[WCUSP] Fwd: Facing Mecca - read Avnery (H&E) and Siegman (E) + actions update & more

Sun Feb 18 14:29:40 CST 2007

--- Gush Shalom <otherisr at actcom.co.il> wrote:

> From: "Gush Shalom" <otherisr at actcom.co.il>
> Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 05:55:11 -0800
> Subject: Facing Mecca - read Avnery (H&E) and
> Siegman (E) + actions update &
> 	more
> To: intl at mailman.gush-shalom.org
> 
> www.gush-shalom.org   
>   ôòéìåéåú (îòåãëðåú áàåôï ùåèó), îèøåú, îàîøéí,
> äåãòåú ìòúåðåú åòåã 
> actions (constantly updated) , aims, articles, press
> releases, and more
> 
> Uri Avnery: Facing Mecca (English text also in this
> email) // àåøé àáðøé òí äôðéí ìîëä
> 
> éù ùåúó // There is a partner 
> 
> Here and now // ëàï åòëùéå
> 
>  é å î ï ~ ä ù á å ò 
> 
>
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/archive/1171798202/
> îñôé÷ ìãùãù áî÷åí - äôâðä áéøåùìéí, éåí á'
> 
> 23.2 ùðúééí ìîàá÷ äòîîé ðâã äçåîä áëôø áéìòéï
> 
> ÷øéä îåîìöú: òì úâéãå (äèåø ùì òîåñ âáéøõ)
> 
> O n ~ t h e ~ a g e n d a
>
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/archive/1171796092/
> 
> 19.2, Start Talking Now! demo J'lem 
> 23.2, Friday, 2 yrs of Bilin anti-wall struggle 
> 
> recommended reading
> Henry Siegman: Mecca opens the way for Europe 
> Amos Gvirtz: Don't say you didn't know 
> 
> 
> 
> Uri Avnery
> 17/02/07
> 
>             Facing Mecca
> 
> 
>
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/he/channels/avnery/1171710361/
>  òáøéú  
> 
> MUST A Native-American recognize the right of the
> United States of America to exist?
>  
> Interesting question. The USA was established by
> Europeans who invaded a continent that did not
> belong to them, eradicated most of the indigenous
> population (the "Red Indians") in a prolonged
> campaign of genocide, and exploited the labor of
> millions of slaves who had been brutally torn from
> their lives in Africa. Not to mention what is going
> on today. Must a Native-American - or indeed anybody
> at all - recognize the right of such a state to
> exist?
> 
> But nobody raises the question. The United States
> does not give a damn if anybody recognizes its right
> to exist or not. It does not demand this from the
> countries with which it maintains relations.
> 
> Why? Because this is a ridiculous demand to start
> with.
> 
> OK, the United States is older than the State of
> Israel, as well as bigger and more powerful. But
> countries that are not super-powers do not demand
> this either. India, for example, is not expected to
> recognize Pakistan's "right to exist", in spite of
> the fact that Pakistan was established at the same
> time as Israel, and - like Israel - on an
> ethnic/religious basis.
> 
> SO WHY is Hamas required to "recognize Israel's
> right to exist"?
> 
> When a state "recognizes" another state, it is a
> formal recognition, the acknowledgement of an
> existing fact. It does not imply approval. The
> Soviet Union was not required to recognize the
> existence of the USA as a capitalist state. On the
> contrary, Nikita Khrushchev promised in 1956 to
> "bury" it. The US certainly did not dream of
> recognizing at any time the right of the Soviet
> Union to exist as a communist state.
> 
> So why is this weird demand addressed to the
> Palestinians? Why must they recognize the right of
> Israel to exist as a Jewish State?
> 
> I am an Israeli patriot, and I do not feel that I
> need anybody's recognition of the right of my state
> to exist. If somebody is ready to make peace with
> me, within borders and on conditions agreed upon in
> negotiations, that is quite enough for me. I am
> prepared to leave the history, ideology and theology
> of the matter to the theologians, ideologues and
> historians.
> 
> Perhaps after 60 years of the existence of Israel,
> and after we have become a regional power, we are
> still so unsure of ourselves that we crave for
> constant assurance of our right to exist - and of
> all people, from those that we have been oppressing
> for the last 40 years. Perhaps it is the mentality
> of the Ghetto that is still so deeply ingrained in
> us.
> 
> But the demand addressed now to the Palestinian
> Unity Government is far from sincere. It has an
> ulterior political aim, indeed two: (a) to convince
> the international community not to recognize the
> Palestinian government that is about to be set up,
> and (b) to justify the refusal of the Israeli
> government to enter into peace negotiations with it.
> 
> The British call this a "red herring" - a smelly
> fish that a fugitive drags across the path in order
> to put the pursuing dogs off the trail.
> 
> WHEN I was young, Jewish people in Palestine used to
> talk about our secret weapon: the Arab refusal.
> Every time somebody proposed some peace plan, we
> relied on the Arab side to say "no". True, the
> Zionist leadership was against any compromise that
> would have frozen the existing situation and halted
> the momentum of the Zionist enterprise of expansion
> and settlement. But the Zionist leaders used to say
> "yes" and "we extend our hand for peace" - and rely
> on the Arabs to scuttle the proposal.
> 
> That was successful for a hundred years, until
> Yasser Arafat changed the rules, recognized Israel
> and signed the Oslo Accords, which stipulated that
> the negotiations for the final borders between
> Israel and Palestine must be concluded not later
> than 1999. To this very day, those negotiations have
> not even started. Successive Israeli governments
> have prevented it because they were not ready under
> any circumstances to fix final borders. (The 2000
> Camp David meeting was not a real negotiation - Ehud
> Barak convened it without any preparation, dictated
> his terms to the Palestinians and broke the dialogue
> off when they were refused.)
> 
> After the death of Arafat, the refusal became more
> and more difficult. Arafat was always described as a
> terrorist, cheat and liar. But Mahmoud Abbas was
> accepted by everybody as an honest person, who truly
> wanted to achieve peace. Yet Ariel Sharon succeeded
> in avoiding any negotiations with him. The
> "Unilateral Separation" served this end. President
> Bush supported him with both hands.
> 
> Well, Sharon suffered his stroke, and Ehud Olmert
> took his place. And then something happened that
> caused great joy in Jerusalem: the Palestinians
> elected Hamas.
> 
> How wonderful! After all, both the US and Europe
> have designated Hamas as a terrorist organization!
> Hamas is a part of the Shiite Axis of Evil! (They
> are not Shiites, but who cares!) Hamas does not
> recognize Israel! Hamas is trying to eliminate
> Mahmoud Abbas, the noble man of peace! It is clear
> that with such a gang there is no need, nor would it
> make any sense, to conduct negotiations about peace
> and borders.
> 
> And indeed, the US and their European satellites are
> boycotting the Palestinian government and starving
> the Palestinian population. They have set three
> conditions for lifting the blockade: (a) that the
> Palestinian government and Hamas must recognize the
> right of the State of Israel to exist, (b) they must
> stop "terrorism", and (c) they must undertake to
> fulfill the agreements signed by the PLO.
> 
> On the face of it, that makes sense. In reality,
> none at all. Because all these conditions are
> completely one-sided:
> 
> the Palestinians must recognize the right of Israel
> to exist (without defining its borders, of course),
> but the Israeli government is not required to
> recognize the right of a Palestinian state to exist
> at all. 
> The Palestinians must put an end to "terrorism", but
> the Israeli government is not required to stop its
> military operations in the Palestinian territories
> and stop the building of settlements. The "roadmap"
> does indeed say so, but that has been completely
> ignored by everybody, including the Americans. 
> The Palestinians must undertake to fulfill the
> agreements, but no such undertaking is required from
> the Israeli government, which has broken almost all
> provision of the Oslo agreement. Among others: the
> opening of the "safe passages" between Gaza and the
> West Bank, the carrying out of the third
> "redeployment" (withdrawal from Palestinian
> territories), the treatment of the West Bank and the
> Gaza Strip as one single territory, etc. etc. 
> System Message: INFO/1 (<string>, line 42)
> 
> Enumerated list start value not ordinal-1: "b"
> (ordinal 2)
> Since Hamas came to power, its leaders have
> understood the need to become more flexible. They
> are very sensitive to the mood of their people. The
> Palestinian population is longing for an end to the
> occupation and for a life of peace. Therefore, step
> by step, Hamas has come nearer to recognition of
> Israel. Their religious doctrine does not allow them
> to declare this publicly (Jewish fundamentalists too
> cling to the word of God "To your seed I have given
> this land") but it has been doing so indirectly.
> Little steps, but a big revolution.
> 
> Hamas has announced its support for the
> establishment of a Palestinian state bounded by the
> June 1967 borders - meaning: next to Israel and not
> in place of Israel. (This week, ex-minister Kadura
> Fares repeated that Hamas leader Khaled Mashal has
> confirmed this.) Hamas has given Mahmoud Abbas a
> power of attorney to conduct the negotiations with
> Israel and has undertaken in advance to accept any
> agreement ratified in a referendum. Abbas, of
> course, clearly advocates the setting up of a
> Palestinian state next to Israel, across the Green
> Line. There is no doubt whatsoever that if such an
> agreement is achieved, the huge majority of the
> Palestinian population will vote for it.
> 
> In Jerusalem, worry has set in. If this goes on, the
> world might even get the impression that Hamas has
> changed, and then - God forbid - lift the economic
> blockade on the Palestinian people.
> 
> Now the King of Saudi Arabia comes and disturbs
> Olmert's plans even more.
> 
> In an impressive event, facing the holiest site of
> Islam, the king put an end to the bloody strife
> between the Palestinian security organs and prepared
> the ground for a Palestinian government of national
> unity. Hamas undertook to respect the agreements
> signed by the PLO, including the Oslo agreement,
> which is based on the mutual recognition of the
> State of Israel and the PLO as representative of the
> Palestinian people.
> 
> The king has extracted the Palestinian issue from
> the embrace of Iran, to which Hamas had turned
> because it had no alternative, and has returned
> Hamas to the lap of the Sunni family. Since Saudi
> Arabia is the main ally of the US in the Arab world,
> the king has put the Palestinian issue firmly on the
> table of the Oval Room.
> 
> In Jerusalem, near panic broke out. This is the
> scariest of nightmares: the fear that the
> unconditional support of the US and Europe for
> Israeli policy will be reconsidered.
> 
> The panic had immediate results: "political circles"
> in Jerusalem announced that they rejected the Mecca
> agreement out of hand. Then second thoughts set in.
> Shimon Peres, long established master of the
> "yes-but-no" method, convinced Olmert that the
> brazen "no" must be replaced with a more subtle
> "no". For this purpose, the red herring was again
> taken out of the freezer.
> 
> It is not enough that Hamas recognize Israel in
> practice. Israel insists that its "right to exist"
> must also be recognized. Political recognition does
> not suffice, ideological recognition is required. By
> this logic, one could also demand that Khaled Mashal
> join the Zionist organization.
> 
> If one thinks that peace is more important for
> Israel than expansion and settlements, one must
> welcome the change in the position of Hamas - as
> expressed in the Mecca agreement - and encourage it
> to continue along this road. The king of Saudi
> Arabia, who has already convinced the leaders of all
> Arab countries to recognize Israel in exchange for
> the establishment of the state of Palestine across
> the Green Line, should be warmly congratulated.
> 
> But if one opposes peace because it would fix the
> final borders of Israel and allow for no more
> expansion, one will do everything to convince the
> Americans and Europeans to continue with the boycott
> on the Palestinian government and the blockade of
> the Palestinian people.
> 
> The day after tomorrow, Condoleezza Rice will
> convene a meeting of Olmert and Abbas in Jerusalem.
> 
> The Americans now have a problem. On one side, they
> need the Saudi king. Not only does he sit on huge
> oil reservoirs, but he is also the center-piece of
> the "moderate Sunni bloc". If the king tells Bush
> that the solution of the Palestinian problem is
> needed in order to dam the spread of Iranian
> influence across the Middle East, his words will
> carry a lot of weight. If Bush is planning a
> military attack on Iran, as it seems he is, it is
> important for him to have the united support of the
> Sunnis.
> 
> On the other side, the pro-Israel lobby - both
> Jewish and Christian - is very important for Bush.
> It is vital for him to be able to count on the
> "Christian base" of the Republican Party, which is
> composed of fundamentalists who support the extreme
> Right in Israel, come what may.
> 
> So what is to be done? Nothing. For this nothing,
> Condi found an apt diplomatic slogan, taken from
> up-to-date American slang: "New Political Horizons".
> 
> Clearly, she did not ponder on the meaning of these
> words. Because the horizon is the symbol of a goal
> that will never be reached: the more you approach
> it, the more it recedes.
> ***
>  
> the following link gives access to the latest as
> well as earlier Avnery articles
> 
>
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1171710253/
> 
> GUSH SHALOM p.o.b. 3322 Tel Aviv 61033 
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