Informed People Want Traditional Politicians Of The Past Age

By P. Soma Palan – APRIL 17, 2018

P. Soma Palan

I refer to Mr. Kelum Bandara’s Interview with Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa(GR), which appeared in the Daily Mirror of 10th April, prominently under large bold heading “People want Non-Traditional Politicians”. Although it covered diverse matters of interest, I was amused by his response to the question, “How would you fit into the shoes of a politician”. He answered by saying that “people want non- traditional Politicians”. His statement is reflective of his super ego to be the new Messiah to rescue the Nation; a self-claim to an uncommon, extraordinary, innovative and super-technocratic politician.

Traditional and Non-Traditional Politicians

GR’s reference to Non- traditional politicians obviously means that, there is a class of Traditional Politicians. But he has not stated or explained his concept of Non- Traditional or Traditional Politicians. This Classification of politicians into two types, in my view, is one based on historical and chronological sense. Those politicians of the pre-independence time of the State Council and early post-independence time of Parliamentary form of Government, can be classed as Traditional Politicians. A majority of the politicians from 1956 onwards, excluding the spillover of a limited number of traditional politicians from the former period, could be classified as Neo-Traditional politicians. But in my view, MR’s concept of the Non- Traditional politicians is of a different construction. I surmise, what is in MR’s mind is, that a person entering into politics from outside the established political system, is a non-Traditional Politician. In other words, a person from the Bureaucratic Administrative Service, becoming a Political Leader, is a non-traditional politician. GR states that the people want such non-Traditional Politicians to rule the country. On what evidential basis of a Gallop poll of the voters, GR ascertained the will of the people wanting such non-traditional politicians, is not made clear. If the people want non-traditional political leaders from the Bureaucratic Administration, we will soon not have an Administrative Service and Political Parties will be superfluous.

Peoples’ will, Wishes and wants

Democracy is a queer form of Government. It is religiously believed that Democracy is a Government of the People, by the People and for the People. Embedded in this definition is the concept of the supremacy of the Sovereignty of the people. In reality, is this true? In practical reality it is not true. The only power people have is to elect a Government. Once a Government is elected, it is the Government that rules the country and not the people. If the elected Government misrule the country, could the people remove that Government before its mandated period ends? People cannot do so. People could only overthrow the Government by a violent revolution. That is also a remote possibility, under the military might of the modern State. In the circumstances, people’s power, is a hoax, a sham. The truth is all decisions/ actions of a Government, is super-imposed on the people, as the expression of their wishes, wants and will. The politicians,parrot-like repeat ad-nauseam for everything, it is the wishes of the people. GR cannot help but accede to the cry that “people want non-traditional politicians”, is just the same recurring chant of the politicians. The actual truth is that all politicians mould and condition the people to accept their decisions, views and wants, and thereafter, project them as the wants, wishes and will of the people, which per force, they have to carry out. It is plainly political hypocrisy.

Classification of Politicians

My understanding of the category of Traditional Politicians and Non-Traditional Politicians is on the basis, whether one comes to power by long years of political apprenticeship through graduated levels of local, Municipal, Provincial and finally Parliamentary means, as in the former case, or one comes to power from completely outside the political process as mentioned above, but from bureaucratic or administrative institutions, which GR classify as the Non-Traditional Politicians. There are hardly any politicians or political leaders of non- Traditional variety in a Democracy anywhere in the world. Only examples that come into my mind, is Indira Ghandi of India and Mrs. Srimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka. Both became Prime Ministers after the demise of the father, Jawarlal Nehru in the former case, and after the demise of the husband, in the latter case. They can be treated as non-traditional Politicians as per GR’s perception. But these are just aberrations rather than being the regular norm.

Traditional Politicians

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Challenging political environment impeding reforms is a key risk for Sri Lanka's growth, World Bank warns

Mon, Apr 16, 2018, 05:40 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


Apr 16, Colombo: The World Bank projecting an economic growth of 4.8 percent for Sri Lanka this year warns that while the economic outlook remains favorable, challenging political environment impeding reforms is a key risk for the medium-term growth as political uncertainties slowed the implementation of reforms.

"The outlook remains favorable, provided the government is committed to the reform agenda of improving competitiveness, governance and public financial management," the global lender said in its latest report "South Asia Economic Focus Spring 2018".

Together with the IMF program, these reforms will add to confidence and support fiscal consolidation efforts.

The report projects the growth to rebound in 2018 from a low base and continue to be around 4.5 percent in the medium term, driven by private consumption and investment.

Inflation will stabilize at the mid-single digit level as the impact of natural disasters wears off, although the upward trend in oil prices may exert some upward pressure.

The external sector will continue to benefit from the GSP+ preferential access to the European Union and tourism receipts, despite the deceleration of remittances.

External buffers are expected to improve, with emphasis on purchasing foreign exchange, maintaining a more market-determined exchange rate, and increased FDI.

The overall fiscal deficit is projected to fall in the medium term, supported by the ongoing implementation of revenue measures.

Growth should continue to translate into poverty reduction and improvement in living standards.
However, a further slowdown in reform implementation, in a challenging political environment, remains the key risk to the baseline and the impending election cycle elevates this risk, the Bank warns.

The World Bank cautions that Sri Lanka faces several challenges that increasingly put its future economic growth and stability at risk, which must be addressed through macro and structural reforms and it suggests to:

(1) stay on the fiscal consolidation path by broadening and simplifying the tax base and aligning spending with priorities. This is important given high public debt, SOE debt and guarantees and large gross financing requirements;

(2) shift towards a private investment-tradable sector-led growth model by improving trade, investment, innovation and the business environment;

(3) improve governance and accountability by implementing the Right to Information Act for citizens' engagement and improve SOE performance and service delivery; and (4) reduce vulnerability and risks in the economy by enhancing disaster preparedness and mitigating the impact of reforms on the poor and vulnerable with well-targeted spending;

(4) reduce vulnerability and risks in the economy by enhancing disaster preparedness and mitigating the impact of reforms on the poor and vulnerable with well-targeted spending.

People trapped in a quagmire amid raging political struggle

 

2018-04-17

he reason behind last Thursday’s surprise move by President Maithripala Sirisena to prorogue the Parliament was clear. He is in a Catch-22 situation in the wake of his party members being compelled to resign from the portfolios they held in the government after they supported the joint opposition sponsored no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The President now appears to be trying to buy time by proroguing Parliament to decide on his next move in his struggle to survive.   
He wanted to remove the Prime Minister from his post after the recent local council elections whereas now the Prime Minister’s party, the United National Party (UNP) after the defeat of the no-confidence motion has taken steps to hit back by splitting his party and isolating him. The Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) which is unofficially led by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa winning a majority of local councils, some parliamentarians of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led by the President are seemingly looking for opportunities to desert him and team up with the former president.   
Fifteen out of 16 members of the President-led SLFP who had voted in favour of the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister resigned from their posts last week and the other member, Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala is also said to have submitted his resignation to the Speaker Karu Jayasuriya. S.B. Dissanayake, who was one of the ministers who resigned had publicly told over the weekend that they would sit with the opposition once Parliament is re-convened. 

 
The President’s position in the government is now on slippery ground apart from the fact that the UNP-led government has also been drastically weakened after the local government elections and the no-confidence motion against the Premier. The defeat of the motion was a temporary setback for the Rajapaksa faction or the JO but it was soon offset by the conflicts between the two main parties in the government and within the SLFP. Therefore, not only President Sirisena but also the UNP-led government is in a Catch-22 situation and it is against such a backdrop that the President has prorogued Parliament.   
In spite of the present government being a coalition government between the UNP and the SLFP, the two parties remain in government without any mutual understanding. Despite it being officially called a National Government it does not look at the things from a national point of view. The two parties do not have any common policy or any common economic programme. In fact they do not have any economic programme whatsoever, leave alone a common programme. All three main political parties, the UNP, the SLFP and the SLPP have totally forgotten the people of the country because their total concentration is on the power struggle among them while in fact the country has moved beyond the state of instability and on the verge of reaching the state of anarchy.   

 

People are unaware as to who administers the country or at least whether there is a government in the country. The once powerful executive presidency has been humbled both by its so-called coalition partner as well as the unofficial opposition which is the real opposition for all practical purposes. Both the President and the Prime Minister cannot run the affairs of the government on their own while they are at odds with everything else.   
There cannot be a way out without the change of the current composition of Parliament. Given the differences between the political parties in the current Parliament, a meaningful new coalition to run the government for the remaining period of the tenure of this Parliament seems to be out of the question. Yet, the President is not empowered to dissolve Parliament until it completes a period of four and a half years from the date of its first meeting, according to the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Despite there being provisions in Constitution to dissolve Parliament on a request made by Parliament, it is doubtful such a move would ever materialize. Hence, there must be a way out for the people who are at the receiving end to compel the leaders to come to an agreement to end the current impasse.   

Happy New Year, er, or identity

 Tuesday, 17 April 2018

A lamentable trend in national affairs of late has been to interpret reality on the surface of the status quo. If it is managed spectacles like no-confidence motions that divert attention from unpopular fiscal policy, for instance, we pick our horse and (at the risk of being violently unseated) we back our bête noire to the freshly minted politburo and back. Or if it is Machiavellian strategies to enter into cynical political marriages – as between MS and RW in the past, or RW and MR in the ring of realpolitik, and even MR and MS in a not too distant future – we, the people, accept the superficiality of it all.

We do it by becoming unwitting stakeholders in the great game. In our commentary on media or social media. Or our questions and insights on the cocktail circuit or coffee klatches. By our mute ramblings in business chambers, brute dissembling on mean streets even if in protest, ‘bought the T-shirt’ sell-out to the three-ring circus that perpetuates the vicious cycle of petty partisan and post-partisan politics. In our knowing nods, ignorant assent or lame impotent dissent in the silence of polite civil society. 


So for most of the year or much of the tiresome cycle of spaces between visits to the polls, we mark time and hold our peace. In the meantime, elected and appointed representatives of the people don and wear for keeps the mask of which we appear increasingly powerless to strip hypocrite politicians who are clearly in it for the power, money, fame and even notoriety that garners interesting portfolios and fat bank balances; or simply the short term.

But certain stirrings of latent ethno-nationalism driven politics and governance in our land must give us pause. For instance, over the burning of minority townships; or surprisingly, parliamentary proceedings over a storm in a teacup. The battle lines in the former were drawn by a handful of passionate but possibly misguided monks and their miscreant masters who would pass off army corporals as the malcontents who set Muslim homes and shops ablaze. In the latter it is no less nationalistic contenders on another front to spring to the rescue of an embattled government mandarin. Both cases reek of a nationalist or ultra nationalist bias.

Once upon a time, it was certain very influential bureaucrats who seemed to support a strongman’s ethno-chauvinist regime in thought, word, and deed. Today, let’s add the savvy peacemakers who step into the breach to redeem a premier’s reputation – as much as the irrational arsonists already in the cauldron of chauvinism – to civil society’s woes and worries. The arson or its ilk, if allowed to run riot unabated again, could be the beginnings of another pogrom – the likes of which we have had enough of as a nation, state, and country. The cynical support in the House smacks of the same ethnic identity based politics. Both ethics are replete with non-starters in our national makeup if we’re really serious about transitional justice and would play more than lip-service to transforming our beloved isle from post-war nation wobbly on its feet into post-conflict ship of state steadily steaming ahead.

Sub race

Here then, are a few thoughts on how we can return to that happy state in which we found ourselves before a sword was used to wedge an artificial divide between conservative Sinhala Buddhists and beleaguered minority Muslims. And, if it is taken well, we can even hark back to those halcyon days when the Tamils and the Sinhalese were not at swords drawn. If the hiatus can be applied for long enough, we may even venture to those idyllic times (1948, 1996, etc.) when – for a brief shining moment – we were all Ceylonese or Sri Lankan or (whatever we called ourselves) one island-race. It is a return deeply to be desired. It is a spirit or ethos that still evades us.

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood expressed the concept well when she hoped that “people will finally come to realise that there is only one ‘race’ – the human race – and that we are all members of it”. The idea has been adopted by many right-thinking citizens of the one planet we all have. Most recently, a group of European anti-racist scientists published a telling manifesto – ‘There Is Only One Race: The Human Race’.

Such a lofty view may be merely wishful thinking of an idealistic few – until decent, normal, average, civilised, conscientised Sri Lankans across the ethnic spectrum acknowledge the nature, extent, and gravity of the problem. Racial or ethnic superiority is a relatively modern ideology which systematically categorises humans based on physical features – such as skin colour, facial features, and hair type. When such an ideology becomes the basis for assigning value, it becomes racism or ethnic chauvinism.

In the end the ideology of race is a myth, because biologically ethologists have not found enough difference between humans to create sub-categories such as those used for social division. However, although scientists have abandoned the notion of race, the myth still exists today and continues to be used – and misused and abused – widely. It falls on the many to disabuse the few of their bias, bigotry, and shameful prejudices.

While worldly approaches to race and ethnicity differentiate individuals along political, economic, cultural, and social criteria, this method of distinguishing people is quite alien to the ideal Sri Lankan zeitgeist. Most islanders have little time for petty-minded majoritarianism. Except when insidious agitators persuade them that it is in their narrow interests to safeguard their identity, rights, and other chimeras. In times like that, the historical existence of diverse peoples in our land – constantly acknowledged by constitution as well as citizenry – is forgotten.

There is neither a super race in Sri Lanka nor a superior nation in Sri Lankans in the eyes of the world. Sri Lanka’s special calling – if any – always follows from a nexus of surrounding or supporting nations: India now, Pakistan then, China on in the time ahead. No pure or racially distinct group can be pinpointed in our past, and a ‘mixed multitude’ of peoples populates our present. If only we were willing to see such a real plurality as a strength, where individuals transcend their ethnic quiddity (thus they are), the factors that would otherwise limit, curtail, or prohibit the full development of our potential could be eschewed; even eliminated.

Such a balanced and sober view encompasses the thinking that every single Sri Lankan, no matter how much the image of their citizenship is marred by age, gender, violence, illness, weakness, power struggles, nature (personality/temperament), culture (religion/language), politics, or any other factor, still has the status of being Sri Lankan – and therefore must be treated with the dignity and respect due to a citizen. This has profound implications for our conduct towards others. It means that people of every ethnicity deserve equal dignity, rights, and treatment in the course of national life.

Significantly, while ethno-chauvinists treat ethnic and cultural identity as fixed, Sri Lanka’s chequered colonial experience shows how these develop, borrow, fragment, and reform within the history of our island race. Show me a “pure” Kandyan Sinhalese or Jaffna Tamil or Ceylon Moor and I will show you how some of us live in denial, despising our hybridity and commingling as an insular community. Thus truly national-minded commentators on ethnic strife and tension now need to propose radical shifts away from simplistic, ethnically-loaded categories assumed by ethno-chauvinist ideologues.

Present concerns point to the disturbing reality that outside the constitutional frameworks of a pluralistic society, many of the multiethnic peoples of Sri Lanka are uncertain of their own place, purpose, and identity in our democratic socialist republic. Due to pathetically ignorant attitudes among a few rabble-rousers, many citizens are unfairly and unnecessarily marginalised in determining their destiny under a common sun. Instead of reflecting on the kind of society we ought to create, in order to accommodate individual or communal heterogeneity, perhaps we all need to explore what kind of selves we need to be in order to live in harmony with others.

Most among the majority seem to realise that rampant ethno-nationalism has a long, ugly history and will bring Sri Lanka shame and sorrow eventually. But many erstwhile moderates now militate towards an ultra-nationalistic ethic, following from incendiary manipulation of a latent tendency to marginalise and dominate the ethnic other. How the chauvinistic discourse is handled by the state and society will play a critical role in determining the world community’s response to us an emerging nation only recently liberated from the spectre of terrorism. Some growing challenges to Sri Lanka’s global well-being corresponding to concern over ethnic chauvinism have yet to be comprehended and convincingly addressed by our island race as a whole.

Steps up

If we are to move away from thinking in terms of disastrous majoritarian exclusivity, we must rethink some sacred texts, stop worshipping some sacred cows, and responsibly re-examine the meaning of what it means to be Sri Lankan at this stage in our joint history. This may be a utopian idea in the current context of egregious nationalism; but it is a necessary one. We have to start rethinking what it means to be members of an island race, in a melting-pot that defies definition and discrimination; and also begin the process of socialising the next generation into this new kind of identity.

The time is past (in fact, a suitable time to reflect on time past and time present has just passed) when responsible politicians need to reflect more soberly and more sincerely on their mandate – over and above mere political survival. That posterity might remember the demagogue more kindly than the democratic statesman who effected a paradigm change must not deter the nobler political animals in leadership today. There is an increasing need for the nation’s real governors to rise above the morass of cynical manoeuvrings such as seen in the recent no-confidence motion and step up to the plate of history. However daunting the challenge to lay aside petty, partisan and political ambitions, there are (thank the stars or whatever mechanisms move your universe) still a few good men and women left with the potential to entertain thoughts of that sea-change. Therefore towards the end of something rich and strange – say, a new national identity not based on ethnic markers – let a small mission of prime movers make haste.

So to this end: a few modest mini proposals from me to you, O powers! Not to pass through parliament into law; for a good ethic is not easily legislated. But at least to practise/share with the polity in general and electorate in particular at the numerous functions business, civil society and sundry citizens still invite you to, er, grace. And at least that way earn your fiscal keep à la our tax money, to say nothing of the trust you’ve squandered of late in handling the burning (pun intended) national issue:

• A zero tolerance policy for bigots in government (ideal), maybe by dint of the public calling out the chauvinists of the past (idealistic), perhaps by virtue of stiff fiscal penalties being imposed on any forms of hate speech in the House (I say, now that’s a way to fill state coffers, isn’t it) 
• An embargo on cultural, religious, flags and every other accoutrement at national events, at your insistence at the events you, um, grace
• The traditional ‘new year’ just past to be significantly renamed and repeatedly named in the House and Cabinet memoranda, etc. as the ‘Sri Lankan New Year’, so that we move away from the odious ethnic semiotic of ‘Sinhalese’ and ‘Tamil’ (which were misnomers, anyway)
•  That you stop being so defensive about parliamentary and other political manoeuvring along ethnic lines and call a spade a spade, because a rose by any other name than would still have thorns
• There is the negative valence we Sri Lankans have towards time – we’re not usually punctual, so we tend to get labelled as late-comers or no-shows; so how about an aspirational character to the new national identity you hope to forge – Punctuality| Hospitality| Decency| (a national PHD thesis) – for two out of three isn’t bad for a start; and besides, the Sri Lankan New Year just gone by has demonstrated close to heart and home that we’re good at observing symbolic times meaningfully.  

(Journalist | Editor-at-large of LMD | Writer #SpeakingTruthToPower)

Sex & Food Conundrum

By Kasun Kamaladasa –APRIL 16, 2018

Kasun Kamaladasa

It’s quite fascinating how ones need for both food and sex can be described by the same words (Appetite, Hunger, Crave, Thirst, Desire etc.). It’s as if people just unknowingly brought these seemingly unrelated activities together due to the similar importance they play in our lives.

What surprised me for a long time is that although our attitude towards food has been changing to accepting of diversity, our attitude towards sex has been changing towards rejecting diversity. Both being basic human physiological needs, how it has happened is rather tragic.

Food & Sex – 101

Last year, I had some opportunities to visit villages and other groups of people in Sri Lanka, who would talk about their attitude towards food. That is when I realized that even though schools, hospitals, food industry and media all heavily invested time and money to teach people the value of diverse nutrition and healthy food habits, our economy and policies have not yet done a good enough job to reinforce it. I’ll elaborate on that little later.

First let’s take a short journey through time of how our modern cuisines came to be.

Everyone knows that we used to be hunter gatherers, then we learned how to domesticate animals, then we became farmers, then we moved to processed foods and today sometimes it’s even hard to say where all the food comes from. (But this change didn’t happen simultaneously everywhere in the world, there are still millions of people who die of hunger, millions more who are poorly fed, some eating the same thing every day, billions who don’t eat correctly to receive the required nutrition)

Since sex-education is still a taboo and not so many people know how sex changed throughout the ages, explaining it is little tricky. Lack of it in school history lessons and its change being much less consistent throughout the world ads up to the confusion.

Similar to how our cuisines evolved interaction of sex started from the hunter gatherer tribes that had their own practices that suited their tribes (or the tribe leaders). When some groups started establishing villages they came up with concepts of marriage. Marriage between two people was set in some tribes while in others it was more dynamic. When farming required fighting for huge chunks of land, concept of marriage was modified as means of sharing land. When Industries allowed people free time and freedom to travel a concept of dating was formed. Diverse forms of brothels and institutions coexisted throughout history and finally some parts of the world came to re-acknowledging sexual liberation (in some communities the story might be slightly different).

Similar to how in some parts of the world, people continued to take insects (Around 2 billion people regularly eat insects as part of their diet, and over 1,900 species are edible) and other animals that we normally do not see in our restaurant menus, people in certain parts of the world have very different tastes, when it came to sex and sexuality.  

Just as important it is to know how these industries and environments changed, it’s also important to understand how we ourselves and our attitudes changed, in Sri Lanka. 

It’s kind of fishy

Long ago eating a fish from sea would mean that you would have to live in the coastal area; you either have to have something valuable to trade or go fishing by yourself in a boat (with no one to warn you about storms and tsunamis); you would have to come back home and try to clean the fish (without any of the fancy knifes we have now); you’d have to be a person with a good immunity to not get sick after long days/hours of sailing in sea or after eating unpreserved/unprocessed fish. 

Today, with societies that have relatively better systems in place you might be able to enjoy the same fish and receive its nutrients. You might even find other foods that supply some of the same nutrients that you would otherwise receive only from fish (If you were allergic to fish or simply intolerant to fish this would be amazing). You could eat it every single day without waiting for a fisherman or a merchant to come to where you live.

Why is eating fish so important? People who have met a nutritionist would never have to ask this but in case you do this is it. Fish that come from the sea contain omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins such as D and B2. Fish is rich in calcium and phosphorus and a great source of minerals, such as iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, and potassium. Omega-3 fatty acids especially do not come from other sources of our normal day-to-day food, which is not only responsible for brain development but brings benefits to your heart health as well (some researches shows up to 50 percent lower risk of dying from a sudden cardiac event if you have fish 2-3 times a week).

Finally, you could certainly live without eating fish but studies shows that people who have regular fish in their diet have better brain development than those who do not. Sure you don’t have to have a developed brain (relatively) or a healthy heart, plenty of people don’t, but wouldn’t you rather have those advantages than not?

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Mahindananda Aluthgamage arrested

Monday, April 16, 2018 

Former Minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage who arrived before the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) to make a statement was arrested a short while ago.

The former Minister is alleged to have missapropriated  state funds while importing sports equipment during the previous Presidential Elections.

Gaza fishers caught in net cast from all sides

Hamza Abu Eltarabesh- 16 April 2018

It took weeks before Saleh Abu Riyala could bury his son.

Ismail Abu Riyala, 18, was shot in the head by the Israeli navy off the al-Sudaniya coast of northwest Gaza on 25 February where the young man had been fishing.

His body was then recovered and held for 18 days by the Israeli military due to pressure from the family of Hadar Goldin, an Israeli soldier killed during Israel’s 2014 offensive on Gaza whose remains are believed to be held by Hamas.

Ismail’s body was finally released on 14 March. Only then could the young fisher’s family bury him.
It was a relief. In one of many pictures from the well-attended funeral, Ismail’s mother, Kifa, is smiling over her son’s body.

“I didn’t expect to hold him again,” she explained to The Electronic Intifada during the days of mourning that followed. “My heart was torn in pieces every time I imagined his body kept inside the Israeli mortuary. Now, I can live in peace.”

Saleh, 50, also confessed that “at last” he could take some comfort after being “able to bury my son with my own hands.”

A murderous pattern

The Israeli navy claimed that it shot at Ismail’s boat after the fishermen on board ignored warnings and crossed a shifting Israeli-imposed limit on Gaza’s territorial waters.

But eyewitnesses say the reality is different. There were three men on the boat that day; the other two were both injured and arrested. One said, after his release, that the boat was only three miles from Gaza’s shoreline – well within the six-mile limit – and was heading back toward Gaza, not toward Israel, as the military said.

Nizar Ayyash, head of the Palestinian Fishermen’s Syndicate in Gaza, called the killing “intentional,” citing eyewitness statements that the Israeli navy had taken photos of the fishing vessel over a period of time before attacking it.

“This crime is not the first,” Ayyash told The Electronic Intifada, laying out a span of time from when Hamas captured an Israeli soldier in 2006. “Israel has been carrying out systematic crimes on the sea for 12 years, from murder to destruction and arrest.”

The Abu Riyala family has already lost one other relative to Israeli violence. A cousin of Ismail’s, Tawfiq, was killed in March 2015 by Israeli gunfire, also while fishing.

Lasting scars

There are plenty of similar stories at sea.

Fahmi Abu Riyash was killed in 2012 while fishing off the shores of Gaza City. He was 22 at the time, and was working with his brother who told The Electronic Intifada that they had not been more than 500 meters from shore when they were attacked. Yousef, now 26, said he has not returned to sea since.
“Every time I go to the beach, I remember that day. I see the color of the sea as red instead of blue. I stopped fishing forever.”

Since 1994, when the Palestinian Authority took over some governance functions in Gaza, Israel has repeatedly moved to prevent Gaza’s fishers from reaching the full and agreed fishing limit, stipulated as 20 miles under the 1993 Oslo accords. At most, according to the Israeli rights group B’Tselem, Gaza’s fishers could reach 12 miles out. At its most restrictive, Israel kept the fishermen confined to three miles from shore.

Currently the limit stands at six miles, though for the past two years, Israel has allowed a nine-mile zone during high season in the fall in Gaza’s south, a measure Ayyash decried as a pointless PR stunt to Al Jazeera last year.

Meanwhile, arrests, confiscations and aggression against Gaza’s fishers have continued unabated. In 2016, the Israeli navy arrested 113 fishermen and expropriated 46 boats.

In 2017, according to Zakaria Baker, also with the Fishermen’s Syndicate, the navy apprehended 39 fishermen, expropriated 13 boats, killed two people and injured 11.

Since the year 2000, the rights group Al Mezan has documented nearly 1,300 Israeli violations against Palestinian fishers in Gaza.

Fishers, whose trade has long been part of Gaza’s culture and economy, have become one of the poorest groups in the territory, requiring sustained humanitarian aid, according to Al Mezan.
Of the 3,800 fishers registered with the Fishermen’s Syndicate, only around half of them still practice the profession.

Yet more than 35,000 Palestinians in Gaza “still depend on this industry for their livelihoods,” according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Egyptian violations

Palestinian fishers don’t just have to fear the Israeli navy. In January, Abdullah Zeidan, 33, from Beach refugee camp was killed while fishing in Rafah in the south.

Zeidan went to southern Gaza – where fish stocks are higher than in the more rocky seabed elsewhere in the six miles allowed around Gaza – hoping to find enough fish to cover the needs of his 12-member family.

However, he was shot by the Egyptian military despite not entering Egyptian waters, according to Gaza’s ministry of interior, which investigated the incident. The shooting caused Gaza’s authorities to demand an investigation by Egypt.

Ramadan Zeidan, 62, Abdullah’s father, said his son was an experienced sailor.

“My son has been fishing with me since he was a child. I don’t know why Egypt killed my son, he was only making his living.”

Gaza’s fishers enjoyed a brief period of openness when they were allowed to fish all the way south to El Arish by Muhammad Morsi, Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood president who was deposed in the coup of 2013 that brought Abdulfattah al-Sisi to power.

Since then, Cairo has reimposed stringent restrictions on Gaza, including in the coastal waters.
One video, shot in December 2015, showed the moment when Ishaq Khalil Hassan, 28, who was said to be mentally ill, stripped naked and walked into the sea by the Egyptian border, crossing into Egyptian waters.

A Palestinian security officer can clearly be seen signaling to the Egyptian military not to shoot, but to no avail: Egyptian soldiers open fire and the footage ends with the fatally wounded young man slumped in the water.

Another video uploaded to YouTube similarly captured the last moments of Firas Muhammad Miqdad, 17.

On 5 November 2015, Firas went fishing with his father Muhammad, 42, and uncle Ziad, 37, on their small boat to the south shore near the Egyptian sea border, trying to make their living.

Ziad told The Electronic Intifada that “we settled in an area that we were used to. But suddenly, the Egyptian army started to shoot.”

Ziad was adamant that their vessel was in Palestinian waters and to this day, he said, he doesn’t understand why they opened fire. Gaza’s ministry of interior has asked the Egyptian authorities to open an investigation. A Palestinian investigation found that the boat had not crossed any boundaries.
“If the Egyptian army didn’t want us to settle in that area, they should have sent a boat to warn us, but they just shot us directly.”

Firas was killed in the shooting.

Ziad had a baby boy in 2016 and named him Firas after his nephew. He would never, he said, take his son fishing.

Hamza Abu Eltarabesh is a journalist from Gaza.

 

As Israel pushes for West Bank railway, Palestinians brace for more land grabs

'It’s a new apartheid system - a train exclusively for the use of illegal settlers'

Palestinian farmers must cross through this militarised fence on the Ariel-Salfit border in order to reach their olive groves and farmland (Akram al-Wa'ra/MEE)

Yumna Patel-Monday 16 April 2018

SALFIT, Occupied West Bank - For Mahmoud Shuqair, life in the small village of al-Zawiyeh is a waiting game. Once the proud owner of dozens of acres of land, Shuqair has seen swathes of his family land confiscated by Israel over the years.

Now, with the resurfacing of previously shelved plans of a settler-only light rail connecting West Bank settlements with Israeli cities inside the Green Line, Shuqair says it’s only a matter of time before he sees nearly all of his land taken by the state of Israel.

'I have no idea when the day will come that they finally come to destroy my house and take the rest of my land, but I do know that it will, eventually'

- Mahmoud Shuqair, al-Zawiyeh resident

“I have no idea when the day will come that they finally come to destroy my house and take the rest of my land, but I do know that it will, eventually,” he told Middle East Eye as he stood up to smoke a cigarette out his living room window, the Tel Aviv skyline visible to the west.

Shuqair’s home sits less than 10km from the Green Line, on the major Route 5 highway connecting central Israel with the mega-settlement of Ariel, one of the largest settlements in the West Bank, which was given city status by Israeli authorities in 1998, and declared by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as “the capital of Judea and Samaria” in 2010.

Mahmoud Shuqair fears he will lose even more land, if the rail project goes ahead (Akram al-Wa'ra, MEE)

Late last month, Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz announced that he had instructed authorities to advance plans for a 4 billion shekel ($1.16 bn) railway project to connect Ariel with major towns and cities inside Israel.

Israeli media quoted Katz boasting about the positive effects the railway is expected to have on the lives of Israeli settlers, including shorter commute times and less traffic and congestion on the roads.

But for the thousands of Palestinians like Shuqair, living in the path of the planned railway, the attempts to normalise life for Israeli settlers means further restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement and even more land grabs.

‘We are being erased from this land’

The West Bank light rail was first introduced six years ago by Katz, who has for years been vocal about his dreams of achieving an extensive network of lines connecting settlements across the occupied Palestinian territory.

While the initial 2012 plans called for 475km of railway extending from Hebron in the south to Jenin in the north, to several lines cutting from east to west, the new plans announced in March are said to still be in their early planning stages.

The Times of Israel reported that the new plan, expected to be completed in 2025, will see a light rail train roll through the northern West Bank.

While Katz has reportedly instructed a transport company to test three different options for the new line, all of the plans propose a railway running from Ariel along Route 5, and right up to the Green Line, leaving Shuqair with no doubt that his home and agricultural land will be among the first Palestinian casualties.

Salfit city sits some 20 km East of the Green Line, in the northern occupied West Bank (Akram al-Wara/MEE)

“I have been hearing about this mysterious railway for years, but now it all seems so much closer to being realised,” he said.

Looking out from his balcony, he pointed out the highway below as Israeli cars whizzed by.

“All of this land you see here belongs ... belonged, to my family,” he said, adding that of the 45 acres of agricultural land belonging to his family, Israel has confiscated nearly half for various settler infrastructures.

“See there, just above the highway, that too is my land,” Shuqair said, pointing to a cluster of homes in the illegal Elkana settlement, beside them a road built exclusively for the settlers, closed off by hundreds of meters of barbed wire fence.

“Before, it used to take me five minutes to reach my olive grove over there,” he said pointing to the area around Elkana.

“But now with the highway and the fence, I have to walk for 30 minutes in a huge circle just to arrive.”

Read more ►

Israeli settler attacks on Palestinian villages leaves locals living in fear

For Israeli authorities, one of the major selling points of the railway is the convenience it would offer to the thousands of Israeli settlers living in Ariel and the surrounding settlements.

“The majority of Ariel residents work along the route of the [planned] train, which passes through the Barkan industrial zone. The new light rail will enable them to reach their workplaces, shopping centres, or entertainment venues quickly and safely,” the Times of Israel quoted Katz as saying.

The move is being regarded as just one part in a series of steps by right-wing Israeli politicians to “normalise life” for the estimated 500-600,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank by “erasing the Green Line and improving the link between the settlements and the rest of the country,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

“All of these things are being done to help the lives of people living here illegally,” Shuqair said with a tone of defeat, “while we, Palestinians, who are native to this land, are being erased by these settlements, roads, and trains.”

Land confiscation

Fifteen kilometres east of al-Zawiyeh, along Route 5, lies the Palestinian city of Salfit, which according to the city’s mayor, Abd al-Karim Zubeidi, has seen 30 percent of its total land area confiscated by Israel for settlement expansion.

According to Zubeidi, there are 24 settlements and outposts with 60,000 Israeli residents in the Salfit district, compared to the 750,000 Palestinians living in 18 villages in the area.

Standing next to the heavily militarised fence separating Salfit from Ariel on the northwestern outskirts of the city, Zubeidi pointed to an olive grove just beyond the barrier.

The settlement of Ariel is one of 24 settlements in the Salfit district, and the planned starting point of the northern West Bank railway (Akram al-Wa'ra, MEE)

“That is my land, and right over there, that is Fathi’s land,” he said, gesturing to his colleague from the municipality.

“Building a train here will only mean the loss of more land for farmers,” who are now only allowed to pass through this gate once or twice a year with special Israeli permission.

“This is the reality of the occupation, and the story of Salfit,” Zubeidi told MEE.

“It is a story of decades of land grabs, which have separated farmers from their lands, and generations of Palestinians from their heritage and traditions.”

Zubeidi, like Shuqair, has only heard of the railway plans through Israeli and international media, and has yet to receive and official notices from Israeli authorities announcing land confiscations.

It’s a new apartheid system - a train exclusively for the use of illegal settlers, and any Palestinian who gets too close might be killed

- Abd al-Karim Zubeidi, mayor

Though current reports indicate that the rail will begin in Ariel and travel west towards the Green Line, Zubeidi expressed doubts that the government would stop there.

“This railway to Ariel is only the first step. Once they see this through, they will only keep going from there,” he said, expressing worries that if any railways continued further east from Salfit towards the Jordan Valley, the northern and southern ends of the West Bank would be cut off from each other.

Highlighting the cases of dozens of Palestinians who have been shot and killed by Israeli forces over the years at military checkpoints and settler bus stops, Zubeidi expressed his fears that the construction of a train would mean increased Israeli security at stops along the railway, and in turn, more danger for Palestinians.

“It’s a new apartheid system - a train exclusively for the use of illegal settlers, and any Palestinian who gets too close might be killed,” he said.

“This train is not about providing services to settlers, as they say. It is about stealing more land and establishing even more control over the Palestinian territory.”

Syrian Bombing by US and Allies Unwarranted and Condemnable

One would find it difficult to conclude whether Syrian government is right or the rebels have legitimate stand, in view of the conflicting claims and allegations.

by N.S.Venkataraman-Apr 15, 2018

( April 15, 2018, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) The civil war in Syria for over six years now has been prolonged mainly due to the interference in the internal affairs of Syria by Russia and US and it’s allies. It is well known that Syrian government has been receiving direct support from Russia and the rebels fighting in Syria have been receiving direct and indirect support from US and it’s allies. Perhaps, the civil war in Syria between the government and the rebels would have ended long back in one way or the other , if Russia and USA have refrained from showing interest in the unrest in Syria.

In the last few weeks, there have been reports that Syrian army has been making gains over the rebels and entering their strong hold, which made it look that the Syrian government will have it’s way and the rebellion movement will be crushed.

One would find it difficult to conclude whether Syrian government is right or the rebels have legitimate stand, in view of the conflicting claims and allegations. However, the ground reality is that the economy of Syria has been shattered and thousands of innocent Syrians have lost their lives and many Syrians have suffered injuries crippling their lives, apart from the Syrians who ran to other countries as refugees.

Trump’s Deceptive Speech

Are chemical weapons there in Syria ?

All of a sudden , in the last few days , news has been floated that chemical weapons have been used in the Syrian civil war , though Syria and Russia denied this. Photographs have appeared in several media showing the children in Syria hit by chemical weapons and how attempts were made to protect them. However, the Syrian government has called such photographs as fake and stage managed. One would never know.

In any case, US and allies carried out missile attack at three locations in Syria, justifying their action by saying that such attacks were needed to eliminate the chemical weapons. British Prime Minister has claimed that there were no other motives for missile attack and it was only to protect the innocent civilians in Syria , pointing out the international regulation that ban the use of chemical weapons.

In this scenario, one cannot forget that US bombed Libya a few years back claiming the use of chemical weapons in the civil war there. Later on, US and allies claimed that weapons of mass destruction were stocked in Iraq and used this as an excuse to attack and bomb Iraq, which resulted in elimination of Saddam Hussain from the scene. Later on, investigation by United Nations proved that there were no evidence of stocking of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Neither US nor it’s allies expressed regret for attacking Iraq on the pretext of eliminating weapons of mass destruction , which were not found.

In the case of Syrian bombing, many people would wonder whether US and it’s allies are using the same strategy that they adopted in Iraq, to spread false news about the use of chemical weapons in Syria and use it as an excuse to attack Syria. Nobody would think that leadership of US and it’s allies would not indulge in spreading false information to suit their convenience and justify their actions.

Though Russia and Iran have said that they would retaliate against US and allies to support Syrian government , this may not really happen and Russia may really be satisfied by launching a war of words. In the present circumstances faced by Russia where it’s economy has several weak spots , it certainly cannot afford direct confrontation with US and allies.

Pot calling the kettle black

The claim of US and allies that missile attack on Syria is necessary to protect the life of innocent citizens in Syria is like the scenario, where the pot calls the kettle black. The fact is that US itself has large stock of chemical weapons and perhaps , the largest quantity possessed by any country in the world.

UNO belittled :

The fact is that US and allies have totally by passed the United Nations Organisation and assumed that they have the right to police the world by themselves. UNO looks like a pathetic organization and nothing more than an academic discussion forum , with no country taking it seriously any more. Certainly, US and allies have significantly contributed to the act of belittling the UNO.

It remains to be seen as to whether chemical weapon stock has been really destroyed in Syria by the missile attack and whether any citizens have lost their lives due to such bombing.

US and allies vulnerable :

In any case, such attack is not going to improve matters and would only make peace more difficult to achieve in Syria. Probably, US and it’s allies would have to face more threats of terror attacks on their soil in the coming days by armed militia ,who would try to take vengeance for the bombing of Syria.

After unwittingly allowing huge influx of Islamic refugees in Europe and with the possibility of the terrorists having smuggled themselves as refugees , Europe has now become highly vulnerable. Demographic changes are taking place at alarming rate in Europe and steep increase in population of muslims in UK with the number of mosques steadily increasing has been pointed out as an indication of the demographic changes taking place.

Are US and allies planning in vacuum? :

Obviously, US and it’s allies cannot just rest, thinking that they have established their superior power by bombing Syria at their will. In the process, US and European countries may face retaliatory attacks from within.

One is not sure whether US and it’s allies have done their calculations carefully. They may not have really achieved anything worthwhile by bombing Syria . Are they planning in vacuum ?