May 1, 2006

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Let him go already (Ha’aretz) Israel continues to harass nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu

Two articles on arms industry profits from Middle East conflict (Occupation Maazine) Two articles examine widely increasing British arms sales to Israel and others in the Middle East

[JPN Commentary: The main message — and a very important one in my view — the following Haaretz op-ed by Yossi Melman exhorts the entering Minister of Justice to show courage and end the draconian measures to which nuclear whistle-blower Mordechai Vanunu has been subjected, despite serving his full prison term. In addition, I consider it worth noting that Melman reiterates an already known but not widely recognized perspective on Israel’s Supreme Court. Often considered an independent, liberal institution, both in Israel and abroad, the detailed history of the court’s rulings over decades of occupation, brutal repression and human rights violations, including (among many others) its rulings as the High Court of Justice against freedom of conscience for conscientious objectors, in fact demonstrates quite the opposite. The Supreme Court of Israel is extensively militarized and, in the vast majority of cases, complies with both the regime and the military in overriding justice and human rights in the interests of a thoroughly militarized concept of “national security”. As Melman writes below: “the Supreme Court under Aharon Barak, nearly always accepts the defense establishment’s requests. They, in effect, are a continuation of Israel’s security policy – through other means.” RM]

Let him go already
By Yossi Melman

26/04/2006

www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/709395.html

Almost secretly, with the information modestly tucked away in the margins of the news, the justice ministry has extended by a year the strict limitations imposed on Mordechai Vanunu. The extension was affirmed last week by the Supreme Court. Thus, the justice ministry once again responded without hesitation to a request by the defense ministry. Vanunu served out his entire sentence – 18 years in prison. He did so after a district court convicted him of aggravated espionage and treason in the wake of the Sunday Times reports in 1986 about the secrets he provided the newspaper regarding Israel’s nuclear option.

Vanunu was one of the very few prisoners in Israeli history whose sentence was not reduced for good behavior, nor was he given a single day’s furlough. For many years, he was imprisoned in solitary confinement, which nearly drove him insane. Two years ago, he was released and asked to leave Israel.

That’s when the vengeful machinery of the defense establishment – Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, the Shin Bet, and Yehiel Horev, head of security for the defense establishment – went into action. They imposed a series of limitations on Vanunu, restricting his freedom of movement and his right to social contacts. The worst of these restrictions is the ban on him leaving Israel.

The state claims that Vanunu remains a tangible risk to its security. That is a baseless argument, worrisome, immoral and unjust. It is baseless because Vanunu stopped working at the Dimona nuclear reactor more than 20 years ago and it is reasonable to assume that the reactor and Israel’s nuclear policies have undergone technological changes that outdate his knowledge; and if not, then the fact that the state of Israel is not working on improving its nuclear capabilities should be a cause for real concern. In any case, Vanunu speaks about what the world already knows and continues to know: Israel is a nuclear power.

Morally and legally, and from a democratic perspective, it is intolerable that someone who has been punished should be punished over and over again for the same sin for which he served such a heavy sentence. It should be remembered that it is precisely through the same argument of knowing state secrets that the Soviet Union prevented Jewish scientists from immigrating to Israel. By the same logic that guides the defense establishment and the judicial system, as long as Vanunu’s memory works, he can never leave Israel. Maybe he’ll be allowed to leave if he develops signs of senility.

It is easy not to like Vanunu. He has conflicts with many people, including with some of his few supporters. His family has cut off its ties to him. To purposely challenge the restrictions imposed upon him he has violated them a few times, and can expect to be prosecuted for such. He has gone close to border crossings in the territories and granted interviews to foreign journalists. He refuses to speak with Israeli reporters, including this writer. He argues that as long as he is forbidden to speak with foreigners altogether, including foreign journalists in particular, he will continue to boycott the Israeli press.

Vanunu converted to Christianity and is interested in leaving Israel to start a new life and family in a country that will agree to accept him. He should be allowed to do so. True, during the last two years the Supreme Court has accepted the arguments made by the defense establishment during hearings about Vanunu’s case. But that should not be surprising. The courts, including the Supreme Court under Aharon Barak, nearly always accepts the defense establishment’s requests. They, in effect, are a continuation of Israel’s security policy – through other means. It is also true that the former justice minister, Yosef Lapid, approved the package of restrictions that Mofaz and Horev delivered. But what could be expected from the “liberal” leader of Shinui, who on another occasion, when he was a TV personality, proposed using car bombs in densely populated Palestinian areas.

However, his replacement, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni can be expected to behave differently. In a relatively short time she has won a reputation as a judicious leader, who is moderate, reasonable and decent. In an era where responsible and serious leaders are rare, there are many people, inside and outside of Israel, who want to see her as prime minister. But to be such a worthy prime minister, her leadership must be tested. The Vanunu test may not be the most important or popular among those tests. Nonetheless, if the justice minister puts an end to the man’s ongoing harassment, which is entirely motivated by the defense establishment’s hunger for vengeance over the way he outwitted it, she would be demonstrating that she is made of the stuff from which leaders who are ready to swim against the popular course are made. By doing so, she would demonstrate compassion, healthy logic and a sense of justice toward a man who has suffered enough.

[JPN Commentary: The first article below, from the “Guardian”, was re-posted on “Occupation Magazine” by editor Victoria Buch. In 2002 the UK government claimed to be tightening controls on arms exports to Israel, after the latter’s breach of assurances that the arms would not be used against civilians in the occupied territories. Now, sales to Israel have now almost doubled in the space of a single year, to #25 million. UK officials contend that the government’s export licensing is stringent and transparent, ensuring ‘that no piece of kit is used for external aggression or internal repression’. A glance at the second article below, also posted on “Occupation Magazine” by Victoria Buch, is sufficient to call this statement into serious question. For instance, according to the first item, British export licenses were said to include (unspecified) armoured vehicles, while the Israeli incursions into civilian areas last Thursday were supported, according to the second report, by over 60 military vehicles.

This poses an obvious and pressing question of complicity on the part of the UK government and military industries in human rights abuses by the Israeli military. However, in addition, the dramatic rise in UK arms exports to Israel can also be seen as emerging evidence of yet further accelerating militarization in the Middle East in the context of the US-UK-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. The US-UK coalition may well be facilitating side-benefits for the junior partner in the form of rising profits on arms sales to Middle Eastern allies. RM]

Huge jump in arms sales to Israel

By Richard Norton-Taylor

The Guardian 6 April 2006

www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,329451380-108733,00.html

The number of arms export licences granted for countries the government accuses of human rights abuses increased significantly over the past year, the latest official figures show.

They also show that licences for weapons sales to Saudi Arabia increased by 25% last year, to #25m. They included sales of assault rifles, riot control equipment and body armour.

Licences for British arms sales to Israel last year amounted to nearly #25m, almost double the previous year. The licences covered the export of armoured vehicles and missile components.

Quarterly annual figures appear separately on the Foreign Office website and were collated by the Campaign Against the Arms Trade (Caat), which alerted the Guardian to them. They show that licences were also approved for sales of arms valued at more than #12.5m to Indonesia. Amnesty International last year reported extrajudicial killings carried out by Indonesian security forces in Aceh and West Papua. British-made armoured vehicles were reported to have been deployed against protesters in West Papua in November last year.

Israel, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia are among 11 out of 20 countries described by the FO in its 2005 annual human rights report as `major countries of concern` to which the government licensed military equipment.

The sales cleared for Israel are the highest since 1999. This was before Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, sought assurances from Israel that equipment supplied by the UK was not being used against civilians and in the occupied territories. In 2002 the government said it was tightening controls on arms exports to the country after it found that assurances had been breached.

The increase in arms export licences to Saudi Arabia came at a time the government was negotiating an agreement, worth an estimated #8bn to BAE Systems, to equip Saudi Arabia`s armed forces with Typhoon combat aircraft, formerly known as the Eurofighter.

Indonesia is now regarded as an ally against Islamist extremism and Tony Blair held out the prospect of more British weapons sales on his recent visit to the country.

Britain last year licensed military equipment sales to 14 of the 17 countries involved in major armed conflict, Caat said yesterday. It added that Britain had also licensed weapons equipment to 10 countries at the bottom third of the UN human development index.

The FO said last night that all exports were considered under the government`s official criteria. `The bottom line is that no piece of kit is used for external aggression or internal repression,` it said, adding that it believed the government`s arms export licensing system was stringent and transparent.

`The government has committed itself to leading international negotiations on an arms trade treaty to stop global arms flows to war zones and repressive regimes,` Mike Lewis of Caat said yesterday. `Yet in the last twelve months it has licensed weapons exports precisely to these regimes … The government must stop arming the world`s human rights abusers.`

VB

22 residents arrested in the West Bank, 15 injured in Nablus clashes

by Saed Bannoura- IMEMC & Agencies
Friday, 07 April 2006

www.imemc.org/content/view/17867/1/

On Thursday, Israeli soldiers carried dozens of invasions in several West Bank cities and villages and arrested twenty-two residents. In Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank, Israeli soldiers shot and injured 15 residents.

The army started its wide operation on Thursday at dawn and continued the attacks throughout the day.

In Nablus, soldiers arrested two Palestinian residents after invading the city and surrounding residential compounds.

A Palestinian security source in the city reported that soldiers arrested Fadi and Zakariyya Al Dhawaya, 19, and took them to an unknown destination.

Soldiers, supported by more than 60 military vehicles and four military bulldozers invaded several neighborhoods in the city and clashed with dozens of youth who hurled stones and empty bottles at them.

Eyewitnesses reported that soldiers used military dogs while breaking into and searching the houses.

Among the arrestees, the following names were mentioned; Mohammad Al Aqqad, Zakariyya Al Dawaya, Sa’ad Al Nabulsy, Fadi Fqeisha, and Aref Tabanja.

Also on Thursday, soldiers fired at dozens of school teachers and students; one teacher identified as A’eda Sara was shot by a live round in her leg. She was shot while standing near the students’ morning lineup before attending classes.

A medical source in the city reported that a total of fifteen residents were hospitalized, two seriously. The two were identified as Sameh Shafe’ey, 17, and Imad Ghalib Abu Atma, 25. Shafe’ey was shot by a live round in his head, and Abu Atma was shot by a live round in his chest.

The rest of the injured residents were shot by rubber-coated bullets, or suffered concussions after being attacked by the soldiers.

One American journalist was shot by a live round in his stomach.

In Jenin, under-covered units of the Israel army broke into a bakery in the Old City and arrested three residents. The two were identified as Ali Jardan, 24, Raed Kamel, 20, and Mohammad Al Sa’ady, 20 years old.

On Thursday at dawn, troops arrested two residents in Dar Salah village, near the West Bank city of Bethlehem. The two were identified as Naji Mohammad Salah and Ibrahim Hamad Al Ghawarna. In Jneid village, west of Nablus, soldiers arrested a woman identified as Tahreer Yassin, 22, after breaking into her house and searching it.

On Wednesday at night and Thursday at dawn, solders invaded several areas in Tulkarem, in the West Bank, and arrested eight residents. One of the residents is a Palestinian security officer.

Troops also invaded Nour Shams refugee camp in Nablus broke into dozens of homes and arrested Eyad Shabrawi, 25, and Fares Khalifa, 20.

In Anabta village, near Nablus, soldiers arrested Monadil Abu Raya, 24. Dozens of homes were searched.

Three other residents were arrested in Baqa Al Sharqiyya village, in Nablus areas; the three were identified as Saleh Sameer Saa’id and his twin brother Salah, 17, and Wael Omar, 37. Omar was released later during the day.

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