Saturday 2 January 2010

Vanunu: our duty to speak up

 From BTBLondon

@midvarshekertirchok

Re land theft, the land around Beilin was where the Hasmoneans defeated the Greek-Syrian armies over 2,000 years ago, and recently commemorated again in the festival of Chanukah. If arabs don't like the Jews being in that part of the world i understand it, but it's not exactly theft now is it?


If restoration of land rights lost in battle up to  2000 years ago is to be the basis for current legal rights we have some interesting effects.

First of all are the restoration of the whole of the USA (indeed all of the Americas), Australia etc. to the native peoples the Europeans kicked out. Indeed, I suspect there are some people in Powys who would have a claim to my London house after their distant ancestors unfortunate defeat by the Romans.

This is why the Geneva conventions were incorporated into international law to stop this chaos, conventions that Israel breaches every day in the occupied territories and indeed in 48 Israel in the Galilee and elsewhere. Unlike the NPT [Nuclear Proliferation Treaty] Israel cannot opt out of these.

Vanunu was kidnapped, again in breach of national and International law, and imprisoned. On release, oppressive restrictions were placed on him for vindictive not 'security' reasons.

If Israel wants to be treated like a civilised state it needs to start acting like one. Until then refusing to do business or have normal contact with it and its institutions is a requirement for global civil society

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