[Peace-discuss] Zionist propaganda in Daily Illini

[David Green]

The issue concerns charges that UN ambulances are
being used for Hamas weapons. The charge was made by
Israel, of course, and repeated twice by DI columnists
this week. 

1. Article by Amira Hass
2. Statement by Peter Hansen
3. Summary Article
4. My letter to DI
5. Dvorin column
6. Johnson column

What would Israel do without UNRWA?
By Amira Hass

Ha'aretz
October 6, 2004

Peter Hansen, the commissioner-general of the UN
Relief and Works
Agency in the territories, is being persecuted for
having spoken
the truth: Members of Hamas work in UNRWA. The
Canadian Foreign
Affairs Department is concerned and the Israeli
Foreign Ministry
is not upset over the "revelation." Two days after the
broadcast
of aerial photos that allegedly show, according to
Israel,
Palestinians loading a Qassam rocket into a UNRWA
ambulance,
Hansen's words could strengthen Israeli accusations
that "UNRWA
is collaborating with terrorists."

But the Israeli assault on UNRWA could turn out to be
a
double-edged sword, if it leads to a cutback in the
donations
upon which the organization's budget depends. Because
UNRWA is
one of the most important safety nets the
international community
has spread out under Israel, which, as an occupying
power, has
been unwilling to recognize its responsibility for the
occupied
civilian population. For the past three years, the UN
has been
regularly providing food aid to about half the
Palestinian
population, which is in a state of "food insecurity."
UNRWA alone
provides regular food aid to about 1.5 million
Palestinians in
the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

World Bank studies show that the direct reason for the
collapse
of the Palestinian economy and the scope of
Palestinian poverty
is the Israeli policy of putting drastic restrictions
on movement
within the territories. The UN food aid is preventing
outbreaks
of disease and the spread of malnutrition. How would
Israel's UN
ambassador, who is calling for Hansen's removal,
respond to
reports of malnutrition of an African-type scale, if
not outright
hunger, in the territories that Israel controls?

UNRWA is currently the body most concerned with
finding new
housing for thousands of refugees made homeless by
Israel's home
demolitions in the Gaza Strip. In these very days,
when Israel
Defense Forces bulldozers are causing people to flee
their homes
in the Jabalya refugee camp, UNRWA - along with the
relatives of
those affected - is mobilizing to provide initial aid
in the form
of food, textbooks, kitchen appliances and medicines -
everything
that was lost to the teeth of the Israeli machinery.
After that,
it will also supervise and coordinate the rebuilding
of the
houses. Just as it is doing in Jenin, Rafah and Khan
Yunis, and
thereby preventing a deepening of the Palestinian
social crisis,
as well as sparing Israel from having to give an
accounting under
international law for the harm done to the civilian
population
under its occupation.

Palestinian Muslim society, especially in Gaza, is
becoming
increasingly devout as earthly life becomes tougher
and tougher,
and secular and nationalistic political solutions
fail. One
manifestation of this is the growing support for Hamas
as a
religious-national movement whose leaders have proven
- in the
eyes of many Palestinians - to be more fair and caring
than the
leaders of Fatah and the Palestinian Authority. Not
all Hamas
supporters believe in the movement's
messianic-political platform
of a "Greater Muslim Palestine." Most Hamas supporters
are not
involved in the activities of the movement's military
wing.
Various surveys show support for Hamas in Gaza ranging
from 25 to
40 percent of the population. Many of these supporters
are
teachers, nurses and doctors. It's only natural that
some would
look for and find work with UNRWA, the second-largest
employer
after the PA. If the Canadian Foreign Affairs
Department wishes
to understand the phenomenon, it ought to consult
sociologists
and historians of occupying, colonial regimes rather
than rely on
superficial intelligence reports.

And as for the question of the Qassam or the
stretcher: One hopes
that the UN team that looks into the Israeli
accusations will get
to the real truth of the matter. Perhaps it also ought
to have a
talk with Zohar Shapira, a sergeant major in the
reserves who is
in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit. He participated in
Operation
Defensive Shield in April 2002 and was astounded to
discover that
the IDF was using military ambulances to
surreptitiously
transport troops on their way to apprehend suspects in
Yazid,
north of Nablus. His commanders told him that this was
a war and
that ambulances were the most protected vehicles at
their
disposal. The UN committee would hear Shapira complain
about the
misuse of ambulances - by both sides, but as an
Israeli he is
also upset about the hypocrisy of the IDF and
government
spokespeople. An IDF spokesman promised the Maariv
reporter who
published Shapira's testimony in June that, in the
wake of a few
complaints, "procedures have been sharpened." Okay,
but Shapira
and the Palestinians have no military drones with
which to
ascertain whether the new procedures are being
implemented. But,
even if it is proven that it was a Qassam, just as the
IDF should
not be subjected to a sweeping accusation, neither
should UNRWA.
Only someone who does not want to recognize the
commitment of
UNRWA employees to the society in which they live
could rush to
tarnish the entire organization with the charge of
"collaboration
with terrorists."

Evidently, neither Hansen nor UNRWA are the real
target of the
Israeli diplomatic assault, but rather the UN and any
other
institution that dares to overstep the boundaries set
by the U.S.
State Department spokesman in criticizing Israel's
policies.
___________________________________
UNRWA Press Release 2 October 2004
UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in
the Near
East-Headquarters Gaza
website: www.unrwa.org
Press Release No. HQ/G/30/2004
2 October 2004

Response by Commissioner-General Peter Hansen
to Allegations Regarding Misuse of a UN Vehicle

GAZA - On 1 October in the evening the Israeli Army
provided video
footage to the international press purporting to show
"a UN vehicle
transporting a Qassam rocket". Given the gravity of
the allegation, I
immediately ordered my staff to obtain a copy of the
footage in question
and initiated an investigation into the alleged facts.

On the footage: I have now seen the footage in
question. I can confirm
it shows one of UNRWA's ambulances. It then shows
three persons walking
swiftly towards it. One of these persons is carrying
in one hand a
light, long and thin object. The person then easily
throws the object
into the back of the ambulance.

(Note: the footage has erased the indication of the
date on which it was
shot. There is no way of identifying when or where the
clip was taken.)

On the investigation: UNRWA's investigation into the
facts included
interviews with all the ambulance drivers and crews
who have been active
in the area. I am fully satisfied with the veracity of
the testimony
given to me by these UNRWA staff members, who have
solemnly declared
that they have acted in conformity with stringent UN
rules of behaviour
at all times. I might add that these staff members are
carrying out
highly dangerous humanitarian work with selfless
commitment.



While the quality of the video clip is poor, its
analysis shows beyond
the shadow of a doubt that the object carried and
thrown into the
vehicle is not / cannot be a Qassam rocket: I have
been told that a
Qassam rocket weighs at least 32 kilogrammes and that
its diameter is
approx. 17 cm. On neither count does the object shown
in the film
correspond in the least to this description: it is
much thinner, longer
and obviously much lighter than a rocket. In my mind
and in that of
those whom I have consulted, it is clearly a folded
stretcher, a logical
and indispensable accessory in any ambulance.

It is not the first time that the Government of Israel
has propagated
falsehoods against UNRWA: a few months ago, two
Cabinet Ministers
declared in public that UNRWA ambulances were carrying
body parts of
fallen Israeli soldiers. When challenged to produce
the evidence backing
up this claim, or to retract the statement and offer
an apology, the
Ministers in question were not able to provide any
response and have
remained silent. In that case too, a thorough
investigation was carried
out and led to the conclusion that there was not a
shred of evidence to
suggest that the claim had any basis in fact.

I should like to emphasize in closing that I am
concerned that such
false allegations can lead to increased aggressive
behaviour by Israelis
towards the United Nations in general and UN
humanitarian staff in
particular, and therefore seriously increase the risks
which UN
personnel face in this zone of violent conflict.

__________________________________________________
UNRWA demands Israel apologize over Qassam accusation
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/484443.html
By The Associated Press and Haaretz Service

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) on
Sunday demanded an
apology from Israel over accusations that Gaza
militants used a UN vehicle
to transport a homemade rocket.


The world body refuted the charges at a news
conference in Gaza on Sunday.
It showed what it said was the ambulance seen in
footage released by the
Israel Defense Forces and presented its driver and
rescue workers to
reporters.

Rescue worker Wahel Ghabayen, 38, said he had run with
a stretcher to a
school in Jabalya on Friday after he heard that
someone there may have been
wounded. The wounded boy had already been moved by the
time he arrived, he
said.

"I came back to the car with the stretcher, and I
folded it and threw it
inside the car," he said. "If it was a missile, I
would not throw it into
the car but would put it in carefully."

The director of operations for UNRWA, Lionel Brisson,
said UN workers do
not carry weapons or armed militants in UN vehicles.
"We want an apology
from the Israelis, because we didn't commit any
wrongdoing," he said.

The blurred black-and-white Israeli video showed three
men walking toward
the UN vehicle, including one who carried an elongated
object. The army
said the object was a rocket of the type used by
militants to target
southern Israel.

UN officials said the object was a stretcher, noting
that the man in the
footage was carrying it with one hand, a difficult
task with a Qassam,
which weighs anywhere from 5.5 to 35 kilograms.

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations, Dan
Gillerman, has sent a letter
to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanding the
dismissal of Peter Hansen
from his position as commissioner-general of UNRWA.

The letter communicates Israel's claim that Hamas is
using UN ambulances as
a means of smuggling arms and terrorists through the
Gaza Strip.

Last Wednesday the Israel Defense Forces documented
two men loading a
Qassam rocket onto a van bearing a large UN logo. The
photographed images,
taken from an unmanned plane in the Jabalya refugee
camp, were broadcast on
network television on Friday night. After the rocket
was loaded, the
vehicle left the spot. Army sources say that the IDF
avoided firing at the
vehicle, as it had done in other instances, fearing
that it might be a UN
ambulance.

UNRWA maintains a fleet of ambulances in the Gaza
Strip, which are used for
evacuating wounded. UN ambulances have been used
before to transport armed
Palestinians and weapons. Last May similar scenes were
documented by the
IDF in Rafah and in the Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza.

Hansen told Haaretz that it is easy to prove that the
suspicious looking
object in the photo is a stretcher. According to
Hansen, the image
broadcast on television shows two men approaching two
ambulances, one of
whom is carrying an object that could not weigh more
than a few kilos. He
said that he had learned from a simple Google search
that a Qassam rocket
is 1.80 meters long and weighs 50 kilos.

The photographic image, on the other hand, Hansen
explained, reveals an
object 5 centimeters wide, while the Qassam has a
diameter of 17
centimeters. A piece of cloth, he added, was clearly
visible in the photo,
which proves it was an ambulance stretcher, and
naturally, this is what the
ambulance crew were carrying. Hansen also said that he
is concerned that
the IDF's unfounded accusations might lead to
incitement, since soldiers
who give credence to the IDF statement, may become
suspicious of every
ambulance that arrives at a checkpoint, putting UNRWA
crews in grave
danger.

Gillerman has conveyed information about the film to
Annan, and to his
envoy in the region, Terje Larsen, demanding
explanations.

"We will demand an inquiry committee with the
authority to reach
unequivocal conclusions - maybe even personal
conclusions - especially
regarding Peter Hansen, the UNRWA envoy in Israel, who
for years has
expressed anti-Israeli, biased, unrestrained positions
and statements,"
Gillerman told Israel Radio on Sunday.

Several months ago Israel filed a complaint in New
York against UNRWA
personnel for ignoring the use of UN ambulances by
Hamas. The complaint
never earned a significant response from the
director-general. Israel has
also voiced objections about Peter Hansen's conduct,
claiming he has
consistently adopted a trenchant anti-Israel line.
However, this is the
first time that Israel is directly and unambiguously
demanding Hansen's
removal from his UNRWA post.

Hansen, a Danish diplomat, was appointed
commissioner-general of UNRWA
several years ago, making him one of the most senior
officials in the
organization.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/485500.html

________________________________________________

Editor, Daily Illini:

               David Johnson (10/4) claims that the
United Nations “allows its ambulances to be used to
smuggle rockets targeted at Israeli children.” Elie
Dvorin (10/7) repeats this charge in more elaborate
form.
 
               General Peter Hansen of the U.N. Relief
and Works Agency in Gaza investigated these charges.
He concluded in an October 2nd press release: “UNRWA's
investigation into the facts included interviews with
all the ambulance drivers and crews who have been
active in the area. I am fully satisfied with the
veracity of the testimony given to me by these UNRWA
staff members, who have solemnly declared that they
have acted in conformity with stringent UN rules of
behaviour at all times. I might add that these staff
members are carrying out highly dangerous humanitarian
work with selfless commitment.”
 
               Hansen continues: “While the quality of
the video clip is poor, its analysis shows beyond the
shadow of a doubt that the object carried and thrown
into the vehicle is not /cannot be a Qassam rocket: I
have been told that a Qassam rocket weighs at least 32
kilogrammes and that its diameter is approx. 17 cm. On
neither count does the object shown in the film
correspond in the least to this description: it is
much thinner, longer and obviously much lighter than a
rocket. In my mind . . . it is clearly a folded
stretcher, a logical and indispensable accessory in
any ambulance.”
 
               General Hansen has demanded an apology
from Israel: “It is inconceivable,” he writes, “that
the IDF could have made this egregiously erroneous
allegation in good faith.” Johnson and Dvorin owe a
similar apology to DI readers. Their views are guided
by bias and bigotry. They should check facts, rather
than repeating the Zionist propaganda that has shaped
their warped view of the Israel-Palestine conflict.

David Green
_________________________________________________________________

The Daily Illini - Opinions 
Issue: 10/7/04 

Ignorance is bliss
By Elie Dvorin 

Sometimes, enough is just enough. The Israeli Air
Force recently acquired video footage of Palestinian
terrorists loading what appears to be Qassam rockets
into a U.N. ambulance. That wouldn't mark the first
time U.N. ambulances have been used to commit
terrorist attacks against Israelis.

Those ambulances have been used to transport suicide
bombers into Israel from disputed territories, but
that barely touches the surface of the anti-Israel
bigotry in the United Nations.

Immediately after the ambulance footage came to light,
Peter Hansen, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief
and Work Agency, announced there were members of Hamas
on the U.N. payroll. Hansen didn't think too much of
the the United Nations paying terrorists to work
inside Gaza and the West Bank.

"We do not do political vetting and exclude people
from one persuasion as against another," he said.

At least the terrorists are now free from employment
discrimination. 

Imagine world reaction if the Red Cross hired Ku Klux
Klan members to work in Nigeria. One of the Red Cross
talking heads might get up to say: "Well, we don't
believe they've personally ever lynched anybody and,
well ... political views are political views. Who are
we to say anything about that?"

Both the idiocy and the hypocrisy are so rampant at
the United Nations, I don't even know where to begin.
Consider the following: Israel is the only member
state of the United Nations not allowed on any
councils or agencies. To do so would offend the Arab
bloc - the group that does nothing other than
constantly vote to condemn Israel for its
"human-rights abuses." A free market, voting rights,
health care, free speech, freedom of the press,
religious freedom - maybe they're referring to those
human-right abuses. 

One-fourth of the U.N. Security Council's resolutions
have condemned Israel and the "occupation" over the
past 40 years. From 1967 to 1988, the Security Council
passed 88 resolutions against Israel and not a single
one against an Arab nation. In the General Assembly,
429 resolutions were passed against Israel and again,
nothing against the bloc of backward-thinking Arab
states; nothing about the Syrian occupation of
Lebanon; nothing about slavery in Sudan; nothing about
the mass of graves in Iraq.

If the Security Council wasn't enough of a joke, the
U.N. Human Rights Commission consists of countries
such as Libya, Sudan, China, Vietnam and Syria. Enough
said.

In 2002, this group of "freedom-loving" states passed
a resolution allowing "all available means, including
armed struggle" to create a Palestinian state. Of
course, the 57 nations of the Islamic Conference
passed this resolution, which permitted suicide
bombings and rocket attacks on innocent Israel
civilians in the name of Palestinian statehood.
Really, what's a few dead Israelis to them?

Less than two weeks before his tragic death in 1968,
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said: "Peace for Israel
means security, and we must stand with all our might
to protect its right to exist, its territorial
integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts
of democracy in the world."

As a strong supporter of Zionism, Dr. King would have
his views declared racist by the United Nations in
1975 when the famous "Zionism is Racism" resolution
was passed. So according to the United Nations, anyone
who believes in Israel's right to exist is racist.
Take that, Dr. King. 

Maybe it's not so difficult to believe such a foolish
resolution was passed, considering the man running the
United Nations was a Nazi. Kurt Waldheim, U.N.
secretary general during the 70s, was a Nazi
intelligence officer during World War II. To this day,
he is not allowed in the United States. In addition to
committing numerous war crimes, Waldheim approved
anti-Semitic propaganda leaflets, distributed in
Russia, that said: "Enough of the Jewish war ... kill
the Jews." 

Despite all of that damning evidence, the political
left and terrorist sympathizers dismiss these claims
of institutional anti-Semitism as a false Zionist
construct. The only thing scarier than the United
Nations' bigotry is that most people don't recognize
it exists.

Ignorance is such bliss.

Elie Dvorin is a junior in LAS. His column runs
Thursday. He can be reached at
opinions at dailyillini.com. 
 
The Daily Illini - Opinions 
Issue: 10/4/04 

Opinion column: Making it acceptable
By David Johnson 

In the first presidential debate on Thursday, Sen.
John Kerry implied that the U.S. liberation of Iraq
failed what he dubbed the "global test." According to
Kerry, President Bush didn't convince the world that
the United States's intentions in Iraq were
legitimate. Kerry elaborated on this point, berating
the president's attempts at building a "true alliance"
and "exhausting the remedies of the United Nations."

Ah, the United Nations. The same organization that
allows its ambulances to be used to smuggle rockets
targeted at Israeli children. The same organization
whose "peacekeepers" prostitute women in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. The same organization
that provides a meaningless forum for representatives
of dictatorships to advocate tyranny. 

Perhaps the United Nations isn't the best measuring
stick for U.S. citizens to compare themselves to. Yet
Kerry still contends the president alienated important
allies during his year-long "rush to war" (If this was
a "rush to war," what word would describe President
Roosevelt's decision in 1941 to quickly respond to the
Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor by attacking Germany,
a nation that hadn't attacked the United States?).

The problem is that these key alienated allies
supposedly consist of France, her pet Belgium and
neighbor Germany. However, the governments that
represent the majority of the European Union are
members of the coalition. This begs the question: Why
do we need France's approval to go to war?

We're discussing a nation whose current president,
Jacques Chirac, orchestrated the sale of a nuclear
reactor to Saddam Hussein in the late 1970s. France
also sold Saddam weaponry and other military
technology until as recently as 2003. The French also
benefited from lucrative oil contracts with Saddam.
French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin recently
expressed confidence that French hostages held by
terrorists in Iraq would be released, because "the
Iraqi insurgents are our best allies." Let's hope that
lost something in the translation.

France's resistance to the removal of Saddam could
hardly be said to be out of some noble opposition to
the use of military force. Senator Kerry's implication
that perhaps a taller, more nuanced president could
bring our "allies" to the table is not only laughable
but also simply incorrect. French officials stated as
recently as last week, that regardless of who is
elected in November, France's policy toward the new
Iraq will not change. With key allies like France, who
needs enemies?

With regards to the supposedly utopian ideal of
multilateralism, President Bush tries too hard. For
some reason his administration seems obsessed with
being liked and accepted. If he wanted to be
acceptable, he could learn a thing or two from John
Kerry, who flipped from hawk to anti-war candidate
after Howard Dean took the lead in the Democratic
primaries. Sure, we have no idea what John Kerry
actually believes on the matter, but at least he made
his positions more acceptable. 

The United States became great because of its
steadfast beliefs and values. Why put these to the
"global test?"

David Johnson is a senior in business. He is a guest
columnist. He can be reached at
opinions at dailyillini.com. 
 

 
 




		
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