Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Israel. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
UNITED STATES DISQUALIFIED!
If you or I were in a conflict with another party, would we trust a third party with any role in helping us resolve that conflict, if we knew that the third party had given more than two decades of unconditional support to the party that was our adversary? The United States has for several decades provided unconditional support to Israel. In the United Nations the U.S. abstains, votes against or vetoes any statements or resolutions that are critical of the Israeli government. The United States provides financial and military aid to Israel with no strings attached. Operation Cast Lead resulted in the deaths of hundreds of women and children and many institutional structures were reduced to rubble. The American government has done nothing to investigate whether Israel’s use of gifted armaments in Operation Cast Lead violated U.S. laws. The United States gave tacit approval to the Israeli invasions of Lebanon in the summer of 2006 and in Gaza in the winter of 2008-9. Yet, the United States has imposed many conditions on support provided to Palestinians. When less than a majority of Palestinians elected Hamas (about 44% according to The Economist), the U.S. government withheld financial assistance to this donor dependent Palestinian community.
Aaron David Miller in his book, The Much Too Promised Land, characterized the role of the U.S. as “Israel’s lawyer.” The United States government has done little or nothing to stop “facts on the ground” that now make a two-state solution very difficult if not impossible. For more than a decade, the Israeli government has increased its matrix of control over the daily lives of all Palestinians even grade school children and others who are in no way security threats to Israel.
Championing the U.S. in a major role with the Israelis and Palestinians is fundamentally flawed. Only if the United States stops unconditionally supporting Israel can we qualify for a legitimate third party role. Free and open discussion is likely to convince most Americans that unconditional support of Israel is neither in the best interests of the United States nor in the best interests of Israel. However, Israeli/Palestinian issues are rarely discussed freely and openly by academics, religious leaders and especially not by politicians. Quick, vicious attacks from the Israel Lobby (this includes not only AIPAC and other Jewish organizations, but also secular Zionists and a significantly larger group of evangelical Christians) discredit and marginalize speakers whose comments are against the unconditional support of Israel. As a result many opinion leaders censor themselves in public settings even though in private settings they may express very different views. Let us hope that the climate for free and open discussion continues to improve so that the United States can qualify for a legitimate third party role with the Israelis and the Palestinians.
The Israeli/Palestinian Conundrums
The Israeli/Palestinian situation is “an intricate and difficult problem” in which the interests of one peoples are inextricably linked to the interests of another peoples. On a recent visit to Jerusalem, Bishop Wayne Miller reported on NPR http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/content.aspx?audioID=31386 some comments from a member of the Parents Circle – Families Forum. Those comments captured this inextricable linkage of peoples and were paraphrased into the following conundrums:
Israeli security requires Palestinian freedom. Palestinian freedom requires Israeli security. Palestinians must share the land with Israelis. Israelis must share the land with Palestinians.
A United States foreign policy based on these conundrums will be guided by President Obama’s ideal of both/and not either/or. Gaza will continue to smolder with violence and suffering and Israelis near Gaza will live in fear until these conundrums are taken seriously. Smuggling weapons and materials for creating weapons through the tunnels on the south end of Gaza must be stopped. The United States foreign policy supports Israeli security on this issue. How does United States foreign policy deal with Palestinian freedom?
CNN has shown that some tunnels are used to smuggle weapons and materials for building weapons but other tunnels support merchants who sell basic necessities. These tunnels and these merchants exist because Israeli authorities deny adequate supplies to enter Gaza. Since the summer of 2007, UNWRA [http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2245142,00.html#article_continue] has forcefully asserted that the Israeli authorities deny entry of the amount of basic supplies required to maintain the health and welfare of the Gazan population especially the normal development of children. The Israeli control of land, sea and air surrounding Gaza have led some to characterize Gaza as the world’s largest open-air prison. Gazans are unable to live productive lives with the Israeli restrictions on exports and imports. The reconstruction of many buildings that the Israeli military reduced to rubble during Operation Cast Lead will require a huge increase in the amount of supplies and services entering Gaza. The United States has done nothing to support Palestinian freedom by breaking the Israeli control of imports and exports.
In the summer of 2008, American media [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/02/world/middleeast/02fulbright.html] carried stories of seven Gaza students whose Fulbright scholarships were not finalized. U.S. Secretary of State Rice intervened and demanded that these students be permitted to leave Gaza to study in the United States. In the face of mounting criticism Israeli authorities reversed their decision and permitted these seven students to exit Gaza. In addition to these seven, there were many more students who were held in Gaza and denied the opportunity to study in the West Bank and abroad. B’Tselem reported that the exact number was unknown but one human rights group estimated the number to be in the hundreds [http://www.btselem.org/English/Gaza_Strip/20080724_Gaza_Students.asp]. The United States acted to support Palestinian freedom.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal article [http://sec.online.wsj.com/article/SB123186758734177759.html], there are about 15,000 to 20,000 Hamas fighters in Gaza. Yet, all 1.5 million Palestinians who reside in Gaza are held accountable and punished for the actions of a few. Violent acts by Palestinians that create Israeli insecurity must be condemned and stopped. U.S. foreign policy must be structured to help Israel find ways to suppress these acts of the few without violating the freedom rights of the many.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
As Americans We Have Blood On Our Hands!
*
The Moebius Strip image was inspired by the January 5, 2009 Daily Show by Jon Stewart. http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=213378
This one-sided surface was immortalized in an Escher poster available from: http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/A29.html
When hundreds of people are killed thousands of miles from our borders, it is difficult for us to feel any responsibility for what happens. Yet, when gifted American F-16s and American sophisticated bombs are used to kill people, it is difficult to see ourselves as innocent bystanders. As American citizens we have swallowed the Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s message hook, line and sinker.
Throughout American, we hear most citizens regurgitating the Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s message that says if Mexico was lobbing rockets into the United States or if Canada was lobbing rockets into the United States, we would respond with less restraint than the Israeli government has shown in Gaza. Once one adopts this framing of the issue, then we readily accept killing women and children as unfortunate collateral damage. But wait a minute, suppose we refuse to accept this Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s message. Suppose we ask a few questions and examine a few inconvenient facts about Gaza.
Gaza is not a sovereign state like Canada or Mexico. According to Wikipedia almost 1.0 million of the 1.4 million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip are UN-registered refugees. So where did these refugees come from? Who are these refugees? These refugees are the Palestinians and their descendants who “fled their homes” in 1947 and 1948 when Israel was founded. If you want to know more about why these Palestinians “fled their homes”, you should read the works of the Israeli historian Benny Morris.
The Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd talks about the fact that Sharon unilaterally removed over 8,000 Israeli settlers (half by force and half left voluntarily) and stopped the military occupation of Gaza. This crowd likes to gloat about their facts that the Palestinians have made a mess of things since the Palestinian Authority took full control of the Gaza Strip in September of 2005. What this crowd almost never talks about is the fact that the Israeli military constructed a separation barrier around the Gaza strip so that the inhabitants of Gaza were living in an open air prison. The Israeli military controls the entry and exit of all people and goods.
I have some question about whether Mayor Daley could effectively run the city if a separation barrier was constructed at the Chicago borders and an external, military government controlled all that entered and exited through that barrier. It is likely that the residents of Chicago might have some resentment toward the government of that external military force that unilaterally controlled the flow of goods and people. It is reasonable to assume that some of those residents might be downright mad as hell if many of them or their parents or their grandparents or their great grand parents had lived outside that separation barrier before they “fled their homes” over six decades before.
The United States pressed for Palestinians elections in the West Bank and Gaza. In January of 2006, Hamas won a plurality of 42.9% of the total vote and 56% of the total seats. However, President Bush and the Israeli government did not like the decision made by the Palestinian voters. Hamas refused to recognize Israel and they refused to give up the idea of using crude rockets and suicide bombers to kill, maim and terrorize Israeli civilians. To express their displeasure, the U.S. government provided leadership to the rest of the world to punish the government of Hamas by withdrawing financial support from the Palestinian Authority and refusing to negotiate with terrorists. The theory was that by punishing all the people of Gaza they would get angry at Hamas and somehow remove that party that was elected in a free and fair election. The post Christmas 2008 Israeli invasion was the final culmination of this idea. Since Hamas would not shape up, we will kill them off and yes there will be collateral damage of bleeding and dead women and children but that will make the people mad at Hamas because it is Hamas that caused this Israeli military action and the entire government resisted taking this military action until they had to defend themselves. Does this idea make sense to most Americans?
It is also worth pointing out that the Israeli military has prohibited reporters to cover their carnage in the Gaza Strip. Even though the High Court of Israel rendered a decision that reporters should be permitted in Gaza, none were. A country where the decisions of the High Court are ignored by the military does not strike me as a country that we want to support unconditionally.
So the news at 7:40 AM Chicago time says that the French and the Egyptians have negotiated a cease fire for three hours and that humanitarian aid will be permitted to go into the Gaza Strip. Evidently even though the United States and the Israeli government will not negotiate with Hamas, third parties are permitted to do so. It makes me wonder whether it might have been possible for this agreement to have been negotiated without killing several hundred Palestinians and ravaging the structures and infrastructures in Gaza.
Unconditional support and blind acceptance of ideas that seem questionable when examined from a perspective different from the Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s message result in blood on our hands as American citizens. We have not lost millions like the people who directly or indirectly invested with Bernie Madoff (who also was unconditionally supported when questions were raised) but as a country and a people our failure to challenge our government’s unconditional support of Israel has lessened our moral authority in the world and has led to the slaughter of people who had nothing to do with rockets or suicide bombs. The destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza will require millions of dollars to restore.
I seriously doubt that the Palestinians who lost mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends, schools and homes have negative feelings toward Hamas. Their negative feelings are directed toward the Israelis who pulled the trigger and the Americans who provided the weapons and planes that wrought destruction on a people that were declared a “humanitarian disaster” as early as January of 2008 by the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Does it make sense that Congressman Dennis Kucinich is the only American politician who believes that Israel should be held accountable for complying with the U.S. Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Control Acts? Does it make sense that our government blocked the passage of a UN Security Council statement on Sunday urging a ceasefire? When will we the people stop accepting hook, line and sinker the Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s messages? When will we the people start demanding that we have a public debate about the kind of support that we ought to provide to Israel? I hope it is sooner rather than later so that our children and grand children do not have to live with the consequences of our silence.
The Moebius Strip image was inspired by the January 5, 2009 Daily Show by Jon Stewart. http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/index.jhtml?episodeId=213378
This one-sided surface was immortalized in an Escher poster available from: http://www.worldofescher.com/gallery/A29.html
When hundreds of people are killed thousands of miles from our borders, it is difficult for us to feel any responsibility for what happens. Yet, when gifted American F-16s and American sophisticated bombs are used to kill people, it is difficult to see ourselves as innocent bystanders. As American citizens we have swallowed the Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s message hook, line and sinker.
Throughout American, we hear most citizens regurgitating the Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s message that says if Mexico was lobbing rockets into the United States or if Canada was lobbing rockets into the United States, we would respond with less restraint than the Israeli government has shown in Gaza. Once one adopts this framing of the issue, then we readily accept killing women and children as unfortunate collateral damage. But wait a minute, suppose we refuse to accept this Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s message. Suppose we ask a few questions and examine a few inconvenient facts about Gaza.
Gaza is not a sovereign state like Canada or Mexico. According to Wikipedia almost 1.0 million of the 1.4 million Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip are UN-registered refugees. So where did these refugees come from? Who are these refugees? These refugees are the Palestinians and their descendants who “fled their homes” in 1947 and 1948 when Israel was founded. If you want to know more about why these Palestinians “fled their homes”, you should read the works of the Israeli historian Benny Morris.
The Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd talks about the fact that Sharon unilaterally removed over 8,000 Israeli settlers (half by force and half left voluntarily) and stopped the military occupation of Gaza. This crowd likes to gloat about their facts that the Palestinians have made a mess of things since the Palestinian Authority took full control of the Gaza Strip in September of 2005. What this crowd almost never talks about is the fact that the Israeli military constructed a separation barrier around the Gaza strip so that the inhabitants of Gaza were living in an open air prison. The Israeli military controls the entry and exit of all people and goods.
I have some question about whether Mayor Daley could effectively run the city if a separation barrier was constructed at the Chicago borders and an external, military government controlled all that entered and exited through that barrier. It is likely that the residents of Chicago might have some resentment toward the government of that external military force that unilaterally controlled the flow of goods and people. It is reasonable to assume that some of those residents might be downright mad as hell if many of them or their parents or their grandparents or their great grand parents had lived outside that separation barrier before they “fled their homes” over six decades before.
The United States pressed for Palestinians elections in the West Bank and Gaza. In January of 2006, Hamas won a plurality of 42.9% of the total vote and 56% of the total seats. However, President Bush and the Israeli government did not like the decision made by the Palestinian voters. Hamas refused to recognize Israel and they refused to give up the idea of using crude rockets and suicide bombers to kill, maim and terrorize Israeli civilians. To express their displeasure, the U.S. government provided leadership to the rest of the world to punish the government of Hamas by withdrawing financial support from the Palestinian Authority and refusing to negotiate with terrorists. The theory was that by punishing all the people of Gaza they would get angry at Hamas and somehow remove that party that was elected in a free and fair election. The post Christmas 2008 Israeli invasion was the final culmination of this idea. Since Hamas would not shape up, we will kill them off and yes there will be collateral damage of bleeding and dead women and children but that will make the people mad at Hamas because it is Hamas that caused this Israeli military action and the entire government resisted taking this military action until they had to defend themselves. Does this idea make sense to most Americans?
It is also worth pointing out that the Israeli military has prohibited reporters to cover their carnage in the Gaza Strip. Even though the High Court of Israel rendered a decision that reporters should be permitted in Gaza, none were. A country where the decisions of the High Court are ignored by the military does not strike me as a country that we want to support unconditionally.
So the news at 7:40 AM Chicago time says that the French and the Egyptians have negotiated a cease fire for three hours and that humanitarian aid will be permitted to go into the Gaza Strip. Evidently even though the United States and the Israeli government will not negotiate with Hamas, third parties are permitted to do so. It makes me wonder whether it might have been possible for this agreement to have been negotiated without killing several hundred Palestinians and ravaging the structures and infrastructures in Gaza.
Unconditional support and blind acceptance of ideas that seem questionable when examined from a perspective different from the Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s message result in blood on our hands as American citizens. We have not lost millions like the people who directly or indirectly invested with Bernie Madoff (who also was unconditionally supported when questions were raised) but as a country and a people our failure to challenge our government’s unconditional support of Israel has lessened our moral authority in the world and has led to the slaughter of people who had nothing to do with rockets or suicide bombs. The destruction of buildings and infrastructure in Gaza will require millions of dollars to restore.
I seriously doubt that the Palestinians who lost mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, friends, schools and homes have negative feelings toward Hamas. Their negative feelings are directed toward the Israelis who pulled the trigger and the Americans who provided the weapons and planes that wrought destruction on a people that were declared a “humanitarian disaster” as early as January of 2008 by the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.
Does it make sense that Congressman Dennis Kucinich is the only American politician who believes that Israel should be held accountable for complying with the U.S. Foreign Assistance and Arms Export Control Acts? Does it make sense that our government blocked the passage of a UN Security Council statement on Sunday urging a ceasefire? When will we the people stop accepting hook, line and sinker the Israeli Möbius Strip Crowd’s messages? When will we the people start demanding that we have a public debate about the kind of support that we ought to provide to Israel? I hope it is sooner rather than later so that our children and grand children do not have to live with the consequences of our silence.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
