The Political Question and Moral Accountability
Published first on 09/28/07 @
http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/09/28/p1982...
The Political Question and Moral Accountability
eileen fleming
"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast." ~ Unamuno, wall graffiti in Paris, May 1968
Last week in the Al Bureij refugee camp, in central Gaza, a USA made Caterpillar bulldozer was the weapon that brutally murdered 19 year old Mahmoud Khafafi. Bulldozers and tanks entered Mahmoud's farmland village at dawn and uprooted olive trees, razed the land and demolished thirteen homes. Young Palestinians threw stones at the tanks, which began shooting in return. The victim ran behind an olive tree and when the bulldozer began to uproot the tree, Mahmoud was shot in the neck, yet attempted to flee until the blade cut his head off and his brains spilled out. [http://www.mezan.org human rights organization in Gaza gathered the details]
Cindy Corrie was less graphic as she recounted the chilling episode in an update on Gaza and her family's case against Caterpillar, in a conference call hosted by the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation of Palestine on September 26, 2007.
Mahmoud was killed by a Caterpillar bulldozer just three days after the Corrie's federal lawsuit was dismissed by the 9th Circuit Court. The case against Illinois-based Caterpillar, Inc. was initiated on March 15, 2005 and on May 2, 2005, the complaint was amended to include four Palestinian families whose family members were killed when Caterpillar bulldozers demolished their homes on top of them.
On September 18, 2007, a US federal appeals court ruled that Caterpillar Inc. cannot be held legally liable for the use of its bulldozers in an Israeli military operation which caused the death of 23 year old Rachel Corrie and ten members from the four families. Eye witnesses reported that Rachel had stood up for hours in her orange jacket begging the soldiers not to destroy the home of a pharmacist and five children.
"An Israeli investigation stated the bulldozer team was clearing debris on an anti-smuggling mission…The federal appeals court rejected the family's argument that the equipment used in Israeli military operations is paid for with American government funds and therefore represents an extension of American foreign policy." http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=4591
This extraordinary case was also dismissed without hearing any oral arguments, "In a case of this import it was almost unheard of to not hear oral arguments," Cindy Corrie commented then related how the "Political Question" emerged as the reason why justice has yet to be served.
In June of 2006, the Justice Department filed a "friend of the court brief" and a three judge panel determined that they did not have jurisdiction because the bulldozers were paid for by funds from the US government. They made the decision based on information not presented in the case, but researched within the US government. For the case to proceed, the court would be forced to interfere in politics specifically reserved for the executive and legislative branches, and thus a dismissal was granted based on the "political question." The appeals court did not even bother to examine the law, only the political question.
Cindy explained, "How bulldozers are funded and sold is a complex area (go to Department of Defense website - http://www.defenselink.mil - and goggle foreign military aid) – all funded by the US government, rather than Israel approaching CAT and there being an exchange between the two…back to the political process-the court was very clear that this is a "political question" and renewed the opening to ask for an investigation from Congress. The State Department, 9th circuit decision affirmed that all of the sales are under the Foreign Military Financing program -sold specifically as weapons to Israel and subject to the laws and restrictions of the Arms Export Control Act – weapons can only be used for internal security or in self-defense, cannot be used against civilians…I…add that the US is on record in the Rachel case as saying that the Israeli government or military did not conduct an appropriately thorough or transparent investigation into her murder…where is the accountability?"
The viewers of Israeli TV news on September 25, 2007 may have wondered the same thing, for it was reported that "Critically ill people are waiting here to go to Israel, to receive vital medical treatment they can't get in Gaza. Treatments in Israel cost money and the payment is being transferred by the Palestinian Ministry of Health to Israeli hospitals. Since Israel declared the Gaza strip last week as "hostile entity", the patients are also being treated accordingly, subject to a torturing process."
Nearby a father held his small son in his arms.
R: Does he have heart problems?
F: Yes. We've been waiting here at the checkpoint from 7 o'clock in the morning. Unfortunately, from 10 o'clock, 11, 12, one o'clock till now, no one can get through the checkpoint.
Reporter: Some patient, who finally reached the checkpoint hoping to get to the hospital, stayed in the ambulances the whole day as they weren't allowed to pass through, finally they went back to Gaza the same way they came…
The Reporter spoke with Abullah Abu-Shaa'ban, a child and cancer patient:
AA: I should have received my chemotherapy treatment last Wednesday, and it's been delayed for a week now.
R: You were supposed to get your chemotherapy treatment last Wednesday?
AA: Yes.
R: Why didn't you go there last Wednesday?
AA: I couldn't go as there was a closure like today.
"All the Palestinian patients living in the Gaza Strip, are actually waiting for their death certificate, it means that they are dying a slow death."- Hussain Moa'awia , Palestinian official in charge of coordinating the Gazan referrals crossing into Israel. http://www.news.walla.co.il/?w=/3850/1173794
"Everyday I must figure out what is the thing for me to do today to seek justice and accountability."- Cindy Corrie
"My aim is to agitate & disturb people. I'm not selling bread, I'm selling yeast."
-###-
September 28, 2007 © Copyright Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor http://www.wearewideawake.org/ Author Keep Hope Alive and Memoirs of a Nice Irish American Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory, Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu." Permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media if this credit is attached and the title remains unchanged.
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Twilight Zone /The children of 5767
In Judaism, during the 8 days of Rosh Hashanah, Jews are supposed to examine their behavior over the past year and go to all those they have wronged and seek forgiveness because on Yom Kippur, they can only ask God to forgive them if they have first sought the forgiveness of those they have wronged.
Haaretz is the premier newspaper in Israel
w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 12:46 28/09/2007
Twilight Zone /
The children of 5767
By Gideon Levy
It was a pretty quiet year, relatively speaking. Only 457 Palestinians and 10 Israelis were killed, according to the B'Tselem human rights organization, including the victims of Qassam rockets. Fewer casualties than in many previous years. However, it was still a terrible year: 92 Palestinian children were killed (fortunately, not a single Israeli child was killed by Palestinians, despite the Qassams). One-fifth of the Palestinians killed were children and teens - a disproportionate, almost unprecedented number. The Jewish year of 5767. Almost 100 children, who were alive and playing last New Year, didn't survive to see this one.
One year. Close to 8,000 kilometers were covered in the newspaper's small, armored Rover - not including the hundreds of kilometers in the old yellow Mercedes taxi belonging to Munir and Sa'id, our dedicated drivers in Gaza. This is how we celebrated the 40th anniversary of the occupation. No one can argue anymore that it's only a temporary, passing phenomenon. Israel is the occupation. The occupation is Israel.
We set out each week in the footsteps of the fighters, in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, trying to document the deeds of Israel Defense Forces soldiers, Border Police officers, Shin Bet security service investigators and Civil Administration personnel - the mighty occupation army that leaves behind in its wake horrific killing and destruction, this year as every year, for four decades.
And this was the year of the children that were killed. We didn't get to all of their homes, only to some; homes of bereavement where parents weep bitterly over their children, who were climbing a fig tree in the yard, or sitting on a bench in the street, or preparing for an exam, or on their way home from school, or sleeping peacefully in the false security of their homes.
A few of them also threw a rock at an armored vehicle or touched a forbidden fence. All came under live fire, some of which was deliberately aimed at them, cutting them down in their youth. From Mohammed (al-Zakh) to Mahmoud (al-Qarinawi), from the boy who was buried twice in Gaza to the boy who was buried in Israel. These are the stories of the children of 5767.
The first of them was buried twice. Abdullah al-Zakh identified half of the body of his son Mahmoud, in the morgue refrigerator of Shifa Hospital in Gaza, by the boy's belt and the socks on his feet. This was shortly before last Rosh Hashanah. The next day, when the Israel Defense Forces "successfully" completed Operation Locked Kindergarten, as it was called, leaving behind 22 dead and a razed neighborhood, and left Sajiyeh in Gaza, the bereaved father found the remaining parts of the body and brought them for a belated burial.
Mahmoud was 14 when he died. He was killed three days before the start of the school year. Thus we ushered in Rosh Hashanah 5767. In Shifa we saw children whose legs were amputated, who were paralyzed or on respirators. Families were killed in their sleep, or while riding on donkeys, or working in the fields. Operation Locked Kindergarten and Operation Summer Rains. Remember? Five children were killed in the first operation, with the dreadful name. For a week, the people of Sajiyeh lived in fear the likes of which Sderot residents have never experienced - not to belittle their anxiety, that is.
The day after Rosh Hashanah we traveled to Rafah. Dam Hamad, 14, had been killed in her sleep, in her mother's arms, by an Israeli rocket strike that sent a concrete pillar crashing down on her head. She was the only daughter of her paralyzed mother, her whole world. In the family's impoverished home in the Brazil neighborhood, at the edge of Rafah, we met the mother who lay in a heap in bed; everything she had in the world was gone. Outside, I remarked to the reporter from French television who accompanied me that this was one of those moments when I felt ashamed to be an Israeli. The next day he called and said: "They didn't broadcast what you said, for fear of the Jewish viewers in France."
Soon afterward we went back to Jerusalem to visit Maria Aman, the amazing little girl from Gaza, who lost nearly everyone in her life to a missile strike gone awry that wiped out her innocent family, including her mother, while riding in their car. Her devoted father Hamdi remains by her side. For a year and a half, she has been cared for at the wonderful Alyn Hospital, where she has learned to feed a parrot with her mouth and to operate her wheelchair using her chin. All the rest of her limbs are paralyzed. She is connected day and night to a respirator. Still, she is a cheerful and neatly groomed child whose father fears the day they might be sent back to Gaza.
For now, they remain in Israel. Many Israelis have devoted themselves to Maria and come to visit her regularly. A few weeks ago, broadcast journalist Leah Lior took her in her car to see the sea in Tel Aviv. It was a Saturday night, and the area was crowded with people out for a good time, but the girl in the wheelchair attracted attention. Some people recognized her and stopped to say hello and wish her well. Who knows? Maybe the pilot who fired the missile at her car happened to be passing by, too.
Not everyone has been fortunate enough to receive the treatment that Maria has had. In mid- November, a few days after the bombardment of Beit Hanoun - remember that? - we arrived in the battered and bleeding town: 22 killed in a moment, 11 shells dropped on a densely packed town. Islam, 14, sat there dressed in black, grieving for her eight relatives that had been killed, including her mother and grandmother. Those disabled by this bombardment didn't get to go to Alyn.
Two days before the shelling of Beit Hanoun, our forces also fired a missile that hit the minibus transporting children to the Indira Gandhi kindergarten in Beit Lahia. Two kids, passersby, were killed on the spot. The teacher, Najwa Khalif, died a few days later. She was wounded in clear view of her 20 small pupils, who were sitting in the minibus. After her death, the children drew a picture: a row of children lying bleeding, their teacher in the front, and an Israeli plane bombing them. At the Indira Gandhi kindergarten, we had to bid good-bye to Gaza, too: Since then, we haven't been able to cross into the Strip.
But the children have come to us. In November, 31 children were killed in Gaza. One of them, Ayman al-Mahdi, died in Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer, where he had been rushed in grave condition. Only his uncle was permitted to stay with him during his final days. A fifth-grader, Ayman had been sitting with friends on a bench on a street in Jabalya, right by his school. A bullet fired from a tank struck him. He was just 10 years old.
IDF troops killed children in the West Bank, too. Jamil Jabaji, a boy who tended horses in the new Askar refugee camp, was shot in the head. He was 14 when he was killed, last December. He and his friends were throwing rocks at the armored vehicle that passed by the camp, located near Nablus. The driver provoked the children, slowing down and speeding up, slowing down and speeding up, until finally a soldier got out, aimed at the boy's head and fired. Jamil's horses were left in their stable, and his family was left to mourn.
And what did 16-year-old Taha al-Jawi do to get himself killed? The IDF claimed that he tried to sabotage the barbed-wire fence surrounding the abandoned Atarot airport; his friends said he was just playing soccer and had gone to chase after the ball. Whatever the circumstances, the response from the soldiers was quick and decisive: a bullet in the leg that caused him to bleed to death, lying in a muddy ditch by the side of the road. Not a word of regret, not a word of condemnation from the IDF spokesman, when we asked for a comment. Live fire directed at unarmed children who weren't endangering anyone, with no prior warning.
Abir Aramin was even younger; she was just 11. The daughter of an activist in the Combatants for Peace organization, in January she left her school in Anata and was on the way to buy candy in a little shop. She was fired upon from a Border Police vehicle. Bassam, her father, told us back then with bloodshot eyes and in a strangled voice: "I told myself that I don't want to take revenge. Revenge will be for this 'hero,' who was so 'threatened' by my daughter that he shot and killed her, to stand trial for it." But just a few days ago the authorities announced that the case was being closed: The Border Police apparently acted appropriately.
"I'm not going to exploit my daughter's blood for political purposes. This is a human outcry. I'm not going to lose my mind just because I lost my heart," the grieving father, who has many Israeli friends, also told us.
In Nablus, we documented the use of children as human shields - the use of the so-called "neighbor procedure" - involving an 11-year-old girl, a 12-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy. So what if the High Court of Justice has outlawed it? We also recorded the story of the death of baby Khaled, whose parents, Sana and Daoud Fakih, tried to rush him to the hospital in the middle of the night, a time when Palestinian babies apparently mustn't get sick: The baby died at the checkpoint.
In Kafr al-Shuhada (the "martyrs' village") south of Jenin, in March, 15-year-old Ahmed Asasa was fleeing from soldiers who had entered the village. A sniper's bullet caught him in the neck.
Bushra Bargis hadn't even left her home. In late April she was studying for a big test, notebooks in hand, pacing around her room in the Jenin refugee camp in the early evening, when a sniper shot her in the forehead from quite far away. Her bloodstained notebooks bore witness to her final moments.
And what about the unborn babies? They weren't safe either. A bullet in the back of Maha Qatuni, a woman who was seven months pregnant and got up during the night to protect her children in their home, struck her fetus in the womb, shattering its head. The wounded mother lay in the Rafidiya Hospital in Nablus, hooked up to numerous tubes. She was going to name the baby Daoud. Does killing a fetus count as murder? And how "old" was the deceased? He was certainly the youngest of the many children Israel killed in the past year.
Happy New Year.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/907708.html
Eileen Fleming,
Reporter and Editor of
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu"
Heating UP!
Desmond Tutu barred from speaking at a Minnesota University
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org
A peace and justice group at St. Thomas University in St. Paul, Minnesota has been forced by the university president to cancel an appearance by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The cancellation was accompanied by the removal of the chair of the Justice and Peace Studies program, Prof. Cris Toffolo from her position as chair. She has tenure, but no longer heads the department.
The university president, Father Dennis Dease, decided against Tutu's appearance after consulting one representative from the local Jewish Community Relations Council and several rabbis affiliated with the university. This, apparently, amounted to a Jewish "consensus" in Father Dease's mind.
The rumor of Tutu's alleged "anti-Semitism" is based entirely on a propaganda campaign waged by the extremist group, the Zionist Organization of America. Though he is outspoken in his criticism of Israel's occupation regime, sometimes even bellicose, Tutu has never displayed anything other than deep concern for all peoples and his sympathy for Palestinians suffering under the yoke of occupation.
_______________________________________________
http://articles.citypages.com/2007-10-03/news/banning-desmond-tutu/
Put off by his controversial words on Israel, the University of St. Thomas snubs a Nobel Laureate Banning Desmond Tutu
By Matt Snyders
Back in April, when University of St. Thomas staffer Mike Klein informed his colleagues in the Justice and Peace Studies program that he'd succeeded in booking Archbishop Desmond Tutu for a campus appearance, the faculty buzzed in anticipation. For a program dedicated to fostering social change and nonviolence, there were few figures who embodied that vision more aptly than the world-renowned civil rights activist and Nobel Laureate.
Tutu's appearance—slated for the spring of '08—was made possible by the university's partnership with PeaceJam International, a youth-centered project that taps Nobel Laureates to teach young adults about peace and justice. For four straight years, the Catholic university's St. Paul campus had played host to PeaceJam festivities featuring Nobel Peace Prize winners such as Rigoberta Menchú Tum and Shirin Ebadi.
But in a move that still has faculty members shaking their heads in disbelief, St. Thomas administrators—concerned that Tutu's appearance might offend local Jews—told organizers that a visit from the archbishop was out of the question.
"We had heard some things he said that some people judged to be anti-Semitic and against Israeli policy," says Doug Hennes, St. Thomas's vice president for university and government relations. "We're not saying he's anti-Semitic. But he's compared the state of Israel to Hitler and our feeling was that making moral equivalencies like that are hurtful to some members of the Jewish community."
St. Thomas officials made this inference after Hennes talked to Julie Swiler, a spokeswoman for the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
"I told him that I'd run across some statements that were of concern to me," says Swiler. "In a 2002 speech in Boston, he made some comments that were especially hurtful."
During that speech, titled "Occupation Is Oppression," Tutu lambasted the Israeli government for its treatment of Palestinians in occupied territories. While a transcription clearly suggests his criticism was aimed at the Israeli government ("We don't criticize the Jewish people," he said during the speech. "We criticize, we will criticize when they need to be criticized, the government of Israel"), pro-Israeli organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America went on the offensive and protested campus appearances by Tutu, accusing him of anti-Semitism.
Hennes says the input officials received from "the Jewish community" in this case was confined to Swiler and a few rabbis teaching within St. Thomas's Center for Jewish-Christian Learning. "I think there's a consensus in the Jewish community that his words were offensive," Swiler reiterates.
That was news to Marv Davidov, an adjunct professor within the Justice and Peace Studies program.
"As a Jew who experienced real anti-Semitism as a child, I'm deeply disturbed that a man like Tutu could be labeled anti-Semitic and silenced like this," he says. "I deeply resent the Israeli lobby trying to silence any criticism of its policy. It does a great disservice to Israel and to all Jews."
The controversy didn't end there. Incensed at the administration's decision, Professor Cris Toffolo—chair of the Justice and Peace Studies program at the time—sent Tutu a letter on May 24 informing him of the administration's decision. She also indicated her disagreement with the move and warned Tutu that he might be in for a smear campaign.
University brass caught wind of the letter, and on August 1, Tom Rochon, executive vice president of academic affairs, sent a letter of his own to Toffolo informing her that St. Thomas administrators had decided to revoke her position as chair of the Justice and Peace Studies program.
Asked about the reasoning behind the demotion, Rochon and Hennes decline to comment. Toffolo herself is hesitant to offer any statements about it due to the sensitivity of her situation, though she did confirm that her letter to Tutu was the catalyst for her demotion.
"This is pure bullshit," says Davidov. "As far as fighting for civil rights, I consider Tutu to be my brother. And I consider Cris Toffolo to be my sister. They're messing with my family here. If Columbia permits a Holocaust denier [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] to speak at their university, why are St. Thomas officials refusing to let Tutu, an apostle of nonviolence, speak at ours?"
Davidov and other professors maintain that the situation at St. Thomas is emblematic of a larger issue.
"What happened at the University of St. Thomas is not an isolated event," says Toffolo. "Until we have an honest debate about U.S. policy related to Israel, and about Israeli policy in the Occupied Territories, the spiral of violence will continue."
__________________________________________________
University of St. Thomas stones Nobel peace prophet Desmond Tutu
PLEASE TAKE ACTION!
Jewish Voice for Peace page where you can send an email message to Father Deace, president of the University of St. Thomas:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/jvfp/campaign.jsp?...
The facts:
University of St. Thomas' president Father Dennis Dease, after pressure from a few local Jewish leaders, cancelled a scheduled presentation by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The head of the Justice and Peace Studies program was also removed (apparently for having invited Tutu). The Zionist Organization of America, an extremist pro-Israel group, has initiated a smear campaign against Bishop Tutu (and others, such as Jimmy Carter and Norman Finkelstein)-anyone of stature who dares to criticize the policies of the state of Israel. The ZOA cited a speech given by Bishop Tutu at a Sabeel conference in Boston in April 2002. They took some language from that speech, twisted it around, and accused Tutu of hate-speech and anti-Semitism. A link to the full transcript of the actual speech is provided below.
PLEASE WRITE A LETTER or EMAIL protesting this blantant example of censorship to the University of St. Thomas.
MORE INFORMATION:
Muzzlewatch
Oct. 3 article, "Archbishop Tutu barred by U. of St. Thomas because of criticism of Israel": http://www.muzzlewatch.com/?p=257
Transcript of Bishop Tutu's keynote address at the April 2002 Sabeel conference in Boston (the first page are the opening remarks of Friends of SABEEL North America, President Bishop Edmond Browning:
http://fosna.org/conferences_and_trips/
documents/2002_boston_tutu_keynote.pdf
Boston Globe interview with Desmond Tutu, April 20, 2002
http://fosna.org/conferences_and_trips/
BostonGlobeTutuInterviewApr20-2002.htm
Jewish Voice for Peace page where you can send an email message to Father Deace, president of the University of St. Thomas:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/jvfp/campaign.jsp?...
You can also send a letter by snail mail by writing to:
Father Dennis Dease
President
University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, Minnesota 55105
Phone: 1-651-962-5000
It would also help to send copies of your letters or emails to the highest Catholic policy makers in the U.S., the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Here is the office of justice and peace:
Dr. Stephen M. Colecchi
Director
Office of International Justice and Peace
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 Fourth Street NE
Washington DC 20017-1194
Tel: 202-541-3196
Fax: 202-541-3339
Email: scolecchi@usccb.org
Copies of your letters and emails would be appreciated. Send to friends@fosna.org or to
FOSNA, PO Box 9186, Portland, OR 97207
Finally, join Archbishop Tutu and an impressive list of other speakers at a Sabeel conference in Boston this October 26 & 27: "The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine/Israel: Issues of Justice and Peace"
http://www.fosna.org/BostonConferenceOct2007.htm
THANK YOU! for defending Archbishop Tutu's right to speak and if you can be in Boston for this historic conference PLEASE blog a report.
Eileen Fleming,
Reporter and Editor of
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu"
Bishop Tutu censored in Minnesota, by Catholic University
"Rumors have been circulating for some time that Archbishop Desmond Tutu was banned by the University of St Thomas in Minnesota because of statements he made that some consider anti-Semitic.
"Now it’s official: winning the Nobel Peace Prize doesn’t protect you from charges of anti-Semitism if you criticize Israeli human rights violations. Neither, apparently, does being one of the most compelling voices for social justice in the world today, or even getting an honorary degree from and giving the commencement address at Brandeis.
"Why Tutu? Why now? Are his statements anti-Semitic?
"Bishop Tutu is closely associated with Sabeel, a Jerusalem based Christian liberation theology organization started by Palestinian Anglican pastor Rev. Naim Ateek. Sabeel is “an international peace movement initiated by Palestinian Christians in the Holy Land who seek a just peace based on two states-Palestine and Israel-as defined by international law and existing United Nations resolutions.”The group, and founder Naim Ateek in particular, have come under considerable attack by mainstream Jewish organizations that see their influence on domestic Christian organizations as a threat."-Cecilie Surasky, of Jewish Voice for Peace.
The GOOD NEWS is that Bishop Tutu will NOT be censored in Boston:
Archbishop Desmond Tutu will address the theme "The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel: Highlighting Issues of Justice and Equality" at a Sabeel Conference in Boston Oct. 26 - 27. The event at Old South Church will feature lectures and panel discussions looking at ways the South African apartheid model of ethnic/racial segregation is applied in Palestine today.
Participants will discuss the moral issues of confronting and dismantling apartheid-like policies Israel administers in the occupied Palestinian lands and the emerging role of social movements and the U.S. government in addressing injustice. The conference will culminate in a peace rally in Copley Square organized by the Boston chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.
Tutu, is the International Patron of Sabeel. Speaking at a New York synagogue in 1989 Tutu stated: "If you changed the names, the description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank would be a description of what is happening in South Africa."
He also said: “Peace based on justice is possible. We will do all we can to assist you to achieve this peace, because it is God’s dream, and you will be able to live amicably together as sisters and brothers. ”
Israel's human rights group B'Tselem stated in 2002 that "Israel has created in the Occupied Territories a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality. This regime is the only one of its kind in the world, as is reminiscent of distasteful regimes from the past, such as the apartheid regime in South Africa."
According to The Rev. Richard Toll, Friends of Sabeel-North America chair, "A serious public discussion of the apartheid-like nature of policies imposed on Palestinians by Israel really got off the ground in the United States with the publication last year of Jimmy Carter's book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Ironically it was a group of Israelis in Jerusalem and Haifa who first organized a campaign to oppose Israel's apartheid policies in 2000, following the breakdown of the Oslo Accords and the eruption of the second Palestinian intifada. The campaign to end Israeli apartheid has since become an international grassroots effort."
Also scheduled to speak in Boston are:
§ The Rev. Naim Ateek, Palestinian Anglican priest and founder of Sabeel;
§ John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian occupied territories;
§ Noam Chomsky, linguist, author and lecturer;
§ Diana Buttu, litigator in the 2004 case at the Hague which indicted Israel's separation wall;
§ Anat Biletzki, human rights activist, former head of B'Tselem, IsraeliInformationCenter for Human Rights;
§ Farid Esack, South African Muslim theologian currently at HarvardUniversity;
§ Jeff Halper, coordinator of The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions in Jerusalem;
§ The Rev. Donald Wagner, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, NorthparkUniversity, Chicago;
§ Noura Erekat, initiator of the first campaign promoting divestment from Israel, at UC Berkeley;
§ Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies fellow;
§ Nancy Murray of the US Campaign to End Israeli Occupation;
§ The Rt. Rev. Thomas Shaw, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts; and
§ David Wildman, Executive Director for Human Rights & Racial Justice, General Board of Global Ministries, United MethodistChurch.
The cost to American taxpayers in dollars provided to Israel over the years for mostly military purposes exceeds $100 billion.
Bishop Tutu commented in The Nation in July 2002, "The end of (South African) apartheid stands as one of the crowning accomplishments of the past century, but we would not have succeeded without the help of international pressure-in particular the divestment movement of the 1980s. Over the past six months a similar movement has taken shape, this time aiming at an end to the Israeli occupation."
For instructions on registering online, by mail or by phone.
http://www.fosna.org/BostonConferenceOct2007.htm
Learn MORE:
Prophets on Apartheid: Part 1
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=...
Prophets on Apartheid: Part 2
http://www.wearewideawake.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=...
Eileen Fleming,
Reporter and Editor of
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu"
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
Dear Ms. Fleming,
It has been many months since I clicked onto this site and find it no accident that I did this morning. I have friends in Boston and will be informing them of this important conference coming on the heels of Bishop Tutu's censoring in Minnesota. Bishop Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for confronting apartheid in South Africa, perhaps he will receive another for confronting it in Israel?
Anti-Semitism
Is a catch-all phrase now for disagreeing with the government of Isreal. Disagreeing with a government is not akin to slandering a people. This is the point many Christians do not understand. The Bible says we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, not the wars of man.
At the Crossroads in the Holy Land: Will the Prophets Prevail?
Published first @ http://www.thepeoplesvoice.org/cgi-bin/blogs/voices.php/2007/10/01/at_th...
10/01/07
At the Crossroads in the Holy Land: Will the Prophets Prevail?
eileen fleming
We truly are at the crossroads in the Middle East; and choices made within the next few weeks will reverberate for decades.
Last July, while I was in Jerusalem and President Bush announced that the United States would host a Conference for Arab- Israeli-Palestinian peace this fall; the talk on the street ranged from cynicism to pessimism. Every Israeli and Palestinian I questioned agreed that the occupation is at the root of the conflict in the Holy Land . The hurdle has been and remains politicians who are out of touch with the public they were elected to serve.
On September 26, 22007 during a telephone conference hosted by Churches for Middle East Peace, Ambassador [Ret.] Philip C. Wilcox, Jr., Founder and President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, affirmed that, "There is an urgent need for an international movement, the global community; a third party that is empathetic and compassionate to both sides to emerge, for the leaders have failed at peace and security.
"Neither Israeli nor Palestinian governments reflect the majority of their people. In Israel the government is influenced by the IDF, Security Forces and the right wing settlers. Palestine is a broken entity and that will breed more extremists, it must be healed and the reunification of Hamas and Fatah is essential. There is a moderate pragmatic and progressive wing in Hamas and they need to be engaged and recognized as legitimate partners.
"Public opinion polls in both Israel and Palestine show that the majorities of both people want two states, a shared Jerusalem , withdrawal of the 400,000 settlers, a resolution to the refugee crisis. Successful peace negotiations requires that all of these issues be addressed and something new is needed…Olmert only wants general principals addressed and is unwilling to confront the right wing and end the occupation.
"The Geneva Accord lays out a framework that both Israeli and Palestinian experts –not government officials- agreed upon that can lead to a contiguous viable Palestinian state."
In 2003, The Geneva Accord, a fifty-five page document was released in Switzerland by well respected Israeli and Palestinian's- not one a government employee- who were able to compromise on a foundation; the skeleton of an agreement that would work if the political will to implement it could be raised and common sense prevails.
On August 10th a delegation of prominent Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders representing heads of 25 national organizations in the National Interreligious Leadership Initiative for Peace (NILI) presented specific recommendations to the State Department for what the United States needs to do to maximize chances that this November's meeting/ "conference for peace" will be successful. The religious leaders fear if the conference fails, that people's hopes will once again be dashed, chances for a "two-state" solution will be diminished, forces in the region favoring violence and extremism will grow stronger, and it will be only a matter of time until there is a new Israeli-Palestinian or Arab-Israeli war.
The NILI propose 3 Steps for a Successful Arab-Israeli-Palestinian Peace Conference:
1) Conference invitees should include all Israel's neighbors, as well as Israel and the Palestinian Authority; and all issues to resolve the conflict should be on the agenda. Israel and all of its neighbors, i.e. the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria , as well as Saudi Arabia, should be invited to the conference; and all the issues needing to be resolved to end the conflict, including Israeli-Palestinian final status issues, should be on the agenda.
2) Pre-meeting steps on the ground and agreement on principles for peace are essential. As part of preparation for the conference, the U.S. needs to press harder for concrete steps by Israel and the Palestinian Authority to improve conditions on the ground, including agreement on a ceasefire and on principles to resolve the final status issues, i.e., borders and security, settlements, refugees and Jerusalem.
3) The split between the West Bank and Gaza is inconsistent with a durable peace. The split in Palestinian governance could thwart success of the conference. As Secretary of State Rice said July 18, "There is one Palestinian people, there should be one Palestinian state." The United States should quietly support efforts to form a united Palestinian government that can represent Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, and is committed to reject violence and negotiate a two-state peace agreement with Israel .
Retired Rev. Roy Hayes-Priest-at-Large In Cyberspace (Episcopal) wrote "Mideast Peace = Peace of Jerusalem = World Peace...All Abu Mazin has to do is wait for the appropriate time ... when all the cameras are rolling ... and acknowledge that justice has always been at the heart of the Jewish faith. Abu Mazin can quote the Hebrew prophets to substantiate that claim (Amos, Micah and others). He can quote the Law of Moses: "Thou shalt not steal (thy neighbors' land, olive trees, etc.) " and "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbors (the Palestinians)."
"History is in the making. Abu Mazin has the opportunity to make the distinction between Judaism and Zionism ... on the world's stage ... and call for Israel 's Zionist government to reflect Judaism's highest values: "Do unto others....", etc.
"The International Community will be watching on television. (Osama Bin Laden will be watching, too.) If Abu Mazin will choose his words carefully enough, (i.e., with care, i.e., as in "love thy neighbor"), he will thereby demonstrate that Palestinians are the civilized ones in the conflict with Israel 's current regime. Righteous Jews and survivors of the Nazi Holocaust will resonate and call for justice for the Palestinians. I believe this will happen…because I honestly believe the collective Jewish soul deplores "man's inhumanity to man".
"Once Abu Mazin has declared public support for Judaism's highest values, Prime Minister Haniyeh (cooperative efforts, etc.) will be in a position to call for a hudna (which is a ceasefire and much, much more... a hudna is Islamic Jurisprudence) ... whether Olmert agrees to it or not. Abu Mazin will be in a position to insist that the next step in the peace process is for Israel to acknowledge that Hamas, also, has "the right to exist". Hamas will respond in kind. (I'm sure of it.) Saudi Arabia , Egypt and Jordan will be quick to repeat their support for a unity government in Palestine . Tony Blair and the Quartet will at last be in a position to support a unity government in Palestine . Iran 's President Ahmadinejad will be pacified. The whole world will be watching all this, of course. The Patriarchs and the Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem will find themselves in a position to weigh in, in a meaningful way, and make a public declaration regarding the future status of Jerusalem :
"As we Christians make our rightful claim to Jerusalem , we acknowledge that Muslims and Jews also have rightful claims to Jerusalem from their perspectives. It is useless to argue about sovereignty in the Holy City . Sovereignty in Jerusalem belongs to God alone, and God is ONE."
"As soon as the Patriarchs and Heads of the Churches in Jerusalem make that history-making declaration, the International Community will be in a position to assist in working out the details in accordance with International Law.
"The world will insist on justice for the Palestinians and security for Israel…always remember that Yahweh/Allah/God is on the side of justice and that the word "justice" is a synonym for the word "righteousness"…Peace, Roy+
"On the day of the termination of the British mandate and on the strength of the United Nations General Assembly declare The State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel: it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion it will guarantee freedom of religion [and] conscience and will be faithful to the Charter of the United Nations." - May 14, 1948. The Declaration of the establishment of Israel
"What does God require? He has told you o'man!
Be just, be merciful, and walk humbly with your Lord." -Micah 6:8
Learn More: http://www.cmep.org
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October 1, 2007 © Copyright Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor http://www.wearewideawake.org/ Author Keep Hope Alive and Memoirs of a Nice Irish American Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory, Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu." Permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media if this credit is attached and the title remains unchanged.
Eileen Fleming,
Reporter and Editor of
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu"
Read ALL About It
You can read all the Rachel Corrie court documents @ the Center for Constitutional Rights website
http://www.ccr-ny.org
Eileen Fleming,
Reporter and Editor of
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "KEEP HOPE ALIVE" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer of "30 Minutes with Vanunu"