Medea Benjamin's Blog, page 4

Conflict Resolution 101: Talking With Hamas

The world awaits with bated breath to see if the interim truce negotiated by US Secretary of State John Kerry will lead to a long-term ceasefire. But if US mediation is to be sincere and effective, the American government needs to take Hamas off its terrorist list and allow Hamas to be fully represented at the table.

For the past month, Secretary Kerry has been traveling around the the Middle East trying to negotiate an end to the violence. He has had ongoing discussions with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. He consults regularly with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He’s convened with the governments of influential countries in the region, such as Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar. But there’s one glaring omission in his efforts as mediator: he doesn’t talk directly to Hamas, which has been on the US terrorist list since 1997.

Conflict Resolution 101 says “negotiate with all relevant parties.” Senator George Mitchell, who successfully brokered the Good Friday Accord in Northern Ireland, said that serious negotiations were only possible once the British stopped treating the Irish Republican Army as a terrorist organization and began dealing with it as a political entity. The Turkish government learned this lesson more recently. After decades of fighting the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK), Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan decided to remove the PKK from the terrorist list and began direct negotiations with imprisoned PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan–a move that has given new life to the peace process.

You can’t presume to be a mediator and then exclude one key party because you don’t like them. That lesson surely applies to Gaza. If the position of Hamas is only heard through intermediaries, Hamas is much more likely to refuse the outcome. Look at Kerry’s July 15 ceasefire proposal. It was negotiated with the Israeli government, and Netanyahu boasted about Israel’s willingness to accept the proposal. But Hamas was never consulted and actually heard about the “take it or leave it” proposal via the media. Little wonder they rejected it. Former UN rapporteur Richard Falk called Kerry’s efforts “a diplomatic analogue to the theater of the absurd.”

The military wing of Hamas, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has certainly been involved in terrorist activities–from suicide bombings in the 1990s to launching rockets into civilian areas in Israel. But Hamas has a social welfare wing that has long provided social services oftentimes not provided by the Palestinian Authority. And after it won the elections in 2006, its political wing had to start functioning as a government, overseeing not only security but more mundane institutions such as the Ministries of Health, Education, Commerce and Transportation. The more moderate members of Hamas tend to run the government agencies, oftentimes at odds with the more militant members.

On one of the CODEPINK humanitarian delegations to Gaza, soon after the horrific 2009 Israeli incursion that left over 1,400 Palestinians dead, I had firsthand experience with some of these government officials when they asked for a meeting with three members of our delegation, including two of us who had identified ourselves explicitly as Jewish Americans.

I expected the meeting to be tense, with rancor expressed toward us as Americans–– after all, our government had been funding the recent operations –– and as Jews. We were not only warmly welcomed by the group of about a dozen men, but told repeatedly: “We have no problems with the Jewish religion; in fact, we find it very close to Islam. Our problem is with Israeli policies, not Jews.”

I realized that Hamas, like any political organization, is made up of a variety of individuals with different political perspectives. Some are hard-line Islamists, antagonistic toward the West and bent on the destruction of Israel. Others, like the ones we met with, had earned university degrees in Western universities, appreciated many aspects of American and European culture, and believed they could negotiate with the Israelis.

The following day, the Hamas leaders we met with gave me a letter to take back to President Obama asking for his help. It was signed by Dr. Ahmed Yousef, Deputy Foreign Minister and senior advisor to Gaza’s Prime Minister Ismael Haniya. The language was free of anti-Israel rhetoric and instead infused with references to international law and human rights. It called for a lifting of the siege on Gaza, a halt to all settlement building and a US policy shift that would show evenhandedness based on international law and norms. It stated that Hamas was willing to talk to all parties, obviously including Israel, “on the basis of mutual respect and without preconditions.”

I found it astonishing that these representatives of a government that had been subject to a recent and brutal assault, financed in large part with US tax dollars, were reaching out to President Obama with such a well-reasoned plea to intervene. Even more astonishing is the fact that they gave the letter to me–– a feminist, Jewish, American woman–to try to deliver to the administration.

Back in Washington DC, I delivered the letter but despite my insistence, the Obama administration refused to even acknowledge its receipt, much less send a reply. It was yet another loss for the Hamas moderates and a win for those who saw armed resistance as the only way to win concessions from Israel.

Like the letter I received in 2009, the counterproposals Hamas has put forth in the last month have been very reasonable, including the following:

-Withdrawal of Israeli tanks from the Gaza border

-Freeing the prisoners arrested after the killing of the three youths

-Lifting the siege and opening the border crossings to commerce and people, under UN supervision

-Establishing an international seaport and airport under U.N. supervision

-Increasing the permitted fishing zone to comply with international norms

-Reestablishing an industrial zone and improvements in further economic development in the Gaza Strip

Not only are these conditions reasonable, they form the basis of a long-lasting truce that gets at the underlying, systemic problems. The only way this will happen is if Hamas is taken off the US terrorist list and given the opportunity–and responsibility–to negotiate these systemic changes the Palestinians so desperately need and deserve.

Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK and the human rights group Global Exchange. She is the author of Drone Warfare: Killing By Remote Control.

 

Bush Administration Lawsuit Hearing Scheduled for Sept. 11th

Last summer, Inder Comar, Esq. filed a lawsuit against the Bush Administration on behalf of Iraqi refugee plaintiff Sundus Shaker Saleh. It is a noble attempt to hold the Bush Administration accountable for war crimes and a case that Quiet Mike has been following from the beginning.

Earlier this year, the Department of Justice, who is defending the six Bush Administration officials, responded to the lawsuit by requesting that the case be dismissed. The Bush tribe is claiming that the planning of the war occurred within the scope of their employment and therefore they have immunity.

Rather than dismissing the case, the Judge asked for additional information. So Mr. Comar filed a 2nd amended complaint back in June. The amended complaint provides more details about the planning of the Iraq war and when it started.

Comar’s evidence, shows the Bush/Cheney team started planning the invasion of Iraq as far back as 1997. The amended complaint also explains that the war was motivated by personal enrichment and the war was a “crime of aggression.”

Earlier this week. Inder Comar got his chance in court to respond to the motion to dismiss and explain the 2nd amended complaint further. He essentially made two points to the court.

The first argument he made was something called judicial estoppel. It prevents a party from taking a position in a case which is contrary to a position they have taken in earlier legal proceedings. In this case, Comar used the Nuremburg Trials as an example.

The Nuremburg Trials, which the United States views as legitimate, held Nazi leaders accountable for their acts of aggression. Comar held that judicial estoppel dictates the Bush Administration and DOJ can’t argue that leaders aren’t accountable for acts of aggression because it runs contrary to the US’s position at Nuremburg.

The second point that was made referred to the Augusto Pinochet trial. In 1999, British Lawyers determined that Pinochet did not have immunity for certain acts he committed while in office such as torture and other violations of international law. These Brits held that Pinochet was not immune because Chile had signed the convention against torture.

In light of the treaties and charters that the United States has signed, Comar stated that the defence can’t now claim that acts of aggression are above a leader’s authority. In this case, the Bush Administration.

What does all this mean? On August 15th, the United States will have the opportunity to respond to the second amended complaint. In the meantime, a hearing is scheduled for September 11th, of all dates. If the hearing goes ahead as scheduled, and if all else goes well, the announcement of a start date in the trial to hold the Bush Administration accountable could be just six weeks away.

If you are hearing about this case for the first time, you can follow its progress on Witness Iraq. You can also read up with our past articles. Please spread the word, too few people are even aware of Mr. Comar’s efforts. This case deserves all our support.

http://quietmike.org/2014/07/25/bush-administration-lawsuit-hearing/

Advocating Peace, Facing Violence and Hate

On July 18, 2014, members of CODEPINK DC attended a Stand With Israel rally at Farragut Square in Washington, D.C. to condemn the United States government for continuing to give aid to Israel. We hung tombstones with the names of people that had been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza and held signs that called for the ending of bombing in Gaza.

Although I’ve studied and read about the Israel-Palestine conflict, I had never witnessed first-hand the hatred that is present in this situation.

I saw vehement racism, ignorance, hatred and violence. I saw a Zionist man hit a Palestinian woman from the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) 3 times. Even though we were surrounded by police, nothing was done and the man left, after heckling us and assaulting the woman.

I heard multiple anti-semitic remarks, comments that deaths of Gazan children were “staged” and many other ignorant statements.

There are a number of things these pro-Israel supporters fail to recognize and refuse to listen to.

-Many Zionists and pro-Israel supporters believe that our protests are one-sided, just condemning Israel’s aggression towards Gaza. CODEPINK advocates for human rights and peace, mourning all losses of life.

-Israel supporters keep repeating that it’s in self-defense. How is killing over 500 Gazans “self-defense” for the 13 Israelis that have died in the past few weeks? Israel supporters fail to acknowledge the discrepancy in killings. More than 500 Palestinians have been killed and about 80 percent have been were civilians.

-The United States has not only ignored Israel’s aggression against Muslims and Christian Palestinians in Gaza, but we have supported it. There will never be peace in the Middle East if we do not speak out against Israeli aggression. How is savagely punishing hundreds for the terrible deaths of three Orthodox Jewish boys “self-defense”? Self-defense means launching a gruesome bombing campaign?

-The IDF claims to be the “moral army” and states that it respects Jewish ethics in its operations. However, when assessed under “pikuakh nefesh,” the Biblical claim of prioritizing the preservation of human life above everything, the IDF doesn’t seem to be meeting the standard for a “moral army,” does it?

-Many supporters of the Israeli government have tried to give me a history lesson. I am aware of the history of this region. This conflict has been going on since the early 1900s. This region was a predominantly Arab and Muslim region and then Jews began moving into the area, as part of the Zionist movement among European Jews, to escape persecution and establish their own state in their ancestral homeland. Violence ensued between Jews and Arabs. In 1947, the United Nations approved a plan to divide British Palestine into two mostly independent countries, one for Jews called Israel and one for Arabs called Palestine. Jerusalem was to be a special international zone. Arab leaders saw it as European colonialism and in 1948 they invaded to keep Palestine unified. Although the Israeli forces won the 1948 war, they pushed beyond the UN-designated borders to claim land that was to have been part of Palestine, including western Jerusalem. They uprooted and banished Palestinian communities. The borders between Israel and Palestine have been disputed and fought over ever since the end of the war. Supporters of the Israeli government do not recognize that this is an occupation of the Palestinian people!

-Palestinians have been denied basic rights in Gaza. Refugees have lost jobs in Israel after Israel banned Gaza workers and businessmen from entering its territories. The seven-year blockade have rendered Gazans helpless. The Gaza Strip is home to 1.8 million people, among whom 1.2 million are living in eight refugee camps. The unemployment rate stands at 40 percent in Gaza. The number of registered Palestinian refugees by UNRWA in January 2014 was about 5.4 million in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

-Israel is responsible for genocide against the Palestinians. Israel targets Muslims every Ramadan. Israel is a racist state, a trait I saw very much yesterday, and CODEPINK is working to combat the anti-Arab sentiment that many Israelis, as well as some United States politicians, showcase.

*note – when CODEPINK’s protesters first walked over to the rally, a man shouted as us that we “might as well be Muslim”

-A lot of Israelis’ arguments against my case have revolved around what they have heard in the media. ABC News showed a picture of “the rockets raining down on Israel” – while in reality our screen showed us Israeli jets pounding Gaza. Pointing to a still photo clearly of Palestinians dragging a mattress through the rubble, she described it as “an Israeli family trying to salvage what they can.” There is a blatant pro-Israel bias of the western media.

-At the rally, I heard a comment that their ancestors were killed or are survivors of the Holocaust, and that it justifies what Israel is doing to the Palestinians. As a student who studies Holocaust Studies myself, who has traveled to Poland with Holocaust survivors and witnessed what terrible horrors occurred in these concentration camps during the Holocaust, I absolutely cannot condone relating that to the atrocities that have occurred against the Palestinians.

All in all, it was hard when these people at the rally were coming at me, trying to lecture me about history when they had it all wrong. It’s hard to argue with ignorance, and with people who fail to listen and start a dialogue, rather than instigating violence and hatred. I have also learned in all the Palestinian solidarity protests in the past few weeks, that we should not be afraid to use the words “genocide” and “apartheid” when referring to Israeli aggression.

While I am disappointed and outraged by the response CODEPINK received from supporters of the Israeli governments, the Palestinian people I have met and the people who continuously work for justice and peace in the Middle East give me hope for the future.

By Colleen Moore

URGENT CALL FOR A NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION THURSDAY, JULY 24: END THE ASSAULT ON GAZA AND LIFT THE BLOCKADE

Please join us this Thursday, July 24, in this urgent call to stop the Israeli offensive in Gaza and end the 7-year siege that has made life in Gaza so miserable. In this latest round of violence, over 500 Palestinians have been killed and thousands are injured.  Seventy-two percent of those are civilians, including over 80 children. One hundred thousand are displaced and living in makeshift shelters; electricity has been reduced to four hours a day for 80% of the population; water has been cut off to hundreds of thousands; sewage is flowing into the sea; hospitals have been bombed and there are shortages of everything from food to medicines. We must act now!

We encourage you, both organizations and individuals, to hold actions and events in your communities this Thursday, July 24. We are grateful for all the actions that have taken place and that will continue, but doing something together on one day can help demonstrate the breadth of our movement and concern. Whether you can get out a crowd or just a few people, please do something!

Here are some possibilities:

– Visit your local Congressional office and invite the media to join you in asking questions of your elected officials/staff; you might also consider a call-in, preferably in a public place, to your representatives, the White House and State Department.

– Hold a rally or vigil in a visible public space, and invite local news media. Commemorate the dead, reading their names.

– Visit the offices of a corporation profiteering from and/or complicit in Israel’s war and occupation; bring them a letter explaining why you are there.

– Go to the office of your mainstream media and demand balanced coverage; organize a letter writing campaign with examples of bad/misleading coverage.

– Be in a public place asking people to sign a petition, either your own or one from another organization.

– Organize acts of civil disobedience to reflect the urgency of the situation and attract media attention.

– Use social media to target U.S. politicians, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., and the mainstream media.

As you act Thursday, think how you can begin or expand a campaign in your community’s institutions to boycott and/or divest from corporations profiting from and/or complicit in Israel’s war and occupation. Consider boycotting Sabra and Sodastream products. Many US corporations are directly involved in the recent conflict, including Caterpillar, Boeing, HP, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, GE, and Raytheon. Please check to determine if your school, church, work place, and other community institutions may be invested in them.

Have your organization endorse the National Day of Action here: http://tinyurl.com/mrwr2gc

Add your Thursday local action to the list here:  http://tinyurl.com/n3kdqd8

Post your photos, videos, and reports from actions here: http://theworldstandswithpalestine.tumblr.com/

Signed,

Adalah-NY

American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee

CODEPINK

Friends of Sabeel–North America

Global Exchange

International Socialist Organization

Jewish Voice for Peace

Just Foreign Policy

Peace Action

Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice

US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation

Our Letter to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Free Khaled Al-Qazzaz

By Tyra Walker



On July 3rd, 2014, CODEPINK sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, urging him to take a stand for the release of Egyptian prisoner Khaled Al-Qazzaz, a permanent resident of Canada and father of four young Canadian children, who has now been detained for over 365 days. We encourage you to send letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper as well.

To learn more about Khaled Al-Qazzaz and his extralegal detention, visit his website: http://www.freekhaledalqazzaz.com/

Click here to read Khaled’s June 27, 2014 open letter to the New York Times entitled, “Why is the World Silent?”

—–

Prime Minister Stephen Harper

Office of the Prime Minister

80 Wellington Street

Ottawa, ON K1A 0A2

Fax: 613-941-6900

Email: stephen.harper@parl.gc.ca

July 3, 2014

 

Dear Prime Minister,

This month of July marks the one-year anniversary of the coup against Egypt’s President Morsi and the one-year anniversary of the unlawful detention of Canadian citizen Khaled Al-Qazzaz in Tora high-security prison in Cairo. We are writing to call for his immediate and safe release.

Mr. Al-Qazzaz has been detained since July 3rd, 2013 without charge or trial, and without any clear accusation of wrongdoing. During this period of detention, Mr. Al-Qazzaz has been taken away from his life as a respected educator, an engaged community member, and the father of four children. Furthermore, for a significant part of his detention, Mr. Al-Qazzaz has been deprived of access to his family, legal counsel, and any indication of the expected length of his detainment.

Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s detention is a clear violation of the due process and human rights that should be afforded to each and every Canadian citizen. Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest [or] detention.”  Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s detention is a clear and shameful violation of this fundamental human rights protection.

It is no surprise how much support Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s case has garnered. Notable organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and numerous public figures have all mobilized to demand an immediate and peaceful resolution to this act of injustice. CODEPINK stands in solidarity with these organizations and individuals in defense Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s most fundamental rights.

We implore those in power in Canada to help resolve this tremendous injustice. Each and every day that Mr. Al-Qazzaz’s release is prolonged is a crime. However, each and every day is also a new opportunity to end an egregious human rights violation. In order to uphold standards of human rights, civil liberties, and respect for human dignity, CODEPINK urges you to demand the immediate and safe release of prisoner Al-Qazzaz to mark the beginning of turning tides of respect for human rights in Egypt.

 

Sincerely,

CODEPINK

 

Baghdad Burning

… I’ll meet you ’round the bend my friend, where hearts can heal and souls can mend…

Ten Years On…

April 9, 2013 marks ten years since the fall of Baghdad. Ten years since the invasion. Since the lives of millions of Iraqis changed forever. It’s difficult to believe. It feels like only yesterday I was sharing day to day activities with the world. I feel obliged today to put my thoughts down on the blog once again, probably for the last time.

In 2003, we were counting our lives in days and weeks. Would we make it to next month? Would we make it through the summer? Some of us did and many of us didn’t.

Back in 2003, one year seemed like a lifetime ahead. The idiots said, “Things will improve immediately.” The optimists were giving our occupiers a year, or two… The realists said, “Things won’t improve for at least five years.” And the pessimists? The pessimists said, “It will take ten years. It will take a decade.”

Looking back at the last ten years, what have our occupiers and their Iraqi governments given us in ten years? What have our puppets achieved in this last decade? What have we learned?

We learned a lot.

We learned that while life is not fair, death is even less fair- it takes the good people. Even in death you can be unlucky. Lucky ones die a ‘normal’ death… A familiar death of cancer, or a heart-attack, or stroke. Unlucky ones have to be collected in bits and pieces. Their families trying to bury what can be salvaged and scraped off of streets that have seen so much blood, it is a wonder they are not red.

We learned that you can be floating on a sea of oil, but your people can be destitute. Your city can be an open sewer; your women and children can be eating out of trash dumps and begging for money in foreign lands.

We learned that justice does not prevail in this day and age. Innocent people are persecuted and executed daily. Some of them in courts, some of them in streets, and some of them in the private torture chambers.

We are learning that corruption is the way to go. You want a passport issued? Pay someone. You want a document ratified? Pay someone. You want someone dead? Pay someone.

We learned that it’s not that difficult to make billions disappear.

We are learning that those amenities we took for granted before 2003, you know- the luxuries – electricity, clean water from faucets, walkable streets, safe schools – those are for deserving populations. Those are for people who don’t allow occupiers into their country.

We’re learning that the biggest fans of the occupation (you know who you are, you traitors) eventually leave abroad. And where do they go? The USA, most likely, with the UK a close second. If I were an American, I’d be outraged. After spending so much money and so many lives, I’d expect the minor Chalabis and Malikis and Hashimis of Iraq to, well, stay in Iraq. Invest in their country. I’d stand in passport control and ask them, “Weren’t you happy when we invaded your country? Weren’t you happy we liberated you? Go back. Go back to the country you’re so happy with because now, you’re free!”

We’re learning that militias aren’t particular about who they kill. The easiest thing in the world would be to say that Shia militias kill Sunnis and Sunni militias kill Shia, but that’s not the way it works. That’s too simple.

We’re learning that the leaders don’t make history. Populations don’t make history. Historians don’t write history. News networks do. The Foxes, and CNNs, and BBCs, and Jazeeras of the world make history. They twist and turn things to fit their own private agendas.

We’re learning that the masks are off. No one is ashamed of the hypocrisy anymore. You can be against one country (like Iran), but empowering them somewhere else (like in Iraq). You can claim to be against religious extremism (like in Afghanistan), but promoting religious extremism somewhere else (like in Iraq and Egypt and Syria).

Those who didn’t know it in 2003 are learning (much too late) that an occupation is not the portal to freedom and democracy. The occupiers do not have your best interests at heart.

We are learning that ignorance is the death of civilized societies and that everyone thinks their particular form of fanaticism is acceptable.

We are learning how easy it is to manipulate populations with their own prejudices and that politics and religion never mix, even if a super-power says they should mix.

But it wasn’t all a bad education…

We learned that you sometimes receive kindness when you least expect it. We learned that people often step outside of the stereotypes we build for them and surprise us. We learned and continue to learn that there is strength in numbers and that Iraqis are not easy to oppress. It is a matter of time…

And then there are things we’d like to learn…

Ahmed Chalabi, Iyad Allawi, Ibrahim Jaafari, Tarek Al Hashemi and the rest of the vultures, where are they now? Have they crawled back under their rocks in countries like the USA, the UK, etc.? Where will Maliki be in a year or two? Will he return to Iran or take the millions he made off of killing Iraqis and then seek asylum in some European country? Far away from the angry Iraqi masses…

What about George Bush, Condi, Wolfowitz, and Powell? Will they ever be held accountable for the devastation and the death they wrought in Iraq? Saddam was held accountable for 300,000 Iraqis… Surely someone should be held accountable for the million or so?

Finally, after all is said and done, we shouldn’t forget what this was about – making America safer… And are you safer Americans? If you are, why is it that we hear more and more about attacks on your embassies and diplomats? Why is it that you are constantly warned to not go to this country or that one? Is it better now, ten years down the line? Do you feel safer, with hundreds of thousands of Iraqis out of the way (granted half of them were women and children, but children grow up, right?)?

And what happened to Riverbend and my family? I eventually moved from Syria. I moved before the heavy fighting, before it got ugly. That’s how fortunate I was. I moved to another country nearby, stayed almost a year, and then made another move to a third Arab country with the hope that, this time, it’ll stick until… Until when? Even the pessimists aren’t sure anymore. When will things improve? When will be able to live normally? How long will it take?

For those of you who are disappointed reality has reared its ugly head again, go to Fox News, I’m sure they have a reportage that will soothe your conscience.

For those of you who have been asking about me and wondering how I have been doing, I thank you. “Lo khuliyet, qulibet…” Which means “If the world were empty of good people, it would end.” I only need to check my emails to know it won’t be ending any time soon.

Credit: http://riverbendblog.blogspot.ca/

On July 4, Be a Patriot: Stop Another US Military Intervention in Iraq

By Medea Benjamin

This July 4, the fireworks won’t just be in celebration of Independence Day. There will undoubtedly be fireworks in cities throughout the Middle East, as the region, engulfed in violence, further explodes. The US military and US taxdollars are already deeply entangled in Middle Easterners’ lives (and deaths), and President Obama is under pressure to get further involved in the wars in Iraq and Syria. But what advice would our nation’s founders give the 44th president this July 4?

The Founding Fathers, who revolted against a foreign power, were vehemently opposed to getting involved in military adventures overseas. George Washington cautioned our new nation against the “mischiefs of foreign intrigue.” James Madison said the US should steer clear of unnecessary wars. Thomas Jefferson said, “If there be one principle more deeply written than any other in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing to do with conquest.” Secretary of State John Quincy Adams warned in 1821 that America should not go abroad in search of “monsters to destroy”—for such folly would destroy “her own spirit.”

But this Independence Day marks yet another year of seemingly endless US involvement in wars. Despite promising the American public that US troops would leave Afghanistan by the end of this year, President Obama is poised to negotiate a continued US troop presence with the next Afghan president (if the Afghans can figure out who that is!). Current president Karzai has explicitly rejected this decision. Karzai has insisted that the US-led invasion has made his country even worse than it was under the repressive Taliban, and lamented that “Afghans died in a war that’s not ours.”

Obama’s drone wars have gotten the US militarily entangled in the internal affairs of Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia. The President recently called for an alarming expansion of the US role in Syria’s civil war, requesting $500 million to aid the Syrian opposition. US funds continue to fuel Israel’s 47-year-long military occupation of Palestine, an occupation that has escalated recently with the tragic murders of both Israeli and Palestinian children. And in Egypt, where a brutal military coup has been murdering and jailing thousands upon thousands of nonviolent, pro-democracy protesters, the US government is intervening on the side of the coup leader, draconian dictator Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, in the magnitude of $1.5 billion of our taxdollars per year.

In Iraq, President Obama is sliding down the slippery slope of another disastrous intervention. Armed drones are now patrolling the Iraqi skies, ready to unleash their Hellfire missiles at any moment and sink us deeper into this quagmire. And President Obama just authorized sending 750 troops, less than three years after our troops withdrew from a disastrous nine-year war. Those familiar with the history of the Vietnam War might recognize that this is exactly how that 20-year-long conflict was started. The US sent in military “advisers,” and then sent in troops to protect them, and then troops to protect them, and then troops to protect them—ad infinitum.

As President Obama contemplates even further engagement in Iraq, 70 congresspeople have signed a letter, initiated by Representatives Scott Rigell (R-VA) and Barbara Lee (D-CA), calling on the President to respect the Constitutional requirement to go to Congress for authorization before using military force. Indeed, the Founding Fathers made it clear that no individual president should have the authority to drag our nation into war, that a decision of such magnitude had to be debated and decided on by the people’s representatives in Congress.

Though just because we oppose war and military intervention doesn’t mean we have to be complete isolationists, by any means. What is does mean is we should stop spending hundreds of billions of taxdollars on wars that don’t work, harming and killing innocent civilians. If we truly want to help people around the world, there are myriad better ways to do so. The U.S. should put its energy and influence toward a comprehensive ban on the transfer of weapons from outside powers. Rather than attempting additional unilateral moves, the U.S. should be collaborating with regional and international actors to address the root cause of the violence in Iraq. And we should more to help the millions of displaced Iraqis. The US is one of the least refugee-friendly countries in the industrialized world. Given we live in a time with the highest level of refugees since World War II, assisting refugees—often forced out of their homes because of wars we have engaged in or dictators we have supported—could be just one easy way to help others.

Poll after poll shows that the American people agree with our Founding Fathers’ insistence that our nation should disengage from overseas military misadventures.  Indeed, President Obama himself, in his May 23, 2013  foreign policy speech, quoted James Madison’s dire warning that “No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

So this July 4th, be a true patriot. Take some action to stop the US military intervention in Iraq. Educate your friends and neighbors, write a letter to the editor, sign a petition. Take signs and banners out into the streets and tell everyone you want to end these pointless wars. Call your elected officials (202-224-3121) and the White House (202-456-1111). Do something to move us towards a foreign policy that uses diplomatic prowess, not military power, as the way to relate to, not violently dominate, the global community.

Medea Benjamin is the co-founder of the peace group CODEPINK and the human rights group Global Exchange. She is the author of Drone Warfare: Killing by Remote Control.

Schedule for Camp CODEPINK in Asheville, North Carolina!

Schedule for Camp CODEPINK in Asheville, North Carolina!

VFP Conference Schedule: http://www.vfpnationalconvention.org/program.htm

Thursday, July 24

1-2:30pm: CODEPINK Workshop at Veterans for Peace Conference

We’ll get an update about how killer drones are being used worldwide, the global movement to ground them, and then look here at home. While there’s been much discussion about the dangers of drones being used in the US, only about 10 cities have passed resolutions to regulate their use. Let’s build the momentum and get 100 passed by the end of 2014! Learn how you can get a resolution passed in your community now.

3-4:30pm

Other workshops at Veterans for Peace Conference

Recommendations:

JUSTICE IN PALESTINE/BOYCOTTS TOOLS FOR CHANGE – Jennifer Bing, Ali Abunimah

EFFECTIVE FALL CAMPAIGNS – Virginia Druhe/Casey Steinmetz

WOMEN BRING MUSIC TO MORAL MONDAYS/VFP CHORUS – Vicki Ryder/Ellen Barfield/Raging Grannies

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: ATOMIC APPALACHIA & THE MILITARIZED SOUTHEAST – Coleman Smith/Clare Hanrahan

5:30-6:30: Veterans for Peace Dinner

7:00: Camp CODEPINK Hangout and icebreakers. Reportbacks from locals, meet new folks, sing and dance together!

Friday, July 25

8:00-9:30am workshops for the early birds. For the others…

10:30-11:30am Plenary Post 911 Veteran Voices

Lunch

1-2:30pm Recommended workshops:

KOREA- John Kim (Jeju Island)

WAR RESISTERS/C.MANNING – Gerry Condon

MOVE TO AMEND – George Friday/Diana Kruk

3-4:30 Mini plenaries

Recommendation: Latin America plenary

6:00 pm: CODEPINK Dinner in Asheville  

8:00-10 pm: John McCutcheon Concert on campus, Lipinsky Auditorium

 Saturday, July 26

Camp CODEPINK:

This is the day we spend learning together; we won’t be going to the Veterans’ meetings

Daytime:

We’ll have a discussion about the current political landscape, current and future CODEPINK and other activist campaigns around the country. We’ll do some media training and a session about how to translate the news into creative actions.

6:30- 9:00 pm: VFP banquet

9-10:30pm Dance and social at UNCA

 Sunday, July 27

8:00 am: Breakfast with CODEPINK at Monica’s house

9:30 am: Peace March through Asheville

CODEPINK’s Response to U.S. Court Release of Obama Administration’s ‘Drone Memo’

Although CODEPINK acknowledges the motion towards some semblance of transparency with the release of the 2010 Memorandum outlining the Department of Justice’s legal reasoning for the assassination of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, we conclude that the Memorandum falls short of delivering the need for accountability required for addressing unjust action which lethally targets American citizens abroad.

The Memorandum, which is authored by David Barron, former chief of the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, echoes Attorney General Eric Holder’s troubling legal distinction between “due process” and “judicial process” for American citizens. This equivocation represents an abominable misconstruance of a centuries-old right that has, until now, been protected by the U.S. Constitution. With a legal Memorandum that asserts that “due process analysis need not blink at [the] realities [of combat]”, we stand in fear of the future fundamental rights which will undoubtedly be threatened by the whims of military advisors and government officials who are encouraged not to think twice about lethal decisions under the guise of “national security”.

The sheer publication of the Memorandum is not something that is lost on us. Despite the memo being heavily redacted, as ACLU Deputy Legal Director Jameel Jaffer states, “…the publication of the [ ] memo [is] a significant milestone and certainly one of the most significant transparency-related developments since the administration’s release of the torture memos in 2009,” and that it “represents an overdue but nonetheless crucial step towards transparency.”

However, we also stand in solidarity with organizations like the Center for Constitutional Rights, whose Senior Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei asserts that the memorandum reinforces that “the government’s drone killing program is built on gross distortions of law.”

ACLU Jameel Jaffer’s statement in response to the drone memo, too, accurately highlights the issues presented by the Memorandum’s unredacted content. He states, “Once [the] facts are assumed, the memo’s ultimate conclusion… follows inevitably. How could it not? No government would disclaim the authority to use force as a last resort against a serious threat that was truly imminent. But… what assurance do we have that the facts the memo accepts as true were actually true?” After further analysis, Jaffer ultimately concludes that “The entire memo rests atop a foundation whose solidity we can’t know.”

Until we are able reclaim the Constitutional protections of due process, stop justifications based on the deliberate misrepresentation of concepts like “imminent threat”, and demand, not simply transparency, but accountability for actions that violate the protections of the Constitution and of Human Rights, we will continue to live with bated breath for the next American citizen (or non-American citizen) to be unjustly targeted and killed.

Children’s lives in the balance: Is one worth more than another?

By Pam Bailey and Medea Benjamin



With the news that the bodies of three missing Israeli teens had been found in a field not far from the stretch of road where they disappeared June 12, people everywhere reacted rightly with sorrow and anger.

Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel, also 16, were students who lived with their families in a Jewish-only settlement near the Palestinian city of Hebron in the West Bank. The settlement and others like it have been declared illegal by the International Court of Justice because they are located in occupied territory and impede Palestinians’ liberty of movement and right to employment, health and education. However, they were youth just starting out on life, sons and brothers whose families will forever grieve their horrific deaths. We must all condemn such violence.

We must also condemn the collective punishment and violence unleashed by the government of Israel in response. To date, the Israeli police and military have broken into and ransacked 1,500 homes, businesses and schools in its rampage, arresting more than 550 residents. More than half of the abducted individuals are being held without charge or trial, more than 100 have been injured and at least six have died – including a 14-year-old boy who was shot in the chest at point-blank range and a 78-year-old woman who suffered a heart attack during a house raid. As this article was written, the 680,000 residents of greater Hebron had been surrounded by angry troops and settlers, with ominous reports trickling out of death and mayhem.

Imagine if similar homicides occurred in your town. Despite the tragedy of the crimes and the desperate desire to find the perpetrators, would civilized society countenance the widespread ransacking of property, imprisonment of hundreds and the death of innocents? No, of course not. So why should it be considered an acceptable response among a population pushed to desperation by decades of military occupation?

To fully understand just what happened and why, an analysis must begin before the June 12 disappearance of the three teenagers, residents of a Jewish-only settlement near the Palestinian city of Hebron in the West Bank. Rather, it should start with April 23, when the two main Palestinian political factions, Fatah (which had governed the West Bank) and Hamas (which filled the same role for the Gaza Strip) announced formation of a unity government. While the Fatah-run Palestinian Authority has long cooperated with Israeli security forces, Hamas continues to actively resist Israel’s control over the Palestinian territory. The announcement of the reconciliation was condemned by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was enraged when the U.S. and other governments instead took a wait-and-see approach.

When the three Israeli teens disappeared, Netanyahu immediately blamed Hamas, although it has reportedly denied responsibility, and launched a campaign to punish any person associated with the party, as well as those it wanted to target for other reasons (such as previously released prisoners). An informed observer cannot help but conclude that he seized on the personal tragedy of the families involved to pursue a broader political goal. Israel’s intention to “perform a root canal to uproot everything green [Hamas-related] in the West Bank” was announced on the national Army Radio, while Economy Minister Naftali Bennett promised to “turn membership of Hamas into an entry ticket to hell.” A high-ranking Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the mass arrests are “a kind of thorough cleaning.” Israel, he said, had decided “to use the upcoming days to arrest anyone ‘infected’ with Hamas.” In one Israeli news source, an IDF officer even admitted that the operation had been planned ahead of time, and that its goal was not to find the boys, but provoke unrest.

With the discovery of the Israeli teens’ bodies, Israeli military and the settlers intensified the attack on Hebron and other towns, with a 17-year-old boy shot in the Jenin refugee camp. Renewing his vow that “Hamas will pay,” Netanyahu ordered an escalation of airstrikes on the Gaza Strip – more than 40 in just the first night, terrorizing the entire population of 1.8 million. Although the strikes in part are in retaliation for rockets shot into Israel by a faction that is not affiliated with Hamas, Netanyahu’s own words make the connection clear.

According to the prisoner advocacy group Addameer, about a quarter of the hundreds of arrested Palestinians are being placed in “administrative detention,” a procedure that allows the Israeli military to hold individuals indefinitely based on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. Israel routinely uses administrative detention in violation of the strict parameters established by international law, claiming to be in a continuous state of emergency since its inception in 1948. In addition, says Addameer, administrative detention is frequently used – in direct contravention to international law – for collective and criminal punishment rather than for the prevention of future threat.

Children and youth are frequently targets. Defence for Children International has documented the killing of more than 1,400 Palestinian children by Israeli soldiers or settlers since 2000, of which only 40 were found to be active participants in hostilities. That’s the equivalent of one Palestinian child killed by an Israeli every three days for the past 13 years.

In addition, a report issued this week by the Euro-Mid Observer for Human Rights documents that 2,000-3,000 Palestinian minors have been seized and detained by Israeli forces every year for the last five years, an average of 200 a month, with some as young as 12.

“The Israeli police or military typically break into homes in the middle of the night or take youth right off the streets without telling them what they are charged with or informing their parents, as required by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,” said Ihsan Adel, legal advisor for Euro-Mid. “How is that different from the kidnapping of the Israeli students? And yet it is occurring every day, every year. Where is the international outrage?”

The Euro-Mid report states that rarely are youth informed why they are being arrested – at least, not until they are interrogated, without counsel from parents or attorneys – often while shackled to chairs and deprived of sleep. Yet article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (of which Israel is a signatory) states that youth and their parents must be informed of the reasons behind their detention, as well as allowed legal assistance.

UNICEF, the World Health Organization and the U.N. Commission on Human Rights each have found that Israel bases its punishments on confessions that its interrogators coerce from children who are not represented by lawyers. Is it surprising that an estimated 95 percent of these children “confess”?

Children are not pawns, pieces to be used in a game for purposes of publicity or leverage. That’s true for Palestinians and doubly so for Israelis, who operate from a position of unequal power – that of occupier.

Perhaps no one has expressed these basic principles of humanity better than columnist Gideon Levy, a rare voice of self-criticism in Israel. In a recent column that has gotten very little exposure, he compared the cases of Naftali Fraenkel, one of the murdered Israeli boys and Mohammed Jihad Dodeen, the 14-year-old Palestinian killed during the Israeli mass arrests.

Levy wrote about the journey of Rachel Fraenkel, Naftali’s mother, to a meeting in Switzerland of the United Nations Human Rights Council. She told the group that “her Naftali is a good boy who loves to play guitar and soccer.” But, Levy observed, “Mohammed was also a good boy, who helped his father build their house during his school vacations and sold sweets to help support his family. Rachel wants to hug Naftali? Jihad, Mohammed’s bereaved father, also wants to hug his son. Incidentally, nobody brought him to Geneva. He remained alone with his mourning, at the wretched house whose construction hasn’t yet been finished, and perhaps never will be.”

Medea Benjamin is cofounder of the peace group CODEPINK and the human rights group Global Exchange.

Pam Bailey is a freelance writer who has traveled extensively to the West Bank and Gaza.