Israel's disdain for international law

Two items in the news recently have highlighted Israel's disdain for international law and seriously question Israeli leaders commitment to the peace process.

First we saw the white-wash which was the Israeli inquiry into the deadly attack on the aid flotilla last May.  The inquiry ruled that the attack and the naval blockade are legal under international law.  It is beyond belief that these actions can be found to be legal.  The attack was in international waters on a ship sailing under the Turkish flag, this can be interpreted as an act of war or at the least an act of piracy.  We can only hope the UN inquiry due to be released later this year produces a different set of findings.  Although like previous UN inquiries it is likely Israel will reject the outcome.

Then yesterday we saw the leak of Palestinian documents showing how much the Palestinian negotiators have been willing to sacrifice in order to come up with a peaceful settlement.  The documents show that the Palestinian administration were willing to surrender all but one of the illegal settlement areas in East Jerusalem to Israel.  This is despite the fact that Israel have illegally occupied these areas since the 6 day war in 1967.  This huge gesture was still not satisfactory for Israel, one can only presume that Israel is not interested in giving away the land it seized and will continues to build illegal settlements on.  It appears that the only acceptable resolution for Israel is the complete surrender of all settlements by the Palestinians.

The map below shows how much land the Palestinians have lost since 1948.  The longer the occupation and settlement building continues the more likely it is that there will never be a peaceful resolution.  This may prove to be a crucial mistake by Israel as eventually the only workable solution will be a one state solution.

Charity gimmicks for the Big Society

Got the following letter in the Press yesterday

The latest Big Society initiative to come from the Government is for cash machines to be able to accept donations for charity.

Although I have nothing against such moves, it is diverting attention from the fact that charities are going to face a serious funding crisis over the next few years.

In all likelihood, charities will see a drop in income from individuals as a result of the VAT rise, public-sector redundancies and pay freezes and the resulting redundancies in the private sector. Unfortunately, when times are hard, charitable donations are often the first area individuals look at when trying to save money.

Charities will also see a drop in income from local and central government, and with nearly a quarter of charities receiving funding from government, many charities are going to feel the squeeze from both individual and state funding. This at a time when many charities are going to face greater demand for their services as a result of the cuts.

This is just another example of the results of the over-the-top unnecessary cuts being imposed on us by the current Tory-led Government.

Predictions for 2011

Towards the end of 2010 we began to see the signs of what to expect for 2011.  Here are a few of my predictions for 2011:

Re-alignment of politics, the Liberal Democrats and the AV referendum


At the end of 2010 the Liberal Democrats were hovering around 8-10% in the opinion polls, only a few months into the coalition.  The first big test will be in the May local elections, Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly elections.  If the opinion polls are to be believed it will be devastating news for the Lib Dems, it is quite likely hundreds or even thousands of Lib Dem councillors will lose their seats, and lose control of most the councils they currently control.  Hopefully it will be mainly Labour who benefit from these losses, particularly in England, although the votes are liable to be shared with the SNP in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales.

At the same time we will be voting on the AV referendum.  My prediction is that the result will be close, probably with the No vote winning.  If this is the case, the No vote alongside massive seat losses will put serious pressure on the coalition with many Lib Dems questioning their commitment to it, knowing that if they decide to stick with it they are likely to lose many parliamentary seats come 2015.

2011 should see a continuing rise in support for Labour, with Ed Miliband being the right man to lead the party forward.  This should be a good year for Labour, hopefully winning the Oldham by-election and greatly increasing the number of council seats.

Ed is right to lead a review of party policy and question which Labour policies worked and which didn't.  Only a re-invented party, moving on from New Labour will engage with voters, particularly those who drifted away from Labour due to Iraq and attacks on civil liberties.  The Labour Party is the natural party for those who believe in fairness, equality and strong public services and hopefully the number of new members will continue to grow throughout the year.

A year of protest


Just because the tuition fee rise has been passed by Parliament, the ConDems are likely to be disappointed if they think the students will now leave the streets.  There are likely to be continued demonstrations about fees and the loss of EMA.  Alongside these demonstrations they student movement will be part of the bigger movement challenging the ConDem cuts.

March 26th will see the March for the Alternative demonstration, organised by the TUC.  In all likelihood this will be the largest demonstration the country has seen since the 2003 demonstration against the Iraq war.

Alongside the demonstrations there are likely to be an increasing number of strikes from public sector unions defending workers against the hundreds of thousands of jobs the ConDems wish to shed.

Royal Wedding

The diversion of a royal wedding will not take out minds off devastation the ConDems are causing to the country.  Unlike the Di/Charles wedding it is likely to polarise opinion, many will support it, but many  will questioning the relevance of a monarchy in the 21st century.  Republic will be leading the campaign for an elected head of state.