Posting 11. to the On the Ground category, by Vicky Lindsay, 18 May 2006
Dear George,
This week Israelis are celebrating the 58th anniversary of the creation of the state of Israel, and Palestinians are mourning the 58th anniversary of the Nakba, the catastrophe, their expulsion from their homes in Palestine.
I’m writing to tell you about a just-published book — The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan (Bloomsbury, May 2, 2006) which sheds light on both of these watershed events of May, 1948. It is the story of a house in Ramle/Ramla. It was built in 1936 by the al-Khairi family on land which had been in their family since the sixteenth century. They were expelled in 1948 when Bashir al-Khairi was six years old. Soon after, the Eskenazi family – refugees, dispossessed — arrived on a ship from Bulgaria, and moved into the house — which, they were told, had been abandoned. Their daughter, Dalia was one year old.
Dalia and Bashir meet nearly 20 years later and through the complex, deep, affectionate, and conflicted relationship they forge – the relationship of Bashir, Dalia, and the house with the lemon tree — Sandy tells the story of the Israeli Palestinian conflict.
It reads like a novel, and is accessible to a popular audience, but it contains not a drop of invention — it is excruciatingly well documented journalism with every event verified from both Israeli and Arab sources in the 66 pages of source notes - so it will be of great use, as well, to scholars and university students.
If enough people read this book it could change the course of the conflict. One of the greatest obstacles to peace, I believe, is the persistence of ignorance of the Nakba. Of course the forced expulsions are no longer denied by serious historians, but I myself have heard some of the most educated and otherwise sophisticated Israelis pronounce with great authority that there were no expulsions, and the delusion is even more common outside of Israel. Because this book is based on careful research and unimpeachable sources (Israeli and Palestinian), and because it is so fairly and compassionately presented, I think it will finally set the record straight for the non-historian.
The truth about the Nakba is a pill which many Jews have found impossible to swallow. There’s no sugar coating on it here, but because this telling evokes authentic empathy for the needs, hopes, and fears of both groups of refugees, for both families who have known the house as their only home, and the paths that brought them there, I think this book can convince where others have failed. If so, its importance will be immeasurable. Just as you simply cannot make sense of the Israeli stance without the context of the holocaust, neither can you understand the Palestinian stance without the context of the Nakba.
The book is getting praise from all directions, including Israeli and Palestinian scholars. I’ll post some quotes and links below.
But the true potential of the book will be unlocked not by the adoration of critics, but by the candid and uncomfortable engagement of readers — in debate, discussion, argument, in challenging unexamined assumptions, in airing forbidden thoughts, in violating taboos, in lifting up fears and doubts and hopes.
I hope that your readers will read The Lemon Tree. I look forward to reading their reflections on this site.
This truly remarkable book presents a powerful account of Palestinians and Israelis who try to break the seemingly endless chains of hatred and violence. Capturing the human dimension of the conflict so vividly and admirably, Sandy Tolan offers something both Israelis and Palestinians all too often tend to ignore: a ray of hope.”
-Tom Segev, author of One Palestine, Complete and 1949: The First Israelis
This is a hard book to read with dry eyes and without a lump in one’s throat. And it is a hard book to read, also, without feeling – dare one even say the word in speaking about the Middle East? – something approaching hope. Sandy Tolan has found a remarkable story and has told it in all its beauty and sadness.
-Adam Hochschild, author of Bury the Chains and King Leopold’s Ghost
This is a passionate and astonishing story through which some of the most extraordinary events of the twentieth century unfold. The inspiring lives of two unique people, and Tolan’s compassion and cleverness in narrating them, illuminate the tragedy of Palestine in the most moving and revealing way. Readers will acquire a huge amount of knowledge while being carried along effortlessly through the epic events of war and peace in the Middle East.
-Karma Nabulsi, Prize Research Fellow, Oxford University,
and author of Traditions of War
This painfully beautiful narrative lingers in the mind long after the book is over.
-Elif Shafak, professor of Near Eastern Studies, University of Arizona,
and author of The Flea Palace and The Saint of Incipient Insanities
Posting 10. to the On the Ground category, by Nancy Davies, 15 May 2006
In Mexico, tourists and foreign residents are witnesses as well as economic contributors.
-An opportunity to protest government repression in Oaxaca and in Mexico
by writing a letter.-
Many of us are aware of the current escalation in human rights violations in Mexico documented by the United Nations, and the increased pre-electoral violence in several states, including Oaxaca. This government violence includes, in 2006, police riots and murder in San Salvador Atenco in the state of Mexico; the arrest of three Columbian journalists in Mexico state; the arrest of four American journalists in Oaxaca along with three Mexicans; and the intimidation of Oaxaca’s local leaders in San Pedro Huilotepec, Tehuantepec, San Blas Atempa, Santiago Cuixtla and several other towns.
Oaxaca alone holds a minimum of 25 political prisoners in its jails, some estimates are much higher.
Many Mexicans fear the renewal of the “dirty war” by this repressive president, and by the PRI governor, Ulises Ruiz of Oaxaca. We have received several e-mails asking for assistance in whatever way we can offer it, as individuals of conscience.
Those of us whose dollars and euros contribute to the Mexican economy can raise our voices. Tourism is a major industry. Tourists wield economic influence. Tourists are witnesses.
Each of us makes private decisions about what we can and will resist as members of the global community. These moral decisions do not belong to any political party, and are not sponsored by any group.
Individuals who want to remind Governor Ruiz and/or President Fox that we “see” them, can write, fax or e-mail a letter. Inform the governments of Oaxaca (and/or Mexico) that a tourist destination is not desirable so long as government repression, violence, fraud, and corruption continue.
1. Write courteously but without hesitation.
2. CC your letter to as many other Mexican officials as you can (List below). You might prefer to write to a travel agency in your home state and CC that letter to Mexican officials.
3. It’s okay to write in English or another language.
4. Please let us know how many letters you send. ()
These letters are not a boycott. They are a little reminder, a note in the mail, if you will, that government does not act in a vacuum. Tourists, as well as Human Rights Watch, are witnesses.
This act of letter writing is in no way illegal or likely to place in jeopardy the person who writes. Nevertheless, you may choose to take the extra precaution of sending or mailing from outside the country!
The following is a suggested guideline. Write your own:
Dear Governor Ruiz,
I want to advise you, as I will advise my friends and family, that at present Oaxaca and Mexico are not desirable tourist destinations.
Unprovoked arrests and violence toward newspaper reporters and others (such as the 7 arrests on May 1, 2006 in Oaxaca, including arrests of foreigners), have long been preceded by local clashes. Several towns in Oaxaca and in other states have lost citizens to assassination, while struggling against control by caciques. Human Rights Watch reports that over 40 percent of prisoners in Mexico have never been formally convicted of any crime.
Twenty-five political prisoners are presently held just in Oaxaca, and arrests are made weekly. As many as 78 warrants are outstanding, leaving these people in fear.
Mexico’s, and Oaxaca’s, government repression and violence, as well as its corruption and theft are publicly documented.
I’m sure many travel options are available which don’t sustain a government or a tourist industry which deserve no support until the people of Oaxaca and of Mexico are permitted to build better lives for themselves.
Sincerely yours,
Mary Jones
Cincinatti, Ohio
USA.
TOURIST AS WITNESS PART II
A good suggestion was made to refine the letters or calls: those interested in showing solidarity with the repressed or imprisoned people in Oaxaca and/or Mexico may do so by contacting a Mexican tourist or government office, TO INQUIRE IF IT IS SAFE TO TRAVEL IN MEXICO because of reports of arrests and repression.
I pass along these office addresses because it seems to be a fairly simple and reasonable inquiry: Is Oaxaca and/or Mexico safe for tourists?
ADDRESSES OF INTEREST:
Governor of Oaxaca:
Ulises Ruiz Ortiz
Gobernador del Estado de Oaxaca
Carretera Oaxaca-Puerto Angel Km 9.5
Santa María Coyotepec
Oaxaca, México
Fax: 011 52 951 5020530 (If someone answers, say “Tono de fax, por favor.”)
or 011 52 951 51 637 37
Salutation: Señor Gobernador / Dear Governor
Attorney General of Oaxaca:
Lic. Rosa Lizbeth Caña Cadeza
Procuradora del Estado de Oaxaca
Avenida Luis Echeverría s/n
La Experimental
San Antonio de la Cal, Oaxaca
CP. 71236, México
Fax: 011 52 951 51 1 5519
Salutation: Dear Attorney General / Estimada Procuradora
Lic. Vicente Fox Quesada
Presidente Constitucional de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos
Salutation: Dear President Fox
Director of Human Rights – Federal Interior Ministry:
Maestro Ricardo Sepúlveda
Secretaría de Gobernación
Reforma 99, PISO 21, PH
Colonia Tabacalera, C.P. 06030
Mexico D.F. MEXICO
Fax: 011 52 55 5128 0234 (If someone answers, say “Tono de fax, por favor.”)
Salutation: Estimado Maestro / Dear Sir
Ambassador in Canada
Her Excellency María Teresa García Segovia
Ambassador for the United Mexican States
45 O’Connor Street, Suite 1000
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 1A4
Fax: (613) 235-9123
E-mail:
Human Rights Non Governmental Organization:
Centro de Derechos Humanos y Asesoría a Pueblos Indígenas
León #15, Barrio San Diego
Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca
C.P. 69800, Mexico
State Human Rights Commission of Oaxaca:
Comisión de Derechos Humanos del Estado de Oaxaca
Calle de los Derechos Humanos No. 210
Col. América, CP. 68050
Oaxaca, Mexico
Ambassador Carlos de Icaza
Embassy of Mexico in the United States of America
1911 Pennsylvania AV, NW, Washington D.C. 20006
Tel: (202) 728 1600
Mexico Tourist Center For USA and Canada:
Call Center: 1-800-44-MEXICO (1-800-44 63942) E-mail:
Lic. Carlos Maria Abascal Carranza
Secretario de Gobernación
Lic. Eduardo Tomás Medina Mora Icaza
Secretario de Seguridad Pública Federal
Lic. Enrique Peña Nieto
Gobernador Constitucional del Estado de México
Lic. Abel Villicaña Estrada
Procurador General de Justicia del Estado de México
Lic. Wilfrido Robledo Madrid
Comisionado de la Agencia de Seguridad Estatal.
Lic. Nazario Gutiérrez Martínez
Presidente Municipal del Ayuntamiento de Texcoco, Estado de México
Lic. Alejandro Encinas Rodriguez
Jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal
Ing. Joel Ortega
Secretario de Seguridad Pública del Distrito Federal
Mtro. Bernardo Bátiz Vázquez
Procurador General de Justicia del Distrito Federal
Mexico State Tourism Offices
Oficinas Estatales de Turismo de México
Numbers must be preceded with your international operator number and country code of 52.
Antepongan el prefijo de llamada internacional de su operador y el código de país que es 52 si llama desde el extranjero.
Aguascalientes
Av. Universidad No. 1001
Edif. Torre Plaza Bosques 8 Piso
CP 20127 Aguascalientes, AGS.
Tel: (449) 912-3511 * Fax: (449) 912-1990
Morelos
Av. Morelos Sur No. 187, Las Palmas
CP 62050 Cuernavaca, Mor.
Tel: (777) 314-3872 * Fax: (777) 314-3654
Baja California
Blvd. Diaz Ordaz s/n
Edif. Plaza Patria Nivel 3
CP 22400 Tijuana, B.C.
Tel: (664) 634-6330 * Fax: (664) 634-7157
E-mail: ">
Nayarit
Calz. del Ejército y Av. México s/n
Ex-Convento de la Cruz de Zacate
CP 63168 Tepic, Nay.
Tel: (311) 214-8071 * Fax: (311) 214-1017
Baja California Sur
Carr. al Norte Km. 5.5 Fracc. Fidepaz
CP 23090 La Paz, B.C.S.
Tel: (612) 124-0100 * Fax: (612) 124-0722
E-mail: ">
Nuevo Leon
Zaragoza No. 1300 Sur
Edif. Kalos Nivel A-1 Desp. 137
CP 64000 Monterrey, N.L.
Tel: (81) 344-4343 * Fax: (81) 344-1169
Campeche
Av. Ruiz Cortines s/n
Plaza Moch-Couoh, Centro CP 24000 Campeche, Camp.
Tel: (981) 811-9200 * Fax: (981) 816-6068
Oaxaca
Independencia No. 607 esq. García Vigíl
CP 68000 Oaxaca, Oax.
Tel: (951) 516-0717 * Fax: (951) 516-1500
E-mail: ">
Guerrero
Av. Costera Miguel Alemán No. 4455
Centro Cultural y de Convenciones de Acapulco
Fracc. Club Deportivo
CP 39850 Acapulco, Gro.
Tel: (744) 484-2423 * Fax: (744) 481-1160
Posting 9. to the On the Ground category, by Bill Templer, 15 May 2006
The antiauthoritarian anticapitalist nodes of resistance in New York City are well reflected here: http://www.ainfos.ca/en/ainfos18088.html. We need similar descriptions of the reticulation* of counter-power in & across the neighborhoods in other landscapes, urban and rural. NYC is especially rich in on-the-ground anarchy, a paradigm for grassroots people’s projects.
*reticulation means formed into a network or web. —G.S.
Posting 8. to the On the Ground category, by George Salzman, 15 May 2006
I received a request yesterday to place this announcement. It is another effort to build a part of the grassroots information and news infrastructure, which I’m glad to help publicize. —G.S.
The Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), at www.imeu.net, works with journalists on their stories about Palestine and the Palestinians. In the short time IMEU has been around, they’ve placed numerous commentaries in the mainstream media and connected journalists with good Palestinian spokespeople for their publications and shows.
Since May 3, they’ve been running a campaign to bring awareness to the Nakba. Each day, they’ve featured profiles of survivors, statistics, historical information and more. For the 58th anniversary on May 15th, there is a powerful roundtable featuring seven prominent Palestinians with their thoughts on the Nakba (imeu.net/news/article001375.shtml), along with the Nakba material from the past two weeks.
Take a look at www.imeu.net. If you know journalists who could use assistance with their stories on Palestine and the Palestinians, please feel free to have them contact the IMEU at or 510-451-2600.
Posting 21. The Jewish-Israel Lobby category, by Bill Templer, 15 May 2006 TILLEY AND FORWARD TO A ONE-STATE SOLUTION
Virginia Tilley’s article on Hamas and Israel’s ‘Right to Exist’ in Counterpunch is strong if perhaps a bit too ‘legalistic’ and complex in argument (http://www.counterpunch.org/tilley05112006.html ). I think the core of her own concern lies toward the end:
“Carving the West Bank into cantons has eliminated any hope of a viable Palestinian state. The two-state solution is not working. In these conditions, should Hamas recognize Israel’s ‘right to exist’ if it is recognized to be eliminating Palestinian sovereignty altogether? […] The Road Map is based on the supposition that the only peaceful solution in Palestine is to establish one state for Jews and another for everyone else. If Israel’s ‘right to exist’ does not entail sustaining a Jewish majority (which necessitates discriminatory legislation, ethnic cleansing, land grabs, and social engineering), then the ethnic logic supporting two states disappears. Why agree to compose two secular-democratic states sitting next to each other in this small land? No one can articulate an answer, because ethnic demography is their only rationale. […] The entire Road Map logic has become nonsense, too.”
Virginia is the most cogent academic voice today projecting a one-state solution as the path forward, and I can recommend her The One-State Solution (Ann Arbor 2005). She tries in this Hamas article not to foreground that concern, but it is her central thrust on the Palestine/Israel question. Though she projects a democratic ‘secular’ state, I think some people inside Hamas could find her thinking quite compatible with the cultural and religious expression of Islam in a symbiotic egalitarian Arab-Jewish political frame.
In her final chapter on concrete steps, Virginia addresses the question of “what qualities of ‘Jewishness’ would necessarily be lost if Israel ceased to have a Jewish majority?” (p.220). Though “the whole apparatus of Basic Law and public policy that now privileges Jewish nationality in Israel would have to be dismantled,” the urgent question is “how the core spirit and functions of the Jewish national home—sanctuary, national expression—can be preserved while providing Palestinians and all non-Jews with full political equality.”
She goes on: “a completely ethnic-blind system would not suffice; mutual guarantees would have to ensure both Arab and Jewish collective interests, particularly in the transition. […] if Jewish life could sustain meaningful expression in a country so stabilized, the benefit to Zionism would actually be enormous, for it would defuse Israel’s daunting ‘demographic threat’ permanently, by making it meaningless. […] Debating the state’s exact design is, however, premature at this point. As in South Africa’s transition, the protagonists must sort out the new state’s design themselves through legitimate forums.” (p.221).
On p. 222 Virginia sets out some bulleted ‘provisions’ for the transition, well worth pondering. She even goes so far as to say: “sustain the Law of Return for Jews,” while heavily curtailing “the activities of the WZO and the Jewish Agency regarding the active promotion of Jewish aliyah” — and working out avenues for massive Palestinian return. The Jewish settlements in the West Bank would be absorbed into this unitary state, while eliminating “preferential access to land, water and transportation,” and any special incentives for these settlements, in a frame of working for the aim of “ethnic parity” in all spheres (p. 223).
This is not just ‘dreaming.’ Virginia is associated with the group One Democratic State (www.one-democratic-state.org ) that I have mentioned before, where you are welcome to come on board. I find Virginia’s analysis and vision as laid out in the 2005 book non-socialist,and non-populist, too little concerned with a ‘bottom-up’ movement among Palestinians and Jews for a new kind of people’s commonwealth, but that is secondary within this broader frame. Ihud in 1942 called for a “Federative Union of Palestine and neighboring countries,” grounded on a “Union between the Jewish and Arab peoples, essential for “cooperation between the Jewish world and the Arab world in all branches of life—social, economic, cultural, political.” That was the vision of Buber, Akiba Ernst Simon, Judah Magnes, Henrietta Szold and others. Their party today would be banned in Israel under Art. 7(a) of the Basic Law.
Importantly, Virginia is very careful not to demonize average Israelis, whatever their brainwashing by the powers that be. As far as I can see, she doesn’t have a class analysis of what is wrong with power and plutocracy inside Israel, but maybe that is an unfair judgment on my part.
In mild critique, I think her Counterpunch piece on Hamas does not sufficiently foreground one major aspect of Israel’s distinctive political DNA: namely that it is the state of a movement, what some theorists in Germany in the 1930s called a Bewegungsstaat. That movement is committed to the pro-active “ingathering of the exiles,” and is thus by definition a never-bounded project, where a written Constitution is also exceedingly problematic. In talking about the Israeli ethnocracy, this core aspect is essential. The Jewish Agency and Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet le-Yisrael) act in some ways as a state within a state inside the Israeli polity as the pincer arms of this movement of ingathering.
This is a paramount reason why Palestinians cannot ‘recognize’ the essentially borderless state. Precisely because it is the ‘state of a global movement’ to in effect imbibe and vitiate (negate) the diaspora. No polity anywhere on the planet is constituted as an ethnocratic Bewegungsstaat to pro-actively gather in, ‘return’ and reunite millions of individuals quite literally from the ‘earth’s four corners.’ In her book, Virginia does deal with the unique role of the Jewish Agency and Keren Kayemet le-Yisrael. REVISITING LAZARE
In the related discussion on the Lobby and its reality and implications, here a quote worth pondering:
“To those who denounce the Jewish peril before you, respond by attacking capital, whatever kind it might be, Jewish or Christian. Capital without any qualifier. To those who enlist you to cry ‘Down with Israel!’ answer ‘Down with Capital! Down with property!’ and don’t go any further than that; don’t allow yourself to be distracted from your route by those who want to guide you into an impasse which will lead you to nothing. Finance, speculation, capital, property, in one word, all your enemies are not Jews, they are universal: they are Christian, Muslims, Buddhists. Be careful not to help them and to compromise the cause by unconsciously supporting theirs. They will laugh at you after you will have foolishly served them as an auxiliary, and they will profit from their victory to better enslave you.”
It is from Bernard Lazare (1865-1903), a French social anarchist and writer active in the 1890s active on behalf of many causes and very centrally engaged in the struggle against anti-semitism in France. His classic study Antisemitism: Its History and Causes (1894) is well worth reading, today perhaps especially, in part as an anarchist antidote to Shahak. This book on anti-Judaism, its discourses and practices, is one of the few by a social anarchist historian, online in full: http://marxists.architexturez.net/reference/archive/lazare-bernard/1894/antisemitism/index.htm
Its first speculative chapter seems to resonate to frequencies in Shahak’s approach in Jewish History, Jewish Religion a century later (denouncing Jewish xenophobia and exclusivism), which is why Lazare paradoxically is sometimes quoted in openly anti-semitic diatribe. Yet Lazare’s anarchy shines through his analysis, even in chap. 1. And his concomitant struggle against French anti-semitism, such as Edouard Drumont’s La France juive, a classic vicious anti-semitic work on ‘Jewish supremacy’ in France that in part inspired Henry Ford’s The International Jew. Ford’s tirade was once an insidiously influential book worth (re)reading today in the polarized light of the current Lobby discussion.
As Ford says there in Chap. 13: “Anyone who essays to discuss the Jewish Question in the United States or anywhere else must be fully prepared to be regarded as ‘anti-Semite,’ a ‘Jew-baiter.’ Nor need encouragement be looked for from politicians, people or Press. […] There is a vague feeling that to use the word ‘Jew’ openly, or to expose it nakedly in print, is somehow improper. […]
The chief difficulty in writing about the Jewish Question is the super-sensitiveness of Jews and non-Jews concerning the whole matter. There is probably not a newspaper in America, and certainly none of the advertising mediums which are called magazines, which would have the temerity even to breathe seriously the fact that such a Question exists.”
1921. Sound familiar? The abridged edition of the book is available here, side by side on the cybershelf with Shahak: http://www.abbc2.com/historia/ford.htm
Lazare initiated journalistic discussion in France on the notorious Dreyfus Affair, among the very first dreyfusards. Lazare was in some ways a follower of Bakunin, who called for a“free federation of individuals, districts, provinces, and nations within humanity,” from the grassroots up. Lazare was the first in France to call for a social revolutionary anarchist Jewish path forward as part of the young Zionist movement there.
Eleven months ago, a square Place Bernard Lazare was dedicated in his name in the 3rd arrondissement in Paris. There is an active Cercle Bernard Lazare in Grenoble, website online (www.cbl-grenoble.org ). It continues his concern for social revolution, struggle against racism, and justice in Palestine (which Lazare doubtless would have been in the forefront of today). The Cercle Bernard Lazare still looks to a two-state solution. I have little doubt Lazare would today be struggling for a path forward geared to a democratic antiauthoritarian anticapitalist unitary Arab-Jewish federative state, and beyond.
I wanted to call attention to Lazare because I think he remains a paradigm in the joint struggle for revolutionary socialism and against anti-Judaism, and a masterful critic of the construction of ‘Jewish supremacism’ in the ferment of his day.
Posting 7. to the On the Ground category, by George Salzman, 11 May 2006
On 8 May I got an urgent e-mail from Heba El Sadeq <> on behalf of the Gaza Community Mental Health Program, which I prefaced with a brief remark and distributed to my “large” e-mail distribution list, as follows:
The Gaza Community Mental Health Program, and the director, Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj MD, are totally credible, and when they speak of a “Medieval siege” I believe them. We ought to do whatever we possibly can to allow them to live and to not suffer destruction by the Israeli conquerors. Their message is brief.
Dear Friends,
Please read the following appeal and distribute widely to your friends and mailing list and the media. You are kindly asked to contact your members of Parliaments to make them know and act to stop this catastrophe.
Regards,
Heba
Medieval siege of 1.4 million souls in Gaza
It might not be generally known that a humanitarian crisis is building rapidly in Gaza. Because taxes that are due to the Palestinian government are being withheld by Israel and financial support by the EU has ceased, there is no money to pay public servants, including health workers. Most have not been paid for two months, and this in a place where over fifty percent of people live below the poverty line. Drugs are running out. Without anaesthetic agents, for instance, it is proposed the main public hospital in Gaza City, the Shafa, be closed. Little or no material is being allowed through the commercial checkpoint of Karnai at the northern border with Israel.
A medieval element has been superimposed on this economic and physical siege. Artillery pieces have been firing shells into ‘open ground’ for the last two months, and this into one of the most densely populated areas in the world. The ostensible purpose is to quell the firing of the primitive Qassam rockets, which have killed eleven Israeli subjects in the last two years. On the morning of the 24th of April, the first author heard the explosions of about sixty shells whilst he discussed the formation of an educational medical centre with the senior physician at the El-Wafa hospital. It is reported that over six thousand have been fired. Life and limbs have been lost. The children are terrified and precious homes are being damaged or destroyed.
None of these actions are justified in international law. Indeed the opposite obtains. The EU and other nations are complicit by their involvement, or at least by their silence.
We ask for humanity, reason and the law to prevail – immediately.
David Halpin FRCS <>
Eyad El-Sarraj MD <>
Derek Summerfield MRCPsych <>
——————————
Please visit our site:
Gaza Community Mental Health Programme www.gcmhp.net
Four people wrote back to me on the 8th and 9th, as follows:From: Jeff Blankfort <> Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 23:20:53 -0700
We spent some time with Dr. El-Sarraj two years ago in Gaza. He is quite a human being. Arafat had him arrested several times when he complained about PA human rights violations.
Given what is going on right now, the Jews of Israel and I speak of the majority are no better than were the majority of Germans under Hitler. And those Jews who are exploiting the Darfur tragedy for their nefarious purposes while the starving of the Palestinians is going on are the dregs of humanity. I am angry and frustrated at our weakness.
Jeff
From: Lawrence Salzman <> Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 08:09:53 EDT
George: If Hamas recognizes the right of Israel to exist and stops firing rockets into Israel from northern Gaza, the tax money that Israel collects for the Palestinians, will begin to flow once again to the Palestinian government. Realize these monies were turned over to the Palestinian government for years and in spite of the ongoing conflict. The EU will also change its policy toward Hamas.
Realize goods and services in the form of thousands of Palestinians who worked in Israel has essentially stopped since Hamas took over the Palestinian government because of their stated policy of not recognizing Israel’s right to exist. There have been several suicide bombers who killed and wounded both Israelis and Palestinians at the northern check point in Gaza into Israel. Doesn’t take too many suicide bombers to close that trading between Israel and Palestinians.
Again, for you to compare the Warsaw Ghetto to Gaza is insulting. LosFrom: A long time friend, JA <> Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 13:51:30 -0400 To: Martin Posner <> CC: George Salzman <>
Thanks Martin and George. I forwarded George’s message to our . . . long-term friends, Carol and Arnold Saltzman. Arnold has long been a cantor at Adas Israel, but now, because of problems with his voice, is studying to be a rabbi. Carol, his wife, is a wonderful actress who heads up an improv musical troope. Normally, they are very liberal and we can talk to them about everything, but they evidently support the current Israeli position of denying taxes to the Palestinians. In my view, the Israeli hawks have tragically replicated in Gaza the very conditions of the Warsaw Ghetto — murders, assassinations, long lines, degrading conditions, soldiers shooting innocent civilians, and even children, for sport.
Yet, there are many Israeli citizens who disagree with the Israeli leadship; they simply don’t have the power right now. … [T]he Saltzmans, though liberal, often host parties at which . . . Charles Krauthammer and his wife, Robin attend. Charles, as you must know, is a hard-right conservative columnist known for his bitter, sharp partisan attacks. I personally like Charles but have avoided arguing with him since I completely disagree with almost everything he writes. He used to be liberal and supportive of Mondale; but has become a bitter man. Who knows why? Perhaps, it’s because of his being paralyzed by a diving accident and wheelchair bound. I wish I could make the case with such friends for a position that supports peace and justice for both sides … but they seem hardened against appreciating the Palestianian position.
Now, on the radio, Bush prepares the nation for war against Iran. I suspect he’s doing it at the urging of Israel. And there has been talk of using nuclear weapons because of their bunker busting capacities. I’m quite rattled today listening to Bush, Condi Rice, and others treat the Iranian President’s letter, which sought to establish some basis for dialogue and diplomacy, with a dismissive sneer as a “mere diversion.” The US appears to be determined to attack Iran, no matter what.
It’s so outrageous and the results will, of course, be appalling. The army is stretched to the limit in Iraq and Afghanistan; the budget is completely out of hand and European economists are predicting that the American dollar will have to be devalued by half; Americans will be much more vulnerable to terrorist attack as a result. What to do? Even if we march, this Administration will ignore us. But I will march and get on the phone. God willing, we can stop it, but I think we have little hope of affecting the outcome.
From: Farouk Barakat a> Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 19:33:16 -0400
Dear George,
Does all the work you do to get information out to your large mailing list help to curb your anger? Sometimes I feel like screaming, but no one listens. Maybe it is wrong, but I have mostly even stopped writing letters and making phone calls. Too many deaf ears. But I do spread info to friends and family - but I feel that they are so like minded that even though it reinforces their view, it does little to change the world. Thanks again for being there.
Edith I wrote in reply to these 4 correspondents and CCd it to 30 others, which led to additional exchanges. There are two threads in this exchange: one on the legitimacy or illegitimacy of Israeli actions regarding Gaza, and the other oriented towards building grassroots strength aimed at eventually being able to determine the course of history — as the Zapatistas would say — “from below”. This latter thread is my major interest, emphasizing as it does “On the Ground” work, even though it seems largely unable to have a significant impact on immediate events. I am posting the briefer comments here, and will post the longer ones at http://site.www.umb.edu/faculty/salzman_g/Strate/2006-05-11.htm as soon as possible.From: Jeff Blankfort Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 10:36:01 -0700
George,
I forget if Lawrence Salzman is a relation of yours but if so, the apple seems to have fallen far from the tree and has already turned, as they say. Hamas, of course, has not fired a single rocket or taken any armed action against Israel since declaring a truce a year ago, but for Lawrence, apparently, one Palestinian is much like another and until they recognize the
legitimacy of Israel’s ongoing theft of their homeland, and say “yes, massa,” they are going to be starved to death. The firing of rockets by Islamic Jihad is, of course, stupid, because it allows the supervictimizer to play the victim even though not a single Israeli has been killed by one of those rockets while Israel’s version of the Luftwaffe and the Wehrmacht have been daily firing missiles into Palestinian homes in gaza killing civilians. If anyone objects to my comparing the Israeli military with that of the Nazis, I would ask for a better historical comparison. After all, the Israelis have made “collective punishment,” which was a symbol of Nazi military occupation, a major part of their pacification policy over the years despite the fact that it is an open violation of international law. But we know what Israel thinks about that or about the existence of non-Jews, in general.
JeffDate: Wed, 10 May 2006 17:03:04 EDT
For the record, George is my brother. And, for the record, George is the apple that has fallen far from the tree. We are apples from the same “tree.”
Your note seems to deny what George sent me earlier in an article which outlines some of the truth, i.e., that Israelis have been killed by rockets launched from Gaza. Right now, Palestinians in Gaza are fighting and killing each other as Hamas and Fatah battle it out to see who will control the security forces.
Do you have a clue why the exit and entrance point in Gaza into Israel has been closed so much of the time? Try thinking suicide bombers. Both Israelis and innocent Palestinians have been killed by these bombers.
Are you aware that those Palestinians who are launching rockets into Israel set up their launchers in civilian areas? They do this quite specifically as they want Israel’s responses to wound and kill some innocent Palestinians so they can point and yell at Israeli “aggression.”
I’ll leave it at that as I really don’t want to spend the time responding to everything you wrote as I’d have to stop my involvement in the rest of my life. Lawrence SalzmanFrom: Marianne Torres <> Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 11:19:15 -0700
How many of you have seen an aerial shot of the Apartheid Wall around either Qalqilya or Tulkarm? Wonder why it is that the first thing it brings to mind is the Warsaw Ghetto!!
And Lawrence, recognizing the FACT of a nation’s existence (”recognizing Israel”) is a completely different thing from “recognizing Israel’s right to exist”, unless of course your intent is to force the Palestinians to grovel rather than negotiate. The two are very different concepts. How could any people recognize the “right” of another to steal their land and ghetto-ize and torment their people?
And of course, Israel has made it clear again and again that it will not reciprocate with its demands. Israel will not recognize Palestine’s “right to exist” - rather confounds me how they can demand that from Palestinians or Hamas. Hamas has said many times recognition of the state and renunciation of violence is reciprocal, and that they are prepared to make it a quid pro quo.
Why am I too cynical to believe that Israel will ever give to Palestinians that which they demand Palestinians give to them?
Marianne
Spokane[This item refers to an exchange of newspaper articles between Lawrence and me, on the same topics under discussion here, and a remark I made in a subsequent note. —G.S.]
Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 17:16:51 EDT
In a message dated 5/10/2006 10:54:32 AM Eastern Standard Time, writes:
> By the way, you don’t need to inform me about the Nazi’s intentions and what they did.
George: When you compare Israel’s responses to Gaza to the Nazi’s responses to the Warsaw Ghetto, I do think you need to be informed. LosFrom: Lawrence Salzman Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 17:33:48 EDT To: Marianne Torres
In a message dated 5/10/2006 2:24:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, writes:
> How many of you have seen an aerial shot of the Apartheid Wall around either Qalqilya or Tulkarm? Wonder why it is that the first thing it brings to mind is the Warsaw Ghetto!!
Guess you’re not aware that the Nazis herded all of Warsaw’s Jews into the Ghetto so they could be slaughtered efficiently. Haven’t heard that Israelis have stormed Qalqilya or Tulkarm to kill all the Palestinians there. By the way, both of these town have been starting points for suicide bombers who have killed hundreds over the years in Israel from Passover services north of Tel Aviv to luncheonettes in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
By the way, if you are the person who lives in Spokane, Washington, when are you leaving the stolen land you live on? I assume you dismiss this, as Native Americans are not launching rockets into Spokane.From: Lawrence Salzman Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 17:40:45 EDT To: Marianne Torres
In a message dated 5/10/2006 2:24:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, writes:
> And Lawrence, recognizing the FACT of a nation’s existence (”recognizing Israel”) is a completely different thing from “recognizing Israel’s right to exist”, unless of course your intent is to force the Palestinians to grovel rather than negotiate.
First of all, Abbas wants to negotiate, but Hamas has not let him. Frankly, your logic in the above is obtuse, to say the least. Hamas does not recognize Israel or recognize its right to exist. It only “recognizes” Israel to the extent that Hamas is aware that Israel is there.A contribution to this interchange from Dorothy Naor will be included with the other longer comments on my website. It is headed
To: Marianne Torres, Jeff Blankfort CC: George Salzman, . . .
Hi All,
I don’t usually enter your (or other) debates . . .From: Jeff Blankfort Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 13:57:26 -0700 To: Lawrence Salzman
Try thinking occupation, killing, humiliation and dispossession for 39 years and maybe you will have some glimmer of understanding of what you are supporting. The sickness among Jewish supremacists is no less than that of those other believers in the “master race.” You’re not in very good company.
A contribution to this interchange from Manuel Garcia will be included with the other longer comments on my website. It is headed
From: Manuel Garcia, Jr. <> Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 16:46:51 -0700 To: Dorothy <>
Hello everybody (as Grover might say),
Thanks for the informative, if depressing responses. Doesn’t it strike you . . .A contribution to this interchange from Bill Templer will be included with the other longer comments on my website. It is headed
From: Bill Templer <> Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 21:05:07 -0700 (PDT)
1. Dorothy Naor’s input on an IDF training facility for urban house-to-house combat operations in al-Naqab desert is part of the fascist reality . . .From: Marianne Torres Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 22:40:14 -0700 To: Bill Templer . . .
Bill, I suggest the late Israeli Professor Israel Shahak’s Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years for a very clear discussion of this issue. I suspect Shahak’s work is at least a partial source for Blankfort’s reference.
MarianneFrom: Dan Hughes <> Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 08:04:25 +0200 To: Manuel Garcia, Dorothy Naor …
I can’t resist a comment on point 2 in this letter. We can just allow force to rule, or we can do what? Exercise a greater force to prevent it ruling? Or maybe change the human race? Fascinating to hear a plan to accomplish either — like maybe send Jesus back down (he wasn’t wildly successful however, was he?)From: Dorothy Naor Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:59:26 +0200
How about educating children to believe in ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you”? DorothyFrom: Dan Hughes Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 16:06:20 +0200
Let’s be serious: the Christians have been talking like that for 2000 years, and what difference has it made? Do you have a realistic programme to get children to learn stuff like that? Or just encouragement?From: Dan Hughes Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 15:39:55 +0200
The authors have responded in the latest LRB, and perhaps all your people know this already. But it’s good stuff, and perhaps you’d like to send it on to your big group. If I could only have two journals, they’d be the London Review of Books (LRB) and the NYRB (NY=New York). (If I could only have one, it would be the LRB:)
“The Israel Lobby”
From John Mearsheimer & Stephen Walt
We wrote ‘The Israel Lobby’ in order to begin a discussion of a subject that had become difficult to address openly in the United States (LRB, 23 March). We knew it … From: Jeff Blankfort Date: Thu, 11 May 2006 18:49:20 -0700
Aside from Shahak who uses historical references, any number of Israelis, public officials and public figures have said or written that since the international community did nothing to save the Jews in WW 2, Israel and Jews, in general, owes nothing to the international community, and that attitude is reflected in its public and foreign policies. In other words, Jewish supremacy is accepted as legit in Israel and by most supporters of Israel whether or not they would put it those exact terms. Of course, the record of Zionist collaboration with the Nazis and their sabotaging of rescue efforts by non-Jews should eliminate the Israelis from having anything to say on that issue. Most Israelis, across the political spectrum, have contempt for Jews in the diaspora, as well, all for different reasons and all of them, in essence , correct. The rightwingers consider their supporters abroad to be “checkbook zionists” while the left, finds them contemptible for their refusal to oppose criminal Israeli policies and actions.
Jeff
Posting 6. to the On the Ground category, by George Salzman
Arenas of struggle: keeping our perspective — a reply to Bill Templer’s “The Last Taboo?”, his posting, No. 20. to The Jewish-Israeli Lobby category
A principal arena in the struggle for liberation is in direct resistance to repression by governments and their corporate bedfellows, the giant capitalists. Equally important is the struggle to build our own grassroots infrastructure in opposition to the dominant infrastructure. This work I refer to as “On the Ground” efforts. Far less significant are the debates among academics and intellectuals on the precise meanings of words, who said what, what it means and how it might be misinterpreted by right-wing hatemongers. As an unregenerate “self-hating academic” (and a Jew), I am determined not to get sucked into such diversions, a variety of intellectual masturbation. Hence my “answer” to Bill Templer.