June 27, 2007
Last Wednesday (June 20) was International Refugee day and the Hartford public library had a day of events. We had a Palestine table there and networked with many of the nearly 100 attendees. What most people did not know is that the largest two refugee populations in the world today are Palestinians (about 6 million) and Iraqis (about 3 million), both created and perpetuated thanks to US government foreign policy that is tailored to serve special interests. A book on display by the previous UN high Commissioner For Refugees based on her 10 years at the UN (1990-2000) mentions Palestine only on page 345 and only to say that political considerations made it difficult to deal with other refugees including Palestinians.
Today, Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) was on PBS radio and I called in to ask: "considering that Israel is in violation of over 65 UN Security Council Resolutions, rulings of the International Court of Justice, and of countless human rights conventions. Considering that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and every credible human rights organization showed that Israel routinely violates Palestinian human rights. Considering all of this can you explain why we send Israel billion of our taxes for military aid? Bush is proposing increasing this aid; will you vote for this military that is needed here for domestic programs? And how is this relate to our war on Iraq and upcoming attack on Iran?" Her irritated answer was very brief and dismissive basically boiling down to "I will vote for the legislation". She and others in Congress and in the executive branch can do this because they do not get enough pressure from their employers: the American people. Thus, they cannot resist the special interest lobbies in DC and hope these issues will not be discussed.
Yesterday, I had a radio interview on Free Range Radio that expanded on some of the issues of special interest lobbies [1]. The aid package Bush will push for Israel will be very large and over 10-year period. Israel (0.1% of the world population) already gets more foreign aid than all of the rest of Asia (nearly 50% of the world population). USA Today reports that the US government records loss last year $1.3 trillion! (In part thanks to endless wars pushed by the Israel first fifth column in America)[2]
Considering that US supported Israeli apartheid is at the core of the crisis in Western Asia [3], it is remarkable to what level the US mainstream media chooses to focus on side issues and ignore the elephant in the room. That leaves it up to us citizens to shoulder our responsibility in this historic junction in world affairs. It would seem to me that we have to make a lot more noise so that politicians and the gatekeepers in large corporate media cannot ignore the interests of the US public. I urge all to make sure these elected officials and gatekeepers know where you stand. Letters faxed to their offices and phone calls do make a difference. It even perks their ears when their names are mentioned in op-eds and letters to the editor and in chat rooms, list serves and other mass communications.Many activists are doing just that and I always try to share examples. A new initiative is to break the siege on Gaza by ordinary citizen action [4]. On my website, I listed many individuals who do (or if deceased did) great actions that made a difference [5].
In responding to situations, it is important of course to first understand what is going on. Hence I shared with you last week an analysis of the Gaza situation. Based on questions received and discussions held, I wanted to add a few more comments here. The PLO was instituted to be the sole, legitimate representative of the Palestinian people [6]. However, the Oslo process demolished that prospect because at the time, Arafat (thanks to then advisors like Mahmoud Abbas) engaged in secret negotiations with Israel in Oslo that resulted in an agreement that violated the tenets of the charter by recognizing Israel (but without specifying what is Israel or insisting first on recognition of the right of Palestinian refugees to return; hence some thought it is a recognition of the legitimacy of the theft of Palestinian lands). Before that, the 1988 declaration (accepting UN partition resolution 181) also violated the charter without proper amendment of the charter. The subsequent meeting in Gaza of a part of the Palestinian National Council to approve charter modifications is at best debatable in legitimacy. But while these points maybe debated, it is clear that today there is a whole new scenario/situation. No one argues that the existing PLO structure frozen for two decades represent the will of the Palestinian people. Hamas also does not. Various factions including Fatah and Hamas agreed to reconstitute the PLO in the Cairo and Mecca accords. Hamas is also calling for dialogue with the West and with other factions on a range of issues [7]. Instead, the US and Israel are moving ahead as if they can create a quisling government. But the US failed to get the UN Security Council to support its moves.
Reconstituting the PLO is an admirable goal but if faces tremendous (some would argue insurmountable) challenges. Just to cite one example, it would be virtually impossible today for the nearly 3 million Palestinians in Jordan to have representation in a Palestinian body (Jordanian authorities who are under US tutelage would not allow it). The same for the 1.5 million Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship. Israel simply would not allow them to have representation in the PLO or any other similar body. So how do we move forward? The Late Prof. Edward Said articles on these issues remain relevant [8]. It would be nice to hear new ideas and not just from Palestinians. I wrote a book in 2004 proposing we all shift gears to work on a one state solution collectively as human beings [9]. After that book was published, there was the call from Palestinian civil society that urged boycotts, divestments, and sanctions to use to implement human rights including the right of return, self determination and freedom from occupation and colonization [10]. Perhaps one way to respond to the shifting political landscape is to insist on refugees being allowed to return FOLLOWED by self-determination. This would avoid the problem of who represents Palestinians at this stage of the struggle.
As I predicted last week, Israel took advantage of the media distractions to begin to demolish native villages in the Negev [11]. It is important to point out that Israel's program of ethnic cleansing continued unabated not only in the West Bank but in the Negev and Galilee (the remaining Palestinians there are supposedly "equal citizens" in an "Israeli democracy"). In the past week, there have been countless commentaries on the violence that happened in Gaza. As Dr. Mona Al-Farra from Gaza wrote recently "out of this ugly period, we must promote a new vision of equality for all people living on this land, regardless of race or religion"[12]. It is incumbent on all of us who still believe in a future of hope to intensify our efforts at this time of increased budget deficits in the US, endless wars for special interests, declining stature of the US around the world, and general disregard for International law and basic principles of human rights. This means we must speak more truth (and not only to power but to all) and that we all put aside all other consideration to WORK collectively for justice (the only route to peace).
Oh, and the smallest of persistent mice do scare elephants :-)
Footnotes
1) URL
2) URL
4) Can unarmed civilians break the brutal siege of Gaza? The Free Gaza Movement thinks so: URL
5) URL
6) PLO Charter
7) Engage With Hamas: We Earned Our Support, by Ahmed Yousef (WP)
What Hamas Wants, by AHMED YOUSEF (NYT)
8) Two relevant Edward Said articles:
On failure of us Palestinians to challenge "leaders"
When will the Arabs Resist? A panorama of desolation, by Prof. Edward Said
9) URL
10) URL
11) ILA destroys Bedouin homes to make way for Jewish town, by Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz, 25 June 2007
12) Mona El-Farra: When Gaza brothers turn against each other
- Mazin
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