[Peace-discuss] Fwd: ZNet Daily Commentary: Ethnic Cleansing...

Mon May 11 11:33:59 CDT 2009

It's a not a question of "plenty of blame to go around."  You're not writing 
about the turpitude of Sri Lankans or Zimbabweans, but about America's chief 
client.  Israeli actions of he sort described would be impossible without the 
support and acquiescence of the USG. Why do you want to absolve the Obama 
administration?

The government of Israel is no more an unwitting actor that that of Italy was 
during WWII. But we wouldn't take very seriously someone who said that "the 
primary fault lies with the Italians"...  --CGE

Morton K. Brussel wrote:
> Sure, there is plenty of blame to go around in all this, but for me the 
> primary fault lies with the Israelis. You can condemn the U.S. political 
> system for its support for Israel despite that nation's actions, or you 
> can regard the U.S's. seeming indifference as being part of our quest 
> for control of the middle east (and elsewhere), but Israel and its 
> policies  are what drives this. The condemnation and threatened actions  
> by other nations, e.g., those in western Europe, could also help change 
> the behavior of Israel, but they also choose not to do so.
> 
> Your remark tends to absolve the Israel, as if it (its government)  is 
> simply an unwitting actor to the malfeasance of the U.S..
> 
> Wrong!
> 
> On May 11, 2009, at 8:09 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> 
>> And who finances it, has the power to prevent it, and chooses not to?
>>
>>
>> Morton K. Brussel wrote:
>>> FYI. The turpitude of Israeli policies towards Palestinians is 
>>> bottomless.
>>> Begin forwarded message:
>>>> *From: *zhelp at zcommunications.org <mailto:zhelp at zcommunications.org> 
>>>> *Date:
>>>> *May 10, 2009 10:20:03 PM CDT *To: *brussel at uiuc.edu
>>>> <mailto:brussel at uiuc.edu> *Subject: **ZNet Daily Commentary: Ethnic
>>>> Cleansing in East Jerusalem is Not a Paranoid Worry... It's 
>>>> Happening Now
>>>> by Bill Fletcher Jr.* *Reply-To: *zhelp at zcommunications.org
>>>> <mailto:zhelp at zcommunications.org>
>>>> ZNet <http://www.zcommunications.org>
>>>> <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/viewCommentaryPrint/3860> 
>>>> Print <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/viewCommentaryPrint/3860>
>>>> Ethnic Cleansing in East Jerusalem is Not a Paranoid Worry... It's 
>>>> Happening Now
>>>> May 10, 2009 By *Bill Fletcher Jr.*
>>>> Bill Fletcher Jr.'s ZSpace Page 
>>>> <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/billfletcher> / ZSpace 
>>>> <http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace>
>>>> The Israeli government often reminds me of a dog I once owned. My 
>>>> dog was
>>>> forbidden to enter into the living room. Nevertheless, she would 
>>>> creep into
>>>> the living room, usually moving a few inches at a time in order to see
>>>> whether we reacted. If we did not react, she would move further into 
>>>> the
>>>> living room. Sometimes, when she was in the mood, she would move so far
>>>> into the living room that she would feel comfortable tearing apart the
>>>> furniture.
>>>> A recently released United Nations report confirms what many human 
>>>> rights
>>>> activists have alleged: at least 60,000 Palestinians in East 
>>>> Jerusalem face
>>>> the prospect of eviction by Israeli authorities. Yet this story has
>>>> received relatively little mainstream attention, and even less official
>>>> condemnation.
>>>> Ever since the Israelis captured East Jerusalem in the June 1967 war 
>>>> they
>>>> have made clear their intent, despite widespread international 
>>>> protest and
>>>> in clear violation of international law, to annex Jerusalem. In 
>>>> order to
>>>> expedite this annexation, the Israeli occupation authorities have put
>>>> pressure on the Palestinians to "vacate the premises." The pressure has
>>>> included actions such as encouraging Israelis to settle in what had 
>>>> been
>>>> Palestinian East Jerusalem, while failing to build new and adequate 
>>>> housing
>>>> for the Palestinian people.
>>>> The current trick of the Israeli government is to move against 
>>>> Palestinian
>>>> residents by claiming that the Palestinians are living in homes that 
>>>> show
>>>> no proof of a legal building permit. What is perverse about this is 
>>>> that
>>>> the Israelis are not talking about housing built in the last several 
>>>> years
>>>> or even housing built since the June 1967 war. They are discussing 
>>>> housing
>>>> that has been occupied by Palestinians in many cases for decades! In 
>>>> fact,
>>>> according to the Washington Post [May 2, 2009] the dispute even 
>>>> involves
>>>> searching through archives from the time of the Ottoman Empire 
>>>> (which ended
>>>> when World War I ended in 1918) in order to prove ownership.
>>>> The Israeli government, of course, denies that they have any intent 
>>>> to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian population. How could they, of 
>>>> course,
>>>> given that they are supposed to be the model of democracy in the Middle
>>>> East??!! The reality is that what the Israeli government has been
>>>> conducting in East Jerusalem is part of the larger Israeli strategy 
>>>> in its
>>>> Occupation of the Palestinian territories: drive the Palestinians 
>>>> from the
>>>> best lands and replace them with Israeli settlers. Insofar as the world
>>>> does nothing, the Israeli government behaves much as my dog did; it 
>>>> moves
>>>> further and further in, increasing the intensity and scope of their
>>>> destructive behavior.
>>>> It should surprise no one that the Israelis are attempting to remove 
>>>> the
>>>> Palestinian population from Jerusalem. This has been consistent 
>>>> since the
>>>> June 1967 war. The extent of the projected removal - 60,000 people -
>>>> should, however, outrage any democratic minded person. Irrespective of
>>>> one's stand on the history of the development of Israel and its 
>>>> conflict
>>>> with the Palestinians, the fact of the matter is that the Israeli
>>>> government continues to violate international law and precedent without
>>>> having to fear any sort of international sanctions.
>>>> The proposed removal of 60,000 Palestinians increases the relevance and
>>>> timeliness of discussions regarding the need to develop a movement of
>>>> boycott, divestment and sanctions aimed at undermining the Israeli 
>>>> occupation of the Palestinian territories. Since it seems obvious 
>>>> that most
>>>> governments, including but not limited to the US government, are 
>>>> unwilling
>>>> to take steps to insist upon justice for the Palestinians, then 
>>>> pressure
>>>> needs to be brought about by squeezing corporations and governments 
>>>> that
>>>> are complicit in the criminal activities of the Israeli government.
>>>> Silence in the face of ethnic cleansing is simply unacceptable. The 
>>>> Israeli
>>>> government and its friends must understand that there is a cost 
>>>> involved
>>>> when it snubs its nose at the Palestinian people, and in fact, at 
>>>> the world
>>>> as well. ________________
>>>> BlackCommentator.com Executive Editor, Bill Fletcher, Jr., is a 
>>>> Senior Scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, the immediate 
>>>> past president
>>>> of TransAfrica Forum and co-author of, Solidarity Divided: The 
>>>> Crisis in
>>>> Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice (University of
>>>> California Press), which examines the crisis of organized labor in 
>>>> the USA.
>>>> He is also on the advisory board of the US Campaign to End the Israeli
>>>> Occupation (http://www.endtheoccupation.org/).
>>>> Source: BlackCommentator, May 7, 2009 
>>>> http://www.blackcommentator.com/323/323_aw_ethnic_cleaning_east_jerusalem.html 
>>>>
>>
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