[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [HumanRights] UN Commemoration

[Morton K.Brussel]

More from Qumsiyeh. mkb

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> Palestine ghost haunts UN Commemoration of Camp Liberation
> http://www.qumsiyeh.org/UNcommemoration/
>
> By Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD*
>
> Kofi Annan reminded the UN in a special session to commemorate the 
> liberation of the Nazi concentration camps that this was why the UN 
> was formed and documents like the Universal Declaration of Human 
> Rights (UDHR) got adopted.  He did not mention that a senior UN 
> officer was removed from his office because he spoke for human rights 
> of Palestinians (Peter Hansen). The Zionist speakers who followed 
> Annan claimed that support of Zionism and Israel is the way to honor 
> Nazi victims. Conflating Jewish historical suffering with interests of 
> the Israeli governments and Zionism is analogous to conflating Native 
> American suffering with US government interests and Capitalism.
>
> But history is not kind to this narrative.   Zionist influence was 
> used to break the boycott on Nazi Germany in the 1930s (started by 
> Socialist Jews) and to insist that the only door open for European 
> Jews was the door to settlement in Palestine.   David Ben Gurion, the 
> father of the State of Israel and its first prime minister, once 
> stated: ''If I knew that it would be possible to save all the children 
> in Germany by bringing them over to England, and only half of them by 
> transporting them to Eretz Yisrael, then I would opt for the second 
> alternative. For we must weigh not only the accounting these children, 
> but also the historical accounting of Am Yisrael'
>
> Why were non-Zionist Jews excluded from this conference?  There are 
> many such folks who also wrote books on Zionism: 'Ben Gurion's 
> Scandals' (by Naeim Giladi), 'The Holocaust Industry' (Finkelstein), 
> 'The Myths of Zionism' (Rose), '51 documents: Zionist Collaboration 
> with the Nazis' (Brenner), among hundreds of others. I believe 
> Zionists are a product of a different era and leave it to readers to 
> evaluate these books.   But as Palestinian-American, I lament how 
> Zionist speakers failed to take the opportunity at the UN to recognize 
> their victims and truly begin reconciliation. Jewish theologian Marc 
> Ellis explains in his book 'Out of the Ashes' why healing is sorely 
> needed after the Nazi atrocities.  But he also explained why healing 
> needs recognition of the atrocities committed over six decades against 
> Palestinians.
>
> Zionism in practice meant transforming Palestine from 94% Muslim and 
> Christian to a self declared exclusivist 'Jewish state' now struggling 
> with its identity and with a 'demographic threat'.  The 20% of 
> Palestinians who remained in the area that became Israel after the 
> 1947-1949 era have grown from 220,000 to nearly 1.3 million (20% of 
> Israel's population). 3.5 million Palestinians also live in the 22% of 
> Palestine occupied in 1967.  Israeli law says that any Jew (including 
> converts) is a national of the state and can acquire automatic 
> citizenship while Palestinians born there could not return because 
> they are not Jewish. Nearly five million Palestinians are thus 
> refugees or displaced people.
>
> That is why many Zionists have come to promote a mini-state 
> (reservation) for Palestinians.  This is challenged by a growing 
> Israeli, Jewish, and Palestinian movement for justice and equality.  A 
> durable and just peace that benefits all can materialize by replacing 
> concepts of ethnocentric and/or religious nationalism with concepts of 
> equality in citizenship.  All issues including refugees can be dealt 
> with based on equality and human rights.
>
> Enabled by billions of US tax money and protection at the UN by the 
> only remaining superpower, Zionist leaders reject International Law 
> and continue to engage in gross violations of basic Human Rights 
> (according to all Human Rights groups who looked into this).   The 
> UDHR mentioned by Annan should be the road map to peace instead of the 
> US-touted 'road map'. In 2218 words the latter fails to mention either 
> 'human rights' or 'International law' (or even the word 'rights').
>
> A change in US foreign policy to really promote freedom and democracy 
> is needed and we should start with our dependent allies Jordan, Egypt, 
> and Israel. Courageous leaders are needed. Mandela needed a DeKlerk 
> who recognized that apartheid in South Africa is incompatible with 
> durable peace or security.
>
> Making two thirds of the Palestinians refugees or displaced people is 
> not the same as the horrors of WWII.  But the meeting at the UN could 
> have provided the best opportunity for a declaration that when we say 
> never again, we mean never again should such suffering be inflicted on 
> any people, including Palestinians.
>
> *Author of "Sharing the Land of Canaan: Human Rights and the Israeli 
> Palestinian Struggle"