Perhaps a more pertinent question is How does the Israeli public, who has little interest in either settlements or conflict, let its government pursue policies diametrically opposed to its interests and will? The answer is "framing:" presenting to the public a situation that has no political solution, blaming it all on "them," leaving the people disempowered and with little option but to support military strikes. The is the essence of the "war on terrorism" discourse of Bush, Blair and the others, who use fear and mystification to disempower us.
(13) THE PRICE OF THE OCCUPATION
In the end we all become victims, soldiers included, to the few power elite who use us as cannon fodder, and dupe us by their framings to accept (if only grudgingly) their policies. Or, as an alternate title has it:
(14) SACRIFICING PALESTINIANS, ISRAELIS AND LEBANESE
ON THE ALTAR OF SETTLEMENTS
Or
(15) WE ARE ALL LEBANESE. WE ARE ALL PALESTINIANS.
Whew! A lot of threads and issues! Many remain to be worked out, developed, written, but just setting them out as I have done here lets you into the process of conceiving peace messages, as well as applying a critical perspective to events. In the end, this is what I came up with, that will serve as the basis for ICAHD's public statement:
TRUE CONVERGENCE:
END THE WAR! END THE OCCUPATION!
END STATE TERROR! END AMERICAN EMPIRE!
ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, condemns all attacks on civilians, Israeli, Palestinian and Hezbollah. Together with that, we recognize Israel's ever-repressive Occupation as the source of the conflict and disability in our region. Had Israel taken the many opportunities it had to secure a just peace, the peoples of the region would never have reached this point of despair and futile violence. Israel believes it can achieve "quiet," domination and normalcy through military power while retaining its cruel Occupation, encouraged and protected by the US. This is the source of the conflict today, the major obstacle in the way of a negotiated peace. Israel's Occupation and resistance to Pax Americana are the reason why men of violence prevail and the peoples, who are not enemies, suffer.
Like Russian babushka dolls, Israel's "disproportionate" attacks on both Gaza and Lebanon contain an agenda within an agenda, hidden within the pretext of freeing Israeli soldiers.
In its vicious attacks on Gaza in which 3000 houses were demolished and a months-long campaign of starving the local population into submission continues, Israel seeks to break the will of the Palestinian people and destroy any resistance to the imposition of an apartheid regime, as represented by Olmert's "convergence plan." This is the only explanation for Israel's delegitimizing of the democratically-elected Hamas government which had been moving steadily towards a negotiated two-state settlement with Israel, and for its campaign to physically liquidate Hamas leaders, in contravention of international law.
As its disproportionate attacks on Lebanon demonstrate, Israel uses the Hezbollah threat to divide and conquer the Arab world. In fact, it is Israel's Occupation that fans the flames of extremism in all the countries of our region. Hezbollah, which contributes nothing to the Palestinian cause and only adds to regional violence, is merely a product of Israeli refusal to negotiate with Syria, after repeated entreaties. By creating "straw enemies" like Hezbollah, Israel creates the violence and instability that allows it to retain its Occupation.
And Israel has openly declared itself an agent of American Empire in the Middle East. It is clear through American efforts to block any ceasefire that it sees Israel as its militarized arm to "clear the table" of any of its own perceived enemies. The shared aim is two-fold: to impose by force a Pax Americana over the region (in which Israel is rewarded for its support by keeping its settlements and military hegemony); and to use Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq as a laboratory for new tactics and weapons against any people resisting the Empire.
(13) THE PRICE OF THE OCCUPATION
In the end we all become victims, soldiers included, to the few power elite who use us as cannon fodder, and dupe us by their framings to accept (if only grudgingly) their policies. Or, as an alternate title has it:
(14) SACRIFICING PALESTINIANS, ISRAELIS AND LEBANESE
Or
(15) WE ARE ALL LEBANESE. WE ARE ALL PALESTINIANS.
Whew! A lot of threads and issues! Many remain to be worked out, developed, written, but just setting them out as I have done here lets you into the process of conceiving peace messages, as well as applying a critical perspective to events. In the end, this is what I came up with, that will serve as the basis for ICAHD's public statement:
TRUE CONVERGENCE:
END THE WAR! END THE OCCUPATION!
END STATE TERROR! END AMERICAN EMPIRE!
ICAHD, the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions, condemns all attacks on civilians, Israeli, Palestinian and Hezbollah. Together with that, we recognize Israel's ever-repressive Occupation as the source of the conflict and disability in our region. Had Israel taken the many opportunities it had to secure a just peace, the peoples of the region would never have reached this point of despair and futile violence. Israel believes it can achieve "quiet," domination and normalcy through military power while retaining its cruel Occupation, encouraged and protected by the US. This is the source of the conflict today, the major obstacle in the way of a negotiated peace. Israel's Occupation and resistance to Pax Americana are the reason why men of violence prevail and the peoples, who are not enemies, suffer.
Like Russian babushka dolls, Israel's "disproportionate" attacks on both Gaza and Lebanon contain an agenda within an agenda, hidden within the pretext of freeing Israeli soldiers.
In its vicious attacks on Gaza in which 3000 houses were demolished and a months-long campaign of starving the local population into submission continues, Israel seeks to break the will of the Palestinian people and destroy any resistance to the imposition of an apartheid regime, as represented by Olmert's "convergence plan." This is the only explanation for Israel's delegitimizing of the democratically-elected Hamas government which had been moving steadily towards a negotiated two-state settlement with Israel, and for its campaign to physically liquidate Hamas leaders, in contravention of international law.
As its disproportionate attacks on Lebanon demonstrate, Israel uses the Hezbollah threat to divide and conquer the Arab world. In fact, it is Israel's Occupation that fans the flames of extremism in all the countries of our region. Hezbollah, which contributes nothing to the Palestinian cause and only adds to regional violence, is merely a product of Israeli refusal to negotiate with Syria, after repeated entreaties. By creating "straw enemies" like Hezbollah, Israel creates the violence and instability that allows it to retain its Occupation.
And Israel has openly declared itself an agent of American Empire in the Middle East. It is clear through American efforts to block any ceasefire that it sees Israel as its militarized arm to "clear the table" of any of its own perceived enemies. The shared aim is two-fold: to impose by force a Pax Americana over the region (in which Israel is rewarded for its support by keeping its settlements and military hegemony); and to use Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq as a laboratory for new tactics and weapons against any people resisting the Empire.
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