[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Israel Can Halt it Now, The =?UNKNOWN?Q?Gaurdian=A0?=

[Alfred Kagan]

FYI

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>Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 16:25:42 -0500
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>From: Belden Fields <a-fields at uiuc.edu>
>Subject: Fwd: Israel Can Halt it Now, The =?UNKNOWN?Q?Gaurdian=A0?=
>Cc: wfeinber at staff.uiuc.edu
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>>  >
>>>
>>>This article from a Jewish member of the British
>>>Parliament is worth reading disseminating.Ý Someday,
>>>we will see a member of the US Congress write the
>>>truth like this,
>>>
>>>Israel can halt this now
>>>Oona King in Gaza
>>>Thursday June 12, 2003
>>>The Guardian
>>>http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,975536,00.html
>>>
>>>The no man's land separating Israel from the Gaza
>>>Strip gives way to what can only be described as
>>>desecrated land. Razor wire and crushed buildings line
>>>the route. Torn slabs of concrete look like tattered
>>>cardboard on a rubbish heap. In front of us two
>>>Israeli tanks block our path. Behind us, the border
>>>will shortly be sealed to prevent Palestinian
>>>reprisals for the helicopter attack launched hours
>>>earlier against the extremist Hamas leader, Abdul-Aziz
>>>al-Rantissi - who is still alive. A Palestinian woman
>>>and her young child, on their way to hospital, are
>>>dead, and 35 are injured.
>>>
>>>Later that afternoon we hurriedly leave the building
>>>we are in when a missile lands nearby. As two British
>>>MPs travelling with Christian Aid, myself and Jenny
>>>Tonge are alarmed. For Gaza residents this is business
>>>as usual. More than 1 million Palestinians live on
>>>this tiny piece of land (smaller than the Isle of
>>>Wight) - more than three-quarters of them on less than
>>>£1.30 a day. Life below the poverty line for these
>>>Palestinians contrasts with the 5,000 Israeli settlers
>>>who occupy one-third of the land and enjoy watered
>>>gardens, first world housing and protection by the
>>>Israeli army. This protection means Palestinians wait
>>>for hours - sometimes days - at Israeli checkpoints,
>>>trying to find work or get access to essential
>>>services such as medical care.
>>>
>>>The sun is setting on Gaza. From  my hotel balcony I
>>>hear demonstrations in the street below. It occurs to
>>>me that I can put on a headscarf and slip into the
>>>crowd as a Palestinian. No one will guess I'm Jewish,
>>>still less that I'm a British MP. The sounds lead me
>>>to the hospital where Rantissi is being treated. Cars
>>>rush into the compound, horns blaring, people hanging
>>>out of windows. A man carries an injured girl into the
>>>hospital. But most of the Palestinians just stand
>>>waiting. They wait for Israelis to stamp their
>>>permits, and they wait for a Palestinian state. They
>>>are no different from us: deny them human rights and
>>>they will respond with unacceptable terrorist
>>>violence.
>>>
>>>That's what Jews did when they set up the Stern Gang
>>>and blew up the King David Hotel in the 1940s.
>>>Ninety-four people died. The leader of that terrorist
>>>group, on Britain's "most wanted" list, went on to be
>>>the Israeli prime minister. Many Jews revere him, even
>>>while they abhor the  terrorism that ruins their lives
>>>today. Israelis must be freed from terrorism - such as
>>>yesterday's horrific attack in Jersualem. All
>>>terrorism, not least Palestinian terrorism, is
>>>abhorrent. But it is also predictable. When the
>>>Israeli government chose Tuesday to launch an attack
>>>in Gaza (as it did again after yesterday's bombing),
>>>it cannot have been ignorant of its effect on the
>>>peace process and the certainty of Palestinian
>>>reprisals.
>>>
>>>The original founders of the Jewish state could surely
>>>not imagine the irony facing Israel today: in escaping
>>>the ashes of the Holocaust, they have incarcerated
>>>another people in a hell similar in its nature -
>>>though not its extent - to the Warsaw ghetto.
>>>
>>>Any visitor to the Palestinian ghetto can see the
>>  >signs: residents are sealed off and live under curfew;
>>>the authorities view torture as acceptable and use
>>>collective punishment as a means of control; soldiers
>>>drive families from their homes, confiscate property
>>>and demolish neighbourhoods; unemployment runs in
>>>places at 80%, and utilities such as water are
>>>withheld; the economy has "client" status, and is
>>>subservient to the occupiers in every way.
>>>
>>>As the more powerful side in the dispute, Israel must
>>>break the cycle of violence, comply with UN resolution
>>>242 and withdraw from territories occupied in 1967. As
>>>the occupying power, Israel must uphold the fourth
>>>Geneva convention and end all collective punishments.
>>>Illegal settlements must be dismantled. Repair of
>>>water, sewage, and other essential infrastructure
>>>should take place immediately.
>>>
>>>Just under 80% of all water resources in the West Bank
>>>and Gaza Strip are redirected from Palestinians to
>>>Israelis. The international community has to recognise
>>>the scale of the humanitarian disaster facing
>>>Palestinians and George Bush must put greater pressure
>>>on Sharon to give meaning to the road map. Yes,  there
>>>are two sides to every story. But no story should hold
>>>within it the horrors I have witnessed here, so
>>>similar in detail to humiliations suffered by the
>>>Jews.
>>>
>>>I have sadly come to the conclusion that, given the
>>>scale of the atrocities and collective punishment
>>>waged by the Israelis against the Palestinians, I have
>>>no choice but to boycott Israeli products. On
>>>reflection, whether Jewish or not, you might decide to
>>>do the same.
>>>
>>>
>>>Oona King is Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow (miahr at parliament.uk)
>>>
>>>__________________________________
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>>>http://sbc.yahoo.com
>>>


-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu