At 19:03 06/01/02 -0500, you wrote: > > I admire David Grossman's courage to speak his truth in the midst of such >hatred and fear. > > Brian McAndrews
Yes, indeed -- and also, presumably, the editor of the Ha`aretz newspaper in Tel Aviv (if I've interpreted the heading below correctly). It's a small crumb of comfort that such a courageous newspaper is still allowed to publish in Israel. As I see it, the only minimum solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is for radical realignment of boundaries and resettlement of both populations into separate geographical areas. Unless Bush, Putin and Blair bear down hard on Sharon in the fairly near future then I fear that another sort of "re-settlement" will be inevitable, involving the deaths of many Palestinians, perhaps hundreds of thousands because of Israeli military superiority. This would be an even worse tragedy than what is going on now. Any lack of initiative by these three so-called world statesmen will almost certainly mean that America, Russia and England will never be free of terrorist reprisals for a long time to come. (On BBC Radio this morning, it was reported that a Mr Hassam Butt, an Anglo-Arab, a drop-out from Wolverhampton University, but speaking from Lahore, has been saying that there are at least 200-300 Muslims in England who were ready to start terrorist attacks here, and that the authorities had no idea of the extent of their organisation [not Al Queda, but something similar]. This statement has been condemned by many eminent Muslims in England, and possibly a great deal of Butt's threat is bluff, but we know from our experience with terrorism in Northern Ireland that unless gross injustice is remedied then repercussions can live on for generations -- several thousand deaths in the last 30 years in the case of Northern Ireland.) Keith Hudson >>>> Published on Sunday, January 6, 2002 in the Tel Aviv, Israel Ha`aretz Palestinian Arms Ship What Had to Be Proved by David Grossman The seizure of the Palestinian arms ship brings great relief because the terrible weaponry will not be aimed at Israelis, as well as a sense of gratitude toward the soldiers who participated in the mission. However, in the voices of spokesmen for the Israel Defense Forces, the government and the media there was also an unconcealed note of joy that at long last "final proof" has been found of the Palestinians criminal, terrible intentions. Ostensibly, it has become clear beyond a shadow of doubt that "the Palestinian Authority is infested with terror from head to toe," as Chief of Staff Shaul Mofaz said at the press conference that seemed to be an attempt to bring back for a moment the glory of the heroic 1950s, if not of Entebbe itself. But what proof has been obtained here? Proof that if you oppress a people for 35 years, and humiliate its leaders, and harass its population, and do not give them a glimmer of hope, the members of this people will try to assert themselves in any way possible? And would any of us behave differently from the Palestinians in such a situation? And did we behave any differently when for years we were under occupation and tyranny? Avshalom Feinberg and Yosef Lishansky set out for Cairo to bring money from there to the Nili underground so that the Jewish community in Palestine could assert itself against the Turks. The fighters of the Haganah, the Lehi and the Etzel underground movements collected and hid as many weapons as they could, and their splendid sliks (arms caches) are to this day a symbol of the fight for survival and the longing for liberty, as were the daring weapons acquisition missions during the British Mandate (which were defined by the British as acts of terror). When "we" did these things, they were not terrorist in nature. They were legitimate actions of a people fighting for its life and liberty. When the Palestinians do them, they become "proof" of everything we have been so keen to prove for years now. It was embarrassing and irksome to hear the chief of staff scolding the Palestinians for "wasting their money on acquiring arms instead of seeing to their poor and hungry populace" - the words of a man whose soldiers - who follow the government's instructions - harass Palestinians morning, noon and night, impoverish them and starve them. No less embarrassing was the journalistic reporting of the seizure of the ship. The correspondents, excited by the heroism of our soldiers, unanimously adopted the self-righteous declarations of the chief of staff and the prime minister about the Palestinians and their murderousness and the terrorism that burns in their breasts like a second nature, almost. Now come the days of celebration and rejoicing because "we told you so": We told you that the Palestinians do not keep agreements (while we of course stick to every agreement); we told you that they will do everything possible to acquire attack weapons (while we aim narcissus stems at the windows of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's window in Ramallah); we told you that there is no one to talk to and therefore we should keep tightening the noose around their necks (and in this way undoubtedly we will bring about a profound change in the "Palestinian character," so that they will agree to accept all our conditions); we told you that Arafat is in fact bin Laden (and we are disciples of the Dalai Lama). In the attempt to smuggle in the arms by ship, the Palestinians seriously violated the agreements with them and the IDF must, of course, do all it can to prevent such escalation. Nevertheless, how can an entire people's sense of judgement be so dulled? How can we repeatedly ignore the big picture and the sharp sense that Israel, in its actions and in its failures to act, and especially in the malevolent behavior of its prime minister, keeps pushing the Palestinians to such actions so that time after time they will provide us with that "incontrovertible proof," in which there is in fact no real benefit to our interests? These are disgusting days. Days of total befuddlement of the senses. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will wring every possible drop of propaganda out of this ship. The media, for the most part, will run panting after him. The Israeli street, too exhausted and apathetic to think, will adopt any definite conclusion that will solve for it the internal and moral contradiction in which it lives and reinforce its sense of righteousness, which has been undermined at its base. Who has the strength these days to remember the beginning, the root of the matter, the circumstances, the fact that what we have here is occupation and oppression, reaction and counter-reaction, a vicious circle and a bloody circle, two peoples that are becoming corrupt, violent and crazy with despair, a death trap in which we are suffocating more with every passing day? � Copyright 2002 Ha`aretz ### Share This Article With Your Friends FAIR USE NOTICE This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. Common Dreams NewsCenter A non-profit news service providing breaking news & views for the progressive community. >>>> __________________________________________________________ �Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in order to discover if they have something to say.� John D. Barrow _________________________________________________ Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________
