ZGram - 6/18/2002 - "Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Story Behind the News"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

June 18, 2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Sometimes my readers get upset with me because they don't agree with 
one part or another - but please remember that the function of my 
ZGrams from the beginning, almost seven years, ago has been to show 
up our enemies' true nature and evil agenda - and to REFLECT, as 
accurately as I can, the voices that speak up in this struggle for 
the hearts, minds and souls of our times.

The last sentence in this essay says it best:  "Silence kills."

[START]

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
The Story Behind the News

by Linda Belanger

For the last month, since the Israeli attacks on Palestine my 
feelings have shifted several times daily from swallowing back tears 
to anger and despair. I have attempted to assuage these feelings by 
an obsessive and masochistic search for information, information 
beyond the images on television, information that could explain these 
images. This has only led to more tears and anger.

I am embarrassed to admit my ignorance of this situation that has 
been going on for 35 years. I did not know that even since the early 
days of the occupation, the Israeli government expropriated 
Palestinians from their land and homes without compensation. I did 
not know that the homes of people resisting the occupation, even by 
peaceful means, were demolished. I did not know that the Israeli 
Defense Force (IDF) imposed curfews and shot people who were caught 
outside after hours on sight . I did not know that the Israeli 
government has diverted water away from Palestinian farmland to serve 
the Jewish settlements that they have established within Palestine.

This has all been done in self-defense we are told.. But an 
occupation with the purpose of self-defense does not last 35 years 
and, involve the establishment of settlements in contravention of 
international rules of occupation.

How could I have missed this. Me, the politics junky, the follower of 
world events; I have slept through this issue for 35 years. I who so 
pride myself in being a human being above all else. I am guilty of 
just glancing through the headlines and perhaps the first few 
paragraphs of a news article. Why pay attention, the middle east is 
so far away. Beside Israel must defend itself we are told so often. 
Some of them sound a bit fanatical but everything would be fine 
because Jews would never do unto others what had been done onto them.

As for the Arabs, well I know there are good and bad in all races and 
religions but that area of the world is underdeveloped and 
uneducated. The people shout and shake their fists in the streets and 
the terrorists who hijacked the planes in the 1970s came from there 
and now they are responsible for suicide bombings and their leader 
wears an army uniform and is an ex-terrorist fighter. They must be 
largely to blame for all of this.

How I cringe now when I read those words now. I was tempted to delete 
them but decided not to. They are true. I am a proud Canadian. A 
Canadian who buys into the dream of a nation that takes pride in its 
different races and religions and sees itself as a microcosm of the 
world, a haven for the oppressed and an example of how people of all 
races and religions can live together. I could not be a bigot.

But there has also been a problem in the language used by the media 
and politicians. Perhaps this has been done in the interest of 
promoting moderation or in attempting to remain objective by 
reporting the facts or because of the outcry of anti-semitism by 
certain Jewish groups every time a crumb is tossed to the 
Palestinians. There is a point where moderation and objectivity in 
reporting the news can create a lie. People fighting for basic human 
rights may be driven to terrorism by desperation but they are 
resistance fighters. After 35 years of Israeli settlement in 
Palestine it is time to call the "occupation" by its proper name - 
invasion. Although it is true that Israelis have not built 
extermination camps one has to wonder what they expect to achieve by 
destroying a people's livelihood, culture and dignity. If these 
things had been done in a period of a few years most people would not 
object to the use of the word genocide. Is it different because it 
has taken place over a period of 35 years?

There is also a problem created by the language used by a different 
culture. We are horrified when we hear the Arab world praise suicide 
bombers as martyrs to the cause. How can they sacrifice their 
children that way people say? Why then, are we not horrified when 
Israel sends its children to control the Palestinians, who have been 
denied control over the water in their territory, to defend settlers 
sitting by their swimming pools. Yes the killing of innocent Israelis 
is wrong but destroying the homes of thousands of refugees to capture 
50 or so alleged terrorists is collective punishment not heroic self- 
defense. Aside from the obvious moral distinction in the above 
examples, the only difference is that, for us in the western world, 
the words, sacrifice and martyrdom are not 'cool'. We are so superior 
and advanced: we use words like heroic and self-defense.

I've also frequently heard condemnation of Yassir Arafat for walking 
away from the Camp David peace proposal without making a counter 
offer. I was incensed when I found the terms of that proposal. Arafat 
rejected it because it was an insult.

The Palestinians have been open to compromise to some extent in 
regard to the borders of the new state but have understandably 
demanded territorial continuity. According to the Camp David 
proposal, Palestinians were expected to relinguish nearly half their 
territory creating a convoluted state where one might have to drive 
50 miles to get to a town which was only actually 10 miles away in 
order to avoid entering Israel's territory. The remaining areas 
although appearing to be territorially continuous would be broken up 
by Israeli bypass roads, check points and roadblock. The Palestinians 
were also expected to accept Israeli supervision of borders crossings 
and to relinquish their rights over water and airspace among other 
things. (<www.gush-shalom.org>)

The Palestians have a right to a state, just as the Isrealis have the 
right to the state of Isreal as it was given to them by the British 
in 1948 and not one inch more. Israel occupied Palestine in 1967 on 
the pretext of self defense and has remained there for 35 years. Now, 
the Isreali govenment would have us believe that because they 
established settlements there (against the international laws) the 
Palestinians should concede territory to accomodate them.

But amidst the suicide bombings and the Israelis who justify the 
crimes of the occupation as self defence there are those on both 
sides who feel for the pain of the other side, who are putting 
themselves in their shoes. In a recent inteview with Larry King on 
CNN, Queen Rania of Jordan said:

"... I saw a few days ago on one of the channels, a mother of a 
suicide bomber who was saying that had she known what her son was 
going to do, she would have prevented him from doing it. And she said 
that she felt with every Israeli mother who has lost a child. I also 
heard on the Israeli side, a bystander after one of the attacks on 
one of the buses, who was saying that if he was a Palestinian he'd 
understand how they could become suicide bombers living under such 
terrible conditions. "

But how and when will this all end? How much longer can the 
Palestinians endure the punishment inflicted on their entire society 
. Ariel Sharon does not want peace. Of that I am absolutely 
convinced. The Israeli government is sacrificing its own people to 
the suicide bombers to justify continued military oppression in the 
hopes of eventually gaining total control of Palestine. The 
Palestinians have no army, no tanks, not helicopter gunships. They 
cannot expel the IDF, yet to stop fighting would be to deny their 
basic humanity. The suicide bombings are only an indication of their 
desperation.

Nonetheless, there is some light in this dark scenario. The Israeli 
peace camp is vocal and well organized. Israeli soldiers are refusing 
to do military service in the Palestinian territory. Israelis 
civilians are placing themselves in Palestinians homes to act as 
human shields against the IDF. I am convinced that when the 
Palestinians have their state and Israel is liberated from the rules 
of Ariel Sharon and his kind, that the people of Israel will be there 
using the bulldozers that were used to demolish Palestinian homes to 
dismantle the roadblocks that have destroyed their economy.

In the end it is the voice of the international community putting 
pressure on the United States to stop funding the Israeli government 
and to demand that the Israeli government abide by United Nations 
resolution 242 passed in 1967 and reaffirmed many times since. This 
resolution calls for:

(i) Withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in 
the recent conflict;

(ii) Termination of all claims or states of belligerency and respect 
for and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and 
political independence of every State in the area and their right to 
live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from 
threats or acts of force.

Public opinion turned the tide against apartheid . We can all play a 
part whether it is by writing to our elected representatives to urge 
them to support the UN resolutions, or to a newspaper or simply by 
talking to friends. The Palestinians must not be subjected to the 
humiliation of being asked to come to the negotiation table to 
discuss which parts of their territory they will be allowed to keep 
but rather a suitable manner and schedule by which the above 
resolutions are to be applied.

Yes I know, writing letters takes time; your kids have soccer 
practice tonight, you haven't done your workout in a week, you are 
getting together with a friend, you are tired after a long days work. 
I understand. But silence kills.

[END]


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