Comrades,
The following article is a Palestinian view of the September event in the
US, which is taken from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PFLP) web-site.
Javad
>From Sabra/Shatilla to New York/Washington
Dr. Majed Nassar
18 September 2001
It is not the truth that hurts.
It is the sudden realization of it.
Yesterday marked the 19th anniversary of the massacre of Sabra and Shatila.
On the 16th of September 1982, the Israeli army entered Beirut after 80 days
of war in Lebanon. The Palestinian resistance forces left Lebanon and for a
few days, the Israeli army took control of Beirut. Two completely unarmed
Palestinian refugee camps to the south of Beirut, Sabra and Shatila, were
under siege. The allies of the Israelis, the Christian Phalange Militia,
entered the camps and slaughtered between two and three thousand Palestinian
men, women, and children. The massacre lasted for 40 hours. The Israeli
army knew what was going on and provided the Phalange with the needed light
at night and with the needed bulldozers when it was over. The Israeli army
knew what was gong on inside the camps and did nothing to stop it. The
Israeli Minister of Defense and the commander of the Israeli army at that
time was the present Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon. He was found by
the Israeli investigation committee indirectly responsible for the massacre
and was forced to resign from his post. Not one of the perpetrators or
those who gave them safe haven ever was brought to justice. This year,
survivors of the massacre raised a court case against Ariel Sharon in
Belgium. There is enough material in film, pictures, and testimony to bring
Ariel Sharon to justice. Ariel Sharon is more than a prime suspect of a war
crime. He is the publicly-acknowledged perpetrator and he has not only a
safe haven but also a protector and mentor.
New York and Washington D.C: 11 September 2001
Four airplanes were hijacked and, in a suicide attack, the four airplanes
hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and Pennsylvania leaving more
than 5,000 people dead and many other thousands injured. Almost all
countries of the world and almost all non-governmental organizations have
denounced this insane and inhumane attack. The perpetrators (Osama bin
Laden is only a prime suspect) as well as their safe haven remain a mystery.
(Afghanistan can hardly be the haven to provide all the technical details
necessary to execute such a plan.) The United States' administration,
however, is determined to wage war so that such a barbaric act is not
repeated. Its enemy in this war is not only the persons who planned and
helped execute the vicious acts, but also an entire country, an entire
nation, and an entire religion.
The West Bank and Gaza: 16 September 2001
For the past several days, the fighting has been intensified all over the
occupied territories. Israel has been exploiting the preoccupation of the
world with the sad incidents of New York and Washington in an attempt to
crush the Palestinian resistance movement and the Palestinian population
using the "thief in the dark" methodology. The occupation army has invaded
several cities and bombarded and destroyed whatever was in its way. Since
the beginning of the Intifada, over 600 Palestinians have been killed and
over 16,500 injured. In the last 4 days alone, 34 Palestinians were killed.
The Palestinian economy and infrastructure are almost completely destroyed.
Between 11 and 17 September 2001
The shocking pictures of the blasts are beyond imagination. They are
repeated over and over again on TV screens throughout the world. The US is
working hard to form a coalition to fight against the perpetrators. The US
has experienced a tremendously painful blow on its own soil, and the
American people are experiencing the profound effects of immense suffering
inflicted upon an entire population. The president of the United States,
his advisors, the media (and Israel) have begun beating the drums of war.
But against whom? Is it against Osama bin Laden or his "safe haven"? Or is
it against Islam, the Arabs, and all those who are not white, anglo-saxon,
Christian, or Jewish?
The US President's use of rhetoric reminiscent of the "wild West" (Osama bin
Laden: Wanted: Dead or Alive!), is not supportive of efforts to counter
terrorism. Using words like "crusade" in this context is not only
distasteful, but wrong. In addition it shows neither knowledge nor
understanding of history. It could probably be assumed that Mr. Bush does
not want to go down in history as the man who started a religious war in the
21st century. The killing of two US citizens (one, a Sikh from Texas) and
the forty other assaults on US citizens belonging to various ethnic groups,
is the direct result of the "crusade" that Mr. Bush and the (Zionist) media
supporters have already begun. A US congressman demanded publicly not to
bring the perpetrators to justice, but to wage war!
The United States' administration bears sole responsibility for all the
atrocities that have been and will be committed by some small-minded, white,
anglo-saxon, Protestants or Catholics (admittedly not representative of the
American people or of the American dream) against their fellow citizens.
President Bush's visit to a Mosque (the first ever to be made by an American
president) came a little too late.
This is not only about the "war of democracy versus terror" that the world
will be asked to believe and support in the coming days. It is also about
American missiles smashing into Palestinian homes, US helicopters firing
missiles into a Lebanese ambulance in 1996, American shells crashing into a
village called Qana, and a Lebanese militia, paid and uniformed by America's
ally, hacking and raping and murdering their way through refugee camps, and
much more. (Robert Fisk, 13 September 2001).
It is about US support of almost every dictator and despicable regime in the
Third World, which produces not only one Osama bin Laden, but hundreds more
like him every day. One should not forget that Osama bin Laden is a citizen
of Saudi Arabia, a protectorate and a lackey of the United States. Osama
bin Laden was trained and financed by the CIA during the Mujahedin era
against the former Soviet Union. There are numerous examples of the
"monster" created by its master, turning against him in the end..
It is about the United States' unconditional and blind support for Israel,
the last country in the world enforcing a military occupation on an entire
people. No other country in the world can commit atrocities and human
rights violations (as Israel does) without "feeling the wrath of the United
States."
It is about the double standards and the attempts to equate the struggle of
the peoples of the world for self-determination with terrorism. The United
States calls it occupation in the case of Kuwait and wages war against the
occupier, but calls it terrorism when the Palestinians mount a resistance
movement against their occupier.
It is about the double standard used against the poor: when people die in
poor countries, it is considered statistical issue; when people die in rich
countries, it is a humanitarian issue. The 2,000 victims of Sabra and
Shatila would amount to two hundred thousand people, in proportion to the
population of the United States. Where were the righteous defenders of
victims then? Who stood up to demand punishment for the perpetrators and
their protectors? Who asked for justice for the victims?
It is about the way Israel and the Zionist lobby are abusing the tragic
incidents to advise the US president that this is a war between religions
and between "civilizations," because of Israel's own agenda. A person like
Netanyahu declared shamelessly that the tragic incidents were "good for
Israel." A "civilized" country like Israel accepts that their
representatives publicly call the Palestinians two-legged worms,
cockroaches, snakes etc., and no one in the civilized world bothers to raise
a "civilized" protest.
During an interview (BBC, Hard Talk, 18 September 2001), Steve Simon, the
former advisor for the US National Security Council, pushed, insisted, and
repeated several times that this is a war between religions.
18 September 2001
In the meantime, an immense amount of pressure has been put on the Israelis
and the Palestinians to agree to a cease-fire. When speaking to the
Palestinian public, President Arafat declared that the cease-fire should be
kept even if the Palestinians were shot at by the Israelis. For Israel, the
cease-fire means that Israel stopped its invasion into the Palestinian
autonomous areas and retreated its soldiers from Jenin and Jericho. All
Palestinian cities and villages, however, are still subject to a brutal
military siege and innumerable blockades. Most probably, the cease-fire
will last only for a short time, not because of "Palestinian terror," but
because of the continuing barbaric Israeli military occupation.
Let there be no mistake. This is neither a justification, nor an attempt to
express any sympathy for the perpetrators of the attacks on New York and
Washington. They are most despicable, indeed. The Palestinian people, as
well as the Palestinian Authority and diverse political parties and
non-governmental organizations immediately denounced and condemned the
attacks. The Palestinians differentiate between their opposition to US
administration policies and their sympathy for US citizens. Neither the
Americans nor the Palestinians should condone the demonization and
dehumanization of the Palestinian people.
In the coming days, we will be witness to evidence of a disastrous
intelligence failure on the part of the US administration. We will hear
more voices nonsensically expressing support for the multi-billion dollar
Star Wars Project.
In the coming days, we will hear more clearly the genuine voice of those
Americans who are standing in solidarity with all US citizens from varying
ethnic origin, instead of the Zionist-driven mania that has added so much
grief and sorrow to a lot of American families. Unfortunately, the same
traumatized US citizens themselves will have to save their own country from
being morally lost if this war is waged as some people would like.
In the coming days, we will be witness to the immense pressure exerted by
the US on the United Nations' Security Council in order to extract
legitimacy for the coming strike that was designed and planned from the
first moment.
In the coming days, ethnic conflicts in different countries of the Third
World will explode, especially in those countries that are considered allies
of the United States. Ethnic conflicts in the United States itself have
already begun.
In the coming days, we hope that we will not witness what Mark Twain
described in The Mysterious Stranger - A Romance (chapter 9):
"And now the whole nation -- pulpit and all -- will take up the war cry and
shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth;
and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will
invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and
every man will be glad of those conscience- soothing falsities, and will
diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and
thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank
God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque
self-deception".
It is not the truth that hurts. It is the sudden realization of it.
C 2001 All rights reserved
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