Sex,
Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
Today's
Stories
July
20, 2004
John
Ross
Burying Iraq, Burying Bush
July
19, 2004
Uri
Avnery
Marie and the Ghosts: the Hoax of
Paris
Col.
Dan Smith
What Has Been Accomplished?
Mike
Whitney
Allawi: Our Puppet with a Pistol
Karyn
Strickler
Just Marriage, Not Gay Marriage
Robert
Fisk
The Crisis of Information in Baghdad
David
Swanson
Media Blackout of US Labor Opposition
to Iraq War
Jennifer
van Bergen
The Death of the Great Writ of Liberty
July
17 / 18, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Apocalypse Now: Why the Book of Revelations
is Must Reading
Ghada
Karmi
Vanishing the Palestinians
Lenni
Brenner
When Cattle Unite, Lions Go Hungry: Notes for Ralph Nader
Ben
Tripp
Man on a Bridge: a Ghost Story
Brandy
Baker
What Would Elizabeth Cady Stanton Make of John Kerry?
M.
Shahid Alam
Israel Builds Another Wall
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Nuclear Hypocrisy: Israel, Iran and the IAEA
Patrick
Bond
The George Bush of Africa
Fred
Gardner
Politics of Marijuana: Cannabiniod Therapuetics
William
Blum
Bush and Thucydides
Ben
Terrall
Carter and the Indonesia Elections: "I Don't See Anything
Wrong with a General Running the Country"
Tom
Barry
John Lehman on the War Path
David
Vest
Dylan Without the Music
Phyllis
Pollack
Return to Sin City: Keith Richards Does Gram Parsons
Ron
Jacobs
Smearing Muhammad Ali: Bob Feller Strikes Out
Joshua
Frank
Kerry to Edwards: "Let's Lose!"
David
Nally
A Call for Sudan: Our Georgraphical Blindspot
Toni
Solo
Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Landau,
Hassan, Prashad & Lindorff
Three Reviews of Moore's F911
Poets's
Basement
Ford, Smith and Albert
July
16, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Adonal Foyle: Master of the Lefty Lay-Up
Shervan
Sardar
Dershowitz, the ICJ and Jim Crow Laws
Ron
Jacobs
The Lil' Engine That Couldn't: Kucinich Surrenders on Anti-War
Plank
Robert
Fisk
Iraq, According to Edgar Allen Poe:
Coffin Bombs in Baghdad
Greg
Moses
The Forts of Iraq
Mickey
Z.
Ad Infinitum?: Presidential Campaigns in the Age of TV
Dan
Bacher
A Landmark Win for Salmon and the Tribes
Dave
Lindorff
The Mumia Case: Support from NAACP,
But a Movement in Shambles
Paul
McGeough
Did Allawi Shoot Inmates in Cold Blood?
Website
of the Day
10 Reasons to Fire Bush (and 9 Reasons Kerry Won't Be Any Better)
July
15, 2004
Heather
Williams
McMissing
the Point: Supersize Me Crashes on Its Message
Werther
Iraq: Follow the Money
Tom
Crumpacker
The Birds of Guantanamo
Brian
Cloughley
What Does the Bush Regime Object To?
Bill
Christison
Reorganize the CIA? Of Course,
But...
July
14, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Chronicle of a Nomination Foretold:
the Green Deceivers
Neve
Gordon
Of Socrates and the Apartheid Wall
Diane
Christian
The Priesthood of Death
Stefan
Wray
Who Benefits from Missing Data at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab?
Josh
Frank
The Nader / Dean Debate
Conn
Hallinan
Divide and Conquer as Imperial Rules
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Bring My Brother Home!: Class, War
and Education
Website
of the Day
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of US Empire
July
13, 2004
Ray
McGovern
The CIA and Iraq: an Intelligence
Debacle...and Worse
Mark
Donham
The Sierra Club's Inexplicable Treatment of Cynthia McKinney
Ben
Tripp
Politus Interruptis: With Friends Like
These, Who Needs Electorates?
Mark
Gaffney
Slipping Towards Armageddon: Israel
in Iraq
Dave
Lindorff
Osama Wins! Election Postponed!
Chris
White
Double Think: the Bedrock of Marine
Indoctrination
July
10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
July
9, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Carlos Delgado on Deck: Blue Jays Slugger
Stands Up Against War
Justin
Delacour
Wishing Kerry Would Shut Up About
Latin America
Robert
Fisk
Iraq in Reverse: Martial Laws Fuel Insurgency
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Two Congresses and a Funeral
William
S. Lind
The October Surprises
Sibel
Edmonds
Our Broken System: John Ashcroft's War on Truth
Ron
Jacobs
Reading Tea Leaves: What Vietnam Tells Us About Iraq's Future
Gary
Leupp
The Lie That Will Not Die: Cheney and
the Iraq/al-Qaeda Link
July
8, 2004
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The Inexplicable John McCain
Toufic
Haddad
Protesting Israel's Apartheid Wall:
a Letter from the Hunger Strikers' Tent
Dave
Lindorff
Liberation as Martial Law
Joshua
Frank
The Fall: How Beltway Dems Sank Howard
Dean
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush & Cheney Play the Hitler Card
James
Petras
The Truth About Jimmy Carter
July
7, 2004
John
Chuckman
Kerry's BBQ: a Deafening Silence
of Meaning
Virginia
Tilley
A Line in the Sand: Azmi Bishara's
Hunger Strike
Susan
Martinez
A Letter to Bill Cosby
Mickey
Z
Elie Wiesel's Strange Parade
Michael
Donnelly
Our Own Private Wilderness: Trusting the Land in the Inland Empire
Sean
Donahue
Boston Social Forum: the Dems aren't the Only Show in Beantown
Diane
Christian
Sovereignty and Freedom in Iraq
July
6, 2004
Lisa
Viscidi
Fleeing Guatemala: Central Americans
Risk Lives to Reach El Norte
Marc
Norton
The Felonious Five Ride Again: the
Supreme Court and Enemy Combatants
James
Brooks
Chemical Warfare on the West Bank?
Ray
McGovern
Porter Goss as CIA Director?
William
Cook
Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons...
July
5, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
US Imperialism in Latin America: Sept.
11, July 4 and Systematic Torture
Chris
White
A Former Marine Sgt. on the Meaning
of Independence Day
Joe
Bageant
Cranky Reflections on the 4th of July
Robert
Jensen
Stupid White Movie: What Michael Moore
Misses About the Empire
Kathy
Kelly
"Two Days an' a Wake-Up"
July
3 / 4, 2004
Elaine
Cassel
Bush's Police State and Independence
Day
Stan
Goff
ABC of Opportunism: "Progressive"
Latin American Leaders Support the Coup in Haiti
Snehal
Shingavi
"We Want Real Justice for Bhopal": Two Survivors Speak
Out
Bruce
Anderson
The Cheney-Leahy Metaphor and the Greens
Sharon
Smith
Twilight of the Greens: the Chokehold of "Anybody But Bush"
Josh
Frank
Ralph Nader's Revolt: an Interview with Greg Bates
Robert
Fisk
Pentagon Tried to Censor Saddam's Hearing
Joe
Bageant
Sons of a Laboring God: Leftnecks Unite!
Brian
Cloughley
Fortress Bush and the One Law Doctrine
Justin
Delacour
The Anti-Chavez Echo Chamber: Venezuela's Media Tycoons
William
S. Lind
Saudi Spillover
Linda
S. Heard
A Joke Called "Justice"
Greg
Moses
"It's Illegal, But It's Our Right": Korean Labor Won't
Back Down
Ron
Jacobs
"Ain't You Proud to be White on Independence Day?"
Toni
Solo
Weary of Indigenous Resistances? Just Pretend They're Not There
Dan
Nagengast
Chicken Manure as Cattle Food: Safe, But Do We Want to Eat It?
Stew
Albert
Brando, a Personal Recollection
Dave
Zirin
From the Black Panthers to Sacheen Littlefeather: a Eulogy for
Our Brando
Patrick
W. Gavin
The Progressive Case for Dodgeball
Steven
Rosenthal / Junaid Ahmad
The Problem is Bigger Than the Bushes: a Review of F911
Poets'
Basement
Kearney, Ford and Davies
Website
of the Day
Global Peace Solution
July
2, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Suicide Right on the Stage: the Demise
of the Green Party
Douglas
Valentine
Fahrenheit 911: Mocking the Moral Crisis of Capitalism
Gary
Leupp
"Just Because I Could": On Obscenities and Opportunities
Lee
Ballinger
Illegal People: Kerry Opposes Immigrant Rights
Robert
Fisk
Saddam in the Dock: Confused? Hardly
CounterPunch
Wire
"What Law Formed This Court?": a Transcript of Saddam's
Arraignment
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's Drug Card Lottery: the Price Ain't Right
Saul
Landau
Buzz Words and Venezuela
July 1, 2004
Katherine
van Wormer
Bush's Damaged Mind: the Madness in
His Method
Joe
Bageant
Is Our President a Whackjob? Does It Matter?
William
James Martin
The Dogma of Richard Perle
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Evacuation Moment
Robert
Fisk
Bread and Circus Trials in Iraq
Alan
Maass
Green Party in Reverse
Website
of the Day
Michael Moore and Israel: Blind or a Coward?
June
30, 2004
Kurt Nimmo
Nicholson
Baker's Checkpoint: a New Kind of Anger About Bush
Tariq
Ali
Getting Away with Murder in Iraq
Jennifer
Van Bergen
Bush and the Detainees
Douglas
Valentine
Apotheosis of the Psychopaths: Instead of Fahrenheit 9/11, Rescreen
The Quiet American
David
Price
Fahrenheit 9/11 Through the McCain-Feingold Looking Glass
Roger
Normand
America's Criminal Occupation of Iraq
Stan
Cox
Sanitized for Your Protection: Ashcroft's
War on Art
Henry
David Thoreau
On the Futility of Bush v. Kerry: All Voting is a Kind of Gaming
Ben
Tripp
Who Dast Call Him Liar: a Rebuttal to Nicholas Kristof
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
July
20, 2004
14
to 1 Against the Wall
The
World is Knocking on Israel's Door
By
SAM BAHOUR
When The Hague speaks, the world listens,
especially when a threat to international peace is involved.
At least this was the case until the International Court of
Justice took aim at Israel. At issue was the Israeli government's
building of a separation wall on occupied Palestinian lands in
the West Bank, which, in essence, has caged Palestinian communities
into ghettos reminiscent of the Jewish ghettos in Europe during
World War II. The now infamous separation wall is center stage
of an international campaign aimed to end the illegal Israeli
military occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem--all
areas occupied by force in 1967 when Israel's military assumed
control, the same way the US entered Iraq and assumed control
of everyday life there.
The United Nations General
Assembly was faced with complaints that the separation wall that
Israel is building had nothing to do with Israel's security and
everything to do with Israel grabbing more Palestinian lands
by force and creating impossible living conditions for Palestinians.
Israel's real intention is to continue the strangulation of
the Palestinians in hopes that this would lead to their subjugation
and force Palestinians to dismiss their international right to
statehood, self-determination and right to return. The separation
wall is Israel's final solution for all those Palestinian families
that were displaced by Israel's creation in 1948 and subsequent
military aggression in 1967 and afterwards.
On 8 December 2003, the United
Nations General Assembly requested what is called an "Advisory
Opinion" from its legal arm, the International Court of
Justice. Immediately, Israel and the United States claimed that
the International Court of Justice did not have jurisdiction
to rule in the case. Israel and the US lost this argument when
the judges unanimously, all 15, including one American judge,
decided that the Court does have the full right and jurisdiction
over the case.
The outcome of hearing the
case against the Israeli separation wall was expected by all.
All involved knew that the wall, in and of itself, could not
be discussed in a vacuum, but rather the entire 37-years of Israeli
military occupation would be put on trail, including the decades
long Israeli policy of illegally building Jewish-only settlements
and moving Israeli squatters to live in these military compounds
that are located in the midst of Palestinian population centers
and spread throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
On 9 July 2004, the International Court of Justice issued its
Advisory Opinion, as requested by the UN General Assembly. The
Court's opinion stated the following, with American Justice Thomas
Buergenthal being the constant dissenting vote,
By fourteen votes to one,
"The construction of the
wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied
Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem,
and its associated régime, are contrary to international
law"
By fourteen votes to one,
"Israel is under an obligation
to terminate its breaches of international law; it is under an
obligation to cease forthwith the works of construction of the
wall being built in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including
in and around East Jerusalem, to dismantle forthwith the structure
therein situated, and to repeal or render ineffective forthwith
all legislative and regulatory acts relating thereto."
By fourteen votes to one,
"Israel is under an obligation
to make reparation for all damage caused by the construction
of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including
in and around East Jerusalem"
By thirteen votes to two,
"All States are under
an obligation not to recognize the illegal situation resulting
from the construction of the wall and not to render aid or assistance
in maintaining the situation created by such construction; all
States parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the
Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949
have in addition the obligation, while respecting the United
Nations Charter and international law, to ensure compliance by
Israel with international humanitarian law as embodied in that
Convention"
By fourteen votes to one,
"The United Nations, and
especially the General Assembly and the Security Council, should
consider what further action is required to bring to an end the
illegal situation resulting from the construction of the wall
and the associated régime, taking due account of the present
Advisory Opinion."
These decisions are part of
the 59-page Advisory Opinion that has now been submitted to the
requesting party, the United Nations General Assembly. Israel
has already stated, even prior to the Advisory Opinion being
issued, that it will not abide by the Court's findings. The
US is towing the same Israeli line. This being the case, the
question that begs an answer is what can an entire community
of nations do if the violating party, Israel in this case, and
the world's sole superpower shun an International Court opinion?
Also, what can the UN General Assembly do given that usually
its decisions are non-binding, unlike the UN Security Council
where any of its members can use their veto power to stop any
action? When Israel is involved, the parallelization of any
Security Council action is real since the US historically and
systematically exercises its veto power to safeguard Israel from
international actions which aim to force it to an end its illegal
occupation.
The next steps in this landmark
Advisory Opinion are currently high on the agenda of the Palestinians
as well as many countries of the world all seeking to find
a non-violent way to end the military occupation that has drained
the region and the world, let alone taken tens of thousands of
lives, both Palestinian and Israeli.
Under a United Nations procedure
called "Uniting for Peace," the UN General Assembly
can demand an immediate ceasefire and withdrawal of Israel from
the Occupied Palestinians lands. The General Assembly may also
call for a United Nations Peacekeeping Force to be sent to Palestine
to protect the Palestinians from the occupying power. The "Uniting
for Peace" procedure has been used before, by none other
than the United States. As explained by historian and author
Jeremy Brecher,
"When Egypt nationalized
the Suez Canal in 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt
and began advancing on the Suez Canal. U.S. President Dwight
D. Eisenhower demanded that the invasion stop. Resolutions in
the UN Security Council called for a cease-fire--but Britain
and France vetoed them. Then the United States appealed to the
General Assembly and proposed a resolution calling for a cease-fire
and a withdrawal of forces. The General Assembly held an emergency
session and passed the resolution. Britain and France withdrew
from Egypt within a week."
"The appeal to the General
Assembly was made under a procedure called "Uniting for
Peace." This procedure was adopted by the Security Council
so that the UN can act even if the Security Council is stalemated
by vetoes. Resolution 377 provides that, if there is a "threat
to peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression" and
the permanent members of the Security Council do not agree on
action, the General Assembly can meet immediately and recommend
collective measures to U.N. members to "maintain or restore
international peace and security." The "Uniting for
Peace" mechanism has been used ten times, most frequently
on the initiative of the United States." (CounterPunch,
March 5, 2003)
Dr. Richard Cummings, an international
law professor with degrees from Columbia Law School and Princeton
who has a Ph.D. from Cambridge and taught international law at
the Haile Sellassie I University and formerly was the Attorney-Advisor
with the Office of General Counsel of the Near East South Asia
region of USAID, where he was responsible for the legal work
pertaining to the aid program in Israel, Jordan, Pakistan and
Afghanistan has made similar observations regarding the UN and
Israel in his essay, Human Rights, International Law and Peace
in the Middle East (Tikkun, Jan 2004). Dr. Cummings notes,
"At this juncture, we
are faced with a choice. Do we lapse back into the primitive
balance of power approach that has always broken down and led
to wider wars, or do we accept the legitimacy of Woodrow Wilson's
vision of a just international order under the rule of international
law? I would suggest that it is time to revive Wilson's legacy
and turn to the International Court of Justice, which was brought
into existence at the birth of the United Nations."
...
"Failure by a United Nations
member or entity with observer status to adhere to the advisory
opinion on any matter of law could specifically give rise to
a suspension by the General Assembly of its voting rights"
Such an example is when South Africa was in violation of an
advisory opinion of the World Court and lost its voting rights.
...
"An opinion from the Court
would be sufficient to override such a [Security Council] veto,
under the provisions of Article 14, which provides that "the
General Assembly may recommend measures for the peaceful adjustment
of any situation, regardless of origin, which it deems likely
to impair the general welfare or friendly relations among nations,
including situations resulting from a violation of the provisions
of the present Charter setting forth the Purposes and Principles
of the United Nations."
"Indeed, the United States
would be hard-pressed to object to this strategy. When, during
the Korean war, the Soviet Union ceased its boycott of the Security
Council and vetoed resolutions that would have continued United
Nations support for the multinational force, the United States
successfully obtained a "Uniting for Peace" resolution
in the General Assembly to support the force, under Article 14
(UN General Assembly Resolution 377A, November 3, 1950). In this
case, because the initial action had been authorized by the Security
Council in the Soviet Union's absence, the subsequent Uniting
for Peace Resolution had sufficient force in law. As the United
States would continue to veto any peace keeping force in the
Security Council, the advisory opinion would remedy the deficiency
of a previous Security Council resolution, which, unlike General
Assembly resolutions, have a quasi-legislative nature."
"Armed with an International
Court of Justice advisory opinion, the General Assembly could
once and for all move to make its opinions binding on the parties
involved, thus bypassing the Security Council that is perpetually
blocked by the veto of the United States, which it invokes in
pursuance of its own agenda unrelated to the needs of the rest
of the world."
International Law must be defined
by the world institutions that were established for the purpose,
and not by the existing superpower or the party to the conflict
that can hire the better public relations firms. The clear and
unequivocal end to Israeli occupation, in all its forms, has
the power to bring justice, security and stability to a region
on the verge of self-destruction.
The International Court of
Justice's Advisory Opinion could be the ladder that world leaders,
including Israeli and US, use to climb down the tree of oppression
and occupation. If this opportunity is ignored, the result will
only be more bloodshed and killing. The US and our Israeli neighbors
must come to the realization that military occupation and security
can never peacefully coexist.
Furthermore, time is past due
for the Palestinian leadership to take professional legal advice
and assume responsibility and act legally to channel, not only
last week's International Court Decision, but also the millions
around the world that stand in unwavering solidarity with the
just Palestinian cause. Atty. Francis A. Boyle, a renowned expert
in international law and author of an indispensable, fact-packed
new book titled, Palestine, Palestinians and International Law
(Clarity Press, Inc, 2003), sheds a glaring light on how the
Palestinian leadership has repeatedly ignored professional legal
advice, even when it was commissioned by them. This includes
dismissing the strategy of invoking the UN General Assembly's
Uniting for Peace Resolution from as far back as 1988. The Palestinian
people can no longer accept this incompetence in dealing with
ending the Israeli occupation. The last four years of continuous
Israeli aggression, which left each and every Palestinian living
in open air prisons, leaves no doubt in anyone's mind that Israel's
intentions for over the last five decades have absolutely nothing
to do with peace or coexistence.
Israel, your time is up -- enough terror, killings, assassinations,
bombings, home demolitions, arbitrary arrests, and violations
of Palestinians' human rights. Israel must tear down this illegal
Apartheid Wall and bring its military occupation of Palestine
to an end so it may finally join the community of nations.
Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessman
living in the besieged Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West
Bank and can be reached at sbahour@palnet.com.
Weekend
Edition Features for July 10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
Keep
CounterPunch Alive:
Make
a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online!
home
/ subscribe
/ about us / books
/ archives / search
/ links /
|