Am Johal's Blog

Posted by Am Johal

Some very important issues were raised the other night in Vancouver at a public forum at the Vancouver Public Library.

I moderated an interesting panel which included Dr. Michael Byers from UBC, Deborah Campbell from UBC, author Hadani Ditmars and Hila Russ-Woodland from the Creative Peace Network.

Hadani Ditmars gave an eloquent presentation on historic tensions and relations between the West and Middle East and cited the analysis of Edward Said's Orientalism as still highly relevant.

Deborah Campbell presented the view that the West's view of the Middle East is distorted by the lens of Western media which is largely biased. She also raised important questions around the culture of fear around criticizing Western interests in the region including Israeli government policy.

Hila Russ-Woodland brought up the need to maintain the push for peace and the idea that change is possible despite the barriers which exist.

Dr. Michael Byers talked about the principles of international law including proportionality.

In the end, the night lasted a half hour longer than it was intended to due to the number of questions which were asked.

Posted by Am Johal

UBC Humanities 101: Undercurrents Public Forum Series

"THE WEST AND THE MIDDLE EAST"

Monday, October 16th - 7:30pm - 9pm

Vancouver Public Library

Alma Van Dusen and Peter Kaye Room

With Special Guests: Dr. Michael Byers, Deborah

Campbell, Hadani Ditmars and Hila Russ-Woodland

Moderated by Am Johal - Director of Public Programs

and Outreach, Humanities 101

DR. MICHAEL BYERS is Professor of Political Science

and Canada Research Chair in Global Politics and

International Law at the University of British

Columbia. Prior to 2005, he was Professor of Law and

Director of Canadian Studies at Duke University; from

1996-1999 he was a Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford

University. In April 2004, he taught as a visiting

law professor at the University of Tel Aviv.

Professor Byers is the author of War Law:

Understanding International Law and Armed Conflict

(Douglas & McIntyre, 2005), and a regular contributor

to the London Review of Books and the Globe and Mail.

DEBORAH CAMPBELL is an adjunct professor of narrative

nonfiction at UBC and has reported from Tehran, Cairo,

Paris, Havana, St. Petersburg, Tel Aviv and

the Gaza Strip. Her book This Heated Place is a

literary journey inside the Israel-Palestine conflict.

An associate editor at Adbusters, she has

written for numerous publications including the

Guardian, Utne, The Walrus, Asia Times and Modern

Painters.

Journalist and author Hadani Ditmars reported from

post-war Beirut in 1992, wrote for the first joint

Israeli-Palestinian magazine post Oslo accord

in 1994 era Jerusalem, and traveled to Iran for the

Globe and Mail, Sight and Sound and Vogue magazine in

1997 (when Rafsanjani was in power). Her

work, which has also taken her to Zanzibar, Guatemala,

Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia

and Uzbekistan, has been published in the New York

Times, the London Independent and broadcast on CBC and

BBC radio and television.

Her best selling book Dancing in the No Fly Zone

recounts her reporting from Iraq from 1997 until the

fall of 2003. Boyd Tonkin, literary

critic of the London Independent wrote that it

³Štouches places in the nation¹s soul that horror

headlines never reach."

She has recently received a Canada Council award to

write her next book on her return to Israel/Palestine

and Lebanon.

HILA RUSS-WOODLAND is an artist and an educator. She

was born in Jerusalem, grew up in Israel, and came to

Canada in 2001. Hila has been working as a teacher

since 1995. Living in Israel for 31 years before

moving to Canada, she has been engaged with formal and

informal dialogue groups and peace demonstrations. As

an artist she was exposed to the power of visual and

expressive arts as a tool to collaborate, outreach and

impact public opinion and the media.

In Vancouver she volunteers and works in different art

programs, festivals and environmental projects. This

work combines her passion to the arts and her

commitment to peace education and contributing to the

community. Hila believes that experiencing creativity

through the arts is an essential tool for personal

learning and growth and a wonderful way of getting to

know people and cultures. The Arts is a universal

language that can help building bridges and overcome

fear and stereotypes.

In 2002 Hila became involved with the Peace Walker

Society www.peacewalker.com which promotes awareness

for global peace through peace walks and storytelling

in communities. She has been on two peace walks in

Israel/Palestine since then. The experience of going

back to the Middle East created a shift in her

perspective on the conflict there. “I realized that I

am deeply concerned and effected by the current

situation and that I have to be proactive in anyway I

can to promote peace education through creative

process”.

Hila was working as a program coordinator for the

Peace Walker Society in 2002 and 2003 planning,

coordinating and performing in multi media

presentation, “Just One Step”, about the Peace Walks

in Israel/Palestine and other places. She also

produced Peace Music concert: “Voices for Peace” at

the Canadian Memorial Centre for Peace and “Sharing

peace workshops”, five educational sessions about the

Israeli/Palestinian conflict in the Jewish Community

Centre in Vancouver BC.

In 2004 Hila was one of the founders of a Muslim

Jewish Dialogue group in Vancouver with Imam Fude

Drome and Rabbi David Mivasair, both an amazing

sources of inspiration as spiritual leaders committed

to peace education.

The group has two major projects:

1-May 2004 planning a Muslim Jewish Peace walk in

Vancouver which involved many dialogue circles in

homes, synagogues and mosques and actually transformed

to an on line Yahoo group discussion

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muslim-jewish

2-This also led to a mutual on going project

called “Feed the Hungry” when Muslims, Jews and others

prepare lunch in a church to people in need.

In 2004 Hila joined Creative Peace Network with its

main project Peace it Together. Peace It Together

summer program brings Israeli and Palestinian youth

over to Canada to work with local youth on getting to

know each others and braking stereotypes through

dialogue, creativity and team building activities.

http://www.creativepeacenetwork.ca

Being a board member of CPN is a team work experience

and an educational journey.

PIT is one of the most important works in her life

right after spending time with her 3 years old son

Ben. Hila strongly believes that we can make a

difference in our world by working for peace,

inspiring and empowering other people to join in.

Posted by Am Johal

For those wanting justification of the West's War on Terror, Osama Bin Laden personifies the very idea of terrorism in the Western mind. His propaganda strategies coupled with the sheer magnitude of the 9-11 attacks propelled him in to another stratosphere in terms of his cultural impact.

The 21st century will be shaped by the images of the World Trade Center being hit by two planes. The rest of the century will be shaped by the trauma of that event and all the other conflicts which will be created by the massive American response in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

The deep tensions between the West and the Middle East were propelled to the center of international relations and strategic studies by these events.

As oil and military proliferation becomes an issue not only in Iran, but also Egypt and Turkey, both the European Union and the United States will be hard pressed to shape the dynamics in the region.

Additionally, India and China will be looking to play a greater role in the region by virtue of their economic growth and traditional relationships in the region.

Whether Osama Bin Laden is dead or alive, the reality he created through his acts of terrorism is only a symptom of much deeper divisions which lie ahead due to the overwhelming American response.

The US would do well to temper their foreign policy with a dose of moderation if the goal is to reduce terrorism. Sending a blunt and aggressive message merely stokes the fanaticism that resorts to terrorism. By adding a layer of sophistication to their relationship building overseas, the US could both meet its strategic objectives and ensure that it does not itself become the target of terror.

Posted by Am Johal

The Israeli political leadership will have a hard time pulling behind Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz when they clearly showed a lack of experience in managing foreign and defense policy in the recent crisis.

This inexperience was so deeply embedded that it took the calling up of reserve soldiers to be sent to Lebanon before it became painfully clear the Israeli public did not have the appetite to continue with the escalation of the conflict.

Though during the conflict the Israeli public showed support for the war effort, reserve soldiers are now leading an aggressive effort to expose the decision-making of the government and the military. Former military leaders are also sharing in the criticism.

This post-war period will test the leadership of the fledgling Kadima Party. As well, Amir Peretz will become a target by the leadership of the Labor Party. His own left wing support base in his party will be eroded by his role in the conflict as Defense Minister.

Ehud Olmert's days as leader could also be numbered due to the fragile nature of Kadima's coalition which spans the center of the Israeli political spectrum. The pragmatism and political strategy which created the party as a way of sidestepping the distortions of the increasingly polarized Israeli political environment could very lead to the dumping of Olmert within a year. As well, the collapse of his coalition government could also happen within a year if the political atmosphere does not change.

Olmert and Peretz will continue to have the advantage of support from the United States and can also still outmaneuver likely rivals due to their own weaknesses and grandstanding. Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman bring a polarizing brand of politics which resonates with a contingent of the Israeli right wing. Though the Israeli public would question their ability to lead, the two remain able to drive the political agenda and utilize the present environment to their advantage.

It is much more likely that the impetus for change comes from within the Labor Party, Kadima and the military leadership itself.

It is in this environment that the political strategy of branding the Palestinian leadership as incapable of engaging in a meaningful peace process is an effective model by those looking to score political points under the proportional representation model. It is an effective method of building a polarized political bloc which can wield influence in decision-making even though it has the capacity to perpetuate a dysfunctional political environment as well.

Though proportional representation is seen as a progressive form of governance in the context of a conflict environment, it can systematize distortions and polarities.

Posted by Am Johal

Hassan Nasrallah's recent mea culpa does not go far enough in accepting responsibility for the events which led to the recent war in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. As well, Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz showed inexperience in how brazenly they pressed ahead with the calling up of reserve forces. They are now being heavily criticized in Israel. Civilians paid a heavy price due to the incompetence of their leaders on all sides.

Underlying this, was the earlier Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip known as Operation Summer Rain. Gaza and the West Bank continued to be hit hard during the war as well.

Until fundamental issues are addressed and until permanent solutions can be agreed upon with the use of international force to back them up, the wounds of the Middle East could still as of yet be ripped open in a matter of months.

The underlying tensions which run through the region continue to involve US and Iranian differences. If diplomacy can effectively be used underneath the posturing of official rhetoric, the back channel process could still yield a mutually beneficial stalemate. Ideologically driven leaders such as George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continue to poison the well with their brinkmanship however and carefully distorted rhetoric.

The distortions of nationalism and Israeli attempts to act unilaterally in ending the occupation continue to rekindle the old backward way of accomplishing political ends in the Middle East. The Israelis do not have the capacity or international respect to either impose a diplomatic or military solution.

By not moving forward with a credible plan to end hostilities, the US continues to lose its cachet of being a broker in the region. The US's strategic interests continue to lead it in the direction of supporting Israeli policy in a way that is no longer viewed as balanced.

Posted by Am Johal

The Polish academic Piotr Sztompka has written extensively about the role of trauma in transition and conflict states in Eastern Europe. He has applied the growing body of knowledge related to collective trauma and attempted to understand the ramifications of its aftereffects.

Collective traumas result, over time, in massive social changes.

Wars, natural disasters, state collapse, mass deaths and various other calamities evoke deep traumas in collectives. They have the power to rupture society in a way which could lead either to their total collapse or to fundamental changes that could completely change future events.

Just as the US Civil War, the Second World War and other major events led to fundamental economic, social, political and philosophical changes, sudden events have the ability to transform in the same way.

But as these ideas percolate in different areas of society, it could also at times lead to intransigence, the closing of views and the kind of stubborness that lead to future conflicts.

Only the disputants have the power to change the way they approach a conflict which has been ongoing for decades.

As long as Israel is ostensibly occupying the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the name of security, dominant players in the region such as the United States, the European Union and the United Nations will bear some responsibility for Israeli policies by those in the occupied Palestinian territories and by the neighbouring Arab states.

As long as the US views Israel's role as one of strategic regional interest vis a vis buttressing Syrian and Iranian influence, it will be hard pressed to be viewed as a balanced arbiter of interests in the region.

Violence by any side in the conflict will only perpetuate the current vicious circle which presently defines the nature of the conflict.

Posted by Am Johal

As the UN brokered peace takes hold on a fragile foundation, this region will be left deeply traumatized by the month long conflict. The pace at which the situation deteriorated was a profound failure at every level. Replicating this brinkmanship, given the traumatized political climate in Israel, Lebanon and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, could occur all too easily.

As long as the root causes of the conflict are not dealt with, this region will remain in some state of conflict. The wounds of this war will not go away with a ceasefire unless the fundamental causes of it are addressed.

In this kind of an environment, even a ceasefire is part of a phony war.

The question remains as to how far Israel can use the security argument to justify pre-emptive measures which violate human rights or ignore their obligations to end the occupation. Additionally, how far can resistance movements like Hamas and militia movements like Hezbollah justify the killing of innocent civilians to meet their political objectives?

What was plainly obvious in this conflict was that international law was not at all taken seriously by the combatants in this dispute. This conflict was not only a failure of Western powers, but also of the international system itself.

It highlighted the closed loop of this 'terror cycle' between Israel and its adversaries.

Posted by Am Johal

I went to see a band in Jerusalem the other night. My friend's fiance is a keyboardist and as the crowd chanted for an encore, the lead singer started ironically singing, "We will win, We will win."

This is the same slogan which is on nationalist posters all over Israel. People danced all night like it was the last night of their life.

Hebrew alt-rock has lines like, "I have nothing to say to you, you have nothing to say to me."

I drank all night and had a falafel at a 24 hour stand outside of Damascus Gate near the Old City.

I thought of the Tel Aviv bubble on Sheinken Street, how people walked around like nothing was going on. As the television screens showed carnage and dead children, people were going on with life in the city.

Normalizing the trauma of this place must be an act of selective remembrance built out of the necessity to move on.

Posted by Am Johal

Jerusalem - As US Secretary of State Condolleeza Rice arrived in

Israel to talk about the possibility of a ceasefire,

Jerusalem protesters were pushed and shoved away from

sight and in to the middle of the street near the

Citadel Hotel on King David Street on Monday night.

Khulood Badawi, one of the organizers of the protest

and a former chair of the National Union of Arab

Students, was arrested and manhandled by security

forces within the first ten minutes. Security forces

provoked, pushed and detained her before forcing her

in to a police car.

All she did was organize a peaceful protest. Only ten

minutes before, we were chatting on the street and I

was telling her about the complications of graduate

school and the ethical dilemma of attempting to do

research while a war is going on. The only democracy

in the Middle East just took away one of its most

articulate human rights activists to put her in to

jail. Welcome to Israel.

Protesters were herded across the street to a traffic

island. Finally, we were pushed all the way across

the street, almost out of sight. I got shoved

aggressively by a security officer.

I've been to protests at the Separation Wall, in front

of Haifa City Hall, in front of the Prime Minister's

Residence and the Prime Minister's Office protesting

various forms of discriminatory public policy over the

years. This was the first time an Israeli officer

physically pushed me. I'm going to wear that hit like

a badge of honour.

We are pacifists that stand for something - they are

meatheads delivering a blunt message from the state

that's meant to make us afraid to speak out.

How much longer can Israel keep doing this to people?

The officers surrounded the 60 protestors with fencing

and pushed everyone else away. One of the signs read,

"We don't need another American war in the Middle

East."

Abir Kopty, Mossawa Center's media spokesperson and

one of those involved with the organization 'Women

Against the War' was shoved against a metal

embankment, pushed to the ground and had her toe

stubbed by security forces. She was talking on her

cell phone and the security officers wanted her to

move to the fenced in location. Luckily, it wasn't

broken. The women began chanting, "Condolleeza,

Condolleeza, You are not our sister!"

The bullies all stood there staring out at us. Once

again, it was security before human rights - the great

mantra of the age.

Later, Leila Mosinzon, another young activist, stood

her ground peacefully refusing to move. The security

thugs pushed her against the railing, grabbed her arms

and legs and shoved her in to a police car. Once

again, completely unprovoked, the security officers

pushed her away while the rest of the protesters were

herded by fencing.

Another middle aged woman was singled out and taken

away as well.

Raising public dissent against the

bullying apparatus of the state will get you a

criminal record, or if you are an international,

thrown out of the country.

Posted by Am Johal

-Graffiti scrawled on a wall in a Jerusalem hostel

Jerusalem - It was nine and we had finished watching

the BBC news in the hostel. Everyone was snickering

about the framing of the story by the British

broadcaster - some openly called it a colonial

broadcast. This was a young, progressive crowd who

wanted a more critical approach to the story that had

been unfolding for days.

Only a few days ago, my last memory of Haifa was standing near the Wadi Nisnas neighbourhood at noon on Sunday while an air raid siren went off before finding my way on to a taxi out of town. It seems so long ago now.

Mordechai Vanunu walked in. He poured some wine in to a glass coffee cup. We fought for the final Pringles chip that a woman from Jaffa had offered us.

He talked about his iPod and how he liked to listen to classical music on it. He was darker than when I had met him two years ago and said he had been keeping

in shape by swimming.

We walked down Nablus Road to the American Colony at

the outdoor bar. We laughed that since now there were

rockets falling all around, we had lost our politics

and become dilletantes.

I told him that I was thoroughly depressed with this

place - that I had no desire to come back here.

He said he couldn't understand why human beings still

go to war.

I told him that I thought that the settlers in Hebron

were insane.

We criticized Hezbollah and the Israeli military response.

We drank down a Taybeh while helicopters circled

overhead.

He said he still wants to leave the country but the

authorities won't let him.

We are waiting for this madness to the end. Nothing about this feels good. There is news of more civilian deaths every day in Gaza, Lebanon and northern Israel.

There is no inspiration left here. Maybe life is meant to be sad.

Posted by Am Johal

I had just gotten off a bus and was heading to the Masada

neighbourhood in Haifa to meet an old friend for coffee on Thursday night. Something hit like a thud up in the Carmel Mountains, somewhere near the French Carmel. It was barely audible but something was up.

In Masada, where Jews and Arabs live in the same neighbourhood in relative peace, a model for the entire Middle East, there was a nonchalant response - like it was a terrible thunderstorm or something.

We tried to drive up the hill to see where it had landed, but the police had cordoned off the area. We had heard that

an American intern was jogging near there, but she wasn't near the explosion.

Everything was fine. No one was hurt.

This morning, it was different. The air raid sirens started early. As I awoke, there were souds of explosions, rockets hitting buildings, ambulances and then silence. I had no radio or television so I just listened to the silence.

As I walked out to Allenby Street, I waited an hour for the bus and nothing came. I hailed a taxi and jumped into the sherut taxi heading to Tel Aviv. The crowds were beginning to elbow each other for the few spaces that were left and arguments were starting, but there were no injuries or punches thrown. The air raid sirens were going off again, ambulances were racing through the streets and there was the strange sound of deafening quiet.

At least 20 rockets slammed into Haifa on Sunday. 8 people were killed near a train depot.

Yesterday, I was reading Susan Sontag on the beach. Now people are hiding in bomb shelters under their buildings.

Fear is in the air - this is what hell looks like.

Posted by Am Johal

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently said that the military operation known as Operation Summer Rain was "not to mete out punishment but rather to apply pressure so that the abducted soldier will be freed. We want to create a new equation - freeing the abducted soldier in return for lessening the pressure on the Palestinians."

Unfortunately, the great weight of Israeli military force to pacify the Palestinian population has only served to popularize militant action in the Gaza Strip. As casualties mount and infrastructure such as electricity is hit, the Israeli military response appears to be overwhelmingly aggressive in the manner in which it is meted out.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Olmert told his cabinet, "This is a war that cannot be on a timetable." Israel has already knocked out a power plant and some key bridges in what it says is an effort to strike at militants.

In what could be seen as a further escalation, the BBC reported General Yoav Galant as saying, "They [Palestinian militants] will think twice before launching attacks when they see in a week, a month or two months from now that hundreds of terrorists have been killed."

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan publicly raised concerns today about the situation in Gaza as have international agencies including the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the World Food Programme. The agencies are warning that Gaza is on the brink of a public health disaster.

Posted by Am Johal

Haaretz is reporting that Pink Floyd's Roger Waters spraypainted "tear down the wall" on the concrete face of the

West Bank barrier.

He told reporters, "I've seen pictures of it, I've heard a lot about it but without being here you can't imagine how extraordinarily oppressive it is and how sad it is to see these people coming through these little holes. It's craziness."

Israel has claimed that the barrier is necessary for security reasons and is an impediment to potential suicide bombers. It has been called a human rights issue by Palestinians who view it as a land grab and a restriction on freedom of movement. It was called illegal by the World Court because it cuts through occupied territory.

Waters will perform a concert in the Arab-Jewish village of Neve Shalom as part of his world tour. He had earlier moved his Tel Aviv concert after receiving criticism from British fans.

Waters performed "The Wall" in Berlin in 1990 following unification talks.

Posted by Am Johal

The people of Kosovo are awaiting a decision by the UN Mission in Kosovo over its status related to Serbia. After Montenegro's successful referendum, it seems that Kosovo will surely receive some level of autonomy while there will remain some international protection for the Serbian minority that still exists there. Kosovo is still planning to establish an independent democracy in the region regardless of international decision-making.

The UN, the US and the EU with the help of NATO have successfully dealt with an aggressive power in Serbia and liberated the Kosovar Albanian population.

In much the same way, a similar intervention requiring harder diplomacy with tighter timelines could make inroads in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Western powers have shown that they can respond to situations when they do not have a vested interest in the region. But the Balkans is also a perfect example of how a situation deteriorated and how these countries played a reactive role based on an incoherent foreign policy in the region.

Since the 1993 signing of the Oslo Accords, the Balkans are closer to achieving a forced peace than the Israelis or the Palestinians are.

Will the world have to wait for an unnecessary escalation or a full out war to commence before this impasse is dealt with in a more coherent and holistic manner?

Posted by Am Johal

Qassam rockets will not end the occupation. They will only invite a more aggressive Israeli military response. After a number of Gazans were killed on a beach by reportedly Israeli strikes, the Hamas affiliated attacks have escalated. As brutal as the occupation is, these types of attacks do not in any way support the Palestinian cause - if anything they hurt it.

Israel's security argument in international circles is what drives its ability to continue with these policies, in contravention of its international obligations.

Hamas, which has faced sanctions since being elected, only hurts their own public standing abroad by not being able to rein in their constituencies so that a more measured response could be taken. Israel has also actively created the conditions for a weakened Palestinian Authority without an adequate security apparatus.

Hamas needs to officially declare a non-violent approach to ending the occupation, rather than playing in to Israeli strategic interests.

By not responding reflexively, they will push Israel's hand and gain much more public support in ending the brutal occupation policies that presently exist in the long term.

Israel must also take responsibility for the killing of innocent civilians in its military escapades in the name of security. In the past 24 hours, 14 Palestinians have been killed and 36 injured. There have been 54 rocket hits on the Israeli town of Sderot in the past 72 hours in response.

Senior Kadima official told Haaretz that democratically elected leaders of Hamas including Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh could be targeted for assassination. Only in Israel are targeted assassinations part of mainstream public discourse.

This is madness.

Posted by Am Johal

Lebanon, Syria and Iran continue to either fund organizations connected to terrorist activity or are willingly allowing them to work within their territory. This working reality is an impediment to the situation in the Occupied Palestinian territories. This activity along Israel's borders merely strengthens the position of security hawks in the Israeli administration to the detriment of the peace process.

This activity in no way works towards a rational end to the conflict. Added to this is the detention of human rights activists and public intellectuals such as Iran's Ramin Jahanbegloo.

Their claims regarding human rights fall on deaf ears due to their own domestic inability to maintain order and establish a more liberalized view of human rights that meets international standards. This criticism does not in any way absolve Israel's record in the Occupied Palestinian Territories or of the Palestinian leadership's acceptance of Qassam rocket fire or use of suicide bombs. While the Israeli occupation remains one of the root causes of the disagreement, the establishment of human rights in the whole region is the legitimate route to peace.

Middle Eastern countries are correct in being skeptical of Western interests in the region given their historical role in colonial rule. The US intervention in Iraq has only raised the temperature without dealing with longstanding issues.

Attempting to deal with these issues to bring about long term stability is the work of many political factions and international bodies. A permanent peace in the region may never be possible but a relative calm that aids a human rights agenda is the most viable and durable route towards that end.

Posted by Am Johal

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al-Qaida militant who has been leading a resistance movement and leading attempts to foment a civil war, has been killed by the US military in Iraq. He was killed in an air raid north of Iraq.

U.S. military displayed photos of his dead body during a news conference in Baghdad.

Haaretz reported that US forces dropped two five hundred pound bombs on the site where he was in hiding near Baghdad. The US had placed a $25 million bounty on his head. The Jordanian born militant had personally beheaded two American hostages. He had been detained in 2004 but was released because the authorities did not know who he was. He also claimed responsibility for three attacks in Jordan and the launching of a missile from Lebanon in to Israel.

al-Zarqawi's speeches were posted on radical Islamic websites where he not only denounced the US occupation but also called on Sunni Arabs to rise up against Shiites. He had openly called for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate in Iraq. He was directly linked to the attack on the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August of 2003.

His body was identified by fingerprints, facial recognition and DNA.

US President Bush at a White House press conference said, "The ideology of terror has lost one of its most visible and aggressive leaders."

This has been the most high profile milestone since the beginning of the Iraqi invasion and the later capture of Saddam Hussein. In an expensive and long term campaign that has lasted over three years, this could mean heightened tensions over the next few weeks with sectarian violence threatening to spill over between Sunni and Shiite groups.

Posted by Am Johal

What Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is attempting

to pull off through unilateralism is historically

unprecedented - to take a disputed territory and mark

its own borders without taking in to account historical aspirations, negotiations or international law. Convergence is a public relations term rather than something to be taken seriously as diplomacy.

It will never be a sustainable course of action. It

will more than likely perpetuate the vicious circle

which has gone on since 1993 and could stoke the fires

of a third intifada.

But then again, nothing about this conflict is about

logic or reason or trying to find peace. It is about

the distortions of systems and processes driven by the

Israeli right wing, the needs of US foreign policy and

to a degree by the lethargic acquiescence of the

European Union. It is also about the management of

fundamentalisms - an attempt to find order amongst

disorder. As the prevailing theme in Israeli

political life, the conflict has become normalized

along a dangerous strain of thinking where the

majority now support the ethnic transfer of Israeli

Arabs.

The question of Labor leader Amir Peretz still remains

open - is he prince or puppet? The darling of the

Israeli Left is now Defense Minister in charge of

authorizing targeted assassinations and home

demolitions.

Former US President Jimmy Carter writing in USA Today

about the plan said "It is inconceivable that any

Palestinian, Arab leader, or any objective member of

the international community could accept this illegal

action as a permanent solution to the continuing

altercation in the Middle East. This confiscation of

land is to be carried out without resorting to peace

talks with the Palestinians, and in direct

contravention of the 'road map for peace,' which

President Bush helped to initiate and has strongly

supported."

Olmert's motivation in moving to convergence is to

avoid a series of internal divisions. During the lead

up to decision-making related to the disengagement

from Gaza, Haaretz writer Aluf Benn recently reported

that Olmert suppported the evacuation of 17 West Bank

settlements. A disengagement of that size and larger

could cost as much as 25 billion US dollars. It could

start as soon as the summer of 2007 and could take up

to two years to complete. Maintaining a coalition

through this period would be difficult for Kadima.

Even at the end of this process, the Palestinians

would still not accept the final status borders. With

a change in the US Administration in early 2009, there

is no guarantee that the new leader will accept such a

deviation from the Roadmap to Peace that both Ariel

Sharon and Ehud Olmert have tried to fashion into a

new reality. Bush has given Olmert the green light to

move.

What will be building up over the next two years is an

increasingly vocal call for economic sanctions against

Israel largely led by churches and labour unions in

North America and Europe. As Israeli public policy

has willfully championed the use of time to solidify

new realities on the ground such as the expansion of

West Bank settlements and the construction of the

Separation Wall, Israel will be held to a new standard

as their cyclical strategy of denouncing the

Palestinian leadership will be increasingly called

into question.

The next four years seem to be about passing time

rather than making peace. Israel has to get back to

the negotiating table or the gig is up.

Ironically, Kosovo and Montenegro in the former

Yugoslavia are closer to achieving independence than

the Palestinians are.

Posted by Am Johal

In a precedent setting move, CUPE Ontario, Canada's largest union in Canada's largest province, recently voted in support of a global campaign against Israeli policies.

Resolution 50 "expresses CUPE Ontario's support for the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obligations to recognize the Palestinian people's inalieable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law including resolution 194 calling for the right of return of Palestinian refugees."

The resolution read as follows:

CUPE ONTARIO WILL:

1. With Palestine solidarity and human rights organizations, develop an education campaign about the apartheid nature of the Israeli state and the political and economic support of Canada for these practices.

2. Support the international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions until Israel meets its obligation to recognize the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with the precepts of international law including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution194.

3. Call on CUPE National to commit to research into Canadian involvement in the occupation and call on the CLC to join us in lobbying against the apartheid-like practices of the Israeli state and call for the immediate dismantling of the wall.

BECAUSE:

The Israeli Apartheid Wall has been condemned and determined illegal under international law.

Over 170 Palestinian political parties, unions and other organizations including the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions issued a call in July 2005 for a global campaign of boycotts and divestment against Israel similar to those imposed against South African Apartheid;

CUPE BC has firmly and vocally condemned the occupation of Palestine and have initiated an education campaign about the apartheid-like practices of the Israeli state.

Posted by Am Johal

Berlin

I came in on the night train without expectations. I

had finished my classes a few days ago and needed a

break from rural Hungary so I headed to Vienna.

As I left a few days later, I thought to myself,

"Vienna is great but if Berlin were a woman, I would

ask her to marry me."

It is that kind of enchanting place that draws you in

to its allure. For a city of 3.5 million people, you

cannot even notice the traffic - the tram cars work

like magic. There are bars built under bridges with

an elegant touch. It's too small to be London or New

York, but it's the perfect city to be anonymous.

If Europe had a success story as the bookend of the

twentieth century, the chapter would begin in Berlin.

The new Bundestag in united Berlin towers over other

European capitals in symbolism and metaphor. The

unfinished metal football at Brandenburg Gate as a

showpiece for the World Cup was still being worked on.

In this great city where the giants of politics like

Willy Brandt, the former Mayor of the City, John F.

Kennedy and Ronald Reagan gave their historic speeches

which characterized an epoch, there is now a humbled

city which could stand alongside any capital of the

world as a truly international city. It is the center

of gravity for Central and Eastern Europe.

Amidst the bars and coffee shops, its museums and

galleries effortlessly dot the streetscape with ease.

There are numerous artists studios built in former

health facilities and public buildings helping to

rejuvenate neighbourhoods. There is the heavy

thumping of Turkish music as cars of immigrants and

guest workers drive by. Outside Humboldt University,

there are bicycles and tram cars and one can barely

hear the hum of traffic.

Were it not that the weight of the 20th century lays

on the shoulders of Berlin, it is in that very

resilience that makes it a post-modern paradise - it

has something for everyone. It has become as Benedict

Anderson would say, an 'imagined community' or as

Edward Said would say, 'an imagined geography.'

Berlin as a victim of history following the Second

World War has become a kind of de facto center of

nostalgia and stopover point for the world's exiles

-be they Turkish, Palestinian or Balkan.

The entire German nation has been rebuilt on a model

to avert the rise of right wing populism. It has

redeveloped its entire education and political system

as a safeguard against its Nazi past. Post-war German

thinkers such as Juergen Habermas were heavily

influenced by the collapse of German society and its

susceptibility to right wing nationalism. His

voluminous work on the public sphere and idea

formation will be read for decades to come.

I went to a party of German, American and Canadian

artists in the outskirts of town in a restored

building to celebrate "Christi Himmelfahrt," to

commemorate Christ's drive into heaven. Everyone

there from the erotic pop-up book artist to the

transplanted Canadians talked about how much they

loved the city and were trying to figure out how to

stay there longer. That cosmopolitan European touch

in urban planning and its unique place as one of the

world's capitals can't be found back in North America

unfortunately.

Auschwitz

After a few lazy days in Prague, I took the night

train to Krakow. Rolling in at twilight, I found

myself sandwiched in the crowd preparing to go see the

Pope in the local park. Being secular but a lover of

spectacle, I rolled my suitcase along and followed the

crowd.

The event had all the features of an arena rock

concert or a nationalist rally - vendors selling

perogies and kielbasa, line-ups at the port-o-potties,

lit candles, sing-a-longs, religious flags and

slogans.

Pope Benedict XVI made his way to a grey and rainy

Krakow where a crowd of 900,000 had gathered to greet

him. Some had travelled all night and others slept in

cars to get a sight of the pontiff. At six in the

morning, thousands were already making their way from

the streets of Krakow to the local park.

Here in Poland, the Catholic Church was seen as

instrumental in bringing down the former Communist

regime.

The bars had stopped serving liquor on Friday and were

not going to start again until

after midnight on Sunday.

Later in the day, Pope Benedict XVI visited the Nazi

death camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau. They were not

scheduled as part of his trip but were arranged on the

Pope's insistence. In his youth, the Pope had

unwillingly been a member of the Hitler Youth in

Germany.

The BBC quoted him as saying, "In a place like this,

words fail. In the end, there can only be a dread

silence - a silence which is itself a heartfelt cry to

God: Why, Lord, did you remain silent? How could you

tolerate all this?"

"Our silence becomes in turn a plea for forgiveness

and reconciliation, a plea to the living God never to

let this happen again."

He lit a candle in memory of those who died at

Auschwitz and met with 32 survivors. Another 500

survivors attended the ceremony at Birkenau. The Pope

also visited a cell which had held Catholic Priest

Maximilian Kolbe who had offered to take the place of

a prisoner during the Second World War. More than a

million Jews, Poles, Roma, gays and Russians were

killed there.

He had warmed the hearts of the people on his trip by

speaking Polish and announcing that he was hoping to

speed up the sainthood of Pope John Paul II.

The Polish academic Piotr Sztompka has done some

groundbreaking work related to trauma and social

change and the importance of genuine gestures of

reconciliation to heal historic wounds. The Pope

undoubtedly repaired some relationships but opened up

other wounds on his visit. It was just another

chapter in a uniquely European story.

I visited Auschwitz the next day. It was depressing

and as close to hell on earth as you can get. It was

creepy and sadistic. The misuse of technology and

human designed systems in such a barbaric and

cold-blooded fashion was a grave failure of humankind.

The remnants of barbed wire and gas chambers is still

only decades old. Human beings have shown that

throughout history we grapple with our ability to be

civilized.

Historian Tony Judt's epic Post-War sets out the

thesis that we still live under the dark shadow of the

Second World War. Travelling and studying in this

part of Europe, I would have to say that he is totally

correct.

The journey was over - I took the night train to

Budapest, had my first smoke in months and dreamt of

the meaning of Berlin.

Posted by Am Johal

Suicide bombings, like the recent one in a falafel restaurant in Tel Aviv, are the language of desperation - a brutal response to a brutal occupation.

The aesthetics of catastrophe and occupations are almost always built on a lie. They are designed to instill fear in a deep and profound way whether the methods are bombs, Qassam rockets or collective punishment. They are meant to create chaos and have a global audience.

In the end, they solve nothing. Nor do the Israeli military raids designed to pacify the Palestinians.

But attempting to rationalize such acts only serves to legitimize them. The effect on civilians of the conflict is immeasurable - it is not just the death toll, but the daily suffering of people who have to live in a climate of fear.

This vicious circle, this response and counter-response, is a reinforcing structure - two narratives without a point of intersection. Unilateralism only increases the divide just as building a Separation Wall does.

When I lived in Israel, I would travel from Haifa to parts of the Separation Wall for protests alongside West Bank villages on weekends with Palestinians, Israelis and internationals. That the emergence of such an ugly physical monstrosity as the representation of an act of separation, speaks volumes about the idea of the conflict itself and the kind of thinking being used to solve the dilemma: security before human rights, unilateralism before negotiations, discrimination before equal rights.

The result of this polarization is an unsustainable course which, if not redirected, will persist for most of our lifetime.

There must be a better way, but the hallways of power seem to be entrenched in their old modes of thinking.

Posted by Am Johal

In this age of fundamentalisms, George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seem to be custom-made for each other. Rarely in history have such two ideolically driven leaders taken the whole world on a game of brinkmanship. This type of high wire act hasn't been seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The US is overstretched in Iraq while Iran has some support from Russia and China thereby bolstering the irresponsible rhetoric from Ahmadinejad. The US is acting like an insecure and diminished superpower due to the fact that it is overstretched.

In the global equation, the US has less support for militarily intervening in Iran than it did in Iraq. Iran also has a much more developed intention to develop nuclear power. The US has also squandered much global goodwill by intervening in Iraq.

Without a unilateralist President like Bush, someone like Ahmadinejad would not be able to get the kind of popular support he has within Iran. Iranians themselves have also lost much of their global support by endorsing the direction of Ahmadinejad. The Americans, in re-electing Bush, have also lost much international support in what was the most watched election in a generation. In a way, these two unique accidents of history, Bush and Ahmadinejad, are made for each other.

This disturbing polarization in world affairs does not bode well for the future. After all, a war on terror only begets more terror.