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                                                                                                        Compiled by Boudewijn Wegerif

 

April 2002

Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG),  globalresearch.ca ,   April 2002

 

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Below are excerpts from the writing and statements of five Israelis and a Jewish professor with Israeli connections. The excerpts are important for a truer view of the unfolding horror in Palestine/Israel, and the complicity of the United States. There is also a seventh item with information on the refugee reality.

You will notice that I have not included breaking news reports. To be kept up to date with alternative-to-mass-media information, I suggest you join the excellent lists of Jean Hudon, Robert Rodvik, Angie C, and Larry Morningstar, and make regular visits to the Rense and Jerusalem Indymedia web sites (PS1).

The breaking news from these sources since "Good Friday" has been of the cold-blooded execution of Palestinians, with a bullet through the head, mass "arrests", shootings of media people, peace protestors, a Catholic priest and nuns.

According to a UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) report from inside Ramallah, there is absolutely no freedom of movement, even for ambulances, doctors or international agencies, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Israeli soldiers are occupying an increasing number of private residences and detaining the residents collectively in single rooms. Some parts of Ramallah are already without water altogether and large parts of Ramallah are without electricity and heat. Israeli soldiers are also eating the food of residents while taking up positions in their houses. And on-going spiteful acts of destruction are reported. "Most commonly, Israeli tanks are driving over and flattening cars whether on the streets or parked on pavements in front of residences. Personal property inside houses is being destroyed in house-to-house searches."

There is an anticipation of worse to come - much worse.

Most of the news about what is taking place will surface after the shooting has stopped, as most of the news about the Holocaust surfaced after the "liberation" of Germany by the allied forces in World War Two. And again, it will be said, with much hand wringing, "We should have known."

Everything that Hitler and his cohorts had in mind for Germany was spelt out in Hitler's book Mein Kamf, first published in 1925, long before the persecution of the Jews, which was foretold in it, began. The same applies now with regard to what is happening to Arafat and the Palestinians.

To make the point, this is what Angie C, wrote in an E.mail received yesterday:

"In the Dec. 14-15 edition of the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, Alex Fishman wrote: 'Nothing that has taken place in the last days was by accident. Cold-bloodedly, with the patience of a hunter who knows the weaknesses of his prey, Sharon has set his traps since taking on the functions of Prime Minister.' The basis for Sharon's actions was spelled out in a 'plan' that was drafted 'even before the election' of February 2001, the 'Dagan Plan', named after reserve General Meir Dagan, who was Sharon's security advisor during his electoral campaign. The Dagan Plan stipulates: 'First, Arafat is an assassin; one doesn't negotiate with an assassin. Second, the Oslo Accord ... is the worst misfortune that has ever struck Israel, and everything must be done to destroy it'. Note: That was from an article in a freely available publication in mid-December already."

Is the corporatist, capitalist media covering events with reference to the "Dagan Plan"? No. Nor does the commercial media give anything other than extremely peripheral reference to background information such as in the hereon following

In friendship,

Boudewijn Wegerif What Matters Programme Folkhogskola Vardingeby **


1. Lev Grinberg, Director of the Humphrey Institute for Social Research at Ben Gurion University:

- - - Sharon's responsibility for Israeli war crimes is being completely ignored. Who should be arrested for the targeted killing of almost 100 Palestinians? Who will be sent to jail for the killing of more than 120 Palestinian paramedics? Who will be sentenced for the killing of more than 1,200 Palestinians and for the collective punishment of more than 3,000,000 civilians during the last 18 months?

And who will face the International Tribunal for the illegal settlement of occupied Palestinian Lands, and the disobedience of UN decisions for more than 35 years? Suicide bombs killing innocent citizens must be unequivocally condemned; they are immoral acts, and their perpetrators should be sent to jail. But they cannot be compared to State terrorism carried out by the Israeli Government. The former are individual acts of despair of a people that sees no future, vastly ignored by an unfair and distorted international public opinion. The latter are cold and "rational" decisions of a State and a military apparatus of occupation, well equipped, financed and backed by the only superpower in the world.

As Israelis in the opposition, we are fighting against our government, but the international support that Sharon receives is constantly jeopardizing our struggle. The whole international public opinion must be reverted, and the UN must deploy intervention forces in order to stop the bloodshed and the imminent deterioration. Israelis and Palestinians desperately need the awakening of the international community's public opinion and a reversal in the global attitude. These are needed both in order to save our lives (literally), and preserve our hope in a better future.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=13896

2. From "Arafat's Murder would by the Point of No Return", By Uri Avnery, an important figure in Israeli politics - March 30

In our days, historians wonder what folly took possession of the Jewish people 1930 years ago, causing them to start a hopeless rebellion against the Roman empire and bringing utter destruction upon the Jewish commonwealth in Palestine.

A hundred years from now, historians will ask themselves what folly took possession of this people, causing it to elect Sharon, a bloody person who has not done anything in life apart from shedding blood and set up settlements. What folly took possession of this people, causing it to prefer settlements and some territories to peace and conciliation?

And how does this people remain indifferent, when the whole Arab world offers it - perhaps for the last time! - real peace and normal relations, and the public is listening to the silly ranting of politicians and commentators, who ridicule the offer and cheer Sharon on, at the start of a bloody campaign worse than any one before?

History remembers the few, who warned the people of the disaster that is bound to follow if they listen to the Zealots. History will remember us, the few who are warning the people now of the disaster that will befall all of us, if we follow Sharon and his gang. Let's hope that our voices will be heard in time, so that we can start on a new road.

If Arafat will be murdered, it will be the moment of no return.

 3. >From "Their Last Supper" By Michael Nathanson, M.D., Ph.D

At the very beginning of our common era, so we are told, a Galiliean preacher and rabble-rouser set down to celebrate the Seder with his twelve disciples so that the next to the final chapter in his short lived and doomed ministry could be played out. He aggressively challenged the legitimacy and authority of the Priestly Zadokite caste which not only locked up the Jewish God in the Holy of Holies in the Herodian Temple in Jerusalem but also collaborated with the Roman empire through its kinship with the Hasmoneans dynasty and King Herod. For his transgression Jesus, whose name is a Hebrew derivation of the word salvation, was 'betrayed' by one of his disciples, an eponymous Judah, was summarily tried by the Sanhedrin and handed over to Pontius Pilate who crucified him on behalf of the High Priest. That Jesus did not want to die for the sins of the world is clear from his heart wrenching cry: Eli, Eli Lama Azavtani?". Indeed he brought no salvation. Following his ignominious death, butchery has continued in his name, in the name of his enemies, in the name of false Messiahs and in the name of utopias and misguided and grandiose agendas.

2000 years later two dozen other 'innocent lambs of God', gathered for a Seder for what would be their last supper; They were betrayed by a callous leader who promised them peace and security and were knowingly sacrificed on the altar of misguided Nationalistic/Religious millenarian policy.

Israeli citizens living within the pre-1967 borders have paid and continue to pay the ultimate price so that 400,000 settlers could live in the occupied Palestinian territories while freedom and normal daily life is denied to the Palestinians.

The handwriting was on the wall since June 1967 when a pseudo messianic fervor has gripped the Jewish state and did not let go ever since. Israelis have been forewarned by many on both sides of the political spectrum, religious and non-observant alike, that the occupation was not only illegal but amoral and is destined to end in grief.

To break the endless cycle of violence Israel must vacate these cursed territories and return to the task of building a just, productive and blessed society.

 4. >From "Easter Offensive- 2" By Israel Shamir - an Israeli journalist based in Jaffa. His articles can be found at www.israelshamir.net :

The war in Palestine became a part of the global war between followers and deniers of Christ. It is not an accident that at the same time, the Virgin in Bethlehem was shelled by Jewish tanks; in the US and elsewhere, the Jewish-dominated media began a vicious smear campaign against Catholic clergy; while in France, a film Amen denigrating the late Pope Pius came to cinemas. Suggestively, the Cross on the movie's posters turns into Nazi swastika.

Wait, - a reader proclaims. The Virgin was indeed shelled at fifty yards, but do not get carried away. The media just reported real or alleged sexual transgressions committed recently by Catholic priests in a few countries. That is the duty of the press.

While report of every single misdeed may be true or not, their grouping lies in the eye of the beholder, i.e. the media. The media grouped the events into a single tendency, by picking separate events and creating a world-wide conspiracy of the priests to abuse children, a par with the blood libel of old. While they did it to priests, they carefully avoid doing it to the Nation of Priests. We read of 'the wave of priests' rapes", but we never read of 'Jewish financial machinations'. In such a case, there are 'separate misdeeds of separate persons who happened to be Jews'. For instance, a small item in NY Times reported on alleged conspiracy between Goldman, Saks investment bankers and Robert Maxwell. These Jewish tycoons joined forces and swindled thousand English employees of Maxwell's media empire. The workers lost their pension funds; Goldman and Maxwell pocketed the cash and shipped a share of it to Israel. While giving the facts, the NY Times avoided a reference to the perpetrators' Jewishness. This praiseworthy political correctness is dropped when it comes to the Church.

The present crisis in Zimbabwe provides another example. The media reported at length about the attempted framing of the opposition leader into an assassination plot against the president Mr Robert Mugabe, but the personality standing behind the plot and/or the frame-up remained unknown. Very few papers, among them a British weekly, the Economist, told its readers that it was an Israeli officer who claimed expertise on political assassinations. But the Economist avoided bringing up a long line of politicians who were kidnapped and/or assassinated by Jews and Israelis. Among them we would find not only old cases of a German ambassador in Paris in 1938, or attempt at Lenin's life in 1918, or assassination of Lord Moyne in Cairo in 1944, and the UN Swedish envoy Count Folke Bernadotte in 1948, but fresh cases of kidnapping and assassination of the Moroccan opposition leader Ben Barka and a failed kidnapping attempt of a Nigerian minister in 1970s. The list of assassinated Palestinians would be too long for the article. Still, the newspapers did not write 'Jews again at assassination games', rightly avoiding generalisations. It is just for the clergy the generalising headline implying that 'priests are paedophiles' was found suitable. Thus, the Jewish-dominated media continues its struggle against the church, by applying double standard to misbehaving priests and misbehaving Jews.

 5. From background information on the 35-year old occupation of the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza by Israel, by Professor Joel Beinin of Stanford University, and a member of a Jewish Voice for Peace - http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12711 :

- - - - since the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Israel has been occupying the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem - territories that the Palestinians, backed by the consensus of international opinion, seek to turn into an independent state.

The first substantial commitment of American military aid to Israel was in 1969-74. In part, this was an implementation of the 1969 Nixon Doctrine, which envisioned setting up regional surrogates in the third world in order to avoid sending U.S. troops to future Vietnams.

Israeli is now the single largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid. Since 1987 it has received annually about $1.8 billion in Foreign Military Financing grants, $1.2 in Economic Security Funds grants, $2 billion in loan guarantees, and about $.5 billion from other federal budgets. In fiscal year 2001 Israel is receiving $1.98 billion in military aid and $949 million in economic assistance, the first stage in the gradual elimination of economic aid and increase in military aid projected over the next decade.

6. From a statement by Rela Mazali of New Profile, in support of A Jewish Voice for Peace's recent demonstration calling for the suspension of American aid to Israel until such time as Israel withdraws from the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem:

The massive military aid provided by the US fuels Israel's war culture. I believe that this aid does not protect or benefit Israel. I believe it wasn't designed to. What it protects and benefits most and first of all is the US arms industry. In February 2001 the Washington-based Weekly Defense Monitor reported that Arms industry and Pentagon officials, "called for multi-year procurement contracts to inject stability . into the industry." They did so at a conference where Lockheed Martin, the world's number one arms producer, was declared "back on track," after heavy losses, with 33.7 billion dollars of new business. Israel's purchase of over 50 F-16 jets - with US aid dollars - accounted for almost 6%(!) of that new business. And Israel's shopping list included many more items.

Seventy-five percent of the military aid to Israel is earmarked for purchases from US suppliers. The highly influential US arms industry makes direct profits off of aid to Israel. It could arguably be said to have a vested interest in continuing conflict in the Middle East. In February 2000, analyst Rachel Stohl wrote: "The United States continues to pour arms into the region, contributing to an arms race for the biggest and best weapons around. Since 1991, the United States has been the Middle East's number one source for weapons." The January 2001 Defense Monitor said: "For the foreseeable future, the United States will remain unchallenged in its control of the arms market."

US military aid makes the powerful manufacturers of killing machines even more powerful, as it helps build a hopeless future for Israel.

 7. WHO ARE THE PALESTINIAN REFUGEES? >From http://www.palestineonline.nu/index1.htm

"Palestinian refugees are persons who were normal citizens in Palestine ,and who lost their homes and means of livelihood as a result of the Jewish military actions against them since the 1948 Arab-Jewish war, and who took refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria , Egypt and many parts of world.

The number of registered Palestinian refugees has subsequently grown from 914,000 in 1950 to more than 3.6 million in 1999, and continues to rise due to natural population growth.

One-third of the registered Palestinian refugees, about 1.1 million, live in 59 recognized refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and Gaza Strip. The plots of land on which camps were set up are either state land or, in most cases, land leased by the host government from local landowners. This means that the refugees in camps do not "own" the land on which their shelters were built, but have the right to "use" the land for a residence.

Ten of the camps were established in the aftermath of the June 1967 war and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to accommodate a new wave of displaced persons, both refugees and non-refugees. Socio-economic conditions in the camps are generally poor with a high population density, cramped living conditions and inadequate basic infrastructure such as roads and sewers. The other two-thirds of the registered refugees live in and around the cities and towns of the host countries, and in West Bank and Gaza.


Note on Sources:

Recommended lists for breaking news and commentry: # Jean Hudon's Earth Rainbow Network E-letters - [email protected] # Media analyst Robert Rodvik - [email protected] # Angie C - [email protected] # Larry Morningstar - [email protected]

Two sites to visit, amongst many, for breaking news and commentary: # http://www.rense.com and http://jerusalem.indymedia.org

Excerpts from the writing and statements of 5 Israelis and a Jewish professor at Stanford University. Robert Rodvik - [email protected] - has provided the original material from which the excerpts are drawn. There is a seventh item giving the background to the refugee reality, which I found at http://www.palestineonline.nu/index1.htm.

The authors of the six excerpts are:

1. Lev Grinberg, Director of the Humphrey Institute for Social Research at Ben Gurion University:

2. Uri Avnery, an important figure in Israeli politics

3. Michael Nathanson, M.D., Ph.D

4. Israel Shamir - an Israeli journalist based in Jaffa

5. Professor Joel Beinin of Stanford University, and a member of A Jewish Voice for Peace 6. Rela Mazali of New Profile, in support of A Jewish Voice for Peace

Feel E-letter is posted at http://www.whatmatters.nu/wmemails/wmemails13.html#WM-73b


The What Matters Programme is an initiative by Boudewijn Wegerif, to spread information about what is happening in the world today, and how things could be, given a schooling at all levels to free the self and the world from debt/guilt oppression and money madness - a schooling for love. The trustees of the What Matters Programme are the collegiate of Folkh�gskola V�rdinge By, an adult education residential college south of Stockholm.

You can read WHAT MATTERS E-letters 1-73 at the WHAT MATTERS web site - http://www.whatmatters.nu/wmemails/wmemailsindex.html

Boudewijn Wegerif, Torsberget, 669 92, Deje, Sweden. Tel: +46.552.21112

Administration: Johanna Heckscher, FHSK Vardingeby, 150 21 Molnbo, Sweden.

Copyright WHAT MATTERS http://www.whatmatters.nu/wmemails/wmemailsindex.html Boudewijn Wegerif, Torsberget,  2002. Reprinted for Fair use only.


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