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But it's also important to understand that we (US) are not just
helping the Israelis defend themselves against a dreadful internal
enemy who wants nothing more than to wipe Israel off the map, which
is what you'd think from listening to US media.<br>
<br>
One comment from my posting of Juan Cole's article: how would we
feel if rockets were raining down on *us*? I think that's a good
question, the kind of thing we often hear, and worth answering
directly.<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 11/27/12 5:23 PM, C. G. Estabrook
wrote:<br>
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cite="mid:FE9F6F9E-6198-49E8-8D06-6A721206B9B6@newsfromneptune.com"
type="cite">
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We're writing a flyer for US - not Israeli - citizens.
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<div>"The fundamental issue is quite simple: Every U.S. taxpayer
is responsible for Israeli crimes. They can’t carry them out
without the decisive military, economic, ideological, and
diplomatic support of the United States" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.zcommunications.org/q-and-a-with-noam-chomsky-by-noam-chomsky">http://www.zcommunications.org/q-and-a-with-noam-chomsky-by-noam-chomsky</a>>.
<br>
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<div><br>
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<div>
<div>On Nov 27, 2012, at 4:13 PM, "Brussel, Morton K" <<a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:brussel@illinois.edu">brussel@illinois.edu</a>>
wrote:</div>
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<div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode:
space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">
What is obvious is that Carl's preferences lie with Ron
Paul's piece, which exclusively emphasizes U.S.
responsibility/culpability. Cole's piece exclusively
emphasizes Israel's responsibility/culpability.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Both should be emphasized. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>--mkb</div>
<div><br>
<div>
<div>On Nov 27, 2012, at 3:44 PM, C. G. Estabrook
wrote:</div>
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<div style="word-wrap: break-word;
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after-white-space; ">
If we're looking for a primer on Israel/Gaza, I
almost think this would be better:
<div><br>
</div>
<div><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/27/how-to-end-the-gaza-tragedy/">http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/11/27/how-to-end-the-gaza-tragedy/</a></div>
<div><br>
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<div><br>
</div>
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<div>
<div>On Nov 27, 2012, at 8:35 AM, Stuart
Levy <<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:stuartnlevy@gmail.com">stuartnlevy@gmail.com</a>>
wrote:</div>
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<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">At
AWARE on Sunday we talked about having a
flyer for this Saturday's demonstration
which talked about Israel/Palestine.<br>
<br>
Carl had found a good one from Max Ajl,
but here's another, from <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.juancole.com/2012/11/top-ten-myths-about-israeli-attack-on-gaza.html">Juan
Cole on 11/17</a>, which may be a
better introduction to people who
haven't been paying close attention to
the subject. (See the original article
too - there's an interesting map
summarizing Palestinian refugee
migrations.)<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.juancole.com/2012/11/top-ten-myths-about-israeli-attack-on-gaza.html">http://www.juancole.com/2012/11/top-ten-myths-about-israeli-attack-on-gaza.html</a><br>
<br>
<b>Top Ten Myths about Israeli Attack on
Gaza</b><br>
<br>
Posted on 11/17/2012 by Juan<br>
<br>
1. Israeli hawks represent themselves as
engaged in a ‘peace process’ with the
Palestinians in which Hamas refuses to
join. In fact, Israel has refused to
cease colonizing and stealing
Palestinian land long enough to engage
in fruitful negotiations with them.
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/11/06/us-palestinians-israel-settlements-idUSBRE8A50I820121106?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews">Tel
Aviv routinely announces new,
unilateral house-building on the
Palestinian West Bank</a>. There is no
peace process. It is an Israeli and
American sham. Talking about a peace
process is giving cover to Israeli
nationalists who are determined to grab
everything the Palestinians have and
reduce them to penniless refugees
(again).<br>
<br>
2. Actions such as the assault on Gaza
can achieve no genuine long-term
strategic purpose. They are being
launched to ensure that Jewish-Israelis
are the first to exploit key resources.
Rattling sabers at the Palestinians
creates a pretext for further land-grabs
and colonies on Palestinian land. That
is, the military action against the
people of Gaza is a diversion tactic;
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2012/11/16/john-mearsheimer/a-pillar-built-on-sand/">the
real goal is Greater Israel, an
assertion of Israeli sovereignty</a>
over all the territory once held by the
British Mandate of Palestine.<br>
<br>
3. Israeli hawks represent their war of
aggression as in ‘self-defense.’ But the
UK Israeli chief rabbi admitted on
camera that that
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/16/bbc-apologises-chief-rabbi-jonathan-sacks-gaza">the
Gaza attack actually ‘had something to
do with Iran.’</a><br>
<br>
4. Israeli hawks demonize the
Palestinians of Gaza as “bad neighbors”
who don’t accept Israel. But 40% of the
people in Gaza are refugees, mostly
living in refugee camps, from families
in pre-1948 Palestine that had lived
there for millennia.<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://suite101.com/article/gaza-refugee-camps-1948-present-a211374">They
were expelled from what is now Israel
in the 1948 Zionist ethnic cleansing
campaign</a>. Israelis are now living
in their homes and farming their land,
and they were never paid any reparations
for the crimes done to them. <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.fmreview.org/FMRpdfs/FMR26/FMR2624.pdf">
[pdf] “Israel’s failure to provide
reparations to Palestinian refugees
over the past six decades is in
blatant violation of international
law.”</a> Israel does not accept
Palestine’s right to exist, even though
it is constantly demanding that
everyone, including the displaced and
occupied Palestinians, recognize
Israel’s right to exist.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
5. Israeli hawks and their American
clones depict Gaza as a foreign, hostile
state with which Israel is at war. In
fact,
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CG8QFjAI&url=https%3A%2F%2Fopenaccess.leidenuniv.nl%2Fbitstream%2F1887%2F13159%2F2%2FWhat%2BConstitutes%2BOccupation.pdf&ei=KDenUNOoMM6EygHbwYHYAQ&usg=AFQjCNFEJ_8IvIn6alResmt0iVO6Q-hFrg&sig2=IaQzbH1IV5V3KlnaR9F5Jw&cad=rja">the
Gaza strip is a small territory of 1.7
million people militarily occupied by
Israel</a> (something in which the UN
and other international bodies concur).
Israelis do not allow it to have a port
or airport, nor to export most of what
it produces. Palestinians cannot work
about a third of its land, which is
reserved by Israel as a security buffer.
As an occupied territory, it is covered
by the Hague Regulations of 1907 and the
Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 on the
treatment of occupied populations by
their military occupier. Indiscriminate
bombing of occupied territories by the
occupier is clearly illegal in
international law.<br>
<br>
6. Israeli hawks see themselves as
innocent victims of bewildering
Palestinian rage from Gaza. But Israel
not only has kept Palestinians of Gaza
in the world’s largest outdoor
penitentiary, they have them under
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.juancole.com/2012/10/creepy-israeli-planning-for-palestinian-food-insecurity-in-gaza-revealed.html">an
illegal blockade</a> that for some
years aimed at limiting their nutrition
without altogether starving them to
death. I wrote earlier:<br>
<br>
“The <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.ibtimes.com/israels-blockade-gaza-puts-palestinian-childrens-health-risk-report-702821">food
blockade had real effects. About ten
percent of Palestinian children in
Gaza under 5</a> have had their growth
stunted by malnutrition. A recent
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.map-uk.org/files/1052_gaza_health_report_web_version.pdf">report
[pdf] by Save the Children and Medical
Aid for Palestinians found that</a>,
in addition, anemia is widespread,
affecting over two-thirds of infants,
58.6 percent of schoolchildren, and over
a third of pregnant mothers. “<br>
<br>
If any foreign power surrounded Israel,
destroyed Haifa port and Tel Aviv
airport, and prevented Israeli exports
from being exported, what do you think
Israelis would do? Oh, that’s right, it
is rude to see both Palestinians and
Israelis as equal human beings.<br>
<br>
7. Israeli hawks demonize the
Palestinian residents of Gaza as
followers of Hamas, a party-militia of
the Muslim religious right. But half of
Palestinians in Gaza are minors, who
never voted for Hamas and cannot be held
collectively responsible for that party.<br>
<br>
8. Israeli hawks justify their
aggression on the Palestinians on
grounds of self-defense. But Israel is a
country of 7.5 million people with
tanks, armored vehicles, artillery,
helicopter gunships and F-16s and F-18s,
plus 400 nuclear warheads. Gaza is a
small occupied territory of 1.7 million
which has no heavy weaponry, just some
old guns and some largely ineffectual
rockets. (Israelis cite hundreds of
rockets fired into Israel from Gaza in
2012; but until Israel’s recent attack
they had killed not a single Israeli,
though they did wound a few last March
when fighting between Palestinians and
Israelis escalated.) Gaza is a threat to
Israel the way the Transkei Bantustan
was a threat to Apartheid South Africa.
As for genuine asymmetrical threats from
Gaza to Israel, they could be dealt with
by giving the Palestinians a state and
ceasing the blockade imposed on them, or
in the worst case scenario
counter-terrorism targeted at terrorists
rather than indiscriminate bombing
campaigns.<br>
<br>
9. Israeli hawks maintain that they were
provoked into the attack. <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israeli-peace-activist-hamas-leader-jabari-killed-amid-talks-on-long-term-truce.premium-1.478085">But
actually Ahmad Jabari, the Hamas
leader the Israelis assassinated
earlier this week, had been engaged in
talks with the Israelis about a truce</a>.
Assassinations achieved by the ruse of
openness to peace talks are guarantees
of no further peace talks.<br>
<br>
10. Although most American media is a
cheering section for the Likud Party, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2012/11/16/john-mearsheimer/a-pillar-built-on-sand/">in
fact the world is increasingly done
out with Israel’s aggressiveness</a>.
Boycotts and sanctions will likely grow
over time, leaving Israeli hawks with a
deficit…<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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