Human rights group, Amnesty International says tens of thousands of civilians in Sri Lanka's war-torn northern region urgently need humanitarian assistance, and is calling for access for international aid workers in the region. As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, concerns about civilians trapped in the civil war have been growing as fighting has intensified in recent months.
Amnesty International says more than 300,000 people, forced out of their homes due to fierce fighting between Tamil Tiger rebels and the military in the north, are in desperate need of shelter, food and sanitation.
In a statement Wednesday, the group said many of these people are living in camps controlled by the rebels, who prevent them from leaving for safer areas.
In mid-September, Colombo ordered humanitarian workers to evacuate the Wanni region citing safety concerns as an intensified military offensive led to some of the bloodiest fighting in recent years.
The government said it will take care of the humanitarian needs of the displaced people, and has reiterated that it is looking after their needs.
But the Deputy Program Director for South Asia at Amnesty International, Madhu Malhotra, says aid reaching the people is inadequate. She says many people face the threat of malnutrition and disease.
"We have no ideas whether whatever limited aid, food especially, which has reached the region, whether it is really being distributed," she said. "According to World Food Program, on average people are receiving about 1,000 calories per day, and this is short of half of the 2,100 calories required per day. This was based on recent weekly food convoys.
Amnesty's Malhotra says at least 20,000 families need temporary shelters to protect them during the approaching monsoon season.
"People are staying in real bad conditions, they have torn up rice sacks to hang over bits of wood, desperate attempts to make their own shelters," she said.
Amnesty is not the only group to voice concern about the plight of the civilians in the north. A non-government body, the Tamil Rehabiltiation Organization, says air force raids and artillery shelling on the main highway leading to the Wanni region is hampering the movement of supplies meant for displaced people.
In recent weeks, the Indian government has also expressed concern about the increasing numbers of displaced people and the "suffering of the civilian population" due to the escalation in fighting in the north. It has dispatched food and medicines for the refugees, most of whom are ethnic Tamils. India has a large Tamil population in its southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Aid agencies and Amnesty International say the government should allow aid workers into the region to assess and provide the basic needs of the civilians in the war-torn area. Sri Lanka's civil war has dragged on since 1983, when Tamil Tigers began fighting for an independent Tamil homeland.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Pakistan/Afghanistan: Thousands of displaced civilians in border area have right to international assistance
ens of thousands of civilians require immediate international humanitarian assistance as a result of escalating fighting on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border since the beginning of August, Amnesty International said today.
More than 20,000 people have fled from Pakistan to eastern Afghanistan to avoid fighting between government forces and pro-Taleban insurgents in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), while FATA authorities have asked Afghan refugees in Bajaur Agency to leave the area.
"Both the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as international forces operating in Afghanistan, have a legal obligation to provide safe passage, consistent security and humanitarian assistance to the refugees and internally displaced people on both sides of the border. They should also ensure that local and international humanitarian agencies are able to work safely in providing assistance to those in need," said Sam Zarifi, Asia Director at Amnesty International.
"The continued fighting in southern Afghanistan and the more recent conflict in northern Pakistan are creating a very dangerous situation in the region for civilians trying to find refuge. With the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, there is an expectation that even more civilians will leave their homes to avoid the fighting."
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), since mid September more than 600 families have fled fighting in Bajaur Agency in the FATA, where in recent months a Pakistani military campaign against anti-government insurgents has increased tensions. This is in addition to the 3,364 families which took refuge in the districts of Shigal, Marawara, Dangam, and other areas of Afghanistan’s Kunar province in early August.
UNHCR reports that the majority of the families fleeing Pakistan are living with tribal relatives or host families in Kunar but some 200 families are living in the open. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the majority of the displaced from Bajaur Agency are women and children.
“These refugees could be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. They are escaping fighting in Pakistan but they are at risk of being caught in the crossfire of the current fighting in Afghanistan between coalition forces and the Taleban and other anti-government groups,” said Zarifi.
Humanitarian assistance to the Pakistani refugees in Kunar province is being sent via the Afghan government because routes to the area, and the area itself, are not safe for direct humanitarian response.
It is essential that all government and international security forces in Afghanistan, as well as anti-government forces, ensure that free and safe passage of humanitarian assistance to these vulnerable refugees is made a priority, especially as the winter months approach. Particular attention should be given to groups with special protection needs, such as women, children, and the elderly.
"People who have fled the fighting, whether they have crossed the border or not, have the right not to be forced to return to Bajaur or other FATA areas and Afghans in the FATA are offered safe alternatives to returning to Afghanistan’s conflict-ridden south, until the security situation has improved,” said Zarifi.
Background
The armed conflict in Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Swat District of the North West Frontier Province began in early August but intensified in September. More than 250,000 people have reportedly been displaced.
More than 20,000 people have fled from Pakistan to eastern Afghanistan to avoid fighting between government forces and pro-Taleban insurgents in Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), while FATA authorities have asked Afghan refugees in Bajaur Agency to leave the area.
"Both the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan, as well as international forces operating in Afghanistan, have a legal obligation to provide safe passage, consistent security and humanitarian assistance to the refugees and internally displaced people on both sides of the border. They should also ensure that local and international humanitarian agencies are able to work safely in providing assistance to those in need," said Sam Zarifi, Asia Director at Amnesty International.
"The continued fighting in southern Afghanistan and the more recent conflict in northern Pakistan are creating a very dangerous situation in the region for civilians trying to find refuge. With the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, there is an expectation that even more civilians will leave their homes to avoid the fighting."
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), since mid September more than 600 families have fled fighting in Bajaur Agency in the FATA, where in recent months a Pakistani military campaign against anti-government insurgents has increased tensions. This is in addition to the 3,364 families which took refuge in the districts of Shigal, Marawara, Dangam, and other areas of Afghanistan’s Kunar province in early August.
UNHCR reports that the majority of the families fleeing Pakistan are living with tribal relatives or host families in Kunar but some 200 families are living in the open. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the majority of the displaced from Bajaur Agency are women and children.
“These refugees could be jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. They are escaping fighting in Pakistan but they are at risk of being caught in the crossfire of the current fighting in Afghanistan between coalition forces and the Taleban and other anti-government groups,” said Zarifi.
Humanitarian assistance to the Pakistani refugees in Kunar province is being sent via the Afghan government because routes to the area, and the area itself, are not safe for direct humanitarian response.
It is essential that all government and international security forces in Afghanistan, as well as anti-government forces, ensure that free and safe passage of humanitarian assistance to these vulnerable refugees is made a priority, especially as the winter months approach. Particular attention should be given to groups with special protection needs, such as women, children, and the elderly.
"People who have fled the fighting, whether they have crossed the border or not, have the right not to be forced to return to Bajaur or other FATA areas and Afghans in the FATA are offered safe alternatives to returning to Afghanistan’s conflict-ridden south, until the security situation has improved,” said Zarifi.
Background
The armed conflict in Bajaur Agency of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Swat District of the North West Frontier Province began in early August but intensified in September. More than 250,000 people have reportedly been displaced.
Counting the civilian cost of the Georgia-Russia conflict
The five-day war between Georgia and the Russian Federation has had serious and lasting consequences for the civilian population caught in the crossfire.
A new Amnesty International report, Civilians in the line of fire: The Georgia-Russia conflict, says that over 20,000 ethnic Georgians are still unable to return to their homes in South Ossetia, while many of those, on both sides of the conflict, who have gone back have found their homes pillaged or destroyed..
Published 100 days after the conflict, the report is based on several research missions to the main areas of the conflict carried out as early as August and as late as October 2008. It says that all parties failed to take necessary measures to protect civilians from the hostilities of 7-13 August.
Evidence gathered for the report also strongly suggests that serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by all parties, both during the course of the conflict and in its aftermath.
Villages and residential areas in towns were bombed and shelled, and some civilians reported being bombed while fleeing their villages.
The overall number of civilian deaths outnumbered that of combatants and, in communities across the conflict divide, homes, hospitals, schools and other mainstays of civilian life were damaged or destroyed.
Extensive pillaging and arson by militia groups loyal to South Ossetia wrought large-scale destruction to several Georgian-majority settlements on territory controlled by Russian armed forces at the time.
Cluster bombs were fired on and near inhabited areas by both Georgia and Russia, resulting in numerous civilian casualties and the contamination of large areas of land with unexploded ordnance. They continue to present risk as civilians return home after the conflict.
The conflict displaced nearly 200,000 people at its peak and leaves a legacy of long-term displacement. The security situation along the de facto border dividing South Ossetia from the rest of Georgia remains extremely tense, meaning that tens of thousands are unable to return home in the foreseeable future.
"A new twilight zone has been created along the de facto border between South Ossetia and the rest of Georgia, into which people stray at their peril," said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International. "Looting, shooting, explosions and abductions have all been reported in the last few weeks."
The Georgians and the Russians have accused each other of war crimes for their conduct during the conflict. As the war recedes, Amnesty international is calling for the parties to the conflict to investigate all allegations thoroughly, impartially, and to bring those responsible to justice.
Given the evidence of serious violations of international law by all parties to the conflict, Amnesty International also calls on all parties to agree to an enquiry by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC) and to report publicly on its findings.
"International monitors must be allowed to go to all places and all sides need to intensify their efforts to guarantee the safe return of displaced people without discrimination," said Nicola Duckworth, "There can be no reconciliation, and no lasting peace, without truth and accountability."
Amnesty International is further calling on all parties to take the necessary measures to guarantee the security of all persons in the conflict-affected areas and ensure conditions allowing displaced persons to return in safety and dignity.
A new Amnesty International report, Civilians in the line of fire: The Georgia-Russia conflict, says that over 20,000 ethnic Georgians are still unable to return to their homes in South Ossetia, while many of those, on both sides of the conflict, who have gone back have found their homes pillaged or destroyed..
Published 100 days after the conflict, the report is based on several research missions to the main areas of the conflict carried out as early as August and as late as October 2008. It says that all parties failed to take necessary measures to protect civilians from the hostilities of 7-13 August.
Evidence gathered for the report also strongly suggests that serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by all parties, both during the course of the conflict and in its aftermath.
Villages and residential areas in towns were bombed and shelled, and some civilians reported being bombed while fleeing their villages.
The overall number of civilian deaths outnumbered that of combatants and, in communities across the conflict divide, homes, hospitals, schools and other mainstays of civilian life were damaged or destroyed.
Extensive pillaging and arson by militia groups loyal to South Ossetia wrought large-scale destruction to several Georgian-majority settlements on territory controlled by Russian armed forces at the time.
Cluster bombs were fired on and near inhabited areas by both Georgia and Russia, resulting in numerous civilian casualties and the contamination of large areas of land with unexploded ordnance. They continue to present risk as civilians return home after the conflict.
The conflict displaced nearly 200,000 people at its peak and leaves a legacy of long-term displacement. The security situation along the de facto border dividing South Ossetia from the rest of Georgia remains extremely tense, meaning that tens of thousands are unable to return home in the foreseeable future.
"A new twilight zone has been created along the de facto border between South Ossetia and the rest of Georgia, into which people stray at their peril," said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International. "Looting, shooting, explosions and abductions have all been reported in the last few weeks."
The Georgians and the Russians have accused each other of war crimes for their conduct during the conflict. As the war recedes, Amnesty international is calling for the parties to the conflict to investigate all allegations thoroughly, impartially, and to bring those responsible to justice.
Given the evidence of serious violations of international law by all parties to the conflict, Amnesty International also calls on all parties to agree to an enquiry by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC) and to report publicly on its findings.
"International monitors must be allowed to go to all places and all sides need to intensify their efforts to guarantee the safe return of displaced people without discrimination," said Nicola Duckworth, "There can be no reconciliation, and no lasting peace, without truth and accountability."
Amnesty International is further calling on all parties to take the necessary measures to guarantee the security of all persons in the conflict-affected areas and ensure conditions allowing displaced persons to return in safety and dignity.
Texas grand jury indicts Cheney, Gonzales of crime
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A grand jury in South Texas indicted U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and former attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday for "organized criminal activity" related to alleged abuse of inmates in private prisons.
The indictment has not been seen by a judge, who could dismiss it.
The grand jury in Willacy County, in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, said Cheney is "profiteering from depriving human beings of their liberty," according to a copy of the indictment obtained by Reuters.
The indictment cites a "money trail" of Cheney's ownership in prison-related enterprises including the Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in south Texas.
Former attorney general Gonzales used his position to "stop the investigations as to the wrong doings" into assaults in county prisons, the indictment said.
Cheney's office declined comment. "We have not received any indictments. I can't comment on something we have not received," said Cheney's spokeswoman Megan Mitchell.
The indictment, overseen by county District Attorney Juan Guerra, cites the case of Gregorio De La Rosa, who died on April 26, 2001, inside a private prison in Willacy County.
The grand jury wrote it made its decision "with great sadness," but said they had no other choice but to indict Cheney and Gonzales "because we love our country."
Texas is the home state of U.S. President George W. Bush.
Bush and his Republican administration, which first took office in January 2001, leave the White House on January 20 after the November presidential elections won by Democrat Barack Obama. Gonzales was attorney general from 2005 to 2007.
(Reporting by Chris Baltimore and JoAnne Allen, Editing by Frances Kerry)
The indictment has not been seen by a judge, who could dismiss it.
The grand jury in Willacy County, in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, said Cheney is "profiteering from depriving human beings of their liberty," according to a copy of the indictment obtained by Reuters.
The indictment cites a "money trail" of Cheney's ownership in prison-related enterprises including the Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in south Texas.
Former attorney general Gonzales used his position to "stop the investigations as to the wrong doings" into assaults in county prisons, the indictment said.
Cheney's office declined comment. "We have not received any indictments. I can't comment on something we have not received," said Cheney's spokeswoman Megan Mitchell.
The indictment, overseen by county District Attorney Juan Guerra, cites the case of Gregorio De La Rosa, who died on April 26, 2001, inside a private prison in Willacy County.
The grand jury wrote it made its decision "with great sadness," but said they had no other choice but to indict Cheney and Gonzales "because we love our country."
Texas is the home state of U.S. President George W. Bush.
Bush and his Republican administration, which first took office in January 2001, leave the White House on January 20 after the November presidential elections won by Democrat Barack Obama. Gonzales was attorney general from 2005 to 2007.
(Reporting by Chris Baltimore and JoAnne Allen, Editing by Frances Kerry)
Dec 4 @ the Barn UCR
Join us in celebrating declaration of Human rights. At the Barn. We will be hosting the movie
Khuda Ke liye- In the name of god
Khuda Ke liye- In the name of god
Monday, November 17, 2008
neighborhood on fire
The citizens of Israel, Jews and Arabs, are “condemned” to live together, whether they like it or not. But the joint fabric is still weak. In order to change this, we must all have the courage to look the problem in the eye without hypocrisy or falsification
Only a few of the world’s cities can boast such a stormy and chequered history as Akko, the main port of Israel. This history has left its mark on Akko. A fascinating town, perhaps the most beautiful — and surely the most interesting — after Jerusalem.
During some of these periods, there existed in Akko a small Jewish community, but it never was a Jewish town. In the 1948 war, Akko was occupied by the Israeli forces, and since then it has lived under Israeli rule: 60 years out of a history of 5000 years and more.
This is the background of last week’s events in Akko. The Arab inhabitants consider Akko as the town of their forefathers, which was forcibly occupied by the Jews. The Jewish inhabitants consider it a Jewish town, in which the Arabs are a tolerated minority — at most.
For years, the town was covered by a thin blanket of hypocrisy. Everybody praised and celebrated the wonderful co-existence there. Until the blanket was torn, and the naked truth was exposed.
I am a very secular person. I have always advocated a complete separation between state and religion, even in the days when that sounded like a crazy idea. But it has never entered my mind to drive on Yom Kippur. There is no law forbidding it, no law is necessary.
For a traditional Jew, Yom Kippur is a day like no other. Even if one does not really believe that on this day God makes the final decision about the life or death of every human being for the next year and writes it all down in a large book, one senses that one has to respect the feelings of those who do believe. I would not drive on Yom Kippur in a Jewish neighbourhood, just as I would not eat in public during Ramadan in an Arab neighbourhood.
It is difficult to know what the Arab driver Tawfiq Jamal was thinking of when he entered a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in his car on Yom Kippur. It is reasonable to assume that he did not do it out of malice, as a provocation, but rather out of stupidity or carelessness.
The reaction was predictable. An angry Jewish crowd chased him into an Arab house and besieged him there. In a distant Arab neighbourhood the loudspeakers of the mosques blared out that Arabs had been killed and that an Arab was in mortal danger. Excited Arab youngsters tried to reach the house of the besieged Arab family but were blocked by the police. They gave vent to their feelings by wrecking Jewish shops and cars.
Jewish youths, reinforced by members of the extreme right, burned down the homes of Arab inhabitants, who became refugees in their own town. In a few minutes, 60 years of “co-existence” were wiped out — proof that in the “mixed” town there is no real co-existence, only two communities who hate each other’s guts.
It is easy to understand this hatred. As in other “mixed” towns, indeed as in the whole of Israel, the Arab public is discriminated against by the state and municipal authorities. Smaller budgets, inferior education facilities, poorer housing, crowded neighbourhoods.
The Arab citizens are the victims of a vicious circle. They live in crowded towns and neighbourhoods that have turned into neglected ghettos. When the standard of living of the inhabitants rises, there is a desperate demand for a better environment and better housing. Young couples leave the neglected and under-funded Arab neighbourhoods and move into Jewish areas, something that immediately arouses opposition and resentment. The same has happened to Afro-Americans in the USA, and before them to the Jews there and elsewhere.
All the talk about equality, good neighbourliness and co-existence goes up in smoke when Arab families live in a hostile Jewish environment. Reasons are always to be found, and the incursion of Tawfiq Jamal was only an especially grievous example.
Such a situation can be found in many places on earth. Religious, nationalistic, ethnic or community sensitivities can explode at any time. It took a hundred years after the emancipation of the slaves in the US until the civil rights laws were enacted, and during those years there were regular lynchings. Another 40 years passed before a black candidate could come near the White House. The police in London is notorious for its racism, citizens of Turkish origin are discriminated against in Berlin, an African can play football for the French national team but has no chance of becoming president.
In these respects, Akko is no different from the rest of the world.
Jean-Paul Sartre said that each of us contains a little racist. The only difference is between those who recognise and try to overcome him and those who give in to him.
As chance would have it, I spent Yom Kippur, while the riots were shaking Akko, reading the fascinating book by William Polk, “Neighbours and Strangers”, which deals with the origins of racism. Like other animals, ancient man lived from hunting and gathering. He roamed around with his extended family, a group of no more than fifty people, in an area that was barely sufficient for their subsistence. Every stranger who entered his territory was a mortal threat, while he tried to invade his neighbour’s territory in order to increase his chances of survival. In other words: the fear of the stranger and the urge to drive him out are deeply embedded in our biological heritage and have been for millions of years.
Racism can be overcome, or at least reined in, but that needs conscious, systematic and consistent treatment. In Akko — as in other places in the country — there has been no such treatment.
In this country the racism is, of course, connected with the national conflict which has been going on already for five generations. The Akko events are just another episode in the war between the two peoples of this country.
The Jewish extreme right, including the hard core of the settlers, does not hide its intention of driving out all the Arabs and turning the entire country into a purely Jewish state. Meaning: ethnic cleansing. It looks like the dream of a small minority, but public opinion research shows that this tendency is gnawing at a much wider public, even if only in a half-conscious way, hidden and denied.
In the Arab community, there are probably some who dream about the good old days, before the Jews came to this country and took it by force.
When Jews carry out a pogrom in Akko, whatever the immediate reason, it becomes a national event. The burning of Arab homes in a Jewish neighbourhood at once arouses fear of ethnic cleansing. When the Arab young people storm into a Jewish neighbourhood in order to save an endangered Arab brother, it immediately evokes memories of the 1929 massacre of the Jews in Hebron — which, at the time, was also a “mixed” town.
There is reasonable hope that at some future time we shall end the national conflict and reach a peaceful solution that both peoples will accept (if only because there is no alternative.) A Palestinian state will come into being side by side with Israel, and both peoples will understand that this is the best possible solution.
(The Akko events should give rise to second thoughts in the mind of anyone who believes in the “one-state solution”’ where Jews and Arabs would live in brotherhood and equality. Such a “solution” would turn the entire country into one big Akko.)
But peace, based on two states living side by side, will not automatically solve the problem of the Arab citizens in Israel, a state that defines itself as “Jewish”. We must be ready for a long, consistent fight over the character of our state.
The extreme rightist Avigdor Liberman has proposed that the Arab villages on the Israeli side of the Green Line should be attached to the Palestinian state, in return for the Jewish settlement blocs beyond the Green Line that would be attached to Israel. That would not affect, of course, the Arab inhabitants of Akko, Haifa, Jaffa, Nazareth and the Galilee villages. But even in the villages near the Green Line, no Arab agrees to this idea. Although Liberman proposes to turn over the entire villages to the Palestinian state together with all their lands and properties, not a single Arab voice has been raised in agreement.
Why? The million and a half Arab citizens in Israel do not like the government’s policies, the flag and the national anthem, not to mention the treatment of the population in the occupied territories. But they prefer the Israeli democracy, the social progress, the National Insurance system and the social services. They are rooted in the life and mores of Israel much more deeply than they themselves recognise. They want to be citizens in this state, but on terms of equality and mutual respect.
The Jews who dream of ethnic cleansing do not understand how large a contribution the Arab community makes to Israel. Like the other inhabitants of Israel, they work here, they contribute to the GNP, they pay their taxes like everybody else. Like all of us, they have no alternative — they pay value-added tax on everything they buy and they, too, get their salaries only after income tax is deducted.
There are many questions that have to be recognised and discussed, and from which conclusions must be drawn. Is it desirable or not desirable, at this stage, for Arabs to live in Jewish neighbourhoods and Jews in Arab neighbourhoods? How can the Arab neighbourhoods be elevated economically to the level of Jewish neighbourhoods, in practice and not only in talk? Should every Jewish child learn Arabic and every Arab child learn Hebrew, as the mayor of Haifa proposed this week? Should Arab education receive the same status and the same budgets as, for example, the independent but government-funded Jewish Orthodox education system? Should autonomous Arab institutions be established? Finding solutions to these problems, or at least to some of them, is a vital part of the fight against racism — attacking its roots, and not only its symptoms.
Actually, there is no alternative: the citizens of Israel, Jews and Arabs, are “condemned” to live together, whether they like it or not. But, as the Akko events have shown again, the joint fabric is still weak. In order to change this, we must all have the courage to look the problem in the eye, to see it as it is, without hypocrisy or falsification. This is the only way we can find solutions.
Uri Avnery is an Israeli peace activist who has advocated the setting up of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. He served three terms in the Israeli parliament (Knesset), and is the founder of Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc)
Only a few of the world’s cities can boast such a stormy and chequered history as Akko, the main port of Israel. This history has left its mark on Akko. A fascinating town, perhaps the most beautiful — and surely the most interesting — after Jerusalem.
During some of these periods, there existed in Akko a small Jewish community, but it never was a Jewish town. In the 1948 war, Akko was occupied by the Israeli forces, and since then it has lived under Israeli rule: 60 years out of a history of 5000 years and more.
This is the background of last week’s events in Akko. The Arab inhabitants consider Akko as the town of their forefathers, which was forcibly occupied by the Jews. The Jewish inhabitants consider it a Jewish town, in which the Arabs are a tolerated minority — at most.
For years, the town was covered by a thin blanket of hypocrisy. Everybody praised and celebrated the wonderful co-existence there. Until the blanket was torn, and the naked truth was exposed.
I am a very secular person. I have always advocated a complete separation between state and religion, even in the days when that sounded like a crazy idea. But it has never entered my mind to drive on Yom Kippur. There is no law forbidding it, no law is necessary.
For a traditional Jew, Yom Kippur is a day like no other. Even if one does not really believe that on this day God makes the final decision about the life or death of every human being for the next year and writes it all down in a large book, one senses that one has to respect the feelings of those who do believe. I would not drive on Yom Kippur in a Jewish neighbourhood, just as I would not eat in public during Ramadan in an Arab neighbourhood.
It is difficult to know what the Arab driver Tawfiq Jamal was thinking of when he entered a predominantly Jewish neighbourhood in his car on Yom Kippur. It is reasonable to assume that he did not do it out of malice, as a provocation, but rather out of stupidity or carelessness.
The reaction was predictable. An angry Jewish crowd chased him into an Arab house and besieged him there. In a distant Arab neighbourhood the loudspeakers of the mosques blared out that Arabs had been killed and that an Arab was in mortal danger. Excited Arab youngsters tried to reach the house of the besieged Arab family but were blocked by the police. They gave vent to their feelings by wrecking Jewish shops and cars.
Jewish youths, reinforced by members of the extreme right, burned down the homes of Arab inhabitants, who became refugees in their own town. In a few minutes, 60 years of “co-existence” were wiped out — proof that in the “mixed” town there is no real co-existence, only two communities who hate each other’s guts.
It is easy to understand this hatred. As in other “mixed” towns, indeed as in the whole of Israel, the Arab public is discriminated against by the state and municipal authorities. Smaller budgets, inferior education facilities, poorer housing, crowded neighbourhoods.
The Arab citizens are the victims of a vicious circle. They live in crowded towns and neighbourhoods that have turned into neglected ghettos. When the standard of living of the inhabitants rises, there is a desperate demand for a better environment and better housing. Young couples leave the neglected and under-funded Arab neighbourhoods and move into Jewish areas, something that immediately arouses opposition and resentment. The same has happened to Afro-Americans in the USA, and before them to the Jews there and elsewhere.
All the talk about equality, good neighbourliness and co-existence goes up in smoke when Arab families live in a hostile Jewish environment. Reasons are always to be found, and the incursion of Tawfiq Jamal was only an especially grievous example.
Such a situation can be found in many places on earth. Religious, nationalistic, ethnic or community sensitivities can explode at any time. It took a hundred years after the emancipation of the slaves in the US until the civil rights laws were enacted, and during those years there were regular lynchings. Another 40 years passed before a black candidate could come near the White House. The police in London is notorious for its racism, citizens of Turkish origin are discriminated against in Berlin, an African can play football for the French national team but has no chance of becoming president.
In these respects, Akko is no different from the rest of the world.
Jean-Paul Sartre said that each of us contains a little racist. The only difference is between those who recognise and try to overcome him and those who give in to him.
As chance would have it, I spent Yom Kippur, while the riots were shaking Akko, reading the fascinating book by William Polk, “Neighbours and Strangers”, which deals with the origins of racism. Like other animals, ancient man lived from hunting and gathering. He roamed around with his extended family, a group of no more than fifty people, in an area that was barely sufficient for their subsistence. Every stranger who entered his territory was a mortal threat, while he tried to invade his neighbour’s territory in order to increase his chances of survival. In other words: the fear of the stranger and the urge to drive him out are deeply embedded in our biological heritage and have been for millions of years.
Racism can be overcome, or at least reined in, but that needs conscious, systematic and consistent treatment. In Akko — as in other places in the country — there has been no such treatment.
In this country the racism is, of course, connected with the national conflict which has been going on already for five generations. The Akko events are just another episode in the war between the two peoples of this country.
The Jewish extreme right, including the hard core of the settlers, does not hide its intention of driving out all the Arabs and turning the entire country into a purely Jewish state. Meaning: ethnic cleansing. It looks like the dream of a small minority, but public opinion research shows that this tendency is gnawing at a much wider public, even if only in a half-conscious way, hidden and denied.
In the Arab community, there are probably some who dream about the good old days, before the Jews came to this country and took it by force.
When Jews carry out a pogrom in Akko, whatever the immediate reason, it becomes a national event. The burning of Arab homes in a Jewish neighbourhood at once arouses fear of ethnic cleansing. When the Arab young people storm into a Jewish neighbourhood in order to save an endangered Arab brother, it immediately evokes memories of the 1929 massacre of the Jews in Hebron — which, at the time, was also a “mixed” town.
There is reasonable hope that at some future time we shall end the national conflict and reach a peaceful solution that both peoples will accept (if only because there is no alternative.) A Palestinian state will come into being side by side with Israel, and both peoples will understand that this is the best possible solution.
(The Akko events should give rise to second thoughts in the mind of anyone who believes in the “one-state solution”’ where Jews and Arabs would live in brotherhood and equality. Such a “solution” would turn the entire country into one big Akko.)
But peace, based on two states living side by side, will not automatically solve the problem of the Arab citizens in Israel, a state that defines itself as “Jewish”. We must be ready for a long, consistent fight over the character of our state.
The extreme rightist Avigdor Liberman has proposed that the Arab villages on the Israeli side of the Green Line should be attached to the Palestinian state, in return for the Jewish settlement blocs beyond the Green Line that would be attached to Israel. That would not affect, of course, the Arab inhabitants of Akko, Haifa, Jaffa, Nazareth and the Galilee villages. But even in the villages near the Green Line, no Arab agrees to this idea. Although Liberman proposes to turn over the entire villages to the Palestinian state together with all their lands and properties, not a single Arab voice has been raised in agreement.
Why? The million and a half Arab citizens in Israel do not like the government’s policies, the flag and the national anthem, not to mention the treatment of the population in the occupied territories. But they prefer the Israeli democracy, the social progress, the National Insurance system and the social services. They are rooted in the life and mores of Israel much more deeply than they themselves recognise. They want to be citizens in this state, but on terms of equality and mutual respect.
The Jews who dream of ethnic cleansing do not understand how large a contribution the Arab community makes to Israel. Like the other inhabitants of Israel, they work here, they contribute to the GNP, they pay their taxes like everybody else. Like all of us, they have no alternative — they pay value-added tax on everything they buy and they, too, get their salaries only after income tax is deducted.
There are many questions that have to be recognised and discussed, and from which conclusions must be drawn. Is it desirable or not desirable, at this stage, for Arabs to live in Jewish neighbourhoods and Jews in Arab neighbourhoods? How can the Arab neighbourhoods be elevated economically to the level of Jewish neighbourhoods, in practice and not only in talk? Should every Jewish child learn Arabic and every Arab child learn Hebrew, as the mayor of Haifa proposed this week? Should Arab education receive the same status and the same budgets as, for example, the independent but government-funded Jewish Orthodox education system? Should autonomous Arab institutions be established? Finding solutions to these problems, or at least to some of them, is a vital part of the fight against racism — attacking its roots, and not only its symptoms.
Actually, there is no alternative: the citizens of Israel, Jews and Arabs, are “condemned” to live together, whether they like it or not. But, as the Akko events have shown again, the joint fabric is still weak. In order to change this, we must all have the courage to look the problem in the eye, to see it as it is, without hypocrisy or falsification. This is the only way we can find solutions.
Uri Avnery is an Israeli peace activist who has advocated the setting up of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. He served three terms in the Israeli parliament (Knesset), and is the founder of Gush Shalom (Peace Bloc)
Obama's 100 days challenge
Obama's 100 days challenge
Talk of change is good. Concrete action is better. Amnesty International is calling on President-elect Barack Obama to take concrete steps in his first 100 days in office to put human rights at the center of the new government.
The new president will have the opportunity to rectify some of the unlawful policies and practices carried out in the name of national security. We are calling on the new administration to:
- announce a plan and date to close Guantanamo
- issue an executive order to ban torture
- ensure that an independent commission to investigate abuses committed by the U.S. government in its "war on terror" is set up.
Taking these steps would send a clear message to the rest of the world that, once again, the U.S. will be a leader for human rights.
» Call on Obama to demonstrate a commitment to human rights in his first 100 days
» Check out our new blog for the latest on this campaign and others
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