NEWSLETTER 5
IRAQ &
PALESTINE UNDER OCCUPATION |
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June 2024 |
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OCCUPATION YEAR 8
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ISRAEL
AND INTERNATIONAL LAW
The
siege on Gaza is a violation of norms of
international humanitarian law. No state can
justify the use of force to perpetuate an
illegal situation, writes Curtis Doebbler |
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Dr Curtis F J Doebbler is an
international human rights lawyer known
for his outspoken opposition to human
rights violations by the US government
and his support of individuals in
countries that have been subject to
armed attacks by the United States.
He is professor of law at An-Najah
National University in Nablus,
Palestine, and representative of Nord
Sud XXI to the United Nations in New
York and Geneva. He is a member of the BRussells
Tribunal Advisory Committee.
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International law is important to states because
it reflects agreed upon rules. In fact, the
rules of international law are some of the only
things that have been widely agreed upon among
states.
In
most cases states obey international law. If
they did not we would likely have much more
violence and injustice in the international
community. It is for this reason that it is so
important for states to ensure respect for the
rule of international law.
In
the last century the most significant failure to
ensure respect for the rule of international law
has arguably been in regards to Israel. No state
has violated so many rules of international law
so often and with such impunity as has Israel.
Its violations have created a situation whereby
it is considered a threat to international peace
and security by the overwhelming majority of
states in the international community, and its
very existence as a state in the international
community is being challenged.
Despite the serious effects of Israel’s failure
to respect international law, the international
community has been unwilling or unable to
enforce international law. In part this is due
to an effective Israeli lobby, but in part it is
also due to the failure of those states and
individuals who support the rule of
international law to effectively ensure their
words and intentions are realised through the
actions of states.
Still, the rules of international law applying
to Israel and Palestine are not too difficult to
understand. It is hoped this short summary of
some of the most important rules below will help
those who support the rule of international law
to muster the courage to implement this law.
Palestinians’ right to
self-determination and the creation of Israel
The starting point for any consideration of
international law in relation to “the question
of Palestine” — as the UN neutrally refers to it
— is the right to self-determination. No right
has been more important to so many peoples and
states in the international community. Although
we have a tendency to devote more attention to
the international law of self-determination as
it developed since the creation of the United
Nations, the right to self-determination in the
form that it is more relevant to “the question
of Palestine” existed much earlier. In fact,
this right can be traced back to the very
existence of the nation-state, when it was
decided that people living together in a
particular territory have the right to form
themselves into a sovereign state.
In
other words, when there is no existing state,
the right of self-determination gives the people
concerned the right to form their own state.
Applied to Palestine this means that after World
War I when the Ottoman Empire was forced to
relinquish sovereign over Palestine and when the
British conquerors expressly denounced any
interest in ruling Palestine, since that time
the people living in Palestine have had the
right to decide their own future.
As
we know, this right was never recognised.
Instead, first Britain and the international
community acting through the United Nations
denied the Palestinian people this right. This
violated international law, as there is nothing
in the UN Charter that allows the organisation
the right to violate the right to
self-determination. In fact, Article 1 of the UN
Charter makes the right to self-determination
one of the purposes for which the United Nations
exists.
According to international law existing at time,
the creation of the State of Israel was illegal.
Moreover, we know that once an illegal act has
been committed by states, the consequences of
that act remain illegal and may not be
recognised as legal by other states. Thus even
today it is correct to say that Israel is an
illegal state and has been since its creation,
no matter what its de facto position might be.
Even if one were to acknowledge the creation of
Israel by the UN General Assembly’s adoption of
resolution 181 on 29 November 1947, that
resolution itself states, in Part 1, Subsection
A, Paragraph 3, that “independent Arab and
Jewish States and the Special International
Regime for the City of Jerusalem … shall come
into existence in Palestine.” In other words, in
the very same paragraph as the State of Israel
is created, so is the state of Palestine and the
“international” city of Jerusalem.
Neither Israel nor the international community
have respected the terms of this resolution.
Instead, not only has Palestine been denied
statehood, but also Palestinians are being
offered about 3.5 per cent of the territory to
which they had — and have — a right under the
“roadmap” that the Quartet stresses as the basis
for negotiations. Instead of a solution, this
looks more like the theft of the right of
self-determination from the Palestinian people.
Moreover, Israel has continued from 1947 to date
to violate UN resolutions with impunity.
The occupation and international law
Just a day before the UN actually created the
State of Israel, Israel proclaimed its own
independence. Again this was done in violation
of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination
and in violation of the League of Nations
Mandate to the British, which was still in
effect.
When the Arab states took up arms to defend the
Palestinians’ right to self-determination,
Western states — as they had done regularly for
centuries — supported the colonisation of
Palestine by Zionists claiming to have a right
to create the State of Israel. Whatever
religious, historical or political basis the
Zionists had, they did not have any grounds
under international law and in fact violated
this law.
Rather than reacting to a violation of
international law, the international community
allowed Israel to act unlawfully and even
ratified the de facto outcome of the occupation
of Palestine. Even territories that the
international community agreed did not come
under any Israeli claim were allowed to be
annexed. The process of annexation continues to
this day.
According to the United Nations, parts of the
territory over which the Palestinians were
denied their right to self-determination became
Israel. About 45 per cent of the original
mandate territory was considered by the UN as
occupied.
Putting aside disagreement about Israel’s
illegitimacy, according to Article 47 of the
Hague Regulations annexed to the Fourth Hague
Convention from 1907, an act of occupation
become de jure when the occupying power de facto
exercises jurisdiction over a territory. By the
1970s, Israel had de facto jurisdiction over all
of the mandate territory, including the Gaza
Strip, the West Bank, the Golan Heights and
parts of Southern Lebanon. As such Israel became
an occupying power over these territories and
people within in them.
Somewhat like a mandate holder under the League
of Nations system, Israel was therefore required
by the rules of international humanitarian law
to provide for the occupied population under its
control. This means ensuring proper
administration, judicial facilities, educational
facilities, and healthcare facilities. Instead,
Israel has increasing denied Palestinians these
services. This has been most notably the case in
Gaza.
While claiming to be acting in the name of
national security, Israeli soldiers have shot
and killed infants, children, women and men.
Israel has repeatedly denied Palestinians the
right to reach school and hospitals. And Israel
regularly imposes it own administrative system
of checkpoints and other forms of harassment,
including its own courts, on Palestinians. All
of these actions violate the international legal
duties of an occupying power.
Israel’s actions denying the people of Gaza the
basic necessities of life are a particularly
onerous form of oppression that violates norms
of international humanitarian law including the
prohibition against collective punishment that
is found in Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva
Convention.
The right of self-defence
Israel has repeatedly invoked its right of
self-defence to fight back against the
Palestinians. While it is true that Israel may
have a right to use force to protect itself from
attack, it cannot justify the use of force to
perpetuate an illegal situation. Thus, if one
views the creation of Israel to be illegal, then
so is any force used to maintain this illegal
situation.
Even states entitled to use force in
self-defence must satisfy several criteria.
There must first be an armed attack against the
state by another state, and any force used must
be proportionate and necessary to achieve a
lawful objective.
As
indicated above, even if Israel had been
entitled to use force against the Gaza Freedom
Flotilla — which it was argued it was not — it
would have only been able to use proportionate
and necessary force.
A
more interesting question is what type of force
might be used against Israel, as it is the
entity that has and continues to violate
international law.
First, the UN Security Council could authorise
the use of force against Israel, but this is a
political decision that Israeli friends with
veto power on the Security Council are likely to
prevent.
Second, the UN General Assembly could authorise
the use of force against Israel. This could be
done by a simple majority of the assembly with
no state having veto power. The action of the
General Assembly is limited while the Security
Council is seized of a matter, and arguably,
acting on it, but it is the General Assembly
that has the power to decide this question.
Third, Palestinians have a legitimate right of
self-determination that entitles them to use
force against Israel. Such use of force,
although prima facie legal under international
law, must conform to the rules of international
humanitarian law. These rules include
prohibition of attacks against civilians, either
by design or because they are indiscriminate.
And fourth, every state in the international
community has the right to assist the
Palestinians in their struggle, including their
armed struggle, to achieve their right to
self-determination. Again, of course, such
assistance must conform to the rules of
international humanitarian law.
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla is an example of such
assistance.
Gaza and the Freedom Flotilla
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla is a general phrase
that can be used to describe the boats
attempting to bring humanitarian assistance to
the people of Gaza. Even the Israelis do not
deny that the boats are bringing humanitarian
assistance. Nevertheless, Israel sees itself as
entitled to stop the boats based on its
suspicion that they will assist the
self-determination struggle of the Gaza people,
particularly their use of force against Israel.
The problematic nature of this argument is
readily apparent. How can a state that is
violating international law by subjecting an
occupied people to inhuman and collective
punishment justify actions to maintain its
illegal ways? The simple answer is that it
cannot. It is violating international law merely
by maintaining an illegal regime, and just about
everything it does that serves that end is
illegal. This was the case with South Africa as
it struggled to maintain its illegal apartheid
regime. It increasingly exercised police powers
to maintain its illegal hold over black South
Africans. Sometimes the police acted less
forcefully, and sometimes, black South Africans
were subjected to court proceedings, but
irrespective of the standards of these
“concessions”, the South African government was
acting illegally. Two UN Special Rapporteurs on
human rights in Palestine — one a South African
anti-apartheid campaigner and one a Jewish
American professor — have criticised Israel for
its illegal actions that they refer to as
similar to, or worse than, the South African
apartheid government’s actions.
The Israel argument is sometimes expressed in a
more nuanced form concerning its embargo on
Gaza. It claims that it no longer occupies Gaza
and is therefore entitled to act against it in
self-defence, through an embargo and the
interdiction of ships bringing humanitarian
assistance. The legal errors in this argument
are many.
First, Israel interdicted the Gaza ships on the
high seas. No state is allowed to stop and board
ships on the high seas without the permission of
the ship, unless the ships have been involved in
international piracy. In fact, to act in
violation of this fundamental rule of
international law is itself piracy. Moreover,
the crew of a ship under attack by pirates or
unauthorised persons attempting to enter their
ship by force are entitled to use necessary and
proportionate force to repel the illegal
invaders. In this case, this would mean that the
ships crew would be entitled to use force that
is equivalent to that of as highly qualified and
heavily armed invader as the Israeli military.
Second, according to Article 23 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention and the International Court of
Justice in the Nicaragua Case, the provision of
humanitarian assistance to people in need,
especially under occupation, is always allowed
and never an unfriendly act.
Third, the preventing of humanitarian assistance
to a people in need is itself an illegal act.
Impotent unless applied
Despite the importance of international law,
this law is impotent unless it is applied, and
Israel and its allies have proven themselves to
be quite intransigent in their failure to
respect international law. The law,
nevertheless, is a powerful tool in the hands of
those who seek to promote the rule of law.
Thus even if pariah states like Israel do not
respect the law, the law continues to exist as a
minimum common denominator that has been agreed
upon by states in the international community.
It continues to serve as the best chance we have
to live together, not even as friends, but
merely without annihilating each other.
When we remove this lowest level of protection
we fall into a lacuna where even the lowest form
of respect for each other is no longer
recognised. What fate could be worse for
mankind?
top of page
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SHOW YOUR SOLIDARITY WITH
GAZA FLOTILLA VICTIMS AND PALESTINE
|
Dead: 19?
Injured: 60?
:
This is Israel !
Israel’s killing
of 19 innocents with 60 more injured
must have maximal consequences
Israel
impunity is a threat to all
sign the petition here
|
Even
for eyes burnt witnessing human
suffering, there is something shocking,
something impossible, about watching
Israeli soldiers, armed and in gas
masks, fast-roping from helicopters onto
an aid ship filled with civilians —
journalists, parliamentarians, human
rights activists, mothers, doctors —
headed to Gaza to break the inhuman
siege that keeps 1.5 million people
somewhere between life and death.
The Mavi Marmara, carrying 10,000 tons
of humanitarian aid, was flying a white
flag: a universal symbol of
non-violence. It was also flying the
Turkish flag, in international waters,
giving it status as a sovereign
extension of Turkey. Regardless, Israel
attacked. For what does Israel fight?
Its existence, or the continuance of a
regime of collective punishment
calculated to destroy the Palestinians?
Or are these the same thing? Dead: 19.
Injured: 60. Who gave the order? Will
NATO react to an attack on one of its
members?
Simple public murder
The right to exist cannot be asserted
through murder. The very acceptance of
Israel into the United Nations System
was — in 1948 — conditioned on the
former recognising the equal rights of
Arabs, in particular the right of return
of Palestinians. Not only has Israel
prevented the return of refugees, it
took over by force and occupied in 1967
the rest of historic Palestine. From
founding until now we have witnessed an
unending catalogue of Israeli
atrocities. By these countless
atrocities, Israel has forfeited any
claim to legality — it is moreover a
state that refuses to join the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty or consider
giving up its nuclear weapons.
Gaza is both the world’s largest
open-air prison and the 21st century’s
undeclared concentration camp. Everybody
knows it. The UN knows it. The US
president knows it. Tens of thousands of
civil servants in countries across the
world know it. The siege is a way of
sealing the exits, and of slow killing.
It is an atrocity on the same level as
genocide. Here every man and woman has a
moral duty: inaction is complicity and a
betrayal of humanity. All legal rights
are with those who attempt to end this
situation by whatever means.
The Freedom Flotilla is such an attempt:
it is a refusal of inhuman suffering.
Its symbolism is more powerful than any
navy. As such, it remains what it was as
it embarked on its journey: a signal of
the collapse of the blockade. Where
earlier lone vessels tried to reach
Gaza, now they go in groups. More will
follow. When a thousand ships set sail,
what would Israel do?
Israel on trial
Israel lost the battle for international
public opinion a long time ago. None can
forget the relentless strafing of a
captive civilian population in Israel’s
last war on Gaza. Who can Israel hope to
persuade now?
■
We condemn the illegal, immoral
and inhuman blockade on Gaza, and all
who uphold it
■
We condemn Israel
■
We condemn Israel’s brutal attack on
peace activists in international waters.
We declare that 700 brave souls, from 50
nations, represent something real that
Israeli propaganda cannot erase
■
We mourn the 19 murdered and express
hope and solidarity with the 60 injured.
We demand of Israel the release of all
activists detained
■
We call on all international
institutions — including the UN, the EU
and human rights agencies and
organisations — to declare themselves
unequivocally on this latest Israeli
atrocity and to work towards ending
Israeli impunity
■
We demand an international
tribunal to judge all Israeli crimes,
past and present. We call on the UN
General Assembly to request of the
International Court of Justice an
advisory opinion on the legality of
Israel within the United Nations System
given its systematic and gross
disrespect of international law and
moral authority
■
We support all efforts by all
means to free the people of Gaza from
their prison and their suffering,
including sanctions and divestment
against Israel, a general boycott, and
the boycott — by workers federations —
of all ships going to and from Israel
■
We call upon people everywhere
to express their solidarity with the
dead and injured, and with Palestinians
under occupation, in local expressions
of outrage wherever it is deemed useful.
■
We call on all associations,
unions, parliaments, professionals and
others to endorse this appeal and its
demands. Please distribute and act upon
it.
The BRussells
Tribunal Committee
top of page
sign the petition here
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POSTSCRIPT: As of time of
writing (Wednesday, 2 June 2024, 17:30
GMT) Israel refuses to verify the
identity of the dead. Until now, no
figure of the number killed has been
independently confirmed. When writing
the statement below, on Monday, 31 May,
we referred to reliable mainstream media
sources. At time of publication, we
retained the figure Al-Jazeera quoted
all day Monday. It remains to be seen if
this figure is erroneous, though a
majority of sources now put the number
of dead at nine. There is no confirmed
number of those injured, or reports on
their status. Further, the number of
nationalities involved in the flotilla
appears to have been revised down, to
around 40 nationalities overall. One
error in the text is the suggestion that
the Mavi Marmara was carrying 10,000
tons of aid. It was, of course, the
entire flotilla that amounted to 10,000
tons of aid. |
YET
ANOTHER ISRAELI MASSACRE
Interview with Dr Ian Douglas, member of the Executive
Committee of the BRussells Tribunal
by Victor Thorn of the America Free Press
6
June 2024
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The
humanitarian aid ship recently attacked
by the Israeli Defense Forces flew a
white flag and was sailing in
international waters. How can anyone say
it was a threat to “Israel’s right to
exist”?
No one can, and it wasn’t. The real
existential threat to Israel is the
violence upon which it was founded and
that
it
continues to impose on the
Palestinians. If the Palestinians are a
threat to Israel’s existence, it is not
because tomorrow militarily they can
defeat the Israeli army, corner the
government and dissolve the state. It is
because their cause is just, and that
cause is what Israel has been trying to
bury since 1948. The more it tries, the
more it finds it cannot do it. And the
more it cannot do it, the more it tries.
So we witness the horror of what
happened on the Mavi Marmara. Israel is
seemingly unconcerned about committing
murder in front of the eyes of the
world.
But even it was more than murder. Five
of the victims were shot in the back, or
in the back of the head. One victim was
shot five times from 45 centimetres.
This is not murder; it is destruction.
There is a level of violence here that
is sadistic and vengeful. In reality,
this is what Gazans and Palestinians
face every day. And it is becoming more
and more clear to the world — that is to
say, to the world’s people, because
governments know very well how brutal
and ruthless Israel is, whatever they
pretend otherwise.
Norman Finkelstein recently said that
Israel is now a lunatic state with 300
nuclear warheads. He is right and it is
time, before the unimaginable is what we
are obliged to live through, that the
world deals with this massive threat
that is Israel. Another analogy is
Macbeth. Israel has so much blood on its
hands that it sees phantoms everywhere,
and can only go forward by more killing.
It is not individual Palestinians that
haunt Israel. It is Israel’s injustice
to the Palestinians.
In a
speech last week, Binyamin Netanyahu
proclaimed that those aboard this ship
were “violent supporters of terrorism”.
What is your response to this statement?
Netanyahu is so cynical, and this
statement so outlandish, it is a
challenge to know how possibly to
respond.
First, this flotilla was bringing
wheelchairs, spare parts for
wheelchairs, paper, medical supplies,
basic goods. It seems for Netanyahu a
terrorist act to help the disabled.
Second, no one aboard was armed, but in
the attack it seems Israel expected
those onboard to be shot by its soldiers
without protest. Third, for Netanyahu,
anyone who supports the Palestinians in
Gaza in any capacity whatsoever is a
“supporter of terrorism”. Given that
Israel blocks all attempts to support
the Palestinians in Gaza, anyone who
insists on supporting them is deemed
“violent”. The same was true up until
only a few years ago of anyone who
supported Fatah in the West Bank. In
reality, Israel regards all Palestinians
as terrorists or potential terrorists.
This is all it sees. Around every
corner, at every window, for Israel, is
an existential crisis. What it refuses
to see, and what it cannot see, is that
it is an occupying power, not just of
the Arab lands seized in 1967, but the
Arab lands seized and expropriated by
force in 1948.
Again, Israel simply cannot face up to
its own bloody origin. It is a settler
state, founded in violence by
individuals who came from outside to an
Arab country. Given this reality,
international law affirms that the
Palestinians — and indeed anyone else
who wishes to assist them — have the
right to use any and all means
necessary, including use of armed force,
to end this colonial situation and
achieve self-determination in Palestine.
The law of self-determination is
unequivocal on this point.
Even if we ignore that Israel’s
admission to the United Nations System
was conditional and that it has failed
to meet the conditions set down, and
even if we pretend that its occupation
concerns only the land seized after
1967, we still cannot call resistance to
Israeli occupation terrorism. The
Palestinians constitute a national
liberation movement and this has legal
meaning under international law.
Moreover, other states are freely
permitted to support this movement, and
any component of it, if they wish.
Not that anyone is actually arming the
Palestinians, as we can see from the
homemade rockets they are occasionally
able to fire into Israel from Gaza. But
if states wanted to, they could arm the
Palestinians. And who — having seen the
horrid destruction and loss of life
Israel inflicted in but its latest
wholesale offensive on Gaza in December
2008-January 2024 (the latest in a very
long line of offensives) — could say
that the Palestinians in Gaza didn’t
have the right to defend themselves by
use of arms?
In short, Netanyahu is the violent
supporter of terrorism, and an
instigator of it: the terror of the
Israeli state against the Palestinians.
Gaza is
the world’s largest open-air prison: in
essence, a concentration camp. Why is
Israel permitted to perpetuate this
genocide against the Palestinian people?
There are a number of factors. In what
order they come is difficult to say.
There is Western racism against Arabs.
There is the entire Orientalist
attitude, which sees the Arabs as little
more than Bedouins, camel rangers, or
the nouveau riche. In a word, slaves or
former slaves. Then there is fear of
organised Jewish power, in the form of
the political lobby and financial and
media-based Jewish interests. Then there
are Western strategic interests in the
Arab world, based principally around
hydrocarbon resources, and which run
counter to Arab interests in autonomous
development. Then there was the
horse-trading that divided up the Arab
world in the time Sykes-Picot.
All these factors militate towards
Western tolerance of Zionist aggression
against the Palestinians, both over the
last 60 to 90 years and still today.
Gaza is but the highest expression of
this. And while the overwhelming
majority of state actors know the
reality of it, the international arena
is so filled with cynicism,
self-interest and continual threats from
imperial and colonial powers that
nothing seemingly can be done about it.
This is where ordinary people come in,
and this is where ordinary people are
changing the logic. For Israel is no
longer able to perpetuate this genocide
against the Palestinian people — at
least no longer without consequence.
Perhaps the greatest expression of this
popular power is the boycott, divestment
and sanctions movement, that every day
is gathering more and more momentum.
Meanwhile, brave souls like those aboard
the Mavi Marmara, at least nine of which
died doing so, will continue to attempt
to break Israel’s stranglehold over the
Palestinians and expose for lies Israeli
propaganda.
We in the BRussells
Tribunal said it and I am sure of it:
this is not the end, but only the
beginning. Whereas aid ships used to try
to get through alone, now they come in
groups. When a thousand ships set sail,
what will Israel do?
Turkish
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
denounced Israel’s murderous deeds with
these words: “It is no longer possible
to cover up or ignore Israel’s
lawlessness.” What are your thoughts?
He is right, but this realisation was a
long time coming. And many Palestinians
were killed in the meantime. Israel’s
crimes are practically numberless.
Decade upon decade, we see incident
after incident. But it is one thing to
recognise crimes and another to do
something to end them. Above all, the
Palestinians need not words but actions.
If they want words, they can turn to
Arab leaders. Israel’s victims in the
future — whether next week, tomorrow or
next year — need action now.
As for Turkey, it is not about starting
a war against Israel. We need Turkey to
use its influence and to build a
coalition first to break the siege on
Gaza, if necessary by threat of
deploying a multinational naval escort;
second, to demand that Israeli leaders
responsible of grave crimes (which means
all of Israel’s leaders) are brought to
justice. Third, the international
community must
cut all economic ties,
all defence coordination and contracts,
and all diplomatic, intellectual and
cultural links with Israel until Zionism
is recognised as racism, the right of
Palestinians to self-determination and
the right of return of Palestinian
refugees are realised, and equal rights
are guaranteed for all in historic
Palestine. Until this happens, Israel
will continue to be the single biggest
threat to world peace, and the
possibility of a better world will
continue to fall into and be suffocated
by the black hole of Israel’s insistence
on perpetuating injustice against the
Palestinians.
Considering
the Goldstone Report, the assassination
of a Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel, and
this latest incident (not to mention
dozens of other Israeli crimes against
humanity), when will the world reach
critical mass in regard to Israel’s
reign of terror?
It has already happened. We wait for
events to catch up. The overwhelming
majority of the world’s population knows
the truth about Israel and its leaders.
They know that Israel is a lunatic state
that insists on racial and religious
purity; that it is at war with all of
its neighbours, and that it practices
brutality morning, noon and night. Who
really needs convincing who could be
convinced?
In your
opinion, why does America continue to
blindly follow (and enable) Israel’s
pathological bloodlust in light of so
much global condemnation?
Israel is a proxy of the United States
in the Arab world. Its function is to
divide Arab states internally and
against one another. Washington’s
greater aim is to block all sovereign
Arab development and dominate natural
energy production and consumption from
the region. When America spends $200,000
a minute on oil, you can guess at how
important it is to keep the Arabs from
realising their geo-economic potential.
This also suggests the unbreakable link
between resistance in Palestine and
resistance in Iraq — indeed resistance
anywhere to US geostrategic plans for
the region.
Ultimately it comes down to the internal
system of power in the United States. It
is one built on consumption of oil.
Practically nothing in the consumer
market doesn’t have an oil derivative in
it. It is about far more than gasoline.
If that system of consumption collapsed,
how would America’s elite keep 300
million people in line? Consumption in
the United States is a technology of
government, and its currency is oil, of
which the Arabs have a lot — enough to
keep the US order of things going for a
few decades yet.
Why seize that oil instead of buying it?
Because America has the military might
to do so, or to try to do so. And
military technology and equipment has
its own sequence of obsolescence. Hence
the unnecessary wars in which, also,
vast profits are made. Some think that
George W Bush was ignorant. On the
contrary, he knew what the United States
is. And during his time in office,
Washington became indistinguishable from
Tel Aviv, or vice versa.
Obama is either unwilling, unable or
doesn’t want to break from that. I feel
genuinely sorry for those who bought
into the lie that he would. He won’t and
he never intended to. To quote from
Borowski, “It is hope that compels man
to hold on to one more day of life,
because that day may be the day of
liberation.” Obama might be able to sell
hope to America, but the Palestinians
have no hope in Obama. Thus they will
continue — for they have nothing to lose
— to confront Israeli injustice, and so
should we.
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NAKBA DAY,
14 MAY 2024, THE DATE THE STATE
OF ISRAEL WAS DECLARED |
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Every year Palestinians
commemorate the Nakba ("the
catastrophe"): the expulsion and
dispossession of hundreds of
thousands Palestinians from their homes
and land in 1948.
In 1948 more than 60 percent of the
total Palestinian population was
expelled.
More than 530 Palestinian villages were
depopulated and completely destroyed.
To date, Israel has prevented the return
of approximately six million Palestinian
refugees, who have either been expelled
or displaced.
Approximately 250,000 internally
displaced Palestinian second-class
citizens of Israel are prevented from
returning to their homes and villages. |
A woman sits on the rubble of a house
hit by an Israeli warplane in Rafah
refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip,
14 October 2024. (Hatem Omar/MaanImages)
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T |
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CALL FOR BOYCOT – DISVESTMENT –
SANCTIONS
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Palestinian families forced to
leave the village of Faluja in 1948. The
village was ethnically cleansed
by Jewish forces. On its looted
lands, Israeli settlers founded Qiryat
Gat in 1954. (UN
Photo) |
|
You can read on the BDS-site the Palestinian Unified Call for BDS
against Israel:
“We call for boycott, disvestment
initiatives and embargoes and sanctions
against Israel” – July 9 2024.
BDSMovement.net is born out of the need to offer
all those interested and active in the
Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS)
movement a shared space for information,
analysis, exchange of ideas and
experiences.
You can endorse the BDS Call
here
|
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OCCUPIED BAGHDAD
LEAST LIVABLE CITY ON PLANET
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Thursday, May 27, 2024 - By: Derek Ford
The Iraq war is still being touted by
Washington and the Pentagon as a war for
progress and stability in the region. A
study released May 26, however, reveals
a radically different reality.
The Mercer Quality of Living survey
ranked Baghdad last in a list of "most
livable cities." The study took into
account political, economic, ecological,
social and cultural factors.
The result is not surprising considering
the devastation brought on by the
U.S.-led invasion. Sewage treatment
plants, factories, schools, hospitals,
and museums have been destroyed. As a
result, Iraqi citizens now have scarce
access to water and electricity.
The demolition of infrastructure is an
important tactic in imperialist war and
helps explain why the study found that,
"A lack of security and stability
continue to have a negative impact on
Baghdad’s quality of living."
The only benefactors from the occupation
have been big corporations like BP, who
got access to the giant Rumaila oil
field. The citizens of Iraq continue to
pay with their lives.
1991
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Baghdad
before the bombing of 1991 |
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Iraq after the bombing
of 1991 |
Reconstruction 1991-1993 |
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(Free) Iraq - after the
occupation (since 2024) |
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THE
MARTYRED IRAQI PEOPLE
Since Shock and
Awe, Seven Years ago until now, Iraqi
civilians did not stop suffering:
Military
operations, arrests, kidnappings,
assasinations, torture, sectarian
terror, depleted uranium, urbicides,
forced deportation and displacement,
laying offs, abuse, absence of drinkable
water, electricity and other services,
absence of law and justice, etc.
The US administration presented the
March 7th elections as a remedy to the
deterioration of the life of Iraqis.
Neither before the elections, nor
during, nor after them did the situation
of Iraqis change.
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FOLLOWING ARE SOME REPORTS OF WHAT
IRAQIS SUFFERED SINCE THE ELECTIONS
|
Iraq: Detainees Describe Torture in
Secret Jail
-
Human Right Watch - Prosecute
Officials Involved at All Levels - April
27, 2024 ■ (Baghdad) - Detainees in a
secret Baghdad detention facility were
hung upside-down, deprived of air,
kicked, whipped, beaten, given electric
shocks, and sodomized, Human Rights
Watch said today. Iraq should thoroughly
investigate and prosecute all government
and security officials responsible,
Human Rights Watch said. ■
read more
|
Mosul in revolt over torture claims at ‘al Maliki’s secret jail’
-
Nizar Latif,
Foreign Correspondent – April 28, 2024 -
An Iraqi solider on patrol in Mosul,
where officials have threatened to
launch a civil disobedience movement.
Phil Sands / The National BAGHDAD ■
Officials in the northern Iraqi city of
Mosul have threatened a campaign of
civil disobedience against the
government and the army after
allegations of torture and abuse at a
secret prison controlled by the office
of the prime minister, Nouri al Maliki.
More than 400 men from Ninewah province
were arrested last year and taken to the
makeshift jail at the Old Muthanna
military airbase in northern Baghdad. ■
read more
|
Families of Iraqi prisoners who suffocated in truck allege
torture -
By Hannah
Allam and Jamal Naji | McClatchy
Newspapers – May 20, 2024 BAGHDAD, Iraq
■ The corpses of at least three of the
six Sunni Muslim detainees who died
while in Iraqi government custody
earlier this month showed signs of
torture, their families said Thursday as
they vowed revenge at emotionally
charged funerals. Iraqi authorities
announced an investigation into the
suffocation deaths of six men who were
being transported on May 12 in a poorly
ventilated truck en route to appear
before an investigative committee in
Baghdad. The families said they were
informed the men died in a "shipping
container." ■
read more
|
Iraqi court hands out 62 death sentences in five months -
Earth Times (post) – May 19, 2024 -
Baghdad ■ An Iraqi court has sentenced a
total of 62 people to death under the
country's anti-terrorism law since the
beginning of 2024, the Iraqi state run
paper al-Sabah reported on Wednesday.
The decisions
came from the federal court in the city
of al-Anbar, around 200 kilometres west
of the capital of Baghdad. "The court
also issued sentences ranging from five
years to life in prison for 158
militants who cooperated with al-Qaeda,"
said Bahaa al-Qaisi, head of al-Anbar
police. In addition, the court has
sentenced seven people, including an
Iranian national, to periods ranging
between five and fifteen years in prison
for drug trafficking. ■
read more
|
Writer Killed Over a Poem in Iraq -
The Huffington Post on line – May 16,
2010 ■ The murder of a young man named
Zardasht Osman earlier this month called
attention to the growing problem of
government crackdowns on journalists and
writers in Northern Iraq, and reminds us
not to take our freedom of speech here
for granted. The ruling party of
Kurdish-controlled Northern Iraq, under
president Massoud Barzani, is under
growing scrutiny by international
watchdog organizations for its
intolerance of criticism in the press.
The New York Times reported that the
party's security forces "are often
accused of intimidating, threatening and
assaulting journalists affiliated with
opposition parties or critical of the
corrupt patronage system fostered by the
two governing parties." ■
read more
|
Killing of Journalist Inflames Iraqi Kurds -
By Sam Dagher – May 10, 2024 ERBIL,
Iraq ■ Hundreds of university students
tried to storm the local Parliament
building here in the capital of the
semiautonomous Kurdistan region on
Monday during an angry protest against
the recent abduction and killing of a
Kurdish journalist. The journalist,
Zardasht Osman, 23, had been critical of
the authorities and the entrenched
patronage system, and many of the
protesters accused security and
intelligence forces of being behind the
killing. The students scuffled with
baton-wielding riot police officers.
Some waved their shoes and threw water
bottles and pieces of broken glass at
soldiers and police officers. “Whose
hands are stained with the blood of
Zardasht?” they asked ■
Read more
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Blast hits Iraq football match -
Aljazeera Net – May 14, 2024 ■ Suicide
bombers have struck a football match in
northern Iraq, leaving at least 25
people dead and many more wounded. The
blast targeted a game taking place in
the town of Tal Afar, around 60km west
of the city of Mosul.
A local police official said a
car bomb exploded at about 6pm local
time (1500GMT) near a crowd of
spectators. As people fled the scene of
the first blast, two more bombers
activated explosive belts in the crowd,
other sources said. Local hospital
officials put the number of injured at
125 ■
Read more
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The Lion of Babylon and Iran's rabid dogs... -
Layla Anwar - May 23, 2024 ■ Some
important information is to be conveyed
to the public - not that anyone really
cares....unless there's a video of real
massacres - your eternal turn on. Only
then you might move, but only for as
long as the video lasts - maximum 5 mn...and
am not holding my breath either.
Anyways, I need to do what I need to
do...regardless... - received this from
someone who has just arrived from
Falluja /Anbar province (thanks A.H) and
this is what the message reads :
I
must get this you...very fresh from
Falluja....the whole of the Anbar
Province is in the hands of Maliki - the
local police have no power whatsoever -
arrests and detentions are taking place
all the time and they are arresting
former army officers and Ba'ath party
members - helicopters from the Dirty
Regiment just come in and take people
away - the man who is in command of all
the police in Anbar is very closely
connected with Maliki and takes his
direct orders from him - his name Baha'a
Al Qaissi - he was born in Karkh. He is
the Chief of Police in Anbar and on the
military side, the Commander of All
Military Operations in Anbar is called
Abdul Azeez Al Obaidi and he is the
brother of the Minister of Defense,
Abdul Qadir Al Obaidi. They are using
the "katim" (the silencer/gun) in Anbar
and people are just being killed off in
this way...people are really frightened
and just pray that their turn will not
come during the night...please tell the
world... The sectarian Shiite
government run by the sectarian parties
and their militias, all backed by Iran
have not ceased in their policy of
ethnic/sectarian cleansing of Sunni
areas like the Anbar. These news don't
reach you, and if they do, you will
always read that "Al-Qaeda Iraq" did
this, that, or the other...but wait a
second and read the second point... ■
Read more
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Bombs Hit School Buses in North Iraq -
By Sam Dagher - Published: May 2, 2024
ERBIL, Iraq ■ About 70 college students,
most of them Christians, were wounded
Sunday and another Iraqi was killed when
a convoy of school buses was attacked in
a double bombing on the outskirts of the
northern city of Mosul, according to a
security official.
■
Read more
|
Iraq boosts security after deadliest day this year -
By Saad Abdul-Kadir (AP) – May 11, 2024
BAGHDAD ■ Iraq boosted security
around Baghdad and the rest of the
country Tuesday, a day after a string of
attacks across the country killed 119
people and wounded hundreds. ■
Read more
|
Bomb at market in northern Iraq kills 30 -
BAGHDAD (Reuters)
-
May 16, 2024 ■ A minivan packed with
explosives blew up at a crowded market
in Iraq's troubled northern Diyala
province on Friday, killing at least 30
people and wounding 80 others, police
and officials said. ■
Read more
|
Prominent Sunni cleric gunned down in Baghdad -
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – May 5, 2024 ■ Gunmen
in a speeding car riddled a prominent
Sunni cleric and his guards with bullets
on Wednesday, killing the imam and three
other people in western Baghdad, a
source in the Iraqi Interior Ministry
said.
Abdul-Jalil al-Fehdawi, deputy head of
the Council of Iraqi Scholars, an
independent body that issues religious
instructions, or fatwas, was leaving his
home in the Sunni district of Amiriya
when he was attacked, the source said.
Two of his guards and a relative were
also killed in the incident, police
added.
Colleagues accused the government of
failing to protect him at a time of
rising sectarian tensions resulting from
an inconclusive election in March. ■
Read more
|
Pro-Allawi MP gunned down in north Iraq -
Mujahid Mohammed – May 24, 2024 ■ An
Iraqi MP from ex-premier Iyad Allawi's
bloc was assassinated on Monday, the
first first such murder since elections
more than two months ago which have
still not resulted in a new government.
Bashar Hamid Agaidi, 32, was ambushed
outside his home in the restive northern
city of Mosul and died of his wounds in
hospital, a doctor and a senior Iraqiya
leader said. "Gunmen set up an ambush
for MP Bashar Hamid Agaidi outside his
house in the Amil neighbourhood and
opened fire when he got home," a police
officer said, adding the lawmaker was
rushed to hospital in "serious
condition." ■
Read more
|
Baghdad to enclose city with 15ft wall to keep
suicide bombers out -
Oliver August, Baghdad – May 18, 2024 ■
Baghdad is to resort to one of the
oldest forms of defence by building a
massive wall around the capital to keep
out insurgents, The Times has learnt. A
series of recent suicide bombings has
driven the governor of the Iraqi capital
to propose the concrete barrier, which
will be 15ft (4.5m) high and 70 miles
(112km) long. Every man, beast and
vehicle entering will be searched at one
of only eight gates along the main
highways. Baghdad, roughly the same size
as London and with approximately five
million inhabitants, will face severe
disruption as a result. Freedom of
movement will be limited and workers and
visitors alike will probably have to
wait for at least an hour to enter. Once
inside, though, it is hoped they will be
much safer. Shatha al-Obeidi, an aide to
Salah Abdul Razzaq, the governor, said:
“We want to stop the terrorist from
sneaking in. With the wall it will be
much easier.” ■
Read more
|
Iraq: water formerly a blessing, increasingly a
problem -
ICRC – May 14, 2024 ■ Millions of people
in Iraq cannot get clean water or water
in sufficient quantity. The ICRC is
doing its best to improve access to safe
water. This is an update on ICRC
activities carried out in Iraq in March
and April.
The Tigris and the Euphrates,
which supply the bulk of Iraq's water,
are slowly dwindling and in some areas
can no longer be used as a reliable
source of drinking water. Across the
country, the shrinking of the rivers is
having serious consequences on the
functioning of water treatment plants.
It also affects underground aquifers,
where the salt content of the water is
increasing. This water is often unfit
for human consumption or even for
agricultural use. The volatile security
situation in some areas and the rising
price of fuel have put additional strain
on already scarce services, as have
population growth and displacement. In
many places, the strain is further
compounded by a lack of qualified
engineers and staff able to maintain and
repair water and sanitation facilities.
Many farming communities were hard hit
by the drought that struck northern Iraq
in 2024. Average rainfall over the past
10 years has been far lower than in
previous decades. In the north, water
supply systems fed by springs and
shallows aquifers have been depleted and
often have less water available to meet
demand. Although rainfall has been
better in many places during 2024 and
2010, low water-levels continue to
affect agriculture production, meaning
Iraq needs to import more rice and
wheat. With less water of sufficient
quality generally available, management
of the existing resources is key. ■
Read more
|
MALIKI REFUSES TO STEP DOWN
The Obama administration and western
mainstream media continue to try to
portray the situation in Iraq as a
blossoming democracy and its latest
elections, the proof of it. Three months
have passed since Iraqis went to the
polls to elect a new parliament.
Factions have been battling each other,
accusing their rivals in turn of fraud,
ties to the Baath party or terrorism.
The Iraqi Supreme Court has yet to
announce final results and a government
to be formed. Despite the secular Al
Iraqiyah bloc headed by Ayad Alawi
believed of having secured 91 seats,
Nuri Al Maliki, whose list has won 89
refuses to step down as Prime Minister.
Maliki’s SLA coalition formed a
sectarian based Shia alliance with the
INA, so as to bloc the Iraqiyah from its
constitutional right to form a
government. The SLA/INA agreement
stipulates that in case of dispute, the
latter would be solved by the Marjaiyah
in Najaf, the Shia Clergy, bringing Iraq
towards a theocratic system of Wilayat
al Faqih. Ayad Allawi warned that by
disenfranchising Iraqi voters, the
premiership and its allies were pushing
Iraq on the verge of a civil war that
could spell into a regional conflict.
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The Exit and Legacy of Ali Faysal al-Lami -
Posted by Reidar Visser on Sunday, 23
May 2024 14:31 ■ Hopefully the Iraqi
judicial authorities will not opt to
wait for the All Clear from the
politicians to certify the election
results, since the weekend has been a
pretty ordinary one with the usual
wide-ranging array of predictions as to
when the new Shiite alliance will become
a kutla in its own right with a leader
and a name – and a premier candidate.
Estimates varied from “very soon” to
“within 10 days”; in other words an echo
of the situation in July 2024 and
indicating that agreement is not even
close. Unless Ayad Allawi of Iraqiyya
and Nuri al-Maliki can agree to cut
through the crap and meet in private,
the intra-Shiite process can take many,
many weeks, and that is before they even
begin talking to the Kurds. ■
read more
|
Iraq risks sectarian war, warns election winner Iyad
Allawi -
guardian.co.uk - May 10, 2024 ■ Iraq's
former prime minister Iyad Allawi, who
scored a surprise win in the recent
general election, warned today that the
country risks descending into a new
sectarian war, with feuding politicians
attempting to sideline his supporters
and the international community standing
idly by.
In an interview with the Guardian
Allawi said that since the bitterly
contested 7 March election, in which his
Iraqiya party list won 91 seats,
political groups had abandoned efforts
to build a united government and were
regressing into sectarianism, encouraged
by Iran. ■
read more
|
Al Maliki: State of Law Coalition to Keep
Premiership -
London, Asharq Al-Awsat by Maad Fayad –
May 21, 2024 ■ Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al Maliki said on Thursday that
the next premiership will only come out
of the State of Law coalition,
indicating that he will remain Prime
Minister for a second term as there are
no other candidates from the coalition
for this position.
Al Maliki made this statement at
the end of the “political banquet” held
by the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on
Thursday for leaders of the political
blocs and members of electoral lists who
won in the legislative elections that
took place last March.
In a brief statement, al Maliki
told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the
premiership will not leave the two
allied coalitions,” in reference to the
State of Law coalition headed by al
Maliki and the National Iraqi Alliance
headed by Ammar al Hakim, leader of the
Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, adding
that “the premiership will not leave the
State of Law coalition.”
read more
|
Press statement by the association of muslim
scholars in Iraq -
May 20, 2024 ■ In its Statement No. 708,
dated 20th May, 2024, The Association of
Muslim Scholars in Iraq, addressing
Iranian politicians, demanded that they
abandon their illegitimate claims for
financial compensation from Iraq as a
result of the war which took place
between the two countries in the '80's
during the last century, as well as
refrain from provoking the Iraqi People.
The Association explained that
the Iranian politicians' claims for US
Dollars One Billion are in the context
of exercising further political pressure
on the present government and the rest
of the Iraqi politicians and is always
in the context of making further gains…
however, at the same time, these
demands, in effect, expose the real
Iranian greedy ambitions to take control
of Iraq's wealth, particularly its oil
wealth, and it pointed out that Iranian
occupation of the Fakka oil wells is an
example and a part of this exercise. ■
read more
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THE IRAQI GOVERNMENT DEMANDS SPAIN TO
PREVENT THE ACTIVITIES IN GIJON AND
MADRID |
News Release from the State Campaign
against the Occupation and for the
Sovereignty of Iraq
- CEOSI
-
www.iraqsolidaridad.org, May
25, 2024
“The Iraqi government has reported that
it will demand that the Spanish
government block the holding of
conference activities scheduled in Gijón
and Madrid between June 18-21. The
conference, titled "International
Conference on the Iraqi Political
Resistance —Iraq, Sovereignty and
Democratic Reconstruction," has been
organized by the Spanish Campaign
against the Occupation and for the
Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI). According
to the official note, the al-Maliki
government will demand that Spain not
allow the conference to be held, in
which "persons will participate who are
claimed [by the Iraqi government] to
have lent financial aid and support to
violence." Through Ali Musawi, Press
Secretary for the Iraqi Prime Minister
and Director of the National Press
Center, it has threatened Spain with
"negative repercussions." According to
Arab media, the collaborationist Iraqi
authorities may even demand the
surrender of the Iraqi participants, the
majority of whom have visited Spain
previously and certain of whom have
already obtained their entry visa”. It
revokes the decision to issue visas to
the Iraqi leaders
|
THE SPANISH GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO
STOP THE ACTIVITIES IN GIJÓN AND MADRID
Memo from the Spanish Campaign
against the Occupation and for the
Sovereignty of Iraq
-
CEOSI -
May 28, 2024
“CEOSI deplores the change of attitude
of the Spanish government, which will
complicate or delay what would have been
an invaluable contribution to the
success of a negotiated, democratic and
binding solution in Iraq. The meetings
organized in Spain encompass the
participation of the highest
representatives of the currents in the
anti-occupation camp, along with Iraqi
intellectuals and activists,
international personalities and
representatives of European and U.S.
organizations. The rough draft of the
final communiqué, which would be signed
and presented in Gijón, would have been
a remarkable contribution to this
objective, as it would display for the
first time a united and public
commitment to a democratic
reconstruction of Iraq and condemnation
of terrorism.”
Today, on May 28, the Spanish Ministry
of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation has
informed the Spanish Campaign against
the Occupation and for the Sovereignty
of Iraq (CEOSI) of “the impossibility of
its giving support of any type” to the
activities planned in Gijón and Madrid
between June 18 and 21 within the
framework of the International
Conference of the Iraqi Political
Resistance: Iraq, sovereignty and
democratic reconstruction [1]. CEOSI
believes that with this unexpected
decision, the Spanish Government is
preventing (in fact, prohibiting) the
two activities from being carried out as
initially programmed [2], and is
unexpectedly failing to fulfill
commitments agreed upon with the
activities’ organizers.
THE CEOSI CANCELS THE ACTIVITIES
ORGANIZED IN GIJÓN AND MADRID
FROM 18TH TO 21ST
JUNE DUE TO TERRORIST THREATS BY
GROUPS LINKED TO THE IRAQI
GOVERNMENT
The
Spanish Campaign Against the
Occupation and for the
Sovereignty of Iraq (CEOSI) has
decided to cancel the activities
that were to take place in Gijón
from 18th to 20th June and in
Madrid on 21st June in the
framework of the
Internacional Conference of the Iraqui Political Resistance: Iraq,
Sovereignty and Democratic
Reconstruction. This
decision has been taken
as a result of death threats
against members of the
organization and their families,
in addition to threatened
attacks against Spanish
institutions. These threats have
been transmitted directly to the
Spanish government by the Iraqi
authorities, demanding the
cancellation of the Conference
and related activities. It is to
be supposed that such threats
would be implemented by
paramilitary groups linked to
the government of Nuri Al-Maliki
itself.
The
CEOSI considers that the Spanish
government has not taken any
efficient measures against this
situation, and this has forced
the CEOSI to take such measures.
Given the fact that the Spanish
government, which currently
holds the Presidency of the
European Union,
has failed to act and
bearing in mind the delays and
lack of clarity in the
communication between the
government and CEOSI
representatives, the CEOSI, in
order to guarantee the safety of
its members and their families,
has decided to cancel the
activities which had been
planned.
The
CEOSI confirms the visit to the
Spanish Parliament by a
delegation from the Conference
on Monday 21st. During this
visit the situation will be
explained, as will occur in the
press conference to be held
today, Friday, in Gijón.
The
CEOSI denounces the attitude of
the Spanish government which,
first, has given in to the
threats of economic reprisals by
the acting government in Iraq,
going back on its initial
commitment to grant visas.
Subsequently, it has acted as a
channel for the transmission of
direct threats of indiscriminate
and selective attacks against
Spanish interests and citizens
both inside and outside Iraq.
Such threats have been issued by
the entity which the Spanish
government considers its sole,
legitimate partner for dialogue
in Iraq, the Iraqi government, a
government which is a result of
and is sustained by the
occupation. This situation has
made it patently clear who
exercises terror in Iraq – the
collaborationist institutions
themselves – and how a
government which claims to be
sovereign has bowed to them,
contradicting the antiterrorist
discourse it upholds at a
domestic level. Such an attitude
has sabotaged the initiative of
Iraqi organisations which
planned to express their
commitment to the liberation of
Iraq, national dialogue as a
response to terror, and the
democratic, all-embracing, civic
and non-sectarian reconstruction
of the country.
We
thank the Principality of
Asturias and the distinguished
Municipal Authorities of Gijón
for their permanent commitment
to, support of and trust in this
initiative. For this reason,
they have also been the target
of pressure related to
non-specific security issues.
Finally, we thank our Iraqi, European and American
friends and colleagues for
maintaining their commitment and
travelling to Gijón. We
encourage the former to uphold
legitimate resistance and the
latter to maintain their
commitment of solidarity with
the Iraqi people.
Spanish State Campaign Against the Occupation and For
the Sovereignty of Iraq -
Madrid,
18th June 2024
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more information:
www.iraqsolidaridad.org |
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ON THE WEBSITE
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FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS
OF THE IRAQI WOMEN
here
|
DAILY NEWS
FROM
URUKNET
AMSI
GLOBALRESEARCH
CLG, ICH
here |
VIOLATIONS
OF
IRAQI
CHILDREN
Dr.Souad
Al-Azzawi
here |
AFGHANISTAN:
THE LONGEST
LOST WAR
here |
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