[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [HumanRights] An extraordinary rendition of Palestine

[Brussel Morton K.]

Reflections by Mazin Qumziyeh on "the peace process" and mention of the FBI/Justice department raids on U.S. dissidents. 

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Mazin Qumsiyeh" <mazin at qumsiyeh.org>
> Date: September 30, 2010 5:33:54 PM CDT
> To: Mort Brussel <brussel at illinois.edu>
> Cc: Human Rights Newsletter <humanrights at lists.qumsiyeh.org>
> Subject: [HumanRights] An extraordinary rendition of Palestine
> 
> The extraordinary rendition of Palestine
> By Mazin Qumsiyeh, In occupied Bethlehem, Palestine
> http://www.qumsiyeh.org/theextraordinaryrenditionofpalestine/
> 
> It has been a rather bizarre week in the Middle East.  Let me just cite a
> few examples:
> 
> - The International Atomic Agency (IAEA) succumbed to pressure from the US
> and other Western Countries and thus failed to make any explicit or even
> implicit request of Israel to join the nonproliferation treaty.  One of the
> excuses given is that there is a delicate peace process going and we do not
> want to upset the situation (i.e. Upset Israel)
> 
> -With help from an emasculated Palestinian authority, the United Nations
> Human Rights Council succumbed to the "might makes right" philosophy and
> refused to actively pursue Israel for its blatant violation of International
> law when it attacked Gaza. One of the excuses given is that there is a
> delicate peace process going and we do not want to upset the situation (i.e.
> Upset Israel)
> 
> -The UN human rights council issued a report about its investigation of
> Israeli use of force including apparently executing passengers on the Gaza
> bound freedom flotilla.  Yet, the great powers claim there is a UN
> commission of inquiry (three people sympathetic to Israel including a known
> war criminal) who will look into the matter of the attack and issue
> recommendations but without interviewing survivors or the attackers and
> without demanding from Israel the tapes, cameras etc that it confiscated
> (i.e. without evidence).  And yes, the US and great powers claim that there
> is a delicate peace process going and we do not want to upset the situation
> (i.e. Upset Israel)
> 
> - Israel refuses to stop colonial settlement activities on the remaining
> shreds of Palestinian territory.  The US administration will offer Israel
> all sorts of incentives including promising to support Israeli demands that
> any Palestinian statelet is devoid of sovereignty (e.g. Israeli troops
> continue to be posted at borders) and that there will not be any demands to
> implement Palestinian rights (e.g. return of refugees). But, this is part of
> diplomatic maneuvering because we want the "peace" talks (now on for 18
> years) to continue..
> 
> -News media parroted Israeli releases that the boarding of the latest boat
> to Gaza was done "without violence from those on board" or from the Israeli
> Navy.  Yet once those on board were released, we know that they told of
> horrific and degrading treatment done to them including being tasored. But
> hey, the Palestinian authority and Israel apartheid regime are in a peace
> process.  So who cares about what happens to an 80 year old holocaust
> survivor or a bunch of Jews with conscience. 
> 
> -The powerful Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman gave a speech at
> the UN bragging about the power and claiming there will be no peace for a
> very long time only interim arrangements some may involve transfer of part
> of the Palestinian population from inside the Green line to get rid of those
> while Israel keeps the settlement.  To counter the diplomatic damage,
> Netanyahu did not dismiss the ideas but merely said that his office makes
> policy.  The US continues to insist Netanyahu is serious about "peace" when
> even imbeciles can see that this is the most fascist rightwing government in
> Israel's history and that Netanyahu is a veteran liar (in private
> conversations he was recorded as dismissing all notions of peace).
> 
> -At the behest of the Zionist lobby, the EU and US governments are applying
> additional sanctions on Iran and Iranian officials on the pretext of
> suppressing human rights in Iran during recent unrest! Do they really think
> the world is blind, deaf, and mute? Do they not see that Iran's behavior
> towards dissidents is child's play compared to Israel's relentless massacres
> and ethnic cleansing? And need we remind ourselves of the FBI search and
> seizure policy against human rights activists in the US? Would they at least
> demand that Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire be released immediately
> from detention at Ben Gurion airport (named after a war criminal and ethnic
> cleanser).  Oh, yes I forget, the Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas,
> Saeb Erekat et al are talking peace here so we should all shut up.
> 
> -President Barak Obama with a straight face stands in front of the UN to
> declare " Those who long to see an independent Palestine must also stop
> trying to tear down Israel.  After thousands of years, Jews and Arabs are
> not strangers in a strange land.  After 60 years in the community of
> nations, Israel's existence must not be a subject for debate. Israel is a
> sovereign state, and the historic homeland of the Jewish people.  It should
> be clear to all that efforts to chip away at Israel's legitimacy will only
> be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States.  And efforts to
> threaten or kill Israelis will do nothing to help the Palestinian people."
> Imagine if he said the same thing about Apartheid South Africa. But then
> again there was no peace process other than between Chief Buthalesi
> Bantustan and the white regime.
> 
> -The Israeli occupation forces killed five Palestinians this week including
> a fisherman and a toddler and continued with its other policies of siege,
> building walls on Palestinian lands, arresting political activists etc as
> the talk about the talk of "peace" continues.  
> 
> These are just few of the rather bizarre happenings this week in the Middle
> East but when I think about it, we have had 62 years of misery, mayhem and
> pain filled with bizarre and almost unbelievable events.  Who would have
> though it possible to gather members of a particular ideology into one spot
> on earth, displacing its native people and making them refugees and yet
> label the victims terrorists.  Who would have thought that this would be
> achieved with incredible brutality supported by Western powers, themselves
> riddled with racism and hatred of non-whites?   
> 
> But we take heart in the fact that this whole rigged game is finally coming
> to an end.  Some claim that there is a trend that made the Palestinian cause
> a commodity traded for profit and positions and hence Palestine had been
> lost already in this game of world politics.  But I, writing these notes
> after a long day of work with Palestinians (weak and strong, young and old)
> can tell you that they underestimate us.   Like contrarian investing, I tell
> people to be careful in making gloomy predictions.  Things looked pretty
> gloomy in 1920, 1928, 1935, 1972, 1986, and 1999.  The year after in each of
> those things was not predicted or predictable by the majority of people.
> But I will go out on a limb and say that based on history, the next intifada
> is likely to be global.  Individuals have one of three choices regardless of
> their background: support the oppressors, be apathetic (and hence support
> the status quo of oppression), or join the growing movement saying "enough
> is enough".
> 
> For more on this subject see " What if Peace Talks "Succeed?"
> Many commentators expect the direct talks between Israelis and Palestinians
> to fail. But there is a much worse scenario: What if they "succeed?"
> http://al-shabaka.org/policy-brief/politics/what-if-peace-talks-succeed  
> 
> Mazin Qumsiyeh, PhD
> A Bedouin in Cyberspace, a villager at home
> http://www.qumsiyeh.org       
> Professor, Bethlehem and Birzeit Universities
> Chairman of the Board, Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People,
> http://www.pcr.ps 
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