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From
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/19_03_02/art34.htm
}}}>Begin
American Jews take stand against occupation of Arab land
�Jewish Voices� call on US to cut aid to Israel
Micheline Hazou
Special to The Daily Star
LONDON: A fast-growing group of Jewish peace activists has begun a new drive to
demand Israel�s complete withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East
Jerusalem, and that the United States cut its military and economic aid to Israel until
it does.
The campaign was launched with the publication in Sunday�s edition of The New
York Times of a paid advertisement under the title �Jewish Voices Against Israel�s
Occupation of Palestinian Territories,� and the organizers hope to raise sufficient
funds to publish a series of similar notices in US and Israelis newspapers.
Their basic message is that �there can be no peace or security for Israelis or
Palestinians until Israel completely evacuates its settlements in Palestinian
territories, ends its military occupation, and returns to its pre-1967 borders.�
To that end, the campaigners are calling, �as Jews,� on the Israeli government to
agree to the immediate establishment of an international peacekeeping force in the
Occupied Territories to protect Palestinian civilians from Israeli troops and settlers,
and to �cease building or expanding settlements as a first step toward their complete
evacuation.�
And as both �Jews and US taxpayers,� they are demanding that Washington
suspend its military aid to the Jewish state until it quits the Occupied Territories,
reduce economic aid by the amount that Israel spends on maintaining its settlements
there, and redirect the money thus saved toward rebuilding the devastated
Palestinian infrastructure.
�Jewish Voices� also urge the Israeli government to �acknowledge that it bears
significant historical responsibility for the dispossession of the Palestinian people,
and to work toward a just solution to the plight of the refugees.�
And they express distress at the loss of life caused by attacks committed by
Palestinians too, calling on the Palestinian Authority (PA) to �make every effort� to
curb violence against Israeli civilians.
�The occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem is killing
Palestinians and Israelis alike and destroying Israel from within,� the campaigners
state. �Israel�s security policies harm all the peoples of the Middle East and make
Israel less secure, not more.�
The �Jewish Voices� campaign was the brainchild of four Jewish residents of
California two Americans, an Israeli who fought in the 1967 war, and a French Jew
who survived the Nazi genocide who stress that they do not represent any particular
party or organization, despite having worked with Israeli peace and human rights
bodies, such as the conscientious objectors� group Yesh Gvul.
They gained the support of over 600 other Jews, mainly American, each of whom
contributed at least $36 to pay for the $42,000-plus New York Times advertisement,
which they also had to take out a $5,000 bank loan to cover.
The organizers have started a website (www.jvao.org), and are inviting more Jews
from Israel and around the world to lend their support to their demands and
contribute money to enable them to publicize the said demands more widely,
particularly in the US and Israel.
The campaign has already been endorsed by a number of Israeli groups, including
Gush Shalom, the organization New Profile: Movement for the Civilization of Jewish
Society, and the Israeli chapter of Physicians for Human Rights.
The advertisement published in The New York Times is a summary of a longer
statement, which stresses the illegality and immorality of the occupation, details the
massive human and material losses sustained by both the Palestinians and Israelis
since the outbreak of the intifada, and makes the case for a suspension of US
military aid and a reduction in economic assistance to Israel.
One appendix to the statement specifically sets out to refute the Israeli claim widely
accepted in the West and by no means only among pro-Israel Jews that then-Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak offered the PA �generous� terms for a final peace
settlement, prior to the outset of the intifada, which they proceeded to spurn.
The claim has been extensively used by Israel�s supporters to argue that it has no
�peace partner� and that the Palestinians must spawn new and more �moderate�
leaders if they are to reach an accommodation with Israel.
The �Jewish Voices� counter that �no Palestinian� could have accepted Barak�s
terms, and contrary to reports that he had �offered� the Palestinians some 90 percent
of the Occupied Territories, Barak was in practice proposing to annex over 25
percent of the land (which they point out comprises only 22 percent of pre-1948
Palestine) to Israel in the form of �settlement blocs� and a �security zone� along the
Jordan Valley.
Barak�s �generous offers� would have kept the Palestinians� border crossings, water
supplies and airspace under Israel�s control, and made for a non-viable Palestinian
state fragmented into three segments, while requiring Palestinian refugees to
renounce their right of return, they point out.
Barak�s proposals also failed to address the future of Jewish settlements and bypass
roads in Palestinian territory, or provide details about the envisaged future status of
Jerusalem�s Arab neighborhoods and suburbs.
The proposals subsequently discussed at the Taba talks in January 2001 were
�possibly more acceptable to the Palestinians,� according to the campaigners, �but
political developments in Israel made it impossible to pursue negotiations further.�
End<{{{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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