first anniversary of the Abraham Accords signed by the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan, with the blessing of former US President Donald Trump. The US, headed by Democrat Joe Biden, continues the Republican Trump’s policy of supporting the Israeli occupation at the expense of the genocide of the Palestinian people.
Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210928-on-normalisation-the-kurds-and-the-sigh-of-an-american-commander/
On 25 May, famous US actor Mark Ruffalo tweeted an apology for suggesting that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza.
“I have reflected and wanted to apologise for posts during the recent Israel/Hamas fighting that suggested Israel is committing ‘genocide’,” Ruffalo wrote, adding: “It’s not accurate, it’s inflammatory, disrespectful and is being used to justify anti-Semitism, here and abroad. Now is the time to avoid hyperbole.”
But were Ruffalo’s earlier assessments, indeed, “not accurate, inflammatory and disrespectful”? And does equating Israel’s war on besieged, impoverished Gaza with genocide fit into the classification of “hyperbole”?
To avoid pointless social media spats, one only needs to reference the “United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”.
Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20210612-on-conflict-peace-and-genocide-time-for-new-language-on-palestine-and-israel/
One point raised by the Palestinian and civil society organisations was to relaunch the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid, which was established in 1962 through UN Resolution 1761 in response to South Africa’s apartheid regime. Like other terms, however, including genocide, the UN does not apply the same measures to entities such as Israel, which it has taken upon itself to protect at all costs.
Continue reading at https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201001-the-un-dismisses-palestinian-activism-to-protect-israel/
An international conference looking at the on-going cultural genocide of indigenous peoples in Palestine, Myanmar and China. Throughout the last century, the Palestinian people were subjected to policies that have often been described as genocidal. They included acts aimed at destroying their national culture, political autonomy and national will. A central feature of this tragedy was the destruction and depopulation of some 418-531 villages. These acts were not consequences of war; they were, in fact, carefully planned and executed.
Continue reading at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cultural-genocide-indigenous-peoples-registration-94402479357?aff=website