Justice for All? A Tale of Two Victims: Leon Klinghoffer and Furkan Dogan

US Campaign National Advocacy Director Josh Ruebner, writing at Huffington Post:

In October 1985, four Palestinian gunmen from the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) stormed an Italian cruise ship on the Mediterranean, holding its approximately 700 vacationers hostage while demanding the release of their comrades-in-arms from Israeli prison.

The hijacking of the Achille Lauro, during which the hijackers killed an elderly, wheelchair-bound Jewish-American man--Leon Klinghoffer--and then threw his body into the sea, ranked as one of the most ignominious acts ever committed by Palestinians.

President Ronald Reagan vowed swift action, promising that "we're going to do everything we can to see that they [PLF hijackers] are brought to justice." Indeed, the "Old Gipper" was as good as his word. After Egypt mediated an end to the hostage crisis by freeing the passengers in exchange for the hijackers' safe passage to Tunisia, the United States scrambled F-14 Tomcats from the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga and forced the airplane carrying the hijackers to land at a NATO base in Sicily. After a brief diplomatic stand-off over jurisdiction between Italy and the United States, the hijackers were prosecuted and imprisoned in Italy.

To determine whether the Pledge of Allegiance's promise of "justice for all" holds true in all circumstances, compare Reagan's aggressive response to the killing of a U.S. citizen on the Mediterranean Sea to the tepid response of the Obama Administration in the same scenario.

On May 31, Israel interdicted, boarded, and assaulted the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, comprised of six ships carrying 700 international humanitarian activists and 10,000 tons of desperately needed humanitarian supplies to the 1.5 million blockaded Palestinian civilians living under Israeli military occupation in the Gaza Strip, in the international waters of the Mediterranean.

During this attack, Israel killed nine civilians, injured dozens more, and abducted hundreds against their will to Israel for detention and deportation. Of those killed, one was a U.S. citizen, Furkan Dogan, a 19 year-old student whose body was riddled with four gunshots to the head and one to the chest. At least two other U.S. citizens, Huwaida Arraf and Dr. Paul Larudee were beaten by Israeli forces, the latter of whom required hospitalization. Later that day, Israeli forces in the occupied Palestinian West Bank shot a 21 year-old U.S. citizen, Emily Henochowicz, in the face with a tear gas canister during a nonviolent protest against the attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. She is currently recuperating in a hospital after losing an eye and undergoing facial reconstruction surgery.

In the Obama Administration's most comprehensive statement to date on the injuring and killing of these U.S. citizens, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated on June 3:

"Protecting the welfare of American citizens is a fundamental responsibility of our government and one that we take very seriously. We are in constant contact with the Israeli Government, attempting to obtain more information about our citizens. We have made no decisions at this point on any additional specific actions that our government should take with respect to our own citizens."

It doesn't sound as if the Obama Administration will be scrambling fighter jets anytime soon to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak for ordering these attacks against U.S. civilians.

Since the Obama Administration is having trouble deciding how to punish Israel for injuring and killing U.S. citizens, here's a suggested first step: launch an investigation into whether Israel violated the Arms Export Control Act (AECA).

The AECA stipulates that weapons provided by the United States can only be used by foreign countries for "internal security" or "legitimate self-defense." Since Israel engaged in act of aggression in international waters, it is self-evident that Israel violated this law.

The United States has provided the Israeli navy and air force with weapons through Foreign Military Financing (FMF) budget allocations that were, or may have been, used in this attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. According to the Jerusalem Post, the Israel Air Force used three Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters to transport its commandos to the ships. The Israel Air Force is reported to have 49 of these combat helicopters.

In addition, the United States has transferred additional weapons to the Israeli Navy that may have been used in violation of the AECA during its attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. In July 2008, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DCSA) notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to Israel of four littoral combat ships (LCS-I variant), associated equipment, and services valued at up to $1.9 billion. The Israeli Navy is also reported to have three Sa'ar 5-class corvettes built in the United States.

Press reports also indicate that Israel may have used U.S. guns, ammunition, night vision goggles, and crowd dispersal weapons in its attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. The high-velocity tear-gas canister which injured Emily Henochowicz was likely of U.S. origin as well.

How much longer should the United States be expected to underwrite $30 billion in weapons for Israeli military occupation and apartheid toward Palestinians, when these weapons are being misused not only to perpetrate terrible human rights abuses against Palestinians, but against U.S. citizens as well?

A finding by the Obama Administration that Israel violated the AECA would be the first step towards accountability and sanctions, both of which are necessary to halt Israel's intransigence in the face of ever-expanding global opposition to its policies.

Learn more about the devastating impact of U.S. military aid to Israel, how much money your community provides, what that money could be used for instead in your community, and how to take action to end military aid to Israel by clicking here.

Settlement university dropped from prestigious architecture competition

Press release, Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine, 22 September 2009

The following press release was issued by Architects & Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) on 21 September 2009:

The University Center of Ariel in Samaria (AUCS) has been excluded from the Solar Decathlon, an international university competition promoting sustainable architecture.

The self-styled AUCS, claiming to represent Israel, though situated in the illegal settlement of Ariel in the occupied West Bank, was one out of 20 architecture teams short-listed from university entries last April to compete for the Solar Decathlon-Europe 2010. The Spanish Government together with the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid organizes this most prestigious competition for sustainable architecture in the world.

Although this is the first competition of its kind in Europe, it builds on almost a decade of competitions in the US sponsored by the US Department of Energy.

Selected teams, formed by architects and engineering students are asked to design and build a real house entirely driven by solar energy. Every house should be built in one of the 20 sites in the "Solar Villa" planned in Madrid to host them. To facilitate participation of the various teams, the Spanish Ministry of Housing allocated a sum of 100,000 Euros to every project.

The International Union of Architects (UIA) has already taken note that Israeli architecture and planning in the West Bank is contrary to its professional ethics and Codes of Conduct and Accords. After a motion raised at the UIA Council meeting in Brazil this July, in relation to these activities, the UIA confirmed its policy that:

"The UIA Council condemns development projects and the construction of buildings on land that has been ethnically purified or illegally appropriated, and projects based on regulations that are ethnically or culturally discriminatory, and similarly it condemns all action contravening the Fourth Geneva Convention."

On this basis, the UK-based Architects and Planners for Justice in Palestine (APJP) initiated a campaign backed by UK and international architects and academics, which was also taken up by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee (BNC) in Palestine, against official Spanish recognition of the illegal Israeli university in occupied Palestinian territory. The support of many individuals and organizations in Spain for the cancellation of AUCS's participation in the Solar Decathlon culminated in a parliamentary question in the Spanish Parliament and the eventual exclusion of the illegal settlement's academic institution from the competition.

Last Wednesday, 16 September, Sergio Vega, General Director of Solar Decathlon Europe addressed all participant teams to inform them of the exclusion of AUCS: "The decision has been taken by the Government of Spain based upon the fact that the University is located in the [occupied] West Bank. The Government of Spain is obliged to respect the international agreements under the framework of the European Union and the United Nations regarding this geographical area." EU policy is firmly against Israel's illegal settlements and occupation, and this clear, firm and principled response represents the first case of sanctions against an Israeli academic institution in Spain and one of the very first such actions in the West.

Spain joins the growing number of European governments taking effective steps to uphold international law by boycotting or divesting from institutions and corporations involved in Israel's illegal settlements and Separation Wall built on occupied Palestinian land.

This move of the government of Spain follows the decision of the UK government not to rent offices from Israeli settlement builder Lev Leviev and the divestment of the Norwegian Pension Fund from Elbit Systems, an Israeli company providing surveillance equipment to the Wall. The global company Veolia has lost major European contracts due to its construction of the light railway in illegally annexed East Jerusalem.

The Spanish university teachers, parliamentarians and organizations are to be congratulated for this principled stand with the Palestinian people and international law, and professional ethics.