-Caveat Lector- EDWARD SAID, OBSERVER, LONDON: http://www.observer.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,535674,00.html In the United States, where Israel has its main political base and from which it has received more than $92 billion in aid since 1967, the terrible human cost of Jerusalem restaurant bombing settles quickly into a familiar explanatory framework. Arafat hasn't done enough to control his terrorists; suicidal Islamic extremists are to be found everywhere, driven by sheer human hatred; Israel must defend its security . . . In America Israel has pretty much won the propaganda war, and America is where it is about to put several more million dollars into a public relations campaign (using such stars as Zubin Mehta, Yitzhak Pearlman and Amos Oz) to further improve its image. But consider what Israel's unrelenting war against the undefended, basically unarmed, stateless and poorly led Palestinian people has already achieved. The disparity in power is so vast that it makes you cry. Equipped with the latest in American-built air power, helicopter gun hips, uncountable tanks and missiles, and a superb navy as well as a state of the art intelligence service, Israel is a nuclear power abusing a people without any armor or artillery, no air force - its one pathetic airfield in Gaza is controlled by Israel - or navy or army air defenses, none of the institutions of a modern state. The appallingly, unbroken history of Israel's 34-year-old military occupation (the second longest in modern history) of illegally conquered Palestinian land has been obliterated from public memory, as has been the destruction of Palestinian society in 1948 and the expulsion of 68 per cent of i ts native people, of whom 4.5 million remain refugees today. Behind the reams of newspeak, the stark outlines of Israel's decades-long daily pressure on a people whose main sin is that they happened to be there, in Israel's way, is staggeringly perceptible in its inhuman sadism. The cruel confinement of 1.3 million people jammed into the Gaza strip, plus the plight of the nearly two million Palestinian residents of the West Bank have no parallels in the annals of apartheid or colonialism. F-16 warplanes never bombed South African homelands. They are used against Palestinian towns and villages . . . Since the latest intifada began late last September, 609 Palestinians have been killed - four times the number of Israelis - and 15,000 wounded, a dozen times more than on the other side. Regular Israeli army assassinations have picked off alleged terrorists at will, mostly killing innocent people like so many flies. Last week 14 Palestinians were murdered openly by Israeli forces, and thus 'prevented' from killing Israelis, although at least two children and five innocents were also murdered. Nameless and faceless, Israel's daily Palestinian victims barely rate a mention on America's news. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
