Commentary on Palestine/Israel

 Letter to the Editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Allowing the terrorists to win 
Retired Brigadier General James J. David - In describing how the civilized world has failed in its attempt to deal with terrorists, Jay Bookman states that " In the Middle East, Palestinian terrorists have attacked repeatedly in hopes of disrupting peace efforts," ( "Time after time, we have allowed the terrorists to win," A20, Dec.4.) more

 An Open Letter to Barack Obama: Between Hope and Reality 
Ralph Nader, CounterPunch - In your nearly two-year presidential campaign, the words "hope and change," "change and hope" have been your trademark declarations. Yet there is an asymmetry between those objectives and your political character that succumbs to contrary centers of power that want not "hope and change" but the continuation of the power-entrenched status quo. more

 If Americans Knew—Palestinians, Israelis, and Americans Would be Free 
Mohamed Khodr - Alison Weir is a courageous, dedicated, and compassionate journalist. more

 George Habash's contribution to the Palestinian struggle 
As’ad AbuKhalil, The Electronic Intifada - I lived more than half of my life in the US and I never felt the alienation that I felt on the day I read George Habash, the Palestinian revolutionary who passed away last week, labeled as a "terrorism tactician" in a front page obituary in The New York Times. What do you do when they want to convince you that a kind and gentle man you met and respected as a person is a terrorist when you know otherwise? Do you quibble with their definitions to no avail? Do you go back and see how they wrote glowing obituaries for Zionist militia leader and later Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, a man whose record of killing civilians is as horrific and grotesque as that of Osama Bin Laden, former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, Fatah Revolutionary Council founder Abu Nidal or Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet? more

 Commentary: Embarrassing history 
Arnaud de Borchgrave in UPI - The Palestinians call Israel’s 1948 war of independence their nakba, or catastrophic ethnic cleansing, or forced exile. The Israelis, for their part, have steadfastly rejected any suggestion of ethnic cleansing as calumny in all its anti-Semitic horror. Historic revisionism is now under way. Without fanfare, just below the media radar screen, the Israeli Education Ministry has approved a textbook for Arab third-graders in Israel that concedes the war that gave birth to Israel was a “nakba” for the Palestinians. The textbook refers to the “expulsion” of some of the Palestinians and the “confiscation of many Arab-owned lands.” more

 Israel 2007: worse than apartheid 
South African Minister for Intelligence Services Ronnie Kasrils in the Mail & Guardian - Travelling into Palestine’s West Bank and Gaza Strip, which I visited recently, is like a surreal trip back into an apartheid state of emergency. It is chilling to pass through the myriad checkpoints -- more than 500 in the West Bank. They are controlled by heavily armed soldiers, youthful but grim, tensely watching every movement, fingers on the trigger. more

 What 'Israel's right to exist' means to Palestinians 
John V. Whitbeck, Christian Science Monitor - Since the Palestinian elections in 2006, Israel and much of the West have asserted that the principal obstacle to any progress toward Israeli-Palestinian peace is the refusal of Hamas to "recognize Israel," or to "recognize Israel's existence," or to "recognize Israel's right to exist." more

 Why does The Times recognize Israel’s ‘Right to exist’? 
Saree Makdisi, Los Angeles Times - 'AS SOON AS certain topics are raised," George Orwell once wrote, "the concrete melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed: Prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated henhouse." Such a combination of vagueness and sheer incompetence in language, Orwell warned, leads to political conformity. more

 Lost in translation 
Jonathan Steele, UK Guardian Comment is free... - Experts confirm that Iran's president did not call for Israel to be 'wiped off the map'. Reports that he did serve to strengthen western hawks. more

 Fatal Kiss: the build-up to war with Iran 
Uri Avnery - It sounds like a promo for a second rate soap opera: a 21-year-old woman appears with a much older celebrity, who grabs her, forces a kiss on her and pushes his tongue into her mouth. This scene has been occupying the attention of the Israeli public for months now, more than any other topic, except perhaps the allegation that the President of the State sexually assaulted several of his employees. The war and its consequences have been pushed aside. more

 Gaza and Darfur 
Alexander Cockburn in CounterPunch - As a zone of ongoing, large-scale bloodletting Darfur in the western Sudan has big appeal for US news editors. Americans are not doing the killing, or paying for others to do it. So there's no need to minimize the vast slaughter with the usual drizzle of "allegations." There's no political risk here in sounding off about genocide in Darfur. The crisis in Darfur is also very photogenic. more

 Israelis adopt what South Africa dropped 
John Dugard in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Former President Jimmy Carter's new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," is igniting controversy for its allegation that Israel practices a form of apartheid. As a South African and former anti-apartheid advocate who visits the Palestinian territories regularly to assess the human rights situation for the U.N. Human Rights Council, the comparison to South African apartheid is of special interest to me. more

 Ethnic cleansing returns to Israel's agenda 
Johann Hari in The Independent of London - When Jorg Haider's far-right Freedom Party joined the governing coalition in Austria in 2000, the world offered a collective retch and moved to isolate the country. In the past fortnight, a startlingly similar far-right politician named Avigdor Lieberman has joined the governing coalition in Israel – in the lofty position of Deputy Prime Minister – but the world's gagging reflex has yet to respond. more

 Israel's Policy: Starve the Palestinians 
William Cook in IMEMC - Israel exists as a major military force in the world and a silent member of the nuclear club. Yet it cries wolf that Hamas threatens its existence. On the third anniversary of America's invasion of Iraq broadcast in full shock and awe to the world via green TV screens that all might see the night devastation of the city, another invasion was underway in Gaza, a silent invasion of human rights that, in its barbarity, casts its own shock and awe, the starvation of the people of Gaza by closure of that prison's gates by Israeli IDF. David Shearer of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OCHA) stated, "What we were warning before was that stocks (of wheat) were getting low. Today we are saying stocks are gone, and the end point has been reached." more

 The Crime of Being a Muslim Charity 
Laila al-Marayati and Basil Abdelkarim in the Washington Post - The Treasury Department is playing target practice with American Muslim charities. On Feb. 19 Treasury seized the assets and froze the operations of KindHearts, a Toledo-based humanitarian organization, acting on the dubious allegation that it is financing terrorism. Someone from Treasury once told us, "There are folks here who look at you guys like notches on their belts... just waiting to take the next one out." more

 Boycott Israel 
Mazin Qumsiyeh in Global Agenda Magazine - Millions of activists have come to see an organic link between the occupation and colonization of Palestine and diverse and pressing global issues ranging from the war on Iraq to global poverty. How did we reach a point where Palestinian flags dominate anti-war rallies and the demonstrations against US-dominated world financial institutions? Why do these activists see the hypocrisy of American foreign policy with regard to Israel/Palestine as the Achilles' heel that might allow a successful challenge to its hegemony? How did we get to the point where mainstream churches and more than 30 American campuses have active divestment and boycott campaigns against Israel? Why do the US and Israel stand isolated in international fora, and in public opinion around the world? more

 Hamas Election Victory is a Vote for Clarity 
Ali Abunimah in Electronic Intifada - Hamas' victory in the Palestinian Authority legislative elections has everyone asking "what next"? The answer, and whether the result should be seen as a good or bad thing, depends very much on who is asking the question. more

 The Truth You Don’t Hear 
Mustafa Barghouti in Al-Ahram Weekly - What is the current situation on the ground in Palestine? The Israeli narrative that continues to dominate the international media presents an image that is absolutely at odds with reality. The Gaza redeployment was spun as the beginning of a peace process; a great retreat by General Ariel Sharon, who was portrayed as a man of peace. Yet the fact remains that Palestine is 27,000 square kilometres, of which the West Bank constitutes only 5,860 square kilometres, and the Gaza Strip, just 360 sq km. This is equal to only 1.3 per cent of the total land of historic Palestine. So even if Sharon really had withdrawn from Gaza, this would amount to just 5.8 per cent of the occupied territories. more

 My Bethlehem Experience 
Alison Weir in CounterPunch - Last night at something called “The Bethlehem Experience,” a local church’s reenactment of Bethlehem 2000 years ago, I handed out “Bethlehem Christmas cards” designed by Quakers in Michigan. These wonderful cards have a photo of the Israeli wall imprisoning Bethlehem on one side and information on the situation in Bethlehem on the other. The wall photo shows a painting on the wall of a young girl holding balloons that are carrying her aloft and over the wall to freedom. more

 The US War with Iran Has Already Begun 
Scott Ritter in Al Jazeera - Americans, along with the rest of the world, are starting to wake up to the uncomfortable fact that President George Bush not only lied to them about the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq (the ostensible excuse for the March 2003 invasion and occupation of that country by US forces), but also about the very process that led to war. more

 Commentary: Slap in the Face 
Council for the National Interest - The complete details of the US aid package to Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority show that Congress is giving only $139.5 million to the Palestinian Authority and not the full $200 million requested by President Bush. And it's not really going to the Palestinian Authority itself, but rather to USAID approved non-governmental organizations, since Congress is loath to deal with the Palestinian Authority. more

 The Bloody Paths to Crawford, Texas 
William Hughes in the Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel - There are plenty of big topics that will most certainly not be discussed when Ariel Sharon and George W. Bush—posing as sheep farmer and cowboy, respectively—meet on April 11 down at the ranch. more

 E-1: The End of a Viable Palestinian State 
Jeff Halper in The Electronic Intifada - The fatal flaw in most analyses of the Israel-Palestine conflict is the assumption that if the Palestinians can just get a state of their own, then all will be fine. A state on all the Occupied Territories (UN Resolution 242), on most of the Occupied Territories (Oslo and the Road Map to the Geneva Initiative), on even half the Occupied Territories (Sharon’s notion) – it doesn't matter. Once there’s a Palestinian state the conflict is over and we can all move on to the next item on the agenda. more

  The Palestinian Resistance: Its Legitimate Right and the Moral Duty 
Dr. Samah Jabr - The overwhelming and ceaseless atrocities of Israel’s government leave most Palestinians with little opportunity to reflect on the moral aspect of our resistance. Most often our reactions to events are immediate, instinctive and emotional. The few who still manage to consider the moral, political and strategic aspects of our struggle may find themselves all but stymied by the contradictions, the lack of choice, and the damage done by war to both reason and conscience. more

 Reflecting on Our Relationship with Israel 
Former Congressmember Paul Findley - Nine-eleven would not have occurred if the U.S. government had refused to help Israel humiliate and destroy Palestinian society. Few express this conclusion publicly, but many believe it is the truth. I believe the catastrophe could have been prevented if any U.S. president during the past 35 years had had the courage and wisdom to suspend all U.S. aid until Israel withdrew from the Arab land seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. more

 How Israel Is Once Again Redefining the Terms of Peace 
Ramzy Baroud - The recent and supposedly ‘successful’ Sharm el-Sheikh summit in Egypt on February 8 was anything but a triumph, as far as Palestinians, the occupied party, and genuine peace-seeking Israelis are concerned. more

 Commentary: What does the cease-fire mean? 
With all the talk about this declaration of an end to violence, one must ask the question, will this change anything? more

 Choosing to Act: Anti-Semitism is Wrong 
Alison Weir - Perhaps one of the most difficult things for a decent person to do is to act in a way that feels somehow disloyal. To betray one’s family and friends, one’s deeply held principles, is wrenching, disorienting, shaming. For a decent person, it is profoundly difficult to do something that feels so immeasurably wrong. more

 Analysis: Abbas Declared New President 
AlAqsaIntifada.org - The official results of the election are out, and Mahmoud Abbas has been declared the President of the Palestinian Authority. This is the candidate preferred by the U.S., Israel, and the Arab leaders – none of these being friends of the Palestinian people. And he is the candidate who will go along with their wishes and compromise Palestinian rights. more

 Imprisoned in Israel 
Kate Raphael Bender (IWPS) - This Sunday, Israeli bus 19, which was the target of a Palestinian bombing, will be displayed in Berkeley. It is a reminder of lives lost in the terrible attack. Not visible are the millions of Palestinian lives being destroyed daily in the occupied Palestinian territories by Israel’s refusal to allow them basic human rights: to work, to travel freely, to visit family, to live in their homes, even to possess a nationality. more

 In Arafat’s Aftermath 
Prof. George E. Bisharat in the San Francisco Chronicle - As Yasser Arafat has died, so die the hopes for a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Contrary to the belief held in the United States and Israel, Arafat worked tirelessly toward the “peace of the brave” and the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. It was precisely because Arafat was such a dogged proponent of compromise with Israel that the Israeli government worked so hard to destroy him. more

 “A sane individual must rise up against the system that makes the ongoing oppression possible” 
Israeli Refuser Daniel Tsal in a letter to the Israeli Minister of Defense - I hereby request to be exempted from obligatory service in the IDF due to reasons of conscience, and to allow me, instead, to do alternative service outside the army. If I should not be enabled to be thus exempted I shall be obliged to refuse service. more

 Opinion: Palestine is now part of an arc of Muslim resistance 
Seumas Milne in the UK Guardian - Ariel Sharon’s decision to incinerate a 67-year-old blind quadriplegic cleric outside his local mosque will certainly go down as one of the most spectacularly counter-productive acts of violence in the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. more

 The Price of Ignorance 
Gideon Levy in Israeli daily Ha’aretz - The suicide bomber at the Geha Junction, Shehad Hanani, was from Beit Furik, one of the most imprisoned villages in the territories that is surrounded by earth roadblocks on all sides. It’s a place where women in labor and the sick have to risk walking through fields to get to the hospital in adjacent Nablus. At least one woman in labor, Rula Ashatiya, gave birth at the Beit Furik checkpoint and lost her infant. Few Israelis are capable of imagining what life is like in Beit Furik: the almost universal unemployment, poverty, endless siege and humiliations of life inside a prison. A young man like Hanani, who was 21, had no reason to get up in the morning other than to face another day of joblessness and humiliation. more

 Living With the Holocaust 
Sara Roy - Some months ago I was invited to reflect on my journey as a child of Holocaust survivors. This journey continues and shall continue until the day I die. Though I cannot possibly say everything, it seems especially poignant that I should be addressing this topic at a time when the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is descending so tragically into a moral abyss and when, for me at least, the very essence of Judaism, of what it means to be a Jew, seems to be descending with it. more

Beyond Road Maps and Walls
Professor Jeff Halper in The Link - The process of achieving a viable peace in the Middle East is, I believe, a two-stage process. First, to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The feasibility of different political options must be examined in terms of the “facts on the ground” imposed by Israel. Second, to address the underlying elements that would otherwise destabilize and frustrate attempts by Palestinians and Israelis to reach an equitable accommodation. This requires a regional approach to bringing peace, democracy, and development to the Middle East. more

A one-state solution
Ahmad Samih Khalidi in the UK Guardian - Something is stirring in Israel these days. After a long hiatus, the country’s left is gearing up for a new ideological offensive. Major figures, including the writer David Grossman and former Knesset speaker Avraham Burg, have recently spoken out against the right-wing policies of Ariel Sharon. Their impassioned pleas for a radical alternative cannot but impress all those who genuinely seek a way out of the deadly cycle of Palestinian-Israeli violence. more

 As in Tiennamen square 
Israeli journalist Tanya Reinhart in Yediot Aharonot - An extensive discussion has already taken place in Israel regarding the cost-benefit ratio of Yassin’s assassination. But the question of justice has hardly been raised. During its 37 years of occupation, Israel has already violated every article of the Geneva convention. But what it did now is unprecedented. As Robert Fisk stated it in the British Independent, “for years, there has been an unwritten rule in the cruel war of government-versus-guerrilla. You can kill the men on the street, the bomb makers and gunmen. But the leadership on both sides – government ministers, spiritual leaders were allowed to survive.” Even when the leader advocates violence and terror, the norm has been that he may be imprisoned, but not killed. more

 Opinion: Even if Palestine wins at The Hague... 
Ali Abunimah in The Electronic Intifada - On the first day of hearings at the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, Professor Mordechai Kedar at Israel’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies told the BBC Arabic Service that Palestinian assertions that Israel’s West Bank wall will make an independent state impossible were invalid. He argued that the existence of states like Liechtenstein (area: smaller than Washington, DC; population 33,000,) and Monaco (slightly bigger than London’s Hyde Park; population 32,000) proves that there will be plenty of room left for a sovereign, internationally-recognized Palestinian state no matter where Israel builds its barrier. Such arguments from Israeli “strategists,” offered with apparent seriousness, underscore the strength of the Palestinian claim that the wall is intended to annex the West Bank, not separate it from Israel, and the weakness of Israel’s legal position. more

 Opinion: The end of Zionism 
Avraham Burg in the UK Guardian - The former Speaker of Israel’s Knesset says Israel must shed its illusions and choose between racist oppression and democracy. more

 A Strange Kind of Freedom 
Robert Fisk in the UK Independent - We all know about the perils of Islamic fanaticism. But, says Robert Fisk, the biggest threat to liberty in the US may come from other kinds of fundamentalism: Jewish and Christian. more

Right of Return: Two-State Solution Again Sells Palestinians Short
Professor George Bisharat in the Los Angeles Times - It is a tragic irony that, more than 55 years ago, one desperate people seeking sanctuary from murderous racism decimated another — and continue to oppress its scattered survivors to this day. In 1948, about 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homeland, their land and possessions taken by the new Jewish state of Israel. This included the Jerusalem home of my grandparents, Hanna and Mathilde Bisharat, which was expropriated through a process tantamount to state-sanctioned theft. more

A Roadmap to Nowhere
Former CIA analyst Kathleen Christison in Counter Punch - The “roadmap” to peace between Israel and the Palestinians, finally released with little fanfare or enthusiasm on May 1 after almost a year of aimless wandering, is surely doomed. Near fatal internal flaws and severe political constraints on its implementation render it a roadmap to nowhere, destined for the same junk yard where the Mitchell Plan, the Tenet Plan, and the Zinni Plan have rusted for the two years of the Bush-Sharon stewardship over the so-called “peace process.” more

 Debate between Noah Cohen and Noam Chomsky 
Axis of Logic – A back-and-forth between Noah Cohen and Noam Chomsky about how peace can be achieved between Israelis and Palestinians and their disagreement over the applicability of the principles of human rights and equality. more

 Advocacy and Realism: Chomsky’s Reply

 Cohen’s Rebuttal: Advocacy for What and for Whom?