[471] in peace2
SUNDAY, Palestine (plus compilation)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (felixauyeung@juno.com)
Sat Nov 18 07:01:40 2000
From: felixauyeung@juno.com
To: peace-list@mit.edu
Cc: papouse@hotmail.com, jshulman@fas.harvard.edu, brianerobinson@hotmail.com,
clayadler@hotmail.com, tauyeun@muse.sfusd.k12.ca.us,
wauyeung@stanford.edu, crazedpsycho@usa.net, AnniqueClaussen@gmx.de,
urbancake@hotmail.com, choffman@CI.cambrigde.MA.US,
fadia.rafeedie@yale.edu, JulianeTeller@gmx.de
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 19:55:16 +0800
Message-ID: <20001118.200518.-217105.2.felixauyeung@juno.com>
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1. SUNDAY: Break the Silence, Copley Square, Nov. 19 at 14:00 (2pm)
2. article by Jewish American journalist on the ground in Palestine
3. article in International Herald Tribune
4. poem by Israeli professor and poet
1. --------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Aram Falsafi <afalsafi@igc.org>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 07:06:47 -0800
Subject: [act-ma] Sun 11/19 Break The Silence, Copley Square
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ACT-MA Peace Events in Massachusetts
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BREAK THE SILENCE-SUNDAY/COPLEY SQUARE
Break The Silence: Palestinian Life Under Occupation
The Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights presents a Visual Portrayal
of
the Daily Life in the West Bank and Gaza
DATE Sunday, Nov. 19
TIME 2:00-5:00 PM
PLACE Copley Square,Boston,MA
Since Sept. 28,2000, Palestinian People have endured persistent, and
lethal
Israeli military force and settler rioting. A violent occupation is the
real
threat to peace between the Arab Palestinian and Jewish Israeli peoples.
"Break the Silence" is a visual portrayal of the struggles of Palestinian
life under Israeli occupation and the realities of the current strife.
The
Narrative is told through photographs, maps, poetry, personal eyewitness
journal accounts, and memorials honoring the people who have died. The
display is creative, beautiful and deeply moving.
The Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights is comprised of Arab and
Jewish
Americans and Americans of many different backgrounds.
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You can review old listings by going to
http://www.igc.topica.com/lists/act-ma/read
To subscribe send a blank message to:
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2. ------Original Message------
From: Alan Shihadeh <as20@aub.edu.lb>
Sent: October 19, 2000 6:43:18 AM GMT
Subject: american media and palestine...
>>>Squeezing Blood From A Stone:
>>>US Policy, anti-Arab Racism and Israeli Arrogance
>>>May Be Greatest Obstacles to Peace.
>>>
>>>OR
>>>
>>>What Americans need to Know - but probably won't be told - to
Understand
>>>Palestinian Rage
>>>
>>>By Eduardo Cohen
>>>
>>>As the Persian Gulf War was raging I had what I felt to be the
>>>particular honor, as an American Jew, of being sponsored by the San
>>>Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination
>>>Committee on a fact finding mission to investigate Israeli human
rights
>>>abuses carried out against Palestinians under emergency measures
>>>declared during the war. I had been reporting on US policy in the
>>>Middle East for more than ten years on KPFA and other California radio
>>>stations and I had been documenting and lecturing on anti-Arab racism
in
>>>American popular culture and the news media.
>>>
>>>After the delegation's week of fact-finding was completed, I decided
to
>>>spend more time on my own to dig deeper into what Israeli occupation
>>>meant for Palestinians In the next two weeks my travels would take me
>>>from the sandy back roads, sweet smelling orange groves and fetid
>>>poverty ridden slums of Gaza to meetings with Palestinian and Jewish
>>>activists in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. And from the stifling heat
>>>of Jericho, where I interviewed Saeb Erikat under house arrest, to
some
>>>of the West Bank's most remote hills where the isolated rural villages
>>>were controlled by the Islamic political organization known as Hamas.
>>>
>>>Coming back and talking with most Americans about what I had seen and
>>>learned there made me feel as if I had entered an episode of the
>>>Twilight Zone - an episode in which the main character can see a
>>>dangerous and foreboding presence that no one else can see. The
>>>protagonist points it out to them but as soon as they look, it has
>>>disappeared. They cannot see it. And pretty soon the increasingly
>>>desperate and frustrated character even begins to doubt his or her own
>>>sanity.
>>>
>>>But such was the gulf between what I had seen and experienced and what
>>>the American public perceived through the lens of the American news
>>>media. I couldn't help but conclude that the American public wasn't
>>>even getting a fraction of the information it needed to
comprehensively
>>>understand and intelligently monitor it's own government's policies in
>>>the Middle East. Now, almost ten years later, little has changed and
>>>the gulf in perception is just as wide.
>>>
>>>Perhaps that is understandable. The American news media are probably
the
>>>most pro-Israeli in the world. Even the Israeli news media are more
>>>critical of the Israeli government than American journalists are.
>>>Perhaps this isn't surprising since the US is Israel's main benefactor
>>>and Israel receives more US aid than any other country in the world.
>>>But it is still disturbing to see how uncritically US news coverage
>>>seems to follow US foreign policy and how much the American news media
>>>protect Israel.
>>>
>>>If one never leaves the United States or reads the foreign news media,
>>>it is easy to be unaware of this incredible gulf between how the US
>>>media perceive and report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how
it
>>>is viewed in much of the rest of the world. Even the next most
>>>pro-Israeli press, that of Great Britain, shows sharp contrasts with
>>>American reporting on Israel and the Occupied Territories.
>>>
>>>In American coverage of the recent Camp David meetings the American
>>>press obediently followed the Israeli and US government spin that
while
>>>Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak made courageous concessions for
peace,
>>>Palestinian unwillingness to compromise caused the meeting to fail.
>>>
>>>Never mind that Barak's 'courageous concessions' consisted of allowing
>>>the Palestinians to have joint administrative responsibility over a
>>>couple of remote Arab neighborhoods of Arab East Jerusalem - pathetic
>>>crumbs tossed on the floor which Arafat was expected to gratefully
pick
>>>up.
>>>
>>>I had to read the British press to find out that, according to
documents
>>>leaked from Camp David, Arafat reportedly made so many major
concessions
>>>that they could endanger the possibility of a creating a viable
>>>Palestinian state.
>>>
>>>According to a British newspaper, The Independent, Palestinian
>>>concessions at Camp David included the right of Israel to maintain a
>>>permanent military presence in the Jordan Valley, the presence of
>>>Israeli early warning stations on Palestinian territory, Israeli
>>>permission to fly over Palestinian air space, the right of Israel to
use
>>>its army on Palestinian land if it fears a danger to the State of
>>>Israel, Palestinian agreement not to have an army, and permanent
Israeli
>>>sovereignty over existing Jewish settlements - settlements which
>>>effectively cut off Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank and
which,
>>>including the giant Jewish settlement of Ma'aleh Adumim, effectively
cut
>>>the West Bank into two pieces separated by Israeli territory.
>>>
>>>There are other important facts that I regularly see mentioned in
>>>newspapers from other countries that are rarely mentioned, if at all,
in
>>>American newspapers and broadcasts.
>>>
>>>In the British and European press, readers are often reminded that the
>>>very existence of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza is a
>>>clear violation of international law, specifically the Fourth Geneva
>>>Convention, and that the continued occupation of Gaza, the West Bank
and
>>>East Jerusalem are in violation of UN Security Council Resolutions.
>>>
>>>Readers of British papers are also reminded regularly that what the
>>>Americans often characterize as an 'inflexible' and 'radical'
>>>Palestinian demand for full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the West
>>>bank, including East Jerusalem, is exactly what is called for in
United
>>>Nations Security Council Resolution 242 which, according to the Oslo
>>>Agreement, signed by Israel, is exactly the framework on which final
>>>resolution is supposed to be based.
>>>
>>>Reporting on Camp David, American reporters obediently quoted Israeli
>>>Prime Minister Barak's statements questioning whether Palestinians are
>>>negotiating 'in good faith' but failed to report ongoing Israeli
actions
>>>in Gaza and the West Bank that raise serious questions about Israel's
>>>'good faith': continuing demolitions of Palestinian homes;
confiscation
>>>of Palestinian water; expansion and construction of Jewish settlements
>>>in occupied territory; denial of building permits to Palestinian
>>>homeowners; and construction of Jewish 'security roads' which cut 1/4
>>>mile swaths through Palestinian land
>>>
>>>Not only have American reporters left out crucial information
necessary
>>>to a comprehensive understanding of the conflict and the peace
process,
>>>but for far to long they have demonstrated a mindlessly uncritical
>>>acceptance of even the most absurd Israeli arguments against making
>>>peace. Foremost of these is the oft used Israeli argument that
>>>Palestinian authorities must guarantee an end to terrorist attacks as
a
>>>prerequisite to any Israeli agreements. It has always been a laughable
>>>argument, except to American journalists.
>>>
>>>If the United States government could not prevent the bombings at
>>>Oklahoma City and the World Trade Towers and the Israeli government
>>>could not prevent the assassination of its own prime minister, how
can
>>>Yaser Arafat possibly guarantee the end of terrorist acts by
Palestinian
>>>elements outside of his control?
>>>
>>>There are other serious lapses in American coverage which make it
>>>difficult for Americans to understand, on an emotional level, the
>>>Palestinians' anger and frustration that are now boiling over in the
>>>streets of the Occupied Territories and even within Israel itself.
>>>
>>>Recent violence has been attributed to Palestinian anger about the
visit
>>>by Ariel Sharon, accompanied by 1,000 police and hundreds of
supporters,
>>>to the sacred Islamic "Noble Sanctuary' where the Al-Aksa Mosque and
the
>>>Dome of the Rock are located. Although Ariel Sharon was described as
a
>>>right-wing opposition leader hated by Arabs, Americans were offered
>>>little insight into exactly why he is so despised by Arabs.
>>>
>>>What Americans are generally not told, but what Palestinians cannot
>>>forget, is that Ariel Sharon was held responsible, even by the Israeli
>>>Knesset, for the massacre of from 1,000 to 2,000 unarmed Palestinian
>>>men, women and children in the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and
>>>Chatila in Lebanon. During the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, which
>>>General Ariel Sharon directed, Israeli troops surrounded the two
refugee
>>>camps and allowed in Palestinian-hating Lebanese Phalangists who then
>>>spent two days raping, brutalizing and hacking to death hundreds of
>>>unarmed Palestinian civilians while the Israeli Army stood guard.
>>>
>>>Not only did American news media fail to include this critically
>>>important information, but many actually gave Sharon, who went to the
>>>site to demonstrate Israeli sovereignty, the opportunity to explain
that
>>>he went there "with a message of Peace."
>>>
>>>It is difficult for Americans to even imagine the frustration of
>>>Palestinians who see Jews arrive from the United States to act out
>>>Jewish James Bond fantasies in the Occupied Territories, sporting
>>>yarmulkes and 9mm submachine guns - weapons they would never be
allowed
>>>to possess or walk around with in the streets of American cities - at
>>>the ready to draw Palestinian blood.
>>>
>>>American Jews, who left behind in the United States more economic
>>>opportunity and religious freedom than most people in the world can
even
>>>imagine, and whose parents, grandparents and great, great great
>>>grandparents never set foot in Israel, are allowed to invoke the
Jewish
>>>"right of return" and claim land that Palestinian families have been
>>>living on and working for centuries. And all this while many
>>>Palestinians still carry the keys from the homes they lost in the 1948
>>>war, and to which they have little or no hope of ever returning.
>>>
>>>I sensed some of the frustration and anger that Palestinians feel when
I
>>>spoke with a typical Palestinian farmer in the West Bank whose well of
>>>precious water, which he needed to irrigate his crops, had been
>>>confiscated by Israeli authorities so a nearby Jewish settlement could
>>>fill its swimming pools and water its green lawns.
>>>
>>>I sensed some of what Palestinians felt when I interviewed more than a
>>>half dozen Palestinians whose homes had been dynamited or bulldozed by
>>>Israeli tractors because a teenage member of the family had tossed a
>>>rock at an Israeli troop carrier or because they tried to build an
extra
>>>room without the building permit they knew Israeli officials would
never
>>>provide.
>>>
>>>It is almost ten years later and, again, the influx of settlers, the
>>>expansion of Jewish settlements, the building of Jewish roads, the
>>>demolition of Palestinian homes and the confiscation of Palestinian
>>>water all continue.
>>>
>>>The factor of racism.
>>>
>>>American papers and American news networks offer Americans little
>>>opportunity to understand how much racism remains as one of the
greatest
>>>obstacles to peace.
>>>
>>>I experienced some of the frustration that Palestinians must be
feeling
>>>when I interviewed numerous Jewish-American settlers in the West Bank
>>>during the Persian Gulf War. Many of those I spoke with were from New
>>>York and, talking about Arabs, spouted some of the most hateful,
racist
>>>diatribes that I had ever heard. I was reminded of the racism against
>>>Black Americans that I witnessed growing up in the American South.
>>>
>>>The images, often broadcast on American networks, of Palestinians
>>>chanting 'death to the Jews' have given many Americans the impression
>>>that Arab hatred of Jews may be the greatest obstacle to peace. But
that
>>>could be a wrong and dangerously misleading conclusion.
>>>
>>>In spite of those chants, my experiences in Gaza and the West Bank
gave
>>>me some interesting insights into how deep those feelings go in at
least
>>>some Palestinians who would be described here as fanatic or extremist.
>>>
>>>Clearly there are virulently racist elements within the greater
>>>Palestinian community... but I found a real difference between Israeli
>>>racism against Arabs, based on a feeling of racial superiority, and
>>>Palestinian hatred of Jews which is an understandable Palestinian
>>>response to the policies of the Jewish government of Israel and a
>>>continuing Jewish occupation.
>>>
>>>It is comparable to the difference between the hatred of Black
Americans
>>>by Southern white racists during the Civil Rights Movement in the
United
>>>States and the hatred many Black Americans felt towards whites as the
>>>result of the racist oppression they experienced. It is an important
>>>difference.
>>>
>>>Making no secret of my Jewishness, I traveled unarmed, without any
>>>police or military escort, and accompanied only by a sole translator,
>>>into remote mountain and desert areas in Gaza and the West Bank
>>>controlled by the militant Muslim organization called Hamas and where
>>>Israeli authorities told me I would probably be killed.
>>>
>>>I still remember the amazement of Palestinians there when they learned
>>>that I was a Jew investigating human rights abuses by the Israeli
>>>military and I was moved by how quickly I was invited into their homes
>>>to share tea with them. And I will never forget the tears of
>>>appreciation streaming down the cheeks of so many Palestinians who
were
>>>so genuinely happy to meet a Jew who simply saw them as human beings
and
>>>as equals and who was willing to acknowledge their suffering and
listen
>>>to their side of the conflict. The only Jews they had ever seen in
>>>their villages were soldiers there to assert Israeli control.
>>>
>>>Far away from any Israeli protection, in the heart of areas controlled
>>>by Hamas, I felt no danger whatsoever. It was difficult to return to
>>>Tel Aviv and talk to Jews who would never allow an Arab to set foot in
>>>their homes, except perhaps to clean them, and who would explain to me
>>>with no doubt in their minds that it was impossible to reason with
Arabs
>>>because they didn't share the same faculties of thought and reason
that
>>>"civilized human beings" possess. I left with the sharp impression
that
>>>anti-Arab racism in Israeli society was the much greater obstacle to
>>>peace. And the evidence indicates that, ten years later, it hasn't
>>>changed.
>>>
>>>I was introduced to Israeli racism before I even left the grounds of
Ben
>>>Gurion Airport outside Tel Aviv. Outside the entrance in an area
where
>>>travelers wait for collective taxis which usually whisk them away to
Tel
>>>Aviv or Jerusalem, a Jewish Israeli asked me where I was headed.
>>>"Jerusalem" I told him. "Where are you going to stay?", he asked. I
told
>>>him that I planned to stay at the YMCA Hotel. "Oh, the one next to the
>>>King David Hotel?" he asked, assuming that I would be staying at the
>>>YMCA in Jewish West Jerusalem. "No", I responded, "I'm staying at the
>>>YMCA in East Jerusalem." His face immediately twisted into a look of
>>>profound confusion and puzzlement. "I don't think its going to be
very
>>>clean'" he warned.
>>>
>>>He had almost certainly never been to the YMCA on Nablus Street but he
>>>had assumed it would be dirty simply because it was located in Arab
East
>>>Jerusalem. That was just the first and mildest of many exposures to
>>>Israeli racism towards Arabs. Travelling through Israel I witnessed a
>>>deep, widespread and racist contempt for Arabs that I now see as
>>>possibly the most serious, but seldom mentioned, obstacle to finding a
>>>just and lasting peace.
>>>
>>>Judging by statements by the Shas party's most prominent religious
>>>leader, not much has improved. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual
leader
>>>of Shas, an ultra-Orthodox party which is the third largest party in
>>>the Israeli Knesset, recently described Palestinians as "snakes" whom
>>>God "regrets creating." Until just recently Shas had formed a major
>>>part of Prime Minister Ehud Barak's governing coalition.
>>>
>>>The anti-Arab racism that exists in Israel is not without its
>>>counterpart in the United States.
>>>
>>>During that 1991 trip I visited the sacred Islamic site that includes
>>>the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. Just a few months
before,
>>>in October of 1990, 19 unarmed Palestinian civilians had been shot to
>>>death by Israeli police. I interviewed eye witnesses and photographed
>>>bullet holes left in the side of the mosque by Israeli gunfire.
Victims
>>>even included Red Crescent ambulance staff attempting to provide
medical
>>>assistance to the wounded.
>>>
>>>In Great Britain, the conservative weekly news magazine, 'The
>>>Economist', used the term 'massacre' to describe the slaughter. They
>>>called it a massacre on their front page, in their editorial, and in
the
>>>headline of their news story. The New York Times didn't report a
>>>massacre but described an outbreak of violence about which there were
>>>"confusing" and "contradictory" accounts.
>>>
>>>But one of the most reprehensible displays of anti-Arab racism was
>>>provided by Time Magazine which characterized the massacre of 19
unarmed
>>>Palestinians with a headline which read "Saddam's Lucky Break." This
>>>indefensible murder of Arab civilians was described as a "propaganda
>>>victory" for Saddam Hussein and even implied that he had more
>>>responsibility for the killings than the Israeli police who had pulled
>>>the triggers.
>>>
>>>There is a slightly more subtle version of anti-Arab racism that
>>>continues to permeate our news coverage of the Middle East and the
>>>Palestinian-Israeli conflict to this day.
>>>
>>>It is characterized in Judy Woodruff's words on CNN talking about the
>>>recent violence in Israel and the Occupied Territories in which more
>>>than 76 Palestinians have now been killed by Israeli police and
>>>soldiers: "The uprising that has shut down much of Northern Israel is
>>>blamed for as many as 50 or more deaths." According to CNN then, it
is
>>>the uprising, not the decisions of the Israeli security forces to
shoot
>>>at Palestinians with steel-jacketed bullets and anti-tank rockets that
>>>is responsible for more than 50 dead Palestinians.
>>>
>>>This racism is reflected in the Sacramento Bee headline "Riots
Escalate
>>>in West Bank" with a smaller tagline mentioning "12 dead, hundreds
>>>hurt". It is present in the SF Examiner headline: "Death Toll Reaches
>>>29 in Mideast Clashes."
>>>
>>>In none of these samples is it made clear how people died and who did
>>>the killing. Now we know, at the time of this writing, that more than
>>>76 Palestinians have been killed. We should all know, deep in our
>>>hearts, that if 29 or 55 or 76 Israelis had been killed by
Palestinians,
>>>the headlines would be screaming at us from the headlines of almost
>>>every newspaper '29 Israelis Killed by Palestinians' or 'Arabs Kill 76
>>>Israelis'. The headlines would certainly not read 'Death Toll Reaches
>>>29' or '76 Israelis Die in Mideast Violence' - headlines that fail to
>>>attribute any direct responsibility for the killing. A SF Chronicle
>>>story carried a headline which read, 'Palestinian Riots Spread Into
>>>Israel.' Three paragraphs into that story we are informed that 12
>>>Palestinians have been killed. In a particularly egregious example,
>>>another Sacramento Bee headline reads, "Palestinian gunmen fire on
>>>Israelis" over a story that tells us that twelve more Palestinians
have
>>>been killed."
>>>
>>>This is something that happens repeatedly in the American press and
>>>implicitly attaches one value to the lives of Israeli's and a lesser
>>>value to the lives of Arabs. Israelis are "killed" but Palestinians
>>>"die." I am not alone in noticing these disturbing disparities that
>>>work to camouflage Israeli responsibility.
>>>
>>>Award winning British journalist Robert Fisk wrote in The Independent
>>>that when he reads that Palestinians have died in "crossfire" it
almost
>>>always means that "the Israelis have killed an innocent person." So
>>>when he read on the Associated Press wire that 12-year-old Mohammed
>>>al-Durah was killed in Gaza when he was "caught in the crossfire",
Fisk
>>>writes, "I knew at once who had killed him."
>>>
>>>"Sure enough" Fisk confirms, "reporters investigating the killing said
>>>the boy was shot by Israeli troops." "So was his father ? who
survived
>>>? and so was the ambulance driver who was killed trying to rescue the
>>>boy."
>>>
>>>This failure of American editors and reporters to clearly attribute
>>>responsibility for the killing of Palestinian victims is just one of
>>>many ways in which the American press continuously devalues the lives
of
>>>Arabs. This almost constant devaluation of Arab lives is reinforced
by
>>>a popular culture that has made it safe to openly make the most racist
>>>statements about Arabs without fear of castigation or even
>>>condemnation.
>>>
>>>Just last month Bill Maher, host of ABC's Politically Incorrect,
argued
>>>on his show that racial profiling "might be OK in some cases" like
when
>>>you're on a flight to Israel and "some sweaty Arab" sits down next to
>>>you. Worse than the blatantly racist insult to Arabs was the fact
that
>>>no one even noticed it.
>>>
>>>Anti-Arab racism is almost certainly a factor in continued American
>>>disinterest concerning a US driven embargo that has, according to UN
>>>agencies and several high ranking UN officials, caused the deaths of
>>>over 1,000,000 Iraqi civilians and continues to cause the deaths of
>>>4,000 to 5,000 Arab children every month.
>>>
>>>It is telling that a policy that is killing as many as 5,000 Arab
>>>children each month didn't even merit a brief mention in the recent US
>>>Presidential debate. And despite the fact that Palestinian blood was
>>>literally flowing, as the Democratic and Republican presidential and
>>>vice-presidential candidates debated, from wounds inflicted by
American
>>>supplied weapons including Apache attack helicopters, that too merited
>>>nary a mention by any of the candidates and neither of the two
>>>moderators.
>>>
>>>A clear but unspoken racist double standard permeates US policy in the
>>>region as well as its coverage in the US news media. We are bombing
and
>>>economically strangling the Arab nation of Iraq for invading Kuwait
and
>>>seeking to develop nuclear weapons. But we have provided Israel with
>>>staggering and uninterrupted quantities of economic and military aid
>>>despite its even more violent invasion of Lebanon, its refusal to
>>>respond to countless UN security council resolutions, and its
continued
>>>building of what is already one of the world's largest nuclear
arsenals.
>>>
>>>And it should certainly be clear by now which side of the
>>>Israeli-Palestinian conflict the "honest brokers" of the Clinton
>>>Administration are on. Despite the well known role of East Jerusalem
as
>>>the cultural and intellectual center of Palestine, the Clinton
>>>Administration continues to support Israeli sovereignty over most of
>>>Arab East Jerusalem. And in spite of a long list of major compromises
>>>by the Palestinian negotiators, the administration blames only
>>>Palestinians for being inflexible and pressures them for yet more
>>>concessions.
>>>
>>>The results of America's imbalanced policy choices are now playing out
>>>in the streets of Israel and the Occupied Territories and the time has
>>>clearly come for an American President and his policy advisors to
>>>realize the responsibility they share for the death of a 12 year old
boy
>>>in his fathers arms and the torrent of Palestinian blood that is now
>>>flowing.
>>>
>>>President Clinton needs to be pressuring Israel, not the Palestinians
to
>>>make more concessions for peace. As the larger and more powerful of
the
>>>two entities, Israel clearly has more room to bend and it is the
>>>Palestinians, not the Israelis whose backs are truly against the wall.
>>>He could also make continued US aid contingent on Israeli compliance
>>>with international law and UN Security Council resolutions. Then all
>>>that would need to be negotiated, apart from a Palestinian right of
>>>return, would be when, not whether, Israel will return the occupied
>>>lands seized in 1967.
>>>
>>>Because of the major role that the United States plays in life and
death
>>>issues in the Middle East, American editors and reporters have a
special
>>>responsibility to constantly examine the fairness of their reporting
and
>>>how critically they examine information they present to the American
>>>people. And they need to examine the possibility of their own racism
and
>>>begin treating Palestinians and other Arabs as equal citizens whose
>>>lives carry just as much value as Jewish Israeli lives.
>>>
>>>Israelis need to examine their own racism and their arrogance in using
>>>their military superiority to wring yet more concessions from a people
>>>who are struggling to keep a mere 20% of what was formerly Palestine.
>>>They must realize that in forcing humiliating concessions on the
>>>Palestinians they are only planting the seeds of continued resentment,
>>>hatred and violence.
>>>
>>>Above all, Israelis need to realize that the creation of an
>>>economically, politically and geographically viable Palestinian state
is
>>>inextricably linked with any prospect they might have of a peaceful
and
>>>secure future. The Israelis' apparent inability or unwillingness to
>>>recognize this basic truth may be the greatest single obstacle to a
just
>>>and lasting peace.
3. International Herald Tribune <www.iht.com>
In Israel, Hard-Line Sentiment Rises With Violence
Lee Hockstader and Keith B. Richburg
Washington Post Service
Thursday, November 16, 2000
JERUSALEM A few minutes before the bullets started flying Wednesday
afternoon in Gilo, a Jewish neighborhood on Jerusalem's southern fringe,
Yehuda Edri held forth on what it would take for Israel to crush the
continuing Palestinian uprising.
.
For starters, Mr. Edri said, a taxi driver on call at the local cab
stand, Israel should reinvade Palestinian cities in the West Bank and the
Gaza Strip. If a few hundred or more Palestinians were killed in the
process, he said, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
.
"Maybe that would calm them down," said Mr. Edri, 48, a former Israeli
Army sapper who wore a delicate Star of David on a gold chain around his
neck. "This is like a war now. We've been too good to them. They've
gotten spoiled."
.
That kind of sentiment runs strong in the bedroom community of Gilo,
which has been a target of Palestinian gunmen at least a dozen times in
the last few weeks, as it was Wednesday afternoon. And lately, a
similarly hard line seems to be gaining ground as increasingly alarmed
Israelis cast about for ways to extinguish the worst violence in a decade
in Israel.
.
In seven weeks of fighting, thousands have been injured and nearly 220
people killed, nearly 90 percent of them Palestinians. On Wednesday at
least eight more Palestinians died in clashes with Israeli troops. It was
one of the heaviest death tolls in a single day since the start of the
uprising seven weeks ago.
.
Much of the world, including human rights groups, look at that lopsided
casualty count as evidence that trigger-happy Israeli soldiers are
overreacting to Palestinian provocations.
.
But in Israel, it is taken for granted by practically everyone that the
army has exercised maximum restraint - using tanks and air power
sparingly, for instance.
.
The main debate is between Israelis who applaud that restraint as
cool-headed and shrewd, and those who condemn it as lily-livered and
weak.
.
These days, the latter view appears in the ascendant, especially since
four Israelis were killed Monday in three separate incidents on the roads
of the West Bank and Gaza.
.
"This situation of indefinite restraint cannot continue," said the
Israeli president, Moshe Katsav, whose sees his office as a pulpit for
expressing the national consensus. "The shooting must stop one or the
other: Either the Palestinian Authority stops the shooting or the Israeli
Army will stop it, even though this is against our wishes, that it is
forced on us."
.
In Ramallah, the day began, like so many others, with a funeral for a
15-year-old boy who died Tuesday after he was shot in the chest. But if
the crowd was larger than usual Wednesday, and the mood even more
defiant, it was because this was also the symbolic date that Palestinians
call their National Day - and in their view, statehood is almost within
reach.
.
Palestinian officials interviewed as they snaked through the streets
behind the teenager's body said the current uprising, or intifada, had
reached a new stage; statehood would simply have to happen on the ground,
they said, and that would mean expelling Israelis from Palestinian areas.
What was unclear was exactly how they expected this to happen.
.
"We have to start today to exercise the popular sovereignty on the
ground," said the Tanzim militia leader, Marwan Barghouti.
.
In place of the usual clashes between protesters and Israeli soldiers at
checkpoints, he said, "We have to go to the streets, to the villages, to
the refugee camps, everywhere." Mr. Barghouti said the goal was to
"enlarge the intifada," and that might mean a move to "close the roads"
against Israelis.
.
He added that Palestinians would only use "peaceful means" to drive
Israelis out of Palestinian areas.
.
Kudouri Faris, a Fatah official and member of the Palestinian Legislative
Council, said: "People believe this is their last battle."
.
"The best way would be to have a state without having to sacrifice
people," he said. "But there is no other alternative."
.
Asked if the shift now was not in simply declaring a state, but actually
creating it on the ground, he agreed. "Area A is fully controlled by the
Palestinian Authority," he said. "So there is the Palestinian effort to
prevent the Israelis from getting to Area B." Asked how the Palestinians
would implement this new roadblock, he said; "With stones. With clashes.
With their bodies."
.
"We are resisting to defend the Palestinian people," he said. Asked how
long it might last, he said, "Everything depends on the Israeli position.
They could decide in 5 minutes to end the occupation."
.
Another Fatah official, Hassan Abu Libdi, who heads the Palestinian
Bureau of Statistics, said, "This intifada has a function. It has already
done most of its function." Now, he said, "We have a different game. The
next two weeks will be critical." He did not elaborate why.
.
Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian physician and activist, said
Wednesday, "We are not so much celebrating as creating our independence."
.
"It's a long process," he said. When asked about the establishment of a
state through the phased process laid out in the Oslo agreement, he said,
"Oslo is over, over, over. We are not going back. What you'll see now is
pressure for a wider international influence."
.
"The principle of our state is already there," he said. "Even the
Israelis accept that. The struggle now is about the nature of the state,
the content."
.
The Palestinians agree that the Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas
must go. "It's becoming clear that it was an illusion to think you can
have peace and keep the settlements," Dr. Barghouti said. "Settlements
and peace do not fit." And he also said Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian
Authority made "a mistake, negotiating without a complete end to the
settlements."
4. --------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Alan Shihadeh <as20@aub.edu.lb>
Date: Fri, 17 Nov 2000 08:58:59 +0200
Subject: [Fwd: a poem]
The following is an excerpt from a poem that caused a sensation when it
was read at Tel Aviv marking the first year of the [first] Intifada.
The poet is an Israeli professor of Hebrew literature and he is famous
throughout Occupied Palestine as a lyricist and TV show host. He was
commissioned by the Israeli government to write many of its military
songs.
> > We Shoot Children Too, Don't We
> > by Dan Almagor
> >
> > Most of these people truly desire
> > To harvest their olive trees
> > As they have for hundreds of years.
> > Most of these people truly desire to raise their kids
> > Not to throw stones
> > Or Molotov cocktails,
> > But to study in peace,
> > To play in peace,
> > And to raise a flag.
> > Their own flag.
> > And facing that flag, to cry
> > As we did, that night, then, excited as we were.
> > And we have no, have no, have no
> > Right in the world
> > To rob them of this desire.
> > This flag,
> > These tears.
> > These tears, which always, always
> > Come after all the others.
> > Let us start preparing our defense.
> > We will need it soon enough.
> > All those who actually did it,
> > And those who still do.
> > And those who hushed it up,
> > And those who still do.
> > And those who said nothing,
> > And those who clucked their tongues, saying
> > "Something must be done, really;
> > (But not tonight. I have a concert,
> > A gala, A birthday!)"
> > Yes, we'll all get our summons one day
> > For the Colonels' trials.
> > The Colonel's trials are coming,
> > Their time will come, it must be so.
> > The trials of the Generals, the Colonels,
> > The division, the battalion,
> > And the platoon commanders.
> > There is no escaping it.
> > This is how history works.
> > What shall we say?
> > What will the Colonels, the Captains, the
> > Corporals say?
> > What will they say
> > Of those terrible beatings,
> > The brutality,
> > Of houses blown up,
> > And most of all, the humiliation.
> > That humiliation.
> > Of patients forced to wipe the writing
> > off the walls.
> > Of old men forced to take down a flag
> > From an electric pole,
> > Who were electrocuted, or fell
> > And broke their legs.
> > Of the old water carrier
> > Whom soldiers ordered off his donkey
> > And rode on his back, just for fun.
> > Mean, arrogant, and dumb.
> > Who do we think we are?
> > Who gave us the right
> > To be so deaf, so dumb?
> > Ignoring the obvious: They are as human
> > As we are, as we are.
> > At least as human as we used to be
> > Only forty-one years ago.
> > No less diligent, no less smart.
> > As sensitive, as full of hope.
> > They love their wives and children
> > As we do, no less.
> > And our children now shoot theirs
> > With lead, plastic bullets, and gas.
> > The Palestinian state will come to pass.
> > It will.
> > Not a poet wrote this.
> > History will.
> > And seasons may come, and seasons may go,
> > And life goes on as we very well know.
> > Weddings, and births, and deaths all the same-
> > But just the shame of it. The shame.
.
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