Monday, November 18, 2002

Two Voices of Sanity Want to know what sanity and reason sound like in an unreasonable time.  Here are two voices of sanity, from Tuesday’s Haaretz.  First, Amram Mitzna, the mayor of Haifa, who is likely to be elected head of the Labor party tomorrow.   Today he laid out in detail his plans for the government:   -A total evacuation from Gaza, without delay - An immediate call on the Palestinian leadership to resume peace negotiations, on the basis of the previous progress in the earlier stages of the negotiations. - If an agreement is not reached with the Palestinians, at the end of a year security borders will be established in the West Bank. No Jewish settlement will remain on the eastern side of that border and the large settlement blocs will be on the western side of the border - Arrangements will be made in Jerusalem to make sure a majority of the Palestinian population will not be under Israeli control   This is a man who is a true Israeli patriot, willing to do what is necessary to save the country.   Secondly, listen to Lena, daughter of Shadeen Abu Hijla, who was shot to death five weeks ago by an Israeli soldier while she sat on her porch, embroidering. The investigation is still underway, says the IDF.   Following the attack at Metzer, Lena wrote a short e-mail message (to Haaretz). "I just wanted to tell you that I felt the fear of Revital Ohayon and her two sons as she was trying to protect them. I feel the pain of the husband and father when he buried them. Let me be honest with you, I am surprised with myself that I have no hatred, the way I thought I would. I have no feelings of revenge in the instinctive sense I thought I would. I looked for these feelings inside me, after the shock receded, the terrible sadness settled and the vacuum of my mother's loss filled my heart, but I couldn't find them. "So please, on my behalf, tell the families of all the innocent victims, despite everything, some of us can still see through the blood and pain and look for good souls. For I am a mother of three girls myself and couldn't imagine having to go through such a moment of total helplessness in protecting my own. Just like I cannot imagine what my father must have felt, as a husband and a doctor, when he couldn't do anything to save my mother, the love of his life.”   There is nothing I can add to this. 10:21:46 PM   comment []    Ethnic Cleansing Jewish Style The latest attack in Hebron and the Israeli response again puts the settler movement at the heart of the Palestinian Israeli conflict.   It is important for all of us to understand that in Hebron, where a few hundred ideological Jews live among 100,000 Palestinians, there is no question land ownership.  Right wing religious zealots deliberately established a settlement in Hebron to stake a claim to Palestinian lands.  Their argument is that because the Bible holds that God gave this land to Abraham, present day Jewish zealots have the right to drive out Arabs who have lived there for hundreds of years.   In the U.S., commentators express horror at Islamic Sharia law—but how is Israeli settler law any different?  It is law based on religious texts that is used to justify action Western countries will not tolerate.   Ethnic cleansing is the reason Europe and the U.S. fought a war in Kosovo, and prevented Serbs from driving out Albanians by massacre and terror.  Yet settlers in Israel want to drive out Arabs by massacre and terror.  How else to interpret this quote from the NY times story on the settlement in Hebron:   “Speaker after speaker called for the creation of a new settlement on the spot to join Qiryat Arba to the settlement inside Hebron.   "There won't be just a Jewish neighborhood here," declared Benny Elon, a member of Parliament. "There will be a Jewish town here."   After the rally, some youths tried to run into Palestinian Hebron, only to be turned back by Israeli forces. In a turbulent crowd, they pounded on the doors of nearby Palestinian houses and then smeared the pale stone with blue graffiti: "Every Arab killed — for me it's a holiday," and, over and over, "Vengeance."   I have written before about the danger of the Israeli settler movement.  There is a strong element of racism and fascist ideology among the settlers, who argue that Jewish demand for land justifies everything.  Is this different than Hitler’s demand for “Lebensraum”.  I don’t think so.   Yes, there is a war on in Palestine.  The Hebron rally was due to the attack that killed 12 Israeli's in Hebron.  But this war has developed because after 35 years, Israel has never come to terms with its victory in the 1967 war.  Military superiority does not solve all problems, and keeping millions of Palestinians in subjugation, denied basic human rights and freedoms, is not a long term solution.   The reason Americans must pay attention to Israel is not simply because of the strong ethnic and cultural ties between the two countries.  It is that Israel provides a clear lesson in the danger of refusing to face difficult political choices, an example of the folly of believing that all security grows out of the barrel of a gun or a missile.  The U.S. is heading down a path where our national security will depend on military might alone—not on our ability to lead, to compromise, to inspire others.  Israel has reached a dead end with this path, and it should be an abject warning for us as well. 1:41:30 PM   comment []

© Copyright 2002 Toby Sackton. Last update: 12/26/2002; 9:30:59 PM.