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Viewpoint - August 13, 2015
Editor's Note:
Israel wreaks havoc by arming its enemies so they destroy themselves. Meanwhile, Re/Max gets heat for selling stolen Palestinian land.
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Israeli arms exports under scrutiny amid claims they are 'helping to fuel conflict in South Sudan' despite EU embargo
by: Ben Lynfield
For years there have been persistent reports of Israel selling arms to regimes with records of egregious human rights abuses without the issue being discussed or questioned at home. But that is changing.
Eitay Mack, a young lawyer, is trying to break through the wall of secrecy around Israeli weapons exports and is pressing for an end to the arms and know-how transfers that are currently helping to fuel South Sudan's civil war and other conflicts. He claims Israel is "prolonging" the conflict in South Sudan which, according to estimates, has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
Mr Mack believes his is a life-saving mission and he does it on a voluntary basis although it often takes up most of his time. "I want to do all I can to stop war crimes and crimes against humanity for the sake of the citizens in South Sudan," he tells The Independent in his modest office in west Jerusalem, adorned with the iconic photo of a protester facing a column of tanks in Tiananmen Square. "I am a citizen of the world and I have global responsibility."
In December the European Union imposed an embargo on weapons sales to South Sudan after that country's civil war resulted the displacement of nearly two million people. Washington, for its part, has halted all military assistance to the South Sudanese government.
But Israel, according to what Mr Mack describes as information from press reports, aid workers he has personally interviewed and other sources he says he cannot divulge, is providing Galil and Tavor rifles to the government forces and is training them in internal security techniques.
Mr Mack says Israel hosted a senior South Sudanese delegation at a weapons fair in Tel Aviv in June when the European embargo was in force. The United Nations South Sudan mission said Anthony Lino Makana, the South Sudan transport minister, had been expected to lead the delegation to the weapons fair, amid protests outside.
At the same time as the guests were apparently being welcomed in Israel, South Sudanese forces and their allies in South Sudan's Unity State were winding up an offensive in which they burned entire villages to the ground and carried out scores of killings and rapes, causing forced displacement, according to Human Rights Watch. "Israel is prolonging the fighting in South Sudan," Mr Mack says.
Defence ministry spokesman Yaacov Havakook declined to respond to a query about whether Israel equips South Sudan. When asked to respond to Mr Mack's claims and to explain Israel's relationship with South Sudan, Mr Havakook, said: "Our policy is that we don't respond on matters of sales of weapons. We don't refer to specific countries."
In Mr Mack's view the Jewish state's continued weapons provision is helping to perpetuate an illusion on the part of South Sudanese president Salva Kiir Mayardit and other leaders that they will be able to break the military deadlock and win the war, thus inclining them to shun a diplomatic solution.
Joining forces with liberal Israeli politician Tamar Zandberg, Mr Mack demanded that the defence ministry cut off all Israeli military aid to South Sudan. He helped to organise several small street demonstrations.
Mr Mack also has his sights set on what he says is Israel's selling and/or provision of military expertise to Eritrea, Azerbaijan, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Cameroon, Gabon and Chad among others.
Mr Havakook, the defence ministry spokesman, declined to comment on a query from The Independent on whether Israel is equipping these countries, or to respond to criticism that it is abetting human rights violations.
"They don't want a public discussion, what is most threatening to them is that the public will start to intervene in what they are doing," Mr Mack says.
He believes Israeli officials may be culpable for war crimes and crimes against humanity by approving alleged past weapons transfers. In his view, holding officials responsible for past alleged crimes is paramount to ensuring that future abuses do not occur.
He and Yair Oron, an Israeli academic, are currently fighting a court battle to obtain the release of all documentation related to what Mr Mack is certain was weapons provision to Rwanda during the genocide from April-July 1994 and to the Serbs in Bosnia from 1991 to 1995.
The defence ministry responded to his action by specifying that release of the documents would harm the foreign relations and security of the state. A lower court backed the ministry and Mr Mack and Mr Oron are appealing to the supreme court against the decision.
Mr Mack, 34, started being a citizen of the world at a young age. Rather than have a party for his bar mitzvah, he convinced his parents to take him on a trip to China. When he travelled to South America in 2004, he began to think seriously about Israel's military role in the world.
On his trip he met an Irish traveller who was wearing a well known Israeli brand of sandals. He asked her why she had Israeli footwear and she explained that she was going into the jungle in Colombia, that Israelis were training the forces there and she thought that if she wore the sandals she would be protected. He says: "It made me think that if I'm identified as an Israeli I'm protected and if not, they may shoot me. I thought: 'why are we taking a side in this?'
"I began to research and I found that in some cases we are training and arming both the government and the rebels. I found out we are supporting many dictatorial regimes and are involved in violent conflicts throughout the world."
Original Article: Israeli arms exports under scrutiny amid claims they are 'helping to fuel conflict in South Sudan' despite EU embargo
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How global real estate giant RE/MAX profits from stolen Palestinian land
by: Ben Norton
The Electronic Intifada
Agents working for the US-headquartered real estate giant RE/MAX are promoting themselves as specialists in property built in Israel's settlements on occupied Palestinian land.
The Colorado-based corporation which says it operates in nearly 100 countries was identified as responsible by a 2013 United Nations' probe for how its Israeli franchises sell houses and apartments in the occupied West Bank.
Despite that criticism, many RE/MAX representatives are continuing to handle such property.
Shlomo Benzaquen, a RE/MAX agent, states on a website run by the company that his "area of expertise" includes a number of Israeli settlements.
He particularly recommends Kokhav Yaakov, Tel Zion and Adam (also known as Geva Binyamin) as "communities" which "offer tremendous value to young families and investors looking for high returns."
In fact, all of these "communities" are Israeli settlements inside the West Bank and are illegal under international law. Their construction and growth violates the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids an occupying power from transferring its civilian population into a territory that it occupies.
The Electronic Intifada contacted Benzaquen by telephone, asking him why he is selling property built on illegally occupied land in East Jerusalem and elsewhere in the West Bank.
"I don't know what illegally occupied is," he said. "I deal with Jerusalem. I'm not sure what you mean by East Jerusalem."
Asked if he was familiar with the Fourth Geneva Convention, Benzaquen replied "I'm not getting into politics" before hanging up.
His colleague Hillel Weinschneider, meanwhile, says on a RE/MAX website that his "area of expertise" is Ramat Eshkol and Givat Hamivtar.
Both of those settlements are in occupied East Jerusalem, which Israel claims to have annexed in direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions.
High prices
Scores of properties in the occupied West Bank (including East Jerusalem) are currently listed as for sale on RE/MAX websites.
Some of them are on the market for high prices. RE/MAX is trying to sell a three-bedroom house in Jerusalem's Old City for $1.7 million. According to RE/MAX, the house was "built over 600 years ago by the Turks."
A video for the same property posted to YouTube by Benzaquen, states that the "light train is just nearby." That is a reference to a tram network which connects Israel's settlements in East Jerusalem to other parts of the city.
The French corporation Veolia has faced years of criticism and activist campaigns for its large-scale involvement in building the Jerusalem light rail, which Palestinians see as a means of tightening Israel's grip on their city.
RE/MAX's Colorado headquarters did not reply to requests for comment.
Illegal
The firm has generally kept silent when its activities have been highlighted by Palestine solidarity activists. It did, however, issue a terse statement last year.
The statement tried to distance the firm's headquarters from its Israeli franchise and noted that RE/MAX had reduced the number of its offices in the West Bank.
It failed to acknowledge that many of the agents handling property in East Jerusalem and the wider West Bank are working from offices in West Jerusalem.
But the company seems to be sensitive to activist criticism that it is involved in selling homes in illegal settlements within the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Searches on the RE/MAX Israel website suggest the company may be engaging in deliberate obfuscation of its West Bank settlement listings.
An interactive map of present day Israel and the occupied West Bank displays red dots showing where RE/MAX-marketed properties are located. This map conveys the impression that it does little or no business in the West Bank.
However, if one searches for the names of individual West Bank settlements, the true story becomes clear.
For instance, a search for "Ariel" results in a listing of 12 properties in that settlement in the northern occupied West Bank near Nablus. However, switch through to the "map view" of the same search result, and the red dots over Ariel have been removed.
Similar obfuscation is evident while searching for properties in the settlements of Maaleh Adumim, Gilo and French Hill.
The map is a key online marketing tool for RE/MAX Israel. Those who search for a property handled by RE/MAX Israel are immediately taken to this map.
RE/MAX still has agents based in Maaleh Adumim, one of Israel's largest settlements in the West Bank.
The anti-war group Codepink has set up a campaign targeting RE/MAX over its property sales in Israeli settlements.
Jodie Evans, a founder of Codepink, argued that it was dishonest for RE/MAX to claim that its Israeli franchise was unconnected to the Colorado headquarters.
Bernard Raskin, director of RE/MAX Israel, attended the parent company's annual convention in Las Vegas during March.
Raskin was faced by protesters but he "was not backing down and stood his ground the entire time we were in Vegas," said Evans.
"We can also say they lied in trying to distance themselves, because he had a huge presence and major influence in Vegas," Evans added. "He was bossing the hotel security around."
Original Article: How global real estate giant RE/MAX profits from stolen
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