News & Views
·
It
can't happen here? (by Jacob G. Hornberger – fff.org)
·
Iran
Says West May Have Seized Missing Ex-Official
·
IRAQ:
146 Shiite Pilgrims
Killed in Iraq Attacks
·
The
Hague: War Crimes Tribunal prosecutor calls Kosovo's ethnic Albanian prime
minister a "warlord" and "gangster" in uniform
·
Egypt anger over
1967 Israeli 'massacre'
·
Israelis raid Palestinian military HQ
·
Israel,
Iran top 'Negative List' (U.S.
Places Strong 3rd)
·
’Scooter’ verdict deepens Bush woes
·
U.S.
picks wrong moment to poke the Russian Bear
·
How much more harm can Bush
do?
The Dugard Report
by Iqbal Jassat
MediaMonitors.net
(Tuesday, March 6,
2007)
Original Storylink
"Israel
cannot indefinitely stand against the world!"
Is the Israeli regime on a downward spiral having failed at the most
fundamental level to gain domestic consensus on how its historic zionist
ideological underpinning will shape its future?
Debates surrounding this perplexing problem have entered a new phase
following Israel’s humiliating military performance against Hizbullah in addition to
embarrassing national scandals involving high-ranking politicians related
to sex and corruption.
Perhaps the most challenging threat to Israel’s continued existence as a Jewish state
emanates from a growing awareness within zionism's political elite and
their external backers that occupation and suppression of basic human
rights can no longer be covered up. Neither can such atrocities resulting
in horrendous consequences be justified as necessary for Israeli security.
It is against this backdrop of deep-seated anxiety confronting the
Jewish state’s uncertain
future, that many voices are being heard questioning the wisdom of
sustaining a project such as Israel, which necessitates defending
institutions of colonization, dispossession and occupation.
One such voice belongs to Professor John Dugard.
As the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian
Territories [OPT], Dugard has served a valuable role in not only fulfilling
his mandate, but also to draw the attention of the international community
to the fact that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem contains
elements of three regimes:
·
colonialism,
·
apartheid and
·
foreign
occupation.
That he has diligently uncovered major violations of both human
rights as well as international humanitarian law in the OPT by Israel, is a
tribute to what the former Chief Justice of SA, Justice Ismail Mahomed had
attributed to him: “Fierce intellectual integrity”.
During 2004 in an interview with Victor Kattan of the Arab Media
Watch, Dugard was asked whether the issues he raised in an article in ’84 entitled “Israel and the International Community: The
Legal Debate” [published in
the South African Yearbook of International Law] had changed.
His response was that the legal issues had not changed though the
need for Palestinian statehood has been recognized. “Oslo has been and gone, and the same type of
human rights violations still occur, albeit with a new severity”. In the context of “settler expansion”, he said that the significance of the wall
shows convincingly that the issue is “land and expansion”.
Dugard’s latest
report contains the most recent developments flowing from
his visit to the OPT during December 2006. It is a compelling study,
presenting yet again a challenge to the UN and all its institutions to
consider the legal consequences of a regime of prolonged occupation with
features of colonialism and apartheid for the occupied people, the
occupying power and third states.
“The apparent failure of Western States to take
steps to bring such a situation to an end places the future of the
international protection of human rights in jeopardy as developing nations
begin to question the commitment of
Western States to human rights”.
Israel cannot indefinitely stand against the world.
Cartoons
·
Libby who? Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner, Washington, D.C.
·
Out Damned Spot, Out I Say! R.J. Matson, NY, The New York Observer
and Roll Call
·
Quagmire Jeff Stahler, The Cincinnati Post, Ohio
·
How bad can it get? Mike Smith, The Las Vegas Sun, Nevada
·
Now what? Marshall Ramsey, Jackson Mississippi, The Clarion Ledger,
·
China: You Call That A Military Budget? Harry Harrison, The South China Morning
Post, Hong Kong
·
A New Secular Theology Chuck Asay, Colorado -- The Colorado
Springs Gazette.
·
VA Hospital Scandal Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune, Utah
|