new things on peacepalestine!

["mary" <humdrum2 at libero.it>]

New things on peacepalestine!

 

As some of you know, this week saw the launch of a companion blog to peacepalestine, called peacepalestine documents. This second blog is dedicated to lengthy articles and commentary which I believe are worth reading, and are either no where else to be found, or are so important that I wish to have them available for consultation from my blog at the click of a mouse.

 

So far, <a href="" documents</a> contains four documents:  

• Toufic Haddad - Palestine, the Anti-War movement and the quest for genuine unity – This document is exceptionally perceptive. It is addressed to the commentary by Ted Glick of the UFJP, who has decided that the Palestinian question must not be part of the Anti-war demonstration planned for September. It is a must read if one wants to know how this issue is alienated for reasons having nothing to do with justice and peace, but only with not offending the sensibilities of an uniformed or biased public.
• About Noam Chomsky - Reflections from Benjamin Merhav – This article asks what Chomsky has done to deserve the title of the Guru of the Left, when he has never denounced the racism of Zionism, and has echoed many of the key themes of the imperialist powers that be regarding Iraq. Controversial, but insightful reading.
• Ran HaCohen: The Seeds of Fascism – “I believe it was Kierkegaard who once said you can learn a lot about a person from the one thing that makes him serious. By the same token, you can learn so much about a society from the one thing that makes it take to the street. The fact that no atrocity ever made Israeli society, taken as a whole, protest the way the settlers do now, is disgraceful evidence for the complete moral bankruptcy of the Jewish state.”
• Jeff Blankfort vs Mitchell Plitnick - On the Israel Lobby -  Lifetime activist for workers and civil rights, dedicated Anti-Zionist, journalist and photographer Jeff Blankfort has presented us with a most fascinating virtual interview with Jewish Voice for Peace’s Mitchell Plitnick. For me, a must read.

Coming soon: (as soon as I finish translating it), “Even escape is an art”, by Fabio Mini, an Italian General. This article’s subtitle reads: “If the USA withdraw from Iraq, it will be chaos. Because the troops of Baghdad can’t be counted on. And the Pentagon is once again hypothesising an action against Syria and Iran”. I find this article of extreme interest for the political and military analysis. It is an eye opener, and it says the unexpected. Not all Generals are Imperialists….

Another innovation of peacepalestine documents is that it accepts suggestions for publication, even very lengthy ones. Shortly, an essay request will be hosted here, and I hope that many will participate in discussion. It is clear where my personal stand is, but providing a space for views that are not my own, but which are helpful in aiding discussion is one of my goals. If we want to “work together”, we need to listen to one another.

And, on <a href="" there is a plethora of new material:

· Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Worst Terror Attacks in History - With Mark Selden, a historian from Cornell University in New York, Kuznick studied the diplomatic archives of the US, Japan and the USSR. They found that three days before Hiroshima, Truman agreed at a meeting that Japan was "looking for peace''. His senior generals and political advisers told him there was no need to use the A-bomb. But the bombs were dropped anyway. "Impressing Russia was more important than ending the war'', Selden told the New Scientist.

While the capitalist media immediately dubbed the historians' "theory'' "controversial'', it accords with the testimony of many central US political and military players at the time, including General Dwight Eisenhower, who stated bluntly in a 1963 Newsweek interview that "the Japanese were ready to surrender and it wasn't necessary to hit them with that awful thing''.

 

· Umkahlil: you go girl! - My favourite blog umkahlil today has an amazing must read double bill. Where the Arab and Muslim Community will Stand on 24 September and the absolutely brilliant deconstruction by our beloved umkahlil in UFPJ's Ted Glick to Palestinians: Accept our gentleman's agreement.

Not to be missed are the photographs she finds that let us see the Light Unto Nations spreading its sunshine.

 

· Vatican to Israel: "We take no lessons from you" – Marco Politi’s La Repubblica’s article, translated into English says this, among other things: “And here, we come to another stab against Sharon’s collaborators: “The affirmations contrary to historical truth can be an advantage only to those who intend upon fomenting animosity and contrasts, and certainly, is of no use in bettering the situation”. Lastly, the public announcement: just as Sharon’s government does not let anyone else dictate to them the words they must use, “so the Holy See as well will not accept lessons and directives from any other authority regarding the content of its declarations.”

 

· Important comments on URGENT Gaza Appeal" - On this blog, I posted the full text of the Urgent Appeal regarding what might happen once the Israeli army begins the unilateral disengagement. Some discussion of it took place in the venues I sent it to, the Alef list, particularly. At a certain point, the persons with whom I had been discussing decided to commence the discussion in Hebrew, even after a request on my part to not exclude anyone who did not know this language, myself included.

It was out of that discussion that a counter appeal was created by Michael Warschawski. Here is Jeff Blankfort's comment on that which he sent to his mailing list, and also the text of Michael Warschawski’s appeal.

 

· Zaki Boulos - Why should Palestinians keep what they cannot defend? – “I have yet to answer the question. The truth is there is no need to answer the question. It is not in our hands. Until Palestinians learn to defend themselves in the same way as Zionists learnt to use (and later, abuse) the system, there will be no change to the status quo, and Palestinians might as well kiss Palestine goodbye. Personally, I will never consent to Israel. And though I am biased, Israel and the global Zionist movement are clearly at fault. I am at fault for hiding behind these words. And if there is a cure for this Zionist disease that has infected and ravaged my land, culling people's lives in its wake, it is the notion of my returning to Palestine. For as long as there is a single Palestinian standing, Palestine remains intact.

There is now a human tragedy unfolding before us. For even if the Israelis woke up from their Zionist spell, and admitted that they were wrong and wanted to make genuine amends with the entire Palestine community (globally), acknowledging Palestinian rights to their land. We have a major problem.”

This is only a brief excerpt of a passionate, tragic-comic reflection by London based Palestinian Zaki Boulos. It is a poetic piece and very original.

 

· Jeff Blankfort vs Mitchell Plitnick on Israel Lobby – “While American Jews as individuals have other issues that they support, the organized Jewish establishment has only one issue and that is Israel. They may differ over various Israeli policies but they are united in their desire to main strong US financial and military support for Israel.

Further, when it comes to Congress, the biggest reason AIPAC is so successful is that there is no serious opposition. Elected officials see no political capital to be gained by voting against the wishes of the many constituents they hear from favoring unconditional support of Israeli policies and who enclose checks along with their comments.”

 

· Gilad Atzmon - Blair the Camera Man – “Blair repeatedly speaks about the evil ideology behind terrorist acts, but he fails to share with us what that ideology is. In fact, he tells us that those evil beings ‘deliberately kill people for the sake of it’. But then, if this is the case, it isn’t ideology but rather sheer bloodthirstiness. Let me assure you, Blair isn’t very innovative here. Anglo-Americans traditionally have presented their enemy as being savage, barbarian, and bloodthirsty primitives. They did it with the Native American Indians, they did it with Germans already since WWI and now they are doing it with Arab nationalists. This is very much a general common tactic used by colonialists and supremacist polemicists. But then one would expect that at the dawn of the 21st century, a prominent ‘liberal democrat’ leader would leave this old rhetorical formula behind. Let’s face it; Blair is neither a democrat nor a liberal. In fact he is a devoted servant of hard capitalism and brutal colonialism.”

 

· Hiroshima Day in Vienna – “The lesson from Hiroshima and Nagasaki is of greater relevance than ever: a world free from nuclear weapons and war. But despite the protest of millions of people war is waged in Afghanistan, in Iraq, the Middle East and elsewhere and people in all the war afflicted regions are severely suffering. On the other hand, research and development on new and above all employable nuclear weapons (mini-nukes, as described in the recent US military doctrine) are carried on. The nuclear arsenals of the so called new nuclear weapons states like India and Pakistan are threatening the world to the same extent as the stockpiles of the "old" ones or the "non-declared". Into this picture the failed Review-Conference on the NPT (New York, May 05) fits perfectly in.”

 

· What is behind terrorism? by Sherif el Sebai - Sherif El Sebai has a very interesting blog Salem(e)lik (In Italian). I’m taking the liberty of translating a segment of one of his latest interventions, "Fallaci: il Dio Buono e il Dio infanticida". This article is also available in French on his site.

“… Military strategy though, as it is normal that it should be so, is accompanied by a hammering and constant propaganda commissioned by those lobbies that have every interest in removing the attention of their own citizens from problems of daily life, and they can’t wait to justify their own political line. Even if it is a failure seeing that it is essentially set up to enrich some multinationals in which it is the principal investor.

The uncomfortable truth is that these lobbies, Ms Fallaci, and together with them various minor versions that are turning up every day through the national newspapers, want to hide to the general public that there is no such thing as terrorism that is born out of nothing. And therefore, there can not even be a terrorism that is born from a “senseless” hatred of the West, of its civilisation and values. To put it briefly, there is no such thing as a terrorism that is aggressive as an end in itself, because terrorism is nothing more than a method that part of a specific social reality uses in order to obtain a political result. The truth is that terrorists do not attack because they are “jealous of the Twin Towers” or of the “Western metropolis’s”: all it takes is for a quick look in some Arab cities to assure oneself of this. They don’t care one way or the other about how Westerners dress and what their TV stations propose at two o’clock in the morning.”

 

· War is business - When societies depend upon production and selling of arms, they are functioning in a war economy. War is supposed to be bad for business, markets are supposed to be terrified of instability, but again and again, war consolidates a society based on arms economy. Peace must be bad for business. At least, this must be the case with Israel.

Israel produces and sells weapons like it’s nobody’s business. An excerpt from Global Security.org gives us an indication of this industry, much of it state run, but a lot of it private as well.

 

· A word about speaking "for" Palestinians – by Mary Rizzo “…Nor is it compensation for a White Man’s Burden, but rather the recognition of Palestinian particularity and engaging in discourse with an undeniably fragmented Palestinian population, and the lack of resonance of the Palestinian voice in the public sphere. One may ask why it is fragmented, and dispelling the myth of a “Palestinian nation”, or a mass block is essential. The technique that Jews have used to unite interests has not been adopted by the Palestinians, and the situation is not analogous. The mass media often depicts this group of people by using stereotypes, including many negative ones. At times, they are subjects to be pitied, and they are depicted in ways that do not articulate the true nature of their societies, and the living conditions of Palestinian people.

The reality is that the Palestinians are an extremely varied and inhomogeneous group. They are not united by a single faith, as there are Muslims, ranging from secular to moderate to fundamentalist. There are Christians, including Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant. They also have different points of political reference and indeed, different bodies of control and authority. They live under different regimes. Even if the PLO has claimed that it is the sole representative of the Palestinian people, the reality seems to be somewhat different, as they certainly have not bothered to involve the diaspora population in the electoral process.

Another major obstacle to classifying in a simple nutshell the Palestinian people is the fact that they are divided in the same historical Palestine. Some live under Israeli occupation and complete control, others are semi-independent with the Palestinian Authority governing them, others still are Israeli citizens. They are further divided into those living in historical Palestine, and those in the diaspora. Can we consider equivalent the situations of a refugee, an exile, a student, a professional, a labourer, someone who descends from Palestine but has no personal experience of it? Where to find a common thread in all of this has never been easy.”

 

· Joh Domingo - Shock and Awe in London – “It seems that there are no limits to Muslim skullduggery; Islam manufactures an endless stream of people willing to annihilate themselves and those in close proximity to them. The evidence mounts in a never-ending daily spiral of attacks; against all and sundry; as if the self-immolation bug and an irrepressible urge to kill their fellow human beings have infected Muslims. It is as if nothing can explain it, not even the moderate Muslims that risk physical injury to themselves in their efforts to denounce the evident craziness, and their contortions to explain the ‘distortions’ that give rise to the phenomena, and apportion blame to the occasional misfit that Islam produces.

Exactly what is being distorted is never actually explained. What a host of Islamic leaders, and non-Islamic leaders, seem to suggest is that something mysterious is afoot: there are teachings within Islam that can be twisted in such a manner as to give rise to a cult that slaughters people, for no reason other than to terrorize them. The distorterers know no bounds, and apparently rationalize the killing of Muslim and non-Muslim alike, believers and unbelievers, in a nihilistic campaign to rid themselves, and those they kill, of oppression. What makes it worse is that the distorterers have apparently mastered the art of mass hypnosis; inducing a trance-like state is fellow Muslims that cause them to slip into a state of denial, disclaiming what is patently obvious: Muslims are killing themselves and in the process mass-murdering countless others, in a daily barrage that offends the senses, and banishes religious ethics and morality. What can explain it, and why the lame excuses from the Muslim community?”

 

· URGENT! All Eyes on Gaza Disengagement! - By URI DAVIS, ILAN PAPPE, and TAMAR YARON

We feel that it is urgent and necessary to raise the alarm regarding what may come during and after evacuation of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip occupied by Israel in 1967, in the event that the evacuation is implemented.

 

· 1001 Lies about Gilad Atzmon - Sadly, those of us engaged in exposing the crimes of Zionism are often victims of smear campaigns. It is more or less an "occupational hazard" to which sooner or later, one develops a thick skin. We basically ignore it and get on with our business. In the past two months, I have witnessed and been object of a bi-directional smear campaign against Gilad Atzmon and his supporters which has overstepped the usual limits. The typical opponents have been at it, with their Frontpage News articles, their pseudo "progressive" conservative rants on forums where basically anonymous ill-mouthed narcissists defend the cause of Zionism and rant against Muslims, and the usual Zionist mouthpieces creating faulty cut and paste bits taken from various internet sources publishing op-eds in newspapers.

Yet, a small group of "anti-Zionist Jews" had been the most virulent in these attacks. Some of it dragging people of the most limpid records into it and smearing them violently. I myself, have been victim to their aggressions, mainly verbal, but also in an aborted attempt of the leader of Jews Against Zionism to throw me out of Just Peace UK, a discussion group, by creating ad hoc an ad hominem poll, smearing me as a Holocaust Denier Apologist, when my record of anti fascist activity is on public record and probably has been more effective than anything he has done.

Why all of this? Because myself and others have defended Gilad Atzmon. Who is he? In my opinion, he is one of the most honest, effective, sincere and creative voices speaking against Zionist crimes. His alignment with the Palestinian people is total. He has dedicated his work, his art, his life and his energy to listening to them, spreading their message, and doing anything he can to make people aware of their situation. He also knows a thing or two about Zionism and Israel. He was raised in Israel, inculcated in its mindset and aware of its doctrine. He was a soldier for Israel when he lived there, but dusting the dirt off his shoes, he is now a soldier for Palestine. Being a soldier, he is not going to abandon the battlefield.

 

· Gilad Atzmon - Marxism 2005 Talk – “We all agree that Israel is operating as a Colonialist state motivated by racial supremacist views. But then, isn’t the case of Blair’s Britain very similar? If Tony Blair isn’t a white supremacist how dare he suggesting that Democracy is the right way forward for the Muslim world. How come he knows better than the Muslims what is good for them? When you come to determine other people’s lives you must believe that you know better. You must assume that you are better.

Last week, a very small cell of cold-blooded murderous terrorists has managed to jeopardise the false image of Western civilised brethren. Their message is clear: it isn’t about African poverty. It is rather about Zionised Anglo-American domination in the Middle East, it is about the support for Israel. It is about us electing with popular vote a war criminal, we are the ones who do not respect other people’s lives. And we pay the price for it. The message of the terrorists is clear: You kill us, we kill you. You bomb our towns, we bomb yours.”

 

· Clement Leibovitz- Israelis and Palestinians: brotherhood - An article by Clement Leibovitz was published in MIFTAH. I think it is worth reading, (I don't agree with all of it, but with much of it, I certainly do). A small exerpt:

”Fifty seven years have passed since the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians at the hands of Israel. And though the world public opinion has many times been expressed by the United Nations in favor of the right of return of the Palestinian refugees, no progress has been made in this respect. In addition, in the last 38 years, the Palestinians have lived under an Israeli colonial rule which has imposed on the West Bank and Gaza a regime of persecution, humiliations and deprivations.

Why is it that, at the time at which overt colonialism has disappeared everywhere else, Israel succeeds in maintaining on the West Bank and Gaza a colonial regime? What is then the characteristic of the Israeli colonization of Palestine?”