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DIPLOMATIC CLUB MAGAZINE
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VIENNA CONVENTION ON THE LAW OF TREATIES
Bi-national Chambers of Commerce
CHEAP COMPARISON
(Article by Hirsh Goodman, Yediot Ahronot, 9.9.09, p. 41A)
It has become fashionable to use the word “Apartheid” as an adjective to
Israel these days, particularly since the first Durban conference in August
2002. We have the “Apartheid wall” and “Apartheid roads” and are regularly
called an “Apartheid state” as alluded to by former US president Jimmy Carter
in the title of his recent book “Peace not Apartheid.”
Israel is not an Apartheid state. I know. I came from one. To compare Israel
to Apartheid South Africa demonstrates ignorance and, in many cases,
malevolence. Apartheid South Africa was unique and should be remembered as
such lest it be repeated.
Elements of Israeli society may be guilty of racism, and there is no denying
some discrimination against Israeli Arabs, but this is no Apartheid South
Africa. And Israel's occupation and settlement of the West Bank may be unfair,
unjust, and brutal, but it is a result of a clash of nationalisms over
territory, not the imposition of economic and social slavery though a codex of
laws aimed at discrimination for the benefit of a tiny minority of the
country's population. Yes in some places there are separate roads for
Palestinians and Jewish settlers and the separation barrier is hideously ugly,
but these are responses to security problems, not the imposition of a
pre-meditated discriminatory system.
In Apartheid South Africa there was no independent legislature, no free press,
no open and accountable government, no representation, and no independent
judiciary. Apartheid meant total economic exploitation by two million Whites
who enslaved, abused and systematically discriminated against people ten times
more numerous than them. It was a system of madness that was dedicated to
forcibly moving millions upon millions of people from their tribal lands to
Bantustans, leaving people with no means of support other than to work for
minimal wages in the country's mines or as domestic servants.
Apartheid South Africa carried out more judicial hangings than any other
country on earth, including Black men who were found having sex with a white
woman, something automatically assumed to be rape. It was a place where people
disappeared into the night never to be heard of again if they opposed the
regime, including anti-Apartheid activists from among the Jewish community.
If you were Black you needed a pass to be in the city and if caught without
one you were summarily sentenced to months of hard labor in prison work gangs,
and if you were Black you lived under curfew, and you had to have a note from
the master or the madam allowing you out after hours, something I remember
providing for our servant Grace when I was nine.
It was a dark horrible regime of fear with no intention of ever making peace
with the Black people, only to continually exploit them. Say what you may
about Israel's conflict with the Palestinians at least the sides are engaged
in some form of conciliatory process, at least people on both sides can see a
theoretical resolution of the problem. In Apartheid South Africa no resolution
of the conflict was ever intended and if international sanctions had not
brought the Apartheid regime to its knees those behind it would still be
firmly in power.
There was the Shoah and there is genocide. There was Apartheid South Africa
and there is discrimination, racism and occupation. These things should not be
confused.
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THE DARK SIDE OF THE ANTI-ISRAEL EXPERT
(Article by Amit Cohen, Ma'ariv, 9.9.09)
Marc Garlasco, the senior Human Rights Watch expert
is one of the authors of some of the most venomous reports against Israel
and the IDF. But he has another occupation: He a compulsive collector of
Nazi insignia and memorabilia. Yesterday Garlasco wrote in his blog: "I
would reply, but I do not want to encourage them." The organization is
trying to explain: "That is part of Garlasco's work as a military
historian."
Another scandal hits the human rights organization, Human
Rights Watch (HRW), one of Israel's biggest critics regarding the
Palestinian population. Three weeks ago Ma'ariv disclosed that
senior figure
Joe Stork is a radical anti-Zionist
who opposed any recognition of Israel, and even showed understanding for the
Munich Massacre of athletes. Yesterday it became clear that Mark Garlasco,
the organization's senior military researcher is an enthusiastic collector
of Nazi memorabilia.
Garlasco, who is responsible for a number of harsh
reports against Israel and the IDF – amongst which was a report that
presented Gaza residents' claims about the IDF's use of phosphorous shells
during Operation Cast Lead, as well as a report on the deaths of an entire
family on the Beit Lahiya beach following an IDF bombing – is a regular
attendant of Nazi memorabilia collectors' forums and has even written an
extensive book on the subject.
Mark Garlasco's loaded hobby was revealed yesterday in
the blog
Mere Rhetoric. The blog succeeded in cross-checking data
from Garlasco's open biographical records and the details of a surfer using
the pseudonym Flak88, a German anti-aircraft shell. This same surfer
demonstrated both great interest and knowledge on Nazi memorabilia
collecting. The blog's authors even hinted that, in light of the
overlapping details, both figures – the real one and the virtual – are
actually one and the same.
The blog's research showed that Flak88 is in the habit of
collecting various Nazi memorabilia, like medals and insignia, and to post
pictures of them on the forums of similar collectors. In 2007, Flak88 made
a posting on a forum dedicated the Wehrmacht, the Nazi army. "Friends, he
wrote, "this year I was lucky and I collected a few items. Most I already
had. I hope that you enjoy the pictures." Flak88 added links and documents
to the posting, which authenticated them. Apart from that, Flak88 wrote an
extensive book, with over 400 pages on collecting Nazi items. The book sold
for $100 on Nazi collector forums.
Emma Daly, Communications Director at Human Rights Watch,
confirmed to Ma'ariv that Flak88 and Mark Garlasco are the same
person. With that she clarified that the organization denies the
suggestions regarding Garlasco's tendencies. "Mark Garlasco is not
pro-Nazi," said Daly, "These allegations are monstrous. He does not delve
into Nazi memorabilia. Garlasco is a student of military history and he has
an interest in military history."
With that, Garlasco's biography, as it appears on the HRW
website, shows that he has a BA in Government and a Masters in International
Relations. Before joining HRW he was employed by the Pentagon as an analyst
on the subject of Iraq. After joining the human rights organization,
Garlasco became its senior military expert and headed investigation teams to
Gaza, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq and Georgia.
In recent years Garlasco has been involved in a series of
investigations against the IDF, in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon. Garlasco,
for example, checked the allegations against the IDF on the use of cluster
bombs in the Second Lebanon War. In the past months Garlasco published two
reports on Operation Cast Lead: In one he determined that the IDF used
phosphorous shells and in the second he checked the use of UAVs. "The UAV
operators can see their targets on the ground clearly and can divert the
missiles after launch, Garlasco determined. "Based on those abilities,
Israel must explain why there incidences of civilian casualties."
Professor Gerald Steinberg, Director of
NGO
Monitor, which published
this on Garlasco yesterday, is sure
that there is a direct connection between the reports that he writes and his
fetish. "HRW is considered a very prestigious, very moral, organization,"
says Steinberg. "It leads the attacks against Israel, on the basis of human
rights violations, but a number of senior figures there have an anti-Israel
ideological background. We see this clearly with Garlasco."
Garlasco himself replied laconically to the
publications. "I would reply, but I don't want to encourage them, wrote
Garlasco under the pseudonym Flak88, "Anyway, I doubt if they read my book.
More than anything else, it is related to my work."
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