Eyes on Iran

Sorry it has taken me so long to write on this - here are some quick posts that link to information on what is going on in Iran.

A short update: in the last weeks Iranians have been preparing for the presidential elections that took place last friday. These elections where somewhat different than previous elections since there were live televised debates between the candidates (that got pretty intense!). Since the election restults there have been serious acusations of election fraud particularly by Mousavi, the candidate who "lost" to the incumbant candidate Ahmadinejad. Most people imagined that there would be at least a close tie therefore necessitating a second run off. However the official election results show that Ahmadinejad won with 62.3 % of the vote. It is this number that has caused many people to think there might have been fraud.

So in the days since the election there has been MUCH activity. I can't talk about it all right now and I am definitly not the most qualified either :) So instead I will you point you in some good directions.

1) the BBC launched this year their Persian site which is a team of Persians and non persians working in London. They are now providing some of the most upto date information. Especially since for a while all phonelines, internet and even some TV broadcasting what cut from inside Iran. I recommend going particularly to this page of analysis.

2) I also encourage you (as always) to check out Helena Cobban's site and her analysis of the situation. Here is the link.

I promise to write more soon and keep you updated!

Another great one from Helena

Here is an important and easy to understand posting from Helena Cobban's blog titled Just World News (which I love and highly recommend to those interested in world affairs and more specifically the Israel and Palestinian conflict). She in turn posted this editorial which was written by Amos Gvirtz, an Israeli citizen who works intentionaly to inform his compatriots of how the Israeli government's occupation is affecting Palestinians. As Helena explains, "He was the founding chairperson of the Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions, and every week since summer 2006 he has published a short essay under the title “Don’t Say We Did Not Know.”

Here is a link to his website (which is worth checking out) and his editorial that was featured today on JWN.

Prioritizing Peace over Settlements

By Amos Gvirtz

A short while after his victory in the 1977 elections and his appointment as prime minister, Menahem Begin announced: "There will be many more Elon Morehs [an early ideological West Bank settlement]." And he went on to say, "So that a left-wing government will not be able to return the territories."

In order to give weight to this announcement, the Begin government declared the settlements to be areas of national priority. This meant that the government viewed the construction and development of settlements in the occupied territories as a supreme Israeli interest. And in fact, since then and until today the settlers receive extensive benefits, far beyond what is allocated to any other population in Israel. This is also true for industrialists and business people who build their factories and businesses in the occupied territories.

Since the Begin government, no Israeli government has changed this priority, including the Rabin government, which while it froze settlement construction, paved bypass roads for the settlers, with all their ramifications.

Thus even during the seven years of the Oslo process, no Israeli government changed the policy which viewed the establishment and development of settlements as a supreme Israeli interest! We witnessed a political process, which seemed to most of us to be a peace process, at a time when the occupation actually continued to deepen! And in fact, during the time of the Oslo process, the number of settlers increased from 110,000 to 204,000; Israel demolished more than 1,000 Palestinian homes in the occupied territories; implemented two expulsions; and confiscated some 40,000 acres of Palestinian land. From the Palestinian point of view, these are unilateral acts of war by an occupying power against a defenseless civilian population.

After the 1999 elections, Prime Minister Ehud Barak added fuel to the fire when he appointed Yitzhak Levy of the National Religious Party as Minister of Housing in his government. The results were not long in coming: construction in the settlements reached new heights. The Meretz Party, which also sat in Barak's government, fought against the corruption of the Sephardic religious party Shas (thereby deepening the rift with the Sephardic population in Israel), but failed in its role as guardian of the peace process. This failure marked one of the biggest mistakes of the Israeli Left, which occupied itself with political issues, while the Right created facts on the ground, with the goal of making the settlement process irreversible.

Israeli governments have developed a fixed pattern of behavior: they "agree" to American and European demands on the peace process, and at the same time deepen the occupation. We saw how the Olmert government did this during the Anapolis process.

Given all this, I have reached the conclusion that today the central demand of the Israeli Left must be, first and foremost, the cancellation of the priority status of the settlements in the occupied territories; the total cessation of funding for the settlements and the illegal outposts; upholding the law against settlers who expel Palestinian farmers from their lands and then take them over; the cessation of all land theft; a total cessation of house demolitions; a total cessation of the expulsion of Palestinians from the areas of the Southern Hebron Hills, the Jordan Valley, Jerusalem and Ma'aleh Adumim; the encouragement of settlers to return to Israel; and of course an end to the theft of West Bank and Golan Hight water. Only when these conditions are fulfilled, can it be said that the government of Israel has changed its policy from prioritizing the occupation to prioritizing peace, and only then will there be a chance for a political peace process to succeed."

Palestinian Resistance Art

Here is a post that comes from the blog KABOBfest. It's a very cool site that should be checked out on it's own account. This map was published by Strange Maps and made by a French man named Julien Bousac. The main point is "an illustration of the West Bank’s ongoing fragmentation based on the (originally temporary) A/B/C zoning which came out of the Oslo process, still valid until now. To make things clear, areas ‘under water’ strictly reflect C zones, plus the East Jerusalem area, i.e. areas that have officially remained under full Israeli control and occupation following the Agreements. These include all Israeli settlements and outposts as well as Palestinian populated areas.”

There is an interesting and short explination of some of the reactions to the map on Strange Maps
Feel free to ignore the on-going comments at the end - they are useless and unforutnately take away from the power of the artwork and the artist's original intent.

Mr. Lakhdar comes to Paris

Here is a short article from Le Monde mentioning that it has now been confirmed by the White House that the French government will be accepting Lakhdar Boumedienne, the man for whome the case Boumediene v. Bush was named. As you know from my pervious posts Boumediene and five other native algerians (who were living in Bosnia before their illegal abduction by US personelle)who figured in the prominent and important case that was handed down by the US supereme court this last June. Their case was the biggest turning poing and what you could call the iciing on the cake of a series of previous cases when the US Supreme Court determined that the legal framework set up by the Bush administration at GB was in fact illegal. Boumediene v. Bush famously restored the right to Habeas Corpus for detainees being held off US soil by US Military or CIA.

So now, after being held for almost seven years at Guantanamo Bay Mr. Boumediene is being moved to France. The logic is that since he is Algerian and speaks French that France will be a reasonable place for him to settle.

However, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has stated that they would accept preivous detainees of GB but that they would subsequently be put into French jails.

This is crazy as this man has never been charged of any crimes by the US or the French government and has wrongfully been held for SEVEN YEARS after being kidnapped from hims home country. He is likely in need of a good therapist, human dignity and to see his family - but he should not be put into another prison.

I will keep you updated.

International reaction to Bush administration torture

Spain's Judge Baltasar Garzon, the most prominent investigative magistrate in the country is opening up a case against former Bush administration officials for the system that they created resulting in torture that was "systematic and ordered at high levels of the US government." Read the article here.

This story is all the more intersting because Spain's court system has already used this "principle of universal justice" in an internationally high profile case against human rights abuses: that against the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. And it was the same Baltasar Garzon who brought the case!

Although Pinochet died before he was convicted of his crimes his case was (in the words of wikipedia) "the first time that several European judges applied the principle of universal jurisdiction, declaring themselves competent to judge crimes committed by former head of states, despite local amnesty laws."

Quite interesting. We will see where this goes.

Rendition and State Secrets - Federal ruling says NO

Hey guys - here you can find the link to the article in the LA Times detailing the case Mohamed vs. Jeppesen Dataplan Inc. The case deals with five men who were abucted in the CIA Extraordinary Rendition program and held for years in secret black sites by the CIA. These men alledge that they were tortured and the Bush administration and now the Obama administration have claimed that the information in the case (apparently including the information of what was done to the men while they were imprisoned) should be considered States Secrets and therefore not allowed into the courtroom.

This is an important issuse that is directly connected with the Bush doctrine but more importantly it is directly connected to the CIA's illegal and inhumane practice of Rendition which has been going on since the Clinton Administration.

Basics from a good source on Palestine and Israel conflict

I am happy to provide you with the link to some basic questions and answers about the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The page comes from a SF based organization called Jewish Voice for Peace. They are a cool organization and I think they have put together a fair, thoughtful and well researched document here.

The importance of water in the Israeli Palestinian conflict

Here is a link to a pretty large report published by the World Bank on April 20, focusing on the different aspects of water sources and availablity to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. For a good overview you can skim the Executive Summary that is available at the beginning of the report. It is about 18 pages but much more consise than the 135 page original document :)

Ahmedinejad's speech at the UN Conference on Racism, April 2009

I have finally found a transcript of the entire speech given by Iranian President Ahmedinejad at the UN conference on Racism. As you likely know it caused quite a ruckus with many diplomats leaving the room. However, there was also loud applause during the speech from those left in the room. It is long but interesting and worth reading to have an understanding of what Ahmadinejad really said and what those who left the room did not hear.

Exclusive Interview Between ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Here is an interesting recent exchange between George Stephanopoulos and the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. They talk about US Iran relations, Ahmedinejad's speech at the UN Durban conference, and if Palestinians accept a two state solution. Well worth reading.