Voices of Peacemakers: stumbling blocks, etc.

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="057285a1erlcgo.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>TurnTheTide</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TurnTheTide"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id89.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity 1"><U><B>America's Unique Opportunity 1</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id67.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>America's Unique Opportunity Documents</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Peace plan"><U><B>Peace plan</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><B>Voices of Peacemakers: stumbling blocks, etc. </B><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Link Tour"><U><B>Link Tour</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links of Hope"><U><B>Links of Hope</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="More Links"><U><B>More Links</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthrough Story Documents"><U><B>"Breakthrough Story" Documents</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="056d2c00dkelyh.png"> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="index_site_map.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="TurnTheTide"><U><B>LINK TO SITE MAP</B></U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Quotes from Herman Goering and Senator Robert LaFollette</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U><IMG SRC="0b4b0d30.gif" border=0 width="176" height="211" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></U></B></div> <div> <B>Herman Goering: It works the same way in any country. </B></div> <div> In the spring of 1946, Goering was in his cell at Nuremberg, awaiting an almost certain death sentence during the Nuremberg trials. (He committed suicide first.)</div> <div> During his incarceration, an Allies appointed psychologist, Gustave Gilbert, visited daily with Goering and his cronies in their cells, afterwards making notes and ultimately writing a book about these conversations.</div> <div> On April 18, 1946, Gilbert writes, he visited with Goering, who this particular evening wanted to talk about people and political manipulation. As recounted on page 247 of <B>Nuremberg Diary</B> (Farrar, Straus&Co 1947), Goering had this to say - and it should be a lesson to those who support leaders call for war of any kind: <B>"…of course, the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war, neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship</B>.<B> </B><B>The people can always be brought to the bidding of their leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country…."</B><B><U> </U></B></div> <div> <B>----------------</B></div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="0b79ac60.jpg" border=0 width="154" height="198" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> <I><B>Senator Robert LaFollette: Every nation has its war party.</B></I></div> <div> <B>    </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> “Every nation has its war party. It is not the party of democracy. It is the party of autocracy. It seeks to dominate absolutely. It is commercial, imperialistic, ruthless. It tolerates no opposition… </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>     “In time of peace, the war party insists on making preparation for war. As soon as it is prepared for war, it insists on making war…</B></div> <div> <B>     “Before war is ended, the war party assumes divine right to denounce and silence all opposition to war as unpatriotic and cowardly.”</B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>    </B></FONT><B> </B><I><B>Senator Robert M. La Follette (R-Wisconsin), 85 years ago in a speech called “The Right of the Citizen to Oppose War and the Right of Congress to shape the War Policy.</B></I></div> <div> <I>.</I></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Voices of Peacemakers: stumbling blocks, etc. </I></div> <div> <I><B><U>Listen</U></B></I><I><B><U> </U></B></I><I><B><U>to the Voices of Peacemakers </U></B></I><I><B><U> <A NAME="part_1_listen_to_voices_of_peacemakers"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></U></B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="#five_stumbling_blocks__1" TITLE="Voices of Peacemakers: stumbling blocks,"><U><B>^ Five Stumbling Blocks</B></U></A><B> to peace</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#three_decisions_to_be_made__1_1" TITLE="Voices of Peacemakers: stumbling blocks,"><U><B>^ Three Decisions</B></U></A><B> to be made</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#seven_what_if_s_" TITLE="Voices of Peacemakers: stumbling blocks,"><U><B>^ Seven "What-If's"</B></U></A><B> that might turn the tide of terror</B></div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><U>Listen to the </U></B></div> <div> <B><U>Voices of Peacemakers</U></B></div> <div> Many citizen diplomats believe the Israeli occupation of Palestine is a cancer that is drastically weakening the state of Israel. Members of the Israeli army understand the consequences of the cancer better than most. Officers say many orders given to them have nothing to do with security for Israel. The orders serve only the expansionist dream of an ultra-orthodox religious Jewish minority and the ambition of politicians. The dream is to re-conquer the biblical kingdom of "Greater Israel." </div> <div> <B><U>These quotes are from reports included in TurnTheTide's Link Library</U></B></div> <div> <B>Rami Elhanan's 14-year-old daughter, Smadar, was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber:</B> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >“The pain of losing our beautiful daughter is unbearable, but our house is not a house of hate... Our daughter was killed because of the terror of the occupation. Every innocent victim from both sides is a victim of the occupation. The occupation is the cancer feeding Palestinian terror.” </FONT></div> <div> <B>Nurit Elhanan, Smadar's mother:</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > “The war is not between the Israeli people and the Palestinian people, but these life-destroying men who call themselves leaders...</FONT></div> <div>  "I have been asked many times if I feel any need to avenge the murder of my little girl, who was killed just because she was born Israeli, by a young man who felt hopeless to the point of murder and suicide, just because he was born Palestinian. No real mother would ever think of consoling herself with the killing of another mother's child. Israel is becoming a graveyard of children. ” </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Hitzhak Frankenthal's son, Arik, served as an Israeli soldier and was kidnapped and killed by a Palestinian</B></FONT><B>:</B> “My son Arik was not murdered because he was Jewish but because he is part of the nation that occupies the territory of another…Arik's killer was born into an appalling occupation, into an ethical chaos. Had my son been born in his stead, he may have ended up doing the same… I can say for myself, Yitzhak Frankenthal, I would have undoubtedly become a freedom fighter… It is this depraved hypocrisy that pushes the Palestinians to fight us relentlessly. Our double standard allows us to boast the highest military ethics, while the same military slays innocent children…We lost sight of our ethics long before the first suicide bombing…” </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Israeli 2</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>nd</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B> Lieutenant David Zonsheine</B></FONT><B>: </B>“It became increasingly clear to me that the little orders that I was issued, and then the orders I gave my soldiers to carry out, had precious little to do with protecting the state. They had everything to do with protecting a group of zealots and their settlements, and maintaining a Kafkaesque system that spelled misery for ordinary Palestinians… As a patriot who is concerned about Israel's longer-term security, I refuse to fight this war---the war for the settlements---a war of choice that has weakened Israel.”<B> </B></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Israeli Staff Sergeant Shalomi Segal:</B></FONT><B> </B>“Ariel Sharon will tell you that Israel is fighting a war for its survival against a bloodthirsty enemy. Not so. Sharon and his cronies are fighting a colonial war to keep their pet settlements in place, to perpetuate the Israeli occupation and the subjugation of the Palestinian territories… By branding any criticism of the suffering he inflicts on the Palestinians as anti-Semitic, Sharon is enlisting something sacred for the vile colonial expansionist ends he pursues.”<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#CC0066" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>“Why we refuse to serve” letter signed by more than 567 Israeli combat officers and soldiers</B></FONT><B>:</B> “We reserve combat officers and soldiers of the 'Israel Defense Forces,' who were raised upon the principles of Zionism… We, who sensed how the commands issued to us in the territories destroy all the values we had absorbed while growing up…We who understand now that the price of Occupation is the loss of IDF's human character and the corruption of the entire Israel society…We declare we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements." </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Israeli Lieutenant Ishai Sagi, Associated Press report 8/18/02</B></FONT><B>:</B> “The moment when Lt. Ishai Sagi became 'alarmed' by an order given to his entire battalion to `shoot anyone who picks up a stone,' he could no longer remain silent." </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Israeli peace worker Neta Golan, after confronting the Israeli soldier who killed a Palestinian retarded boy for picking up a stone</B></FONT><B>:</B> “I realized that if any man was evil, the soldier I just spoke to was, and yet he was a boy, an ignorant and stupid boy who never should have been given any power. Who never should have stepped foot in any village<B>. </B>Who never should have had a gun… Young soldiers, many of them like Muhammad's killer, control every aspect of the lives of millions of Palestinians in the occupied territories. Ignorant youth like these have the power of life and death over Palestinian elders and children alike…” </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Gershon Baskin, Ph.D., Israeli co-director, Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information</B></FONT><B>: </B>“If we had real leaders in our midst, they would stand up now and put the deal on the table-the end of the occupation, a sovereign Palestinian State next to Israel based on the June 4, 1967 borders…” </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Report from the Israel/Palestine Peace Education Program</B></FONT><B>:</B> August 1, 2002: “Today 80 Israeli and Palestinian teachers, participants in IPCRI's Peace Education Program are returning after participating in a 5-day training workshop held in Turkey…Yesterday the teachers had just completed their morning program when entering the dining room of the hotel their mobile phones began ringing informing them of the bomb that exploded in the Hebrew University. After checking that no close relatives were amongst the victims, the teachers spent their time consoling and encouraging each other. `We recognize that we are the alternative to violence, we must continue to provide the next generation of Israelis and Palestinians the opportunity to see and understand there is a different way,' said one Israeli teacher. Another Palestinian said: `We are living proof that there is someone to talk to on the other side.'”</div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Sara Roy, senior research scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University:</B></FONT><B> </B>"I first went to the West Bank and Gaza in the summer of 1985, two and a half years before the first Palestinian uprising, to conduct fieldwork for my doctoral dissertation, which examined American economic assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. </div> <div> My research focused on whether it was possible to promote economic development under conditions of military occupation. That summer changed my life because it was then that I came to understand and experience what occupation was and what it meant. I learned how occupation works, its impact on the economy, on daily life, and its grinding impact on people. I learned what it meant to have little control over one's life and, more importantly, over the lives of one's children.</div> <div> As with the Holocaust, I tried to remember my very first encounter with the occupation. One of my earliest encounters involved a group of Israeli soldiers, an old Palestinian man, and his donkey. Standing on a street with some Palestinian friends, I noticed an elderly Palestinian walking down the street, leading his donkey. A small child no more than three or four years old, clearly his grandson, was with him. Some Israeli soldiers standing nearby went up to the old man and stopped him. One soldier ambled over to the donkey and pried open its mouth. 'Old man,' he asked, 'why are your donkey's teeth so yellow? Why aren't they white? Don't you brush your donkey's teeth?' </div> <div> The old Palestinian was mortified, the little boy visibly upset. The soldier repeated his question, yelling this time, while the other soldiers laughed. The child began to cry and the old man just stood there silently, humiliated. This scene repeated itself while a crowd gathered. The soldier then ordered the old man to stand behind the donkey and demanded that he kiss the animal's behind. At first, the old man refused but as the soldier screamed at him and his grandson became hysterical, he bent down and did it. The soldiers laughed and walked away. They had achieved their goal: to humiliate him and those around him. We all stood there in silence, ashamed to look at each other, hearing nothing but the uncontrollable sobs of the little boy. The old man did not move for what seemed a very long time. He just stood there, demeaned and destroyed.</div> <div> I stood there too, in stunned disbelief. I immediately thought of the stories my parents had told me of how Jews had been treated by the Nazis in the 1930's, before the ghettos and death camps, of how Jews would be forced to clean sidewalks with toothbrushes and have their beards cut off in public. What happened to the old man was absolutely equivalent in principle, intent, and impact: to humiliate and dehumanize. In this instance, there was no difference between the German soldier and the Israeli one. Throughout that summer of 1985, I saw similar incidents: young Palestinian men being forced by Israeli soldiers to bark like dogs on their hands and knees or dance in the streets.</div> <div> In this critical respect, my first encounter with the occupation was the same as my first encounter with the Holocaust, with the number on my father's arm. It spoke the same message: the denial of one's humanity. It is important to understand the very real differences in volume, scale, and horror between the Holocaust and the occupation and to be careful about comparing the two, but it is also important to recognize parallels where they do exist. </div> <div> <B>(Excerpt from the "Second Annual Holocaust Remembrance Lecture" at the Center for American and Jewish Studies and the George W. Truett Seminary, Baylor University, on April 8, 2002. To read the entire lecture now: </B><A HREF="id26_living_with_the_holocaust.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Key Resources"><U><B>click Sara Roy</B></U></A><B>. )</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B><U>********************************************************************</U></B></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="five_stumbling_blocks__1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <I><B>Five Stumbling Blocks </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>to a Just Peace</B></I></div> <div> <B><U>FIRST</U></B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B><U> Stumbling Block: The Settlements</U></B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT></div> <div> All Jewish settlements outside Israel's 1967 boundaries are a direct violation of the Geneva Conventions, which Israel has signed and is obligated to abide by. The convention's Article 49 states, "The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." On December 5, 2001, a conference of the 114 nations that have signed the Fourth Geneva Convention decided unanimously that Israel was in gross violation of their obligations under that Convention, that Jewish-only settlements in the territories were illegal...and it was the responsibility of the other contracting parties to stop these violations of international law. The United States and Israel boycotted the  conference. The U.S. opposed action to stop the violations, so there was none. </div> <div> <B><U>SECOND</U></B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B><U> Stumbling Block: The Occupation </U></B></FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> The international community, through votes in the United Nations, has made it clear that virtually the entire world considers the Israeli occupation of territories it captured in the 1967 war to be wrong and contrary to basic principles of international law. Every year since 1967, up until the Oslo Process started, the UN General Assembly passed the same resolution (usually by lopsided votes like 150-2), stating that Israel is obligated to vacate the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >For an insiders view of the occupation, Uri Savir, Israel's Chief Negotiator in the Oslo Process writes:</FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >"Over the years Israelis had cultivated a self-serving myth that ours was an 'enlightened occupation.' Our self-image as a humane society and history's eternal victim blinded us to what was going on in the territories... What I discovered (in the Oslo negotiations) was that a West Bank Palestinian could not build, work, study, purchase land, grow produce, start a business, take a walk at night, enter Israel, go abroad, or visit his family in Gaza or Jordan without a permit from us. About a third of the Palestinian population had been detained or imprisoned by Israel. And the whole of the population had been grossly humiliated by us." </FONT><I><B>The Process, 1998</B></I><I><B>  </B></I><B>(</B><I><B>q</B></I><B>uoted in "For A Just Peace Between Israelis & Palestinians," a pamphlet produced by The Israeli Committee Against House Demolition (www.icahd.org) </B></div> <div> <B><U>THIRD</U></B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B><U> Stumbling Block: The Myth of Barak's "Generous Offer"</U></B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Many in the Israeli Peace Movement consider the myth of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's "most generous offer" in July 2000 to be the greatest stumbling block to negotiating a just peace with Palestine. According to the myth, Palestinians were offered almost everything they had asked for, and they turned it down. Even worse, they responded to Israel's generosity with a new outbreak of violence. This is a myth most Israelis and Americans are convinced is true. Maps and documents put together by Israeli peacemakers show Barak's generous offer to be, in fact, a "most ungenerous offer." The offer was to release about 90% of Palestinian territory to Palestinians, according to Dr. Jeff Halper, professor of Anthropology at Ben Gurion University in Israel, IF the Palestinians would agree to live in a "prison state." Halper explains that "Barak's plan would leave Israel as much in control of Palestine as prison guards are in control of a prison. The guards need only 5% of the prison: the outer walls, cell bars, corridors, and the keys."</div> <div> According to Halper, Barak's plan would allow Israel to retain control of its network of settlements, its bypass roads, the international border crossings, and the most valuable natural resource --- the groundwater aquifers. Israeli-controlled highways and fortifications, he said, would effectively divide the West Bank into isolated cantons, similar to the Bantustans used to limit the freedom of blacks in the days of apartheid South Africa. </div> <div> <B>For commentary by Jeff Halper see his article in Key Resources. </B><A HREF="id26_a_most_ungenerous_offer.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Key Resources"><U><B>Click here to go there now</B></U></A><B>. For detailed maps, see Foundation for Middle East Peace, www.fmep.org and the Applied Research Institute Jerusalem, www.arij.org. </B></div> <div> <B><U>FOURTH</U></B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B><U> Stumbling Block: The Myth that Israel Is Under Siege</U></B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> As with the "Generous Offer" myth, the myth that Israel is "under siege" (while occupying Palestine) is widely believed only in America and Israel where it is used to justify continuation of the war. High status U.S. officials like Secretary of State Madeleine Albright have used the fact that Palestinian children throw stones at the occupying Israeli soldiers and tanks as evidence of the siege. More degrading has been the implication made that Palestinian mothers are so callous that they groom their children to become suicide bombers. </div> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >Outside of America most of the world considers Israel the aggressor. A growing international protest movement is directed at Israel's siege of Palestine. The danger for Israel is that protest is now being translated into action. The European Union has launched a boycott of Israeli products. The EU provided funding to the City of Bethlehem in Palestine to repair and spruce up its tourist attractions and accommodations for the 2001 Christmas season. Israeli tanks effectively destroyed the refurbished "Little Town of Bethlehem" and any hope for a tourist season. More worrisome is Bishop Desmond Tutu's call for a campaign of worldwide divesture from Israel. A similar campaign, in which the international business community began to withdraw investments from South Africa, so threatened to paralyze the economy that the White-controlled government was forced to end its policy of apartheid against Blacks. </FONT><I><B>For a Palestinian view of the siege, see  Dr. Hanan Ashrawi in Key Resources. </B></I><A HREF="id26_heart__3_a_tragic_reversal_.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Key Resources"><U><I><B>Click here to go there now</B></I></U></A><I><B>.)</B></I><B> </B></div> <div> <B><U>FIFTH</U></B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B><U> Stumbling Block:The Myth of Invisible Power</U></B></FONT></div> <div>  <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > The most direct lethal threat to Israel's existence, many believe, may be its "ace in the hole" intended to give it the military illusion of invincibility. Israel is the only nation in the Middle East that, for now, possesses the nuclear bomb. That possession could make Israel a most inviting target in the event of nuclear holocaust. Israel's Achilles' heel is that its security now depends on its possession of weapons of mass destruction and the goodwill of its only ally, the United States. Only the U.S. veto in the UN Security Council has prevented the UN world community from following up on its condemnations of Israeli aggression with preventive action. Thus, Israel risks everything to go it alone with the one remaining superpower. This is like walking a tightrope, holding on to Uncle Sam's coattails, across a bottomless abyss. What makes Israel's security most shaky is that its "coattail-hold" depends on the political clout of an alliance of two unlikely allies. </FONT></div> <div> National security for Israel is in the hands of two powerful U.S. lobbying groups whose long-term agenda for Israeli Jews could not be more different. Support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has been crucial in allowing Israel to pursue the goal of re-conquering its ancient biblical kingdom in the name of security. The goal of the other lobby, the Christian Zionists, follows a similar biblical theme, but with a quite different ending. Like the AIPAC, Christian Zionists raise millions of dollars for Israel and lobby Congress for billions in military aid. They believe Israel's military prowess is a prelude to the "end-times" when Jesus, their Messiah, will return and God will bodily lift them and their Jewish converts off the Earth to protect them from the bloody carnage. In contrast, the ultra-orthodox Jews believe Israel's military prowess is a prelude to the coming of their own Messiah---whose presence will then make Israel invincible. </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>For more on the ultra religious-right, see www.theocracywatch.org</B></div> <div> <B><U>********************************************************************</U></B></div> <div>  <A NAME="three_decisions_to_be_made__1_1"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <I><B><U>Three decisions to be made:</U></B></I></div> <div> <I><B><U>Israel's Choice, America's Choice, Our Choice</U></B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>THE DECISION: ISRAEL'S CHOICE</U></B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >   </FONT></div> <div> A preeminent Israel-Palestinian "think tank," one that conducts research specifically on issues standing in the way of peace, recently issued a "midterm report." The report concluded that Israel is winning the battles. Palestine is winning the war. (See report from the Israel/Palestine Research & Information Center, ipric.org, in Link Library.) </div> <div> In the future, there will be no place for a state of Israel that sees itself above international law. No superpower will be able to protect it. Blinded by its own myths, Israel risks missing out on an historic opportunity that Jews have labored to bring into existence for centuries: the possibility of a world based on law and justice, rather than "might makes right." </div> <div> According to Christian and Jewish religious tradition, such a world would be the culmination of a choice God offered the Israelites some 3,000 years ago. All humans face the same choice, but Jews articulated it first. Moses was still alive. He had led the Israelites for 40 years through a wilderness to their final destination: the "promised land." Before allowing them to enter, Moses gave them a cryptic message about the nature of God's commandments and a choice the Jews would have to make. The message is recorded in the Book of Deuteronomy, verses 11 - 19, chapter 30:  </div> <div> <I><B>“Obeying these commandments is not something beyond your strength and reach; for these laws are not in the far heavens, so distant that you can't hear and obey them, and with no one to bring them down to you; nor are they beyond the ocean, so far that no one can bring you their message; but they are very close at hand -- in your hearts and on your lips -- so that you can obey them.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>"Look, today I have set before you life and death, depending on whether you obey or disobey. I have commanded you today to love the Lord your God and to follow his paths and to keep his laws, so that you will live and become a great nation, and so that the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to possess.</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>"But if your hearts turn away and you won't listen -- if you are drawn away to worship other gods -- then I declare to you this day that you shall surely perish; you will not have a long, good life in the land you are going to possess. </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>"I call heaven and earth to witness against you that today I have set before you life or death, blessing or curse. Oh, that you would choose life; that you and your children might live!" </B></I><B>(The Living Bible.)</B></div> <div> There are peacemakers who believe the state of Israel is now making that choice. It is the choice Moses said God gives. It is the choice between life or death, blessing or curse. </div> <div> If Israel, if America, if we, as a people, choose death/curse/war instead of life/blessing/peace, there can be no excuses. The choice is not complicated and hard to understand. The conditions have been clearly stated. We're not dealing with abstract issues that require experts to decipher. </div> <div> We can't blame a poor choice on "budget problems." Choosing death/curse/war is far more expensive than choosing life/blessing/peace. The funds that could be used for choosing life are in our present budget. They are simply designated for the wrong item: war rather than peace. Three billion dollars in American aid to Israel, if switched from war aid to peace aid, would be sufficient. </div> <div> In one year huge steps could be taken toward removing the stumbling blocks to peace. The war-devastated infrastructure of Palestinian cities could be rehabilitated. The economies of both Palestine and Israel could be rejuvenated. Tourists could return in safety to both nations. Partnerships created by Israeli and Palestinian citizen diplomats during times of terror could blossom in times of peace. A democratic Israel and a democratic Palestine could become a model to the world for turning "swords into plowshares." </div> <div> <B><U>THE DECISION: AMERICA'S CHOICE</U></B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT></div> <div> To choose life is to choose peace. America's choice is simply to re-prioritize the aid it will give to Israel. (By latest estimates, Israel is requesting more than double the customary $3 billion aid packaged for 2003.) America's choice is to change the priority from war aid to peace aid. </div> <div> Many peacemakers in Israel believe an American decision to fund peace aid rather than war aid would do more to reverse the tide of terror in the Middle East than any other action that could be taken. The nuclear fuse that leads toward Holocaust could be snuffed out. Security for everyone would be increased. All the world citizens would breath a sigh of relief. America would, once again, provide moral leadership. As was the case with the Marshall Aid Plan after World War II, American generosity and creativity would be instrumental in rebuilding the economy and infrastructure of nations decimated by war. </div> <div> <B><U>THE DECISION: OUR CHOICE</U></B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> Breakthroughs in modern science confirm ancient spiritual teachings that humans come equipped with deep sources of internal wisdom. When we make self-destructive choices, we disobey commandments woven into the fabric of life itself. Some scientists talk about humans having "three brains." Breakdowns in communication between these three inner "ways of knowing," they say, are a major cause of violence and war. Other scientists talk about our intelligent genes. We can bring into consciousness "memories" that outdate consciousness itself. The essential wisdom we need in order to choose life for our children is, indeed, <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>very close at hand -- in our hearts and on our lips -- so that we can obey...   </B></I></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT></div> <div> From this perspective, at a deep level, every human being has been prepared to make the choice the prophet Moses said God gives us to make. We have been prepared as a species to deal with calamities like "9/11," and to solve the multiple crises we will face in the 21st century. Lessons we have learned while preparing for this climatic time in the human story will be discussed in the Breakthrough series, Part 3 of the web site. </div> <div> This inner preparation was on the minds of many modern-day "prophets" in the latter half of the 20th century. Some of our most creative thinkers tried, Moses-like, to describe, in simple language we could all understand, the nature of the choice that we soon would have to make. </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B> <A NAME="seven_what_if_s_"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B>Seven WHAT-IF'S </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>That Might TurnTheTide</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>First “what-if”</B></div> <div> What if members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) listened to the peacemakers as attentively as they listened to the war-makers? And some of the 60,000 members concluded that peace was possible? Concluded that there was a better way to achieve security for Israel? That the state of Israel and Jews of the world could play a crucial role in creating a world based on law and justice, rather than prejudice and military power? What if, when Congress next welcomed the AIPAC delegation to Washington, Senators and Representatives heard some of America's most influential Jews urge a discussion on the pros and cons of “peace aid” instead of “military aid? What if some Christian Zionists listen too, and came to the conclusion that peacemaking was more on God's 21st century agenda for humans than was war-making?  </div> <bR> <div> <B>Second “what-if” </B></div> <div> What if organizations like the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (ipcri.org), the Palestinian Centre for Rapprochement between People (rapprochement.org), and others invited Pro-Israel organizations in America to conferences in Israel? And both the peacemakers and war-makers would be given equal time to make their presentations? And tours would be offered to visiting Jews that would inlcude visits to homes of "citizen diplomats" in Israel and in Palestine? </div> <bR> <div> <B>Third “what-if”</B></div> <div> What if Israeli citizens sent petitions to the U.S. President, Congress, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee requesting that American military aid be switched to peace aid? What if the peace aid could be used to reimburse homeowners of houses demolished since 1967? What if, in the first year of peace, most war damage in Palestine and Israel was repaired, including replanting groves and orchards  --- with adequate funds left over to offer quality psychological counseling to war-traumatized Palestinian and Israeli children, and to offer an existing, privately funded conflict resolution program (already proven effective) to students in every school.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>Fourth “what-if”</B></div> <div> What if every member of peace organizations like “Every Church A Peace Church” (ecapc.org) urged friends to petition their Representatives in Washington to sponsor a Resolution to re-prioritize the three billion dollar American aid to Israel---changing military aid to peace aid to support an Israel-Palestine mini "Marshall Aid" program? </div> <bR> <div> <B>Fifth “what-if”</B></div> <div> What if former President Jimmy Carter and The Carter Center joined with Israeli and Palestinian Non-Government Organizations and American pro-Israel organizations to develop a plan and budget that set concrete objectives, a time-line, and an administrative process for implementing a mini "Marshall Aid" program in Israel and Palestine?</div> <bR> <div> <B>Sixth “what-if”</B></div> <div> What if when the next annual “Stand with Israel” Rally in Washington, D.C. is scheduled, as many Jews showed up to “Stand with Israel” by supporting peace as those who showed up to "Stand with Israel by supporting war? Could American peace-seeking Jewish organizations initiate a dialog with the AIPAC (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>www.aipac.org</B></FONT>) on its own turf? Organizations like “The Tikkun Community” (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" >w</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>ww.tikkun.org</B></FONT>), “A Jewish Voice for Peace” (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>www jewishvoiceforpeace.org</B></FONT>), “Brit Tzedek v'Shalom's Jewish Alliance for Justice and Peace” (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>www brittzedek.org</B></FONT>), The Shalom Center (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>www.shalomcenter.org</B></FONT>), “Rabbis for Human Rights North America” (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>RHR_northameric @Yahoo.com</B></FONT>)? Could “Rabbis for Human Rights Israel” (<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>www rhr.Israel.net</B></FONT>) send delegates across the Atlantic to "Stand with Israel" by supporting peace? </div> <bR> <div> <B>Seventh “what-if”</B> </div> <div> What if America invited all Arab nations, the European Union, and other nations to join us in supporting a Peace Fund that would be used to rebuild the Holy Land, like Marshall Aid rebuilt Europe after World War II? And what if many nations accepted the invitation? And efforts were begun to support citizen-initiated peace plans in other “hot spots” around the world? And America initiated in the United Nations a program for a gradual transition from a war economy to a peace economy?  And each nation agreed to contribute (on a voluntary basis) a small percentage of its military budget to peace aid projects? And each year, little by little, the percentage spent for war gradually decreased, and the percentage spent for peace gradually increased?</div> <bR> <div> <B>WHAT IF?</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>