[WCUSP] Fwd: [HumanRights] From Nakba to Gaza: Palestine at the friction point
yvonne simmons
roweenayvonne at yahoo.com
Wed Jun 20 11:23:40 CDT 2007
--- Mazin Qumsiyeh <qumsi001 at hotmail.com> wrote:
> From: "Mazin Qumsiyeh" <qumsi001 at hotmail.com>
> To: wheelsofjustice at lists.riseup.net
> Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2007 01:26:33 -0400
> Subject: [HumanRights] From Nakba to Gaza: Palestine
> at the friction point
>
> Note: Mailing List Information, including
> unsubscription instructions, is located at the end
> of this message.
> -------
> (Personal opinion/analysis only, not to be construed
> as representative of
> any group)
>
> From Nakba to Gaza: Palestine at the friction point
> http://www.qumsiyeh.org/fromnakbatogaza/
>
> What is the state of affairs of Palestine and
> Palestinians today? How did
> we arrive at a situation where Palestinian blood is
> spilled by other
> Palestinians and where the Gaza strip (a desert
> strip that is less than 2%
> of Palestine) with 1.5 million human beings (most
> refugees) is now
> completely cut off from the rest of the world which
> if not fixed soon will
> result in a calamity beyond description. And will
> Israel use the media focus
> on Gaza to carry out its planned ethnic cleansing of
> the Negev (42,000
> Palestinian citizens of Israel slated to lose their
> homes [1])?
>
> In the US there has been countless shallow
> commentaries and as many simply
> defamatory ones that are devoid from any connection
> to reality. Neocons,
> Zionist pundits like Thomas Friedman, stooges and
> collaborators like Fouad
> Ajami etc are given ample space on pages of major
> newspapers while we,
> Palestinians as Edward Said rightly pointed out are
> even prevented from
> telling our own narrative. In this assay I try to
> survey the political
> landscape and examine the various players (Israel,
> US, other countries,
> Palestinians in and out of factions, and finally the
> peace movement) and
> their roles and interests. I also wanted to ensure
> that our own
> responsibility as peace activists is examined in
> light of monumental changes
> that impact not only the lives of people in Western
> Asia but people
> everywhere.
>
> ISRAEL
>
> Then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon stated in
> May 2004 just before
> putting in motion his plans for Gaza: “I believe we
> must change the current
> situation, a situation which necessarily leads to a
> political vacuum. It is
> clear to me that
dozens of political initiatives
> will be drawn up often,
> from all over the world. Today, we are already
> forced to repel such
> initiatives, which share the idea that Israel must
> reach an agreement while
> terror is still going on.” His right hand man at
> the time, Dov Weisglass,
> clarified it in October 2004: “The significance of
> the disengagement plan is
> the freezing of the peace process ... Effectively,
> this whole package called
> the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has
> been removed
> indefinitely from our agenda”. Sharon also noted
> once: “You don’t simply
> bundle people [Palestinians] onto trucks and drive
> them away. I prefer to
> advocate a positive policy, to create, in effect, a
> condition that in a
> positive way will induce people to leave.” The Gaza
> strip was the first
> test site for these strategies (which some Israeli
> leaders openly stated
> will finish the job started in 1948).
>
> Uri Avnery stated "What happens when one and a half
> million human beings are
> imprisoned in a tiny, arid territory, cut off from
> their compatriots and
> from any contact with the outside world, starved by
> an economic blockade and
> unable to feed their families? Some months ago, I
> described this situation
> as a sociological experiment set up by Israel, the
> United States and the
> European Union. The population of the Gaza Strip as
> guinea pigs" [2].
>
> Akiva Elder more bluntly explained in Haaretz last
> week that the outcome of
> this experiment was precisely what Sharon and Dov
> Weissglass planned for
> with their misnamed "disengagement" from Gaza [3].
>
> A famous Israeli general once said, "Once we have
> settled the land, all the
> [Palestinian] Arabs will be able to do is run around
> like drugged roaches in
> a bottle." Presumably the trapped "roaches" are now
> turning on each other
> as planned in the one bottle. The few other bottles
> in the West Bank are
> next. The Amnesty International Report published
> recently summarizes these
> conditions in very mild and neutral language (the
> title for example reads
> "Enduring Occupation: Palestinians under siege in
> the West Bank" when what
> is happening in the West Bank is worse than the
> worst days of Apartheid in
> South Africa) [4].
>
> THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
>
> A confidential report to the UN by its envoy for the
> Middle East peace
> process, Alvaro De Soto, was leaked last week and
> published in the Guardian
> Newspaper. In it De Soto states candidly: "The US
> clearly pushed for a
> confrontation between Fatah and Hamas, so much so
> that, a week before Mecca,
> the US envoy declared twice in an envoys meeting in
> Washington how much 'I
> like this violence', referring to the near-civil war
> that was erupting in
> Gaza in which civilians were being regularly killed
> and injured" [5].
>
> The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was planned by neocon
> Zionists well before they
> got power in the White house [6]. A similar attack
> on Iran by the same
> cabal using American blood as canon fodder is in the
> works now [7]. As the
> original lies about Iraq were exposed one after
> another (WMD, terror
> connections etc), a new one was instigated:
> advancing democracy in the
> Middle East. Bush himself in 2005 cited upcoming
> elections in Lebanon and
> Palestine as prove of this. Problem was that both
> had elections many times
> before and had a history of democratic participation
> before the war on Iraq.
> A more serious problem for the administration
> besides being exposed as
> liars was that people elected those that the
> Israelis did not want (and
> hence the US had to oppose). Hizballah in Lebanon
> was by 2006 a powerful
> political party with members in key government
> positions. The early 2006
> elections for the Palestinian Authority (that has no
> authority) was
> supported by all parties concerned including the US
> neocon administration.
> But the election produced a clear but undesirable
> winner: Hamas. Within the
> US administration, mobilization was done quickly
> (and not even secretly) to
> foster dissent and mayhem. The clearest form of
> this is the program
> instituted by Deputy National Security Advisor
> Elliot Abrams (a neocon
> Jewish Zionist). The program involved propping up
> elements within Fatah who
> were accommodating to Israeli needs and fixations
> (e.g. Mohammed Dahlan, an
> ambitious war lord who liked to dress well and
> surround himself with US
> trained mercenaries) [8].
>
> Of course like in other US plans to reshape the
> world to suit the lobby in
> Washington, things do not work out as planned. This
> is as true in Gaza
> today as it is in Iraq. Part of this follows from
> the fact that those who
> fight for foreign interests do not fight with strong
> or fanatic convictions
> and tend to abandon their posts quickly. Those who
> believe they are
> resisting colonial occupation tend to be more
> emotionally committed.
> Zionism occupied the executive and legislative
> branches of the US government
> also succeed in winning many battles against secular
> Arab democrats,
> leftists, and pan Arab nationalists. The decisive
> battle/turning point was
> the 1967 war when US supported Israel tripled the
> lands it occupied. These
> losses by progressive voices were compounded by US
> hegemony on the United
> Nations that prevented application of International
> law let alone UN
> Resolutions (the US also vetoed over 40 UN Security
> Council resolutions on
> Palestine since 1967). These combinations of
> factors let to the perhaps
> unintended consequence of growing the only remaining
> ideological
> alternative: that of a resurgent political Islamic
> movement. In a sense the
> winners of the battles were not Israel and the US
> but instead the battles
> laid the seeds for Hizballah (established 1982) and
> Hamas (established
> 1987).
>
> Robert Fisk sums up US policy sarcastically:
> "Palestinians wanted an end to
> corruption - the cancer of the Arab world - and so
> they voted for Hamas and
> thus we, the all-wise, all-good West, decided to
> sanction them and starve
> them and bully them for exercising their free
> vote....So what will we do?
> Support the reoccupation of Gaza perhaps? Certainly
> we will not criticize
> Israel. And we shall go on giving our affection to
> the kings and princes and
> unlovely presidents of the Middle East until the
> whole place blows up in our
> faces and then we shall say - as we are already
> saying of the Iraqis - that
> they don’t deserve our sacrifice and our love. How
> do we deal with a coup
> d’état by an elected government?" [9].
>
> President Carter confirmed what De Soto, Fisk, and
> others knew: the US and
> Israel are working hand in glove to divide
> Palestinians in a classic divide
> and conquer strategy of other colonial powers [10].
>
> OTHER REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL PLAYERS
>
> Neo-con Zionists in the US articulated why Iraq,
> Syria, and Iran were on
> their target list even before they came to power.
> Their reason was to
> strengthen Israel's regional power. Syria and more
> so Iran got wind of this
> game early on in the Bush administration. Syria
> tried to straddle the fence
> and played game with the US (e.g. taking "rendered"
> suspects from the CIA to
> do torture and provide intelligence). Iran was in a
> stronger position that
> seemed to get only stronger as US forces were
> stretched thin in Iraq and
> Afghanistan. Iran's position got stronger also with
> each mistake, blunder,
> atrocity and disaster that the US (influenced by the
> Zionist lobby) did in
> Iraq and beyond (from Abu Ghraib to Guantanamou to
> Bagram to Somalia and
> Dusseldorf). And since the US funds Israel to the
> tune of billions every
> year to continue occupying and attacking
> Palestinians and Lebanese people,
> Iran felt emboldened to send in meager supplies for
> those groups being shot
> at. This was true at least for Hizballah (it is not
> clear that Iran gave
> any weapons or money to Hamas, both deny it).
>
> Then there is the European Union, a collection of
> states that helped
> establish Israel. Most of their leadership refuses
> to push for
> implementation of international law because of many
> reasons including:
>
> 1) the persistent Zionist propaganda that links
> guilt over the Jewish
> holocaust with support for Israel (a state whose
> founders not only profited
> from but collaborated with Nazi Germany).
>
> 2) US pressure and the presence of the looming NATO
> (elephant in the room)
>
> 3) Desire to keep Israeli Jews from returning to
> Europe (essentially
> anti-Semitism)
>
> 4) In the case of some leaders like Tony Blair
> desire to keep conflict going
> to market weapons.
>
> Russia and China both look at the situation with
> fear and disdain for US
> imperial power in this critical part of the world
> but both have internal and
> other more pressing issues to tend to than worry
> about the fate of a few
> million Palestinians and a few million Israelis.
> Israel got lots of points
> with China by transferring to it US military
> technology in the process
> making billions of dollars and undermining US
> security. Many elite Russians
> are probably privately happy that Israel took in 1
> million Russians in the
> 1990s (most moving for economic reasons, 40% were
> not even Jewish). But
> then also many Russians (likely including Putin)
> were furious at the Russian
> Zionist tycoons who took control of significant
> financial resources of
> Russia (including some natural resources) and then
> moved the money (and
> jobs) elsewhere. Thus, we note Russia's more
> balanced language vis a vis
> Palestine and Lebanon.
>
> PALESTINIANS (factions and those unaffiliated with
> factions)
>
> It is hard for the written word to express what
> people in Gaza (and
> Palestinians in general) have endured in the past 75
> years. If one looks at
> agriculture, geography (mix Mediterranean and desert
> habitats), language,
> culture, mix of religions and other aspects of
> Palestine, the closest
> country would be Tunisia. If there was no colonial
> intervention, Palestine
> would be like Tunisia today and Gaza would be like
> the attractive oasis
> tourist attractions in the South.
>
> But our fate as Palestinians was different. No
> other population has endured
> so much for so long. The mayhem is not new to this
> desert strip at the
> Southwestern corner of Palestine. It started in the
> strip with the
> terrorism by the Hagannah, Stern, and Lehi gangs in
> the 1930. Between 1947
> to 1949, the population of Gaza tripled due to the
> influx of Palestinian
> refugees from the coastal strip of Palestine that
> was unilaterally declared
> a Jewish state. Some were pushed out to walk for
> miles in the desert and
> many sick, old, and young perished in the journey.
> Some tried to infiltrate
> back to their villages and were summarily shot on
> site by orders of Ben
> Gurion's government. Some started to resist and
> thus their sprawling
> refugee camps were attacked viciously. In that era
> (early 1950s), Israel
> set up the notorious unit 101 of its army (a unit
> headed by a young
> ambitious and ruthless officer by the name of Ariel
> Sharon whose mandate was
> to make sure more "Arabs" are killed than "Jews".
> The era of collective
> punishment was in full fledge operation.
>
> Israeli commandoes would demolish many homes and
> kill many civilians in any
> area near the border that "infiltrators" or fighters
> would be deemed to have
> come from. In 1956, Israel occupied Gaza until the
> US President ordered
> them to get out and they did. In 1967, Israel
> occupied the Gaza strip with
> its 2/3rd population being Palestinian refugees and
> 1/3rd native Gazans.
> This occupation has impoverished the strip in a
> deliberate policy of
> economic de-development [11]. Sharon came back to
> Gaza and intensified his
> strategy of the iron fist. In the early 1970s, he
> succeeded in keeping the
> lid on rebellion by massive assaults on
> neighborhoods were any resistance
> sprung. This was the classic colonial strategy of
> mass destruction to
> "pacify" the population. But further uprisings would
> come about every decade
> of the 4 decades Gaza suffered under the occupation.
> Thus, three
> generations of Gaza residents (2/3rd of whom are
> refugees) suffered 75 years
> of colonial war making.
>
> Mahmoud Abbas was pushing Arafat into accepting a
> two state solution and
> renouncing armed resistance from the 1970s. Other
> Fatah leaders had
> different opinions. That strand was led by people
> like Abu Jihad who was
> assassinated by Israel (Israel never attempted
> assassination of Abbas). Abu
> Jihad argued that Fatah needs to stick to its
> original mandate and bylaws.
> Fatah (Fth) is the reverse of the acronym of the
> name of that group: Harakat
> Ta7rir Falastini (Palestine Liberation Movement).
> After the death of so
> many leading Fatah fighters and the relocation of
> those remaining to Tunisia
> (where those who were resistant were assassinated by
> the Israeli Mossad),
> Arafat agreed to try the program advocated by Abbas:
> engagement and
> negotiations with the US and Israel. Contacts with
> both were done in the
> mid 1980s and culminated in Arafat cajoling and
> pushing other Palestinians
> to relent. In 1988, the gutted PLO (now slimmed of
> many leading groups and
> factions) agreed to accept UN resolutions like 242
> and 338 and essentially
> abandon the other UN resolutions and the UN Charter
> (e.g. on rights of self
> determination). This process accelerated after the
> US showed its might in
> the first Gulf war and bullied other countries in
> the region and beyond to
> succumb to its dictates (i.e. to Israeli occupied
> foreign policy). Arafat
> and Abbas were rewarded by Oslo accords that gave
> them authority over
> municipal affairs of the occupied areas but no real
> authority or
> sovereignty. Yet, this came with lots of privileges
> and I myself remember
> vividly that in the early and mid 1990s, while most
> of us Palestinians got
> further and further restrictions, there were
> thousands of "VIP passes"
> issued by Israel to Fatah officials. To be fair
> there were also independents
> and members of other factions who decided to join
> this trend and so it was
> not just Fatah members. More importantly, many
> Fatah members including
> leading ones and original founders of the movement
> refused the perks (and
> some outside of Palestine who refused to go back in
> under the Oslo
> arrangements). Indeed much reflection is needed
> here. The power acquired
> while limited also corrupted many. Meanwhile,
> Israeli colonization
> accelerated. In the seven years of what some
> Israelis considered hopeful
> years (1993-2000), the population of colonial
> settlers living on Palestinian
> lands doubled. It was also these years that
> stripped Palestinians of
> sustainable economy (agriculture, industry etc) and
> replaced it with an
> economy dependent on Israel (including Israeli
> building projects such as
> Settlements, barriers etc).
>
> Everything changed when Arafat distanced himself
> from Abbas and rejected the
> so-called generous offer made at Camp David (an
> offer of making the
> occupation permanent and relegating Palestinians to
> Bantustans while
> rejecting basic human rights like the right of
> refugees to return). Yet
> Arafat's administration continued to negotiate after
> words and the parties
> came close until Barak withdrew his negotiation team
> in Taba and called for
> new Israeli elections. With Sharon in power, Israel
> dropped the pretenses
> of negotiations. Arafat was isolated and pressured.
> He appointed Abbas a
> Prime Minister and was pushed constantly to give the
> Prime Minister the
> authorities especially on security matters (an
> "empowered prime minister"
> was the phrase used) and keep the presidency a
> ceremonial post analogous to
> that of Israel's president. Ironically, now the US
> claims the Palestinian
> Authority President (now Abbas) is the one with the
> power. But such shifts
> in US interpretation of Palestinian law is not
> unusual, it merely emphasizes
> the hypocrisy of the US's foreign policy (i.e.
> Israel's policies).
>
> On some things, the law is very clear. The sacking
> of the "Prime Minister"
> by Abbas creates a new set of problems and issues
> that have to be dealt
> with. According to the Palestinian Basic laws
> (amended 2003)[12], the
> President cannot appoint a new Prime Minister who is
> not from the majority
> party and such an emergency prime minister can
> govern for three weeks and
> then it must be approved by the legislative council
> (extended to a maximum
> of five weeks in exceptional circumstances, article
> 66). The president can
> issue decrees in exceptional circumstances but only
> while he legislative
> council is not in session and the President must go
> to the council for
> authorizing this at the next meeting (article 43).
> But such decrees do not
> apply to creating cabinet, in either case, the
> cabinet and the Prime
> Minister cannot operate without Council approval
> (articles 68 and 69). Hamas
> has a majority in the legislative council so none of
> this is possible
> without Hamas approval! The law does state that the
> president has the
> "right to refer the Prime Minister to investigation
> as a result of crimes
> committed by him during, or due to his performance
> of his duties, in
> accordance with the provision of law (article 76).
> Abbas did not choose to
> do that. The law also stipulates (article 110) that
> "The President of the
> National Authority may declare a state of emergency
> by a decree when there
> is a threat to national security caused by war,
> invasion, armed
> insurrection, or at a time of natural disaster for a
> period not to exceed
> thirty (30) days (and) The emergency state may be
> extended for another
> period of thirty (30) days after the approval of two
> thirds of the
> Legislative Council Members." So under the best of
> circumstances, Abbas can
> continue what he is doing for 30 days since again he
> has no majority in the
> Legislative Council.
>
> Alternatively one can take the earlier provisions of
> the basic laws and thus
> conclude as Virginia Tilley did that "It does not
> help that the United
> States, an obedient Europe, and legless Arab states
> have trotted up to
> anoint it as the sole legitimate authority. Nor does
> it help to pretend that
> Hamas -- a broad movement with popular legitimacy --
> will simply disappear
> through decrees from Abbas and some nice political
> theatre. It is not clear
> how long this flimsy diplomatic pretense can hold up
> to scrutiny by a
> skeptical world. Nor is it clear what political
> costs foreign governments
> will have to absorb if they try to play along with
> it -- especially when the
> now-traumatized Palestinian people, in the
> territories and in Diaspora,
> begin protesting their government's being hijacked
> by anti-democratic
> figureheads for Israeli and US agendas."[13]
>
> In either case, what happens to a unity government
> (Fatah-Hamas Mecca
> agreement) approved by the Legislative Council when
> both sides to the
> agreement violate it and have two governments
> neither approved by the
> Council? This is what we now have: Hamas in the
> Gaza canton, Fatah in the
> West Bank cantons, both operating outside of the
> basic laws. Their
> "authority" is mostly in the eyes of their die-hard
> older supporters who are
> themselves prisoners in the cantons administered and
> controlled on all
> fronts (including borders, air, water, fuel, and
> electricity) by Israeli
> occupation forces.
>
> Does it really matter whether the Palestinian
> "authority" without authority
> is in the hand of its "President" or "Prime
> Minister"? These terms are used
> in sovereign nations and Palestine is certainly not
> sovereign! Everyone
> needs to be reminded of this rather inconvenient
> truth especially those
> Palestinians who seem to like titles ("president",
> "cabinet minister",
> "Prime Minister" etc). Can it get more absurd than
> a "Minister of
> Transportation" having to get permission from
> Israeli occupation authorities
> to move from one Palestinian town to another. Can
> it get more absurd than a
> Palestinian "President" seeking permission from
> Israeli authorities for
> every bulletproof vest worn by his guards? What
> besides egos and semblance
> of authority would let the prisoners in a
> concentration camp continue the
> charade of electing their representatives to deal
> with the prison guards?
>
> Many Palestinians who are not with titles or
> positions have called for
> ending this charade of authority with out authority,
> a government that does
> not govern, a president who only can preside over
> submission or "Ministers"
> who can minister nothing other than a few employees
> acting as intermediaries
> between the occupied people and the occupation
> authorities.
>
> Neither Fatah nor Hamas are monolithic movements.
> Both have bad elements in
> them including thugs and clean and nationalistic
> elements. Both have
> leadership figures who may disagree with each other
> and even fight for
> control within the movement. Both operate within the
> prison and prism of the
> occupation and thus have no freedoms. The same can
> be said for smaller
> factions like PFLP and DFLP. My own observations is
> that the younger
> generations (in their 20s and 30s) are far more
> pragmatic and practical (and
> yet even more principled) than my or older
> generations. Many in the older
> generations are wed to sloganism of their past,
> reluctant to admit their
> failures, reluctant to learn lessons based on the
> facts of history, and
> generally less amenable to sitting down with those
> whose views are different
> to come to common ground. Understandably, with life
> so difficult inside
> historic Palestine and in refugee camps, most
> Palestinians focus on their
> own lives, their own needs, etc. The fragmentation
> of Palestinian polity
> was actually an intentional Zionist program going
> back for decades (classic
> colonial attitude of divide and conquer). But we
> must take responsibility
> for countering that program and creating unity in
> the Palestinian body
> politic. Further, have been excluded from decision
> making over the past two
> decades. There are Palestinian inside and outside
> the occupied areas who
> are beginning to get together for positive and
> proactive actions and thus
> refusing factionalism. A good example from inside
> Palestine is the
> Palestinian civil society call to action that
> include boycotts, divestment
> and sanctions [14] and from outside of Palestine,
> the US Palestine popular
> national conference [15].
>
> OTHER SEGMENTS OF HUMANITY AND FINAL THOUGHTS
>
> There are countless groups that identify themselves
> as peace and justice
> movements. Some are real and informed, some real
> and misinformed, and some
> fake ones. Distinguishing between them is not
> always easy. Sometimes there
> are leaders of those movements who make such
> distinctions easier by their
> positions or statements. Most of the time, it is
> their actions or lack
> thereof that distinguish them. Tikkun for example
> rejects outright the basic
> human right of refugees to return to their homes and
> lands. And
> occasionally its editor, Rabbi Lerner slips into
> outright racism. For
> example: "There is something in the culture of the
> Palestinians, or of the
> Arab world, or of the Muslim world (you tell me
> which, I'm not sure) that is
> too tolerant of violence, and too willing to excuse
> it, whether it be in the
> disgusting violence of Sunnis vs. Shias that took
> place in the Iraq/Iran war
> and in the current civil war in Iraq, in Lebanon,
> and now the struggle in
> Palestine" [16].
>
> There are others who are real but
> misinformed/misguided. These are usually
> identifiable by their ineffectiveness (or if
> effective it is effective in a
> counterproductive manner). You find them both on
> the fringe left and fringe
> right. I am sure many readers would recognize ultra
> left groups that issue
> grandiose rhetorical statements about US and Israeli
> imperialism, about the
> failure of others in the peace movement, and about a
> thousand other things.
> Yet, any objective consultant can review their
> record of practical
> productivity and be very disappointed. Statements
> do not liberate people,
> direct actions do. Even if one sticks with
> educational projects only, one
> should ask the question that are the targets of our
> educational projects and
> are we succeeding in reaching out to them? One
> group may issue red lines
> and points of unity and then stagnate and do nothing
> to advance knowledge of
> the masses of what is going on. Another may develop
> principles but then
> follow-up with practical and specific programs to
> achieve results. There
> are several examples of the latter category:
>
> 1) The Wheels of Justice bus tour that spoke at
> hundreds of colleges and
> universities and over 200 Middle and High Schools
> (see
> http://justicewheels.org)
> 2) http://IfAmericansKnew.org
> 3) Somerville Divestment Project
> (http://www.divestmentproject.org/) which
> used city ballots for boycotts and for the right of
> return to advance
> education (imagine if we had hundreds of cities
> doing this)
> 4) Stop the Wall Campaign
> http://www.stopthewall.org/
> 5) International Solidarity Movement
> http://www.palsolidarity.org/
> 6) and many, many more.
>
> These and hundreds of other examples illustrate that
> to succeed we only need
> to use our deductive reasoning to build proactive
> and creative programs to
> arrive at freedom and democracy by collective
> action. It is not just
> Palestinians but Israelis and Americans who need to
> reclaim the narrative of
> reason rather than blind ideology. For many
> Palestinians, it was their
> loyalty to one faction or another that blinded them
> from seeing the faults
> in these actions. The majority of Palestinians do
> not belong to any
> factions. Yet, most of us were willing to be far
> too passive and wait for
> the leadership of various factions to give us some
> direction or to give us
> diagnosis of the failure of other factions. We
> seemed to forget the history
> of humanity where all major positive changes occur
> by the people. This in
> fact is the only rational and desired definition of
> democracy (Latin meaning
> "people power" not people elections). As the Arabic
> saying goes "God does
> not change what is in a people (i.e. their destiny)
> unless they change what
> is within themselves." And what is within ourselves
> that we need to change?
> I think each of us knows with intuition but tends to
> project onto others
> what we fear exists within us: power. Ironically
> outwardly inflated egos
> mask personal insecurity and a lack of belief in
> ourselves. Those with real
> power are those who are with power over themselves:
> openly recognizing our
> human frailties/limitations and honestly and openly
> sharing humanity with
> others.
>
> Many take the religious texts of the
> Islamic-Judeo-Christian traditions as
> commanding us to have dominion over the earth and
> its inhabitants instead of
> feeling a (small) part of the universe. These
> notions of human superiority
> are even worse when they are limited to a subset of
> humanity by developing
> notions of "chosenness" (God's chosen people) and
> "manifest destiny" for a
> particular religious or other community. Another
> aspect of our psychology
> is a sense of tribalism (stronger in some
> communities than others especially
> those who lived as minorities or in exile). This
> tribalism tends to
> exaggerate a group's own historical contributions to
> humanity but also (and
> perhaps more psychologically meaningful) exaggerate
> episodes of suffering by
> the community. One could state that the competition
> to claim superior
> background/history and "group" victim hood blinds
> one to the victim hood of
> others and to their contribution to humanity. But I
> would say it is even
> more problematical than that: it avoids connecting
> with the rest of
> humanity. That is taking on the suffering of all
> humans as one's own and
> the accomplishments of all humans as one's own.
> From a biological
> perspective (my background in Zoology and medical
> genetics), it would seem
> that emotion and not logic would prevent a Jew from
> recognizing the Nakba
> (ethnic cleansing of Palestine) or a Palestinian
> from recognizing the Nazi
> horrors for what these things are truly: a blot on
> all humanity. There is
> equally no reason why I as a Palestinian American
> should have more pride in
> Edward Said or other Palestinian geniuses than I do
> for Albert Einstein. I
> should also feel the same shame for what fellow
> human beings do whether that
> human being happens to be a Palestinian, Israeli,
> German or American.
> Genetically, we are all one pool. Logically this
> can be argued
> successfully. But emotionally this is hard for most
> humans. Most humans
> base their actions on perceptions or imaginations
> rather than on facts,
> figures, and logic. Further, as Socrates recognized
> (and he was executed for
> it), most people live an unexamined life (which is
> no life at all). Doing
> little inquiries and accepting the dogmas of the
> past. The famed rational
> Philosopher Baruch (renamed himself Benedictine)
> Spinoza argued similar
> points and he was excommunicated by the Jewish
> community of Amsterdam in the
> 17th century. Those who stand against traditional
> mythology suffer ridicule,
> exile, banishment or death. That was the fate of
> most prophets of old.
> Their teachings were then taken and
> modified/corrupted to serve the mediocre
> worldly powers rather than the divine (which is in
> all of us). The
> teachings of Jesus of "love your enemies" thus
> became forgotten when the
> Roman empire adopted their version of Christianity
> slaughtering so many
> people in the process. This Constantinian
> Christianity also led to the
> Crusades and to the colonization that decimated so
> many native people around
> the world. Jewish Theologian Marc Ellis points out
> that a similarly
> destructive (psychologically and physically)
> Constantinian Judaism evolved
> and is now known as political Zionism [17].
>
> Philosophers argued that laws are moral if they are
> universal (apply
> everywhere). By definition, there is no morality in
> rules that are claimed
> to apply to a subset of humanity. And when laws are
> there like the right of
> people to live on their lands freely are trampled
> simply because they are
> not Jews (e.g. right of refugees to return), then
> clearly these are immoral
> rules. On a practical level, when rules and human
> rights are selectively
> applied, then the only thing left is “might makes
> right.” Israel and the US
> have been operating with that latter principle for
> 60 years now in Western
> Asia. The fruits of it do not look promising. The
> alternative for justice
> and peace is not an Israeli “win” but perpetual
> conflict. We may yet get
> the neocon self-fulfilling prophesy of a birth of
> Constantinian Islam in
> response to a revived Constantinian Christianity (a
> new US imperial hegemony
> in Western Asia) and Constantinian Judaism
> (Zionism).
>
> We could argue that actions of individuals do not
> reflect on the religious
> doctrine. We could also argue that individuals
> whether living in
> dictatorships or so called democracies (but ruled by
> money and corporations)
> are not responsible for what their political leaders
> do. But individuals
> hold a huge responsibility not only by virtue of
> paying taxes but also by
> the fact that silence is complicity. Individuals
> are the ones who make
> history. We should not shy away from looking into
> the motivations of those
> who perpetuate such heinous acts as killing a
> civilian whether by dropping
> bombs from F-16s, suicide bombings, or execution.
> But we should not shy
> away from looking in the mirror more. We will then
> begin to dissolve the
> biggest obstacles to having what we all claim we
> want. Those obstacles are
> within us. Examples of such obstacles are our
> persistent failure to really
> love fellow human beings (hating bad deeds but not
> hating the evil doers),
> developing teamwork that is positive and mobilizing.
> Sure, we can work
> together easily with family members or with people
> from the same village
> when there is a project or an issue that directly
> impacts us. But how many
> of us work to develop the needed skills for
> effective teamwork?
>
> The road forward has been very clear. I think
> Israeli Professor Ilan Pappe
> had it right in his recent commentary on the
> situation. It is worth quoting
> at length from his article:
>
> "Standing idle while the American-Israeli vision of
> strangling the Strip to
> death, cleansing half of the West bank from its
> indigenous population and
> threatening the rest of the Palestinians -- inside
> Israel and in the other
> parts of the West Bank -- with transfer, is not an
> option. It is tantamount
> to "decent" people’s silence during the Holocaust.
> We should not tire from
> mentioning the alternative in the 21st century: BDS
> -- Boycott, Divestment
> and Sanctions -- as an emergency measure -- far more
> effective and far less
> violent -- in opposing the present destruction of
> Palestine. And at the same
> time talk openly, convincingly and efficiently, of
> creating the geography of
> peace. A geography in which abnormal phenomena such
> as the imprisonment of
> small portion of the land would disappear. There
> will be no more, in the
> vision we should push forward, a human prison camp
> called the Gaza strip
> where some armed inmates are easily pitted against
> each other by a callous
> warden. Instead that area would return to be an
> organic part of an Eastern
> Mediterranean country that has always offered the
> best as a meeting point
> between East and West. Never before, in the light
> of the Gaza tragedy, has
> the twofold strategy of BDS and a one state
> solution, shined so clearly as
> the only alternative forward. If any of us are
> members in Palestine
> solidarity groups, Arab-Jewish dialogue circles or
> part of civil society's
> effort to bring peace and reconciliation to
> Palestine -- this is a time to
> put aside all the false strategies of coexistence,
> road maps and two states
> solutions. They have been and still are sweet music
> to the ears of the
> Israeli demolition team that threatens to destroy
> what is left of Palestine.
> Beware especially of Diet Zionists or Cloest
> Zionists, who recently joined
> the campaign, in Britain and elsewhere against the
> BDS effort. Like those
> enlightened pundits who used liberal organs in the
> United Kingdom, such as
> The Guardian, to explain to us at length how
> dangerous is the proposed
> academic boycott on Israel. They have never expended
> so much time, energy or
> words on the occupation itself as they did in the
> service of the ethnic
> cleansing of Palestine"[18].
>
> Karma Nabulsi also stated succinctly the route to
> solving the conundrum "The
> people of Palestine must finally be allowed to
> determine their own fate. The
> drivers of violence in Gaza are clearly external.
> When all Palestinians can
> vote for sovereign rule, peace will be within
> reach"[19].
>
> But having a road/direction is not sufficient unless
> each and every one of
> us takes on responsibility to move towards that
> purpose (i.e. methods of
> locomotion). Blessed are those who not only
> discover the correct road (a
> moral life) but know they can propel themselves
> along it without waiting for
> "leaders". They are the ones who connect with their
> humanity, a purpose
> driven life, rather than a life of reactions to base
> animal instincts of
> seeking food, sex, and shelter and avoiding
> immediate dangers. This purpose
> driven life is what Philosophers and Prophets have
> always tried to show us.
>
> Footnotes
> 1) 42 thousand Arab homes in Negev threatened with
> destruction
> http://www.imemc.org/article/49025
> 2) Uri Avnery, "Crocodile Tears," Gush Shalom, June
> 16, 2007
> 3) Sharon's dream By Akiva Eldar
> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/871983.html
> 4) Amnesty International Report: "Enduring
> Occupation: Palestinians under
> siege in the West Bank"
> http://www.amnesty.org/resources/Israel_Report0706/
> 5) Confidential UN envoy report leaked to the
> Guardian (PDF File)
>
http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2007/06/12/DeSotoReport.pdf
> 6)
>
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/connectingthedotsiraqpalestine/
> 7) Lying Us Into War, Again by Charley Reese. The
> drumbeat for war against
> Iran has begun again, led by Sen. Joe Lieberman, the
> independent Democrat
> from Connecticut, and the usual pro-Israel crowd.
> Lieberman seems to be
> under the impression that the U.S. can bomb Iran and
> not get into a
> full-fledged war.
> http://www.antiwar.com/reese/?articleid=11144
> 8) For details on US involvement, see
>
http://conflictsforum.org/2007/elliot-abrams-uncivil-war/
> and
> http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article7030.shtml
> 9) Robert Fisk
>
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/article2663743.ece
> 10) Carter blasts US policy on Palestinians By SHAWN
> POGATCHNIK, Associated
> Press Writer, Tue Jun 19, 7:41 PM ET
>
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070619/ap_on_re_eu/carter_us_palestinians
> 11) see Dr. Sara Roy's book "The Gaza Strip: The
> Political Economy of
> De-Development"
> 12) Palestinian Basic Laws
> http://www.usaid.gov/wbg/misc/
> Amended_Basic_Law_2003_English.pdf
> 13) Whose Coup, Exactly? by Virginia Tilley, The
> Electronic Intifada, 18
> June 2007
> http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article7038.shtml
> 14) see
>
http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=66_0_1_10_M11
> 15) see e.g. http://www.palestineconference.org
> 16)
>
http://files.tikkun.org/current/article.php?story=20070616224228533
> 17) Marc Ellis "Out of the Ashes"
> 18) Ilan Pappe: Towards a Geography of Peace:
> Whither Gaza?
> http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article7036.shtml
> 19) Karma Nabulsi
>
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2105288,00.html
>
> Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
> http://qumsiyeh.org
> http://justicewheels.org
> http://endtheoccupation.org
> http://academicsforjustice.org
> http://pac-national.org
>
>
_________________________________________________________________
> Get a preview of Live Earth, the hottest event this
> summer - only on MSN
>
http://liveearth.msn.com?source=msntaglineliveearthhm
>
> ------
> Mailing List Instructions: This low quantity mailing
> list (Maximum 2-3 messages per week, usually one to
> two per week) is intended to advance understanding
> in areas little exposed in mainstream media and
> foster positive action for peace. It is easy to
> unsubscribe from the list by either emailing me back
> (write "unsubscribe" in the subject heading) OR you
> can unsubscribe yourself directly by sending a blank
> message to
> wheelsofjustice-unsubscribe at lists.riseup.net
> If you know others who might be interested to join
> the list, please ask them to subscribe by sending a
> blank message to
> wheelsofjustice-subscribe at lists.riseup.net
>
____________________________________________________________________________________
Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us. http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7
More information about the Wcusp
mailing list