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

[C. G. Estabrook]

I agree that the Italian parallel is a bit far-fetched:  the US has had more 
control for a longer time over Israeli policy than Germany did over Italian 
policy...


Brussel Morton K. wrote:
> I believe that is the indifference to Israeli policies, in view of perceived
> geostrategic and (domestic) political calculations, rather than a wish for
> Israel to continue colonizing, that is behind the USG's decsion not to put
> the clamps on Israel.
> 
> So, I reiterate:  Israel and its policies  are what drives this (colonizing).
> 
> 
> Let your bitterness not drive you to absolving everything that Israelis do by
> saying the U.S. is behind all of it.
> 
> And IMHO, the Italian reference is far fetched :-)
> 
> --mkb
> 
> 
> On May 11, 2009, at 11:33 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
> 
>> 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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