August 2011 saw a flurry of activity in the region: Yet another Israeli attack on Gaza, Israel refuses to apologise to Turkey over the Flotilla massacre and as social justice protest overwhelm Israeli society, further human rights abuses continue against non-Jewish citizens and Palestinians in the OPTs.
Israeli lawmakers have submitted a draft bill which seeks to give priority to Talmudic laws over secular democratic ones and to remove Arabic as an official language of Israel. The step is being viewed as an example of Israel legislating fascism Israel legislating fascism and the first step toward the full Talmudisation of the Israeli justice system.
Just days before the publication of the Palmer Inquiry in the bloody Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara last May which resulted in the killing of nine Turkish citizens aboard, Benjamin Netanyahu informed the US Secretary of State of Israel's decision to firmly uphold its refusal to apologise to Turkey over the massacre.
Following two days of Egyptian protests outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo demanding the expulsion of the Israeli envoy, Egypt has decided to withdraw its ambassador to Israel pending an investigation into the killing of Egyptian policemen by Israeli forces along the border.
August saw a stepping-up of violence by Israel against the blockaded Gaza Strip as the Zionist state "retaliated" for an attack on its soldiers and citizens near Eilat, in which a number of Israelis were killed.
Israel launched a series of deadly airstrikes and ground attacks in the Gaza Strip during the month of Ramadan.
The coordinated attacks began on Thursday 18th August, after the Israeli occupation accused Hamas and Palestinian factions within Gaza of being responsible for the attack on Israeli soldiers and civilians in Eilat, South Israel.
The whole issue of the Palestinian Authority's plans to go to the UN for recognition of an independent state has been covered comprehensively in the US media, as one would expect. In the Washington Post on 31st August, Joel Greenberg wrote that "Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called for peaceful demonstrations, and he has ruled out a third intifada, or uprising, against Israel". In any case, continued Greenberg, according to Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, "his 'assessment and hope' was that the U.N. vote would pass quietly" and, "using similar language, the senior official who briefed reporters said he was 'doubtful' that the extreme scenarios prepared for by the military would materialize". The same official went on to tell Greenberg that "he did not think that the U.N. vote would alter Israel's relations with other nations, but he cautioned that recognition of statehood would provide a strong basis for Palestinian legal action against Israel in international tribunals and other bodies. He said Israeli legal officials were preparing for such challenges." (Israel braces for Palestinian statehood bid at United Nations)
2011 will go down in history as the year of social revolutions; previously subjugated nations have risen up in the millions against their tyrannical and corrupt leaders. The Middle East has had its Arab Spring and its revolutions have inspired an unlikely nation to rise up to. The beginning of August saw the Israeli Jewish people take to the streets in their thousands demanding social justice and fairness for all. But can it be classed as a social revolution whenhave they?
At the beginning of the month, Israel approved the construction of 1,600 new settlement units in the settlement of Ramat Shlomo followed by 277 more in the huge settlement of Ariel. Israel hopes to annex Ariel in the course of any settlement deal which would essentially cut any future Palestinian state in two.
NuritPeled Elhanan, professor of language and education at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem has recently published a book entitled 'Palestine in Israeli School Books: Ideology and Propaganda in Education' - the product of five years' worth of research into Israeli schools textbooks.
Following complaints made by public servants in the West Bank, including the Palestinian Medical association, the Chief of Police and the Head of the Anti-Corruption Authority, who felt they were being ridiculed, the hugely popular WatanalaWatar aired nightly during Ramadan has been pulled. The Attorney General said that the programme which tackles issues such as corruption, nepotism and social attitudes, had crossed 'red lines', 'did not serve the public interest' and was 'harmful to Palestinian society'.
Israeli sources have reported that US Democrat Senator, Patrick Leahy, is working on a Bill to have US assistance withheld from elite IDF units on the grounds that they are involved in human rights violations against Palestinians.
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