I write this article today as an open letter in order to retract my thanks to the AUT for boycotting Israeli universities.

When you live in the Bethlehem ghetto - you often feel isolated from the outside world. Even though I am not a Palestinian, the reality behind these walls always feels a world away from the debate and commentaries that take place on the situation internationally. Whilst white collar criminals all over the world talk of 'peace', 'negociations' and 'movement towards a viable Palestinian state' alls i can see is no less than seven large construction cranes towering out of the nearest Illegal colony from behind the wall of apartheid. Watching the main-stream news discussions of the situation sometimes feels like watching historical footage from a different age. Some part of my subconscious just says 'what they are saying - it can't possibly be anything related to now - can it?'

But then, every once in a while, some of the advocacy and solidarity efforts seem to pay off as news from the outside world indicates that some institution or another has actually noticed the large scale ethnic cleansing, mass oppression and 19thC style colonisation which is going on here. When i first heard news of the AUT boycott i thought it was far too little, but my heart was at least a little warmed by the fact that it at least showed some understanding. 'Maybe it will start the ball rolling towards large scale boycotts' i thought.

But no, this was not to be the case. The boycott has been overturned only one month after it was implemented. The question is how many powerful Zionists in prominent positions around the academic world called in favors for this? How many people were called racists and threatened for daring to try and take action against massive injustice? We will never know, and theorizing about it only gets you branded a conspiracy theorist at best or an anti-Semite at worst.

So whilst the ghettos own university continues to decline under the pressures of occupation, trying to run its academic affairs inside a 5km wide ghetto, I am left puzzled as to why the first minor restrictions against an Israeli university have been lifted so soon.

All that is left therefore is to salute to cowardice of the AUT and wish its members, who live in a happy little academic bubble where they can actually operate their universities properly, a long and successful hiding from the realities of the world. 'Well done, keep pushing those pens boys!'

Instead of my former message i have something new to say to the AUT members. 'thanks for being complete and utter cowards' i write this in the hope that I can remind some academics out there that sitting behind a comfy desk is not the primrary goal of academia - finding the truth is. (or am i being to radical now!?)

“The Arc” The embodiment of salvation for the Palestinian people or a cynical distraction from colonial reality?

Well, now that this unfortunate little problem in Palestine-Israel has been solved, I think im going to go home. I can sleep easily in the knowledge that Palestine no longer needs internationals because an American corporate think tank has solved all the issues in one stroke. Maybe though – before I leave – I should share the genius, solve all solution with the readers of the Bethlehem Ghetto so that you can be as relieved as me. (Sarcasm ends here so as to not over do it.) Here’s a brief on the latest preposterously outrageous plan put forward by the west to ‘save Palestine’.

It’s called ‘The Arc’. At first I thought it was a plan to put two people from each religion on a huge boat, flood the whole of Israel-Palestine and start again –however the ‘solution’ put forward by the Rand corporation, at a cost of $2m, is considerably more ridiculous. At the center of the ‘comprehensive’ plans presented at the World Economic forum in Jordan is a 130mile long ‘infrastructure corridor’ which will link all the major Palestinian cities of the West Bank with a newly regenerated International Airport and seaport in Gaza.

That’s not all however. The Arc will single handedly solve the water problem by including a 130mile long aqueduct. It will solve the refugee problem by including ‘planned boulevards’ which will link each station to the heart of each west bank city – neighborhoods large enough to incorporate millions of returnees. Huge fiber-optic lines for the latest in telecommunications. Also power cables, a freight tole road, a high speed rail line and, last but not least, it will be surrounded on both sides by a huge national park which will develop into a paradise for hiking tourists. The full plans can be accessed at; http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG146.pdf. if you want to have a giggle.

Meanwhile, this is all taking place whilst the Israelis are building their colonies and infrastructure in the west bank at an accelerated pace, in order to ensure than no Palestinian state could ever be possible. So why on earth would the United States bother to sponsor such an audacious plan in the first place? The answer is simple.

During the 1990’s the new Palestinian authority had to be presented with a dream in order to keep it co-operative and in denial about the continued colonization. It worked nicely. By letting the Authority think that they were going to be the leaders of a Palestinian state (albeit with large territorial reductions) the authority kept on cooperating during a decade when the settlements in the west bank doubled in size. Only when this dream became so far from reality that it could not possibly be sold to the Palestinian people any longer was there a second revolt. By then it was too late, Palestine had been ghettoized, bypass roads now created a nation on top of a nation and two states began to appear totally impossible.

Now in 2005, with Abbas as president and a new ‘cease fire’ in place, the west needs a new dream to make the mouths of the PA’s capitalist elite water for long enough to keep them playing the game. The two state solution just doesn’t do it any more, so now we have ‘The Arc’. How can we be sure that this plan is nothing more than a new and tantalizing distraction? We can be sure because of the following reasons;
• The settlements are still under rapid construction. As is the wall, the settlement roads, the water siphoning plants and all the other infrastructure. All of this indicates that the peace process is false, but it also points to the need for a new bribe or ‘dream’ for the PA’s capitalists to keep them cooperating in the face of the obvious facts – aka the Olso period.
• The plans provide the PA with a refugee offer which might help them win more support amongst those who still claim the right of return. ‘Why return to a field in Israel when you can have a free house right at the middle of a new Palestinian civilization?’ A ploy designed to gain more refugee support than the ‘two state solution’ ever managed to do on its own.
• It plays on the Palestinians dreams of freedom of movement by suggesting that it would be possible to get from Jenin to Gaza (a trip which is totally impossible today) in less than 90minuets!
• It also appeals to the rural nature of Palestinian culture by promising a huge national park stretching the length of the country to protect their land and heritage. The emotionally loaded image of a back packer hiking through an olive grove is even included in the ‘projection.’
• Finally it appeals personally to the capitalist elite in the PA with an image of one of the most dynamic and sophisticated pieces of trade infrastructure in the world.
• The final piece of evidence which suggests that all this is designed to keep the PA cooperative, is the reaction which the document received. The deputy planning minister, Jihad al-Wazir, was reported as so over come by emotion that he had ‘tears in his eyes’ upon hearing the plan.

This plan is loaded with dozens of emotional appeals and dreams which aim at, not only guarantying the PA a strong support base for continuing ‘negotiation’, but also letting them know that even if the plan is not successful, its going to involve millions of dollars. Dollars which they may well see a share of – they are only human after all.

On the other hand, the politicians may think, if on an outside chance the plan is successful then Palestine will become one of the most highly developed Capitalist havens in the Arab world. In either case, money is involved in a huge way.

To all those people out there who support the Palestinian struggle for freedom – I urge you to do what you can to publicise these massive flaws and not let ‘the arc’ dream become yet another lie which allows Palestine to be colonized still further. A campaign must be formed around exposing this plan for what it is.

A puppet state? – Surely not….

Some people have argued that the only reason we have a Bethlehem ghetto in the first place (as well as the other Ghetto’s of course) is because the Palestinian cities became ungovernable after the first intifada. To me, this makes a lot of sense. Even with an authoritarian or military dictatorship in place the people still need to show a certain amount of willing in order for the Regime to remain in power. You only need to look at Britain’s withdrawal from India to see that sometimes the rulers hand is forced by more disobedience than it can handle. If there’s one thing you can say about the first intifada – it certainly demonstrated a lot of healthy disobedience as a truly popular uprising.

The remnants of Palestine simply became un-governable. Even with the regular use of the gun Israel had to accept that it was never again going to be possible to assert direct rule over the cities. It is important to note however that this ONLY applies to the cities, so now we have the situation where the population centers of Palestine have been jettisoned, but most of the land itself has been taken.

Now there are those who argue (in an infinitely naïve way) that the cities were granted independence because it was ‘the right thing to do’ and that the rest of the land will follow ‘when the Palestinians stop using terror’ against an entirely defenseless Israel - which just happens to be the fourth largest military machine in the world. Hmmm….

From the standpoint of this argument, it makes no sense for Israel to simply jettison the cities and leave them hanging over the abyss with no territory because they would quickly deteriorate into anarchic hot beds of terror. That is unless you are willing to pressure the new regime in the cities, under the guise of ‘security reform’, to govern them on Israel’s behalf. Could that be why there are only 7 doctors per 10,000 Palestinians and over 450 police officers to the same head of population? A cynical commentator would so yes – as would a realist.

In the same vein, this vastly over-inflated security force comes at a cost of one-quarter of the budget whilst agriculture, which has been devastated by the Israeli military, has managed to secure just 1% of the new regimes budget.

So why am I writing this? Is it to attack the PA? The honest answer to this is ‘no’ as there are many members of the PA who are genuinely trying to achieve change with their hands tied behind their backs. The blame goes to those in Tel Aviv who would dominate this fledgling regime and drive it into a corner (or series of disconnected ghetto’s).

The reason I wanted to present this argument on the blog today is to convince those readers who are not entirely certain, that the peace process is nothing more than a cynical jettisoning of ungovernable territories which in know way holds the Palestinians best interests at heart. The Zionist movement, with over a hundred years of momentum, has not suddenly had a change of heart and decided that natives should be treated with respect – I wouldn’t be working in Bethlehem if that were the case.

I write this because many abroad support the peace process through well intentioned optimism and hope. I ask those people to store their optimism for a few years and channel it towards a day when everyone in Palestine-Israel has full human rights and the ability to come and go as they please. The peace process will not come close to achieving these aims.