Posted by dealer3
"Europe has always been at the forefront in defending Palestinian national aspirations." So writes Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief in the Arabic daily Al-Hayat (April 24). This used to be true, but Europe's past record is now too threadbare to serve as a cloak for the scandalous bankruptcy of its present policies.
The EU has joined the Israeli and US-led boycott of the democratically-elected Hamas-led Palestinian Authority (PA). As a direct result of the Israeli siege combined with the EU's aid cutoff, humanitarian officials report widespread hunger in the occupied territories and hospitals are running out of medicine. The United Nations estimates that 1.2 million Palestinians already suffer from extreme poverty. Over 152,000 people are employed by the PA and their salaries support approximately one million people -- or 25 percent of the population in the occupied territories. These workers operate 62 percent of primary health clinics, all the major general hospitals except one and 75 percent of schools. Without PA salaries, poverty rates are predicted to increase sharply, conservatively, to 74 percent. UN humanitarian agencies and non-governmental organizations are in no position to replace incomes from the PA.
But all of this additional suffering is for the good of the Palestinians, Solana assures us. "In the new situation following the Palestinian elections," he says, "we have remained true to our principles. We respect the Palestinians' democratic choice; we do not intend to punish them or to blackmail the Government they have chosen. But if the party in power no longer shares the peace agenda underpinning our partnership or a vision of a pluralist Palestinian society attached to the rule of law and respect for human rights, we are obliged to reflect on the conditions under which the European Community and the Governments of the Union may continue to use European taxpayers' money in the context of assistance to the Palestinians and their institutions. Our laws require us, at all costs, to avoid funding terrorist activities. Our political goals require us to ensure that the actions of both parties to the conflict remain compatible with the two-State solution negotiated between the parties."
That is all very well, but why is it then that the EU only acts against the Palestinians when they are perceived to be violating these principles? In recent weeks, dozens of Palestinian civilians have been killed by the Israeli army's relentless, deliberate shelling of civilian areas in the Gaza Strip. Israel's government, whose election Solana welcomed, has announced plans to annex all the large settlements in the occupied West Bank, the Jordan Valley and occupied East Jerusalem. Israel is accelerating the construction of the apartheid wall that the International Court of Justice declared illegal and ordered torn down. How is that compatible with a negotiated two-state solution?
While the EU helps Israel besiege and starve the Palestinians (with the best of intentions, of course), it limits itself to the most timid statements if it even acknowledges Israeli violations. Solana tries to cast the EU's political cowardice as virtue. Through the Oslo years, he writes, Europe was "a key driving force, seeking to improve the functioning of the Palestinian economy and to remedy the Palestinian population's deteriorating humanitarian situation." Europe's commitment, he writes, was "highly practical" and "reflected in a multifaceted cooperation effort based on a comprehensive range of financial and technical assistance programmes. The presence of two important missions on the ground, one assisting the police, the other providing monitoring, technical and training support at the Rafah border crossing, is further evidence of our firm commitment."
All this jargon is supposed to obscure the fact that while the EU focussed on 'capacity-building,' Israel was free to carry on settlement building, destroying any chance for establishing the Palestinian state. Solana speaks of "humanitarian" assistance as if the calamity Palestinians are living through were the result of a natural disaster or bad luck, rather than a decades-long violent campaign by Israel to colonize the occupied territories in violation of international law.
Despite Solana's pious declaration that the parties it deals with must be committed to the "peace agenda" and "attached to the rule of law and respect for human rights," the EU never uttered one word of protest when Rehavam Ze'evi, Benny Elon and Avigdor Lieberman, leaders of parties that explicitly advocate the expulsion of all Palestinians, sat in the Israeli cabinet between 2001-2004. Solana has been perfectly happy to have back-slapping, smiling photographs taken with Israeli officials who routinely order extrajudicial executions and openly threaten to murder the elected representatives of Palestinians. Is this the attachment to human rights of which he speaks? Is Solana now ready to cut EU ties with Israel if the pro-ethnic cleansing parties once again join the government, or if Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert does not immediately renounce the use of assassination squads?
The Palestinians are not in their predicament because of insufficient "technical assistance and multifaceted cooperation" from EU bureaucrats, but because they live under a brutal foreign military occupation which they have few means to resist. Instead of helping Palestinians to end the occupation, the EU became its biggest enabler. The EU "monitoring" mission at the Rafah crossing represents the worst of this policy -- the EU effectively became a subcontractor, controlling Palestinians' movements on Israel's behalf. In the absence of real solidarity from European and other governments, more Palestinians have concluded that armed resistance is the only means they have to stand up to Israel's relentless colonization.
Solana argues that "The right to resist occupation, the recognised right of all occupied peoples, does not justify the atrocities committed in its name, whatever the actions or the means used by the occupying power." If that is so, then why do EU states supply arms to Israel but refuse to provide a Palestinian liberation army with weaponry and training so that it can defend Palestinians using conventional force? I do not support violence of any kind, but there is no greater hypocrisy than calling on an occupied people to renounce violence when you are complicit in the occupier's violence against them.
If Solana wants to demonstrate genuine support for the Palestinians he can start by calling for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, in accordance with its Article 2 which grants Israel trade privileges only on condition that it respects human rights. He should immediately call on all EU states to halt their arms sales to Israel. Though there is little chance of that, he writes, "we will never let the Palestinian people down." Go tell it in Gaza.
Ali Abunimah is co-founder of The Electronic Intifada
Posted by Sammy_boy
Again, both sides aren't saints. Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians can claim to be whiter than white or that they are the injured, innocent party.
I wish someone would just give them a homeland and be done with it. I'd give them Wales if they wanted it!
Posted by absinthebri
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Why not give the Jews Germany? Why should the Palestinians give up their homeland?
Posted by soulframe
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True true. The way things are going, it's like the Jews are punishing the Palestinians for the Holocuast. But then again we all know that religion has hardly anything to do with the situation over there, it's all politics, ZIONISM being the main problem, which of course has nothing to do with true Judaism.
Posted by dealer3
i actually agree with that...
many true jews, and rabbi's actually hate the occupying goverment and some of the people...and they say zionism is the main problem....not judaism...
its sad, that even though the holocoust was only a few decades ago, these zaionist have forgotten lessons of how oppression and torture feels...these days will come back to haunt them, when they face there punishment on this earth, mark my words, and tell you children...trust me...
Posted by deluded
I think it's about time we all look at each other as fellow humans, not people of different races, nationality or what not. The world is or will be one big country, distances don't matter that much anymore. If we can't see that, i guess we may all progress in terms of economy and technology, but we'll never mature spiritually.
Posted by Sammy_boy
I was trying to say give the palestinians a homeland, not sure if i was understood there....
Please excuse me for being dumb, but what exactly is Zionism? I've heard it many a time, but not sure exactly what it is? I only remember a Bob Marley song called 'iron, lion, zion, or something like that!
Edit: very well said deluded, exactly how i wish things were.
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[ This Message was edited by: Sammy_boy on 2006-05-01 13:09 ]
Posted by deluded
Thanks @sammy, just my 2cents worth. Of cos, not everybody would agree, or at least a lot of them would prefer that things remained as they were, but i guess that only delays the inevitable.
Posted by soulframe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zionism
That's one desciption of Zionism.
And another one which highlights my point:
http://www.ummah.net/forum/printthread.php?t=54340
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[ This Message was edited by: soulframe on 2006-05-01 13:27 ]
Posted by maggflodd
Soulframe, hi!
'deception'?'description'? Anywho, knowledge is NOT power. Controlling knowledge and its dissemination, that's power. Being in a powerful position to authoritatively 'define' good v. bad knowledge, that's power! In other words: power is power; knowledge is knowledge and if your lucky it won't get you into prison... Knowing everything there is to know about Murdoch, Cheney or Blair, or... Means shit; being either one of them THAT ISPOWER! Without a lot of 'the right circumstances' knowledge is power is merely another carrot the few truely 'free' wave at those to be kept unknowledge-able that are tied to the tree they were told to find.
Without the right context 'k.i.p.' is mere a control phrase like 'personal growth', 'lifelong learning' and 'Arbeit macht frei' - a preachy mockery of empowerment and true equality. Power is power, knowledge just another currency in the trade, and when they learn to turn shit into power, there'll be a lot of folks born without an asshole. Saying 'shit is power' without offering skilled cosmetic surgery and care won't do then, will it. They are already shitless and you take the piss...
Maggflodd, May Day
Posted by maggflodd
... Oh and P.S.: don't give me the f-word! 'Fatal-ism' I mean. It's being real-ism. You can't give the weakest in an armed conflict some bullets and say, 'now go and work for your gun!' - 'where? And for how long? And what's a gun?' - 'Oh, f+ck off, will you!' ... The knowledge of the bullets is only of relative use without the knowledge of the gun! Throw them like rocks? Use them to build a bomb? Or work forever to maybe one day afford a gun ???
Posted by dealer3
@ maggflodd
mmm, can read between some lines...but mostly i dont have a clue...sorry...maybe its my bad understanding...
Posted by SCORPIONKING1982
I think its about time that Israel just bites the bullet (no pun intended) and gives Palestinians a homeland. This constant fighting must be so so tiresome for all involved.
Sure maybe Hamas was/is involved in terrorism but at the end of the day they were democratically elected by the people, people in some countries dont even get a choice.
Israel is going to keep pushing and pushing until one day it gets bitten and hard. Considering his view on israel if Irans leader ever does get nuclear weapons then we may have an apocolypse on our hands. I dont ever think he will do it because he'll know full well if he does his own country will be wiped off the map by america, but you never know.
Compromise is the name of the game here.
Posted by fatreg
one mans criminal is other mans freedom fighter.
we will NEVER live in this world in racial harmony, it will never be, we all just need to grow up and reaslise that you cant push your views on someone esle, it just wont work.
and to be fair, who owns the world? no-one, therefore if i wanna live in X i should be able to live in X.
my 2p.
fatreg
Posted by soulframe
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I'm glad you think so highly of my signature. What it means (my sig) is that with knowledge at least you know who's f*****g you. Isn't it better to know both sides of a story and form an opinion than to only hear one version and walk through life like a zombie slave? If enough of us know what's coming up and we can pass that information on to the next generation and then when the shit really hits the fan in who knows how long then we can say, hang on we're not going to stand for this and form a worldwide rebellion against the Luciferians who control this world.
Posted by maggflodd
Well soulframe...
there's still a difference between sth. being good, and sth. being power!
Of course knowing who skcuf you has value... It just isn't power per se.
It's all very much like "Weather Is Good"... or, or, or...
"luciferanians"... D. Icke... I admit (and I didn't notice that earlier) I cannot possibly go on now! Was nice chatting - and you're not totally wrong,
but I have just nothing to reply to even just a verbal concept like lucifer-whateverians... Just not my head wiring...Wrong firmware, genes, whatever. But have a good one ( I don't think our little disagreement contradicts your hope that knowledge and the exchange thereof might enlighten and/or inspire others to be better...!) So, We're all good
Posted by JK