This conflagration in the middle east is personally painful to me. As publisher of a progressive media website, wanting to cover the news and issues, I have been besieged with op-ed submissions excoriating the Israelis.
As a Jew, having known holocaust survivors who lost loved ones, partly because the Jews of Europe had nowhere to go, when all the world rejected their efforts to emigrate out of Germany and the nexus of Nazi danger, I see Israel as a place that must exist.
As a person, I am not a total peace activist. I supported the first gulf war and the incursion into Afghanistan.
I believe suicide bombing is not an acceptable means of protest or resistance and that any nation has a right to do what it must to prevent attacks on innocent civilians. That said, I think Israel has gone too far on multiple occassions, with military incursions into Gaza and other Palestinian areas.
I believe that Hezbollah's use of inaccurate Katyusha missiles that often hit civilian targets is unacceptable. They cannot justify what they have been doing for years.
Israel has a right, like any other nation would, to defend itself against such attacks. But no nation has the right to produce the vast destruction that Israel has wreaked upon both Lebanon and Gaza.
Hezbollah doesn't have the right to perpetrate its violence, destruction and death. Israel doesn't have the right to perpetrate its violence, destruction and death.
These destructors do not operate in a vaccuum. Hezbollah is encouraged and supplied by both Iran and Syria, for starters, and possibly other "benefactors" as well, since we know the Saudis have been generous to suicide bomber families. But, since the Saudis are Sunni, and Hezbollah tends to be Shiite, getting support from Shiite Iran, that may not be the case. The Saudis are mosltly known for supporting Sunni Hamas.
Israel's primary benefactor is the USA. This has been the case for decades, but since the appointment of George Bush as president, in 2000, the US mideast policy has changed to one of tough balance and nuanced, close contact, dialogue and "disciplined parenting," to a casual, detached, aloof, do-what-you-want attitude. Bush and his team have allowed Isreal to do whatever the hell it wanted to, emphasis on hell. There are a number of reasons for this. NEOCONs and AIPAC, fundamentalist Rapturists, Oil Companies,
There is a strong pro-Israel, AIPAC friendly lobby that is part of the right wing Neocon, PNAC (Project for a New American Century) inner circle. Some of these insiders are jews, others include Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Dan Quayle, Donald Rumsfeld, R. James Woolsey, Richard L. Armitage, William J. Bennett, Gary Bauer, Frank Gaffney, Fred C. Ikle, Zalmay Khalilzad.... Read more about PNAC and see a more complete list here Both the NEOCONS and AIPAC support Israel, with some overlapping reasons but also for different reasons. The NEOCONS are imperialists who want to make sure that the US rules the world, in the process, taking out opposing governmental powers. This translates into hyperaggressive militarism, trumping up excuses to attack or make enemies of countries that don't meet the PNAC requirements, and that enable the US to demonstrate it's hegemony and power. Israel is a PNAC ally that allows the US to, by proxy, with heavy funding, do some of the dirty work that the PNAC wants done, but that would be awkward for the US to do. By Israel being a "bad boy" of terrorism fighting, going to enormous extremes in reacting to terrorist attacks, it sets extreme bounds for responses to terrorism, so, when the US does things that might ordinarily seem extreme, the US can refer to Israel's really, really extreme behavior. The US can hide behind these ridiculous bounds.
Then we have Israel's history. Israel took out Saddam's soon to become operational nuclear reactor, in Iraq, several decades ago. You'd think this would have caused universal outrage and consternation in the Arab/Muslim world. But things are never so simple in the middle east. This was a massive favor for Iran, Iraq's mortal enemy at the time. The Saudis were not very comfortable with Saddam either, and while I don't know for sure, I'd guess that the Kuwaitis, who were later attacked by Iraq, were also, probably relieved. I am sure that there are members of PNAC and AIPAC who would love to have Israel do a similar job on Iran's nuclear reactors. I am sure that deep within the pentagon, planners are working, on assignment from Rumsfeld, on attack strategies for an Israeli attack, aided secretly by US high altitude surveilance and sattelite data, on Iran's nuclear assets. Some may call these fantasies, but I'm guessing to others, they are hoped for steps that will become reality.
AIPAC is a PAC that supports Israel, by my perception, it supports the interests of right wing extremist, hawkish Israelis, primarily those influenced by fundamentalist, extremist ultra-orthodox Isrealis who don't even consider most of the Jews in the world to be real jews. These fundamentalist share some of the same interests that fundamentalist Christian Rapture, end-times believers have. They want increased conflict with Palestinians, with Hezbollah, would love to see Iran's nuclear facilities bombed, they love the destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, since it has permitted Hezbollah to operate, and they would love to see the US come into the conflict by attacking Syria and Iraq. The rapture nuts and the ultra-orthodox jewish bomb Iran nuts both want to see things heat up a lot. But the rapture nuts are breathlessly, hearts-racingly waiting for the end times, to be followed by the destruction of one or two thirds of the rest of humanity, including the jews.
An old Twilight Zone TV story once told of aliens from another planet that came with a book, "To Serve Man," which made the people of earth feel good about these alien visitors. Thousands of humans went on the alien ships, only to learn that "To Serve Man" was a cookbook. It feels like the rapturist Christians have the same predatory eye upon Israel and its increased participation in conflict. They get anticipatory rapture orgasms as the conflict, the death, the destruction heats up. It's very disgusting.
Then we we have the Arab/Muslim world. While protesting Israels attacks, many are rejoicing that Hezbollah is actually doing something, standing up to Israel, throwing in some good licks, inflicting some damage and suffering. While Israel is inflicting its damage upon Lebanon, throughout the Arab world, mullahs are preaching and teaching how the whole western world is evil, now the US and its allies are backing Israel. They are using the suffering in Lebanon to preach their hate, their Islamfascist, imperialist ideas of Islamic world domination, or at least, the Islamic, Sharia driven leadership and control of the Arab-Islamic world. It's not like Israel has to do much to help them, For the past few years, the opinion most Arabs have had of the US has been very bad, with over 90% of them in many Arab countries already hating the US. Bush's Laisse Faire attitude and Condoleeza's long liesurely delay in going to the site of the conflict must surely be adding fuel to the fire of hate. Iran is the winner in this dimension of the dynamics. They get the pressure lifted off them as the world focuses on Lebanon, Israel and Gaza, and their surrogate-- Hizbollah-- gets street cred that they also benefit from.
Then there's Syria. They want their Golan Heights back, which they used to bombard Israel with routinely, before Israel took it from them. Syria is surely helping add fuel to the fire. My guess is that under it all, behind their protests, they're happy for what's being done to Lebanon, since it is making Israel look pretty bad and could translate into greater leverage for them in terms of getting the land they want back.
With so many parties benefitting from the conflict, it is no wonder that there is no simple solution, yet that is what are callilng for.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
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A few declarations.
-While I'm registered as a Democrat, I consider myself to be a dynamic critic of the Democratic party, just as, well, not quite as much, but almost as much as I am a critic of republicans.
-My articles express my personal opinion, not the opinion of this website.
Thanks for your thoughtful comment. I fear that the attack on Lebanon is an effort to begin fighting with Syria and Iran and engulf the Region in war. I hope I'm wrong.
Below is a letter I sent to Rep. Ben Cardin who is running for the U.S. Senate against me (www.ZeeseForSenate.org).
U.S. Should Speak Out Against Israeli Terror Tactics Against Civilians
Wednesday, 19 July 2006
Is the Power of the Israeli Lobby Silencing Ben Cardin?
Is he putting Israel Before the Safety of Americans?
In the open letter below Kevin Zeese is calling on Rep. Ben Cardin to speak out against Israeli terror tactics targeting civilians in Gaza and Lebanon. Zeese has written Cardin three previous letters concerning the attacks on the Gaza Strip. See: http://kevinzeese.com/content/view/161/34/. Maryland voters should write Ben Cardin and urge him to put U.S. interests before the interests of Israel. He should also be urged to accept Zeese's challenge for a series of debates on U.S. poilicy toward Israel.
July 17, 2006
Rep. Ben Cardin
2207 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Via email rep.cardin@mail.house.gov
Re: Speak out against the escalating violence in the Middle East - Tell Israel to obey international and U.S. law and stop terrorizing civilians
Dear Rep. Cardin:
The violence in the Middle East, in particular the brutal terrorist attacks by Israel on civilians in Lebanon and Gaza, threatens to escalate if Israel is not told it is violating many laws, UN Resolutions and treaties and has gone too far. The following points need to be conveyed to Israel, and a pro-Israel legislator running for the U.S. Senate, like you, would be an excellent messenger:
Israel is violating the Arms Export Control Act (Public Law 90-829) which limits the use of U.S. weapons given or sold to a foreign country to "internal security" and "legitimate self-defense." Further, U.S. weapons may not be used against civilians. The intensive bombing of Beirut and other Lebanese cities, and the killing of civilians are not legitimate acts of self-defense. This conflict began with the capture of two Israeli soldiers in an effort by Hezbollah to negotiate the release of three Lebanese civilians who were seized on Lebanese soil and have been held by Israel as bargaining chips for several years.
Israel is violating international law by its collective punishment of civilians in Lebanon and Gaza. Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states, "No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited. Pillage is prohibited. Reprisals against protected persons and their property are prohibited." Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions collective punishments are a war crime. Israel is committing war crimes with weapons we have provided to them - making the U.S. complicit. Remaining silent, protecting Israel in the U.N. or in other ways increases U.S. responsibility for these war crimes.
A cease fire is needed immediately. Hopefully you at least care about the 25,000 Americans caught in the conflict. (There are likely to be as many as ten times as many Americans in Lebanon as 25,000 is only those who have reported to the American Embassy.) No doubt if a country other than Israel were preventing more than 25,000 Americans from leaving a battle zone, where American lives are at risk, you would be complaining to the nation to cease fire so Americans could be removed. Why the silence when Israel is threatening U.S. citizens? At least speak out for American civilians - or do you represent Israel before you represent Americans.
Finally, according to CBS News: "There were Lebanese media reports, which could not be confirmed, that Israel had used phosphorus incendiary bombs and vacuum bombs, which suck up the air and collapse buildings." See: click here hope you will call for an investigation as to whether Israel is using illegal weapons of mass destruction in Lebanon.
The extreme overreaction and targeting of civilians by Israel is being deplored throughout the globe except in the United States - the only country that can stop Israel because it funds and protects Israel. The toll is continuing to rise: reportedly more than 215 people and rising rapidly, almost all civilians (only 14 were not civilians), have died in Lebanon in the Israeli onslaught with hundreds more wounded. In Gaza more than 60 Palestinians have been killed. A few examples of the condemnation of Israel from around the world:
- The Vatican deplored Israel's attack describing it as "an attack" on a sovereign and free nation. Further, the Vatican said: "The right of defense on the part of a state does not exempt it from its responsibility to respect international law, particularly regarding the safeguarding of civilian populations."
- The European Union criticized Israel for using "disproportionate" force in its attacks on Lebanon saying "actions, which are contrary to international humanitarian law, can only aggravate the vicious circle of violence and retribution, and cannot serve anyone's legitimate security interests."
- The European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he was planning a peace mission to the Middle East saying: "The European Union is greatly concerned about the disproportionate use of force by Israel in Lebanon in response to attacks by Hezbollah on Israel." According to Finland, which currently holds the EU's presidency: "The presidency deplores the loss of civilian lives and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. The imposition of an air and sea blockade on Lebanon cannot be justified."
- France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy condemned Israel's attacks as "a disproportionate act of war." He said France would support the Lebanese request that the UN Security Council take up the issue as soon as possible.
- Arab nations are also speaking out against the Israeli actions. Egypt's Foreign Minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit said: "Targeting civilians under the pretext of fighting terrorism is unacceptable and unjustified. Israeli practices violate international law." Jordan, another country that has signed a peace treaty with Israel condemned "Israel's use of force against unarmed civilians and the outcome in terms of the human loss and destruction of civil institutions."
Israel has fired missiles destroying infrastructure in Lebanon including roads and bridges, the airport and power stations. Israel's warships have blocked Lebanese ports. These actions have shut down land, sea, and air movement (among the reasons why U.S. citizens and Lebanese civilians are trapped while Israel continues its terror bombing attacks). Not only has Israel trapped civilians but it seems to be trying to starve them. Israel has even destroyed silos holding wheat!
This military assault on Lebanon - thorough and well-planned - is consistent with a plan put forward for Benjamin Netanyahu in 1996, "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm." See: http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm. The strategy noted that the border with Lebanon was a problem that could be dealt with saying: "Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one with which American can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hizballah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon."
It seems that plan is being put forward today. Indeed, as the Israeli peace group Gush Shalom reports in an article by Uri Avnery on July 15:
"The real aim is to change the regime in Lebanon and to install a puppet government.
"That was the aim of Ariel Sharon's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. It failed. But Sharon and his pupils in the military and political leadership have never really given up on it.
"As in 1982, the present operation, too, was planned and is being carried out in full coordination with the US."
This invasion by Israel must be viewed in the context of the long-term border issues in the areas. Israel invaded in 1982, under false pretenses, occupied Beirut, and did not leave most of the country until 2000 - it still occupies Shebaa Farms a key agricultural area and raids Lebanon at will.
Now Israeli is saying that they want to finish off Hezbollah - but Israeli actions actually strengthen Hezbollah - just as the organization was created as a result of Israel's illegal occupation of Lebanon it will be strengthened by these attacks. A mass political movement among 1.35 million people cannot be ended with military terror. And, it is important to understand Hamas and Hezbollah are organizations working in a number of areas - political, social, economic, religious, and military. (Hezbollah is the second largest employer in Lebanon.) These groups have widespread support because of Israel's terror tactics. More Israeli terrorism will strengthen them and further destabilize the region.
Please consider the safety and security of Americans before Americans are killed. When Israel bombs a civilian airport, bridge, road, utility and civilian neighborhoods in Beirut - when it kills families including small children - because of the population of Lebanon a lot of the worlds Catholics and 1.4 billion Muslims blame the United States. The world knows that Israel is given billions of dollars every year by the United States for the weaponry that is now being used in this illegal attack.
Israel's actions are increasing anti-Semitism around the world, they are isolating Israel, and making Israel less secure (already two dozen Israelis have been killed as a result of Hezbollah's response). The terror military policy of Israel is not good for anyone, including Israel.
How many future Bin Laden's is Israel, with U.S. acquiesance - and the silence of U.S. politicians - creating? How many Americans will die because of the support of the United States for Israel in reaction to its abusive behavior? Is it made more difficult to speak out in an election year because of the power of the "Israeli Lobby" described recently by Mearsheimer and Walt and for many years by others?
I urge you to take three steps:
Urge Israel to immediately enter into negotiations to trade Israeli soldiers for Palestinian and Lebanese civilians being held by Israel.
Urge an immediate ceasefire so negotiations can begin, U.S. citizens and civilians can leave the area in case military action continues before Americans are killed (7 Canadians have been killed).
Introduce a Resolution in Congress deploring the actions of Israel in Gaza and Lebanon and warning that a fund cut-off of U.S. aid will follow if Israel does not stop its' illegal military actions.
Former New York Times Middle East Bureau Chief and author Chris Hedges predicts the consequences of the failure to act:
". . . if we do not find a new way to speak, and soon, there will be untold suffering-not only for many innocents in the Middle East but eventually innocents at home. It was the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon that spawned and empowered Hezbollah. It was the decades-long occupation and humiliation of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank by Israel that spawned and empowered Hamas, and it is the brutal American occupation that has bred the legions of extremists in Iraq. And when Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah promises 'open war' against Israel, as he did in an address shortly after his Beirut offices were bombed, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says he won't cease his attack until Israel is secure, it is time to run for cover, especially when George W. Bush is our best hope for peace."
Please do not leave this to George W. Bush, use your own voice to speak out against daily or indiscriminate mass Israeli violence.
Sincerely,
Kevin B. Zeese
by
Kevin Zeese (68 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 41 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 2:18:52 PM
I'd prefer to see an "Israel-bashing" article AND a Hezzbollah bashing article, rather than a ban on "Israel-bashing" articles.
My own sense is that, while I certainly support Israel's right to exist as a state, it is a state that is doomed unless it a) permits Palestinians to have a viable homeland, which means removing ALL settlements in gaza and the West Bank, and stopping this stupid and offensive wall and b) gives up trying to be an Ethnic and religious state.
Our rabbi when we were in Hong Kong, who bat mitzvahed my daughter, is a Philly native who immigrated with his family to Jerusalem and became Israeli. He's a leader in Peace Now. He says Israel today is little different from Iran, in that one is run by Mullahs, and the other by rabbis. He believes, as I do, that Israel cannot survive as a garrison religious state.
With regard to the current conflict, there is little point in arguing who "started it", but it is clear that Israel has gone way beyond legitimate retaliation in destroying the whole infrastructure of long-suffering Lebanon. Israel, in its wide bombing, has killed far more civilians than fighters, both in Gaza and in Lebanon, just as the U.S. has done in Iraq. In both cases, these violations of the rules of proportionality are in themselves war crimes. that's objective reality, and it makes no legal sense to justify those war crimes by saying, but the other side is commiting war crimes. At this point, Israel's crimes are an order of magnitude or more beyond those of its enemies.
Not to write about this because it's not even handed would be like having had to write about the crimes of the Vietnamese in writing about the crimes of america in IndoChina.
In IndoChina, we were the bad guys by a long shot, and it was important for progressive journalists from America to write about that directly. Israel is committing war crimes now, and since we are the ones providing Israel with the weapons it is using for those crimes, it is again important for us to write about it.
I fully understand your frustration, but remember, the mainstream media are taking care of the "balance". Who's going to write about the "other side" if not people who write for venues like yours?
Dave Lindorff
dlindorff@yahoo.com
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net
by
Dave Lindorff (8 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 6 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 2:47:29 PM
I agree with you completely. In my article, I pretty much said the same thing, that Israel has gone too far. This is a very tough issue, as a journalist, to try to deal with, especially when the site seems to have so many Jewish writers, yet no-one covering the Israeli side, or even close. Israel is getting bashed and it deserves a lot and I'm running articles that say that. But I'm getting calls from Jewish friends that start, "What the hell are you doing?" Even though I've invited Israeli peace advocates, it's still been tough to feel that there's any balance.
I just don't want to see someone writing IS ISRAEL BAD AND ALWAYS WAS. I want them to discuss things like you just did. Please post your comment, as you wrote it, as a comment after the article
by
Rob Kall (760 articles, 3850 quicklinks, 320 diaries, 1642 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 2:58:34 PM
indigenous peoples vs. global expansion and economic might
understood.
but leading off with this: As a Jew, having known holocaust survivors who lost loved ones, partly because the Jews of Europe had nowhere to go, when all the world rejected their efforts to emigrate out of Germany and the nexus of Nazi danger, I see Israel as a place that must exist. ? Hmm. I don't know how you bring the concusion about, from that premise.
my background (part of it): my great grandmother on my mother's side, Molly, was a Jew who fled Romania to escape violence echoing from Der Kristallnacht. she stowed away on a ship and came to America. i admire her greatly. but i do not see her plight as justifying Israel's existence! not at all. judging by certain (Jewish) friends' reactions when i approach this statement, it seems so out of step as to feel dangerous, spoken in the wrong/right room. but i mean no harm against anyone. i just don't see one action as justifying the other. unless you bring in Religion. and i never know how to inject religious mandates inside a reasonable discussion.
the horrific violence perpetrated against Molly's/my/your/any kind is horrible. unspeakable what happened. but (and my knowledge here is limited) just opening up an area where other people live and implanting a nation? inciting and initiating more violence? how is this reasonable? i can't justify that. can't do it for the Europeans coming to North America, can't do it for their hostilities against the natives on the land, or for their aggressions against the Mexicans to the south, or for the gold-hungry Spaniards who invaded and warred against the natives of Mexico in 1521. i can't justify that with any peoples, event, or nation.
there is a longstanding pattern in this world of indigenous people being continually slaughtered and invalidated on all areas of land, by larger powers. how does continuing this wrong in any way do justice to what happened to the Jews?
i can never be for the demonization/slaughter/invalidation of indigenous peoples for the purpose of the economic hunger of a more powerful people. i see many misnamed wars and strife that should really fall under "indigenous peoples vs. global expansion and economic might". and i think THIS is the long war that has never really been formally named. yet, it's going on all over, to this day.
that said, you offer some good pointers at the bottom of your post. i will abide by them, of course.
by
Nezua (42 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 93 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 2:58:56 PM
The rights and protection of indigenous people is an issue that I've grown to care a lot about, partly because of the writings of one of our writers, robert wolff, whose book Original Wisdom, about the recently extinct Sn'goi tribe, woke me up.
That said, how do we reverse the way things are today? And what about peoples who have no lands, and peoples who, pre-literate, have not declared lands theirs?
by
Rob Kall (760 articles, 3850 quicklinks, 320 diaries, 1642 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 3:21:57 PM
Great questions. I think we begin by bringing the topic into discussion as robert, you, me, and many people are. I just read a book on the Yanamomo ( http://indian-cultures.com/Cultures/yanomamo.html) peoples, who live on the fringes of Venezuela. Very moving, when you read of the effects of meeting civilization. And of course, sooooo many other examples over time.
We keep caring, keep talking, we keep writing. I know these are not as loud as guns, but applied over much time, perhaps more powerful.
by
Nezua (42 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 93 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 3:30:08 PM
I agree. My father is a survivor and I have no other family on that side for obvious reasons. I believe that all sides in the ME share blame, but because of the overwhelming feeling among progressives that Israel is the sole devil in Mideast affairs, I find myself having to defend Israel and consequently being the object of a lot of attacks. A lot of this is driven, I believe, by Chomsky who is unquestionably bright, but very one sided in his approach to the Middle East.
Steve
More to everyone who has responded, etc:
The most objectionable thing I find about discussions regarding the Middle East and Israel is the one sided tack that they all seem to take. For people who are Anti-Israel, there is no mention of all the things to which Israel has a right to object. For people Pro-Israel, there is no mention of all the things Israel has done wrong.
This extends to the leaders in the region. Everyone always points to what the "other guy" has done wrong and needs to do better.
When people start talking about what the side that they find themselves on needs to do differently or better, then we will know that we are on the road to a permanent solution. Like really everything else in life, the easiest thing to do is to point to what the other guy, other group, etc. needs to improve or change.
by
Steven Leser (193 articles, 37 quicklinks, 32 diaries, 1298 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 3:39:04 PM
Rob,
Your article is a good start in an important dialogue. I started a response but it got long and 'article' like so I posted it separately - no rules broken - just a perspective. I did link your article.
Lynne Glasner
by
Lynne Glasner (31 articles, 21 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 9 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 6:03:13 PM
I once told Rob that we were miles apart,politically. After this start to his article:
"This conflagration in the middle east is personally painful to me. As publisher of a progressive media website, wanting to cover the news and issues, I have been besieged with op-ed submissions excoriating the Israelis.
As a Jew, having known holocaust survivors who lost loved ones, partly because the Jews of Europe had nowhere to go, when all the world rejected their efforts to emigrate out of Germany and the nexus of Nazi danger, I see Israel as a place that must exist. "
...I can see that we are not so far apart in background. I, too, am inextricably linked to Israel as a homeland for the Jews, having relatives with numbers tattooed on their arms. As a child I raised money to plant trees in Israel, my grandfathers first name was Israel. When I visited Israel I broke down and cried at the "wailing wall", surprising myself greatly.
However, I cannot reconcile a people, whose background includes something as heinous as the holocaust, who have been villified, cast out, pushed into ghettos, slaughtered for a thousand years, treating another people as badly as did Israel with respect to the Palestinian peoples.
Given that, in 1948, Britain fomented violence against the arriving refugees, arming the indigenous populace and hoping for a slaughter of arriving jews that would make the world cry out for them to retake their former colony to stop the violence. Given that the refugees were much more clever than Great Britain or the Arab populace expected and they thwarted both the slaughter and the colonial ambition of Great Britain, even given the fears, the almost psychotic fear of another slaughter that drives Israel to react with horrible swiftness and great inhumanity to attacks upon them, I simply cannot accept this continued violation against the basic rights of a people to have a homeland.
Of all the peoples in this sorry world of ours it is the Jew who should understand compassion, who should be repelled by injustice, who should treat with sanctity the yearning of a people for their homeland. To engage in mass slaughter, on any pretext, is simply an adoption of what has been done to us forever. It is absolutely anathema and makes me very ashamed.
It is too late to wonder what course the State of Israel may have taken had it treated the indigenous arab populace with dignity and respect, had allowed them citizenship instead of stealing their lands and their homes. What sort of middle east would we see today I wonder, would the arab world look with much favor upon the words and deeds of terrorists screaming for the end of that state if the example of that state was one in which arab and jew lived side by side in peace?
Will this condition ever occur? I have long believed that the solution to this thorny problem is the single state. I do not receive great support in this view but there it is, it simply makes the most sense to me. Israel needs labor, palestinians need jobs, we all need peace. Small chance I agree but no chance if Israel does not rein itself in and stop bloody and bloodthirsty revenge upon inncoents.
Israel today is but a stooge of American interests, propped up with billions of dollars annually and sold the best military hardware, but this makes them a sick society and wins them fewer friends each passing bombing, each assassination, each invasion and each overreaction.
I am in no way, a religious jew, I do not attend synagogue, do not observe kosher laws, have not raised my children in that faith. Yet I am bound to the state of Israel by blood and that is a strong tie indeed. If israel does not mend its ways, if it does not look to the past it will surely perish in the future.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 7:29:12 PM
Dear Rob Kall, these are some of my thoughts as requested by
you on the establishment of Guidelines for writing about the Middle East.
In his book, FAMILY THERAPY IN CLINICAL PRACTICE, Murray Bowen, M.D., writes that, "psychiatry never found an answer to schizophrenia, though the premised of family therapy is that the family can find its own answers if they work on it."
Equally so the answers to the Middle East conflict lie in, and with, the participants of the Middle East Conflict, if only the United States would stop exerting its will in the region, if only it would give the people of the region the chance to speak in a neutral way, free from so much anxiety,if only Bush would give up his need to stoke the fires of hatred, impose his will of an ill gotten democracy to the people of that region, and if only Bush would agree to sit with and call to the table of peace Israel, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine.
In an article entitled, "Neutrality in a Violent World", written by Stephanie Ferrara, published in 1994 in the Family Systems Journal, Ms. Ferrara wrote the following,
"People vary in the way they respond to life's stresses and pressues. Some can tolerate a good deal of stress without becoming very anxious or reactive. For other people, a relatively small amount of strees can trigger intense reactivity, and the ability to think and cope can be quickly compromised as people are caught up in an escalating cycle of reactivity to problems and to one another. THE ABILITY TO REMAIN CALM UNDER PRESSURE, TO THINK CLEARLY AND COPE WITH PROBLEMS, IS A CENTRAL FACTOR IN THE ADAPTABILITY AND STABILITY OF AN INDIVIDUAL OR FAMILY."
Even for us, the contributors to OPEDNEWS it is often difficult to maintain calm, or neutrality, or even to maintain a non-reactive position to the happenings in the ME, in the face of the anxious and reactive responses by the Bush administration and other Middle Eastern governments to the current situation. We too get pulled in to the emotionality and reactivity of the moment, and sometimes this comes out in our writings--particularly, if we do not walk away from our articles and give ourselves time to look at the article in the coolheadedness of calmness rather than the heat of anxiety before we post them-That is what Bush has seeded,polarization, name calling, and anxious driven responses to difficult situations.
tsn
by
teresa simon-noble (56 articles, 17 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 81 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 8:00:34 PM
From what I have read of "news" on the internet (which is the only news i get) it seems that people in the Middle East almost without exception "blame" the US; they see Israel as the scout for America.
I read an excellent aericle by an Isreali rabbi, who made the point that the "reason" for these violent actions depends entirely on where you begin your story.
Israel says it attacks Hezbollah (never mentions Lebanon) because Hezbollah was the first to attack Israel, and kidnapped two soldiers.
Hezbollah says it began with a simple action in order to show their solidarity with the poor people of Palestine.
The Israelis say they had to attack Gaza because Hamas idnapped one soldier.
Hamas says that they rebelled against the imprisonment of half their elected leaders by Israel, and the 10,000 citizens in Israeli prisons. (Imagine what we would feel, if, say, Canada would capture half of our Congress and hpld them in a Canadian prison)
All very reminiscent of our own War on Terror.
We conquered Afghanistan BECAUSE Bin Laden lived there (exactly as Israel now attacks Lebanon because they house Hezbollah).
Our leaders say that, "of course" we had to act when we were attacked out of the blue, by El Qaeda -- AQ made it very cleat that they reacted to our arrogance everywhere of the last 50 years,. but particularly in the Middle East.
How to "solve" something like that?
History tells us that the only way out is to talk. Talk with the "enemy."
As long as all parties are averse to talking, and--as the US--make it ver clear that the ONLY response to violene is more volence, THERE IS NO SOLUYION/
Some years ago (probably planned earlier) we invaded Iraq, under what everyone now knows for false "reasons." One would think that after three years and many billions (or is it trillions?) of dollars thrown away, we would have learned that violence begets violence.
But no, we do not learn from history.
Nor do other people in today's climate.
If indeed we, the Israelis, Hamas and Hezbollah, Iran, Syria, and whoever else cannot see that violence is no way to prevent the conflagration to burn fiercer... there is no reasonable expectation for anything less than armageddon.
Ultimately it is we who put up with the madness of our leaders.
Those of us who do not "believe in" violence, apparently have too weak a voice to reach very far. We mostly talk to each other (preach to the choir it is called).
robert wolff
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robert wolff (9 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 12 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 8:28:25 PM
I imagine that John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt [authors of The Israel Lobby]
would be very pleased that the open debate that they had hoped for on USA policy regarding Israel is happening on Opednews.com.
Having been to Israel Palestine 3 times in the past year and as a peace activist in solidarity with NONVIOLENT resistance I have sent out hundreds of OPEDSs and News reports to the MSM.
Only Rob has had the guts to publish what the MSM will NOT.
His challenge to all of us who write, is one I accept and hope to live up to.
by
Eileen Fleming (140 articles, 48 quicklinks, 264 diaries, 584 comments)
on Wednesday, July 19, 2006 at 10:14:57 PM
Rob, there must be room for all views, with discretion, on the current middle east conflagation. You, as publisher, must resist taking personal offense and let the readers cast their judgement as to article content ~ otherwise, we're back to managed news and I know that's not what you want.
This is a key moment in the middle east and we must be open to all kinds of analysis ~ drawn from all kinds of personal experience.
You are the non-biased publisher who lets the world in on your as well as our interpretation of perhaps the most important events of our lifetimes.
Allen L Roland
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Allen L Roland (848 articles, 7 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 339 comments)
on Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 12:49:58 AM
Rob raises numerous issues and, like a good editorialist, expects his readers to do some thinking and, maybe a call to action. As a Jew--and as a human being--I believe Israel has every right to exist. And, Israel has every right to defend itself against every form of terror. I believe the nation However, I do not wish to live in Israel, for many reasons. But that is opnly a personal choice. I also believe Israel often goes too far in retaliation, and I didn't support some of its actions. But, in this case, while any war is distressful to me, I believe Israel has the right, and responsibilty, to launch retaliation against Lebanon that houses the terrorists that seek to destroy the nation. The U.S. attacked Afghanistan that housed the terrorists that struck us on 9/11--and the world applauded and condoned it. (We, of course, went too far in our invasion of Iraq, but that's another story.) Now, I also believe there should be a Palestinian homeland. But, as I look at the MidEast map, I see huge areas that are NOT Israel. If the Palestinians also want a homeland, why not have Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia carve out some desert and give them a homeland. Israel was carved from desert. (And, as any historian knows, that WAS the place the Jews settled millenia ago.) But, the militant Arab nations just want to destroy Israel--they don't want to help the Palestinians. When Saudi Arabia (source of significant terrorism) helps the Palestinians, and when the Arab nations say "enough is enough" and set up a Palestinian homeland, with NO threat to Israel, then (and only then) might I believe that military incursions into areas that once promoted terror should cease. --walter brasch
by
Brasch (58 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 46 comments)
on Thursday, July 20, 2006 at 4:27:04 AM
