America's Unique Opportunity Documents

<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>America's Unique Opportunity 1</U></A>   |   <B>America's Unique Opportunity Documents</B>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Peace plan"><U>Peace plan</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Voices of Peacemakers: stumbling blocks,"><U>Voices of Peacemakers: stumbling blocks, etc. </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Link Tour"><U>Link Tour</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links of Hope"><U>Links of Hope</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="More Links"><U>More Links</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breakthrough Story Documents"><U>"Breakthrough Story" Documents</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><IMG SRC="0bd93a30.jpg" border=0 width="147" height="163" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> <B>Dr. Harold Sauders</B></div> <div> <I><B> </B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>The Citizen's Century: for better or for worse</B></I></FONT></div> <div>     <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>“While governments will continue to be critical to solutions in many cases, citizens outside government may hold the key to peace, economic progress, and the solutions to the world's most intractable problems. </B></div> <div> <B>     “I have called this 'The Citizen's Century' for better or for worse."</B></div> <div> <B>    </B><I><B> Dr. Harold Saunders, former Assistant Secretary of State for President Jimmy Carter, and facilitator at the Camp David Accords.</B></I></div> <div> <B>------------</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>LET THEM SHOW ANOTHER WAY </B></I></div> <div> <B>      “Finally, it is time for unconventional approaches. With so many Israelis and Palestinians doubting there is a solution, it is time for unofficial people-to-people efforts…</B></div> <div> <B>     “…if, as they are telling me, there are Israelis and Palestinians who believe they could outline a fair solution, let them do so…</B></div> <div> <B>     “Let them demonstrate that peaceful coexistence is not an illusion.  Let them show there is another way.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>     Dennis Ross, former director for policy planning in the State Department under President George H.W. Bush and special Middle East coordinator under President Clinton.</B></I></div> <div> --------------</div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>America's Unique Opportunity Documents</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B> <A NAME="_america_s_unique_opportunity"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> <B>“America's Unique Opportunity Documents” </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#1___a_citizens_based_road_map_to_a" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>1.  A Citizens Based Road Map to a</B></U></A><B> </B><B>Permanent Two-State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#2__a_palestinian_negotiator_s_view_on" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>2. A Palestinian negotiator's view</B></U></A><B> on how powerless Palestinians will gobble up the “Big Guy.” In the long run David wins over Goliath. </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#3__an_ultra_conservative_israeli_view" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>3.</B></U></A><A HREF="#3__an_ultra_conservative_israeli_view" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U> </U></A><A HREF="#3__an_ultra_conservative_israeli_view" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>The ultra-orthodox Jewish view</B></U></A><B>: the Israeli “Big Guy” will gobble up the powerless Palestinians with America's help. David loses. </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#4__dear_mrs__laura_bush_a_palestinian" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>4. A Palestinian mother speaks</B></U></A><B> her mind and her heart- she goes with her own mother to pick a lemon from an orchard that belonged to her grandparents. </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#5__a_suicide_bomber_s_father_speaks_his" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>5. A Palestinian Father speaks</B></U></A><B> his mind and heart: let Hamas' leaders send their owns sons to die. </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#6__an_interview_with_zuheir_almanasara" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>6. An interview with the mayor of Jenin</B></U></A><B>, the so-called “city of suicide bombers” </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#7__feeling_their_pain_why_it_is_so" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>7. Feeling their pain:</B></U></A><B> the spiritual dilemma of a Palestinian Christian who can't.  </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#8__discount_housing_and_cut_rate_taxes" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>8. Discount housing and cut-rate taxes</B></U></A><B> for Israeli “Settlers” lead to economic disaster in Israel. </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#9__a_rare_public_debate_in_the_israeli" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>9. A rare public debate</B></U></A><B> in the Israeli Knesset on the escalating potential for nuclear holocaust.</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#10__the__period_for_calm_for_israel__is" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>10. The “period of calm for Israel”</B></U></A><B> was a “period of death for Palestinians” </B></div> <div> <A HREF="#11__an_israeli_jew_comes_home_from" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>11. An Israeli Jew comes home</B></U></A><B> from France with a new view of reality and visits Palestine for the first time in his life</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#12__the_midterm_assessment" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>12. Israel/Palestine Center for Research</B></U></A><B> and Information's “Midterm Assessment” of which side is winning the war.</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#13__palestinian_textbook_evaluation_and" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>13. Palestinian Textbook Evaluation</B></U></A><B> and Request to President Bush</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#14___i_have_no_choice_but_to_boycott" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>14</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Verdana" ><A HREF="#14___i_have_no_choice_but_to_boycott" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>. </B></U></A></FONT><A HREF="#14___i_have_no_choice_but_to_boycott" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>“I have no choice but to boycott </B></U></A><B>Israeli products:”</B> <B>Oona King, a Jewish member of the British Parliament</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#15__a_transgenerational_movement_to" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>15. "A Transgenerational Movement</B></U></A><B> to heal the wounded world" --  Judaism, Violence, and Nonviolence</B></div> <div> <A HREF="#15___non_violent_resistance_in" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>16. Sharon & Fanatical Settlers Provide Best TV Show in Town</B></U></A><B> -- </B><B>Critique of drama by Uri Avnery</B></div> <div>  <A NAME="1___a_citizens_based_road_map_to_a"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>1.  A Citizens Based Road Map to a Permanent Two State Solution to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict</B></div> <div> DRAFT plan</div> <div> <B>Suggested by Gershon Baskin and Zakaria al Qaq</B></div> <div> <B>Co-Directors of the Israeli/Palestine Center for Research and Information</B></div> <bR> <div> Mon, 12 May 2003</div> <div> <B><U>Too important and complex to leave in the hands of politicians</U></B></div> <div> The issues concerning the future of Israel and Palestine are too complex and too important to be left only in the hands of the politicians. It is time for the Israeli and Palestinian civil society to make its voices heard. It is time for us to let the political leadership know what we think must be done.  </div> <div> It is time for us to stand up and do our parts in making the Road Map Process succeed. While it is clear that the Road Map has many flaws, it is equally true that this may be our last opportunity for a long time to help make peace become a reality. So with that in mind, the following is a guideline for Israeli-Palestinian civil society actions and roles that should be implemented as soon as possible… </div> <div>  </div> <div> <U>Monitoring and Verifying:</U> A Citizens based monitoring group should be established that will serve as the publics' watch dog on the implementation of the Road Map.  A group of responsible Israelis and Palestinians will serve as civilian monitors issuing period reports to the public and to the media detailing the side's compliance or non-compliance with agreements and with the implementation of the Road Map. </div> <div> We will not sit idly on the sidelines watching the politicians and security officials once again fail to implement agreements that they themselves negotiated and signed. Citizen monitoring is a well-accepted and well-known mechanism in the international arena.  </div> <div> <B>It is time for Israeli and Palestinian citizens to assume responsibilities</B> for ensuring that our politicians implement what they agree to implement. It is our responsibility as concerned citizens to ensure that breaches and non-compliance by either side not be tolerated. It is time for the political leaders to take their citizens with the utmost seriousness. It is time for us to assume this responsibility and act responsibly with the power we have.<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> <B> </B></div> <div> <B>Renewal of People-to-People activities at all levels </B></div> <div> Unequivocal Statements: Israeli and Palestinian citizens and civil society organizations should immediately issue unequivocal statements regarding mutual recognition, ending the occupation, rejection of all acts of violence, putting an end to all forms of humiliation respecting the dignity of all citizens, ending all forms of incitement, actively engaging in peace education at home and in schools and a return to negotiations:  There are many formats for such statements.  Below are two such statements - both are good and both should be supported.</div> <div> <B>The most recent statement comes from the International Alliance for Israeli Arab Peace that held a meeting in Copenhagen this past week, bringing together 100 Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians. The final declaration of the Alliance reads as follows (excerpts):</B></div> <div>  </div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Security for both sides, starting with an end to all violence.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Respect for human rights, international humanitarian law, and the environment.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Evacuation of all settlements in the areas occupied in 1967, excluding those that are included in land swaps.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Agreed borders based on and equal to June 4, 1967.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jerusalem as the capitals of two independent states.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">A just and agreed upon solution to the refugee problem consistent with the Palestinian determination for the fulfillment of all relevant UN resolutions including UNGA Res. 194 and with the Israeli determination to maintain the Jewish character of the State of Israel, without prejudice to the Arab population of Israel and according to the bilateral peace agreement.</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc00000000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Extensive and agreed third party involvement in monitoring, verifying dispute resolution and ensuring compliance with agreements. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Similarly, there is a statement drafted by Prof. Sari Nusseibeh and former GSS Head General (retired) Ami Ayalon, </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.mifkad.org.il/eng/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mifkad.org.il/eng/"><U><B><U>www.mifkad.org.il/eng/</U></B></U></A></FONT><B>  that states the following:</B></div> <div> <B><U>(Signed by Ami Ayalon & Sari Nusseibeh on July 27, 2002)</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <B>1.  </B>   Two states for two peoples: Both sides will declare that Palestine is the only state of the Palestinian people and Israel is the only state of the Jewish people. </div> <bR> <div> <B>2.</B>     Borders: Permanent borders between the two states will be agreed upon on the basis of the June 4, 1967 lines, UN resolutions, and the Arab peace initiative (known as the Saudi initiative).  </div> <div> Border modifications will be based on an equitable an agreed-upon territorial exchange (1:1) in accordance with the vital needs of both sides, including security, territorial contiguity, and demographic considerations.</div> <div> The Palestinian State will have a connection between its two geographic areas, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.</div> <div> After establishment of the agreed borders, no settlers will remain in the Palestinian State.</div> <bR> <div> <B>3.     </B>Jerusalem:  Jerusalem will be an open city, the capital of two states. Freedom of religion and full access to holy sites will be guaranteed to all.</div> <div> Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem will come under Palestinian sovereignty, Jewish neighborhoods under Israeli sovereignty.</div> <div> Neither side will exercise sovereignty over the holy places. The State of Palestine will be designated Guardian of al-Haram al-Sharif for the benefit of Muslims.  Israel will be the Guardian of the Western Wall for the benefit of the Jewish people. The status quo on Christian holy site will be maintained. No excavation will take place in or underneath the holy sites without mutual consent.   </div> <bR> <div> <B>4.   </B>Right of return:  Recognizing the suffering and the plight of the Palestinian refugees, the international community, Israel, and the Palestinian State will initiate and contribute to an international fund to compensate them.</div> <div> Palestinian refugees will return only to the State of Palestine; Jews will return only to the State of Israel.</div> <div> The international community will offer to compensate toward bettering the lot of those refugees willing to remain in their present country of residence, or who wish to immigrate to third-party countries.</div> <bR> <div> <B>5.</B>     The Palestinian State will be demilitarized and the international community will guarantee its security and independence. </div> <bR> <div> <B>6. </B>    End of conflict: Upon the full implementation of these principles, all claims on both sides and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will end.</div> <div> <I><B>(Signed by Ami Ayalon & Sari Nusseibeh on July 27, 2002)</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Renewal of People-to-People activities at all levels</B></div> <div> <B>></B>        Civil society based groups and institutions at all levels and in all fields will renew and reestablish contacts across the divide creating broad based civil society activities of contact between Israeli and Palestinian citizens. These activities will include all of the following fields of action and more not listed here:</div> <div> o       Peace Education in schools</div> <div> o       Medical and Health cooperation</div> <div> o       Scientific research and joint projects</div> <div> o       Economic development, joint ventures, etc.</div> <div> o       Professional cooperation between people from similar professions</div> <div> o       Women's organizations</div> <div> o       Youth activities including sports</div> <div> o       Track II and dialogue activities</div> <div> o       Media and culture</div> <bR> <div>  <B>Our Call for Help</B></div> <bR> <div> The donor countries and private foundations are called upon to renew and to expand their support for People-to-People activities.  In the years 1993-2000 an estimated $30 million dollars was granted to Israeli-Palestinian People-to-People activities.  We call upon the donor community to launch a massive and intensive effort to strengthen the citizens' peace making efforts.  We call on the United States and the European Union to make a minimum annual contribution of $10 million dollars each and a commitment to allocate those funds every year for at least the next five years.  We call upon other nations that have contributed to People-to-People efforts to refund their programs.  We call upon the Government of Norway to once again take a lead on the People-to-People program and to coordinate donor aid with the other nations.</div> <bR> <div> We call on the Government of Israel to immediately ease the movement of Palestinians within Palestine so that students and teachers can get to their schools, ill people can get to doctors and hospitals, workers to  their places of work, etc. We also call on the Israeli Government and security to establish a “Card Category” (People-to-People Person) for Palestinian permits allowing these leaders of People-to-People activities on the Palestinian side to gain free access between Israel and Palestine and to move freely in their work of organizing and running People-to-People programs. Likewise, we call on the IDF and Security forces to allow Palestinians to enter Israel and to sleep over in Israel with permits for the purpose of participating in People-to-People activities.</div> <bR> <div> We call upon the Palestinian security forces and the Palestinian police to provide security for Israeli People-to-People activities to come into the PA territories for the purpose of meeting with their Palestinian counterparts and to provide security for People-to-People activities to be held within the PA territories. </div> <bR> <div> We call upon the Palestinian NGO's to engage and to re-engage in peacemaking. Palestinian and Israeli NGO's should extend their hands to each other and let the message of peace be heard by wider constituencies on both sides.</div> <div> We call upon Prime Minister Abu Mazen and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to make public unequivocal statements supporting Israeli-Palestinian People-to-People activities. But even without such statements, we, civil society leaders will continue to expand and widen our Israeli-Palestinian People-to-People activities. </div> <bR> <div> <B> </B><B>Media and Exposure</B></div> <bR> <div> We call on media personalities, public figures, authors, singers, actors, and other shapers and makers of public opinion to courageously join their voices for peace together with ours. Now is the time for courage and bold gestures.  Now is the time for people who have access to large audiences to use their fame not only for their own personal welfare but also for the welfare of both peoples. It is time for them to make their own call for peace. Now is the time to put our skepticism and fears on the side and stand up and be counted amongst those who will not allow us to miss this opportunity for peace. </div> <div> We call on Israeli and Palestinian electronic and written media including and especially television to provide fair and open coverage of peacemaking activities undertaking by Israeli and Palestinian civil society. The media must understand that they too have a public and a civic responsibility to contribute to peacemaking for the benefits of both people. We have been told that “peace business” doesn't sell Newspapers: it is time for the media to understand that the business of violence that does perhaps sell newspapers at the same times spreads despair, anger and anguish. Sometimes civic responsibilities come before business.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Raising Our Voices around the World</B></div> <bR> <div> Just as the Israeli right-wing invests great amounts of resources and money in advocacy activities in the Halls of Congress in Washington, so must we.  Our voices must be heard on Capital Hill, in the State Department, in the White House and in Capital cities across the globe.  Groups of Israeli and Palestinian civil society leaders and activists must make a strategic and coordinated effort to influence the response of the International Community to our peacemaking activities. The harmonious voices of Israeli and Palestinian activists working together and speaking together resonates louder and more clearly than the whining and fear spreading hysterics of those who actively oppose peace. Our voices will be heard and our message will influence. We must coordinate and working together on the ground to spread the word of peace together.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Dr. Gershon Baskin and Dr. Zakaria al Qaq are the Co-Directors of IPCRI: Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information</B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.ipcri.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ipcri.org"><U><B>www.ipcri.org</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>  </B></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.place4peace.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.place4peace.com"><U><B>www.place4peace.com</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.our-shared-enviornment.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.our-shared-enviornment.net"><U><B>www.our-shared-enviornment.net</B></U></A><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> P.O. Box 9321, Jerusalem 91092</div> <div> Tel: 972-2-676-9460   Fax: 972-2-676-8011</div> <div> Mobile: 052-381-715</div> <div> gershon@ipcri.org <mailto:gershon@ipcri.org> </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="2__a_palestinian_negotiator_s_view_on"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>2. A Palestinian negotiator's view on how powerless Palestinians will gobble up the “Big Guy” in the long run. David will win over Goliath.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Headline:</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>“I HOPE SHARON DOESN'T EVACUATE A SINGLE OUTPOST.”</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>From Today's Haaretz</B></div> <div> Last update - June 9, 2003</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Peace can't be bought on the layaway plan</B></I></div> <div> By Akiva Eldar <mailto:eldar@haaretz.co.il> </div> <bR> <div> "I hope Sharon doesn't evacuate a single outpost. I hope another quarter million Jews settle in the territories." </div> <div> Those aren't the words of a Yesha council member. It was Michael Tarazi, an adviser to the Palestinian negotiating team, who said them. He doesn't believe it's possible to reach an agreement any longer on dividing the country along the 1967 lines. If it were up to him, the intifada would have long since been over - and possibly never taken place. </div> <div> Tarazi proposes to let Israel sow as many settlements as it wants, and wait patiently until the Palestinians and Jews become one entity. He is convinced that in another 10 to 20 years, the world will impose a one person-one vote system on Israel. Then, what happened to the apartheid regime in South Africa will happen to Zionism; a Palestinian will be elected to head the new entity in the 1947 borders. </div> <div> Tarazi's words should open the eyes of many Israelis given hope by the declarations of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon about the occupation (as important as they were), a Palestinian state and the dismantling of some settlements. Less than three years have passed since an Israeli prime minister offered the Palestinians "the most generous offer they were ever given." All that's left of those offers is Ehud Barak's story that the generous offer was meant only to expose Yasser Arafat's "true face" - and the terrorism and the despair. </div> <div> It seems the Israelis refuse to miss an opportunity to say the Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. In another two or three months, two to three years tops, when the Palestinians reject Sharon's "generous offer" for half the West Bank, the prime minister will say he's exposed Abu Mazen's true face. When the road map goes the way of the documents that preceded it and the terror attacks resume, Amos Gilad will say Abu Mazen was nothing more than a clean-shaven version of Arafat. </div> <div> To avoid the next disappointment, it's recommended to clip and save the following lines, written by Col. (res.) Ephraim Lavie, a former researcher in Military Intelligence, who was adviser on Arab affairs to Barak's "peace administration." Lavie argues that Abu Mazen, like Arafat, and any other Palestinian worthy of the name "leader," is committed to the Palestinian National Council's decision from 1988, which adopted UN Security Council Resolution 242 and seeks a Palestinian state alongside Israel. "The Palestinian concept has been and remains that the negotiations are meant to fulfill its rights, which are derived from what they call `international legitimacy,' and not the result of the asymmetry opposite the Israelis." </div> <div> Lavie emphasizes that as far as the Palestinians are concerned, "a good offer" can only be one that matches those rights. Therefore, a good offer can only be the rights derived from UN decisions, and readiness to adapt them in light of existing reality, such as border corrections for settlement blocs. And precisely for that reason, they rejected the very idea of a framework agreement because as far as they are concerned, the UN decisions already are a framework. That's also the reason why, during Camp David 2, when Israel offered 26 solutions to the Jerusalem and Temple Mount problem, the Palestinians did not raise any offers. </div> <div> This confirms Tarazi's message; There is no bargain-basement peace deal. A territorial exchange is the only discount on the withdrawal to the 1967 lines, including East Jerusalem; as far as the Palestinians are concerned, they already gave up 78 percent of the original territory.</div> <div> There's also no "two for one" deal - territories and refugees - for the price of one agreement. The only deal is an agreed solution to the right of return problem that does not upset the demographic balance. </div> <div> There are also no layaway terms - every day of occupation that goes by only increases the strength of its opponents. That's the way it is: You want, eat - and get two states for two peoples. You don't want, don't eat, and get a clearance sale of Zionism.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="3__an_ultra_conservative_israeli_view"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>3.</B> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#993300" FACE="Arial" ><B>An ultra-orthodox Israeli view: the “Big Guy” will gobble up the powerless Palestinians with America's help. David loses.</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <I><B><U>The growing clamor for ethnic cleansing</U></B></I></div> <bR> <div> <B>by Ali Abunimah</B></div> <div> The Electronic Intifada</div> <div> <A HREF="http://electronicIntifada.net/features/articles/020828ali.shtml" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://electronicIntifada.net/features/a"><U><B><U>http://electronicIntifada.net/features/articles/020828ali.shtml</U></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> (AMMAN -- August 27, 2002) -- An Israeli organization has published detailed plans for the "complete elimination of the Arab demographic threat to Israel" by forcibly expelling all Palestinians, including Palestinians in the occupied territories and Palestinian citizens of Israel from the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea within a 3-5 year period.)</div> <bR> <div> ”<B>Gamla,” a group founded by former Israeli military officers and settlers, published these recommendations on its web site in a nine thousand word manifesto titled "The logistics of transfer," penned by Boris Shusteff last July 3. The mass ethnic cleansing of every Palestinian, the author argues, is "the only possible solution" to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and is "substantiated by the Torah." (</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.gamla.org.il/english" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.gamla.org.il/english"><U><B><U>www.gamla.org.il/english</U></B></U></A></FONT><B>) Gamla receives tax-deductible contributions from a New York-based charity that claims that its goal is greater Arab-Jewish tolerance.</B></div> <bR> <div> The manifesto recognizes that Israel will never win widespread support for expulsion, but argues that it needs "only a modicum of support from its closest ally -- the United States," in order to carry out the plan.</div> <bR> <div> Under the plan, Israel would launch an information campaign and increase economic strangulation of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip to force them to leave "voluntarily." One measure would be to deprive Palestinians of employment, literally starving them out (one could say that this policy is already being implemented). Palestinian citizens of Israel would face complete apartheid and religious coercion as Israel would "pass a law that will stipulate in some form that non-Jewish citizens of the state, while retaining full and irrevocable civil rights, will have no ability to participate in Israeli political life." Failing that, the paper continues, "Israeli Arabs can be given one more option - to convert to Judaism if they prefer to stay put."</div> <bR> <div> At the same time, Israel will try to convince the international community to establish a Palestinian state far away from Israel and the occupied territories (in Iraq or Saudi Arabia). The author writes that:</div> <bR> <div> "Israel must make clear to the world community that, if a decision cannot be made within 3 to 5 years to establish a state for the Palestinian Arabs in some viable location, she will be forced to start the forced expulsion of Arabs into Jordan and the Sinai."</div> <bR> <div> The expulsion plan provides details about how this will be done, in lightning military strikes:</div> <bR> <div> <B>"As an example, the relocation of a small settlement (1,000 people) can be completed within a 48-hour period, similarly to a military border-crossing operation. Israel will supply the relocated community with temporary housing, water and electricity (providing tents, a generator, water cisterns, etc.). The abandoned settlement must be completely demolished level with the ground."</B></div> <bR> <div> While Israel moves to implement the complete annexation of all the occupied territories, it would, according to the plan, have to subdue the population by carrying out war crimes and crimes against humanity if any Palestinians try to resist: "Any attempts on the part of the Arabs [Palestinians] to carry out sabotage or terrorist activity must be immediately suppressed in the most brutal way. It is possible, for example, to implement a suggestion by Harvard Professor Alan Derschowitz, an American liberal lawyer. With slight modification, it works as follows:  Israel issues a warning that, in a response to any terrorist attack, she will immediately completely level an Arab village or settlement, randomly chosen by a computer from a published list. The essence of the idea is to make the Arabs completely responsible for their own fate, and to make it clear that terrorism will not be merely tolerated, but will be harshly punished. Along with the world community, the Arabs will know precisely what will result if they attack Jews. The use of a computer to select the place of the Israeli response will put the Arabs and the Jews on a level footing.</div> <bR> <div> The Jews do not know where the terrorists will strike, and the Arabs will not know which one of their villages or settlements will be erased in retaliation. The word "erased" very precisely reflects the force of Israel's response. The Arabs residing there will be evicted without compensation, all houses and buildings completely demolished, and the settlement itself, with the help of bulldozers and any other necessary equipment, will be leveled into a large field. After the appearance of several such fields the Arabs will lose any desire to commit terrorist attacks and the number of Arabs wanting to leave Eretz Yisrael will certainly increase."</div> <bR> <div> The only precedent for such a chilling and methodical approach to ethnic cleansing would be the industrialized elimination of Jews planned and carried out by Nazi Germany. </div> <bR> <div> Are these words merely the ramblings of an extremist group carrying no wide influence, or do they represent another step in legitimizing discussion of a once taboo idea gaining broad-based support in Israel and amongst some American Jewish organizations?</div> <bR> <div> Gamla claims that it is "in the forefront of the battle for the land of Israel, organizes activities, participates in demonstrations, and publishes articles, posters and stickers for that cause," and that "most of its activities are coordinated and joined with other grassroots organizations of the national camp."</div> <bR> <div> One of the group's three founders is Elyakim Haetzni, one of the first and most prominent West Bank settlers who lives in Kiryat Arba settlement near Hebron. Another was the late Lt. Colonel Shlomo Baum, a founder of Israel's notorious Unit 101, which with the young Ariel Sharon as its leader carried out the brutal massacre of dozens of civilians in the Palestinian village of Qibya in 1954, among other atrocities. The third, retired Colonel Moshe Leshem, also a longtime spokesman for the settlers, has a show on Israel's settler radio network "Arutz 7" along with Haetzni.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Gamla receives tax-deductible contributions from Americans through a New York-based charity called PEF Israel Endowment Funds (</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.pefisrael.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.pefisrael.org"><U><B><U>www.pefisrael.org</U></B></U></A></FONT><B>) which states that its was established in 1922 by Justice Louis Brandies and Rabbi Stephen Wise. Among its stated purposes is "promoting greater tolerance and understanding between religious and secular communities and between Arabs and Jews." Under this liberal guise, the organization appears to be channeling funds to a group advocating the total destruction of a nation -- in other words, genocide.</B></div> <bR> <div> The Gamla web site also frequently publishes and promotes the writings of Daniel Pipes, a professional Arab-basher, and ubiquitous guest on American television talk shows.</div> <bR> <div> Within Israel, Palestinians are viewed as a "demographic threat" across the political spectrum, the only difference being on how to deal with this threat. For traditional leftists, "separation" is the preferred option, while among the right-wing outright expulsion is gaining support. The debate about the "demographic threat" is carried out in overtly racist terms. In summer 2001, Haifa University professor Arnon Sofer, renewed Israeli anxieties about the fertility of Palestinian women with a study predicting that by 2020 non-Jews will be a majority west of the Jordan River. "Some Israelis say," according to The Chicago Tribune, "that ticking below the surface of the violent confrontation between Arab and Jew is a silent bomb, a demographic bomb." Their solution is to adopt a "Chinese rule" limiting the number of children Palestinians are allowed to have. ("Birthrates alarm Israel," Chicago Tribune, April 21, 2002)</div> <bR> <div> While lamenting that only the Moledet party, founded by the assassinated Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Zeevi, openly advocates expulsion, the Gamla paper takes heart that recent opinion polls in Israel put support for some form of 'transfer' at 46% and in some cases 60% depending on how the question is posed.</div> <bR> <div> According to Professor Majid Al-Haj of Haifa University, the struggle of Palestinian citizens of Israel is no longer primarily about achieving equality with Jews within Israeli society, but has reverted to a more basic struggle simply to remain in their homeland against a rising tide of pro-transfer sentiment being freely expressed in Israeli Jewish society. Al-Haj, one of the few true Arab experts on Israeli society, speaking recently at the Jordan University Center for Strategic Studies, cited as an example the infamous conference in the Israeli town of Herzliya in November 2000, just months into the Intifada. At that meeting, more than three hundred prominent Israeli intellectuals, former and sitting generals and politicians, former prime ministers, and Israel's past and sitting president openly discussed ideas including "exchanges of population," limiting the democratic rights of Palestinian citizens, forcing Palestinian citizens to sign a document recognizing Israel as a Jewish state as a condition of retaining their citizenship, and the primacy of Israel's "Jewish" over its "democratic" character.</div> <bR> <div> The transfer idea is gaining ground because the common conception that Jews should live separately from everyone else provides room for it to flourish. Today there are almost no Jewish voices in Israel calling for Palestinian-Israeli coexistence on the basis of full equality regardless of religion or ethnic affiliation. One of Israel's leading lights on the left, novelist A.B. Yehoshua, while not supporting transfer, regards co-existence between Palestinians and Israelis as a thing to behold with horror. "Two people in one state," Yehoshua warned, "is a threat to our existence. Anyway, we did not come to Israel to live in a bi-national state, but in a Jewish state." ("Israel is losing the demographic race,"  Israeltoday.co.il) This view is typical of the Israeli left, the vast majority of which only supports some form of Palestinian statehood as a mechanism to preserve Jewish primacy. While in most countries that practice it, democracy is understood as a mechanism to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority, among Israeli liberals democracy is only valuable as a tool to maintain the tyranny of a Jewish majority over a Palestinian minority without the embarrassment of having to adopt formal apartheid or advocate ethnic cleansing. We must be clear that the concern for maintaining a Jewish majority is about preserving power and privilege, not about protecting cultural identity, heritage and religious practice. Those can be much better protected, and enhanced in a multi-ethnic society where freedom of religion, speech and association are guaranteed to all. At least that is what good Americans are brought up to believe.</div> <bR> <div> The "demographic threat" comes not only from Muslim Palestinians, but also from Christians. Last June Haaretz reported that Dr. Asher  Cohen of Bar-Ilan University had discovered that already Israel's Jewish majority is "only" seventy two percent, far less than the eighty one percent claimed by official figures. This difference is accounted for by the high rate and relative ease of assimilation of Christians from the former Soviet Union and guest-workers into Israeli society, something that in most other countries claiming to be liberal democracies would be seen as a desirable trend<B>. </B>In response to Cohen's findings Israel's Interior Minister Eli Yishai declared that "Clearly it's impossible to bar the arrival of couples in which one of the members is Jewish, but we should see to it that families that are completely Christian do not come here --including people who go to church on a regular basis." ("Demographic balancing acts," Haaretz, June 13, 2002)</div> <bR> <div> This anti-Christian war cry was recently taken up by Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron and his Ashkenazi counterpart Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, who warned that "seventy percent of the new immigrants to Israel are professed non-Jews, with no connection to Judaism." In a joint statement, the two clerics concluded, "We cannot continue to bring entire Christian families to Israel."<B> </B>(Chief rabbis call for revision to be made in Law of Return," Haaretz, August 25, 2002)</div> <bR> <div> <B>The view that non-Jews, including the indigenous Palestinians, are a mortal threat, a cancer, a bomb to be defused, echoes precisely the language of racists and ethno-nationalists everywhere. Only the claim of Israeli exceptionalism, and misuse of the memory of the Nazi holocaust, has protected Israel from the censure it deserves for allowing such views to flourish. The sheer breath-taking hypocrisy is encapsulated by the Israeli government with Moledet ethnic cleansing advocates amongst its ranks condemning European countries like France and Austria for allowing racist parties to grow too powerful.</B></div> <bR> <div> A few years ago it would have been easy to dismiss the Gamla document as the work of marginal extremists. But in today's Israel, where pro-ethnic-cleansing ministers sit in the cabinet, and even those who would not support transfer are opposed to co-existence and equality, it is a worrying sign. Most of the brutal measures Israel carries out today with nary a word of concern from the outside world would have been unthinkable two years ago, including the mass starvation of millions of besieged Palestinians. It would not be surprising to see some of the measures proposed in the expulsion manifesto adopted piecemeal as Israel's swing to the far right continues unchecked.</div> <bR> <div> The Gamla document is notable not because it raises ideas that no one else in Israel is talking about, but rather because it tries to take a generalized and growing clamor for transfer to the next level -- detailed formulation of a specific program for the expulsion of the Palestinians around which political support and action can be organized. <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Extremists such as Gamla are closely tied with 'mainstream' politicians, and by running ahead of them can test the waters and introduce ideas that the mainstream is not yet ready to fully embrace.</B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>It may not even be necessary for a majority of Israelis to support expulsion for it to be carried out since the settler movement -- from which Gamla emerges -- has managed to wield disproportionate influence on all Israeli governments, especially that of Sharon. For example, while polls show that the majority of Israelis are in favor of removing settlements in the occupied territories, the settlements continue to grow, absorbing a disproportionate chunk of Israel's budget even while unemployment and poverty within Israel itself are spiraling. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is waiting in the wings for Sharon to fall, has mortgaged himself even more to these elements.</B></div> <bR> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >The expulsion plan's author may not be entirely deluded either, when he banks on American support. Last May, Dick Armey the most senior Republican in the United States Congress openly advocated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians on MSNBC's Hardball, while the usually bland USA Today newspaper published a February op-ed by one Emanuel Winston calling for the "resettling" of the Palestinians in Jordan.  Neither of these calls elicited the slightest protest from mainstream commentators and politicians in the United States. </FONT><B>As extreme as President Bush's support for Israel has become, it appears moderate next to that of so-called</B> <B>Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who stated recently that Israel should be able to keep the "so-called occupied territories" because it won them fair and square in a war. When Hillary Clinton, New York's "liberal" Senator, visited Israel earlier this year, she was hosted by and warmly embraced Benny Elon, the leader of the Moledet ethnic cleansing party.</B></div> <bR> <div> The Sharon government's egging on of the United States to bring forward its attack on Iraq cannot be motivated solely by fear of Iraqi "weapons of mass destruction," since Israeli intelligence assessments downplay the actual threat from the devastated Iraqi armed forces. It may not be far-fetched to speculate that some within Israel would see a regional war as the only opportunity to carry out a round of expulsions, and delay the day when the "demographic bomb" explodes.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Theodore Herzl, writing Zionism's founding tract, "The Jewish State" recognized that his dream of taking over Palestine could not be fulfilled without transfer. Herzl famously declared "We shall try to spirit the penniless [Arab] population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it employment in our country." Recent scholarship by Israelis and others, and fifty four years of the lived reality of Palestinians bear uncontestable witness to the fact that mass expulsion has always been part of Israel's strategy and practice. Whether it will become so again is anybody's guess, but the warning signs are there to be heeded.</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="4__dear_mrs__laura_bush_a_palestinian"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>4.</B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#993300" FACE="Arial" ><B> Dear Mrs. Laura Bush: a Palestinian mother </B></FONT></div> <div> <B>speaks her mind and her heart.</B></div> <div> <B>“The Lemon Tree Confrontation”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>By Nahed Alsous</B></div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>Dear Mrs. Laura Bush,</B> I read with great sadness the comments you made about your lack of sympathy for Palestinian mothers. </div> <div> Palestinian mothers live their lives in total misery, pain and fear for their children that are either hungry, in prison or may never return. They endure occupation, poverty, humiliation and the killing of their children and husbands, but they continue on. All of this pain is more bearable than the outright negation of their motherhood by comments like yours and those of our media.</div> <div> You say it is "so easy to empathize with Israeli families" that are afraid to send their children to a grocery store or bowling alley. </div> <div> What about innocent Palestinian children who are starved, humiliated or killed under he only occupation remaining on earth? Aren't children all worthy of love, happiness, and sympathy regardless of their religion or ethnic background?  </div> <div> How can you then say, "Can I empathize with a mother who sends her child out to kill herself and others? No."? </div> <div> Were your eyes not filled with tears, and your heart filled with agony at the pictures and stories of Palestinian children buried alive under the rubble of their homes in Jenin and Nablus? Were you not as outraged as the rest of world at Israel's success at defying the international community by blocking the inquiry into what Amnesty International called "clear evidence of war crimes"?</div> <div> Why could 462 Israeli reservists <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >(now more than 500)</FONT>, who are career Israeli soldiers, sympathize with the suffering of Palestinians, but you can't? Did their courageous statement "We shall not continue to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people" not compel you to think: What makes teenagers, who are supposed to be full of adolescent self absorption, shallow egos and worries about the next pimple appearing before the prom, decide to kill themselves and others in such a painful and horrific way? </div> <div> The answer, Mrs. Bush, is a ruthless 35-year-old occupation that continues to rob people of their dignity and denies them their basic human rights.  The vast majority of Palestinian mothers - and I - do not by any means condone the killing of innocent people on either side. But to stop these desperate acts we must address the human rights and security of Palestinians and Israelis.</div> <div> We must condemn suicide bombings and other unacceptable methods of resisting occupation. We must also condemn the inhumane occupation; the disproportionate force being used to enforce this illegitimate occupation in violation of tens of UN resolutions; and the carrying out of collective punishment and summary reprisals against those who object to being occupied and try and fight back with the paltry, impoverished means available to them. </div> <div> I cry for the suicide bombers and for their innocent victims, for they are both victims of the occupation that takes a horrible toll on Palestinians and Israelis alike.</div> <div> You were a teacher, so you probably know that there are millions of Palestinian mothers in this world, but there are at most hundreds of actual or would-be suicide bombers. I am sure that, in your days as an educator, you taught children that stereotyping and collective characterization of an entire people as being faceless statistics is a very dangerous thing that leads to horrific acts like the Nazi Holocaust. </div> <div> Mrs. Bush, you too handed out the collective punishment of marginalizing and dehumanizing all Palestinian mothers for the actions of a few desperate people. For Palestinian American mothers, it is especially painful when the First Mother of the United States of America dismisses our ability to be loving and nurturing mothers.</div> <div> I want to tell you about Palestinian mothers, for I speak from experience. </div> <div> I am a Palestinian American mother, my mom was a Palestinian mother, and so was her mom and so on. I know first hand the amount of love and caring that Palestinian mothers try to give their children under the most extreme of circumstances. </div> <div> My mother and several others in our town took all of the children to caves in the mountains during the 1967 war to protect us from potential massacres like Deir Yassin. </div> <div> My mother stayed up all night when one of us was sick. She cried when we were late from school for fear that soldiers had arrested us. She panicked when one got hurt playing outside. She stopped her social life completely when we had exams, she stayed up making tea and snacks as long as we were studying, and gave us hell when our grades were not up to her standards. My mother dressed us in our best clothes to visit our Palestinian Christian friends to wish them a happy Easter or Christmas, carrying all kinds of gifts and goodies. </div> <div> Christian Palestinian mothers did the same during our holidays. Our Christian friends</div> <div> complained about their Palestinian Christian mothers not allowing them to eat ice cream cones in front of us during the month of Ramadan, because we were fasting. My mother taught us by example the duty and honor of respecting and caring for our elders. She took excellent care of her immobile mother-in-law; our Palestinian grandmother. She fed and bathed her; she put arthritis cream on her aching body; she stayed up with my grandmother all night when she was too scared to sleep during the war… </div> <div> My mother lived a horrible childhood, she and her family became refugees, fleeing their home in Jaffa in 1948. She went back with us some twenty years later as a tourist from the West Bank and knocked on the door of her old home asking if she could go in and take a quick look. The man that opened the door said no, but the Israeli mother said yes. Mom sobbed the whole time we were there, and so did we. </div> <div> On the way out, as my little brother reached for a lemon from an old lemon tree, the man yelled at him. My mother shouted back "How dare you yell at him for picking a single lemon from a tree that was planted by his grandfather?" The Jewish mother seemed embarrassed by her husband's actions.</div> <div> My mom signaled "thank you" with her red teary eyes and a nod of her head. </div> <div> I did not understand at the time why the Israeli mother allowed Arab strangers in her home, nor why my mother was thanking her for allowing us into our grandfather's house. I was not a mother then, which is why I did not understand. The lady did not speak Arabic and my mom did not speak Hebrew, they both spoke a Universal Motherly Language that goes straight from the heart, bypassing vocal cords and lips. </div> <div> Now I speak the Universal Motherly Language, so I understand! My mother sounds great, doesn't she? She certainly does not fit the profile of a mother raising her children to blow themselves up and kill other civilians. If she did, why bother with education or good grades? </div> <div> The truth is, she is very ordinary and typical of the vast majority of Palestinian mothers, who dedicate their entire lives to their children's health, education and safety. If you ever get the chance to go and visit them in their homes you will have nothing but admiration and respect for their miraculous dedication and perseverance, much like mothers all over the world.</div> <bR> <div> <B>(Nahed Alsous is a Palestinian mother and co-founder of Mothers for</B></div> <div> <B>Peace-International, a coalition of mothers of different religions,</B></div> <div> <B>ethnicities and national origins working for global peace and justice</B></div> <div> <B>starting with the conflict in the Middle East.</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B> <A NAME="5__a_suicide_bomber_s_father_speaks_his"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>5. A Suicide Bomber's Father speaks his mind and heart:</B></div> <div> <B>let Hamas' leaders send their own sons to die.</B></div> <bR> <div> <I>Special Dispatch Series - No. 426</I></div> <div> From “The Middle East Media Research Institute”</div> <bR> <div> October 8, 2002</div> <div> <I><B>In a letter to the editor of the London Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat,</B></I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.memri.org/bin/#_edn1" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.memri.org/bin/#_edn1"><U><I><B><U>[1]</U></B></I></U></A></FONT><I><B> Abu Saber M. G., the father of a young Palestinian who carried out a suicide bombing in an Israeli city, wrote</B></I><I>:</I> </div> <div> "I can find no better words with which to begin my letter than the words of Allah, in his precious book [the Koran]: 'Act for the sake of Allah, and do not throw yourselves to destruction with your own hands.'<FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.memri.org/bin/#_edn2" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.memri.org/bin/#_edn2"><U><U>[2]</U></U></A></FONT> I write this letter with a languishing heart and with eyes that have not ceased weeping. We must, today more than at any other time, obey this Koranic verse, act for the sake of Allah, and refrain from carrying out acts that will throw us to destruction." </div> <div> <B>'Friends Persuaded My Son to Blow Himself Up; Now They Are After His Brother'</B> </div> <div> "Four months ago, I lost my eldest son when his friends tempted him, praising the path of death. They persuaded him to blow himself up in one of Israel's cities. When the pure body of my son was scattered all over, my last signs of life also dispersed, along with hope and my will to exist. Since that day, I am like [an] apparition walking the earth, not to mention that I, my wife, and my other sons and daughters have become displaced since the razing of the home in which we lived." </div> <div> "But the last straw was when I was informed that the friends of my eldest son the martyr were starting to wrap themselves like snakes around my other son, not yet 17, to direct him to the same path towards which they had guided his brother, so that he would blow himself up too to avenge his brother, claiming 'he had nothing to lose.'" </div> <div> "From the blood of the wounded heart of a father who has lost what is most precious to him in the world, I turn to the leaders of the Palestinian factions, and at their head the leaders of <B>Hamas</B> and <B>Islamic Jihad</B> and their sheikhs, who use religious rulings and statements to urge more and more of the sons of Palestine to their deaths - knowing full well that sending young people to blow themselves up in the heart of Israel deters no enemy and liberates no land. On the contrary, [it] intensifies the aggression, and after every such operation, civilians are killed, homes are razed, and Palestinian cities and villages are reoccupied." </div> <div> <B>'Who Gave Them the Legitimacy to Send Our Children to Their Deaths?'</B> </div> <div> "Then these leaders and spokesmen appear [in the media] to threaten the enemy with even graver acts of vengeance for their barbaric deeds. They push more young people to their deaths." </div> <div> "I ask, on my behalf and on behalf of every father and mother informed that their son has blown himself up: 'By what right do these leaders send the young people, even young boys in the flower of their youth, to their deaths?' Who gave them religious or any other legitimacy to tempt our children and urge them to their deaths?" </div> <div> <B>'Death, Not Martyrdom'</B> </div> <div> "Yes, I say 'death,' not 'martyrdom.' Changing and beautifying the term, or paying a few thousand dollars to the family of the young man who has gone and will never return, does not ease the shock or alter the irrevocable end. The sums of money [paid] to the martyrs' families cause pain more than they heal; they make the families feel that they are being rewarded for the lives of their children." </div> <div> "Do the children's lives have a price? Has death become the only way to restore the rights and liberate the land? And if this be the case, why doesn't a single one of all the sheikhs who compete amongst themselves in issuing fiery religious rulings, send his son? Why doesn't a single one of the leaders who cannot restrain himself in expressing his joy and ecstasy on the satellite channels every time a young Palestinian man or woman sets out to blow himself or herself up send his son?"</div> <div> "Why, until this very moment, haven't we seen one of the sons, or daughters, of any of these people don an explosive belt and go out to carry out in deed, not in words, what their fathers preach day and night?" </div> <div> "Are Jihad, martyrdom, and pointless death restricted to a single sector [of the people], without concerning another sector? Doesn't what applies to the sons and daughters of the general public apply [also] to the [leaders'] own sons and daughters? How long will this steadfast people continue to pay the price for the idiotic policy that has proved a colossal failure at obtaining even a tiny part of the usurped Palestinian rights?" </div> <div> <B>'With the Outbreak of the Intifada, the Leaders Sent Their Sons Abroad'</B> </div> <div> "But what tears at the soul, pains the heart, and brings tears to the eyes more than anything else is the sight of these sheikhs and leaders evading sending their sons into the fray - such as Mahmoud Al-Zahar, Isma'il Abu Shanab, and Abd Al-'Aziz Al-Rantisi. The moment the Intifada broke out, Al-Zahar sent his son Khaled to America; Abu Shanab sent his son Hassan to Britain; and [as she stated to the press], Rantisi's wife has refrained from sending her son Muhammad to blow himself up. Instead, she sent him to Iraq, to complete his studies there."</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A><B> </B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>**********************************************.</U></B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="6__an_interview_with_zuheir_almanasara"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>6. An interview with Zuheir Almanasara, Mayor of Jenin, </B></div> <div> <B>the “city of suicide bombers.”</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>5/11/02 Forwarded by Rev. Sandra Olewine,</B></div> <div> <B>United Methodist Liaison - Jerusalem </B></div> <div>  </div> <div> <B>BACKGROUND:</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > Zuheir Almansara is the governor of Jenin. He has a German ex-wife and two daughters who live in Freiberg, Germany. One daughter, a doctor, has two children. His second wife is in Ramallah and his elderly mother lives in Bani Na'im near Hebron. His life story epitomizes Palestinian wandering: Born in Bani Na'im in 1943, he had never been to Jenin before being appointed governor there about six years age. </FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>A childhood memory:</B> four refugee families - from Sakhnin, Masmiya and Ajur, who found shelter in his family's home for two years after 1948. They showed up at the house - they weren't even related to his family in any way - and stayed for two years. That's the way it was. He remembers Rafiq from Ajur who was his age and went to school with him, but then they lost touch. Elementary school and high school in Dura and Yata, higher education in Frankfurt and Darmstadt and work as a lecturer in Frankfurt, first in engineering and then in economics - work that was interrupted every time Abu Jihad and his successors called him home: first, after the conquest of the West Bank, during the first intifada, during the Gulf War. </div> <bR> <div> He spent his summer vacations as a fighter and the rest of the year as a student and teacher. When he was first given permission to enter the territories in 1985, the Israeli at the bridge stopped him, saying: "You're Zuheir Almanasara? Who's the jackass that gave you a permit?" He was sent back the way he came. A year later, he returned, appointed by Arafat to be governor of Hebron. Then he was sent to Jenin, where there was an urgent need for a strong governor. </div> <bR> <div> Almanasara says that reconstruction work has already begun in the refugee camp, but that his people still need to clear away any explosives left behind. The experts who came here for this purpose were not professional enough. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Q: Why is he in such a hurry? </B></div> <bR> <div> "First of all, for defense, so the Israelis won't come back, and second, to start to rebuild the camp to give the residents a feeling of security. We'll build it back the way it was, more or less." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Q: How many people were killed here?</B> </div> <bR> <div> "You're going to write this in the paper and it's complicated. I would give the information to fair people, but the Israeli leadership has managed to maneuver things to the point where 10 more people or 10 less people killed makes it a massacre - or not. This is shameful. Each life is important. What should really be investigated is not how many were killed, but two other questions: Was this humane behavior and was this justified behavior? We all have to draw the conclusions together. I don't want to reach conclusions on my own. I want the Israelis, Palestinians and the international community to reach conclusions together." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Q: Is this possible?</B> </div> <bR> <div> "Not all Israelis and all Palestinians, but a small group could begin. The beginning is very important. You knock and knock on the door, and it takes time until it opens. If you leave it all to Sharon and his manipulations, we'll all be dragged into disaster." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Q: Do you see such an Israeli group?</B> </div> <bR> <div> "I see several. I've heard a few, I've spoken with a few. They said  they were ashamed of what they heard and saw. But I haven't seen them saying this in Israel. I received a letter from Ron Pundak that said he is against what happened, and a letter from Latif Dori. But, so far, I haven't seen a political movement with a clear direction that will say what it thinks about what happened. Until this occurs, until we see some new thinking, I don't think there is a chance for peace or quiet." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Q: And what must the Palestinians do? </B></div> <bR> <div> "We have to reassess and examine ourselves and the path we have taken. We have to be clearer with ourselves politically and decide what kind of society we want, and not just discuss this theoretically." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Q: A change of leadership?</B> </div> <bR> <div> "It's not a matter of a change of leadership. Personally, I think that Arafat has been the best up to now." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Q: How did Jenin become the city of the suicide bombers?</B> </div> <bR> <div> "The Israeli leadership presented this picture in order to justify the military operation. It's not correct. Why didn't they mention Jenin's cooperation with Haifa? With Beit She'an? With the Gilboa regional council? My opponents like to call me `the governor of Gilboa.' </div> <bR> <div> "But let me go over a few statistics with you. The first casualty in Jenin was on September 20, 2000. An unarmed 21-year-old man, who took part in a demonstration and got a bullet in the heart. By May 19, 2001, eight months later, 40 Palestinians had been killed here. All were civilians, apart from five policemen who were sitting at the checkpoint at the entrance to the city, which was built on Israeli orders. They were killed in cold blood. Has anyone investigated their deaths? Has anyone been tried? Only after 40 were killed did the first suicide bomber set off from Jenin. Sharon methodically created the first suicide bomber; 22 suicide bombers have followed, and altogether we have 140 killed, including the bodies that have so far been found in the camp. This is the story of how Jenin became the capital of terror. </div> <bR> <div> "But even if we had a thousand suicide bombers, they're already dead, right? But Israel decided that all 14,000 residents of the camp are potential suicide bombers and therefore each one of them could be assassinated with a missile. I'm a potential suicide bomber, maybe you are, too. If the goal was to eradicate the phenomenon of suicide bombing, the opposite is being achieved. The action against Jenin did not start now. It started in September 2000 and has continually gotten worse. The noose is being tightened around every Palestinian. He's humiliated on a daily basis and turned into a target. </div> <bR> <div> "I'd be glad if more Israelis would come here now, especially those who are against us. I think that most Israelis don't know what their government is doing. They believe that Sharon is defending their security." </div> <bR> <div> <B>Q: When will the next suicide bomber come out of here?</B> </div> <bR> <div> "I don't know. I hope with all my heart that he won't come out anymore - not for the Israelis' sake, but for the sake of our children. But it doesn't depend on what I want. Put yourself in the Palestinians' place, just like I put myself in the Israelis' place. I understand your fears. I'd like to help, but they don't let us help. The only way to deal with extremists, with suicide bombers and terror is to forge a real partnership. First between Israel and the Palestinians and then with all the Arab countries. This is the only way. When you're strong, you think that force will help you, but force never creates justice. Justice and morality create force, and not the other way around. Therefore, we must try to adhere to a common morality. Occupation cannot be a part of it, nor can settlements. But economic prosperity can. It's so easy, it just has to be done."</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>**********************************************.</U></B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="7__feeling_their_pain_why_it_is_so"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>7. Feeling their pain:</B><B> </B><B>the spiritual dilemma of a Palestinian Christian who can't. </B></div> <bR> <div> <B>The Rev. Alex Awad is pastor of the East Jerusalem Baptist Church and dean of students at the Bethlehem Bible College. He wrote the honest and vulnerable letter below. It was printed in the Letters to the Editor in the Ha'aretz newspaper.  </B></div> <div> <I><B>HA'ARETZ:</B></I><B> Letters to the Editor</B></div> <div> <I><B><U>Feeling their pain</U></B></I></div> <div> <B>By Alex Awad</B></div> <div> We live so close to each other and yet we do not feel one another's pain. When a suicide bomber succeeds in killing Israelis in Jerusalem, I can usually hear the sirens of ambulances and emergency vehicles from my apartment in Beit Safafa. I then rush to the TV to watch the horrible details. I do not like what I see or hear but I have a big problem. It is a spiritual one.</div> <bR> <div> My problem is that I do not feel the pain of my Jewish neighbors who lose their lives or are burned, injured or traumatized due to the bombings. It is a real issue for me because as a practicing Christian I am called to love my enemies. I think one way to express that love is to truly share the pain of others when they suffer. When innocent Palestinians get assassinated by Israeli attacks in Gaza, Jenin, Hebron, Bethlehem and elsewhere in the West Bank, my heart goes out in sorrow to them. I wish I had the same compassion for innocent Israelis who are killed or hurt.</div> <bR> <div> My spiritual dilemma is further complicated by the fact that I am a pastor of a Christian congregation in East Jerusalem and thus often preach peace and reconciliation and call on members of my congregation to love their enemies regardless of racial or political realities. I confess it is much easier to speak about forgiveness than to actually forgive and it is much harder to practice love than to preach it. Then I think if I, a Christian pastor, cannot truly love my enemies, what must it be like for the average Palestinian?</div> <bR> <div> I have tried to examine my heart in an attempt to understand why I feel the way I do. Why do I care less when innocent Jews are killed? The answer to this question is not so much found in my heart as it is found in my mind. Although I am religious and care much for my spiritual well-being, I am also rational. Rationality, mingled with a sense of patriotism, overcomes my spiritual motivation and desire to love my enemies. Rationality tells me that for every innocent Israeli killed in these cycles of violence, at least three innocent Palestinians are also annihilated. Rationality tells me that even if the death on both sides of the conflict is numerically equal, the suffering on the Palestinian side far outweighs the suffering of Israelis.</div> <bR> <div> Palestinians cannot order curfews and imprison Israelis in their homes and cities. Palestinians have no power to set up checkpoints on the borders of Israeli cities, Palestinians cannot employ bulldozers to demolish the homes, businesses and farms belonging to those who kill them and steal their land. Rationality tells me that a nation who occupies another deserves the pain resulting from an occupied population.</div> <bR> <div> I cross the Bethlehem checkpoint on a daily basis. My eyes, which are windows to my intellect, see injustice every day. I see the demolished homes, the collapsing economy, the masses under perpetual and suffocating closures and the daily suffering of an entire population. When I look eastward, near the check point, the settlement of Har Homa built on land Israel confiscated from Palestinians after 1967 on what Palestinians call Jabal Abu Ghnaim, stares me in the face. Turning to the west I see the Aida refugee camp, one of three refugee camps in Bethlehem, which is home to Palestinians who were forced to flee their villages in 1948 in what is now called Israel. Then I look straight ahead and I see Rachael's Tomb, a holy place turned into a prison-like fortress. Looking behind me it is impossible to avoid the settlement of Gilo that was also built on Palestinian land Israel annexed after 1967.</div> <bR> <div> The realities I view, along with the stories I hear are imprinted on the walls of my soul and influence my entire person, including my spiritual outlook. Injustice makes me very upset and definitely affects my attitude. Consequently, when pictures of innocent Jews slaughtered by a Palestinian homicide bomber are shown on my TV screen, I rationalize instead of empathize. I continue to blame Sharon or the occupation or the latest Israeli bombing attack that snuffed out the lives of a number of Palestinians.</div> <bR> <div> I long for the day when deep in my heart I can feel the pain of my Jewish neighbors in their time of calamity as much as I feel the utter despair of my people. I long for the day when we on both sides of the political divide can step into each others shoes and understand the anguish and hopelessness that the other side is feeling. Perhaps then we can become better aware of our common humanity, cry together and express forgiveness to the other. Only then perhaps, will we triumph over those on both sides, who thrive on violence, destruction and bloodshed.</div> <bR> <div> Reverend Alex Awad</div> <bR> <div> Bethlehem.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="8__discount_housing_and_cut_rate_taxes"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>8. Discount Housing and cut-rate taxes for Israeli “Settlers” create economic disaster in Israel</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Israel's economy is a shambles. But the perks to people willing to settle </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>in the occupied territories keep coming. Is this any way to make peace?</B></I></div> <div> <B>By Dan Ephron</B></div> <div> MSNBC/NEWSWEEK</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.msnbc.com/news/753693.asp" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.msnbc.com/news/753693.asp"><U><U>http://www.msnbc.com/news/753693.asp</U></U></A></div> <bR> <div> May 27 issue - Lisa Nhmani would have preferred to stay in Jerusalem but </div> <div> she couldn't afford to buy a house for her family of five. The four-bedroom </div> <div> homes she was seeing ran about $250,000, much more than the Nahmanis could </div> <div> manage. She began looking at neighborhoods beyond the Green Line-the border </div> <div> that divides Israel from the occupied West Bank-and at settlements deeper </div> <div> in Palestinian territory.</div> <bR> <div> THE DIFFERENCES WERE ASTONISHING. In a town like Maaleh Adumim, the largest </div> <div> settlement in the West Bank, the schools and health services were better </div> <div> (funded more generously by the government), and the houses were cheaper, in </div> <div> part because the government subsidizes construction. As a bonus, she </div> <div> discovered, Israelis who moved to the West Bank got a 7 percent reduction </div> <div> in income tax. Just because they were settlers.</div> <bR> <div> Nahmani, who immigrated to Israel from New Jersey in 1984 and was active </div> <div> for years in left-wing projects, never thought she'd live across the Green </div> <div> Line. But Palestinian violence had hardened her views and, at 38, she was </div> <div> more focused than ever on providing a home for her family. "It was a </div> <div> financial issue. We paid $100,000 less and we got a house that's big enough </div> <div> for our family," she says, sitting in the Maaleh Adumim home she purchased </div> <div> last summer.</div> <bR> <div> <B>A GROWING PROBLEM</B></div> <bR> <div> However you do the calculation, it doesn't add up to better peace </div> <div> prospects. Even Washington, Israel's closest ally, regards the settlements </div> <div> as a growing problem. Just last month President George W. Bush said, </div> <div> "Israeli settlement activity must stop." Yet thousands of new housing units </div> <div> are under construction in the West Bank, and Jewish ideologues have thrown </div> <div> up 40 new outposts since Ariel Sharon was elected last year. Although </div> <div> Sharon would rather focus on Yasir Arafat's peace-deal breaches, </div> <div> Palestinians argue that settlement expansion fuels popular rage toward </div> <div> Israel and Israelis, hindering negotiations and making a final peace deal </div> <div> increasingly remote.</div> <bR> <div> The incentives are all the more bewildering against the backdrop of </div> <div> Israel's crashing economy. At a meeting earlier this month, Sharon's </div> <div> cabinet passed emergency measures to contain an exploding deficit, </div> <div> including new taxes-already among the highest in the world-and deep cuts in </div> <div> government spending. Though the cuts will affect Israelis on both sides of </div> <div> the Green Line, no one in the government thought to revoke hundreds of </div> <div> millions of dollars in benefits bestowed on settlers. "We're in the worst </div> <div> economic situation we've known in a long, long time," says Arie Arnon, an </div> <div> economist at Ben-Gurion University. "So it's really mind-boggling that </div> <div> these incentives aren't cut."</div> <bR> <div> Mind-boggling until you factor in the politics. For years Sharon was the </div> <div> patron of Israeli settlement expansion, both as Agriculture minister and </div> <div> later as the minister of Housing. He was dubbed "the Bulldozer," in part </div> <div> for his determination to plow new construction sites in the territories. </div> <div> The 200,000 Israelis who now live in the West Bank and Gaza still form a </div> <div> key support base for Sharon (though many now prefer the harder-talking </div> <div> Benjamin Netanyahu). </div> <div> "Sharon's government relies on settlers for its </div> <div> support. So it's silly to think he would be the one to limit their </div> <div> development," says Avraham Shochat, who served as Finance minister under </div> <div> the Labor Party's Yitzhak Rabin.</div> <bR> <div> <B>ROUND THE CLOCK PROTECTION</B></div> <bR> <div> Throughout the current uprising, militants have ambushed settlers on roads </div> <div> and fired at their homes, causing some families to leave. But the fighting </div> <div> and the resulting economic downturn have also acted as a boon for some </div> <div> communities in the West Bank. The larger ones are relatively safe, and </div> <div> offer some of the most attractive deals. The smaller and more ideological </div> <div> ones, like Neguhot, south of Hebron, are recruiting new residents from a </div> <div> pool of fervent right-wingers. The 25 families that live in Neguhot, at the </div> <div> end of a narrow, dusty road, are surrounded by Palestinian villages and </div> <div> guarded round the clock by a platoon of soldiers. "We've absorbed 12 new </div> <div> families in the past year," says Naama Leibner, surrounded by religious </div> <div> books in the living room of her hilltop trailer home. "I think people feel </div> <div> this is an important time to join us and strengthen us."</div> <bR> <div> Construction is also underway 20 miles north at Tekoa, the site of a grisly </div> <div> double murder a year ago. Two teenage boys who had ventured to a cave in </div> <div> the area were stoned to death; Israel suspects the killers were Palestinian </div> <div> militants. Although Tekoa hasn't grown during the current Palestinian </div> <div> uprising, it hasn't lost members either, despite numerous shooting attacks </div> <div> on the road to Jerusalem, where most residents work. "I think the murder </div> <div> strengthened us," says Arieh Haskin, who moved to Tekoa 10 years ago. </div> <div> "Maybe some people thought about leaving, but overall we became a </div> <div> tighter-knit group."</div> <bR> <div> Expansion at Tekoa, a diverse community of religious and secular Jews, had </div> <div> been stalled for years after a Labor government under Yitzhak Rabin froze </div> <div> much of the government-initiated West Bank construction in 1992. The freeze </div> <div> didn't halt settlement expansion. In fact, during the peace-negotiating </div> <div> years of the 1990's, the number of Israelis living in the West Bank doubled </div> <div> from 100,000 to 200,000. But Haskin could begin building his house only six </div> <div> months ago-he's been living in a trailer home with his wife and three </div> <div> children-and an additional 19 residents have recently been granted permits. </div> <div> The government is charging residents only a few thousand dollars for the </div> <div> land (compared with tens of thousands or more for similar parcels inside </div> <div> the Green Line) and subsidizing its development.</div> <bR> <div> <B>CITING THE BIBLE</B></div> <bR> <div> Nowhere is the building surge more evident than in Ariel, a massive </div> <div> community of 17,500 in the northern West Bank. Billboards at the entrance </div> <div> to the settlement advertise apartments as low as $75,000. Ron Nachman, the </div> <div> town's ambitious mayor, says 4,000 units are under construction and more </div> <div> are planned. "We want to become a city of 60,000 residents," he says, using </div> <div> his finger to draw the future boundaries of his town on a map. Ariel sits </div> <div> on about 1,500 acres but has already appropriated 6,000 more for expansion. </div> <div> "In the Bible," says Nachman, "there is no West Bank, there is no Green </div> <div> Line and no occupied territory."</div> <bR> <div> Ariel's schools have resources not usually seen in Israel. It also has </div> <div> wireless broadband in homes and offices, computers in the pre-schools, and </div> <div> elementary schools that teach Web design and robotics. (According to the </div> <div> Adva Institute for Equality and Social Justice, the government provides </div> <div> settlement municipalities with a budget per resident that is 50 percent </div> <div> higher than what it allocates inside the Green Line.) A boy who has cancer </div> <div> in this town and can't get to school watches his class in streaming video </div> <div> on the Web. Shlomo Roimi, who directs education in Ariel, says some of the </div> <div> extras are paid for with the added funds Ariel gets as a settlement. But </div> <div> much of it is a matter of priorities, he says. "We emphasize education and </div> <div> we also have our own fundraising arm. So we can do things other towns can't </div> <div> do."</div> <bR> <div> Shochat, the former Finance minister, estimates government subsidies to </div> <div> settlers at $300 million a year, about 10 percent of the amount Israel </div> <div> wants to slash from its deficit. Instead of eliminating the incentives, the </div> <div> government has proposed deep cuts in Israel's social programs and a </div> <div> re-evaluation of the deficit target. But economists say the $300 million is </div> <div> only a fraction of what the settlements really cost. Israel has raised its </div> <div> defense spending by $1.5 billion in the past year, in part to defend the </div> <div> outposts in the territories. "The real price of settlements is that they </div> <div> prevent Israel from reaching a political agreement with the Palestinians," </div> <div> says Arnon, the economist. "And that causes Israel to lose untold billions </div> <div> in tourism, industry and everything else."</div> <bR> <div> Many Israelis argue that Palestinian violence, not Israeli settlement </div> <div> activity, is the real problem with the peace process. As proof, they point </div> <div> to Israel's offer two years ago to dismantle many settlements and </div> <div> consolidate the rest. But can large numbers of settlers really be </div> <div> transferred back into Israel? Arnon believes the vast majority of </div> <div> settlers-up to 80 percent-moved to the West Bank to improve their standard </div> <div> of living, not to spoil the chances for peace with the Palestinians. He </div> <div> says Israel will realize eventually that it is cheaper to resettle them </div> <div> inside the Green Line than continue paying the cost of their presence in </div> <div> the West Bank and Gaza. "It would take $6 billion to build houses for them </div> <div> inside Israel. That's a lot of money but it's not unfeasible," Arnon says. </div> <div> Lisa Nahmani, who will mark a year in Maaleh Adumim this summer, would not </div> <div> object to resettlement. "I like this place but I'd rather be in Jerusalem," </div> <div> she says. Even for many settlers, a peace dividend might be the best </div> <div> incentive of all.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="9__a_rare_public_debate_in_the_israeli"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>9. A rare public debate in the Israeli Knesset on </B></div> <div> <B>the escalating potential for nuclear holocaust.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>KNESSET ADDRESSES NUCLEAR ISSUE</B></div> <div> <B>By Issam Makhoul</B></div> <div> <I><B>Following are excerpts from the February 2, 2000, speech by Knesset Member Issam Makhoul of the Democratic Hadash Front during the debate in the Knesset on Israel's nuclear policy.</B></I></div> <div> This is a historic day. For the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Knesset is holding a debate on the issue of nuclear weapons in Israel. This is also a sad day, because it reminds us that the Knesset shirked its responsibility in an area that threatens us with the next Holocaust if we do not come to our senses, pause, and stop in our tracks before the disaster. I hope that today's debate will symbolize the breaking of the wall of silence and the beginning of an intensive debate in the Knesset and among the public on this subject.</div> <div> Thirty-nine years ago, on this very podium, on December 20, 1960, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion announced the construction of "a research reactor in Dimona, that is designed entirely for peaceful purposes, and that when it is completed, it will be open to researchers from other countries." When he made that statement, Ben-Gurion knew that the reactor was not built for "peaceful purposes" and that there was no intention to open it to researchers from around the world. Rather, we were presented with an Israeli atomic bomb factory, the work of which would be concealed from the citizens of Israel and from the citizens of the world.</div> <div> I do not have the time to enter into the historic debate about whether the establishment of the reactor was a strategic blessing for Israel. Is the doomsday weapon a deterrent that guarantees Israel's existence? I believe not. However, even those people who do believe that this is the case cannot ignore the fact that what once appeared to them to be a blessing, a view which I do not share, is now a curse. Nuclear ambiguity is nothing but self-delusion and has long ago ceased to be effective. The entire world now knows that Israel has a huge stockpile of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons and that it serves as the cornerstone for the nuclear arms race in the Middle East. In Israel there is frequent mention of the "Iranian and Iraqi danger," while ignoring the fact that it was Israel that introduced nuclear weapons to the Middle East in the first place and created the legitimacy for other states in the region to obtain nuclear weapons.</div> <div> <B>One obvious proof that the ambiguity and deterrence which formed the basis for Israel's nuclear policy have become redundant is Israel's acquisition of the German submarines that have recently arrived in this country and which, according to the media, will be equipped with nuclear missiles. The purpose of these submarines is to cruise deep in the sea and constitute the "second strike" force, in the event that Israel is attacked with nuclear weapons. That means that not only do the hundreds of nuclear bombs that Israel possesses not pose a defense, they actually caused the military establishment to fear a nuclear early strike, which escalates the spiral of the non-conventional arms race further and further, at the cost of billions of dollars.</B></div> <div> Today the so-called ambiguity applies only to the citizens of Israel. They are unable to act as democratic critics of their government because the latter conceals from them the truth about an issue on which their lives depend. We have no information about the people who have their fingers on the nuclear button, what is their chain of command, or what is our defense if a nuclear Baruch Goldstein should infiltrate the system and, equipped with a religious sanction from some rabbi, launch a nuclear Armageddon.</div> <div> Mr. Chairman, the dangers to the citizens of Israel and to our neighbors exist not only in the event of a nuclear war. Even without a war, we face the constant danger of the eruption of the nuclear volcano that we have built on our own doorstep. In the 40 years of the reactor's operation, a huge amount of nuclear waste has accumulated. This waste, if it leaks, could contaminate the land and water for centuries and millennia. I do not have to explain the significance of such a scenario in a country like ours that needs every drop of water it can get. How is the waste stored? There are different methods, some safer, some less, none perfectly safe. It is all a matter of financial investment.</div> <div> Since everything in this area is cloaked in secrecy, extra-parliamentary ecological monitoring groups cannot supervise the government's actions. "Trust Big Bother," the government tells us. But we know from our experience, and from experience that has accumulated worldwide, that we must not rely on the government, and in the absence of supervision by non-governmental and independent organizations, the danger of negligence lurks at our doorstep. The reactor is old; the safety measures are kept secret from us. A mini-Chernobyl disaster as the result of human error or material stress would make this country unfit for human habitation.</div> <div> I ask the prime minister: What is the condition of Israel's nuclear missile sites near Kfar Zechariah on the outskirts of Jerusalem and near Yodfat in the Galilee? Are there additional sites? Of course, these sites must be shut down, but until common sense prevails, they must be available to monitoring by parliamentary and extra-parliamentary ecological organizations from Israel and abroad. I ask the prime minister: How is it that plants in which the missiles are manufactured and atom bombs are made are located in the most densely populated areas in Israel, in the center and in Haifa? I ask the prime minister: Do you not understand that the Biological Institute in Nes Tsiona, which is where Israel manufactures its biological [weapons], is set in a residential area, which is a crime against the residents of Israel and the neighboring countries?</div> <div> And what about the risk of an earthquake? The reactor in Dimona is located over the Syrian-African rift. An earthquake similar to the one that occurred in Turkey last year would crack the reactor, and Israel would be covered with radioactive dust. If that happens, there would be nothing left but to say goodbye and die a terrible death.</div> <div> I refer you to the article by Professors Baruch Kimmerling and Kalman Altman, who wrote: "The public is unaware of the dangers that they face from the enormous amounts of plutonium in the area and from the difficulty in storing the nuclear waste. The 'nuclear option' was intended to be a response to security threats, but perhaps it should be examined whether the medicine is not more deadly than the disease" (<I>Ha'aretz,</I> May 11, 1999).</div> <div> The international community has recognized that the nuclear issue is not an internal affair of any state, but has implications that reach beyond national and geographic borders and require international attention. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other treaties relating to this issue are the sum total of worldwide human wisdom mobilized to defend us from nuclear holocaust. Israel has chosen to remain outside the realm of human wisdom. That was a dangerous choice. The mentality of 'a nation unto its own' entails, in the context of the issue at hand, the syndrome of national suicide. </div> <div> <B>Our lives and our security will not be guaranteed by the reactor in Dimona, nor by the hundreds of atomic bombs, nor by the millions of biological warfare germs that are produced at the Biological Institute in Nes Tsiona, nor by the chemical weapons that Israel is developing. Rather, our security would come from an inspired initiative to make the Middle East free of all weapons of mass destruction. Israel is the party that started the race, and it bears the responsibility for changing that course.</B></div> <div> I call on the government of Israel to open all doors and windows and air the information. A certain change in the right direction took place in November 1999, when parts of the transcripts of the trial of Mordechai Vanunu were released. Naturally, that is not enough. The Dimona reactor must be opened to international inspection; a moratorium must be declared on the production of all weapons of mass destruction--nuclear, biological, and chemical; all information must be released about the quantity of bombs that Israel possesses. Israel must announce, as a confidence-building measure, its willingness to begin unilateral nuclear disarmament, to be completed in the framework of a general Middle East treaty.</div> <div> <B>We need to extend our hand to Egypt in its efforts to bring all countries in the Middle East into the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We must respond to the Syrian demand that the peace negotiations include the dismantling of weapons of mass destruction. The Dimona reactor must become a burial site, and that burial site should serve as a reminder to future generations of the foolishness of humankind on one hand, and also of its recognition of that foolishness before it was too late.</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="10__the__period_for_calm_for_israel__is"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>10. The “period for calm for Israel” is a</B></div> <div> <B>“period of death for Palestinians”</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Killings of dozens of Palestinians once again called "period of calm" by US media</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>By Michael Brown and Ali Abunimah</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>The Electronic Intifada</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>20 September 2002</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article691.shtml" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article"><U><B><U>http://electronicIntifada.net/v2/article691.shtml</U></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> Many US media reports were quick to declare that two suicide bombings in Israel on September 18 and 19, in which eight Israelis were killed, had brought an end to a period of "calm" simply because there had been no similar attacks for six weeks and few Israelis had been victims of Palestinian violence. In fact, the bombings came at the end of a particularly bloody period in which dozens of Palestinians, most of them unarmed civilians, and a large number of them children, had been killed and injured by Israeli occupation forces. In effect, the definition of "calm" or a "lull in violence" inherent in these reports is 'only Palestinians are being killed.'</div> <bR> <div> The Chicago Tribune ran a prominent headline above a report about the September 18 bombing in which one Israeli police officer was killed, declaring "Bomb breaks 6-week calm" (September 19). The Washington Post called the bombings a "flare-up in violence" which broke the "relative calm in the Middle East." ("Violent reminder of a simmering issue," September 20)</div> <bR> <div> The Baltimore Sun ran a continuation headline reading "Bombs shatter 6 weeks of relative calm" and asserted "a six-week lull in violence had given both Israelis and Palestinians hope that two years of violence might be ending." ("Tel Aviv bus bomb kills five, injures 50," September 20).</div> <bR> <div> NBC news anchor Brian Williams told viewers that: </div> <div> "After six weeks of relative calm today, a second straight day of violence in the Middle East. Another suicide bombing, this time on a crowded Tel Aviv bus, that killed five people, injured more than 50. As a result, Israeli tanks are once again surrounding Yasir Arafat's compound in Ramallah in the West Bank." Following that introduction, NBC reporter in Tel Aviv, Jim Maceda, declared:</div> <bR> <div> "Well, after those six weeks with no suicide bombings either in Israel proper or the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, some observers here believed that they actually saw Palestinians and Israelis inching towards a truce, even a peace. But all that was shattered today." (The News with Brian Williams, CNBC, September 19, 2002) In other words, according to NBC, only suicide bombings, and nothing else, fit the definition of violence and if there are no suicide bombings, then peace may be at hand. Similarly, on CNN's morning news on September 19, Mike Hanna informed viewers that the bombings had ended a period of "comparative calm."</div> <bR> <div> The Los Angeles Times declared that the September 19 bomb in Tel Aviv "seemed to burst any illusion that the relative calm of the last six weeks was a precursor to peace." Contradicting and making a nonsense of its own characterization of the situation, while revealing the underlying reality, the same report stated later  "Not that the lull has been without violence. Several dozen people - soldiers and civilians - have died on both sides, with the heavier toll falling on the Palestinians. Most of the violence has been in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are living under Israeli military authority." ("Blast kills Israeli, Ends a lull in suicide bombings," September 19, 2002) The last few weeks have been anything but a period of "calm" relative or otherwise for Palestinians. On September 19, Abdul Salam Sumerin, a 9-year-old</div> <div> Palestinian school boy was shot dead when, according to Haaretz, Israeli occupation forces "used live fire to disperse a crowd of school children challenging the army's attempt to impose a curfew on the El Amari refugee camp, in El-Bireh" near Ramallah. (IDF kills 9-year old boy in El-Bireh, September 20, 2002). According to other reports Israeli forces fired at the children using heavy machine guns mounted on armored vehicles.</div> <bR> <div> Khalid Amayreh writing in the September 13 issue of Middle East International reported the following recent attacks against Palestinians which would seemingly refute the notion of "comparative" or "relative" calm":</div> <bR> <div> Just after midnight on August 28 four sleeping Palestinian civilians -- a mother, her two sons, and a cousin -- were killed in Gaza by an Israeli tank firing flechettes, a grisly American-made weapon which tears human bodies into unrecognizable fragments of flesh. Eight other civilians were injured in that attack. Shortly thereafter an Israeli armored vehicle opened fire with heavy machine guns, killing a 10-year-old boy and injuring eight other people in Rafah, Gaza.</div> <bR> <div> Two children aged 8 and 10, two teenagers and a 29-year-old Fatah activist were killed in an Israeli missile strike on a civilian car and a nearby house in Tubas, near Jenin, on August 31 -- an area under full Israeli military occupation. CNN persisted for weeks in calling the teens, aged 16 and 17, "bodyguards" despite the fact that no credible news agency made the same claim.</div> <bR> <div> Four Palestinian quarry workers were killed by Israeli soldiers near the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba on September 1. A witness, who survived by hiding in a latrine, said that the soldiers shot his co-workers dead one by one. On September 3 in the village of Burin two more young men, reportedly uninvolved in resistance activity, were killed by Israeli shells.</div> <bR> <div> Between September 6 and 10 five more Palestinians, three of them civilians, being killed by Israeli forces.</div> <bR> <div> On September 3 an Israeli army bulldozer almost crushed an entire family in Rafah in their home. Several homes were bulldozed there on September 1 and hundreds of palm and fruit trees in central Gaza were bulldozed between September 8 and 9. Just a day before the apparent resumption of suicide bombings, eight Palestinian children were injured when a bomb, that Israeli authorities suspect was planted by Jewish settlers, exploded in their West Bank school.</div> <bR> <div> Amayreh cites Haaretz's Amira Hass reporting on September 2 that at least 39 Palestinian civilians were killed from Aug. 1 to Sept. 1, including seven children, 15 teenagers, and two women.</div> <bR> <div> In addition to dozens of killings and injuries of Palestinians, Israeli occupation forces have carried out countless invasions of towns and villages, often with columns of twenty tanks or more. These invasions leave widespread destruction and terror in their wake. Such attacks can hardly be characterized as being an aspect of "calm." According to Amayreh, Israeli journalist Danny Rubinstein wrote in Haaretz on September 2:</div> <bR> <div> "The Palestinian media is full of horrific photos of children wounded or killed by IDF fire. Hundreds of photos of the dead and wounded, elderly and women, beside tank tracks, fill their pages, as do pictures of disabled people in wheelchairs trying to make theirway over hills, and houses, sometimes entire neighborhoods, reduced to rubble." Even Israel's president, Moshe Katsav, suggested on September 1 that Israeli soldiers had become "trigger-happy," after a weekend in which Israeli soldiers killed eleven Palestinians, including six unarmed adults and two children. ("Israelis becoming 'trigger happy,' President questions army's tactics as 11 die," Daily Telegraph, September 2, 2002)</div> <bR> <div> An Israeli commission looking into three incidents in Gaza, Tubas, and Hebron in which Palestinian civilians had been killed determined on September 6 that Israeli soldiers had "acted properly in accordance with standing orders." CNN's domestic network gave significant attention in its coverage to official Israeli expressions of regret about killing civilians, but passed over the results of the investigation almost entirely.</div> <bR> <div> These numerous examples demonstrate that there is a widespread tendency in the US media to simply ignore or severely underplay violence when its victims are Palestinians, while focusing intensely on incidents when the victims are Israeli. One of the reasons for the disturbing and persistent phenomenon of devaluing Palestinian life and death, is a structural geographic bias - most US news organizations who have reporters on the ground base them in Tel Aviv or west Jerusalem, very far from the places where Palestinians are being killed and bombarded on a daily basis.</div> <bR> <div> But these geographical basing decisions in themselves may reflect an underlying calculation that what happens to Israelis is inherently more important and newsworthy than anything else in the conflict. What it boils down to is that from the perspective of many in the US media, Israeli lives are just worth more than those of Palestinians.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Ali Abunimah</B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.abunimah.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.abunimah.org"><U><I><B>http://www.abunimah.org</B></I></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.ElectronicIntifada.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ElectronicIntifada.net"><U><I><B>http://www.ElectronicIntifada.net</B></I></U></A></div> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B> <A NAME="11__an_israeli_jew_comes_home_from"><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> <B>11. An Israeli Jew comes home from France</B></div> <div> <B>with a new view of reality</B></div> <bR> <div> 22 October 02</div> <div> Christian Peacemakers Team Report</div> <div> <B>by Bob Holmes</B></div> <div> I met Amit at the mountaintop monastery in Galilee. We were both seeking respite from the oppressiveness of the occupation - me retreating from Hebron, Amit from heated discussions with family and friends in Galilee. </div> <div> An Israeli Jew, Amit lives in France and had brought his French wife Aude, in her sixth month of pregnancy, to meet his family. He had also brought a dramatically altered awareness of realities in the occupied Palestinian territories. </div> <div> I invited them to Hebron.</div> <div> Four days later in Hebron, Aude confided to me that Amit was very fearful of the visit - of how he would be received by Palestinians suffering under Israeli occupation. They were both appalled by the segregation on Shuhada Street - a main thoroughfare of Hebron now restricted to Israeli settlers only. </div> <div> They remarked on the bustle and liveliness of the Palestinian market, Aude smiling and Amit a bit apprehensive that he might be recognized as a Jew.</div> <div> We were talking in the CPT apartment when Atta, a Palestinian farmer, friend of CPT, arrived. He had taken his father to the hospital in Hebron for treatment. This summer his father had fallen and broken his leg fleeing stones thrown by Israeli settlers attacking his home. </div> <div> Atta said the Israeli army had destroyed his own home twice. It was too close to a new settler highway which had been bulldozed through his vineyard.  He told of his brother spending ten years terracing his land and planting an orchard only to have the army bulldoze it to make way for a new housing development for the nearby Israeli settlement.</div> <div> "Most Israelis don't know what's happening here," Amit said. "I had to go to France to have my eyes opened. We are taught half-truths. And half truths are lies." </div> <div> Amit went on to tell of his and Aude's plan to travel in a horse drawn wagon next year with their newborn child from Paris to Jerusalem. A journey of peace and truth. </div> <div> Amit looked into Atta's eyes and asked, "Can you forgive me and my ancestors?" </div> <div> "You are welcome in my house," Atta responded, "And for more than one night! </div> <div> “But the horse will stay outside."</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <div> <B><U> <A NAME="12__the_midterm_assessment"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></U></B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>12. THE MIDTERM ASSESSMENT:</B></div> <div> <B>Which Side Is Winning the War?</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information</U></B></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.ipcri.org/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ipcri.org/"><U><B><U>www.ipcri.org</U></B></U></A></div> <div> <B>By Gershon Baskin, Ph.D.</B></div> <div> <B>Israel is winning the battles. Palestine is winning the war</B></div> <div> It seems to me that the time is right to offer a midterm assessment of the Palestinian Intifada and the Israeli war against it. In my view we have crossed the mid-point, not necessarily in terms of time, but in terms of the final outcomes. At this point in time, I would conclude that Israel is winning the battle but losing the war and conversely, the Palestinians are losing the battle but they now know that they will win the war. Those of us who had questions about the lack of a coherent Palestinian strategy should now be able to say that they do, and despite the almost unbearable costs, from their perspective, the strategy is working.</div> <div> When analyzing the current situation from within the internal understandings of both sides, it is possible to find clear logical and coherent thinking. The problem is that when analyzing the situation from outside the internal logic of each side, the situation appears to be one of two societies which have gone insane.  But there is clear sanity from within the internal understandings and it is necessary to conduct the assessment of the midterm after first understanding the internal thinking of both sides.</div> <div> Israel bases its strategy on the belief that the Palestinians view the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon as a military defeat of the mighty and powerful IDF by a small group of guerilla fighters with determined motivation. Israel believes that the Palestinians learned from the Lebanon experience that if they (the Palestinians) hit the Israeli army, the settlers and the general public, causing a high number of casualties, they will successfully reduce the resolve of the military and at the same time cause deep rifts within Israeli public opinion. </div> <div> Israel believes that we are engaged in a war of attrition and as such, it is a zero-sum game. There can only be one winner and one loser. Within this thinking, there can be no Palestinian victories, militarily or politically. As in the well known game of “chicken” the first to blink is the loser. So the Israeli strategy is first to say “no” to any Palestinian political initiative, such as international observers, and to systematically hit the Palestinians in the aim of causing so much pain and anguish that they will be the ones to surrender, not Israel.</div> <div> The Palestinians know that they are much weaker militarily than Israel and there is no possibility to defeat the Israeli army on the battlefront. They believe, however that they are much stronger than Israel politically and morally. They believe that justice is on their side and that history sides with them as well.  They say that Israel is the last occupying power left in the world and that the success of the Palestinian struggle for freedom from the occupation is inevitable. </div> <div> They also believe that Hizballah type tactics will work and that the great losses that are inflicted upon them serve to strengthen their resolve at the same time that it is constructing the most important chapter in the Palestinian narrative.  This chapter is one of heroism and struggle that will end with the glorious victory of liberation and freedom. Based on their negative experiences of the Oslo process, the Palestinian believe that they could not have extracted from Israel the total withdrawal from the occupied territories through negotiations. They believe that they will achieve this goal through their struggle.</div> <div> In my assessment of the situation at this point in time, the Palestinians are winning the war. They will achieve their goals. Israel will withdraw from more than 96% of the occupied territories. Israel will also agree to compensate the Palestinians for territories annexed to it from lands within Israel proper. Jerusalem will become the capital of two States. Israeli society is beginning to “crack”. </div> <div> <B>More and more Israelis are beginning to believe that some 250,000 settlers are holding more than 5 million other Israelis hostage</B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" >. </FONT></div> <div> While the Israeli desire and resolve to make the Palestinian feel the pain of their war against Israel has not reduced, more and more Israelis are understanding that their strategy is not working. Palestinian resolve is not on the decline, in fact everything that Israel has done during the past 1 ½ years has only strengthened their determination and their support for their leader. Arafat's symbolic importance as the father of the Palestinian nation and the eventual founder of the Palestinian State has significantly increased as the Israeli determination to weaken him and humiliate him has increased. </div> <div> In my assessment, it seems now that it is mostly a matter of time and a question of how many Palestinians and Israelis will lose their lives before the end of this war is in clear view. <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>Perhaps the main problem that we face is the lack of leadership, in Israel, Palestine and internationally, that can draw the conclusions now and put an end to the bloodshed</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>. </B></FONT></div> <div> 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, a fair solution of the refugees' suffering mainly through a Palestinian Law of Return to the State of Palestine with significant international and Israeli financial assistance, a shared capital city in Jerusalem, and international guarantees and involvement. </div> <div> There must be a mechanism designed for both sides to declare victory at the same time. The Palestinian victory will be achieved as the end of the occupation through their heroic struggle for Statehood. The latest chapter of their narrative should be able to aid them in closing the chapter of 1948.  If this hypothesis is correct, then Israel should be able to claim victory by stating that the main purpose of the war was to end the Palestinian claim for the right of return. If this occurs, then the basis for agreements moves away from the existential conflict of 1948 and becomes a manageable resolution to the final end of the 1967 war. <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>This will enable the two sides to build their future understandings while each side being able to hold onto to their honor and dignity. </B></FONT></div> <div> It is also essential to understand that peace agreements might now be more within reach (even though at this point in time it seems to be far fetched) but, the possibilities for real reconciliation between the two peoples has never been further away. The pain and suffering of the past 1 ½ years will remain an engraved memory in the consciousness of both peoples for many years to come, perhaps for generations. The best way to overcome the scars lefts behind is to engage on the people-to-people level. The struggle for peace must now become a joint struggle of Israelis and Palestinians working together. The establishment of a joint Israeli-Palestinian peace coalition, still in its infant stage, is an important benchmark in this process. </div> <div> <B>The leaders of the peace coalition must understand the tremendous responsibility that they have taken upon themselves. They must first understand the urgency of being open and inclusive.  I note this because at the present time it seems that they seek to be monopolistic, elitist and exclusive.</B> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >If they do not succeed in enlarging their ranks, they will be responsible for a gross loss of opportunities and will probably cause damage to our goals. </FONT></div> <div> This past weekend more than 50 Israeli and Palestinian activists from organizations and institutions that initiated People-to-People projects over the past years met under the umbrella of the Norwegian organization Fafo for four days in Istanbul<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >. </FONT><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B>During the bloodiest days of the past 1 ½ years these people (IPCRI amongst them) reached understandings and voiced a loud willingness and desire to re-launch a public peace process based on people-to-people contacts.  This is a very positive development.</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT></div> <div> In conclusion, the somewhat optimistic analysis written above should not allow us to realize that there are no signs of any kind of de-escalation on the horizons. The Palestinian military campaign and the use of terrorism will continue.  The Israeli response, the military reoccupation of the territories, the massive use of the IDF's fire power will continue. The suffering, the bloodshed and the mutual destruction will not end in the near future. The Zinni, Cheney and other's visits to the region may create a temporary reduction in violence, but it will not hold. There will be future escalations. This could be termed “more of the same”, but “more of the same” only really means escalation because each side's pain is increased and the responses and calls for revenge match the suffering inflicted. </div> <div> Yesterday I received an email from a friend that said “The Government(s) have decided to save electricity - from now on the light at the end of the tunnel has been shut”, but for the first time since September 2000, I am beginning to see a small flickering of that light.  </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <div> <I><B> <A NAME="13__palestinian_textbook_evaluation_and"><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> <B>13. Palestinian Textbook Evaluation and</B></div> <div> <B>a request to President Bush</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Subject:  Palestinian Text books evaluation</B></div> <bR> <div> Tuesday, May 20, 2003</div> <bR> <div> Dear Friends</div> <div>  </div> <div> We are pleased to share with you the first report conducted by IPCRI on the Palestinian Authority textbooks.  We are conducting a similar study on Israeli textbooks and will be happy to share it with you when it is completed.  The current report is part of a project for which IPCRI was commissioned by the US Congress through the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and the US Consulate General in Jerusalem. The scope of the study was to assess the new Palestinian textbooks produced by the Palestinian Authority with regard to tolerance, peace and coexistence.  The team that conducted the study included Palestinians, Israelis and Americans. While there are many areas for improvement in the Palestinian text books, it can be said that these new text books do not incite against Israel or against peace. </div> <bR> <div> The results of this study were already submitted to the Congress.  The results were also submitted by the US Consulate to the  Palestinian Minister of Education.  We hope that this study is a helpful step forward in the development of better education in general and for the advancement of peace education in specific. </div> <bR> <div> Gershon Baskin, Ph.D.</div> <div> Co-Director, IPCRI</div> <bR> <div> P.O. Box 9321, Jerusalem 91092</div> <div> Tel: 972-2-676-9460   Fax: 972-2-676-8011</div> <div> Mobile: 052-381-715</div> <div> gershon@ipcri.org <mailto:gershon@ipcri.org> </div> <div> http://www.ipcri.org  </div> <div> http://www.place4peace.com  </div> <div> http://www.our-shared-environment.net</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>SEE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY FOLLOWING TABLE OF CONTENTS</B></I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>îøëæ éùøàì/ôìñèéï ìîç÷ø åìîéãò</B></div> <div> <B>ã-ßÒ ÇÓ-ÇÆíá ÝáÓØíä ááÃÈÍÇË æ ÇáãÚáæãÇ </B></div> <div> <B>Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Analysis and Evaluation of the New Palestinian Curriculum</B></div> <div> <B>Reviewing Palestinian Textbooks and Tolerance Education Program</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Submitted to: </B></div> <div> <B>The Public Affairs Office</B></div> <div> <B>US Consulate General</B></div> <div> <B>Jerusalem</B></div> <div> <B>March 2003</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Table of Contents</B></div> <div> Executive Summary</div> <div> Purposes and Parameters of the Present Analysis/Evaluation</div> <div> The Curriculum</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Hidden Curriculum</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Taught Curriculum</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Missing Curriculum</div> <div> Features of the Palestinian Educational System</div> <div> The Palestinian Curriculum: A Theoretical and Practical Framework</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Foundational Dimensions of the New Palestinian Curriculum</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Professed and Implicit Aim and Goals of the New Palestinian Curriculum</div> <div> Curriculum: The Palestinian Experience</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Theoretical and Practical Features</div> <div> Textbooks: A Conceptual Framework</div> <div> Textbooks in the Palestinian Education Since 1993</div> <div> Procedures and Methodology</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Levels of Analysis and Evaluation of Textbooks</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Team</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Mode of Operation</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Analysis/Evaluation Instrument</div> <div> Major Framework of Criteria</div> <div> Specific Criteria</div> <div> Findings</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Coverage and Treatment of the “History” and “Geography” of the Region</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Concept of “Palestine,” “Homeland,” and “Jerusalem”</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Peace, Tolerance, and Pluralism</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Civil Society: Democracy, Human rights, citizenship</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The “Image” of the “Other”: Judaism, Jews, Zionism, Israel</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">in religious and historical contexts</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">present-day context</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Jihad, Freedom and Martyrdom</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Refugees and the Right of Return</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Defending and Liberating Palestine as the “Homeland”</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">The Oslo Accords and the Declaration of Principles</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Maps</div> <bR> <div> General Remarks</div> <div> Educational (Theoretical, Pedagogic and Didactic) Remarks Recommendations</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">General Recommendations</div> <div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700dc99660000.png" HEIGHT="15" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">Practical Recommendations</div> <div> Where to Go From here: Practical Suggestions for the Enrichment of the Materials</div> <div> Some Thoughts on the Teaching of Tolerance and Peace in the Palestinian Context</div> <div> Some Thoughts on the Teaching of History in the Palestinian Context</div> <div> Notes</div> <div> References</div> <div> Appendices</div> <bR> <div> <B>Executive Summary</B></div> <bR> <div> The Palestinian Authority (PA) established the Curriculum Development Center (CDC) in 1994.  It was commissioned with formulating a Palestinian vision of a national educational policy and of a national curriculum.  Work on a comprehensive framework was completed in 1996.  Shortly after that, the PA's Ministry of Education (MOE) established a new curriculum center commissioned with writing new school textbooks.  The curriculum plan assumed concrete form during the 2000-2001 school year.</div> <bR> <div> In the past three years, the Palestinian MOE introduced a number of new textbooks and a few teachers' guides for grades 1, 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8.  The production of these textbooks involved hundreds of authors, reviewers, supervisors, teacher trainers, illustrators and technical support personnel.   </div> <bR> <div> The present investigation is an earnest attempt to present a professional analysis/evaluation of the new Palestinian curriculum, especially as it relates to the principles of civil society, peace, tolerance and diversity.  It covers all textbooks that relate to the objectives and tasks of the investigation.  However, a special focus is placed on language arts, religious education, history, civil education, and national education curricula. </div> <bR> <div> The major goals of the new Palestinian educational system are nationalistic, cognitive and social in nature.  A review of the new textbooks revealed that the major goals of the history, national education, civil education, religious education and language arts textbooks are to reinforce the Palestinian national, civic and religious identity and to promote respect for authority (local and national government, family and religious and civic institutions).  The curriculum attempts, among other things, to promote national aspirations and condemn occupation practices.  In doing so, it briefly and inadequately addresses some of the conflictive and sensitive issues that relate to the prevailing political situation.</div> <bR> <div> Another interesting dimension of the curriculum is its focus on promoting students' faculties of critical thinking, creative thinking, decision-making and problem solving.  Moreover, the innovative instructional strategies recommended (role-playing, simulation, case studies, and other cooperative learning techniques) point to the national interest in promoting the principles of human rights, democracy, diversity, tolerance and pluralism which, in turn, help in the development of active learners and democratic citizens. </div> <bR> <div> The curriculum, moreover, attempts to (re)shape students' perceptions, beliefs and attitudes toward a number of concepts and issues, many of which relate to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Thus, one finds references in almost all disciplines to the concepts of loving peace, openness to and respect for other cultures, and promotion of peace, global and environmental awareness.  Most of these instances, however, fail to reflect a much-needed practical dimension of a truly regional and global multicultural perspective that promotes mutual understanding, respect, and tolerance. </div> <bR> <div> The curriculum undoubtedly bears the marks of unresolved (historical and contemporary) controversies both among Palestinians and with the neighbors of the emerging Palestinian state.  As such, the textbooks do not openly or adequately reflect the multiethnic, multicultural and multi-religious history of the region.  Furthermore, they do not present a multi-perspective account of several of the formative historical events and several of the still-unresolved issues (Jerusalem, water, borders, settlements and refugees).  According to a MOE position paper (December 2002), “The new curriculum, politically speaking, and as reflected in the textbooks already produced, remains to be a tentative and transitional attempt to account for the political complexities at this political juncture.”</div> <bR> <div> Educationally speaking, the curriculum adopts a student-centered pedagogy that acknowledges and utilizes the pluralism of intelligence and a diversity of learning styles in the learning process.  It is also an activity-based and issue-oriented curriculum that encourages cooperative learning, and is structured to assist learners in viewing all subject-matter content in the context of their own communities and the surrounding ones.</div> <bR> <div> TO SEE A COPY OF THE COMPLETE REPORT GO TO:  <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.ipcri.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ipcri.org"><U><U>www.ipcri.org</U></U></A></FONT>  </div> <bR> <div> <I><B>The following is a copy of a letter we sent to President Bush today.</B></I></div> <div> <B>Gershon Baskin, Ph.D., and Zakaria al Qaq, Ph.D., Co-Directors, IPCRI</B></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>“There is no time to waste.  The supervisors of this program in the State Department, in the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and in the Consulate General in Jerusalem strongly support these efforts and have been witness to their value. Mr. President, we hope that you will give this matter your direct and immediate attention and support</B></I><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000CC" FACE="Arial" >.”</FONT><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >  </FONT></div> <bR> <div> Sunday, June 08, 2003</div> <bR> <div> President George W. Bush</div> <div> The White House</div> <div> Washington, D.C.</div> <bR> <div> Dear President Bush,</div> <bR> <div> We, the undersigned, are writing to you as one of the leading Israeli and Palestinian non governmental organizations that have been engaged for the past years in the work of peace making and peace building through dialogue and cooperation.  One of the main lessons learned from the failure of the Oslo peace process is that the "People-to-People" public peace process received much too little attention and far too little financial support. </div> <bR> <div> In October 1998 at the signing of the Wye River Memorandum, Secretary of State Albright announced that the U.S. Government would launch a program of support for Israeli-Palestinian People-to-People programs aimed at reaching out to the Israeli and Palestinian publics so that they would support peace.  After much delay, the U.S. Government funding finally became available in 2001, more than two years later, this was already after the outbreak of violence and the collapse of the peace process. Nonetheless, the U.S. Government did allocate some $8 million for joint Israeli-Palestinian People-to-People projects including programs in peace education, medical and health cooperation, women's programs, cooperative scientific research, joint sports activities and more. </div> <bR> <div> Throughout the past thirty-two months of horrendous violence, we the leaders of the organizations sponsoring and initiating dialogue activities between the two sides have continued our activities.  The need and the demand for continuing and expanding these activities is very real.  As an illustration of this, recently the European Union put out a call for plans for Israeli Palestinian joint activities.  In one month's time, the EU received 131 project plans amounting to more than $40 million. The EU allocated only $4 million.</div> <div>  </div> <div> Mr. President, the U.S. Government's Wye River People-to-People funding for Israeli-Palestinian People-to-People activities appears to be a one-time event.  There does not seem to be any concrete plans by your administration to allocate additional funds for this public peace process. It should also be pointed out that the US Wye River People-to-People fund was taken from the $400 million that President Clinton promised to the Palestinians and not one cent from the more than $1 billion that was allocated to Israel was taken for the People-to-People fund.  Surely it is possible to find within the U.S. Government's support to Israel and to Palestine additional funds to support the people-to-people peace process.  </div> <bR> <div> <B>At Aqaba you said:</B> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><I><B>“Both prime ministers here agree that progress toward peace also requires an end to violence and the elimination of all forms of hatred, and prejudice and official incitement, in schoolbooks, in broadcasts and in the words used by political leaders.” </B></I></FONT></div> <bR> <div> Both leaders understand that a future of peace cannot be founded on hatred and falsehood and bitterness.</div> <div>  </div> <div> We agree 100% with your statement.  We have been commissioned by the US Congress to conduct a review of all of the Palestinian Authority new text books with regards to education for    peace and tolerance.  We concluded our review and our findings have been submitted to the Congress and to the Palestinian Ministry of Education.  The findings include specific recommendations for amending some 20 Palestinian text books from the 80 text books we reviewed. We are conducting a similar review of Israeli text books at our own expense and will publish the results at the end of the summer - we have also found Israeli text books that should be amended to reflect values of peace, justice and equality. We are also developing supplementary learning materials, lesson plans and teachers guides for teaching peace in Israeli and Palestinians schools from Kindergarten to grade 12. </div> <bR> <div> Our Peace Education program is the widest and most developed such program in the region.  The main limitation on the expansion of this program to hundreds of more schools is primarily financial.  The commitment of the U.S. Government to Peace Education between Israelis and Palestinians voiced in your words at the Aqaba summit will also be useful in gaining official and greater public legitimacy for these programs now in both Israel and Palestine. Repeated political messages to the officials in Israel and Palestine by yourself and your administration would help in this process. </div> <bR> <div> As recipients of the U.S. Government's Wye Rive People-to-People fund, we devoted all of our funds towards our Peace Education efforts.  The academic reviews of our work have shown spectacular results, far beyond our expectations.  We are coming to an end of the Wye River funds and we see little replacement funds in sight.  This is the time when great efforts and wide financial resources must be directed towards Peace Education in Israel and in Palestine.  It is a time when those who support the Road Map and the vision presented by you, Mr. President, must also help in ensuring that every Israeli and Palestinian school child be educated in peace and be exposed to children from the "other side".  We do not have the liberty of time on our side.  The political peace process must be coupled with a people-to-people peace campaign led by those with proven experience in the field. </div> <bR> <div> We would like to urge you and your administration to support these vital activities of ours in trying to rebuild a constituency for peace in Israel and in Palestine.  What could be more American than supporting efforts of bringing enemies to talk to each other and to explore ways of making peace together through joint cooperative projects.  We would like to urge you and your Administration to see that a minimum of $25 million is allocated by the U.S. Government each year in these endeavors. </div> <bR> <div> There is no time to waste.  The supervisors of this program in the State Department, in the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and in the Consulate General in Jerusalem strongly support these efforts and have been witness to their value. Mr. President, we hope that you will give this matter your direct and immediate attention and support.  </div> <bR> <div> Yours sincerely,</div> <bR> <div> Gershon Baskin, Ph.D., and Zakaria al Qaq, Ph.D.</div> <div> Co-Directors, IPCRI</div> <div>  </div> <div> P.O. Box 9321, Jerusalem 91092</div> <div> Tel: 972-2-676-9460   Fax: 972-2-676-8011</div> <div> Mobile: 052-381-715</div> <div> gershon@ipcri.org </div> <div> http://www.ipcri.org</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><U>**********************************************</U></B></div> <div>  <A NAME="14___i_have_no_choice_but_to_boycott"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>14.</B><I><B> “I have no choice but to boycott Israeli products,”</B></I><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" > </FONT><B> </B></div> <div> <B>Oona King, a Jewish member of the British Parliament</B></div> <bR> <div> Published in the <I><B>GUARDIAN </B></I></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,975536,00.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment"><U><U>http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,975536,00.html</U></U></A></div> <div> <B>By Oona King</B></div> <div> June 12, 2003, Gaza </div> <div> The no man's land separating Israel from the Gaza Strip gives way to what can only be described as desecrated land. Razor wire and crushed buildings line the route. Torn slabs of concrete look like tattered cardboard on a rubbish heap. In front of us two Israeli tanks block our path. Behind us, the border will shortly be sealed to prevent Palestinian reprisals for the helicopter attack launched hours earlier against the extremist Hamas leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Rantissi - who is still alive. A Palestinian woman and her young child, on their way to hospital, are dead, and 35 are injured.</div> <div> Later that afternoon we hurriedly leave the building we are in when a missile lands nearby. As two British MPs traveling with Christian Aid, myself and Jenny Tonge are alarmed. For Gaza residents this is business as usual. More than 1 million Palestinians live on this tiny piece of land (smaller than the Isle of Wight) - more than three-quarters of on less than £1.30 a day. Life below the poverty line for these Palestinians contrasts with the 5,000 Israeli settlers who occupy one-third of the land and enjoy watered gardens, first world housing and protection by the Israeli army. This protection means Palestinians wait for hours - sometimes days - at Israeli checkpoints, trying to find work or get access to essential services such as medical care.</div> <div> The sun is setting on Gaza. From my hotel balcony I hear demonstrations in the street below. It occurs to me that I can put on a headscarf and slip into the crowd as a Palestinian. No one will guess I'm Jewish, still less that I'm a British MP. The sounds lead me to the hospital where Rantissi is being treated. Cars rush into the compound, horns blaring, people hanging out of windows. A man carries an injured girl into the hospital. But most of the Palestinians just stand waiting. They wait for Israelis to stamp their permits, and they wait for a Palestinian state. They are no different from us: deny them human rights and they will respond with unacceptable terrorist violence.</div> <div> That's what Jews did when they set up the Stern Gang and blew up the King David Hotel in the 1940s. Ninety-four people died. The leader of that terrorist group, on Britain's "most wanted" list, went on to be the Israeli prime minister. Many Jews revere him, even while they abhor the terrorism that ruins their lives today. Israelis must be freed from terrorism - such as yesterday's horrific attack in Jerusalem. All terrorism, not least Palestinian terrorism, is abhorrent. But it is also predictable. When the Israeli government chose Tuesday to launch an attack in Gaza (as it did again after yesterday's bombing), it cannot have been ignorant of its effect on the peace process and the certainty of Palestinian reprisals.</div> <div> The original founders of the Jewish state could surely not imagine the irony facing Israel today: in escaping the ashes of the Holocaust, they have incarcerated another people in a hell similar in its nature - though not its extent - to the Warsaw ghetto. </div> <div> Any visitor to the Palestinian ghetto can see the signs: residents are sealed off and live under curfew; the authorities view torture as acceptable and use collective punishment as a means of control; soldiers drive families from their homes, confiscate property and demolish neighbourhoods; unemployment runs in places at 80%, and utilities such as water are withheld; the economy has "client" status, and is subservient to the occupiers in every way.</div> <div> As the more powerful side in the dispute, Israel must break the cycle of violence, comply with UN resolution 242 and withdraw from territories occupied in 1967. As the occupying power, Israel must uphold the fourth Geneva Convention and end all collective punishments. Illegal settlements must be dismantled. Repair of water, sewage, and other essential infrastructure should take place immediately.</div> <div> Just under 80% of all water resources in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are redirected from Palestinians to Israelis. The international community has to recognise the scale of the humanitarian disaster facing Palestinians and George Bush must put greater pressure on Sharon to give meaning to the road map. Yes, there are two sides to every story. But no story should hold within it the horrors I have witnessed here, so similar in detail to humiliations suffered by the Jews.</div> <div> I have sadly come to the conclusion that, given the scale of the atrocities and collective punishment waged by the Israelis against the Palestinians, I have no choice but to boycott Israeli products. On reflection, whether Jewish or not, you might decide to do the same.</div> <div> <B>Oona King is Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow (miahr@parliament.uk</B>)</div> <div> <B>For more examples of the boycott movement go to: </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.BoycottIsraeliGoods.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.BoycottIsraeliGoods.org"><U><B><U>http://www.BoycottIsraeliGoods.org</U></B></U></A></FONT></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U>**********************************************.</U></B></div> <div>  <A NAME="15__a_transgenerational_movement_to"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>15. "A Transgenerational Movement to heal the wounded world"</B></div> <div> <B>Judaism, Violence, and Nonviolence</B></div> <div> <B>By Rabbi Arthur Waskow</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>"Judaism, Violence, and Nonviolence" was published in  the May/June 2003 Fellowship of Reconciliation journal. Rabbi Arthur Waskow is the director of The Shalom Center in Philadelphia (www.shalomctr.com) and author of numerous books including "Godwrestling - Round 2." </B></div> <bR> <div> Mention "the Jews" and "nonviolence" in the same breath, and in our generation many will look at you askance. Mental images of the Israeli Army, the Maccabees, an "angry God," will flood the eye. Perhaps they will be followed by images of quiet and passivity and wisdom - "sheep to the slaughter" during the Holocaust, Torah-scholars and scientists and pianists. But rarely will there surface the memory, rarely will there arise the hope, of an assertive, vigorous nonviolent Jewish resistance to the arrogant in power.</div> <div> But the past and the future are much more complex than this parade of images suggests. And since Jewish thought has always proceeded in a spiral where the future and the past are intertwined, it is hardly possible to think about a future of assertive nonviolent Jewish action without unfolding the meaning of our limited memories. </div> <div> For Jewish wisdom is neither the endless circle of tradition nor the abrupt progression of a straight line forward. Always it does midrash - takes an ancient tradition, gives it a twirl, and comes out somewhere new. Spiraling.</div> <div> And today this midrash is not simply a twirling of the text, but an unfolding of the historical transformations that gave birth to the many layers of the text. Not as an antiquarian dust-off of ancient oddities, but as a way to join the spiritual searches of ages past, renew them, and create new forms of action in the ancient search for peace and justice.</div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>I. Biblical Israel: Civil Disobedience and Ultra-violence</B></div> <div> If we look back at the history of Biblical Israel, there are two very important strands from which we need to learn and with which we need to wrestle. One is the strand of constant willingness to challenge and disobey arrogant power, whether it's located in Pharaoh or in a Jewish king. The other is the strand of willingness to use violence - sometimes hyper-violence - to advance the Jewish vision of a decent society.</div> <div> Let us first take up the strand of resistance to unaccountable power. The story of the saving of the baby Moses by Shifrah and Puah - the midwives who refused to obey Pharaoh's order to murder Hebrew boy babies - is perhaps the first tale of nonviolent civil disobedience in world literature.</div> <div> The process of liberation in the Exodus itself is woven with violence in the form of disastrous ecological upheavals and ultimately the death of Egypt's firstborn. But the imposition of these plagues is ascribed to God, and thus placed one giant step away from Israelite behavior. Indeed, the Israelites are specifically forbidden to leave their homes on the night when the firstborn die. The most active deed of the Israelites themselves is described as a nonviolent one: visiting the Egyptian homes to demand reparations - gold and jewels that will repay them for many years of slavery.</div> <div> The Hebrew Bible also describes nonviolent resistance to Babylonian and Persian power. For example, Jeremiah warns against using violence and military alliances to oppose the Babylonian Conquest, and argues instead that God will protect the people if Judah acts in accord with the ethical demands of Torah - freeing slaves, letting the land rest. Daniel and his friends famously are cast into the lions' den for nonviolently refusing to obey the king's command to worship foreign gods. And although the Book of Esther ends in violence, Esther herself demonstrates nonviolent civil disobedience when, in fear and trembling, she approaches the Persian king without having been invited so that she can carry out her mission to save the Jewish people from a murderous tyrant.</div> <div> Well, we might say, it is not surprising that Israelite culture would celebrate resistance to foreign potentates. What about Israel's own kings?</div> <div> Here too there are tales of nonviolent resistance. There is a powerful story of an Israelite king, Saul, who had to deal with an underground guerilla whom he thought of as a terrorist...named David. And David, with a very small band of underground guerillas, went off, hungry and desperate, and found food and protection at a sacred shrine, where they asked the priests to let them eat the show-bread, the <I>lehem panim</I>, the sacred bread placed before God, because they were desperately hungry. And the priests fed them from the sacred bread.</div> <div> When Saul heard about this, he said (more or less), "Anybody who harbors a terrorist is a terrorist!" (do you hear an echo?) and so King Saul ordered his own bodyguard to kill the priests of Nov. But the bodyguard refused.</div> <div> His own bodyguard, yet he refused to murder these priests. An act of nonviolent civil disobedience against an Israelite king, not an Egyptian Pharaoh.</div> <div> The tales of the Prophets are filled with moments of nonviolent resistance to illegitimate uses of power by Israelite kings. Jeremiah, for example, used "Yippie" acts of street theater to protest. He wore a yoke as he walked in public, embodying the yoke of God that the King had shrugged off, as well as the yoke of Babylonian captivity that the King was bringing on the people.</div> <div> Torah also bears descriptions of how it would look to have power made accountable to the public and to the guardians of Torah. In Deuteronomy there is the description of a constitutional monarch who must write, day by day, those passages of Torah that restrict his own power. He must not multiply horses - cavalry were the tanks and Apache helicopters of that day. He must not pile up money for his treasury. He must not send the people back into Mitzrayim, which didn't mean sending them back to geographical Egypt: it meant sending them back to slavery. And he had to read the Torah, in public. Imagine Richard Nixon reading the Bill of Rights on national television, and having to listen directly to responses.</div> <div> That's one strand of ancient Torah. The other one is that in its vision of creating a decent society in that little sliver of land on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean, over and over again the Torah counsels violence, even genocide. The sense that creating the decent society could only be done by military means is a very strong strand of Torah.</div> <div> Even within this approach, however, the Biblical model of Jewish life preserved some limits on war. Even in wartime, the Israelite army was forbidden to cut down fruit trees, unless they were actually being used as bulwarks in defending against a siege. And the Torah provided for individual exemptions from the army for young people in the earliest journey of making a family, building a house, creating a vineyard, feeling fear of death in battle, or fearing to become a killer. The Maccabees actually applied these rules, even in the midst of a war to resist an occupying power that had desecrated the Temple and was forcing people to worship idols.</div> <div> For at least a thousand years, the same culture and tradition that often counseled nonviolent resistance against unaccountable power also counseled the use of military conquest against cultures it deemed indecent, so as to be able to implant Israelite society and culture in what it claimed as the Land of Israel.</div> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>II. Rabbinic Judaism: Internal </B><I><B>Tikkun</B></I><B> and Passive Nonviolence</B></div> <div> But the Jewish people faced both an outside practical challenge to that set of assumptions about military power, and an internal ethical challenge to it.</div> <div> The external challenge came from the Hellenists and the Romans who swept over the Mediterranean basin, conquering the Jewish state. Jews revolted, most famously under the Maccabees and under Bar Kochba, until the Romans finally proved military revolt against their empire impossible by decimating Israel's Jewish population. After this Diaspora, the Rabbis refused to make heroes of Bar Kochba or even of the Maccabees. Rabbinic Judaism essentially said, "No longer can military power create a decent society in this sliver of land. Can't be done. Shouldn't be tried. "</div> <div> Internally, the Rabbis also decreed that military power should no longer be used. They did this by evading, nullifying, and otherwise interpreting away the Torah's genocidal commands against the Canaanites and other idolatrous people. Instead of extrapolating from these commands that it would be all right - even obligatory - to wipe out any people that rejected the Jewish God, the rabbis went in the opposite direction. Instead they ruled that the Canaanite example was a limited one - and by the time of the rabbis, a nullity. </div> <div> Since the Canaanite peoples no longer existed - the rabbis explained that the Assyrians had scattered and shattered them as well as the "ten lost tribes" of Israelites themselves - the rabbis decreed that the commands to use military action against the Canaanites were a dead letter. If military action against the Canaanites was no longer necessary, then military action itself was no longer commanded.</div> <div> The Rabbis who were so creative in applying ancient Torah in a new situation could certainly, had they wished, have understood the Jebusites, Hivites, Amalekites, and so on as symbols for ongoing threats and dangers to be dealt with militarily. They chose instead to nullify the genocidal meaning of the text. And they even dismissed the Torah's commands to execute a rebellious Israelite child or wipe out a rebellious Israelite city, saying, "This never happened and it never will." Perhaps "this never happened" was a historical claim, but "it never will" expressed an ethical decision never to carry out the seeming command of Torah.</div> <div> While some may say the rabbis were merely being pragmatic (given the amassed power of the Roman and Byzantine empires), these rulings on matters internal to the Jewish people certainly point to a real ethical revulsion against the use of violence.</div> <div> Indeed, the rabbis, who continued to shape a court system within Jewish society, mostly rejected the violent punishments prescribed in Torah. "A court that sentences even one person to death in seventy years," they said, "is a court of murderers."</div> <div> But the most basic transformation of all was that the Rabbis constructed a nonviolent way for the Jewish people to live in the world. Living in the nooks and crannies of Roman, of Christian, of Muslim civilization, Jewish communities in the rabbinic period created decent societies of their own and gave up on the vision of toppling the Great Powers and transforming the world as a whole. </div> <div> Only within ourselves, said the rabbis, can we make a decent world. Someday, if we do a good job, then somehow a transcendent God will come and bring Mashiach, bring the Messiah, and so transform the world. But as for us? As for our own action being able to mend the clearly broken broader world beyond our boundaries? Forget it.</div> <div> People sometimes call Gandhian nonviolence "passive resistance," even though Gandhi's form of nonviolence is in fact highly assertive. But in the case of Rabbinic Judaism, the phrase "passive resistance" - or "nonassertive nonviolence" - is indeed quite accurate. For almost two thousand years, rabbinic Jews accepted that they would suffer expulsions, they would suffer pogroms, but believed that the Jewish people could live beyond expulsions and pogroms.</div> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>III. Reviving a Military Model</B></div> <div> Rabbinic Judaism's model of nonassertive nonviolence worked well until the last century or so of Modernity, when sadism became industrialized, when we experienced not only pogroms and expulsions, but the Shoah, the Holocaust, the death of one-third of the Jewish people. It then became clear to almost all of us that we could no longer live with the Rabbinic model anymore.</div> <div> One powerful lesson of the Holocaust has been that there is nowhere to hide anymore. And not just for the Jews. If you're the tiny, powerless native communities of the Amazon basin, can you hide? Not anymore. With satellite technology, global corporations can spot your resources. With modern transportation systems, they can airlift entire factories into your remote area. With telecommunications, they can supervise the plundering of your community from afar. This is how, in the Amazon, global corporations have managed to log the rainforest and in its place create pasture for cattle destined to become fast food hamburger. Your resources gone, your community dies.</div> <div> The Rabbinic answer is no longer sufficient. What to do?</div> <div> The first response to industrial sadism and industrial arrogance was to revert to the military model of the biblical period (though without its acceptance of genocide). Jews thought: "We need to protect ourselves from the Modernized hatreds of other peoples with military force. And we can do this once more on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean."</div> <div> This was the response of what became the major forces in the Zionist movement, the Zionism of Herzl (who chose as the music to be played at the first Zionist Congress the music of Wagner) and of Ben Gurion as well as of Jabotinsky; of the left-wing Palmach and the right-wing Irgun. (There was another Zionism - that of Ahad Haam and Martin Buber and Henrietta Szold - but their vision and version of Zionism were almost drowned out, especially by the flood of bloodshed in the Holocaust.)</div> <div> When military force was first applied by the Zionist <I>yishuv</I>, some elements of the Jewish military forces tried to apply the concepts of "self-restraint" and "purity of arms." Perhaps this was a throwback to the ethics of the Rabbis. The idea behind "purity of arms" was that civilians should not be attacked, that Jewish settlements established by purchase should be defended whenever necessary, but that Palestinian Arab towns should never be attacked.</div> <div> Never was this purity quite pure, and some branches of the Zionist movement did not honor such strictures. Yet the effort to secure and defend Palestinian territory on which to build a Jewish society was originally prepared for compromise, partition, self-restraint.</div> <div> But it is clear that more and more, this decision to use military force sparingly has changed into an addiction to the use of military force and violence, aggressively as well as defensively, for conquest as well as for self-defense. Successive governments of Israel have chosen the path of competing with the Great Powers of the world. Tanks, planes, even H-bombs...till as I write, the State is in the midst of a massive repression of a rebellious people, and the rebellion as well as the repression are taking crueler and crueler forms. </div> <div> It is already becoming clear that a small people cannot maintain "purity of arms," cannot wage an ethical military effort, cannot compete with the Great Powers and carry on a decent society at the same time. Not even the Soviet Union, a continental super-state, could shoulder this burden. It is not altogether clear that even the richest society in the history of the world, the United States, can for generations wage continuous war - even a "pure" war - and remain or create a decent society at home.</div> <div> The chances that Israel can do so are very small. Pursued to its logical fulfillment, this reversion to the biblical path leads to a dead end. And I do mean a dead end.</div> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>IV. A New </B><I><B>Tikkun Olam</B></I></div> <div> What is a decent alternative to military action?</div> <div> The advantage of the Biblical vision was that it was assertive, rather than passive. The advantage of the Rabbinic vision was that it avoided violence. Is there a way to synthesize these virtues in the new era of Jewish peoplehood into which we have entered? Is there a way to create a Jewish path of assertive nonviolence?</div> <div> Let's look at what may have been the most successful single use of nonviolent civil disobedience by the Jewish people since the midwives Shifra and Puah, even though we have almost never put the tag "nonviolent movement" on it.</div> <div> That was the Soviet Jewry movement. With only one or two exceptions, it avoided the use of violence and used assertive nonviolence to win freedom for Jews in the Soviet Union.</div> <div> Dancing in the streets of Moscow on the night of Simchat Torah. Marches, demonstrations, boycotts. Sit-ins in the Supreme Soviet. I can remember when people thought, "Hey, a sit-in in the Supreme Soviet? All those folks will be dead in a week!"</div> <div> But they weren't. Indeed, they won allies. Jews around the world, members of other communities as well. Allies. We did not need to stand alone. Through years of struggle, this movement made some cracks in what to many had seemed a monolithic Soviet totalitarian state. Even before those cracks and many others brought the whole system down, millions of Soviet Jews either became free to leave or free to begin recreating a Jewish community and culture. </div> <div> Why did we not think of this movement as Gandhian or Kingian? I think it was because we were deeply puzzled as to how to cope with such a way of understanding ourselves alongside the State of Israel during that same period. But the movement to free Soviet Jews was an assertive nonviolent movement. We should with joyful pride name this nonviolent victory as what it was, lift it up to our own awareness, celebrate it.</div> <div> This effort was the strongest, but not the only, use of assertive nonviolence by Jewishly-conscious Jews during the past generation. </div> <div> There were the Freedom Seders of the early 1970s, aimed against racism and the Vietnam war, all of them rooted in affirming the liberation struggle of the Jewish people alongside the liberation struggles of black Americans, Vietnamese, women, Nicaraguans. One of those Freedom Seders actually poured blood, frogs, cockroaches - the symbolic plagues - on the fence around the White House. Another brought together 4,000 people in the Cornell University field house, where Daniel Berrigan actually came out from the underground to which he had fled from the government's prosecution of his antiwar activities. Assertive nonviolence, with allies. Both a new approach in Jewish life.</div> <div> And there was the Jewish Campaign for Trees for Vietnam, with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel as its Honorary Chairman, which challenged the actions of the US government in deliberately destroying the forests of Vietnam to deny tree cover to Vietnamese guerrillas. The Trees for Vietnam campaign drew on both the Torah's prohibition of destroying trees in time of war, and the Jewish practice of planting trees in Israel. Raising money for these purposes was an act of civil disobedience. More recently, that environmental activism has continued with a Tu B'Shvat seder in the redwood forest, concluding with a "plant-in" on the very property owned by a corporation that was logging the ancient redwoods.</div> <div> The movement toward a Jewish nonviolent civil disobedience has helped invigorate and renew Judaism. For example, Hoshanah Rabbah, the seventh day of Sukkot, was originally a ceremony that happened at the banks of rivers. Since ancient times, Jews beat willows on the riverbank, dancing seven circles with the Torah and calling out to God to save the earth from drought and locusts, famine and plague. But in modern times, Hoshanah Rabbah has mostly been limited to beating willow branches on the rugs in the small chapel at the back of a few traditional synagogues, having no way of connecting with the festival prayers for healing the earth. </div> <div> In 1998, a small group of Jews changed all that by beating willows on the earth on the banks of the Hudson River. The act was aimed against General Electric's refusal to clean up the river after poisoning it with PCBs. This event fused the ancient meaning of the festival with an act of assertive nonviolence against one of the Great Powers of the planet.</div> <div> Today, as the state of Israel pursues the older biblical path, using military action to push its policies, Jewish nonviolence sadly must be used against Jewish military action. So we see Israeli Jews and Jews from the Diaspora, along with international supporters from many countries, sitting down against the Israeli bulldozers destroying Palestinian homes. With their own bare hands they are pushing aside the concrete blocks that cut off Palestinian villages in blockades, in sieges. Coming on Tu B'Shvat to replant olive trees destroyed (despite the prohibitions of Torah) by Israeli soldiers and settlers in Palestine, as well as replanting palm trees and pine trees destroyed by Palestinian arsonists in Israel. Being arrested, even beaten, for their nonviolent resistance.</div> <div> And we have seen Israelis, soldiers and reservists, who have refused to serve in the Army of Occupation, citing God, ethics, Torah, and the true security of Israel as their reasons. We have seen them going to jail for refusing. In these brave nonviolent protesters we see the hope and the promise of an assertive yet nonviolent means to secure Jewish life and culture.</div> <div> Most of these campaigns and struggles have drawn explicitly on Jewish ceremony and Jewish practices. For that reason, they did not have to choose between being "Jewish" and being "universal"; they did not even have to "balance" being "Jewish" and being "universal." </div> <div> In the very depth of their being, they were simultaneously and organically both Jewish and universal. </div> <div> Putting energy into them did not draw Jews away from their Jewish heritage in order to heal the wounded world; it actually deepened their Jewish knowledge and experience. Nor did these actions pull people into Jewish tribalism at the expense of lost concern for the others endangered on this planet. Like a hologram, like the presence of DNA in every cell of the body, they taught that the whole is fully present in each part. The highest good of each community and the highest good of the planet as a whole are enwrapped within each other. That is why we call this new Jewish form of assertive nonviolent civil disobedience <I>tikkun olam</I>, the healing of the world. </div> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>V: Creating the Future in the Present</B></div> <div> Surely the development of Jewish assertive nonviolence has owed much to the experience of the movements we connect with Gandhi and with King. Yet there are differences. Not only does Jewish nonviolence draw on Torah to embody as action-forms some ancient practices and rituals; it also draws on the Jewish tradition for counsel on when violence itself may be necessary, even for the committed nonviolent activist.</div> <div> Just after World War I, in his essay "Recollection of a Death" (published in <I>Pointing the Way</I>), Martin Buber thought deeply about whether the means might justify the ends. He wrote about the Leninist "Red Terror" of the period:</div> <div> I cannot conceive of anything real corresponding to the saying that "the end 'sanctifies' the means"; but I mean something which is real in the highest sense of the term when I say that the means profane, actually make meaningless, the end, that is, its realization! </div> <div> He continued, </div> <div> The more out of accord with the goal is the method by which it is realized, the farther will be the goal that is actually realized from the one that was set. </div> <div> At first glance, this may seem not different from Gandhi's teaching that "You must be the end that you seek," or A.J. Muste's teaching that "There is no way to peace; peace is the way." </div> <div> It is surely closely connected with those teachings. But a close reading of the way Buber puts his point suggests a different possibility: that Buber is not so absolutist about the avoidance of all violence. All his thought and writing leans away from enshrining rules of behavior and toward experiencing the unique need in the unique moment. </div> <div> In one such specific situation, during a dialogue/debate with Gandhi over how the Jews of Europe should respond to Nazism, Buber actually did distinguish his own views from an absolutist pacifism. In the passage above, Buber is not necessarily saying you must choose a means that matches your end. He sternly warns you should realize that if you want, for example, peace in the end, it will be far harder to achieve if the means you use is war.</div> <div> The point is that Buber is, in a sense, describing a "sliding scale" of social change. The more violence in the means, the more violence will remain in the goal achieved. In the Soviet Union of Lenin and Stalin, the "means" of the Red Terror became the (perhaps unintended) "end" of a totalitarian dictatorship. Buber makes clear in the essay that he was strongly opposed to that means and prophetically understood what end would be achieved. In 1949, when he published <I>Paths in Utopia</I>, he unfolded in great clarity his critique of what had happened in Soviet reality.</div> <div> But implicit in Buber's dread of the unfolding of violence into more and more violence, there is also the possibility that an activist may use certain limited forms of violence in extreme necessity, while being fully aware that this is likely to corrupt the society that s/he is trying to bring to birth. This awareness might make it possible to take steps to reduce the corruption that results.</div> <div> This willingness to consider violence makes Jewish civil disobedience different from the Gandhian or Buddhist model. After the passiveness of the Rabbinic model, with its acceptance of pogroms and massacres, Jewish nonviolence must be robust, and willing to consider violence in the last resort.</div> <div> The main thrust of Buber's point, however, is that the best way to bring about the future you desire is to actually build a miniature or microcosm of that future in the present. No longer a passive nonviolent protest against the world we disdain, Jewish nonviolence today stresses that we must actively and positively create the world we want.</div> <div> There is an ancient Jewish teaching that encodes this wisdom. According to the ancient Rabbis, if the entire Jewish people were to observe Shabbat twice in a row, the Messiah would come. Since Shabbat was understood as a foretaste of the Messianic Age, this teaching meant: "Bring it by doing it."</div> <div> Indeed, I suggest that this "law" of social action (in the sense of the "law" of gravity: a description of empirical reality) is so basic that it applies whether the activist's vision and practice are nonviolent or not.</div> <div> One of the clearest cases of the power of this form of social action is the sit-in movement in the United States. The sit-inners did not begin by trying to change the laws that mandated or permitted segregation. They did not attack the restaurant owners. They envisioned a future of integrated public places, and in the present they integrated them. They put on the society at large the burden of deciding what to do about them.</div> <div> By disobeying the law, they changed the law. And since they tapped into a latent value system among the majority of Americans that supported racial equality and opposed segregation, they initiated a great wave of social change that echoed and intensified what they were doing, carrying their basic values into areas they had not addressed.</div> <div> Let us look at a movement that ideologically, in values and worldview, was quite different - but that structurally had much the same effect. That is the ideologically motivated settler movement that began in the 1970s to set up Israeli enclaves in the West Bank, when to do so in the places they chose was not legal. (I call them "ideologically motivated" to distinguish them from Israelis who later bought homes in West Bank settlements because government subsidies made them much cheaper than houses inside the 1967 Israeli borders.)</div> <div> These settlers were not committed to the universalist values that imbued the sit-in movement. They were nationalists who had no compunction about using violence against Palestinians, or threatening to use it even against Jews in a "civil war" if a Jewish government were to try to force them to leave their settlements. So from a values standpoint, they were quite different from the sit-in movement.</div> <div> But they were very much like the sit-inners in that they enacted in the present the future they envisioned. They imagined a West Bank populated by Jews, and they acted to make it so right away. They confronted the Israeli government and public and the Palestinians with their faits accomplis - and challenged them to respond.</div> <div> Like the sit-in movement, through the boldness and clarity of their action they created waves of political energy that moved in their direction. For an entire generation, they have had a profound effect on Israeli politics and culture. For like the sit-in movement, they tapped into latent support for their values among the society around them: in their case, among Israelis who were drawn to the notion of a Jewish/Israeli West Bank, whether for religious, nationalist, territorial-security, or financial reasons.</div> <div> Several of the recent actions by Israelis of a very different political persuasion have also begun to enact the future in the present: peace demonstrations jointly planned and held by Palestinian and Israeli women; joint Israeli-Palestinian actions to open roadblocks on Palestinian roads, replant trees in Palestinian villages, rebuild demolished Palestinian homes; Israeli reservists' refusing to serve in the Occupation army. It remains to be seen whether these actions also tap into a latent value-system among a sizeable number of Israelis.</div> <div> Seeing the issues of violence and nonviolence in social action through this lens of "enacting the future in the present" may offer a new way to understand and to choose a course of action for <I>tikkun olam</I>.</div> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>VI. Finding Allies</B></div> <div> To act in this way, the Jewish community must see ourselves as no longer utterly engulfed by enemies. For the assertive nonviolence of a small and lonely people challenging Great Powers will simply bring catastrophe the sooner, if there are no allies for the challenge. </div> <div> The mindset that felt we stood alone imbued both biblical and rabbinic Judaism. It grew up in the effort to conquer Canaan against what we thought was an ocean of idolators and the effort to survive the Roman Empire. That mindset was reinforced by Inquisitions and pogroms and even by the gentler Muslim habit of treating the Jews like tolerated pets.</div> <div> Whether we were making a decent society with military means in the ancient land of Israel, or making a decent society in the nooks and crannies of other civilizations all over the world, both Biblical and Rabbinic Judaism said, "We are on our own. Nobody else cares. Nobody shares our vision. They're all enemies and only we carry the vision."</div> <div> For centuries, this may well have reflected considerable truth. </div> <div> But one thing that Modernity has brought with it has been the discovery that there are other communities in the world with which we can in fact share a vision of a decent society. It is possible to find allies.</div> <div> Now we have to behave in a certain way to be able to find allies. But it is no longer impossible to find them. And the question is whether, in response to the smashing of Rabbinic Judaism by Modernity, we can connect with Christians who are responding to Modernity's shattering of the Christianity that has till now existed, and with Buddhists who are struggling with a Buddhism similarly shattered by Modernity, and with Muslims struggling with a shattered traditional Islam. </div> <div> Within each of these traditions - within the Jewish people, within Christian communities, within Islam, within Buddhism, within Hinduism, there are some who say, "Then let's go back two centuries, three centuries, and vomit out this disgusting, destructive Modernity. Let's put women back in their place, the earth back in its place, and especially the other communities back in their places." </div> <div> All of those places were, of course, underneath, below, subordinate. From that standpoint, these efforts to restore pre-Modern religious cultures cannot make allies with each other, because each denies the others' legitimacy. (They may become de facto brothers in blood, each fueling the other's violence.)</div> <div> Indeed, these restorationist versions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism must be far more coercive, more violent, than the traditional communities they are hoping to restore. For it always takes more force, more coercion, to force a genie back in the bottle than it did to keep it there in the first place. Two centuries ago, no one had to beat up women to keep them from vocally, audibly davvening at the Western Wall. Women just didn't try. Now - throw chairs at them to "restore" the past. Use State power. All new, in the name of restoration. </div> <div> From this restorationist energy have stemmed the terror attacks of 9/11, the Christian anti-abortion bombings, Baruch/Aror Goldstein's murder of 29 Muslims at prayer in the Tomb of Abraham, the Hindu burning of the Golden Temple, the Buddhist-Hindu violence of Sri Lanka. </div> <div> But these restorationist forces are not the only response to Modernity's shattering of traditional religious life. There are also energies that say, "Let's make distinctions between what is holy and what is destructive. Surely the Modernity that made possible the Holocaust, the H-bomb, and the burning of the Amazon Basin is not wholly good. But some of Modernity is sacred, and that part we can absorb into our traditional religious teachings and go forward. Let's renew our communities rather than restoring them as they were three or four centuries ago. </div> <div> "Let's renew the sacred teaching of the sacred earth, for which indeed we have ancient warrant. And the sacred teaching of the sacredness of the full equality of women, for which neither we nor any of the old traditions has warrant. And the sacred tradition of the sacredness of other strivings for truth from which we can learn and with which we can make allies.</div> <div> "We can no longer hide alone in nooks and crannies, we can no longer conquer or even defend alone our own decency, we must try to mend the whole world after all. </div> <div> "So let's reach out for allies - and let's bring assertive nonviolence, not passive but assertive, to bear on transforming or even toppling the Great Powers of the earth, so as to heal what now needs to be a planetary community."</div> <div>  </div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>VII. Seeing Ourselves Mirrored in the Other</B></div> <div> To heal the world, we cannot see ourselves as utterly pure and the world as utterly polluted. Just as we must be able to see the good in others if we are to find allies, so we must be able to see the violence we hide within ourselves. </div> <div> Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel reminded us of this wisdom in an essay on "The Meaning of This War [World War II]," in <I>Moral Grandeur and Spiritual Audacity</I>, edited by Susannah Heschel. </div> <div> The date of this remarkable essay is crucial to understanding its depth. It was written in 1943 and first published in February 1944.</div> <div> Heschel asks the question: "Who is responsible [that the war has soaked the earth in blood]?" And he - the Polish Hassid just transplanted to America - answers as a Hassid might, by quoting the Baal Shem Tov: "If a man has beheld evil, he may know that it was shown to him in order that he learn his own guilt and repent; for what was shown to him is also within him."</div> <div> When the Baal Shem Tov said this, he almost certainly was focusing on the spiritual situation of an individual who in order to grow must take the world not as an external object but as a moral mirror - who must treat the discovery of evil as a spur to look inward, to examine what evil lurks in his/her own heart.</div> <div> But Heschel takes this insight in a new direction. He applies it to a whole society, a whole people, when it sees political evil at a national level. Heschel writes:</div> <div> We have failed to offer sacrifices on the altar of peace; now we must offer sacrifices on the altar of war.... Let Fascism not serve as an alibi for our conscience.... Where were we when men learned to hate in the days of starvation? When raving madmen were sowing wrath in the hearts of the unemployed?</div> <div> Good and evil, which were once as real as day and night, have become a blurred mist. In our everyday life we worshipped force, despised compassion, and obeyed no law but our unappeasable appetite. The vision of the sacred has all but died in the soul of man.</div> <div> By 1943, Heschel knew that members of his own family and already more than a million other Jews had already been savagely murdered. Yet he could draw on the depths of Hassidism to call Jews themselves, along with all of Western civilization and culture, to face their own share of responsibility for letting the disaster happen. And he could fuse questions that were conventionally seen as distinct - issues of economics and issues of religious and spiritual experience. For, he said, "the vision of the sacred" had been killed by "greed, envy, and the reckless will to power," by not addressing such economic problems as unemployment.</div> <div> Heschel, we should be clear, did not back away from a radical condemnation of Nazism. He did not oppose the war on which the Allies were then engaged. Yet he could in the very midst of that war write, "Tanks and planes cannot redeem humanity. ... The killing of snakes will save us for the moment but not forever."</div> <div> He could look deep into that war, beyond it and within it and beneath it, to ask not merely what were its causes, but what was its meaning? And he found spiritual meaning in taking responsibility upon himself, ourselves, for having helped create the world in which "the mark of Cain in the face of man has come to overshadow the likeness of God."</div> <div> What is the significance of this teaching, as we search toward a theory and practice of <I>tikkun olam</I> that can help support an assertive nonviolent transformation of the Great Powers of the earth?</div> <div> Perhaps it would be instructive to imagine this teaching placed in the context of American life after the terror attacks of 9/11/01. If Heschel could write in this way in 1943, what would it have meant for an American to write this way in 2002?</div> <div> It would have challenged both the single Greatest Power in the world, the United States, to have reflected on its own responsibility for creating the world in which terrorists chose to wear the mark of Cain.</div> <div> And it would have challenged us all at the level of our everyday lives --emotional, economic, political. As Heschel says later in the essay, "God will return to us when we are willing to let Him in - into our banks and factories, into our Congress and clubs, into our homes and theaters."</div> <div> It would have called on us to make the sacrifices of peace lest we need forever to make the sacrifices of war, the war against terrorism that has already been proclaimed endless and that indeed is likely to be endless because every act of war is likely to create new terrorists.</div> <div> What are these sacrifices of peace? In Jewish language these are <I>korbanot</I>, "near-bringings," bringing near to the Unity of All what is nearest to our own selves. </div> <div> The first such "near-bringing" would be to do as the Baal Shem Tov and Heschel teach, bringing near the evil behavior we see in others as a mirror to look within ourselves. Looking at Al Qaeda, to see the CIA that trained them. Hearing Bin Laden's call for jihad, hearing our own President's call for "crusade."</div> <div> The second would be taking time to reflect, to bring our own life-experience and our own consciousness - often so divorced from each other - near to each other. Time out - time not used to multiply the military, imprison immigrants, name more countries for devastation or embargo, but time simply to reflect. To pray, to learn, to listen, to explore new possibilities. </div> <div> Such a time out would carry into public space the Jewish wisdom of the Ten Days of Awe and Transformation between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. </div> <div> Indeed, it would tune in to Heschel's teaching just a few years after the essay I have just quoted, encoded in the well-known book <I>The Sabbath</I> he wrote soon after World War II, while the blood of the Holocaust and Hiroshima was barely dry - his teaching that the Sabbath, taking time to restfully reflect, is the deepest challenge to a civilization of techno-idolatry. </div> <div> And the third "near-bringing" would be creating in the present the institutions and practices that we dream of for the future. Making near in reality what seems far from possibility.</div> <div> Finally, let us bring near our wholeness as a community: that we do this not only in addressing specific wounds in the body politic with specific acts of <I>tikkun</I>, but also at the level of the meaning of Jewish peoplehood: That we see the Jewish people in our era as a transgenerational "movement" to heal the wounded world. Not through violence, and not through passive nonviolence. Not walking alone to conquer, not walking alone to cower.</div> <div> Rather, as a carrier of assertive nonviolence to open up and transform the Great Powers of the world, working with allies who share many aspects of our vision. </div> <div> Rabbi Arthur Waskow is the director of The Shalom Center in Philadelphia (www.shalomctr.com) and author of numerous books including Godwrestling - Round 2. </div> <div> <B>©2003 Fellowship of Reconciliation</B></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U>**********************************************.</U></B></div> <div> <B> <A NAME="15___non_violent_resistance_in"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></B></div> <div> <B>16. </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#BF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B> Sharon & Fanatical Settlers Provide Best TV Show in Town </B></FONT></div> <bR> <div> <B>Critique of the drama by Uri Avnery</B></div> <div> <B>(Former member of the Israeli Knesset, founder Gush-Shalom)</B></div> <div> <B>June 21, 2003</B></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index"><U><B><U>http://www.gush-shalom.org/english/index.html</U></B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> The most talented director could not have done better. It was a perfect show.</div> <div> Television viewers all over the world saw heroic Israeli soldiers on their screens battling the fanatical settlers. Close-ups: faces twisted with passion, a soldier lying on a stretcher, a young woman crying in despair, children weeping, youngsters storming forward in fury, masses of people wrestling with each other. A battle of life and death.</div> <div> There is no room for doubt: Ariel Sharon is leading a heroic fight against the settlers in order to fulfill his promise to remove "unauthorized" outposts, even "inhabited" ones. The old warrior is again facing a determined enemy without flinching.</div> <div> The conclusion is self-evident, both in Israel and throughout the world: if such a tumultuous battle takes place for a tiny outpost inhabited by hardly a dozen people, how can one expect Sharon to remove 90 outposts, as promised in the Road Map? If things look like that when he has to remove a handful of tents and one small stone building - how can one even dream of evacuating real settlements, where dozens, hundreds or even thousands of families are living?</div> <div> This must have impressed George Bush and his people. Unfortunately, it has not impressed me.</div> <div> It makes me laugh.</div> <div> In the last few years I have witnessed dozens of confrontation with the army. I know what they really look like.</div> <div> The Israeli army has already demolished thousands of Palestinian homes in the occupied territories. This is how it goes: early in the morning, hundreds of soldiers surround the land. Behind them come the tanks and bulldozers, and the action starts. When despair drives the inhabitants to resist, the soldiers hit them with sticks, throw tear gas grenades, shoot rubber-coated metal bullets and, if the resistance is stronger, live ammunition, too. Old people are thrown on the ground, women dragged along, young people handcuffed and pushed against the wall. After a few minutes, it's all over. </div> <div> Well, they'll say, that's done to Arabs. They don't do this to Jews.</div> <div> Wrong. They certainly do this to Jews. Depends who the Jews are.</div> <div> I, for example, am a Jew. I have been attacked with tear gas five times so far. Once it was a special gas, and for a few moments I was afraid that I was going to choke to death.</div> <div> During one of the blockades on Ramallah we decided to bring food to the beleaguered town. We were some three thousand Israeli peace activists, both Jews and Arabs. At the A-Ram checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, a line of policemen and soldiers stopped us. There was an exchange of insults and a lot of shouting. Suddenly we were showered with tear gas canisters. The thousands dispersed in panic, coughing and choking, some were trampled; one of our group, an 82-year old Jew and kibbutznik, was injured.</div> <div> I have witnessed demonstrations in which rubber-coated bullets were shot at Israeli citizens (generally Arabs). Once I was in the gas-filled rooms of a school at Um-al-Fahem in Israel.</div> <div> If the army had really wanted to evacuate Mitpe-Yitzhar quickly and efficiently, it would have used tear gas. The whole business would have been over in a few minutes. But then there would not have been dramatic pictures on TV, and George W. would have asked his friend Arik: "Hey, why don't you finish with all the outposts in a week?"</div> <div> In other words, this was a well-produced show for TV.</div> <div> A few days before, the leaders of the settlers met with Ariel Sharon. As they left and faced the cameras they uttered dark threats, but anyone who knows these people and looked at their faces on TV could see that there were no strong emotions at work. Of course, the "Yesha rabbis" (Yesha is settlerese for the West Bank), a group of bearded political functionaries, called on the soldiers to disobey orders and requested the LORD and the messiah to come to their help, but even they lacked real passion.</div> <div> Why? Because all of them knew that everything has been agreed in advance. The army chiefs and the leaders of the settlers, comrades and partners for a long time, sat together and decided what would happen, and, more importantly, what would not happen: no sudden attack, no efforts to prevent thousands of young people from reaching the place well in advance, no use of sticks, water cannon, tear gas, rubber-coated bullets or any other means beyond the use of bare hands. The soldiers would not wear helmets nor be equipped with shields. The settlers would shout and push, but would not hit the soldiers in earnest. The whole show would be less violent then a normal scuffle with British soccer hooligans, but would look on TV like a desperate battle between titanic forces.</div> <div> Ariel Sharon has some experience with this kind of thing. A dozen years ago he directed a similar show when, following the peace treaty with Egypt, he was ordered by Prime Minister Menahem Begin to evacuate the town of Yamit in the northern Sinai peninsula. At the time, Sharon was Minister if Defense. And who was one of the leaders of the dramatic resistance? Tsachi Hanegbi, now the minister in charge of the police.</div> <div> All the arms of the establishment cooperated this week in the big show. The media devoted many hours to the "battle". Dozens of settlers were invited to the studios and talked endlessly - while, as far as I saw, not a single person belonging to the active peace camp was called to the microphone.</div> <div> The courts, too, did their duty: the handful of settlers that were arrested for resisting violently were sent home after spending a day or two in jail. The courts, who never show any mercy when Arabs appear before them, treated the fanatical settlers like erring sons.</div> <div> The whole comedy would have been funny, if it did not concern a very serious problem. Such an "outpost" looks like a harmless cluster of mobile homes on top of a god-forsaken hill, but it is far from being innocuous. It is a symptom of a cancerous growth. Not for nothing did Ariel Sharon - the very same Sharon - call upon the settlers a few years ago to take control of all the hills of "Judea and Samaria".</div> <div> The disease develops like this: a group of rowdies occupies a hilltop, some miles from an established settlement, and puts a mobile home there. After some time, the "outpost" already consists of a number of mobile homes. A generator and a water-tower are brought in. Women with babies appear on the scene. A fence is set up. The army sends some units to defend them. They declare that for security reasons, Palestinians are not allowed to come near, in order to prevent them from spying and preparing an attack. The security zone becomes bigger and bigger. The inhabitants of the neighboring Palestinian villages cannot reach some of their orchards and fields any more. It someone tries, he is liable to be shot. Every settler has a weapon, and he has nothing to fear from the law if he uses it against a suspicious Arab. All Arabs are suspicious, of course.</div> <div> As it so happens, I have some experience with Mitzpe Yitzhak, the particular outpost that figured in this week's show. Some months ago we were called by the inhabitants of the Palestinian village Habala to help them pick their olives in a grove near this "outpost". When the pickers came near to the outpost, the settlers opened fire. An Israeli in our group was wounded when a bullet struck a rock at his feet.</div> <div> The "unauthorized" outposts were in fact established systematically, with the help of the army and according to it's planning. When several outposts take root in a region, the Palestinian villages are choked between them. Their life becomes hell. The settlers and officers clearly hope that in the end they will give up and clear out. </div> <div> Will Sharon really evacuate them by the dozens? That depends, of course, on his friend George W. If the "hudna" (truce) between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas is achieved, Bush may perhaps exert serious pressure on Sharon. When I visited Yasser Arafat yesterday, he seemed to be cautiously optimistic. But he, too, said that there are no more than four months left for getting things moving: starting from November, the American President will be busy getting himself reelected.</div> <div> This means that Sharon only has to produce a few more shows of this sort for television, and then he and the settlers will be able to breathe freely once again. </div> <div>  </div> <bR> <bR> <div> <A HREF="#_america_s_unique_opportunity" TITLE="Americas Unique Opportunity Documents"><U><B>Return to Documents List</B></U></A><B>               </B><A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Peace plan"><U><B>  Go to Peace Proposal</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><U>**********************************************.</U></B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>