Spinning the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Process

Spinning the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Process

by Stephen Lendman

New York Times editors, correspondents and contributors do it as well as anyone. They deceive regular readers in the process.

Illusions substitute for facts. Pro-Israeli bias reflects longstanding Times policy. The worst of occupation harshness goes unreported. Settler violence is ignored. Palestinians are blamed for Israeli crimes.

In their book titled "Israel-Palestine on Record: How the New York Times Misreports Conflict in the Middle East," Richard Falk and Howard Friel said:

"The Times regularly ignores or under-reports a multitude of critical legal issues pertaining to Israel’s policies, including Israel's expropriation and settlement of Palestinian land, the two-tier system of laws based on national origin evocative of South Africa’s apartheid regime, the demolition of Palestinian homes, and use of deadly force against Palestinians."

What's suppressed matters more than what's reported. Systematic Israeli state terror goes unmentioned. Militarized occupation's not an issue. Nor is international law guaranteed right of return.

Kafkaesque control dominates Palestinian life. Millions of long-suffering Palestinians are prisoners in their own land. 

They're held in bondage. They're virtual hostages. They suffer largely out sight and mind. They're persecuted. They're exploited. They're brutalized. 

Don't expect Times editors to explain. Managed news misinformation substitutes. It's longstanding Times policy.

Hardline Israeli control's reflected in numerous ways. International law protections don't matter. 

Over 2,500 military orders cover all aspects of Palestinian life. They include criminal, civil, political, economic, social, military and security issues.

Military Order 101 (Regarding Prohibition of Incitement and Hostile Propaganda Actions as amended) forbids gatherings of more than 10 Palestinians without advance IDF notice and permission.

Palestinians are prohibited from demonstrating. They can't express views freely. They're forbidden from engaging in peaceful protests. Displaying Palestinian flags, banners and symbols is criminalized.

Other orders authorize military tribunals without appeal, sweeping searches and seizures, land confiscation, settlement expansions, home demolitions, closed military zones, administrative detentions uncharged, exclusive Jewish development, checkpoints, resource exploitation, border closings, isolated communities, and virtually everything else affecting daily life.

Order 1650 (Prevention and Infiltration) and Order 1949 (Security Provisions) were issued in October 2009.

They're amendments to 1969's Order 329 (Order Regarding Prevention of Infiltration). 

They call Jordanians, Syrians, Egyptians and Lebanese entering Israel "infiltrators." They're subject to arrest, imprisonment and/or deportation.

Israel's longstanding policy to seize all parts of Judea and Samaria it wishes puts Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem residents at risk. 

Israeli military commanders can dispossess them. They can expelled them. They can issue a decree to do so.

It facilitates colonization and apartheid. It's a ruthless form of social, economic, political and military control. It violates fundamental international law. It doesn't matter. Militarized control enforces policy.

Repressive ghettoization reflects daily Palestinian life. Orders, rules, regulations, and permits govern the following:

• permitted home and village construction;

• building permit restrictions;

• home demolitions for code violations;

• land theft for Israeli "public purposes;"

• agricultural restrictions;

• crop destruction for violations;

• licensing and inspection of Palestinian businesses;

• closures anywhere, any time, for any reason.

• movement and travel restrictions within and outside the country; as well as

• numerous other politically motivated orders, rules, regulations and guidelines.

They deny fundamental civil and human rights. Israel claims otherwise. It spurns international laws and its own.

It ignores dozens of UN resolutions. They condemn and/or censure Israel. They deplore its longstanding lawlessness. They demand observance of rule of law principles.

It doesn't matter. Israel does what it pleases. It gets away with murder. It does so because international leaders don't intervene.

They ignore Palestinian rights. They hang them out to dry. They let Israel use intimidation, violence and belligerence. Israel's police state apparatus operates as an instrument of social control.

It institutionalizes repression. It furthers colonization and apartheid. It denies fundamental freedoms. 

It mocks democracy. It facilitates permanent conflict. It traumatizes children. It reveals Israel's dark side. It prevents peace.

Not according to New York Times editors. On July 25, they headlined "Inching Forward in the Mideast," saying:

Israel offered concessions, they claim. So did PA officials. John Kerry's optimistic. Future prospects are "unpredictable."

"Consequences of inaction (are) increasingly grave."

"No good can come if Israel, with its growing Palestinian population, evolves from a Jewish majority state to an Arab majority state; if disenfranchised Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza remain stateless in an increasingly restive region; and if the long sought dream of a Palestinian state is left to die."

Palestine's already a state. It's been one since November 15, 1988. The PLO adopted the Palestinian Declaration of Independence.

It includes all sovereign state rights. It qualifies for full UN membership. Israel deplores peace. It’s "inching" toward greater control.  Don't expect Times editors to explain. 

Don't expect them to demand occupation harshness end. Don't expect truth and full disclosure. Longstanding pro-Israeli bias matters more.

Times columnist Roger Cohen is one-sidedly pro-Israeli. On August 12, he headlined "One-State Dream, One-State Nightmare."

He deplores advancing Palestinian rights. Only Israel's matter. It shows in his writing.

On the one hand, he abhors one nation for all its people. Israel's an ethnocracy. It's the only developed country enforcing longterm lawless occupation.

It's the only one allowing one religious group rights. It's the only one persecuting 20% of its people. It does so for praying to the wrong God.

It's the only one enforcing Jewish supremacy over other religious and ethnic groups. It's the only able to do for decades with impunity.

Cohen calls one state for all its people "a seductive illusion." One state, he claims means "the end of Israel as a Jewish state, the core of the Zionist idea."

"Jews will not, cannot and must not allow this to happen." 

"They have learned how dangerous it is to live without a certain refuge, as minorities, and will not again place their faith in the good will of others, nor trust in touchy-feely hope over bitter experience."

They do so in America. They do it comfortably. They do so in other Western societies. Why not in Israel? Cohen didn't explain.

Before Balfour's 1917 declaration, Jews and Arabs lived peacefully with each other. They did so for centuries. 

At issue isn't Arab/Jewish hostility. It's racist state policies. It's belligerent ones. It's state-sponsored terrorism. It's police state repression.

It's supporting wrong over right. It's government of, by, and for privileged elites. It's fostering hate. It's prioritizing war. It's spurning peace.

Cohen and likeminded ideologues proliferate false notions. They believe in Jewish exceptionalism. They call Jewish suffering unique.

They believe Jews are "God's chosen people." They think Zionism's inherently righteous. They ignore its dark side. 

They call Israel an "extraordinary success story." Extremist zealots govern. Militarism's prioritized. So is state-sponsored terrorism.

Big Lies substitute for truth and full disclosure. Peace, equity and justice are considered "delusional fantas(ies)." So is Israeli democracy. It exists in name only.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. 

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com. 

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