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For months now, Italy and South Korea have been vying for the contract. Sources from the Israeli Airforce consider the two jets equal in terms of operational capabilities, so South Korea and Italy have been trying to sweeten the deal with promises of multi-billion dollar deals in the future. It has even been reported that Seoul has threatened to cancel existing contracts should the Italian jet be chosen.

So what is significant about this deal, should Korea’s T-50 Golden Eagle be chosen, is that it will undoubtedly result in increased military trade between Israel and South Korea, which will have the effect of making South Korea more complicit in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, and aggression against Palestinians.

Immediately after the report submitted by the Director General of International Atomic Energy Agency (hereafter IAEA) to the UN Security Council in November 8, 2011, the US, Canada and the UK intensified their previous sanctions on Iran’s financial institutions, including its central bank and commercial banks, as well as those on companies involved in Iranian petrochemical and oil industries.[1] The EU may soon likely to impose sanctions on Iran, for instance by banning Iranian oil imports. The Israeli government, meanwhile, began pushing the EU and the western governments to impose ‘harsher’ sanctions on Iran, as a ‘punishment’ for the latter’s nuclear ambition. Recently, sources from the Arab press reported on a showcase of the American cooperation with Israel regarding Iran, just as an American fleet heading to the Persian Gulf passed through the Suez Canal with an Israeli vessel.[2]

The latest report by the IAEA Iran states that Iran has taken further steps needed for production of nuclear weapons. But the report does not clarify how long it will take for Iran to develop atomic warheads usable for military purposes.[3] According to the New York Times, the report ‘represents the strongest judgment the agency has issues in its decade-long struggle to pierce the secrecy surrounding the Iranian program.’[4] However, partly due to the Iranian refusal to disclose fully information regarding its nuclear program, the agency lacks clear evidence and seems to touch more on a possible Iranian nuclear capability.

It seems that, with images of recent Israeli military exercise targeted on its future conflict with Iran, the western news media has drawn our attention to the possibility of a war preemptively launched by Israel, which can at any moment mobilize its forces, at least in principle. The stories of the informal meetings between Israeli, American, and British officials point to the level of threat said to be posed by Iran. Moreover, Iran itself has countered the sanctions and other military threats posed by the western governments and Israel by claiming that it will attack the NATO defence facilities in Turkey, in case either US or Israel launches an attack on Iran or its nuclear infrastructures.[5] In concert with the rhetoric of these government sources, the media has shaped the image of Iran as a threat not only to the Middle East and the West but also to global security.

Meantime, one might question whether Iran is intentionally developing nuclear weapons for military purposes and whether it is feasible to focus on the debates surrounding the possible military attack on Iran by Israel or the US. Is Iran really a threat? What do Iranian leaders want?

Before asking these questions, however, one should also note that the so-called ‘Iranian threat’ has been constantly on the table of the Israeli and western governments, and that those who support a military strike or strikes on Iran are the same neo-conservatives arguing for a ‘preemptive’ war against the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. After all, the newly upgraded sanctions by the western government seem planned ahead of the report, while the US neo-conservatives have long demanded a ‘preemptive’ strike against Iran. And the discourse of ‘the Iranian threat’ has as well been widely circulated both by the Israeli news media and by the Israeli politicians and academics of a wide range of political spectrum. In addition to that, the brutal Iranian regime seems to be ‘enjoying’ the attention from the western media regarding its nuclear program, as it is often the case that foreign policy concerns can be used as an excuse to crack down political dissents at home; the popular movements of the Green Revolution in Iran are still alive in Iran and the demands for greater freedom of speech and expression have not yet been receded in Iranian politics. 

Therefore, amidst the war mongering espoused either by Israel or by the western governments (or by the Iranian regime), we should rather ask why, if Iran possesses nuclear weapons, it has to pose an existential threat to the region, the West, and the international community. Is Iran a threat because it possesses the deadly weapons? Or is Iran without the weapons still a threat? In other words, we should better keep in mind that there is a difference between seeing Iran itself as a threat and perceiving ‘a nuclearized Iran’ as a threat to world’s peace and security.

And, secondly, if we treat Iran as a threat, we should ask what is the reference to which Iran is a threat. According to those demanding ‘harsher’ responses from the western governments, preventing Iran from furthering its nuclear project is necessary for the ‘stability’ of the region and beyond. Given the fact that that particular type of ‘stability’ encouraged by the western governments and its allies has helped to secure the anti-democratic regimes currently under the popular scrutiny in the region, it is not too premature to argue that this ‘stability’ means a Middle East and a Central Asia packed with friendly pro-western states and leaders for certain cohorts of western elites and that it is, more often than not, distinct from the interests of ordinary people in the region.

Thirdly but not the last, when it comes to Israel’s aggressive move toward Iran or the ‘western’ governments’ call for further sanctions on Iran, there seems to be a double standard that needs to be thought about. The West’s seemingly hostile reaction toward Iran’s nuclear program stands uneasily with its relations with Israel with regard to the question of nuclear proliferation. Indeed, Israel is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which seeks as one of its objectives to prevent the spread and proliferation of nuclear weapons and related technology and has a group of 190 signatory parties to it (other non-party states include North Korea, India, and Pakistan). The ‘western’ governments have supported, ‘officially’ and ‘unofficially’, Israel’s nuclear policy, while the latter has kept its nuclear program undisclosed, whereas the western governments have tended to balk at the possibility of nuclear programs pursued by countries in the Middle East and North Africa, including Iran. According to such a standard, Israel therefore is ‘free’ to pursue its nuclear policy ‘outside’ the international framework. Against this background, what needs to be further considered, hence, is what Israel (or the West) means by ‘a crisis’ espoused by the Iranian nuclear program.   

These do not mean that Iran’s nuclear program is harmless or that it should be left alone without international oversight. Of course, Iran is a threat to its own people (as many Iranians are threatened by their own government as well as by the western and Israeli aspiration for ‘stability’) and any kind of nuclear projects poses threats to the peace and security of international community. Rather than take for granted Iran’s nuclear program as a threat, we should re-consider how and why Iran has to be the threat against which the West or any other international bodies must take an action or actions. Whose interests would be served when some sort of military measures, alongside economic sanctions, is taken to deter that ‘threat’ in near future?

written by April

November 27, 2011  (revised December 1, 2011)

The stage lights faded up on four women and three men flanked by rows of white plastic chairs. Blank theatre faces broke into childish grins as the actors began to play a series of wordless games. Several playful minutes past before one of the actors spoke the plays first words:

Tell her it’s a game
Tell her it’s serious
But don’t frighten her
Don’t tell her they’ll kill her

And so began a Seoul based theatre group’s performance of Seven Jewish Children: a play for Gaza. The play is English playwright Caryl Churchill response to Operation Cast Lead, the 2008-9 Israeli attack on Gaza. It has a short and simple script, which can be found in full here, and very open directions. There are no specific characters and the lines can be shared amounts any number of actors. The play can be staged gratis as long as a after the performance donations for Medial Aid for Palestinians are collected.

Despite its name, and this interpretation’s playful introduction, no children appear in the performance. Rather, the dialogue concerns the frequently contradictory explanations that Jewish parental figures may have given their children over several generations, beginning in the Holocaust and ending in Cast Lead. In a often cryptic manner the dialogue touches on issues including of Jewish immigration, water usage and the Intifata.

The Seoul based theatre group’s performance was a rather complex interpretation of the open and minimalistic script, which utilised many non-verbal components, including using complex multimedia. Five camera’s were set up around the stage and were connected to data projectors that shone a combination of pre-recorded and live video footage onto a screen at the back of the stage. The live video feedback component of the production was well articulated and added layers and texture to the performance. Although, their use of multimedia even went as far as including pattern recognition software, which despite being in vogue on Planet iPhone, did not bring much extra to the performance.

The actors all performed very well treating their transient characters with compassion and integrity. I was particularly impressed by their singing abilities, which at one point were woven together in a cheerful yet haunting chorus. After the performance’s playful beginning, which was meet with laughter from a pair of children seated behind me, the performance hardened. It crescendoed with all seven actors fanatically looping lines all atop of one another, a mounting tangle of words and flashing images of war that could well frighten children.

“Don’t frighten her”

NB. A radically different interpretation of Seven Jewish Children, a one woman reading in fact, can be found here.

Timotao S

The Wall or “Separation Barrier”, is not actually a barrier that separates Israel and the Occupied Territories, but a massive construction, 8 metres tall and equipped with guard towers and razor wire. Rather than sitting on the Green Line, the wall cuts deep into the West Bank, itself. In fact 85% of the wall is located in the West Bank. When the Wall is finished, it will be about 810km long and will result in the de-facto annexation of 46% of the Occupied West Bank.Already, in the Wall’s “first phase” some 14,680 dunums have been confiscated and razed for the path of the Wall; and over 102,000 trees have been uprooted. Many of which were olive trees, which are extremely valuable to Palestinian farmers and their families. The wall is an obvious attempt to seize more territory, for Israeli Settlers, 98% of which will be included in the de-facto annexed areas.

Birds-eye view of part of the wall

The Wall violates Palestinians’ rights to Freedom of Movement and creates Ghettos. Palestinians in the West Bank find themselves cut off from their lands and surrounded by the wall, settlements or settler-only roads. This has the affect of creating a network of Ghettos, with very limited access to the outside world and to the basic services which communities require in order to live in a dignified manner.

According to the former UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Territories:

“Qalqiliya, a city with a population of 40,000, is completely surrounded by the Wall and residents can only enter or leave through a single military checkpoint open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.”

The Wall violates Palestinians’ rights to property. Because of the Wall many Palestinians find themselves unable to reach cultivatable land. Either because the path of the wall blocks access or because it has been confiscated. In the ‘First Phase’ of construction 14,680 dunums of land was confiscated for the Wall. The amount of land that can be seized for the Wall’s construction is disproportionate to the Wall’s actual size. This is because the Wall also employs the use of “Buffer Zones”. These areas of land running alongside the wall can be anywhere between 300 metres to 1.2 miles wide. Palestinians are banned from these areas.The result is the further loss of Palestinian land. For farmers, the inability to reach and cultivate their land means the loss of their livelihoods and ability to provide for their families.

The Wall Violates Palestinians’ rights to proper Health and Education. Due to the Wall, the people in many West Bank villages have no access to Doctors or Hospitals. For example, although the United Nations Hospital in Qalqiliya was built to provide medical care to Palestinians in the Northern West Bank, the Wall has made this an impossibility.Students and Teachers have been cut off from their schools, by the Wall. For example, in Ad Dab’a students are no longer able to attend secondary school, as access in is prevented by the wall. Some schools are also faced with the threat of being demolished to make room for the wall.

Palestinians waiting to cross the wall

In 2004 The International Court of Justice deemed the Wall to be illegal. Following its proceedings regarding the legal consequences of the Wall’s construction, The Court found that the Wall violated a number of laws, including the 4th Geneva Convention and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Court concluded that the Wall must be torn down :

“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, in accordance with paragraph 151 of this Opinion.”

In spite of this ruling, Israel has continued construction of the Wall. The Wall, as it stood during the Summer of 2010, was 520 Kilometres long and 64% complete. Despite Israeli rhetoric, the further construction of the wall and the large amounts of funds spent to construct tunnels and roads for the settlers (Israel has spent 2 Billion Shekels on this ), indicates Israel’s desire to make the Apartheid Wall and the occupation of the West Bank a permanent reality.

The construction of the Wall is ongoing.

At the same time, Israel is reacting violently to those Palestinians who are rightfully protesting the Wall. Numerous protests against the Wall’s construction have been violently repressed by Israeli Forces. Such have been a continuous happening since the early days of the Wall’s construction. However, even since the ruling of the ICJ, Israeli Forces have met these protests with disproportionate violence and arrests. According to stopthewall.org, thousands have been injured and hundreds arrested. In March 2010, Israeli Forces shot and killed Mohammed Abdelqader Qadus (16) and Usaid Abd Qadus (19), while the teenagers were protesting the Wall.

Bassem Abu Rahme, another Palestinian killed while peacefully protesting the Wall

Excerpt from the Campaign Statement:

“The Arab Spring has changed the Middle East. Solidarity protests have shaken Tunisia, the people in Egypt have literally closed down the Egyptian embassy. To the north, hundreds of Palestinian refugees together with Syrians and Lebanese have torn down the fences in the Syrian occupied Golan Heights and Lebanon and they did what Israel fears: Palestinian refugees stepped on their ancestral lands.

Emboldened by impunity, Israeli reaction was murder, repression, and more walls. Israeli authorities already announced the construction of a wall along the Egyptian border and in the Syrian Golan Heights.

However, no walls will shield Israeli apartheid against our spirit of rebellion and our calls for justice and self-determination.”

The T-50 "Golden Eagle"

Members of the South Korean Public voting against the sale.

The assault on Gaza

The Letter

Dear
Republic of Korea President Myung-bak Lee
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Commissioner of Defense Acquisition Program Administration ,

We are aware that the Israeli Airforce is considering the purchase of South Korea’s T-50 “Golden Eagle” Jet. We are also aware that the South Korean Government and Korean Aerospace Industries are both eager to see this sale finalized. Indeed, the results of this sale could be that of a great honour to South Korea and its Aerospace Industry. It would certainly upgrade its position as an International Arms Exporter and South Korea would certainly experience the subsequent economic benefits of the sale.

Presently, the Government of Israel, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is strongly pushing its politics of aggression, territorial expansion and non-compliance with International Law. The human rights situation for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories continues to deteriorate as Israel continues to construct settlements in direct conflict with International Law. Israeli military aggression has taken 88 lives, just this year and 30 during August. This included a 1 year old child. Meanwhile, Israeli NGOs report that Palestinian Citizens in Israel continue to suffer institutionalized discrimination and racism in many areas of public life.

In such a situation, we are afraid that the sale of the T-50 to Israel will result not in honour but in disappointment from the international community.

We are also afraid that this agreement and the sale of the T-50 signals increased cooperation between the Arms Industries of South Korea and Israel. Defense imports from Israel already stand at $280 Million and The T-50 is already equipped with electronic devices made by Elbit Systems, a weapons company with such a reputation for involvement in human rights violations, that it has already been expelled from Norway’s National pension fund.

On July 8th, Palestinian Civil Society called for a Comprehensive Military Embargo with the stated goal of forcing Israel into:

1. Ending its occupation and colonization of all Arab lands (1967) and dismantling the Wall;

2. Recognizing the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel to full equality; and

3. Respecting, protecting and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties as stipulated in UN resolution 194.

A time ago South Korea was committed to the right to Self-Determination of the Palestinian people. Many will not remember it, but in December of 1981, the Foreign minister of the ROK Government declared, at the UN Palestine solidarity week, ‛We want to express our fully support and solidarity to the Palestinians ideals and legitimate struggles towards self-determination’ and ‛Israel must evacuate from all Arab territory which it occupied by military means in 1967, including Jerusalem.’

Nowadays the South Korean Government is proud of South Korea’s good standing in the International Community, but they have to recognize that this position greatly originated from their statements for world peace and justice, just like the above declaration for Palestine.

So, we ask you to:

1) Cancel the sale of the T-50 Jets to Israel
2) Respect the Palestinian call for a Comprehensive Military Embargo of Israel.

In this, we are asking you to choose between the opportunity to gain monetarily and the opportunity to show the world that South Korea refuses to fuel conflict and enable the brutalization of civilians. That South Korea is a Nation which values peace and the rule of International Law.

Sincerely,

[Your name]