Cry, Beloved Country

by Uri Avnery — Gush Shalom

Anyone proposing the death penalty is either a complete fool, an incorrigible cynic or mentally disturbed — or all of these.

There is no effective therapy for any of these defects. I wouldn’t even try.

A fool would not understand the overwhelming evidence for the conclusion. For a cynic, advocacy of the death penalty is a proven votecatcher. A mentally disturbed person derives pleasure from the very thought of an execution. I am not addressing any of these, but ordinary citizens of Israel.

Let me start by repeating the story of my own personal experience.

In 1936, the Arab population of Palestine launched a violent uprising. The Nazi persecution in Germany drove many Jews to Palestine (including my own family), and the local Arabs saw their country slipping away from under their feet. They started to react violently. They called it the Great Rebellion, the British talked of “disturbances” and we called it “the events.”

Groups of young Arabs attacked Jewish and British vehicles on the roads. When caught, some of them were sent by the British courts to the gallows. When the Arab attacks did not stop, some right-wing Zionists started a campaign of “retaliation” and shot at Arab vehicles.

One of these was caught by the British. His name was Shlomo Ben-Yosef, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant from Poland, a member of the right-wing youth organization Betar. He threw a grenade at an Arab bus, which failed to explode, and fired some shots that hit nobody. But the British saw an opportunity to prove their impartiality.

Ben-Yosef was sentenced to death. The Jewish population was shocked. Even those who were totally opposed to “retaliation” pleaded for clemency, rabbis prayed. Slowly the day of the execution drew near. Many expected a reprieve at the last moment. It did not come.

The hanging of Ben-Yosef on June 29, 1938 sent a powerful shockwave through the Jewish public. It caused a profound change in my own life. I decided to fill his place. I joined the Irgun, the most extreme armed underground organization. I was just 15 years old.

I repeat this story because the lesson is so important. An oppressive regime, especially a foreign one, always thinks that executing “terrorists” will frighten others away from joining the rebels.

This idea stems from the arrogance of the rulers, who think of their subjects as inferior human beings. The real result is always the opposite: the executed rebel becomes a national hero, for every rebel executed, dozens of others join the fight. The execution breeds hatred, the hatred leads to more violence. If the family is also punished, the flames of hatred rise even higher.

Simple logic. But logic is beyond the reach of the rulers.

Just a thought: some 2000 years ago, a simple carpenter was executed in Palestine by crucifixion. Look at the results.

In every army, there are a number of sadists posing as patriots.

In my army days, I once wrote that in every squad there is at least one sadist and one moral soldier. The others are neither. They are influenced by either of them, depends on which of the two has the stronger character.

Last week something horrible happened. Since the announcement of the American Clown-In-Chief about Jerusalem, there have been daily demonstrations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The Palestinians in the Gaza Strip approach the separation fence and throw stones at the soldiers on the Israeli side. The soldiers are instructed to shoot. Every day Palestinians are wounded, every few days Palestinians are killed.

One of the demonstrators was Ibrahim Abu-Thuraya, a 29-year-old legless Arab fisherman. Both of his legs were amputated nine years ago, after he was injured in an Israeli air-strike on Gaza.

He was pushed in his wheelchair over the rough terrain towards the fence when an army sharpshooter took aim and killed him. He was unarmed, just “inciting.”

The killer was not an ordinary soldier, who may have shot without aiming in the melee. He was a professional, a sharpshooter, used to identify his victim, take careful aim and hit the exact spot.

I try to think about what went on in the shooter’s brain before shooting. The victim was close. There was absolutely no way not to see the wheelchair. Ibrahim posed absolutely no threat to the shooter or to anyone else.

(A cruel Israeli joke was born immediately: the sharpshooters were ordered to hit the lower parts of the bodies of the demonstrators. Since Ibrahim had no lower parts, the soldier had no choice but shoot him in the head.)

This was a criminal act, pure and simple. An abhorrent war crime. So, did the army — yes, my army! — arrest him? Not at all. Every day, a new excuse was found, each more ridiculous than the other. The shooter’s name was kept secret.

My God, what is happening to this country? What is the occupation doing to us?

Ibrahim, of course, became overnight a Palestinian national hero. His death will spur other Palestinians to join the fight.

Are there no rays of light? Yes there are. Though not many.

A few days after the murder of Ibrahim Abu-Thuraya, an almost comic scene was immortalized.

In the Palestinian village Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank, two fully armed Israeli soldiers are standing. One is an officer, the other a sergeant. A group of three or four Arab girls, about 15 or 16 years old, approach them. They shout at the soldiers and make abusive gestures. The soldiers pretend not to notice them.

One girl, Ahd Tamimi, approaches a soldier and hits him. The soldier, much taller than her, does not react.

The girl comes even closer and hits the face of the soldier. He defends his face with his arms. Another girl records the scene with her smartphone.

And then the incredible happens: both soldiers walk backwards and leave the scene. (Later it appears that the cousin of one of the girls was shot in the head a few days earlier.)

The army was shocked by the fact that the two soldiers did not shoot the girl. It promised an investigation. The girl and her mother were detained that night. The soldiers are in for a rebuke.

For me, the two soldiers are real heroes. Sadly, they are the exceptions.

Every human being has the right to be proud of his or her country. To my mind, it’s a basic human right as well as a basic human need.

But how can one be proud of a country that is trading in human bodies?

In Islam, it is very important to bury the dead as soon as possible. Knowing this, the Israeli government is withholding the bodies of dozens of “terrorists,” to be used as trading chips for the return of Jewish bodies held by the other side.

Logical? Sure. Abhorrent? Yes.

This is not the Israel I helped to found and fought for. My Israel would return the bodies to the fathers and mothers. Even if it means giving up some trading chips. Isn’t losing a son punishment enough?

What has become of our common human decency?

Uri Avnery, a member of the Gush Shalom Israeli peace bloc, is an Israeli combat veteran who was wounded in the war of independence and is a former member of the Knesset.

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No Magnitsky sanctions passed against Martinelli;
anti-corruption investigations must continue

by Libertad Ciudandana / Transparency International

While welcoming the inclusion of individuals and entities suspected of corrupt practices, Transparency International and its national chapter in Panama, Fundación para el Desarrollo de la Libertad Ciudadana (also known as Transparency International Panama), are disappointed that Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal, former president of Panama, has not been named in the first list of designees under the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act announced by the US Government on December 21.

Designees include 15 individuals and more than 30 companies. Individuals sanctioned for suspected involvement in corruption include Gulnara Karimova of Uzbekistan, former president Yahya Jammeh of Gambia, and Israeli mining magnate Dan Gertler.

The US and Panamanian authorities should continue investigating Martinelli for his alleged involvement in corrupt deals.

Transparency International had called for Martinelli’s assets to be frozen and his U.S. visa or other relevant permit revoked under the Global Magnitsky Act in September 2017, along with other human rights and anti-corruption NGOs that each submitted case files on individuals and entities from various countries.

On 31 August 2017, a court in Florida approved a request to extradite Martinelli to Panama. This is awaiting approval from the US State Department. A new arrest warrant has been issued against him by judges in Panama as recently as 12 December 2017.

“With this decision, the United States has missed a further opportunity to send a clear signal that no corrupt leader can act with impunity and hold on to their ill-gotten gains,” said Delia Ferreira Rubio, chair of Transparency International.

“It is not appropriate that Martinelli, who is facing extradition to Panama for not appearing in criminal court, is able to enjoy his assets in the US,” said Olga de Obaldía, Executive Director of Transparency International Panama. “Nonetheless, Panama’s Supreme Court must press on and finalize other corruption charges to be added to the extradition request to the United States. Cases should be brought in a rigorous and timely manner.”

Background information

Over 200 investigations have been opened into allegedly corrupt deals that occurred during Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal’s term as president from 2009 to 2014. The former president himself is the subject of eight Supreme Court investigations, for charges including bribery, misappropriation of public funds, and abuse of power, among others. Among other schemes, Martinelli and his associates are accused of manipulating the allocation of resources to Panama’s largest social welfare scheme, the National Aid Program, through rigged tenders and use of shell companies. In addition, a US federal judge identified Martinelli as one of several alleged co­‐conspirators in a bribery scheme that helped a subsidiary of the German software producer SAP sell software to Panama in exchange for bribes.

The Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act is the most comprehensive human rights and anti-corruption sanctions tool in US history. Passed with bipartisan support and signed into law in December 2016, the law is named after whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky, who was imprisoned by Russian authorities and died in custody in 2009. Under the act, the US government may sanction foreign individuals and entities found to have committed gross violations of human rights, or to have engaged in significant acts of corruption, by subjecting designees to asset freezes and visa restrictions. The law expands upon the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which applied only to Russian individuals and entities.

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A whiching solstice

While neo-pagans gathered at Stonehenge and elsewhere and those who practice a variety of faiths are celebrating their different traditions this time of the year, this year’s solstice was a noteworthy political decision day around the world.

In the United Nations, there was a lopsided vote in the face of Donald Trump’s crude threats to condemn US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Actually, moving embassies to the Holy City would not be an intrinsically bad idea — but it is with some 380,000 of its citizens being deprived of rights and dispossessed. Jerusalem should be one, under a special legal status that protects the rights of all equally, and the capital of both Israel and an independent Palestine. Panama abstained, in keeping with the traditional neutrality that defends the canal by not giving anybody reason to attack it or us. Only a few of the most squalid and dependent regimes voted with the United States and Israel.

In Catalonia, the vote turnout was high a pro-independence majority was returned to office after Mariano Rajoy had dissolved the previous one and imprisoned many of its previous leaders and driven others into exile. The minority government in Madrid lost even with its adversaries campaigning from behind bars or from abroad. But the pro-independence forces fell short of a majority the popular vote, outpolling those who supported Rajoy’s crackdown but with leftists who would put off the Catalan independence question in between the pro and anti separation forces. More negotiations are indicated, but Rajoy’s departure from a political scene in which his only real base of support is among heads of state in an ailing European Union suggests that he should not be at the table. Really, the whole problem is not merely a matter of Catalan grievances. It’s Spain’s failure, in particular the scandalous nature of most of its political caste. The solution to Catalonia’s crisis is in Madrid, not by Spain reasserting its authority but by Spain getting its act together.

In Peru, President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski staved off impeachment. He probably was bribed by Odebrecht but the quid pro quo was neither proven nor even investigated in the rushed and ugly proceedings. Peru avoided a return of the Fujimori family to power and put off a rash of decisions about what to do about Odebrecht for other times and other tribunals. It was not the victory for corruption that the corrupt hope that it was. There will come a day of reckoning.

Here in Panama on December 21, President Varela’s nominations to the high court, which range from dubious to clearly awful, were also put off for a later day of decision. Will the president’s people be coming around with gifts to buy the votes that he doesn’t have for these appointments? In keeping with our history, so many infamous things are done over the holidays on the supposition that nobody will notice. But we do.

Varela’s Odebrecht problem won’t go away

Marcelo Odebrecht has walked out of a Brazilian prison into house arrest, Juan Manuel Santos has been tagged but probably won’t see many consequences anytime soon because his most strident foes are also tainted, and now Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has beaten the impeachment rap in Peru. So does that allow Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela to breathe easier?

No matter what deals he makes, no matter how he might be able to pack the Supreme Court and kick an annoying prosecutor upstairs, Varela and his party are not off the hook. Four credible witnesses and several paper trails say that his party took millions from the Brazilian construction conglomerate, after which that thuggish company got no-bid or rigged-bid public works contracts from the Varela administration. The Panameñistas are going to be removed, most probably by the voters in the 2019 election.

The question is by whom and what. Let’s not hear “they’re just as bad or worse…” or “I’ll give you…” or “my family…” or any more of that. Panama has been robbed and only Panamanians can bring justice to bear. And we should.

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On the nominations to the Supreme Court of Justice

by 16 civic organizations

After total secrecy and lack of transparency, the Cabinet Council approved the designations of Zuleyka Moore and Ana Lucrecia Tovar de Zarak as new magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.

The designation was made without civic consultation, disregarding the agreements in the State Pact for Justice and the campaign promises of the current administration, and moreover ignoring the recommendations emanating from international bodies that promote magistrate selection processes with greater citizen participation.

The subject to consider is neither the professional qualifications nor the ethics of the persons proposed, because the thing that concerns us goes above all of those criteria. It deals with key concepts like conflict of interest, the guarantee of judicial independence and the separation of governmental powers.

A legal professional may meet all of the academic, professional and ethical requisites, but questions about lack of independence, or the existence of political ties, or whatever other questions that place in doubt her credibility or independence from other governmental powers, are keys to determining the convenience or lack thereof of her nomination to the highest body of justice. In the case of Ana Lucrecia Tovar de Zarak, the wife of the current vice minister of economy and an activist in President Varela’s campaign, those political ties that would affect the already deteriorated image of the administration of justice are clear.

The crisis of credibility in the Panamanian administration of justice is not only focused on the courts but also in the Public Ministry, which makes the nomination of the prosecutor in charge of the most important and complex cases as a magistrate of the Court does not help in the administration of justice and on the contrary generates more doubt than confidence.

We have learned that the nominations for the alternate magistrates go to persons who also have ties to the Cabinet Council, which to all appearances looks not like a search to strengthen the courts but to control the Supreme Court of Justice.

In this way the crisis in which the credibility of the administration of justice in Panama is submerged is deepened, along with the deterioration of democratic institutions in this country, at the moment when the country prepares to bring to trial a considerable number of persons from the former administration and moreover should investigate the current administration for the complaints that have been made about having received money from Odebrecht for its electoral campaign.

It is urgent for all sectors to unite and start out along the road toward a Constitutional Convention which, among other reforms to our government, seeks the total depoliticization of the selection of magistrates, attorneys general and other important officials, so as guarantee the separation of government powers.

Alianza Ciudadana Pro Justicia
Asamblea de Acción Ciudadana
Afro Panameña Soy
Asociación de Residentes de Coco del Mar y Viña del Mar
Central General Autónoma de Trabajadoras de Panamá (CGTP)
Centro de Incidencia Ambiental (CIAM)
Centro de Estudios y Capacitación Familiar
Centro de Estudios y Acción Social Panameño (CEASPA)
Comité de América Latina y el Caribe para la defensa de los Derechos de Mujeres
Fundación para el Desarrollo de Libertad Ciudadana / Transparencia Internacional
Espacio Encuentro de Mujeres
Frente por la Defensa de la Democaracia
Mesa de Análisis de Leyes y Políticas Públicas de Descapacidad
Movimiento Democrático Popular
Red Nacional de Apoyo a la Niñez y Adolescencia de Panamá
Servicio Paz y Justicia

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