Sri Lanka: What was Wrong at Peradeniya? A Critical View

Our time was a period of transition. Many of the special degree students who followed lectures in Sinhala or Tamil could have followed or sat for assessments in English.

by Laksiri Fernando- Oct 31, 2017

( October 31, 2017, Sydney, Sri Lanka Guardian) Peradeniya undoubtedly was picturesque, but could it be said about its education as well? With the risk of gaining criticism, I am again critically relating my personal experiences at the university of Peradeniya (University of Ceylon) between 1964 and 1968, first year at the Colombo campus. I might come back on more theoretical stuff some other time.

Sri Lanka What was Wrong at Peradeniya A Critical View.docx by Thavam on Scribd

 

A woman to enter Parliament amidst bomb threats

BY GAGANI WEERAKOON-2017-10-29

A Greek physician once said for extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure are more suitable and this over the years transformed into the phrase 'desperate times call for desperate measures'.
Similarly, the Yahapalana Government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe appear to look for desperate measures amidst the growing storm threatening to overwhelm constitutional reforms due to protests by extremist groups about the description of the nature of the State of Sri Lanka.

In one such move, the government is proposing that the Sinhala phrase Ekeeya Rajya be used in both the Sinhala and English drafts of the proposed constitutional changes to describe the nature of the Sri Lankan State.

According to reliable sources, legal and constitutional experts have pointed out to the Prime Minister and several other stalwarts in the Government that this could be the best solution at the moment as the use of the term 'unitary' to describe the State may lead to separation as observed in the cases of Scotland and Catalonia in recent times.

The term unitary will be replaced by the Sinhala phrase Ekeeya Rajya.

Sri Lankan law requires the Supreme Court to interpret the Sinhala version as the correct one in case there is a different interpretation in the words in the other official languages.

The constitutional experts of the government have been studying the matter in-depth ever since Catalonia voted in favour of the referendum to be independent from Spain.

"They pointed out that the terminology of the word 'unitary' has changed internationally over the years and could lead to a volatile situation in the future. Thus, they were of the opinion that the best solution would be to use Ekeeya Rajya in the English draft as well as the Sinhala word puts more weight on the terminology in describing the State as an indivisible one. In addition, it also ensures the sovereignty of the land and territorial integrity," highly placed government sources added.

As of now there is no mention of what words will be used in the Tamil draft.

Meanwhile, a three-day debate will be held in Parliament on the Steering Committee interim report presented to the Constitutional Assembly on 30, 31 October and 1 November.

In another move, which may probably lead to a bigger chaos, the government is planning to bring in a powerful woman politician to Parliament in a bid to push forward the proposed Constitution.

This politician though once powerful, was not in fulltime active politics for over a decade but made an appearance with the political change country faced in 2015. Recently, she once again entered into party politics from the grassroots.

According to government sources, the move prompted by a suggestion of minority parties who believe she could be useful in gaining confidence of the minorities, Tamil Diaspora as well as the international community as she has a reputation for voicing the need of a political solution to the national question with powers being delegated to provinces or regions.

Accordingly, she is all set to enter the House through UPFA national list as one member out of the 12 UPFA appointed members has already expressed his willingness to resign paving the way for her.
However, many Government members expressed concerns about this decision, stating it may have negative responses locally even though she may to appeal the international community.

The move comes at a juncture where opposition to proposed constitutional reforms has gone as far as issuing threats of violence.

Leader of the National Freedom Front Wimal Weerawansa, recently, threw a stone at the hornets' nest by stating that the Parliament should be bombed if the Constitution Reforms win a 2/3s majority. This came in the immediate aftermath of retired military top brass Kamal Gunaratne claiming all those who support new Constitution be shot.

Even though it is considered in vernacular language to say, 'I will kill you if you do this' as quite literally a playful threat, the majority of the citizenry and political fraternity took these two remarks quite seriously based on the fact who uttered them.

The retired Major General's utterance came during the 14- day observation visit by UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff in the country.

Thus, there was an uproar amongst many including parliamentarians that this matter should not be dealt with lightly.

Justice Minister Thalatha Atukorale recently called that MP Weerawansa be dealt with provisions under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). This was irrespective of the fact that the Government has pledged to do away with the draconian piece of legislation.

On the other hand, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said he would take suitable action on the remarks made by MP Weerawansa to 'bomb' Parliament. Issuing a statement, the Speaker's media unit said the matter would be discussed in Parliament as soon as it was convened.

It said MP Weerawansa was alleged to have said that there was a necessity to bomb Parliament. The media unit said the members of the Government, Opposition and other factions had drawn Speaker Jayasuriya's attention to Weerawansa's remarks as it posed a threat to the security and wellbeing of all parliamentarians, officials and other employees of Parliament.

"All these factions requested the Speaker to take the threatening remarks made by MP Weerawansa seriously," it said.

The fact that Sri Lanka's Parliament came under a hand grenade attack some thirty years ago in a similar political circumstances and the fact of the main accused of that incident being a family member of Weerawansa may have erupted this unease among the politicians.

The incident which nearly killed the then Executive President J. R. Jayewardene and Prime Minister Ranasinghe Premadasa along with a few ministers and MPs in a single attack, took place at the Government Parliamentary Group Meeting held that day in Committee Room A of the Parliament Complex on 18 August, 1987- the first day Parliament convened after signing the Indo-Lanka Accord. If the assassin's attempt has succeeded, it would have plunged the country into one of the greatest catastrophes ever.

Many civil activists are of the opinion that both these remarks are threats to democracy and call for violence in society.

LG polls

Local Government and Provincial Councils Minister Faizer Musthapha would issue the gazette notification, on the amendments to the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill, which was approved by Parliament in August, this week.

He said that he would submit the amendments to the Cabinet on Tuesday and issue the gazette notice on the next day, giving ample time to the Elections Commission to conduct the Local Government polls in January next year.

"I have prepared the groundwork and it is now up to the EC to set the date for the match. The amendments will be gazetted making them effective from the day on which the Act was enacted," the minister said.

Three more Pradeshiya Sabhas will set up in Ambagamuwa and Nuwara Eliya under the amendments and said a fresh demarcation for the six Pradeshiya Sabhas would not be necessary because new PSs will be set up within the existing wards of Amabagamuwa and Nuwara Eliya.

The two Pradeshiya Sabhas have a population of over 200,000, necessitating the broad basing of Local Government administration. For instance, the Ambagamuwa PS has 30 wards for a population of about 200,000. This PS will be divided to three Pradeshiya Sabhas with 10 wards for each Pradeshiya Sabha. The same method will be applied for the Nuwara Eliya PS, the minister explained.
There was an all party meeting chaired by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last week with the political party leaders demanding that the LG polls be conducted without any further delay.

"If we wanted to we could have further delayed the LG polls based on demands to divide Samanthurai Pradeshiya Sabha in Kalmunai to four. Even Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has promised the SLMC and TNA to do it. But it needs more time and further amendments to the LG Electoral Act which will take a few more years and we decided not to go ahead with this proposal," he said.

The minister said the delay in conducting LG polls was because of a controversial paragraph inserted to the Local Authorities Elections (Amendment) Bill that required ignoring the mandatory requirement of 25% women representation from a political party but this had been rectified.
Meanwhile, another crucial meeting is likely to take place between the Mahinda Rajapaksa camp and Maithripala Sirisena camp of the SLFP soon to decide whether to contest under one banner or to go on separate ways.

Rajapaksa would meet Joint Opposition members to discuss the matter today (29) to take a final decision on attending the crucial SLFP meeting called by President Sirisena on 3 November.
Concerns remain

Amidst a battle to draft a new Constitution while facing a possible referendum and definite Local Government polls, the fact of the Government having to face the Geneva Human Rights Council in March remains unchanged.

Taylor Dibbert who previously worked for human rights organizations in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe, recently, wrote in The Diplomat: "While it's ostensibly good that the Sirisena administration is granting UN Special Procedures mandate holders (among others) access to the country, let's not conflate these types of visits with sincerity vis-à-vis reform or genuine changes on the ground.
Sri Lanka has largely ignored the Human Rights Council resolution from two years ago. Even aspects of reform that are arguably more modest – pertaining to demilitarization, repealing the Prevention of Terrorism Act or releasing Tamil 'political prisoners', for example – are being disregarded."
He was referring to the concluding remarks by UN Special Rapporteur Pablo de Grieff made on Monday (23) in Colombo.

The fact that the list of achievements does not include most of the priority measures that I mentioned in the statement after my first visit (dated 11 April 2015) makes obvious that the process is nowhere close to where it should have been more than two years later. These expectations were not merely those of the international community but of the Government of Sri Lanka and of Sri Lankans' generally. It was the Government's '100-day programme' that made commitments to its people concerning accountability. Those commitments were specified in greater detail in a resolution at the Human Rights Council co-sponsored by Sri Lanka (HRC Res 30/1 Promoting reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka adopted on 1 October 2015), which won plaudits not just among the international community but in Sri Lanka as well. The country committed itself to establishing in a two-year period (which lapsed in March of this year) measures on four different areas including, truth, justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence, Grieff noted.

Some of the pending issues Grieff had mentioned in April 2015, include: The release of land, the repeal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and its replacement by legislation that is fully compliant with human rights standards, the establishment of a mechanism to review expeditiously the cases of those held under the PTA, and the cessation of overbearing and intimidating forms of surveillance especially against women, human rights activists, and those involved in memorialization initiatives in the North and the East.

Each of these issues involves questions of basic rights and thus, the continued failure to achieve progress in fully addressing them constitutes a denial of justice. "Furthermore, the delays raise questions in many quarters about the determination of the Government to undertake a comprehensive transitional justice programme and undermine trust, which is not plentiful—as demonstrated by continued incidents of inter-ethnic violence," he asserted.

Some more compelling reasons for Sri Lankan banks and firms to go for blockchain technology

Blockchain has brought in a revolution in the use of the internet 

Using online bank payment portals

 Monday, 30 October 2017

Imagine a situation like this. You make an online payment to your internet service provider using your bank’s internet banking portal. You follow all the safety measures imposed by the bank like the first step password entry to your account, validating the transaction by using a second password and clicking all the relevant fields on the dialogue box.

Some more compelling reasons for Sri Lankan banks and firms to go for blockchain technology.docx by Thavam on Scribd

 

Disaster Management in S.Asia needs a hub; and it ought to be Sri Lanka - Jayanath Colombage

2017-10-31

“Disasters are becoming increasingly common and dangerous. Many populations are vulnerable to disasters. As large populations are now urbanized, and living in coastal areas, they are more prone to disasters.”   

Disaster Management in S.Asia needs a hub and it ought to be Sri Lanka - Jayanath Colombage.docx by Thavam on Scribd

 

Enhancing Regional Cooperation In South Asia’s Energy Sector

By Avanthi Jayasuriya –OCTOBER 29, 2017

Avanthi Jayasuriya

The energy sector of Sri Lanka is seen as an integral component of the country’s shift towards sustainable development, with more attention being focused on achieving growth targets at low emission levels through sustainable energy sources. The nation’s agenda on shifting from using conventional energy sources such as coal and petroleum based fuels to source the energy needs, towards more sustainable renewable energy sources has been underscored in the formulation of the National Policies and Strategies on energy and the Long Term Generation Plan developed by the Ceylon Electricity Board.

Apart from national level policies and strategies related to the energy sector, the country has also made several international commitments which predetermine the future development of the country’s energy sector. In its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) submitted to the United Nation’s Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Sri Lanka has committed to a 20% GhG emission reduction targets under the energy sector with 4% of unconditional reduction and 16% conditional reduction. Therefore, it is understood, that in order to meet the economy-wide escalating demand for electricity, which has an annual growth rate of 11 percent, the country needs to tap into its significant renewable energy potential.

Climate Change and the Energy Sector

Energy sector plays a key role in addressing climate change as it is one of the key sectors that contribute to the increase of CO2, and GHG emissions. In implementing mitigating targets for Sri Lanka, it is important that the energy sector moves from fossil based energy sources to renewable energy sources.

Dr. Sunimal Jayathunga, director of the Climate Change Secretariat of Sri Lanka, underscored the importance of the energy sector in addressing climate change and emphasizes on the opportunities available for multi-stakeholders to engage in the implementation of NDCs of Sri Lanka.

Commenting on the NDC process in Sri Lanka, Dr. Jayathunga stated that it remains a crucial concern as to how the gaps in policies and regulations can be abridged in order to achieve the targets set in the NDCs.

“Fourteen committees have been formed including both government and private sector officials as well as academics, and the readiness action plan was formulated for the years 2017-2019 in each sector. The next step is to identify the gaps and interventions needed to implement the NDCs of Sri Lanka”, he said.

Addressing Policy Gaps

Multiple policies and regulations relate to the different NDCs of 14 sectors in Sri Lanka. Vositha Wijenayake, Executive Director of SLYCAN Trust highlighted the need for addressing the gaps in policies and regulations which relate to the implementation of the NDCs.

“There are many laws and policies that relate to the implementation of NDCs in Sri Lanka. It is important to identify the gaps that exist and address them to facilitate the implementation of these country commitments,” she said.

Some of the policies and regulations that relate to the NDCs of the energy sector are the Constitutional Framework on Energy, Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority Act No. 35 of 2007, The National Energy Policy, the Blue Green Development Strategy and the Least Cost Generation Expansion Plan 2018-2037. Some of these have been passed after the ratification of the Paris Agreement by the Sri Lankan government, and it is important that these policies and regulations are in line with the NDCs of Sri Lanka.

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Sri Lanka: SAITM — Solution unveiled, problem unsolved

All parties to the SAITM issue remaining intransigent and striving to ram their solutions down one another’s throat, the chances of the problem being solved in the foreseeable future are remote.

by Prabath Sahabandu-Oct 30, 2017

( October 30, 2017, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Expeditiousness is not the yahapalana government’s metier. President Maithripala Sirisena undertook to make the government’s solution to the SAITM (South Asian Institute of Technology and Medicine) problem known early last week. Or, at least Minister of Higher Education and Highways Lakshman Kiriella told us so. But, it was only yesterday that the government officially announced its position through a media statement issued by the Government Information Department.

The government has decided to bring the SAITM as a non-profit institution under the Higher Education Ministry and the University Grants Commission. Dr. Neville Fernando and his family will cease to be its owners. Rejecting the government move, the anti-SAITM campaigners have let out a howl of protest, vowing to continue with their agitation campaign. They have called upon the government to find a solution in keeping with the Deans of the state-run medical faculties. So, the issue remains unsolved.

The state-run medical faculties have been crippled for about eight months and students, engaged in a seemingly never-ending protest, are wasting their youth. The government carries on regardless. President Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe wax eloquent at international fora on global issues and suggest solutions thereto, but their joint administration has pathetically failed at home to solve many a burning problem affecting the public. The Rajapaksas who facilitated the establishment of the SAITM have made an about-turn and are protesting against it. Those who opposed the SAITM while they were in the Opposition are now fully backing it. Politicians of all stripes don’t give a tinker’s cuss about the fact that the students on both sides of the SAITM divide are children of this country.

When the yahapalana government’s wisdom of amalgamating the Higher Education and Highway portfolios was questioned, we argued, in this space, that it was very appropriate in that university students, teachers and non-academic workers were more on roads and the policy of the minister concerned as regards universities was ‘my way or highway’.

UNESCO has revealed, in its latest report, that ‘high-stakes tests based on narrow performance measures can encourage efforts to ‘game the system’, negatively impacting on learning and disproportionately punishing the marginalised’, according to an IANS report we reproduce today. In this country, it is not only the marginalised who are punished; even the best performers undergo punishment, albeit under different circumstances, for no fault of theirs, as evident from the predicament of the medical students.

The Vidusara has, in its latest edition, carried an interesting news feature, which says, quoting the findings of an international research, that life expectancy of men are associated with higher education, which is believed to prolong life. But, we doubt whether these findings hold true where this country is concerned. For, life in Sri Lankan universities, save a handful, resembles that of early Homo sapiens in the pre-Social Contract era, when it was, according to philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, poor, nasty, brutish and short. Some supposedly educated men in local seats of higher learning behave like Neanderthals as evident from not-so-infrequent bloody clashes which put the entire country to shame. It looks as if the situation had taken a turn for the worse with even the parents of university students having to risk their lives for the sake of their children. The parents of the undergraduates of the state-run medical faculties have declared that they will resort to a death fast against the government ‘solution,’ announced yesterday.

All parties to the SAITM issue remaining intransigent and striving to ram their solutions down one another’s throat, the chances of the problem being solved in the foreseeable future are remote. They must soften their positions and return to the negotiating table with a view to reaching middle ground. Their chicken game, as it were, only benefits the bankrupt, anarchical elements desperate to gain some political traction at the expense of universities and students.

Prabath Sahabandu, is the editor of the Island, a Colombo based daily newspaper where this piece first appeared. 

Govt. resolves SAITM issue : SAITM out !

(Lanka-e-News - 30.Oct.2017, 9.45AM)  The government has decided to abolish the SAITM Institution and re commence  it as  a non -profit making entity monitored by the Higher education ministry and University Grants Commission , and in conformity with the minimum standards  recommended by the Medical council. 

The present ownership of  Neville Fernando and family ,  as well as  the management will therefore cease. Besides they cannot be in the new management .

It is after  taking into consideration the proposals made by the committee appointed by the president to resolve the SAITM issue  , the government has taken this decision , it is said. The relevant communiqué was released a short while ago by the Director General , news of the  Government under his signature. 

The full text of the communiqué is herein

The statement issued by the Director General of Government Information, Attorney –at Law Sudaarshana Gunawardana on the solutions proposed by the Presidential Committee appointed by President Maithripala Sirisena to solve the problems arisen in the Faculty of Medicine at SAITM

The Presidential Committee to Resolve Issues Related to the Faculty of Medicine of South Asia Institute of Technology and Medicine (SAITM), having considered the recommendations made by numerous stakeholder groups, including the Deans of Faculties of Medicine of all State Universities, has proposed the following proposals to arrive at a permanent solution that is reasonable to all stakeholders and in keeping with Government Policy.

It is a timely requirement in the spirit of democracy that all parties cooperate to ensure the implementation of the proposed solutions, to cease disruptions thus far caused to the smooth functioning of universities and especially to provide an opportunity to students to return for education.

In keeping with the principle of justice to all stakeholders, the Government hopes to implement the following courses of action:

1.    Abolishing SAITM (hereinafter SAITM means its Faculty of Medicine):  This shall be done in a manner legally acceptable to the current shareholders, lending institutions and the new entity interested in taking over all operations and management of SAITM on a not-for-profit basis, thus ending the ownership and management structure of SAITM.   The profit oriented entity owned and managed by Dr. Neville Fernando and family would thereby cease to exist.

2.    By an agreement reached by the above parties, the assets, liabilities, staff and students of SAITM shall be transferred to a non-state, not-for-profit making (that will utilize any excess income over expenditure of the organization for development or research or scholarships, without distributing among shareholders) degree awarding entity that will comply with the Minimum Standards on Medical Education and Training (to be legislated).

3.    The Government has consulted several already established non-state, not-for-profit entities with the objective of establishing the proposed not-for-profit entity for this purpose. Detailed discussions in this regard with interested parties shall start very soon.

4.    The new entity shall recognize all students currently enrolled at SAITM, who possess the required entry qualifications. Opportunity will be afforded to these students to continue medical education in the proposed new institution.  

5.    Issues in respect of former students who have completed their degree course at SAITM should be addressed on the advice of the Sri Lanka Medical Council, based on the determination of the Supreme Court case filed on the same. Arrangements shall be made for the said students who have completed the degree at SAITM to undergo clinical training at recommended government hospitals.

6.    Admission of medical students to SAITM has been suspended by the letter issued by the Secretary of the Ministry of Higher Education on September 15th 2017. This suspension will continue. Accordingly, all new admissions shall be made to the new entity (as described in 2 above), when only complying with the Minimum Standards on Medical Education and Training (to be legislated). The Government shall cooperate on all endeavors to make available, through financial institutions, subsidized student loan schemes to eligible students from low-income families to meet the cost of tuition and fees.   

7.    Current shareholders of SAITM shall not participate in the ownership or management of the new entity.  The cooperation of Dr. Neville Fernando and family is extremely important in this regard.

8.    The Ministry of Health shall gazette and place before Parliament the agreed Minimum Standards for Medical Education and Training based on the Draft submitted by the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC), upon conclusion of discussions with the SLMC, the Hon. Attorney General and other relevant stakeholders. This task must be mandatorily completed within one month from today.

The chronology of implementing the mentioned solutions shall be, as follows:

i.    Ministry of Health to gazette the agreed Minimum Standards for Medical Education and Training, and place before Parliament,

ii.    SAITM, the selected party and lending institutions to reach agreement on the transfer of assets, liabilities, staff and students to the proposed not-for-profit entity.

iii.    Establish the new entity, under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and the University Grants Commission.

iv.    Abolishing SAITM: Transfer assets, liabilities, staff and students of SAITM to the new entity.

v.    Establishment of new not-for-profit medical education degree awarding institute.

It is expected to immediately appoint a Committee of high level officials to coordinate the implementation of the above measures. This entire process shall be mandatorily completed by December 31st 2017.

---------------------------
by     (2017-10-30 04:23:44)

Palestinian dentists refuse to sing “Hatikva”

Budour Youssef Hassan The Electronic Intifada 27 October 2017

When a group of Palestinian dentists sang their national anthem at a professional gathering in Colombia in August, they did not expect the uproar that would follow.

It was not the first time the Arab Dentists Association in Israel had attended the dental implant training course in Bogotá.

The Palestinian association knew from previous experience that participating delegations from abroad would sing their respective national anthems at the graduation ceremony.

This year, as it has every time before, the Arab Dentists Association in Israel told the Colombian organizers that it refused to perform “Hatikva,” the Israeli national anthem, and would instead sing “Mawtini” (My Homeland), the lyrics written by the Palestinian national poet Ibrahim Tuqan in 1934.

“Mawtini” has long been a de facto Palestinian national anthem, its popularity enduring despite the Palestinian Authority replacing it with the song “Fida’i” in more recent years.

“We hold Israeli citizenship but our Palestinian identity has never been in doubt,” Fakhri Hassan, head of the Arab Dentists Association in Israel, told The Electronic Intifada.

“Refusing to sing the Israeli national anthem ‘Hatikva’ is a principled stance,” Hassan explained (the doctor is not a relative of this writer).

“It’s time for people to recognize, once and for all, that this is a Zionist anthem that does not represent Palestinians and is instead embedded in the erasure of our existence and identity and in the denial of Palestinians’ right to our own land.”

Backlash

This assertion of Palestinian self-determination provoked a fierce backlash in Israel.

The right-wing Channel 20 aired a report earlier this month claiming that “Arab-Israeli dentists” refused to sing the anthem of the country that paid for them to go to Colombia for training.

While one of the Channel 20 anchors correctly identified the song performed by the dentists as “Mawtini” by Ibrahim Tuqan, he read out lyrics to “Fida’i” translated to Hebrew, his colleague referring to it as the “hymn of the PLO” – the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The Arab Dentists Association in Israel called the Channel 20 segment an act of “incitement,” adding that it had not represented any Israeli body at the training course and didn’t receive government funding to participate.

A right-wing member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, suggested that the doctors shown on the Channel 20 video should no longer be permitted to practice dentistry in the country.

“As long as these Israeli Arab doctors feel that they are Palestinian and demand to sing the Palestinian anthem instead of the Israeli anthem, they should hold a Palestinian license rather than an Israeli one,” Oded Forer of the Yisrael Beiteinu party stated.

The Channel 20 video also prompted calls published on Facebook for Hassan to be fired from Clalit, a major public health service provider in Israel, and for the medical group to be boycotted until it does so.

Malak Athamneh, a dentist who participated in the training, told The Electronic Intifada: “We are proud of the stance we have taken but the Israeli response to this simple act has been shocking.”
She added: “Some say that if we don’t identify with ‘Hatikva’ we should leave this land, as if we owe our existence here to the state of Israel, as if we are supposed to feel grateful for living and working on our land and for our communities.”

Meanwhile, the Israel Dental Association has offered their Palestinian colleagues no support.

“I believe that this campaign is an attempt to dismantle and delegitimize our association because we successfully broke the monopoly and dominance of the Israel Dental Association,” Hassan said.
The Arab Dentists Association in Israel was established in 2000 in response to amendments to the constitution of the Israel Dental Association, Hassan said.

The founders, who include Hassan, argued that the Israel Dental Association excluded Palestinian dentists from leadership roles and that its policies discriminated against Palestinian dentists and patients.

The Palestinian minority in Israel – making up one-fifth of the state’s population – does not receive its fair share of government resources.

One of the first initiatives taken up by the association was to provide free dental treatment to Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails. The association also reaches out to economically disadvantaged Palestinian communities, giving free treatment to at-risk girls, Hassan said.

“We managed to reach a decision-making position in the dental health department [of the Israeli health ministry] in terms of budget allocation,” Hassan said.

Hassan said that his association meanwhile refuses to normalize Israel’s illegal annexation of East Jerusalem and its occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights by referring to colleagues in those places as Palestinian and Syrian, respectively.

This “also riles up the Israeli association,” he added.

Clout

One of the association’s most notable achievements was the founding of an advanced training center which offers courses for Palestinians who studied dentistry abroad to help them prepare for the Israeli licensing examination.

Such courses were previously conducted by Israeli companies or by the Israel Dental Association. The Palestinian association offered courses conducted in Arabic, rather than Hebrew, and charged half of the fees of its Israeli counterpart, according to Hassan.

It is this increase in influence and economic clout that, Hassan believes, explains the backlash against the association.

“The forms of persecution against Palestinians in Israel may differ from what they were during military rule but the objective remains quite similar,” said Hassan, whose working-class father was held under house arrest for 15 years over his activism in the Communist Party.

“The repression may be softer now, but it is no less intimidating.”

During the nearly two decades of military rule that followed the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948, Israeli police would repeatedly raid the Hassan family’s home in Mashhad, near Nazareth. This experience shaped Hassan’s political consciousness.

The doctor believes it is impossible to separate his profession from the reality of discrimination and occupation in the country.

“The message we try to convey when we refuse to sing ‘Hatikva’ or stand for it is that we oppose the state’s definition of itself as Jewish,” he said.

“It’s impossible [for the state] to be Jewish and democratic. This is a contradiction in terms.”
Budour Youssef Hassan is a Palestinian writer based in Jerusalem. 

Blog: budourhassan.wordpress.com

UK should mark Balfour centenary by recognising Palestine, Labour says

Emily Thornberry says the time is now right for the UK to recognise a Palestinian state

Emily Thornberry speaks to David Hearst and Peter Oborne (MEE)

David Hearst

Peter Oborne-Monday 30 October 2017

The Labour Party has made a powerful appeal to British Prime Minister Theresa May to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration by formally recognising the Palestinian state.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry told Middle East Eye that the time was now right to do this. 

“I don’t think we celebrate the Balfour Declaration but I think we have to mark it because I think it was a turning point in the history of that area and I think the most important way of marking it is to recognise Palestine. The British government have said they will do, it's just a question of when the time is right and it seems to me this is the time,” Thornberry said.

'I think we have to mark it because I think it was a turning point in the history of that area and I think the most important way of marking it is to recognise Palestine'

- Emily Thornberry, shadow Foreign Secretary 

Thornberry will be attending an official dinner at which the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be present. She will be going in place of the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who was invited but will not attend.  Thornberry said she feared that Israel had "lost its way" and was heading for a one state reality.

“And in that way they are letting down the Israeli people because you cannot have a democratic, Jewish one state in that area. So they will have to choose.”

She acknowledged that Lord Balfour's letter had been a "turning point in the history” of the region, but that today Britain should measure of all its actions and statements on Israel by the standard of whether they will secure two viable states.

Asked whether she felt uneasy that no Palestinian representatives had been invited to the official dinner, Thornberry said she would be attending a Balfour meeting with Palestinians as well.

Action on embassy scandal

The shadow foreign secretary also revealed that the Labour Party would be carrying out a review into the conduct of an Israeli embassy official Shai Masot, now that regulatory body Ofcom has cleared the Al Jazeera investigation which revealed his covert activities in Britain. 

Masot was secretly filmed plotting to “take down” the foreign office minister Sir Alan Duncan, an outspoken Palestinian supporter, attempting to establish organisations and youth groups to promote Israeli influence inside the Labour Party, and trying to undermine Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

Read more ►

Disgraced diplomat Shai Masot resigns from Israeli foreign ministry

In a wide-ranging interview that provided the most detailed glimpse yet into Labour's foreign policy agenda if Jeremy Corbyn wins the next election, Thornberry slapped down Foreign Office Minister Rory Stewart for his statement that Islamic State group militants should be killed in "almost every case."

Thornberry, a former criminal defence lawyer, said that the rule of law was paramount: “That is a message that I would not be giving out… He is saying that if British people are found in Syria or Iraq and another group captures them, that the British government is saying they should be killed. These people should be brought to court and they should be charged and tried. The rule of law is an important principle and I was surprised to hear him say that.”

BAE Systems 'on notice'

The Shadow foreign minister also revealed that Labour would ban arms sales to Saudi Arabia, if it continued using the weapons Britain supplied for its war in Yemen.

She said there was a prime facie case that British arms were being used to kill civilians: "We should not be selling arms until there is a proper international independent investigation into what has happened, looking at both sides, but on the face of it the Saudis are bombing agricultural lands, schools, weddings, funerals.”

The aftermath of an air strike, conducted by the Saudi-led coalition, in Sanaa (AFP)

Thornberry also tore into Defence Secretary Michael Fallon for telling the House of Commons Defence Committee recently that criticism of Saudi Arabia imperilled the sale of a second batch of Typhoon fighter aircraft to Riyadh.

'It's not my job to be supportive of the government. It's my job to hold them to account. And I will hold them to account on this'

“Let me just make this clear. If Fallon does not like me doing this then, tough. Because it's not my job to be supportive of the government. It's my job to hold them to account. And I will hold them to account on this.”

BAE Systems employs 34,000 people in the UK, 9,000 of which are in Warton in Lancashire, where the Eurofighter Typhoon is assembled. Many of those employed are members of Unite, a major trade union backer of Corbyn.

Asked about the consequences of job losses in Lancashire, many of them Unite members, Thornberry said she was putting British arms suppliers “on notice”.

“Now there are a number of countries where we sell arms to and it seems to me that our arms industry has always been lateral thinking and have been very creative. They need to know that if a Labour government is elected and if the Tories have not by that stage stopped selling arms to Saudi to use in Yemen, or the Saudis have not changed their policy, we will stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia. They are on notice.”

Moral anchor

She said British foreign policy has lost its “moral anchor” and a Labour government would restore Britain’s voice in the world with a policy which would put human rights and international law at its core. 

“Post-Brexit we are scrabbling around the world trying to find trade deals and we seem to have lost our moral anchor. It does not have to be like that. Of course you have to be pragmatic and I am not saying we are going to be starry eyed, but there needs to be more in your relations with foreign countries than the need for trade deals.”

Doha's Corniche. Thornberry says the current UK government has lost its 'moral anchor' on foreign policy (Reuters)

She said the sovereign wealth funds of the Gulf states were so important to the British economy that Britain had become paralysed out of fear of upsetting economic allies.

“Because we are dependent on everybody in the area. We don’t have anything to say about the cold war between Saudi and Iran. Because we dare not really get into it. So we back off.”

Thornberry said that she and Corbyn would carefully review the Tory government policy of giving immunity from prosecution to Egyptian generals who had command and control responsibility for alleged war crimes in Rabaa Square in 2013. In a carefully phrased answer, Thornberry said that "we have an over-riding duty, which is to prosecute for war crimes".

Trump

Asked about how a future Labour government would handle US President Donald Trump, Thornberry said Britain should not be kowtowing to a president who was “fundamentally unpredictable”.

“I think he is temperamentally unfit for office. I do not think he has the calm and the strength to be leader of the free world,” she said.

She said she did not think that Trump represented the values of the America she recognises and that Britain should be “perfectly clear” about not agreeing with him.

'We should be learning ways of getting around him [Trump]. But we should not be kowtowing to him, holding his hand'

“I think the Foreign Office have been a bit complacent about this. I think they thought that everything would be okay on the Paris climate change agreement. Boris [Johnson, British foreign secretary] even told me in the House that I was being unnecessarily pessimistic about it. And I was not. I was right. And he said I was being unnecessarily pessimistic about the Iran deal and that Trump would come round. Well he has not.”

She said the US constitution appeared to be containing Trump: “We should be learning ways of getting around him. But we should not be kowtowing to him, holding his hand.”

Nor did she spare Johnson, the foreign secretary. She said he did not have the understanding and analysis of foreign affairs that he should have: “It used to be that if you wanted to be the leader of the party you would work at the very best at the job you were doing. Sometimes I think that Boris is looking so hard at how he is going to be the next prime minister, he overlooks the day job.”