| PALESTINE BLOG |
| The musings of Dane Coefer, American. |
| May 27, 2003 - 1st entry Your odds of being killed by ordinary murder in the US are about one in 16,500. The odds of an Israeli civilian in Israel being killed by a Palestinian are about one in 18,900. The odds of a Palestinian civilian in Occupied Palestine being killed by an Israeli are one in 3,800! In other words, it is safer to walk down a street in Israel than in the US, while it is not even safe to sleep in Palestine. "But Palestinians are terrorists..." A word "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." One out of every five Palestinians killed by Israelis is a child; one out of every eight Israelis killed by Palestinians is a child. No Israeli school has been attacked but at least three bombs have been planted by Israeli civilians in Palestinian schools. Seems clear that the greater "terrorists" are the Israelis. But then they've had over 60 years of practice. The base data I use in my extrapolations are derived from Israeli sources. If I had used Palestinian sources, the figure for Palestinians killed by Israelis annually could have been as high as one in in 2,668 rather than one in 3,800. If I use Palestinian sources in this blog they will be attributed as such. Other data may be considered as originating with Israeli and "Western" sources. (Primarily, the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem, Amnesty International, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Rights Watch.) May 28, 2003 The US has listed Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia, as a terrorist organization. Why? Hezbollah does not target civilians. (Israel has killed TENS of THOUSANDS of Lebanese civilians over the years.) It does not conduct cross border raids into Israel. Hezbollah's crime is that it kills Israeli soldiers on Lebanese territory. Apparently, it is a crime in the eyes of the US government (I voted for Nader) for Arabs to defend themselves. Israel continues to occupy parts of Lebanon and Syria. Another group the US has listed as a terrorist organization is Palestinian Islamic Jihad. A couple months ago the Feds arrested a Florida professor for being a member of PIJ. The list of charges against the professor include a couple hundred acts "proving" membership in PIJ. Interestingly, about 3/4 of the items listed pre-date the listing of PIJ as a terrorist group. Some of the later "crimes" include things like assisting in the translation of the the PIJ Charter. Listed as a co-conspirator is one of the founders of the group. Someone in Washington seems to have failed to note that the named individual supported the Oslo Accords and voted to amend the PLO Charter to recognize Israel. Once a terrorist always a terrorist, eh? Hamas, PIJ and Hezbollah were listed by the US as terrorist ogranizations in the late 1990s (1997?). Secular (non-Islamic) groups struggling against Israeli occupation were not listed. Looks like the US might actually be involved in a crusade against Muslims after all. Speaking of terrorists, I have a separate page dedicated to Ariel Sharon. Now there's a "man of peace" with more civilian kills to his credit than the 9-11 terrorists. For the record--the Bush "roadmap" is a joke. I'll dissect it at a later date. You can read the text at this link: http://www.jmcc.org/documents/usroadmap2.htm May 29, 2003 Why was the hit TV series "Dark Angel" cancelled after only two seasons on Fox? Could it be someone at the network belatedly realized that the show was a metaphor for the struggle of the Palestinian people? (No--I do not subscribe to the belief that the media is controlled by a Jewish conspiracy.) Islam is not a religion of Peace. Islam is a religion of Justice. In 1918, Palestinians asked Woodrow Wilson for Independence. They subsequently asked the British for Independence; they asked the League of Nations for Independence; they again asked the British for Independence, they asked the UN for Independence; they asked FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, (Ford?), Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II for Independence. For nearly a century Palestinians have been asking for Justice. How naive! They asked for deeds to match words. How un-Western! Please, Mr. Wilson, but Point Five of your famous Fourteen states: "V. A free, open-minded, and absolutely impartial adjustment of all colonial claims, based upon a strict observance of the principle that in determining all such questions of sovereignty the interests of the populations concerned must have equal weight with the equitable claims of the government whose title is to be determined." And your Point Twelve states: "XII. The Turkish portion of the present Ottoman Empire should be assured a secure sovereignty, but the other nationalities which are now under Turkish rule should be assured an undoubted security of life and an absolutely unmolested opportunity of autonomous development." Please, Mr. Prime Minister George, Law, Baldwin, MacDonald, Chamberlain, but the Balfour Declaration states: "[I]t being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine..." Please, Mr. Truman and Mr. Churchill, but the Anglo-American Committee of 1946 stated: "I. That Jew shall not dominate Arab and Arab shall not dominate Jew in Palestine. II. That Palestine shall be neither a Jewish state nor an Arab state. III. That the form of government ultimately to be established, shall, under international guarantees, fully protect and preserve the interests in the Holy Land of Christendom and of the Moslem and Jewish faiths." Please, Mr. Secretary General, but remember Res. 181, 194, 242, 338...and Article 6 of the UN Charter states: "A Member of the United Nations which has persistently violated the Principles contained in the present Charter may be expelled from the Organization by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council." Please, Mr. Bush, but your "Roadmap" calls for "Peace and Security" for Israel. It calls for Injustice. Peace and Security must be preceded by Justice. Islam is not a religion of Peace. Islam is a religion of Justice. Your roadmap is doomed to failure. Oh, by the way, I am not a Muslim. I was raised a Methodist. I was President of my church youth group. I even worked for two years as church custodian. May 30, 2003 What are the legal borders of Israel? They are the borders of the UN Partition Plan of 1947--GA Resolution 181. (MAP) Being a General Assembly resolution, however, 181 is merely a recommendation and not an enforceable act of International Law. The borders described in 181 became the legal borders of Israel by 1) Britain's turning over of its mandatory rights (including the right to partition) and obligations to Palestine to the UN; 2) Being claimed as such in Israel's Declaration of Independence; and 3) The formal admittance of Israel to UN membership with explicit reference to Israel's statements respecting 181 (and 194). The UN Security Council in the historic 1967 SC Resolution 242 stated: "Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war..." "By war" not "this war." Israel's "acquisition of territory" in 1948-49 is as inadmissible as Germany's "acquisition" of Poland and France in WWII or Iraq's "acquisition" of Kuwait in 1991. The borders of Palestine are the same today as in 1947. Eventually, we may expect to see the peaceful reunification of 1946 Palestine. Until that day, however, the borders of 1947 will remain unchangeable by war or any treaty or roadmap coerced under the terror of occupation. May 31, 2003 Are the "legal borders" of Palestine/Israel borders of Peace and Security? Definitely not. Would the "Green Line" borders of the 1949 cease-fire be borders of Peace and Security? Certainly not. In reality, no borders with the artificial construct of Israel will ever be borders of Peace and Security. This is because the government and institutions of Israel are not the government and institutions of the people who reside (or resided) on the land claimed by the State. Israel claims to be a democracy. It is not. Jews were a minority in the land they occupied in 1948 when they held their first elections. Native Palestinian non-Jews were not allowed to vote (A violation of the provisions of the Partition Plan). Indeed, only Jews were allowed to vote until the native Muslim-Christian-Druse majority was purged to a level of less than 15% of the population. Until 1966, "Israeli Arabs" were held under martial law. In 1967, Israel once again illegally expanded its borders through war. It formally annexed East Jerusalem, but did not extend the right-to-vote to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Nearly, 500,000 Jews live in 1967 Occupied Palestine and are allowed to vote in Israeli elections, but the 250,000 Palestinians of annexed Jerusalem are only permitted to vote in limited municipal elections. {You will typically see the number of Israelis listed in the press as living in settlements in the occupied territories as 250,000. This is an Israeli propaganda number. Since Israel annexed East Jerusalem and expanded its municipal borders, it does not consider the quarter-million settlers it introduced on those lands to be in occupied (disputed) territory. Israel does count the native Palestinian population of East Jerusalem as part of the occupied territories in its statistical reports. Neither the UN nor the US recognize Israel's annexation of Jerusalem (East or West).} June 1, 2003 I see from my May 28th entries above it might be misconstrued that I am a supporter of the Islamic groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. That is not the case. While these are legitimate resistance organizations, their goals go beyond the liberation of Palestine. Failure of these organizations to abide by the policies of the PLO/PA, undermine the authority of the internationally recognized representatives of the Palestinian people. I am a strong believer in the necessity of the separation of religion and government. It is a belief my ancestors also strongly held. In 1638, my maternal ancestor, Anthony Jansen Van Salee, was sued for failure to pay church taxes in New Amsterdam. A prime motivation for my paternal ancestors to participate in the American Revolution was the colonial Virginia requirement that they pay tithes to support the established church to which they did not belong. Islamic Jihad and Hamas are falling into a trap that Israel set for them. Israel has groomed Hamas to take over the Palestinian leadership from secular Fatah. They know that the US will never force them to make concessions to an Islamic leadership. Throughout the 1990s, Israel facilitated the growth of Hamas. Its original intention was undoubtedly to weaken Arafat in the post-Oslo elections. Hamas, however, chose to boycott the election and Arafat and Fatah candidates won overwhelming control of the PA Presidency and Legislature. No suicide bomber who has attacked Israel (last # I saw was over 90) has originated in Gaza. Explain Israel's repeated attacks against Gazans then. Note how few Hamas leaders have been assassinated in Gaza and how recently those that have were targeted. Note how Sharon systematically wiped out the Palestinian Authority in Gaza without even a token attack on Hamas. Note how the number of homes demolished in Gaza is higher than in the West Bank; note how the proportion of children killed in Gaza is higher than in the West Bank. Note how after every suicide attack in Israel, Sharon blames Arafat and kills some more Palestinian police officers; note that the only West Bank city from which no suicide bomber has (yet) originated is Jericho where the Palestinian Authority police remain intact. Secular, non-racist Palestine is a threat to Israel by its legitimacy. June 2, 2003 A survey was recently (May 14-18) conducted on American opinions on the Palestinian/Israeli issue and the Roadmap. Some of the questions and replies I found most salient: Q12 "Now, I would like to know your impression, even if you are not sure about it. Is it your impression that more countries approve or disapprove of how the US has generally dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, or is it roughly balanced? More approve.......10% More disapprove...55% Balanced..............31% (No answer)..........5%" Q13 "I would like to know your impression, even if you are not sure about it. Is it your impression that more countries in the world are more sympathetic to the Israeli or the Palestinian position, or is it roughly balanced? Israeli position.........14% Palestinian position..27% Balanced.................52% (No answer).............7%" Q25 "As you may know, a key dispute between Israel and the Palestinians is about certain areas of East Jerusalem, which Israel annexed after the 1967 war. Past negotiations have broken down because both sides want to control these areas. Just based on what you know, are you more inclined to believe that Israel should have control, the Palestinians should have control, or that both sides should allow the UN to have control unless they later come to some other compromise? Israelis should have control........26% Palestinians should have control...6% UN should have control.............55% (No answer).............................14%" Q26 "As you may know the US together with the United Nations, the European Union and Russia recently proposed a plan for resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict, commonly called 'the road map.' How much have you heard about this 'road map' plan? Nothing at all...54% Not much.......27% Some..............14% A lot.................2% (No answer)......2%" More from the Program on International Policy Attitudes.(A PDF file) June 4, 2003 Another survey has been released by the Pew Research Center Global Attitudes Project. It was conducted in 21 countries between April 28th and May 15th. "More Americans, when asked whether they had confidence in a world leader to 'do the right thing' regarding world affairs, said they trusted the British prime minister (83%) than their own president (78%)." (Source: BBC) The British, however, rated UN Secretary General Kofi Annan higher than their own prime minister. Mr. Annan was also the most trusted leader in Brazil, Italy, Spain and South Korea. Seven of eight Islamic countries said they were "worried" or "somewhat worried" about the US attacking their country. They included US NATO ally Turkey, where 71% had such apprehensions, and Kuwait, where 52% expressed the view that someday the US might pose a military threat to their nation. Favorable opinion on the US President in the Palestinian Authority and Jordan was less than 1%. In Israel, Bush was rated significantly higher than Ariel Sharon (who placed 3rd to Blair). Respondents in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and 18 other nations said US policy is biased in favor of Israel. Only in the US was that view not held. The complete report (136 page PDF): http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/185.pdf June 5, 2003 Today's San Francisco Chronicle has an opinion piece by an Arab immigrant of Jewish extraction that regurgitates several old arguments designed to delegitimize the Palestinian Right of Return. "A Fork in the Road Map" The argument runs that "nearly a million Jews" were "forced to flee" from Arab States in the past 60 years. (Ergo, they are just like the Palestinian refugees who fled Israel in 1948.) The Arab Jews were absorbed into Israel and Western nations, BUT the "Arab leadership sinned" by refusing to "integrate Palestinian refugees into their own societies." Highlighted in the piece is the query "Why is it that the Palestinians continue to live in squalid refugee camps--a people homeless and on welfare for 54 years, even under their own Palestinian Authority?" It is sad that the Chronicle chose to publish this diatribe of anti-Palestinian/Arab hate. "Nearly a million Jews" EMIGRATED from Arab States over the past 60 years. Some, certainly, were "forced to flee" by Arab government programs against Jews. The vast majority, however, voluntarily chose to emigrate. In Iraq, the post-1948 government refused to allow Jews to emigrate to Israel. (They were at war, by the way). Israel created an underground to smuggle Jews out. The underground also conducted a bombing campaign of synagogues and Jewish businesses to encourage emigration. Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran has a Jewish population of over 50,000. There are Jews in Al-Queda sympathizing Yemen. The Al-Queda targets in the 2002 Tunisian and 2003 Moroccan attacks were native Jewish synagogues and cultural centers. Hundreds of thousands of Jews today live Arab Nations. There are Jews in Palestine that are recognized as Palestinian citizens by the Palestinian Authority. (Unlike Israel, Palestine permits interfaith marriages between Jews, Muslims and Christians; in the mid-1990s Israel even began to ban same faith marriages between Israeli and Palestinian Muslims). Palestinian refugees who insist on their Right of Return did not voluntarily leave their homes to escape hate and prejudice, but involuntarily to escape warfare and government-sponsored genocide. Their Right of Return is the same right internationally recognized for all civilian refugees of war. Palestinians are merely unique in the length of their wait for repatriation. The author relates her own instance of "fleeing" Libya in 1967 and how she would not be allowed back now to visit her grandfather's grave. Well, an American Muslim wouldn't be permitted to travel to Libya either--we don't have diplomatic relations. Many Arab States restrict visits by Jews, but most only ban Israelis. Extremists like the author continuely try to portray Arab States as anti-Jew, rather than anti-Israeli. Note the date of the author's emigration. There are over 4 million UN registered Palestinian refugees. Less than one-third live in refugee camps (abt. 1.3 million). 1.7 million live in Jordan, where they have the right to vote and hold legislative and cabinet positions. 1.6 million live in the West Bank and Gaza. The "squalid" camps were made such by Israeli military destruction of infrastucture. Under the Palestinian Authority, all had running water, sewage, and electricity. Most consist of multi-story apartment buildings. All are provided with medical services and schools. (The Palestinian is the most educated and literate Arab population in the world). The camps are poor and densely populated, but hardly squalid. Nor are the refugees "homeless and on welfare for 54 years." The 3 million Palestinian refugees outside the camps are Stateless but hardly "homeless." And while the refugees in the camps may be on welfare, the budget of the UNRWA for the camps is about $200/refugee with over half going directly to education programs and "[w]hile the Agency's services are funded directly from its budget, where appropriate and possible, refugees contribute to the cost of the services through co-payments, self-help schemes, voluntary efforts, participation fees and voluntary contributions." In other words, TANSTAAFL (There ain't no such thing as a free lunch). Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas is a registered refugee. Like most Palestinian refugees he doesn't receive welfare from the UN. The "Right of Return" for 1948 refugees is UN Resolution 194. It was passed BEFORE Israel's admittance to the UN. It has been repeatedly reaffirmed by the UN. It is International Law. "But the return of the refugees will destroy the Jewish nature of Israel." Tough. The Jewish State of Israel is an abomination to the Nation-State system. Even the US has only recognized it as the "State of Israel." Every Treaty and "White Paper" and "Joint Report" from the Balfour Declaration to the League of Nations Mandate to the UN Partition Plan (Sec. C, Ch. 3) has insisted on the protection of the native minorities. Through genocide, terrorism, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and violations of human rights and international law, Israel has sought to maintain a rogue State in oppostition to Justice. The Right of Return as stated in Article 11 of UN Resolution 194: "Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid or the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible." Still they wait for "the earliest practicable date." June 6, 2003 So, the truth is now out. Bush is not sincere about resolving the Palestinian Question. The Aqaba summit was just a photo op (A desert backdrop with air-conditioners built into the podiums to prevent visible sweat). Israel still has not accepted the "Roadmap" and Bush let Sharon get away with numerous non-commital word games. After meeting with Bush, Sharon's statement did not pledge Israel�s support to the �road map� but to the �steps of the road map �as adopted by the Israeli government.�� According to the Roadmap/roadmap/road map: "At the outset of Phase I: "Israeli leadership issues unequivocal statement affirming its commitments to the two-state vision of an independent, viable, sovereign Palestinian state living in peace and security alongside Israel, as expressed by President Bush, and calling for an immediate end to violence against Palestinians everywhere. All official Israeli institutions end incitement against Palestinians." {My underline} Hasn't happened. Won't happen. June 7, 2003 The Greek goddess Themis is the mother of Irene, Eunomia and Dike (the Horai). Themis is the goddess of Assemblies (Summits) and Custom (Law); Irene--the goddess of Peace; Eunomia of Order (lawfulness); Dike of Justice. June 8, 2003 Justice. I will make frequent reference to the word in my blogs. There is no Justice in the road map. Irene and Eunomia for Israel, but no Dike for Palestine. Themis stood before Zeus in all his wrath and made him heed her counsel of wisdom. Bush smiled and kowtowed to evil calling Israel a "Jewish state." There can be no Peace without Justice. The "road map" calls for Palestinians to draft a Constitution. Israel has no Constitution. The "road map" does not call on Israel to draft one. Twenty percent of the population of Israel consists of non-Jewish Palestinians of Israeli citizenship. In a 2002 survey, 30% of Israelis supported the forcible transfer (deportation) of Israeli Palestinians; 60% supported less drastic measures to "encourage" the voluntary transfer of their native non-Jewish citizens. Eunomia in Israel is discrimination and oppression of non-Jews. Forty years ago, how outraged we Americans were with State laws that banned interracial marriages and "whites only" exclusionary clauses in housing deeds. Today such laws are the National laws of Israel. On the news we see the Israeli bulldozers demolishing Palestinian homes in Gaza. On many instances, on the very same days, Israeli bulldozers were active in Israel destroying the homes of their native Palestinians. Billions of dollars have been spent building and subsdizing "Jews Only" cities in the West Bank AND Israel proper, while Israeli non-Jews live in tents and shacks in the Negev because building an "un-authorized" permanent structure by a non-Jew is a crime that will bring the bulldozers. Adalah = Justice in Arabic. It is also the name of an Israeli advocacy group that acts to protect "Arab Israeli" rights in Israel. Their webpage: http://www.adalah.org/ Other Israel groups working for Civil Rights Justice in Israel include: The Arab Association for Human Rights The Association for Civil Rights in Israel The Association of Forty Physicians for Human Rights-Israel The can be no Peace without Justice. The "road map" calls for Palestinians to give up the guns with which they defend their homes. There is no provision calling for Israel to confiscate weapons from the settlers illegally occupying Palestinian land. Palestinian police are expected to protect Israel from "terrorists." Palestinian police, however, are not permitted to protect Palestine from Israeli terrorists. Even common criminals, if they are Israeli citizens, may not be held in Palestinian jails, may not be tried by Palestinian courts. Once every three weeks an Israeli "settler" murders a Palestinian civilian in Palestine with impunity--and immunity. No, the "road map" is not a map to Peace. June 12, 2003 "...an immediate end to violence against Palestinians everywhere." "Extrajudicial assassination" is a violation of International Law and it is certainly an Israeli violation of Stage 1 of the Bush road map. Quid pro quo, "an eye for an eye," compensatory retaliation--Hamas was attacked; they responded in kind. There were no Hamas attacks for several days before the Aqaba Summit, but immediately upon Sharon's return to Israel, he assassinates two members of Hamas. Hamas retaliates, as expected, and kills five Israeli OCCUPATION SOLDIERS. Sharon then launches missiles into Gaza City--the most densely populated city in the world--killing civilians in a failed assassination attack against a Hamas activist. Hamas retaliates, as expected, killing civilians (like for like) in an attack on occupied Jerusalem. Sharon again launches multiple missiles into Gaza killing civilians and what are described in Israel's own press releases as LOW-LEVEL members of Hamas. Bush was "deeply concerned" that Sharon's actions did not "contribute to the security of Israel," but then "angrily condemns" Hamas as "an enemy of peace." Hypocrite. The US calls Hamas a "terrorist" organization. Perhaps it is. But Palestine is OCCUPIED by a nation that rejects ALL international law--a nation that violates the Civil Rights of its own minority citizens as well as the Human Rights of occupied Palestinians. Israel is a terrorist nation. It should be listed as such by the US. Groups like Hamas have killed 307 civilians in Israel during the current Intifada; Israeli Government forces have killed over 2,000 Palestinian civilians, including at least 377 children. Israel has KILLED MORE CHILDREN in Palestine than Palestinians have killed civilians in Israel. (B'Tselem statistics as of May 31, 2003). Nearly one in three Israelis (31.39%) killed by Palestinians is an armed member of the Israeli Occupation Forces. Compare that to civilian "collateral damage" by the US in Afghanistan or Iraq. The so-called terrorist groups of Palestine kill a smaller percentage of civilians than the US with its established policies of minimizing civilian casualties. If it is OK to kill unarmed, hors de combat, Hamas criminals without trial, then certainly it must also be permitted that Palestinian vigilantes kill Israeli criminals in Occupied Palestine. The paramilitary and religious fanatics who are called "settlers" by the press are criminals under international law. Executions of these criminals in Occupied Palestine account for more than one-third (37.6%) of the so-called civilian terrorism of Palestinian vigilantes. Indeed, the percentage is likely well over 50% when "settlers" killed hors de combat in Israel proper are included. So, at least 69% of all Israelis killed by Palestinians are either legitimate military targets or criminals. Where's the terrorism? Why doesn't the US State Department list Israeli "settler" organizations on its terrorist list? Why doesn't the US impose sanctions on the nation illegally occupying the land of another? June 14, 2003 I've said before that I don't subscribe to a Jewish conspiracy controlling the media. That does not mean that I don't consider the media biased towards Israel (and not just American media). Note that the first attack after the Aqaba Summit was by Israel against Hamas in Tulkarm. Note how, with hardly a single exception, the Western press now says that the first attack was by Hamas (with Islamic Jihad and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade) against the Israeli soldiers at the Erez checkpoint. Note that the video released by Hamas pointedly described the attack as retaliation for the assassination of their two activists in Tulkarm. Editorials say that it is a "chicken and egg" thing and that the conflict has gone on so long that it no longer matters who the aggressor was. Perhaps it doesn't in most situations, but when you are talking about ceasefires and breaches of the "road map," it most certainly does matter. The European Union is looking at banning funding of Hamas (currently the EU only lists the military branch of the organization as a prohibited entity). Pressure by the US? No. At the request of the Palestinian Authority envoy to France. Hamas is a power threat to the PA. It does not toe the line. It acts counter to the principles of the PLO. One of the most repeated demands from Bush since Aqaba has been for Arab States to cease funding Hamas and non-PA groups. (OK, he says "terrorist.") Think that was his own idea? It is not in the "road map." In its Charter, Hamas recognizes that Israel exists. It does not recognize its "right to exist." Less publicized is that Hamas also doesn't recognize Jordan's right to exist. Hamas does not recognize the colonial division of Palestine. Israel does not recognize the existence of Palestine; it does not recognize its "right to exist." As Sharon-speak puts it, it is not the land that is under occupation, but the people. The main Hebrew word used for post-1967 settlements is hitnakhlut. Loosely it means "settling down on one's patrimony." The press chooses to translate hitnakhlut as the religiously neutral euphemism "settlement." (See: Settlements: a user guide) So why doesn't the press likewise sanitize the religiously charged word "martyr" to "dead hero" or "victim of Israeli murder?" Why not translate Intifada as "Uprising?" Jihad as "Struggle?" Hamas as the "Islamic Resistence Movement" (or at least IRM)? Why does the press have consistent standardized spellings for words translated from Hebrew, but not Arabic? (Intifada, Intefada, Intefadah; Yassir, Yasser, Yasir). Why does the press fail to use the word "alleged" when referring to alleged terrorists, militants, fugitives, gunmen...? Why does the press repeatedly drop honorifics when they relate to Palestinians? Dr. Rantisi (He is an MD, a pediatrician!), President Arafat (He was elected by a majority of popular votes--not so for Bush; not so for Sharon). June 15, 2003 "Los hombres mueren, m�s no los ideales." -- Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. "Men die, but not their ideals." Or as the UNESCO Charter has it: "That since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed..." Killing the men of Hamas will not kill the ideal of Hamas. There is a very good reason why Hamas exists--the evil that is Israel. Hamas is a reaction to evil; as long as that evil continues to exist, Hamas, the ideal, will continue to exist. That does not mean that the absolute destruction of Israel is the only way to eliminate Hamas. It is not the achievement of the goal of the organization that will end the ideal that the organization represents, but rather the end of the impetus, the cause, that created the ideal in the first place. It is the evil, the racism, the injustice of Israel that must be eliminated in order to end the ideal that is manifested in Hamas. While I believe that it is inevitable that Israel will cease to exist, I believe that will occur as the non-violent dominance of justice and demography supplant the current institutions of evil. The absolutism of Hamas can only be eliminated by a just solution. International Law must be applied. That means a 100% unconditional pullout of Israeli troops and "settlers" from 1967 occupied Palestine (including East Jerusalem). Unconditional. There is nothing to negotiate. No rewards for occupation, but no penalties either. Israel doesn't have to recognize the "State" of Palestine. Just stay the hell out of their territory. Let's call that Phase I of Dane's Road Map to Justice. Phase II is more complicated. Phase II requires resolution of the 1948 injustices against the Palestinian people. Justice requires balance, compromise, sacrifice. Absolute Justice for the Palestinians would require the destruction of Israel. That, however, would be one-sided Justice. The Sword of Justice is not wielded by the Greek goddess Themis to smite one side to the benefit of the other, but to separate the two sides. Violence will result from the implementation of Phase II. Extremists will continue to grasp at the straws of an impossible ideal. Phase I will reduce the power of Hamas, but not eliminate it. It will, on the other hand, increase the power of the Eretz Israel extremists on the other side. The key to the success of Phase II is the support of the governments to keep the extremists on the fringe and out of the mainstream. International sanctions, consistently enforced, can impose Phase I on Israel, but nothing can force the involuntary acceptance of Phase II upon Israel. In Phase II, Israel must cease to be a Jewish State and become a State for the Inhabitants enclosed by its borders. It must except the repatriation of those former Inhabitants that fled or were forced from its territory due to the 1948 War and the expulsion policies of the government. It must allow future Inhabitants to attain citizenship on equal terms without discrimination based on Race, Creed, or Origin. Phase II must define the borders between Israel and Palestine. While the 1947 Partition Plan borders are the Legal borders of the States, they were artificial borders crudely demarking a demographic rather geographic reality. Nor are the 1949 "Green Line" borders a valid representation of "just borders." The Green Line demarks Israeli military conquest of Palestinian territory granted to Palestinians by the Partition Plan. ("Emphasizing the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war...") No, new borders must be negotiated without the threat of war or the violence of occupation. June 17, 2003 It wasn't my intent to make more than passing mention of groups like Hamas in my blogs. I react, however, to the news headlines. The internet is great in that it is easy to rapidly search newspaper archives. Yes, the first attack after the Aqaba Summit was by Israel against Hamas. The attack at Erez Checkpoint was a retaliatory attack. A Thomas Friedman (NY Times columnist) commentary yesterday points out how frequently Israel kills a "senior Hamas official" or a "key operative." He astutely observes that by now Israel should have killed off the entire Hamas leadership--twice. For every Hamas activist killed, three fill his place. Now wasn't that just what I pointed out 24 hours previously? You can kill the men, but not the ideal. Today, a Reuters article has an interview with Hamas' Rantissi. Some aspects of journalistic bias jump out of the article, but also some content of impartial accuracy. Note Rantissi uses the term "zionist" in the interview. The Hamas leadership is very precise in its language. Spokesmen like Rantissi never say things like "drive the Jews from Palestine." Hamas is the Islamic Resistence Movement and Islam has several explicit tenets regarding religious warfare. Ethnic cleansing is not one of them. A quote from the article: "Rantissi, an Egyptian-trained pediatrician, insists that Hamas's [sic] 'fighters exert maximum effort to avoid harming civilians,' a statement that jars with the reality of commuters being blown up by its bombers on Israeli city buses." Dr. Rantissi's statement is accurate. The journalist's editorialism tacked on the end of the statement is bias. The journalist should have asked a follow-up question asking Dr. Rantissi to clarify the attacks on buses. (Perhaps he did, since he later mentions that Hamas does not consider settlers to be civilians). I've not seen any significant article analyzing the bus attacks. Some things to note: None the buses have been school buses. Many of the buses originated in, or were heading to, the illegal settlements in Occupied Palestine. Israel uses public transportation to move troops from one part of the country to the another. Troops in uniform ride buses for free. These uniformed troops are armed. Many of the bus routes targeted serve key military compounds. The fact that one in three Israeli's killed is an active member of the Armed forces is statistically improbable with random attacks. I would like to see such an article done. Human Rights Watch did attempt to do a study of the sort, but they were coming from an absolutist "no collateral damage" approach. The Geneva Conventions require parties to minimize civilian casualties. One of the attacks that HRW considered a civilian attack resulted in the deaths of several soldiers and the injury of a civilian bystander. Such an attack is a permitted attack under international law. Settlers cease to be civilians when they enter Occupied Territory. For the most part they are armed and considered illegal combatants under the Geneva Conventions. (Many are openly provided with weapons by the Israeli military).Those that are not armed are involved in the material support of those that are. All are legitimate military targets. Any immunity they might have been entitiled to under the definition of "civilians" was forfeited when they joined in the forceful (by arms and bulldozers) occupation of the territory of another nation. More than one in three Israeli's killed are these illegal combatants in Occupied Palestine. That leaves less than one in three Israelis killed as potential civilians. Many of these, however, are hors de combat (out of combat) soldiers and illegal combatants. While such groups are granted immunity under International Law, it is a lesser immunity than that granted to true civilians. Attacking wounded soldiers would be prohibited (unless they keep firing at you) and Hamas does not attack hospitals and ambulances (both of which Israel does). Attacking a soldier on a week-end pass, however, would have a different status. International Law, as all Law, has nuances. A frequently mentioned attack is that at the beginning of the Inifada of a pizzaria. How outrageous! What terrorism! The fact is, however, that all the "victims" were settlers a.k.a. criminals, illegal combatants. The words "pizzaria," "buses," "malls" conjure images in our Western minds that are false to the reality. Hamas kills people--not pizzarias and buses. The people Hamas kills are PREDOMINATELY NOT civilians. The same cannot be said for Israel nor even the US. June 19, 2003 I see that the Christian Science Monitor has an article, The Mideast wars over words, published in its June 18th edition that addresses some of the political and cultural uses of language in the Palestinian-Israeli confict. Looks like I beat them by a day with my June 17th blog. I see Israel dismantled its first inhabited outpost. Where I come from, however, we call tents for 10 people an encampment. Many papers called it a settlement. The tents aren't the problem, though..The criminals that were living in them are the real problem. Ten Israeli terrorists are still at large. That is the true threat to peace. The road map allows Israeli terrorists to walk free. Israeli writer Uri Avnery has recently written an article on the Hamas assassinations and the make-up of the Israeli government Junta that ordered them. "The decision was taken by five generals: - The Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, a retired two-star general. - The Minister of Defense, Sha�ul Mofaz, a retired three-star general. - The Chief-of-Staff, Moshe Ya�alon, a serving three-star general. - The Mossad chief, Me�ir Dagan, a former one-star general. - The Security Service chief, Avi Dichter, with a rank equivalent to a three-star general. This military quintet is now making decisions about the fate of Israel, perhaps for generations, perhaps for ever. In Latin America they would be called a Junta." June 22, 2003 Rantissi or Rantisi? He is one of the founders of Hamas (est. 1987) and has been its spokesperson for years. The Western press still can't agree on how to spell his name? Israel has "dismantled" 11 "unauthorized" outposts. Eight new ones have been erected since according to the Israeli group Peace Now. The Western press has begun to use the word "unauthorized" as if it were part of the Road Map. It is not. "Unauthorized" is Israeli spin. Israeli obligations under Phase I of the Road Map are withdrawal from all "outpost" and "settlements" built in the last 2 years. Period. Then today's news reports that Sharon has told his cabinet that construction and expansion of settlements can continue as long they do not "celebrate" the building. "We just build" is the quote attributed to Sharon by the Israeli daily Ha'aretz. Powell is quoted in the NY Times as saying "We can't allow ourselves to be stopped because of these incidents," in reference to the latest Israeli assasination of an unarmed Hamas activist as he left a mosque. I wonder if he will use the same quote when asked about Sharon's statements on settlement construction? Of course he has no problem calling Hamas an "enemy of peace," but when it comes to the blatant refusal to abide by the provisions of the Road Map by the Official Government of Israel there is no such criticism. Okay Mr. Bush, either Mr. Sharon has slapped you in the face again or you are conspiring with him to continue the exploitation of the Palestinian people. Oh, and by the way, Israel still has not officially accepted the Road Map. A good way to judge the level of bias in your news source is to see how they referred to the latest "settler" killed. Christian Science Monitor refers to him as an "Israeli citizen" and "US-born settler." This is likely the most accurate and least biased report. Other sources call him a "Jewish Settler," "American," "US Citizen," or "Israeli-American." The individual was a 15 year Israeli citizen. Due to a technicality of American law, unless he formally renounces his US citizenship, he does not lose it even though he has sworn allegiance to another nation. That is wrong. The man took up arms in the service of a foreign State, as a citizen of that State. He is an Israeli. His actions renounce his American citizenship. Micro-violence vs. macro-violence. The vigilante terror of Hamas vs. the State Terrorism of Israel. Hamas has killed 200; Israel more than 2,000 (and the population of Occupied Palestine is half that of Israel). �It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct.... Surely it would be a crime against humanity to reduce the proud Arabs so that Palestine can be restored to the Jews partly or wholly as their national home.� Gandhi, Nov. 26, 1938. Mandela on Palestine. �My awareness of the essential nature of Judaism resists the idea of a Jewish state with borders, an army, and a measure of temporal power, no matter how modest. I am afraid of the inner damage Judaism will sustain -- especially from the development of a narrow nationalism within our own ranks, against which we have already had to fight strongly, even without a Jewish state.�--Albert Einstein June 24, 2003 If Gandhi or Mandela were a Palestinian they would have been killed, not imprisioned. June 25, 2003 No, Israel does not have a right to self-defense. Criminals do not have the right to resist arrest. Israel is the occupying power. Israel is the villain. June 29, 2003 Cease-fire? They have been done before. Always they have been broken by Israel (1948,-49,-50...). This one will be no different. Oslo was a cease-fire. Israel doubled the size of its occupation force in Palestine under the protection of the Palestinian truce. The cease-fire text demands: "The total cessation of all forms of Zionist aggression against our people, of incursions, demolitions, closures, sieges on cities, villages and refugee camps, including the siege imposed on President Yasser Arafat, the bulldozing of agricultural land, attacks on land and property...the total cessation of all assassination operations, massacres and of all arrest and deportation campaigns against our people, their leaders and their fighters." Where else in the world have you ever seen a demand to cease "the bulldozing of agricultural land, attacks on land and property...?" Nowhere. Why not? Because no where else in the world has the international community failed to protect the civilian population from the aggression of an external military force more completely than in Palestine. A story last week that didn't make the US press was the burning of Palestinian wheat fields by Israeli terrorists. Israeli troops prevented Palestinian firefighters from putting them out. A story that didn't make the US mainstream press was a report a couple years ago from the Palestinian Authority that Israel's attacks on agricultural land had reached the point where more than half of the olive trees in existence in the West Bank in 1967 had since been destroyed by Israel. Tomorrow's (got to love the internet) Christian Science Monitor reports that 12% of Gaza's agricultural land has been destroyed by Israel in the last 33 months. The main crop in Gaza is the potato. Not much for a sniper to hide behind. The Syrian Government newspaper Tishrin said in a front-page editorial that efforts to restart the peace process "are not moving in the right direction as the majority of demands are directed at the weak (Palestinian) side ... while the practices of the strong side, Israel, are deliberately disregarded." (As quoted in www.theage.com.au) I agree. Apparently Bush decided to ignore Sharon's statement that settlement construction can continue "quietly." I'm still amazed that the planes of 9/11 weren't piloted by Palestinians. No people in the world have a greater right to retaliate against the injustice of American foreign policy than the Palestinians. I admire their restraint. The San Francisco Chronicle has the texts of the Fatah and Hamas/Islamic Jihad truce statements. July 4, 2003 PA or PNA? The official name of the quasi-governmental "Authority" created under the Oslo Accords is the Palestinian National Authority (*1). The Israeli government, however, universally refers to the entity as the Palestinian Authority and the US press has adopted that designation. In my earlier blogs, I also made use of this false designation. My apologies to the Palestinian people. The rather successful campaign (*2) of Israel to delete the word "National" from the name of the representative body of the Palestinian "Nation" is just one more example of Israel's relentless campaign to deny the legitimate existence of a Palestinian People, Nation and eventual State. Best Wishes to the National Authority of the Palestinian people in the continuing struggle for Justice and Independence this anniversary of the Independence of my own nation. (*1) www.pna.gov.ps and www.pna.org are the official websites of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA). (*2) A "Google" search on "Palestinian National Authority" comes up with about 34,400 hits; one on "Palestinian Authority" generates about 296,000 hits. July 14, 2003 Happy Bastille Day France! Two hundred and fourteen years ago your political prisoners were freed and the Bastille prison levelled. If only the same were true today for Palestine. Clarity. It is not a word you expect to use when writing about things in the Middle East. Over the past week I have been musing over the plethora of Israeli lies, half-truths and semantic games.--Do you know how to tell when an Israeli is lying? Fiction is not a lie, just an artificial construct that only the most ignorant believe--The word clarity came to mind when reviewing Palestinian statements on their positions. Clear, explicit demands for Justice based on International Law. The Oslo Accords explicitly mention UN Security Council Resolution 242, which demanded Israel withdraw from territories occupied in their June 1967 Invasion of Palestinian Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza, the Syrian Golan Heights, and the Egyptian Sinai. At Oslo the Palestinians were clear in their statements--We recognize the existence of Israel, but we insist on ALL 1967 occupied territories for our State as required by International Law. So, Israel then spent the next decade doubling its civilian occupation forces on 1967 occupied Palestine and Barak made a "generous offer" of 80% of the 1967 lands which Palestinians refused as such was not the agreement signed at Oslo-Madrid-Camp David and such is not the International Legal Right of Palestine. Clarity by the Palestinians. Clarity by the International Community. Fiction from Israel. July 17, 2003 The 3rd Annual National Student Conference of the Palestine Solidarity Movement will take place at Rutgers this fall. The Conference will undoubtedly be well attended due to unprecedented attempts to stifle Freedom of Speech and Assembly by NJ Politicians and pro-Israel Racists. Today the Governor of New Jersey met with Rutgers' President and endorsed ("declined to prevent") the Conference with the statement that the State's Office of Counterterrorism (!) had no evidence that the Rutgers student group sponsoring the event had ties to terrorism! This followed a public call to ban the "abominable" event by NJ's Republican Senate President because of their "message of hate and intolerance." Hate and intolerence. Who? The twenty-five members of the Rutgers student group NJ Solidarity? Or the tens of thousands of students across the country working to support the Palestinian victims of the hate and intolerance of racist and apartheid Israel? Abominable is the control racist groups like AIPAC and ADL exert in the American political system. It is the Democratic Jewish State of Israel. It is a "Democratic" State that has twice elected a mass murderer-terrorist-war criminal Prime Minister. (Genealogical sidebar--The Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers is named after a distant cousin of mine, Jane Manners Voorhees Zimmerli.) July 18, 2003 (Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela, 85) The Rutgers story made the NY Times today with and article as well as a profile by Chris Hedges [I highly recommend his "Gaza Diaries"] of the head of NJ Solidarity. The story will likely be picked up by the world press now. Should give a lot of good press to the American Pro-Palestine movement (Racist rags like the NY Post will give it bad press, but that is actually good). The charge of anti-Semitism is frequently brought up with any statement against Israel or in favor of Palestine..There is no difference between an individual or organization calling a Pro-Palestinian anti-Semite and an individual or organization who calls an African-American a n****r. The Confederate, Nazi and Israeli Flags are all symbols of hate and intolerance. Even Jews are not allowed to freely criticize the evil that is Israel without being labelled "self-loathing." And many Jews criticize Israel, including some in Israel itself: Not in My Name Coalition http://www.nimn.org Jewish Voice for Peace http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org Gush Shalom http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html Jews Against Occupation http://www.jewsagainsttheoccupation.org/ Jewish Peace Fellowship http://www.jewishpeacefellowship.org Neturei Karta http://www.netureikarta.org/ Jews NOT Zionists http://www.jewsnotzionists.org Yesh Gvul, The movement for IDF men refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories. http://www.yesh-gvul.org/english/ Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions http://www.icahd.org/eng/ B'Tselem (Israeli Human Rights Group) http://www.btselem.org (My Favorite Source) Bat Shalom, Israeli Women for Peace http://www.batshalom.org "Occupied Territory" http://www.occupied.org Rabbis for Human Rights http://www.rhr.israel.net Oz v'Shalom - Netivot Shalom (religious Zionist anti-Occupation) http://www.netivot-shalom.org.il/ Association for Civil Rights in Israel http://www.acri.org.il/english-acri/engine/index.asp Visions Of Peace with Justice in Israel/Palestine http://www.vopj.org Middle East Crisis Committee http://www.thestruggle.org Search for Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel http://www.searchforjustice.org Tikkun Magazine http://www.tikkun.org July 19, 2003 The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade kidnapped the Palestinian Governor of Jenin. They later released him after the "personal intervention of President Arafat." This incident gives me the opportunity to discuss the group. As usual, the Western press described al-Aqsa as "linked to Mr. Arafat's Fatah movement." None of the reports pointed out that the Governor of Jenin is a member of the Fatah party. The NY Times used the spellings Aksa and Yasir rather than more common Aqsa and Yasser. The al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade takes its name, not from the desire of the members to become martyrs, but from the martyrs that Israel created when it murdered worshipers at the gold domed al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. The name al-Aqsa is also applied to the current Intifada ("uprising" or "shaking off") to differentiate it from the first Intifada of the late 1980's. The use refers to Ariel Sharon's provocative 2000 visit with hundreds of armed Israeli "Police" to the esplanade surrounding the al-Aqsa Mosque. This was considered a desecration by Hamas supporting Muslims and a violation of National Sovereignty by secular Fatah. The ensuing demonstrations were met with lethal force by Israel (who even shot and killed a number of their own Israeli Arabs involved in unarmed protests). The Martyrs of al-Aqsa have been many with Israeli forces firing on unarmed worshippers on several occasions. Most prominent was the assault of October 8, 1990 which killed 23 Palestinians and wounding over 200. July 25, 2003 It appears I was wrong about the world press picking up on the Rutgers story. Other than the Jewish and right-wing Israeli press there have been no additional internet reports. The Rutgers Hillel organization will be promoting an "Israel Inspires" campaign. Talk about gross promotion of racism. I see a wonderful counter-campaign as a TV commercial beginning with a white background and blue letters "Israel Inspires"... a young child playing in a field of daisies...suddenly from over a hill comes a huge bulldozer and just before the child is crushed the screen fades to black and in red letters..."Rachel Corrie 1979-2003." Or perhaps just "R. C. -- R. I. P. 2003." July 27, 2003 Israeli propaganda games: "Two more cities to be turned over to Palestinians" and "100 Islamic militants to be released." "More"--Well, yes, Israel pulled out of Bethlehem proper (the new bell-ringer at the Church of the Nativity need not worry about being assassinated as his predecessor was), but they keep the city encircled with troops, road barriers and a huge trench. The only change has been that the troops do not make incursions into the city and Palestinian police are not shot at when they appear on the streets. "Two"--Jericho is named as one. Perhaps Sharon is counting on Bush being a total idiot. Jericho has not, at anytime during the current Intifada, been occupied by Israel. The Palestinian police have continued maintaining security in Jericho unmolested by Israeli invasion. As I pointed out in a previous blog, no suicide attacker has originated from Jericho--the only Palestinian city NOT OCCUPIED by Israel. "Militants"--Not "prisoners" or "detainees." In the first batch of prisoners released after the Aqaba summit, only one had more than 10 days left to serve on his sentence and he was an old man with health problems. Many were detainees that had not even been charged. It is likely that this approved batch of "Islamic militants" will be the more of the same. A "militant" is a person who is "combative" or "aggressively active" in a cause. Few of the detainees in Israeli internment camps meet the dictionary definition of the term. Their only crimes are being Palestinians in Palestine. August 2, 2003 I just came across an email posted on a message board from NJ resident Abe Greenhouse who is currently in Israel. Abe travelled there "free" through an organization that seeks to recruit Jewish immigrants. Abe, however, is a bit of a subversive Jew--he is a founder of Central Jersey Jews Against the Occupation and a Rutgers student. An internet search also turned up a run-in between Abe and the Rutgers Hillel last year. Although he is a Jewish student at Rutgers, Abe was blocked from attending a Rutgers Hillel sponsored event to which he sent an RSVP as requested. Seems that Rutgers Hillel is not living up to its mission statement that "any student may participate in Hillel - no membership is required. Hillel is committed to a pluralistic vision of Judaism which embraces all movements." Might I suggest the Governor of NJ have the State's Office of Counterterrorism investigate Hillel's possible connection to the Kach Movement--a US Dept. of State listed Jewish Terrorist organization. Rutgers Hillel's exclusionary actions indicate clear sympathy for racist Jewish supremacism as espoused by such hate groups as the Kach Movement and Yesha Council. [Edited 8/21/2003] Also read my other webpages on Palestinian Issues: Palestinian Children Israeli Massacres of Palestinians The Tantura Massacre Jenin Demography Ariel Sharon the Terrorist Al-Fatah |
| Chronological Archive 5/27/03-8/02/03 |
