[Peace-discuss] Fwd: [HumanRights] Time for change?

Sun May 6 03:24:41 UTC 2012

It's useful to read Mazin.
--mkb

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Mazin Qumsiyeh <mazin at qumsiyeh.org>
> Date: May 5, 2012 4:00:53 PM CDT
> To: <brussel at uiuc.edu>
> Cc: Human Rights Newsletter <humanrights at lists.qumsiyeh.org>
> Subject: [HumanRights] Time for change?
> 
> *Time for change?*
> 
> *by Mazin Qumsiyeh*
> 
> http://popular-resistance.blogspot.com/2012/05/time-for-change.html
> 
> 
> 
> Palestinian political prisoners illegally held in Israeli jails are on
> hunger strike and some are near death.  The population of strikers includes
> 200 child prisoners, 27 Palestinian legislative council members, and 456
> prisoners from Gaza who have not been allowed family visits since 2007
> [1].  Meanwhile, colonization continued at a relentless pace. Ramzy Baroud
> and Jeff Halper argue that Israel is “fixing” the outcome and is an
> “end-game” scenario to take over most of the West Bank and leave us in
> small cantons [2]. Yet, judging from my research into the carefully planned
> Zionist project, such plans are not end games but mileposts to give the
> Zionists time to consolidate gains in preparation for the next round of
> expansion in precisely the way Ben Gurion described it to his son in 1937.
> Ben Gurion explained lucidly how the new state of Israel when established
> on part of the coveted land would be a base of steady expansion and growth
> in the future with or without agreement from “Arabs” [3].  I pondered how
> little has changed in the intervening 75 years.  Colonial Israel continues
> to push the envelope and expand with or without agreement from compliant
> “Arabs”. Compliant Arabs existed in 1937 (headed by Ragheb Al-Nashashibi)
> and existed in 1967 and in 2012.  There also existed intellectual and
> honest Arabs throughout our history.
> 
> 
> 
> Zionist colonization is not driven by emotion or haphazard action.  It is
> done as instructed by the founding father of Political Zionism Theodore
> Herzl in 1897: "we must investigate and take possession of the new Jewish
> country by means of every modern expedient." Modern expedients advocated by
> Herzl include planned methodical structure to remove the native people
> (with or without agreement of some Arabs) and create a large Jewish state.
> Herzl was not specific on size of the "required estate" but Ben Gurion and
> people of his era thought it possible to go as far as between the Nile and
> the Euphrates.
> 
> 
> 
> The plans of colonizers are remarkably similar and known from the diaries
> of Herzl in 1897, from the letter from Ben Gurion to his son in 1937, the
> Allon plan of 1967, and from the Hebron accords of 1997.  It is a plan of
> expansion without some Arabs consenting or occasionally with agreement from
> some Arabs. These agreements, like the treaties that some Native Americans
> signed with the government of the United States in its expansionary
> phase, were and are violated because they are merely consolidation tools
> [4]. I think like these Native American chiefs some Palestinians thought
> that they are doing the best they could under difficult circumstances.
> Most of the Native American “leaders” had no concept or understanding of
> the true nature of the notions and emotions driving the Westward expansion
> of the white colonialists in the USA.  They did not delve deeply into
> notions of manifest destiny, choseness, and racism that characterize their
> oppressors.  One could say the ideology of Native Americans exhibited the
> exact opposite of their colonizers and thus they presumed that white rulers
> are ultimately human and could be dealt with as equals.
> 
> 
> 
> Peace for natives is to get their freedom, to live in dignity, and most of
> all to get the boot of colonization off our necks.  Peace for the
> colonizers is to have the victim stop wiggling under their boots.  Towards
> this they devised ingenious plans including a Palestinian Preventive
> Security force.   Any rational human being can see this dictation and
> imbalance of power in daily news.  Thus the people are left out of
> decisions whether on “negotiations”,  on "national reconciliation", ongoing
> and not going to the UN, or on how they may eventually be liberated.
> Despairing and riding a ship without compass or rudder, the people grumble
> and boil underneath and later erupt in revolt.
> 
> 
> 
> Needs and desires of the colonizers and the colonized are not the same.
> Occupiers and colonizers want more opportunities to progress via
> consolidation and strengthening of the status quo and allowing them to
> expand further.   We, the occupied and colonized people, want to halt and
> eventually reverse the process of injustice.  Palestinians want to return
> to our homes and lands and live peacefully as we did for millennia.   We
> insist on return and self-determination.  We insist that the country must
> remain multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multi-cultural.  This is not a
> border dispute nor is it a quibble over the Israeli illegal control of the
> religious sites.  Like in the struggle in South Africa under apartheid, it
> is a struggle that pits two very different visions of the area: one of
> racism and apartheid and the other of justice and equality.
> 
> 
> 
> Sporadic acts of heroic popular resistance are not enough to reach peace
> with justice.  Coordination and joint action must take place.  What hinders
> it is a system developed by the occupiers and agreed to by some of the
> occupied people.  Personal economic benefit maintains the status quo. What
> is done with support from a Palestinian authority is nothing short of
> making this occupation the most profitable in history (several billion
> dollars flow annually to Israeli coffers as a result of this
> occupation).  Already Israeli and Palestinian business deals are being
> executed for example in area C.  This is the “economic peace plan” of
> Netanyahu and others.  Those who may think of disrupting the status quo are
> investigated and punished.  Most Palestinians are excellent diagnosticians
> and have figured this out.  But I think many have not started to articulate
> solutions or ideas to get out of this mud hole that the Oslo Process
> (actually started with the 10 point program in 1974) put us into.  It is
> not going to be easy and it does require sacrifice.  But those delusional
> individuals who think that they have a salary or a position and they do not
> want to risk rocking the boat should think again. They should think of how
> their children or grandchildren would live under a system of racism and
> oppression.  This is as true of Israelis as it is true of Palestinians.
> 
> 
> 
> Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) give us hope.  Shimon Peres, the
> architect of Israel’s arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction and a war
> criminal once explained: "In order to export you need good products, but
> you also need good relations....[If] Israel's image gets worse, it will
> begin to suffer boycotts. There is already an artistic boycott against us
> and signs of an undeclared financial boycott are beginning to emerge."
> International figures who worked against apartheid in South Africa argued
> convincingly of why this can help here in Apartheid Israel [5]. But BDS is
> only a tool and certainly not sufficient to effect the needed
> change.  There has to be a structured program from the people which
> includes an articulation of a vision with concrete goals for the
> future.  In my book “Sharing the Land of Canaan” in 2004 I argued for
> precisely such a program to move from apartheid to a state of all its
> citizens.  These notions have gained widespread acceptance among
> intellectuals and activists of various religious and political
> backgrounds.  To arrive to this vision, we need organization.
> 
> 
> 
> Organization requires visionary leadership arising organically from a
> maturing rising population.   We should not be reluctant to push our
> existing leaders and if they are not willing to move then to create
> alternative leadership.   ALL Factions have aging and non-innovative
> leadership and ALL factions have younger energetic and dedicated (but
> marginalized) individuals.  Clearly the status quo is devastating for us
> and cannot last.  We know from history that people will rise-up and DEMAND
> change.
> 
> 
> 
> Is it time for varied voices to coalesce into a thunderous uproar that
> cannot be ignored?  May we organize meetings and discuss publicly the path
> forward?  While many for example discussed the failure of the "two state
> solution" and some articulated future visions, we need more than that. Can
> we as a people in 1948 areas, in the WB and Gaza and in exile create
> mechanisms and structures that take us to where we decide to go?  Can we
> convince the world and even Israelis that we are serious about working for
> a future of peace with justice and prosperity for everyone?  Voices of
> negativism must not dominate this critical stage.  This conversation must
> be open to people of goodwill from all factions and from independents.
> While it must start among Palestinians, we must later involve our trusted
> supporters from around the world.  We do have the resources: financial,
> intellectual, emotional, and physical. Let those who have skills in
> organizing organize and those who have skills in media work do media work.
> Let those who have skills in social networking do that.  Those who have
> skills in music write songs for the revolution.  Imagine if we can get even
> 5% or even 1% of the Palestinians around the world as participants in an
> organized effort.  The change that could happen can be monumental.
> 
> 
> 
> The world today only respects those who respect themselves and struggle for
> their own rights.  We have nothing to be ashamed of as Palestinians even
> though 7 million of us are refugees or displaced people.  We have a lot to
> be proud of from our history [6]. We cannot give up now that the crisis of
> Palestine weighed on the world conscience and when the Arab spring could
> change the whole geopolitical reality of the Middle East.  Even if we fail
> at our goal this time, the positive spirit that results would enrich all
> our lives. It would unleash the creativity and the energy that we know is
> in us.   Change can and must happen because ours is an existential struggle
> for 11.5 million Palestinians in the world and for our children and
> grandchildren born and unborn.  Each of us has a role to play and has
> skills and other resources to contribute.  Even if we start slow and among
> a few individuals, it will grow because we have no other choice. Let us get
> on with it.
> 
> 
> 
> [1]
> http://www.alhaq.org/documentation/weekly-focuses/569-palestinian-prisoners-near-death
> 
> [2] Ramzy Baroud- Israel plots an end-game
> 
> http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2012/05/03/illegal-settlements-bonanza-israel-plots-an-endgame/
> ,
> 
> Jeff Halper
> http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/04/2012428124445821996.html but
> see also Susan Abulhawa's reply to Jeff Halper
> http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19274<http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=19274#.T6RigYJSHIA.twitter>
> 
> [3] Ben Gurion letter to his son, sent October 5, 1937 Translation here
> 
> http://www.palestine-studies.org/files/B-G%20Letter%20translation.pdf
> 
> [4] The Oslo accords were an excellent tool by Israel to consolidate its
> hold and in violations of the Geneva conventions allowed Israel “civil
> control” in >60% of the West Bank called area C.  In further negotiations
> it was leaked how much people like Saeb Erekat were willing to keep going
> in handing over these areas to Israel
> http://www.aljazeera.com/palestinepapers/
> 
> [5] Desmond Tutu on the need for Divestment from Israeli apartheid
> 
> http://www.tampabay.com/opinion/columns/justice-requires-action-to-stop-subjugation-of-palestinians/1227722
> 
> [6] “Popular Resistance in Palestine: A history of Hope and Empowerment”
> http://www.qumsiyeh.org/popularresistanceinpalestine/
> -------------- next part --------------
> An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
> URL: <http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/pipermail/humanrights/attachments/20120506/0758d7ce/attachment.htm>
> _______________________________________________
> HumanRights newsletter
> http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/mailman/listinfo/humanrights
> This message was sent to brussel at uiuc.edu.  To unsubscribe, visit:
> http://lists.qumsiyeh.org/mailman/options/humanrights/brussel%40uiuc.edu

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.chambana.net/pipermail/peace-discuss/attachments/20120505/3e3371e4/attachment-0001.html>