SEPTEMBER 2005

A LETTER RECEIVED ON THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE BALFOUR AGREEMENT, ISRAEL ETC
niag_pal_news@yahoogroups.com
Re message from C.F. Bernadotte (any relation to Count > Folke Bernadotte, a truly great man?)  I hate to knit pick, but Resolution 181 (the Partition Plan) did not legitimize the creation of a "Jewish state," (i.e., Israel) in Palestine.  Passed by the General Assembly, Res. 181 was recommendatory only - it was never adopted by the Security Council which would have made
it binding. 

In fact, on May 15/48, when Israel declared itself a state the UN was in the process (as requested by Pres. Truman) to shelve the Partition Plan as it was deemed unworkable.  Given the alleged fait accompli of a Jewish state, however, the U.S. promptly recognized Israel (de facto) as did the USSR (de jure.) The Arab  League and the Palestinian delegation did accept Res. 181 as a basis of negotiations at the unsuccessful 1949 Lausanne Peace Conference, but only because Israel agreed at the conference and before the UN to abide by Resolutions 181 and 194 (re refugees) as a precondition for UN admittance. 

Needless to say Israel promptly broke its pledge once it was admitted to the UN and has been able to get away with ongoing territorial expansion by force of arms, more expulsion of Palestinians etc. because of US political protection and financial aid (now running at $16 mllion per day, 365 days a year.)

The 1917 Balfour Declaration did not guarantee Palestinians their "political" rights as an indigenous people, but it did guarantee the "political status" of Jews living outside of Palestine.    Nonetheless, because Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire in 1917, the Balfour Declaration had absolutely
no status in law as it violated the established legal > maxim Nemo dat quod non habet (nobody can give what he does not possess.)  Even Chaim Weizmann said the Balfour Declaration was "built on air."

Also, the Balfour Declaration did not call for a "Jewish State" or a "Jewish homeland" in Palestine. It ambiguously stated that Britain "view[s] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish peoples."  What exactly is a "national home?" All in all, Britain was very sneaky and devious.  As it continued to do,  Britain played both sides for its own gains.

Even though the Balfour Declaration was eventually included in the British Mandate for Palestine, the British govt. never committed itself to a Jewish state in Palestine.  Indeed, to do so would have violated the terms of the Mandate - a class A Mandate.

In any event, following the failure of its ludicrous utterly unacceptable and unjust (for Palestinians) 1937 Peel Plan (i.e. partition), with its 1939 White Paper Britain once and for all divorced itself from the idea of a Jewish state in Palestine.  Britain also abstained on the UNG vote regarding Res. 181, the 1947 Partition Plan. 

Boycott - yes or no

The following is translated from the notes in Hebrew which Adi Dagan of the Women's Coalition for Peace sent out.

On July 19, 2005 took place at the Left Bank Club (Hagada Hasmalit) in Tel Aviv an open discussion on the issue of boycotts and sanctions against the Israeli occupation policy. The idea was to have an initial discussion of Israeli peace activists and peace groups on this issue, which is already the subject of sanctions campaigns held by various organizations around the world (e.g. it came up in the UN-sponsored Civil Society Conference at Paris and the World Social Forum in Brazil, and there was the attempted academic boycott in Britain etc).

Four speakers opened the discussion which was moderated by Oren Medicks:

Yehudit Har'el expressed support for sanctions and for the cooperation of Israeli academics with such sanctions. Her main argument was that the various protest activities of the Israeli peace camp have failed in bringing about a concrete change - on the contrary, the situation in the Territories is constantly deteriorating - and therefore, something else must be tried. Most Israelis have not become convinced that the occupation is not worthwhile, and evidently think that is is (for them). Until they are made to pay a prohibitive price, they would not come to the conclusion of giving it up. Israelis are very sensitive to their international image and the attitude of the world towards them. and therefore international pressure would affect them.

Abir Kobty enumerated her own reasons for supporting boycott. She pointed several questions which need to be asked: Why did earlier boycotts not succeed? Should we in Israel declare openly our support for a boycott or act behind the scenes to help those who work abroad? A boycott on whom and by whom?  She pointed out that there are many plausible reasons to boycott Israel, including also the treatment the Palestinian citizens inside Israel, and said that boycott must be built up slowly so as to make it steady, carefully planned - and effective. In her view, one should start with addressing civil society rather then governments. There should be a comprehensive umbrella organization coordinating activities both inside the country and abroad.    

Dr. Ilan Pappe talked about the ineffectiveness of the peace camp in bringing about a change inside Israel, which "with a heavy heart" leads  to the need to appeal for outside pressure. He talked of academics and workers in Apartheid South Africa calling upon the International Community to boycott them - simultaneously with confronting the Apartheid policies of their own government. He said that the call for a boycott against the Israeli policies came from the Palestinian civil society rather than from the Palestinian Authority. He expressed his certainty that initiatives for boycott action will continue to spread, in spite of failures such as in Britain, and spoke of the need to be ready to pay the personal price of speaking out in favour of a boycott.

Dr. Yoav Peled expressed opposition to a comprehensive boycott on Israel, being against the kinds of boycott which hurts Israelis who are opposed to the occupation. He is apprehensive that outside pressure will cause Israelis to feel that "the whole world is against us" and will push the mainstream public closer to the settlers with the feeling that "we are all together in the same boat". It would be better to forge alliances between Israeli groups and equivalent groups abroad, and isolate the supporters of the occupation. He spoke at length about the preferential treatment which Israel enjoys in America and also in Europe, and which there is no chance to change. He supports selective boycotts - e.g. against the Ariel College, the Caterpilllar Company etc.

There were many reactions from the audience. Here are some:

The boycott should hurt the Israeli elites rather than the lower classes.
- Boycott should be combined with non-violent action against the occupation.
- Many people throughout the world are outraged at Israel and the US being effectively above International Law.
- In order to effective, boycott action should be pin-pointed.
- Even if it joins the boycott, the Israeli Peace Camp will do it very belatedly. The issue is already on the agenda, world-wide, and the only remaining question is whether Israelis want to influence it. As Israelis we must react, take a position: in favour or against, but it would be difficult to remain uncommitted.
- It is very important for Israelis and Jews to join, so as to ensure that it would be a boycott against the occupation policy and not become an anti-Israeli and/or antisemitic boycott (there are some groups which would like it to be such).
- Boycott mobilization has started among trade unions. In the case of South Africa it has taken some ten years for it to come to fruitition.
- Our job as Israelis would be to establish a data base about institutions which can be boycotted on different levels - for example, companies involved in building the Wall. There should be a centre of information and coordination.

The above is far from a comprehensive report of all that was said in the discussion.

Adi Dagan adi7_1@netvision.net.il

Deadly Sun Illuminates Israeli Blue Moon

By Genevieve Cora Fraser

The sad sun rose

Red waiting

Deadly developments

As settlers fought

With their tongues

Extradition

To a gold plated

Evacuation

Made for television

Suffering so intense

Hearts in tatters

Wept enraptured

By the exhibition

History in the making

Jews evicting Jews

From one promised

Land to another

8,000 would-be

Martyrs sold out

By Israeli politicians

Bowing to political

Pressure to posture

The Sacrifice

For the eyes of the world

To silence critics

As the final

Curtain is lowered

On the 38 year

Brutal Gaza Occupation

The applause

For their painful

Concession

Drowned out the million

Plus Gaza souls tormented

Daily humiliation

No house spared

The Black Death

Bred by military

Outposts

Settler subsidies

Bankrolled

A belief in entitlement

That justified

Routine shooting

At children throwing

Rocks as bulldozers

Bowled over their homes

In a crazed rubble

Landscape

Lives lived

Under helicopter

Gunships

Apache fighter

Jets screamed

Assassination

Strafing and bombing

Neighborhoods

Ignited

Resistance condemned

As tanks set-up

Positions

Adjacent elementary

Schools

Fired upon

School children

With back packs

And lunch boxes

Gunned down

Farmers walled out

From ancestral lands

Harvests rotted

Property abandoned

At gunpoint

Claimed as Israeli officials

Laughed up their sleeves

Israeli policies police

Palestinians

As the clock ticks

The countdown

To a walled non-existence

Denied subsistence

A million plus

Concentrated

Into a dead end

Encircled by concrete

An electrified

Barbed wire

Fence

Observation towers

Surveillance

Complete

Guns positioned

Gaza is Palestine

Palestine is Gaza

To be thrice

Encircled

By a colossal serpentine

An engorged

Monstrous

Barrier to life

As Bashar Fakgri al Kadri,

Twenty-three, a student

Returning from Al Najah

University in Nablus

Was detained

For amusement

At a checkpoint

 Israeli soldiers

Dug a deep hole

Handcuffed

Lowered him

Into a grave

Situation

Watched

To their satisfaction

As the August heat

Under the blazing

Sun scorched

Baked

Flesh and blood

Congealed

Deceased

He ceased

As the once

In a lifetime

Israeli Blue Moon

Rose like Blue

Death

Overtaking

Suffocated Palestine

As surgical

Incisions

Rip

Out the Arab heart

From Jerusalem.