Our state (Israel) does not have the death penalty but our army drops cluster bombs on civilians. People are “eliminated” with no evidence and no trial. Our hands are “clean”, for it all gets done from the air. In the process we murder children, old people and ordinary passers-by. Only others have “blood on their hands”.In the West Bank we have turned every village and town into a detention camp. We have herded the entire population of the Gaza strip, 1.5 million men and women, inside a single gigantic corral. Then we gave them starvation and darkness.
An Israeli activist, Shulamit Aloni, said these words and more in a statement read at the Saturday Gaza protest:
I am dismayed at not being able to be here today and demonstrate with you against the horror, perpetrated in our name, against a civilian population by a witless, merciless regime which is without scruples.
Sixty years ago we fought to create here an exemplary society; a state “based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel”1. But there is no justice and no peace and even no freedom. Instead we have terror and fear generated by our acclaimed army, the one called a “defence force”, which for 40 years has been engaged in occupying, robbing, and the crushing of human rights. It has also been engaged in murder.
Our state does not have the death penalty but our army drops cluster bombs on civilians. People are “eliminated” with no evidence and no trial. Our hands are “clean”, for it all gets done from the air. In the process we murder children, old people and ordinary passers-by. Only others have “blood on their hands”.
In the West Bank we have turned every village and town into a detention camp. We have herded the entire population of the Gaza strip, 1.5 million men and women, inside a single gigantic corral. Then we gave them starvation and darkness.
The time has come to drop the Jewish self-righteousness and the nurturing of fears that are used as the excuse for what the army, settlers and politicians are doing, as if everything is being done to improve our security. Let our Defence Minister kindly invest his ambitions in building peace instead of constructing settlements and Apartheid roads. Let him listen to Hamas, which has been requesting a Hudna, a cessation of the fighting, and lets start talking. It is worth trying.
Hubris, arrogance and haughtiness are disastrous for us. We are a strong state. No one will be able to remove us, as long as we respect the Other and understand that the Palestinians too deserve freedom and sovereignty.
Enough of the killing and murder and destruction that are taking place in our name! The time has come for peace with Syria and Lebanon, and especially with the Palestinian people whom we have been oppressing, robbing their land and water, arresting and killing. It is time to treat the Other the way we demand to be treated ourselves.
Enough of the disinformation; halt the spins that end in death! This is my direct plea to the Defence Minister and those who carry out his instructions. The days of the “Spring of Youth”2 have come to an end. The time for thoughtful maturity has arrived. A time for peace.
Shulamit Aloni, the grand old lady of Israeli dissent, is a former Palmach fighter, a laureate of the Israel prize and a former leader of Meretz. She served as Education Minister in Yitzhak Rabin's government.
Translator’s notes:
1) From the Declaration of Independence of the state of Israel
2) An IDF commando operation to kill Palestinian leaders in 1973, noted for Ehud Barak’s role in it.
Translated by Sol Salbe, Melbourne, Australia.
I really enjoy reading your blog, it always has great insight. But I am very frustrated with the media’s lack of questions to the presidential candidates about global warming. Now that it is down to just a few candidates I would think that this would be a bigger issue.
Live Earth just picked up this topic and put out an article ( http://www.liveearth.org/news.php ) asking why the presidential candidates are not being solicited for their stance on the issue of the climate change. I just saw an article describing each candidate’s stance on global warming and climate change on earthlab.com http://www.earthlab.com/articles/PresidentialCandidates.aspx . So obviously they care about it. Is it the Medias fault for not asking the right questions or is it the candidates’ fault for not highlighting the right platforms? Does anyone know of other websites or articles that touch on this subject and candidates’ views? This is the biggest problem of the century and for generations to come…you would think the next president of the United States would be more vocal about it.
Posted by: Adrian | February 01, 2008 at 02:23 PM