Zionist Theses and Anti-Theses
Wednesday, November 27 2002 @ 07:19 PM GMT
"I can imagine a conclave of Zionist ideologues .. vigorously debating the merits of the new Zionist theses that will sustain .."
By Prof. M. Shahid Alam
WASHINGTON (PC) - When the Zionists first proposed, in 1897, to create a Jewish state in Palestine, they knew that they would have to find an imperialist sponsor and sell the idea to audiences in Europe and United States. Within a few years of its creation, the moral case for Israel had been sold like a Spielberg blockbuster. The Zionists had succeeded in presenting Israel as a small, beleaguered but heroic country, defending Western values against the onslaught of Islamic vandals. Next to the creation of Israel, the launching of this narrative has been the greatest triumph of Zionism.
Is it then foolhardy to oppose this entrenched narrative? One might answer with Noam Chomsky that any system “that’s based on lying and deceit is inherently unstable.” The Zionist narrative about Israel too is unstable. It is scarcely surprising then if this hegemonic narrative has at last begun to fray at the edges even in these United States. A movement to divest from Israel has already spread to more than forty campuses. In Europe, the shift in sympathies towards Palestinians is now a fact.
All of this suggests that the time is ripe for examining again, case by case, some of the leading Zionist theses of the past century. We are at a turning point of history, for better or worse. If we can unravel the fabric of lies woven about Israel, we can perhaps nudge this historical turning point just a little bit towards better outcomes.
Promised by God
According to this thesis, the Jews have a legal right to Palestine because God, in the Torah, promised it to Abraham and his descendents some four thousand years ago.
There is one slight problem with this thesis. It has never been established that a religious document, purporting to record statements made by God, could form the basis of legally enforceable claims to property in this world. Imagine what would happen if courts began to accept individual or collective claims to land, buildings, rivers, and mountains that were backed by divine promises. Saddam Hussein might claim that he had a dream in his youth-which he hasn’t revealed so far-in which God had chosen the Iraqis to inherit the entire United States.
A Historical Connection
More secular Zionists pressed their claims on the basis of a historical connection to Palestine. The historical connection is valid, but it will not support Zionist claims
It is worth pointing out that the historical connection ended some two thousand years ago, when the overwhelming majority of Jews left Palestine for other destinations, mostly in the Mediterranean world. The real problem with this thesis is that claims of an ancient historical connection cannot be used to justify present claims to territory. If this is accepted as a valid principle for appropriating territory, we should all start by vacating United States, since the Indians have a historical connection to this land that is quite a bit weightier than any Jewish connection to Palestine.
A Distinct People
The Jews are a ‘distinct’ people, and, hence, they must have a state of their own. In this case, it does not matter where; it could be in Argentina, Uganda, or Palestine.
This claim is fraught with difficulties. The Jews were a distinct people some two thousand years ago when they inhabited a single territory, spoke a common language, and shared the same traditions. But since their dispersal, they divided into many distinct Jewish communities, each of which had blended with their hosts through marriages and conversions. How much was there in common between the Jews of Russia, Morocco, Iran and Ethiopia, that could define them as a ‘distinct’ people?
This thesis assumes that all distinct peoples have a state of their own. This is patently incorrect. There are hundreds of distinct peoples through out the world who do not have a state of their own. In addition, most of these distinct peoples have a stronger claim to statehood than the Jews since they constitute a majority in the areas they inhabit.
Many Arab States
The Arabs already have several states of their own. If they were not motivated by anti-Semitism, they would not object to the creation of the only Jewish state. Instead, they would welcome and resettle the Palestinians displaced by Jewish colonizers.
This is a racist argument. It assumes that the Jewish need for a state has moral precedence over the rights of Palestinians to their own homes, their history, their ancestral lands, their towns and villages. It blames the Arabs for not showing proper deference towards the desire of the Jews for their own state, a state that would be established solely at the cost of the Arab peoples.
Israel Attacked in 1948
In order to paint Israel as the victim, the Zionist narrative claims that Arab armies from Egypt, Syria and Jordan attacked Israel the day after it was created on May 14, 1949.
Were the Arabs attacking an established state with a historical, moral and legal right to Palestine, or were they merely defending themselves-their lands, their homes, their historical rights-against a foreign occupation supported successively by two imperialist powers, Britain and United States?
What would the Americans have done if the UN-in a world in which Japan had won the Second World War-had first allowed unlimited immigration of Jews into Massachusetts, and then authorized its partition to create a Jewish state of Israel in 55 percent of Massachusetts? In 1948, the Arabs had done what I have no doubt the Americans would have done: they defended themselves against an alien invasion.
Only Democracy
The Zionists repeat ad nauseum that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. This happens every time the discussion turns to some egregious Israeli violation of human rights.
But is Israel really a democracy? This depends on what are the boundaries of Israel. Israel is the only country in the world that has never declared or demarcated its borders. And for thirty-five years now, since the 1967 war, its undeclared borders have included the West Bank and Gaza together with their three million Palestinian inhabitants. Israel has been building illegal settlements in these territories since 1967, which did not stop even after the 1993 Oslo Accord. The expanding, armed Jewish settlements are proof positive that Israel never planned to give up these territories. In other words, the true borders of Israel encompass three million Palestinians who have no political and very few civil rights within these de facto borders.
Is Israel then a democracy? Reverend Desmond Tutu, a leading opponent of South African apartheid, prefers to describe it as an apartheid similar to the one that existed in his own country for more than forty years.
A Beleaguered State
The Zionists deflect criticism from Israel by portraying it as a small country-a lamb amongst lions-whose very existence is threatened by hostile Arab armies. This image is hardly supportable.
Israel is a small country that packs a lot of military power. Just consider the wars it has waged against its neighbors. In the 1948-49 war, Israel fielded an army that was stronger and better equipped than all the Arab armies on the war front. On October 29 1956, Israel invaded Egypt, in concert with Britain and France, and occupied all of Sinai and the Gaza Strip until it was forced to evacuate by United States. In June 1967, Israel launched a ‘pre-emptive’ war against Egypt, Syria and Jordan, and in less than six days occupied Sinai, Golan Heights, Gaza Strip, and West Bank. Only Sinai has been vacated so far. In June 1981, Israel launched an attack against Iraq to destroy a nuclear reactor under construction near Baghdad. Israel invaded Lebanon in June 1982, advancing up to Beirut, and remained in occupation of parts of Southern Lebanon till May 2000. Is this the record of a small country, beleaguered, threatened by its neighbors?
Coda
The Zionist propaganda machine, however, remains fecund as ever. Even as the old lies are exposed, their credibility undermined, they are replaced by new ones.
As the Israelis advance towards a final round of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, I can imagine a conclave of Zionist ideologues-including the likes of William Saffire, Thomas Friedman and Daniel Pipes-vigorously debating the merits of the new Zionist theses that will sustain Israel through another millennium of hegemony over the Arab world.
-Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 11:14 pm Post subject: Our Thanksgiving
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http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021128174811593
Our Thanksgiving
Thursday, November 28 2002 @ 05:48 PM GMT
"Can we not see as well that it is American money that pays for a cruel and unjust occupation of an unarmed and helpless civilian Palestinian population? .."
By Edna Yaghi
WASHINGTON (PC) - It is fitting and proper that we celebrate Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. Imagine the tasty turkeys and all their trimmings that will decorate our dinner tables. It is an opportune time for us to reunite with family and friends.
We Americans can reminisce about how our ancestors were welcomed to this new land by the natives. And how these natives shared their knowledge and their blessings with the first colonial settlers. Little did the natives know how much they would lose and how many of them would be exterminated by the pilgrims and their followers. How could these noble people foresee that all they held dear, that their whole way of life would be drastically changed forever?
Yet, we celebrate. I am not sure exactly what we are celebrating. Our triumph has been the Indians’ defeat. Our good fortune has often been at the expense of others we have deemed not equal to us, less human than we think we are.
As we fill our stomachs, as we huddle around our hearths, do we stop and think of how much damage we have done here in our own country and in other parts of the world where we actually suppress those people who struggle and die for the very freedoms we claim we hold dear? Do we stop to think of how terrible it is to go to war against a country that is not bothering us at all and is not a threat to our national security? Yes, we have inspectors in Iraq, but whatever the Iraqi government does or does not do, will it really matter?
Can we not see as well that it is American money that pays for a cruel and unjust occupation of an unarmed and helpless civilian Palestinian population? As we satiate our own desires, can we not hear the orphan children crying, can we not see the homes that have been demolished, can we not see the farmland that has been desecrated? Cannot we not hear the screams of Palestinian men who are being tortured, can see not hear the wails of Palestinian mothers who have lost their most prized possessions, their children? Can we not feel the biter cold of those who have been made homeless by Israeli bulldozers?
Do we not even think that as we celebrate Thanksgiving, Palestinian Muslim families are nearing the end of the holy month of Ramadan and they have the right to celebrate as well in peace and joy, among family members and loved ones? Instead, they are deprived of their basic needs, of earning a living, of going to school, are under twenty-four hour curfews and face constant bombardment. Americans and Israelis should not have a monopoly on happiness and celebration. This is a God given right to all and one that we Americans uphold in our Constitution and what we declared in our Declaration of Independence.
Can we not see our own sad state of affairs? Can we not see that we have entered a depression and that we have many of our own poor who are homeless and jobless? Can we not see that in order to survive, many of our elderly are forced to go back to work at menial jobs when they should be enjoying their later years at home?
Does it really make sense that we are denying so many privileges to our own people while we continue to give to the Israelis so they can kill, torture, wipe out or drive out the rest of the Palestinians from their own land and homes? We suffer and we will continue to suffer and our suffering will increase as long as we send our American tax dollars to those who do not even deserve them and who misuse our money in terrible and unjust ways.
We are constantly reminded how Hitler tried to exterminate the Jews but we cannot see now how the Israelis who have no legal, historical, religious or moral claim to Palestine are at this very moment bent on doing their best to make life hell on earth for every Palestinian who bravely tries to live in his or her occupied country. Israel, even before it declared itself a state, has had many, many Hitlers and many faces of evil. Sadly, we, the Americans are partners in these crimes because we pay for them, we suppress the truth about them, and we condone them. We simply cannot see beyond our own super-inflated egos because we chose not to.
We cannot even see how President George Bush is leading us down the road to disaster. He is destroying our economy. He intends to go to war with Iraq without any provocation. Hasn’t America done enough damage to Iraq? Shouldn’t we be thinking of ways to wage peace instead of war? Wouldn’t it be better if we dedicated ourselves to saving lives instead of destroying them? Wouldn’t we the American people be better loved if we really stood for justice and freedom for all? Is it fitting and proper that we continue to kill and mutilate others for oil, for power, for the pure pleasure of it? How long can we fool ourselves? How long will it be until we wake up and smell the coffee? When will we really see how we are supporting the real terrorists instead of doing our best to put a stop to all forms of terror? What do we call it when we wage war on other countries? For how long are we going to sell out the Holy Land to a power that occupies and suppresses the indigenous population?
The people we should really fear are the people we give the most money to and the man we so erroneously chose to be the leader of our country. God bless America.
Photo by Palestinian photojournalist, Mahfouz Abu Turk, for PalestineChronicle.com
-Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 11:15 pm Post subject: A Message of Thanksgiving from Palestine
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http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021128191845819
A Message of Thanksgiving from Palestine
Thursday, November 28 2002 @ 07:18 PM GMT
What am I thankful for? What are we as Palestinians thankful for?
By Sami Awad
BETHLEHEM (PC) - This week, millions of Americans will celebrate Thanksgiving. This will be an occasion for families to get together and enjoy each other's company and love. This will be a time where many will give thanks for good things in their lives such as health, prosperity, good friends and loving families. We cannot forget the big traditional feast that will be part of this event as well.
In Palestine, like many other countries around the world, we do not have Thanksgiving Day. I felt, even in this time, when we have been living for six days under house arrest (curfew) in Bethlehem, when for the past two years, we have been suffering from continuous Israeli military aggression, oppression, and incursions, and when for the past 35 years, we have lived under a brutal occupation, that I - as a Palestinian and as an American - should write this letter in order to express what we are thankful for during this season.
On the 22nd of November, at 4:30 in the morning, Israeli military jeeps with loud speakers, accompanied by tanks and armed personnel carriers, reentered Bethlehem announcing that the entire Bethlehem district, with its towns, villages and refugee camps was under curfew. I write this letter from our apartment where my wife, my daughter and I, like tens of thousands of other families, have been trapped for six days and are not able to leave.
What am I thankful for? What are we as Palestinians thankful for?
Those who have it, are thankful for the little food they were able to buy and save before the Israeli troops came into Bethlehem this past week.
Those who have it, are thankful for electricity that has not been cut and for the water that has not been stopped from their neighborhoods or has not been lost when their water storage tanks were destroyed by Israeli soldiers wanting to empty them. (Unlike Israeli settlements a few miles away, Palestinians only get water once every 10 days on average).
Those who can, are thankful for being able to wake up every morning alive. Thankful that an Israeli sniper bullet or a missile fired on their home from an Israeli army tank or F-16 fighter jet did not kill them.
Those who can, are thankful that their homes have not yet been demolished (only 6 homes in Bethlehem this week), or their homes were not raided by Israeli soldiers who rampaged all their furniture, shooting bullets and destroying all their belongings, and blow up their walls (tens of homes in Bethlehem this week).
Those who can, are thankful that they or other members of their family have not been arrested and taken to unknown places with no access to anyone (tens of Palestinians from Bethlehem this week).
Those who are able to, are thankful that no one in their family has fallen ill. It would take hours, at best, to arrange for an ambulance to pick a sick person these days, not counting the other hours that are wasted by Israeli troops stopping ambulances in the streets.
Those who can, are thankful for telephone lines that connect them to their family and their loved ones. We have not been able to see our parents for a week and we live less than a mile away. We are truly thankful for the telephone line.
Those who can, are thankful that their lands have not yet been confiscated for illegal settlement buildings, which continue to grow and expand at a faster pace, in front of our eyes, as we sit imprisoned in our homes.
We are thankful for the many friends from different parts of this world that have either called or have written to us letters of prayer and support.
We are thankful for the growing number of people around the world and within Israel itself that have come to the realization that security for Israel can only be achieved if justice is given to the Palestinians.
Most of all we are thankful for the hope that we continue to have. Hope in seeing this brutal occupation end for our sake and for the sake of our Israeli neighbors. Hope in seeing a free and democratic Palestinian state established where the rights of all are respected and honored and where every Palestinian has the right to live. Hope in seeing the two peoples of this Holy Land treat each other as equals, with equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal freedoms.
If we did not have hope then we would not have much to be thankful for.
-Photo by Palestinian photojournalist, Mahfouz Abu Turk for PalestineChronicle.com
-Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 11:17 pm Post subject: Fact-Finding Peace Activists Banned from Reaching Settlement
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http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021128171756222
Fact-Finding Peace Activists Banned from Reaching Settlements in Hebron
Thursday, November 28 2002 @ 05:17 PM GMT
"According to organizers of the visit, 25 anti-settlement activists were met by a large number of Israeli police at .."
HEBRON, West Bank - Israeli Occupation Forces prevented Wednesday a group from the Israeli anti-settlement movement Peace Now from visiting an area in the West Bank city of Hebron where Jewish settlers are building new outposts in violation of international law.
According to organizers of the visit, 25 anti-settlement activists were met by a large number of Israeli police at the “Gush Etzion” junction, who prevented them from continuing their trip.
The fact-finding panel wanted “to inspect the facts on the ground built virtually overnight by the settlers in Hebron,” according to a Peace Now statement issued on Tuesday night.
“The settlers have openly declared that they were taking matters in their own hands and implementing (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon’s proposal to expand the Hebron settlements,” the statement added.
Earlier this month, Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon told the army in Hebron to oust Palestinians and establish what he called demographic “territorial [Jewish] continuity” between the illegal settlement of “Kiryat Arba” and the small Jewish settlement enclave piercing the heart of the Old City.
In effect, Sharon had called for a de facto annexation of Palestinian land to link the area colonized by Jewish settlers in the Old City with the nearby illegal settlement in the West Bank City of Hebron, to include Al-Haram Al-Ibrahimi, which Jews refer to as the tomb of the Patriarchs.
The international community regards all Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory as illegal and rogue outposts are also considered illegal under Israeli law.
-Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 11:18 pm Post subject: Israelis Kill Palestinian Ramadan Drummer
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http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021128184601432
Israelis Kill Palestinian Ramadan Drummer
Thursday, November 28 2002 @ 06:46 PM GMT
"Anatur was hit by several bullets as, following tradition, he went from door to door waking up fellow-Muslims for the Ramadan pre-dawn meal .."
NABLUS, West Bank - Israeli troops shot dead a Palestinian Ramadan drummer, or mesaharati, early Wednesday, November 28, near the autonomous Palestinian city of Nablus as he was waking up Muslims for their pre-dawn meals.
Jihad Anatur, 24, died when Israeli soldiers opened fire at him in the Askar refugee camp, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
Anatur, the youngest of five brothers and one sister, was hit by several bullets as, following tradition, he went from door to door waking up fellow-Muslims for the Ramadan pre-dawn meal.
He was accompanied by a colleague, Raed Motab, 28, who said that Anatur kept bleeding and asking for help, but the Israeli soldiers didn’t allow anyone to administer first aid to him.
“We were walking between houses to wake people up, and suddenly around eight Israeli soldiers who were hiding behind a car attacked us with their guns and ordered us to stop,” Motab told AFP.
They shot Anatur, and then did not allow me to move towards him, asking me to lift my clothes and then they handcuffed me and took my identity card, he added.
Motab was then beaten and taken inside the camp. He was later releasey heard Anatur’s screams for help for almost half an hour, but no one could approach because the Israelis imposed a curfew immediately after killing Anatur.
“I will not work as drummer again, not after the killing of Anatur,” Motab said.
-IslamOnline & News Agencies (islamonline.net). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 11:19 pm Post subject: Sharon Rejects Voicing Opposition to Transfer
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http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=2002112819511714
Sharon Rejects Voicing Opposition to Transfer
Thursday, November 28 2002 @ 07:51 PM GMT
"The Americans decided to deliver the Jordanian message to Israel at a high official level, explained a top Jordanian official.."
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rejected a Jordanian request that Israel issue a public declaration opposing the ‘transfer’ of Palestinians from the West Bank in case of a US-led war on Iraq, the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz reported Thursday.
Ha’aretz reported that Jordanian officials have voiced concern recently about the possibility that Israel might exploit an American attack on Iraq to expel masses of Palestinians from the West Bank to Jordan.
Senior Jordanian officials, such as foreign minister Marwan Al-Mua’sher, have raised this concern in talks with Israeli and American counterparts, asking for assurances that Israel will refrain from implementing transfer policies, long supported by many Israeli leaders and officials.
Mua’sher brought up the concern last September at the United Nations in New York in talks with former Israeli foreign minister Shimon Peres.
The Jordanian official asked for a formal Israel announcement renouncing transfer and demanded that the declaration come directly from Sharon.
The request reached Sharon but he rejected it, Ha’aretz said.
According to Israeli sources, Sharon refused to be involved in any discussions about transfer. “[Sharon] took exception to the Jordanians raising such a suspicion about him.” An Isareli source said.
The Americans decided to deliver the Jordanian message to Israel at a high official level, explained a top Jordanian official.
US President George Bush and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice raised the issue in their meetings with Sharon in Washington last month.
William Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, who visited the region last October, told Israeli officials that the Jordanian officials had expressed fears about mass expulsion of Palestinians during a coming war against Iraq.
The Jordanian official quoted remarks made by Israeli officials in favor of transfer, and cited poll results that indicate a measure of public support for the idea.
But it seems that the Jordanians have refrained from raising the transfer issue in public due to the assurances they received from Washington, top Israeli officials speculated.
-Palestine Media Center (http://www.palestine-pmc.com/). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 11:37 pm Post subject: Both sides must denounce all acts of terrorism
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Both sides must denounce all acts of terrorism
Posted on November 15, 2002
A day doesn't go by that I don't hear someone accuse Arabs and Palestinians of failing to denounce acts of terrorism.According to these critics, all we ever do is blame everything on Israel and find excuses to explain away Palestinian terrorism and the terrorism of such groups as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Saddam Hussein and the No. 1 terrorist, Osama bin Laden.Well, they are wrong. Again.Nearly every major Palestinian and Arab-American leader denounced the Sept. 11 terrorism of bin Laden without reservation. But does that mean we don't have the right to challenge American government violations of civil rights?We have denounced and continue to denounce other acts of terrorism, such as the most recent suicide attack that took the lives of five Israelis, including several children, at Kibbutz Metzer. But the same people who criticize Palestinians and Arabs are silent when the victims are Palestinian children. They do everything to justify the Israeli government's murder of innocent Palestinians, including children, too.So, here is my public statement on suicide bombings, Palestinian terrorism, a statement that has been issued, reissued and repeated, but often ignored by this country's pro-Israel media. Let's see how many people cut this out and put it on their refrigerators:I thought you should hear my views directly from me, views that have been consistent and do not fall into the category of excuses. Yes, I do believe Palestinians are victims of Israeli government terrorism, but I do not associate the one as a means of justifying the other.So, here are my views, on the record and distributable to everyone. I am the former national president of the Palestinian American Congress, a member of the National Palestinian American Congress board of directors, publisher of an English-language Arab-American newspaper and a columnist:I condemn and denounce in the strongest terms the vicious murder of the five civilians in Kibbutz Metzer, not just because this settlement has maintained good relations with its Palestinian neighbors, but because this was an outright act of violence. It is a horrendous crime. The killer or killers are not martyrs but murderers. They do not represent the Palestinian people, and those who sent them on this mission are as guilty as the killers themselves. I blame Hamas and Islamic Jihad as two organizations that are engaged in acts of terrorism and that promote and use suicide bombings as a despicable weapon.Those who encourage individuals to become suicide bombers are heartless cowards. Their actions are doing more damage to the Palestinian cause than any other single source.I and many Palestinians and Arabs are opposed to all acts of violence. We speak out against all acts of violence. We denounce violence by Palestinian terrorists as well as violence by Israeli terrorists, such as by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The Likud Party is a party of terrorism, not peace. It is an organization founded in the terrorism of the Irgun and Stern gang, and it has been their platform since its inception to reject all forms of land-for-peace compromise with the Palestinians.But Israel's terrorism does not justify terrorism by the Palestinians. Just as I expect Israelis to resist and fight terrorism against them, I expect my Palestinian people to stand up and resist the terrorism of the current Israeli government, until a new government is established that will pursue peace, not continued bloodshed, death, murder and violence.Where are the voices of Israeli leaders who have the courage to stand up and denounce terrorism by Sharon against the Palestinian civilians?Where?• Send e-mail to rayhanania@aol.com.Ray Hanania is a Palestinian-American author.
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 11:59 pm Post subject: The journey Sadat began in Israel is far from complete
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> http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_15-11-2002_pg4_14
>
The journey Sadat began in Israel is far from complete
> By Caroline Drees
The article by Caroline Drees, about Anwar Sadat, requires comment.
Ms. Drees says:
> It [Anwar Sadat’s peace efforts] didn't give back rights to the Arabs and the Palestinians,
This repeats the standard weird oversight about Anwar Sadat. The article fails to mention that Egypt’s “separate peace” was firmly linked to US and Israeli promises of Palestinian “autonomy,” leading toward statehood and the Palestinian right of return.
The price Israel and the US paid for Sadat’s peace was a solid “timetable” for autonomy, with firm guarantees of statehood, and full respect for Palestinian rights. That was the very first – and last – instance of any serious political gain for the Palestinians. It was the first time Palestinian rights, and the fulfillment of those rights, were placed before Western populations at all.
It is inexcusable that this MOST crucial fact is commonly left out of journalistic “analysis” of Sadat.
The reality – the linkage between Egypt’s separate peace and Palestinian rights – is one among several historic milestone moments when a viable resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict was simply allowed to whither on the vine, in absolute betrayal of excellent peace efforts by the “Arab” side. As soon as Sadat, himself, was gone, Israel, the US, and a compromised Egyptian government absolutely betrayed Palestinian rights, along with final peace.
Though Sadat is understandably reviled for his luxurious Western lifestyle, his personal success with Western leaders and journalists gave him special power. Combined with that, Sadat – this “urbane,” almost Western gentleman – actually attacked Israeli occupation troops and took them by such surprise as to shake the world.
Sadat’s bold play pushed the Cold War to nuclear tensions. It also forced Israel to run to the US for quick rescue – proving to one and all that Israel was NOT “independent” or self-sustaining, but was a spoiled and domineering pet.
Though quick aid by the US helped Israel recover most of its losses, Sadat still retained the high ground of moral and strategic advantage. He played ALL his advantages into the tight focus of peace negotiations, like a very good chess player.
His plan had only one fatal flaw: it depended on Sadat himself to press it through. It required him to survive.
Until shown convincing proof to the contrary, we must assume that Israeli and/or US intelligence assassinated Anwar Sadat, using “Islamic extremists” as the standard cover, even then.
So the Israeli advantage – the separate peace with Egypt – was retained, while the other side of the contract – the solid timetable for Palestinian rights – was folded neatly, decoratively placed in a pocket of one of Sadat’s fancy suits, and buried with him.
If Sadat was a traitor or a fool, it is only because he was wrong to trust Israel and the US that much.
He did all he could. I don’t idolize him at all, but it is true.
We should also note that the Palestine linkage Sadat held so central has been the central theme of every US-Israeli war on Palestine and its neighbors.
Sadat’s 1973 war was an extension of the 1967 war – the second great spin-off war from the initial race-war against Palestine, which reached flared in 1948 and continues to this day. In the next spin-off war, after ‘73, Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the linkage was brutally obvious: the whole point was to kill off Palestinian nationhood once and for all, by killing as many Palestinians as possible, including the national leaders – and trying to embroil the survivors into semi-permanent “civil war,” with US-Israeli equipped Phalangist pretenders, in a destabilized Lebanon. The next spin-off was “The War in the Gulf I,” in 1991. The same linkage was central then too, as Saddam Hussein repeatedly offered to honor a UN resolution and peacefully leave Kuwait, in the context of talks that would place equal emphasis on equivalent UN resolutions against Israel. It is the same crucial linkage Osama bin Laden is seen to have made between Afghanistan, 9/11, and Palestine. It is the same linkage that the best Arab voices are pressing now between Iraq and Israel.
And this is the “linkage” that US “anti-war” leaders consistently pretend to “not see,” as they protest war on Iraq, war on Afghanistan, and war on Iraq again, all the while honoring the Zionist code-of-silence about Palestine.
In her article, Ms. Drees uses a common Palestinian expression which ironically promotes that cover-up:
> after the Intifada began
The Second Intifada is an eternal cause for Palestinian national pride, but the monotonous use of the term creates the false impression that the Palestinians have initiated and controlled the violence of the past two years.
In reality, Sharon went to the Haram al Sharif to initiate the most brazen campaign of Zionist genocide since 1948 and 1982. Israel’s provocations and over-reactions – and its many new precedents in center-stage Western barbarism against “third world” men, women, and children – have led this conflict all the time. The Palestinians’ inconceivably brave resistance and counter-attacks deserve to be honored as the “Second Intifada,” but the past two years of violence should be named for what it is: an undisguised campaign of ethnic-cleansing, in the familiar Zionist plan.
Finally, Ms. Drees quotes “George, a 35-year-old Egyptian handyman,” saying:
> "But anyone with brains knows he [Anwar Sadat] was seeking peace, and had Arafat
> followed his example, the Palestinians would have a state today and
> live in peace."
This unpretentious blather might be selected to deceive, but it’s probably just a bit of cuteness, suitable for the “conclusion of an article,” in typically pat journalistic patter, perfectly blithe to the gore that results.
In reality, no one could have picked up where Sadat was stopped. Sadat was in no way a heroic “example.” He did real things, and created a momentum for peace that could not be stopped as long as he was alive, but which totally depended on his survival – or on US-Israeli honor and interest in peace.
Dave Kersting
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>
>
> http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_15-11-2002_pg4_14
>
> The journey Sadat began in Israel is far from complete
>
> By Caroline Drees
>
> Pledging to go to the end of the world in search of peace, Egypt's
> late President Anwar Sadat boarded a plane to Israel on November 19,
> 1977 to shake hands with his foes after four devastating Arab-
> Israeli wars.
>
> Twenty-five years later, the journey Sadat began has ground to a
> shuddering halt. In central Cairo, a man sells charcoal sketches of
> political leaders — but his Sadat portraits aren't doing well these
> days, he says.
>
> Only one picture of Sadat hangs on the whitewashed wall, flanked by
> a sketch of an angry Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian president, and
> dwarfed by four pictures of Sadat's predecessor Gamal Abdel Nasser,
> the hardline hero of pan-Arab nationalists.
>
> "Nasser pictures are much more popular than Sadat. I sell something
> like four times as many Nasser sketches," he said. For most
> Egyptians, the reason is obvious.
>
> Ties between Egypt and the Jewish state are frostier than ever since
> the neighbours signed a peace treaty in 1979, and the goal of a
> comprehensive peace in the volatile region remains elusive.
>
> Arab anger at Israel is at a boil, not least thanks to continued
> Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, a steady diet of
> government rhetoric and heavy media coverage of a Palestinian
> uprising which erupted in September 2000 after peace talks
> collapsed.
>
> Even in Egypt, once seen as a beacon of hope for Arab-Israeli
> harmony, frustration is rife. With television stations beaming non-
> stop footage into every home of Israeli tanks bulldozing Palestinian
> towns, the vast majority of Egyptians have stopped viewing Israel as
> a partner for peace. "There was hope for peace when Sadat went to
> Israel, but there is no hope now," said 54-year-old Cairo shopkeeper
> Farouk Mohamed Ibrahim. "Arab national feeling is like a volcano
> now."
>
> Dashed hopes: While authorities have been able to keep protests
> largely under control in Egypt, anger at Israel and its U.S. allies
> has led to violent demonstrations and sporadic anti-American attacks
> in various Arab countries, including Jordan — the only other Arab
> state which has a peace treaty with Israel. Hassan Nafaa, the head
> of the political science department at Cairo University, said
> Egyptians were still glad the peace treaty spared them another war,
> but were now convinced Israel was an expansionist state that didn't
> want peace.
>
> "Hopes were high in 1977. Sadat raised people's expectations to a
> very high level. But when people saw it wasn't so easy, hopes came
> crashing down. We were at the top of the mountain, and crashed to
> hell, and we are in hell right now," he said.
>
> The mood is a far cry from the hopes Sadat expressed before his trip
> and in his memorable speech to the Israeli parliament or Knesset,
> which set the stage for full-fledged peace talks between the
> adversaries, leading to Israel's withdrawal from Egypt's Sinai
> peninsula, occupied in the 1967 war.
>
> "I state in all seriousness that I am prepared to go to the end of
> the world — and Israel will be surprised to hear me tell you that I
> am ready to go to their home, to the Knesset itself...," Sadat told
> Egypt's parliament on November 9, 1977. "When the bells of peace
> ring there will be no hands to beat the drums of war," Sadat told
> the Knesset less than two weeks later in his dramatic speech on
> November 20.
>
> Today, many Egyptians and Arabs accuse Sadat of abandoning the
> Palestinians by signing what they consider a "separate peace" with
> Israel, and some say Egypt's treaty gave the Jewish state a free
> hand to invade Lebanon and step up settlements in Palestinian areas
> because Egypt was out of the equation.
>
> Many say the treaty, so admired outside the Arab world, paved the
> way for today's regional strife because they say Sadat misread
> Israel as willing to duplicate the land-for-peace swap elsewhere. A
> hero and a visionary to some, Sadat is reviled by others as the man
> who sold out to Israel. Two years after signing the treaty, Sadat
> was assassinated by Islamic militants. "It (Sadat's trip) was a
> failure in every sense. It lost the Arabs what (weapons) they
> possessed, weakened their position and took attention away from
> other choices. It didn't give back rights to the Arabs and the
> Palestinians," said Egyptian Islamist lawyer Montasser Zayat.
>
> Some Egyptians say they had become so accustomed to peace they had
> all but forgotten the suffering and humiliation of their defeats by
> Israel.
>
> "Back when Sadat went to Israel people were relieved. People were
> glued to the TV. After so many wars with Israel, after losing the
> Sinai and with the economy in tatters, they saw this a last chance
> to revive Egypt," said one Egyptian intellectual.
>
> "Today, people talk differently, saying the peace has brought them
> nothing. But they forget what it brought them, and what price they'd
> have to pay if they gave it up. Talk is cheap, but nobody here is
> really willing to foot the bill."
>
> Frosty ties: On Cairo's bustling Tahrir Square, the Safir travel
> agency still offers daily bus trips to Israel in big red letters,
> even though the service stopped running roughly two years ago.
>
> "Since the Intifada, there have been no buses to Israel. Buses used
> to be daily. They were popular and the trip was easy. But not
> anymore," the travel agent said. "We still have a few tourists ask
> occasionally, but we have to tell them the trips have stopped."
>
> Ties between Egypt and Israel, while never truly warm, turned icy
> after the Intifada began, with Egypt withdrawing its ambassador and
> later halting all but diplomatic relations.
>
> The Israeli Academic Centre in Cairo, which seeks to promote
> educational ties between the two countries, is one of the casualties
> of the tense political climate. "The Intifada did a lot of damage in
> the sense of how many scholars and students come to the centre. The
> numbers fell dramatically. People don't feel comfortable coming
> now," said David Kushner, the director of the centre.
>
> "On some days, no Egyptians come at all," he said, while the only
> Egyptian in sight at the centre was a member of staff. Analysts say
> the continued regional tensions have widened a traditional gap
> between Sadat fans and those who revere Nasser. Many say the
> Intifada has shifted the balance in Nasser's favour.
>
> "People become more linked to the Nasserite era when they watch the
> atrocities committed by Israel on television. They think Sadat was
> too pro-American, too pro-Israel, and think the only way to deal
> with them is through the policies pursued by Nasser," Cairo
> University's Nafaa said.
>
> "Add to that economic difficulties at home and feelings that no
> political reform is in sight, and people begin to dream about a
> perceived golden era of the past," he said.
>
> Lingering hope: At the Israeli Academic Centre, Kushner says the
> situation is at a low point, but far from desperate. He said
> relations had gone through ups and downs before, and there were
> indications that things were picking up.
>
> "The fact that Egyptian students are still studying Hebrew, Hebrew
> literature and topics related to Judaica, the fact that the number
> of visitors at the centre is picking up again a bit — these are all
> hopeful signs," he said.
>
> For George, a 35-year-old Egyptian handyman, it's only a matter of
> time and education before people learn to appreciate his idol Sadat.
>
> "Some people say Sadat went to Israel to find a solution to the
> region's problems, others say he went for his own benefit and was
> abandoning the Palestinians," he said.
>
> "But anyone with brains knows he was seeking peace, and had Arafat
> followed his example, the Palestinians would have a state today and
> live in peace." —Reuters
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2002 2:47 pm Post subject: UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021129201627434
Remembering the UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Friday, November 29 2002 @ 08:16 PM GMT
"Since the collapse of the July 2000 Camp David peace summit between Israel and the PLO, Israeli governments have renewed a campaign of de- legitimization of the Palestinian people's struggle for fundamental rights and the implementation of international law and UN resolutions .."
OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (BADIL) - Fifty- five years ago, the United Nations General Assembly voted for a proposal to partition Palestine into a "Jewish" and an "Arab State" (UNGA Resolution 181/1947) in violation of international law and against the express wish of the majority of Palestine's inhabitants - thereby violating the right of self- determination of the Palestinian/Arab people.
Thirty years later, while still grappling with the protracted "Israeli-Palestinian conflict" it had helped to create, the same United Nations declared 29 November the UN Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination (UNGA Resolution 32- 40B/1977). Today, 55 years after the UN partition resolution and subsequent UN efforts at peace-making, the Palestinian people continue to live in an environment characterized by exile and forced displacement, increasing racism and an emerging Israeli apartheid regime. What future is there for the Palestinian people? What future is there for international solidarity with the Palestinian people's struggle for freedom, justice and a durable peace?
Since the collapse of the July 2000 Camp David peace summit between Israel and the PLO, Israeli governments have renewed a campaign of de- legitimization of the Palestinian people's struggle for fundamental rights and the implementation of international law and UN resolutions. In February 2001, Israel's Sharon government, encouraged by a passive and strongly biased international community, set out to launch an all-out military attack against Palestinian infrastructure and the political leadership in the 1967 occupied territories. By November 2002, with only two more months in office, this government has accomplished its immediate objectives.
As of 29 November 2002, the 25th anniversary of the International Day in Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Israel's occupation army has effectively re-taken direct military control over all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as a result of a series of brutal military operations (code-named 'Journey of Colors', 'Defensive Wall', 'Chain Reaction', a.o.). Freedom of movement between cities, towns and refugee camps is virtually non-existent; around-the-clock curfews have effectively placed under house- arrest one million Palestinians in the West Bank for most of the time since April 2002; some 250,000 Palestinian children have been unable to reach schools since September 2002 (UNICEF); between 60 and 80 percent of the population live on less than US $2 a day; Palestinian institutions, including many ministries, hospitals and media are defunct or inaccessible for the population; and, even the symbols of Palestinian self-rule have vanished from the ground.
Racial Discrimination
In the 1967 occupied Palestinian territories the Israeli government continues to advance policies and underwrite practices - including the expansion of colonies (i.e. settlements), confiscation of Palestinian land, destruction of agricultural crops and demolition of Palestinian homes - that aim to permanently alter the area's demographic, ethno-national composition. Palestinian civilians, moreover, have born the brunt - in lives, injuries, damage to homes and properties etc. - of Israel's military campaign to suppress the Palestinian uprising and struggle for freedom. There is no apparent distinction between civilian and combatant in Israel's self-declared 'war on terrorism,' which has left approximately 1,800 Palestinians and 400 Israeli civilians dead, more than 20,000 Palestinians injured, and some 8,000 in Israeli detention centers. Israel's profiling of an entire population based on their ethno-national character is not limited to the 1967 occupied territories. Over the past year the Israeli government has adopted policies that have led to further isolation and marginalization of Palestinian citizens of the state. These policies include suspension of family reunification; consideration of new laws that further restrict Palestinian access to land; the reactivation of a Council for Demography to study mechanisms to increase the Jewish population relative to the Palestinian population; establishment of new Jewish settlements to alter the demography in the Galilee and Naqab; a.o. These policies are accompanied by a campaign to target outspoken Palestinian political leaders and an unprecedented wave of incitement for the expulsion of the Palestinian people: "Israel is a country in which the streets are plastered with posters calling for a population transfer, and nobody bothers to remove them or to indict those who put them up." (Gideon Levy, Ha'aretz, 9 September 2002).
Refugees
The outcome and continuing impact of Israel's system of racial discrimination since 1947/8 has been the creation of millions of refugees and displaced persons. Today, it is estimated that more than two-thirds (6 million) of the Palestinian people are displaced. While Palestinians owned over 90% of the land in mandatory Palestine on the eve of the 1948 war, today Palestinians have access to just ten percent of their land in Israel and the 1967 occupied territories. The Palestinian people constitute one of the largest and longest standing unresolved cases of displacement in the world today. Current Israeli "transfer" schemes - whether implemented in the shadow of a US-led war against Iraq or without such a war - must be considered in this context.
Apartheid
Israel's system of racial discrimination has not only engendered mass displacement and dispossession of the majority of the Palestinian people, it has also engendered a system of physical separation characterized by segregation and 'bantustanization.' First applied by a military government (1948 - 1966) against the Palestinian population that had remained in Israel, this system was replicated in the West Bank and Gaza Strip following Israel's military occupation in 1967. Today, the West Bank is divided into some 64 non-contiguous zones surrounded by 46 permanent checkpoints and 126 roadblocks. Israel has introduced a segregated road system transforming all major roads into roads for Jews only. Since May 2002 Palestinian residents need special permits, issued by Israel's military government, for travel between Palestinian cities and between the various 'zones' or 'bantustans.' The culmination of the idea of segregation is unfolding in the form of the separation zone ('wall') that is to eventually close entry and exit to Palestinian populated areas of the West Bank from the north to the south. The Gaza Strip is already surrounded by a similar fence.
What Future for the Palestinian People?
In the context of continued racial discrimination and forced displacement the Palestinians people is facing a future of life and struggle under apartheid. While the establishment of a full-fledged apartheid regime might not constitute the preferred option for many Israelis concerned about the 'democratic character of the Jewish state', it is the most likely scenario by default. Apartheid is the future scenario, because neither will a future Likud-led government (most likely) be able to rid Israel of the presence of the Palestinian people by military force, nor will a Labor-led government (less likely) under former General Amram Mitzna have the courage to radically alter Israel's strategy and create the conditions required for a two-state solution, i.e. a full withdrawal from the 1967 occupied territories, the dismantling of all Jewish colonies containing some 400,000 settlers and the re- admission, restitution and compensation of all those Palestinian refugees choosing to exercise their right of return (UN Resolution 194).
Apartheid is the future scenario of the Palestinian people also because official international efforts for ending the current crisis and re-launching political negotiations between Israel and the PLO continue to fail to address the root causes (military occupation, displacement, denial of the right to self- determination) of the conflict between the Palestinian people and Zionist Israel. Rich in stages, time tables and demands for reform of the Palestinian leadership, and promising recognition of a 'temporary Palestinian state without borders' by late 2003, the latest 'road map' drafted by 'Quartet' (United States, European Union, Russia, United Nations) is no more likely to succeed than the earlier US-led 'Mitchell-Tenet-Zinni process.' This because also the Quartet's initiative avoids one of the most important lessons to be drawn from comparative research of international peace- making, i.e. the fact that peace plans must include clear reference to, and enforcement mechanisms for, international law and human rights conventions in order to have a chance of success.
What Future for International Solidarity?
Based on the above, only a broad and globally coordinated campaign against Israel's brand of apartheid, including effective Israel-boycott campaigns and campaigns for the indictment of Israelis responsible for war crimes, can convey a clear message to Israel and official international actors and change the unfavorable balance of forces in favor of universal respect for international law as the foundation for building a just and durable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Palestinian refugees. It is contingent upon all those interested in a comprehensive, just and durable solution of this conflict to return to its roots - i.e. the mass displacement and dispossession of the Palestinian people in 1948 and after. " The refugee issue needs to be placed at the center of the process from where it has mysteriously disappeared," state Israeli political scientist Ilan Pape and his Palestinian colleague Karma Nabulsi. "All those involved in resolving the conflict must have the public courage to confront the Israeli denial of the expulsion and ethnic cleansing at the heart of the Palestinian refugee question. This remains the single largest stumbling block towards a lasting peace between both peoples." (The Guardian, 19 September 2002).
BADIL Resource Center aims to provide a resource pool of alternative, critical and progressive information on the question of Palestinian refugees in our quest to achieve a just and lasting solution for exiled Palestinians based on their right of return. www.badil.org.
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dangerousdna
Joined: 21 Jul 2002
Posts: 13274
Posted: Sat Nov 30, 2002 2:56 pm Post subject: Palestinian Children in the Night
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://palestinechronicle.com/article.php?story=20021129202401385
Palestinian Children in the Night
Friday, November 29 2002 @ 08:24 PM GMT
"A few of the Palestinians standing behind the UNDP representatives slowly walked up behind them and one pulled from a bag what looked like a one meter wooden bat .."
By Sam Bahour
It happened last night. Ramallah was pitch dark and the breeze was cool and brisk. For the first time in as long as I can remember, I was out during the night with my wife and two daughters, Areen, 8 and Nadine, 2. We were taking advantage of the lull in nightly curfews imposed by the Israeli military over the past year. We found ourselves in the midst of a crowd of over 300 cheering Palestinians. Between us and another group of a few dozen Palestinian youth were two United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representatives.
Palestinian child performs in
a local Bethlehem theater
The two representatives were clearly American, in looks and accent. A few of the Palestinians standing behind the UNDP representatives slowly walked up behind them and one pulled from a bag what looked like a one meter wooden bat. Our hearts beating, and before we could clearly make out what was happening, the Palestinian boy holding this object unraveled a most beautiful and colorful Palestinian embroidery piece. The embroidery was attached to a wooden rod and the Palestinian teenager proudly held it up and presented it to the two UNDP representatives as a gift for their support. This was the final few minutes in what was a moving and fabulous one-hour dbut of the Palestinian Folk Vista, by Bara’em El-Funoun, a new generation of the El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe.
Bara’em is Arabic for “buds”. El-Funoun is Arabic for “the arts”. Bara’em El-Funoun is the offshoot of the renowned El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe (www.el-funoun.org), a music and dance ensemble, inspired by universal elements of folk art and their particular expression in Arab-Palestinian popular heritage and folklore. Bara’em El-Funoun is the embodiment of a new generation of dancers, a generation that is determined to safeguard and advance Palestinian culture and heritage through dance, music and song.
We are in the midst of the holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan in Ramallah has historically been marked by joyous evenings during the cool and breezy nights following the breaking of daylight fast. This year is an exception, as was last year. For the last two years the Israeli occupation has stripped all evidence of normal life from Palestinian streets. Whereas the city centers would once have been open for business late into the evening to cater to Ramadan shoppers and holiday-goers, today only a handful of businesses venture to open their doors after nightfall, fearing the volatile security situation and realizing that their patrons prefer to not risk the surprise Israeli raids and patrols within the city.
Last night was different. Over 300 Palestinians were invited to attend the first performance of El-Funoun’s youth dance group. The mere invitation to such an event during these troubled times sparked a deep sense of defiance toward occupation in each of us. It was as if this youth dance group and those organizing them were calling for popular action to counter the Israeli military activities that have brought our cultural lives to a standstill. The action was clearly defined and well planned – a forceful demonstration by way of dance, music and song that Palestinian culture is alive and well, undamaged by Israeli tanks, armored personnel carriers and F-16’s that have permanently scarred each of our streets, neighborhoods and families.
We entered the Ramallah Municipality Hall along with dozens of other families. Parents, children, elders and many friends gathered together in public for the first time in quite a while to celebrate a positive and cheerful event. For us it was a special event too. My wife Abeer was a dancer with the El-Funoun dance troupe back in the late 80’s and my daughter Areen is currently training in dance at classes at the Popular Arts Center (PAC) with great hopes of one day being accepted into the Bara'em troupe and then graduating into the El-Funoun troupe.
This tribute to Palestinian culture came with a story, like most events in Palestine these days. Bara'em members rehearsed most of the Palestinian Folk Vista production during Israeli-imposed military curfews. On one occasion, they were all trying to reach the studio (at the PAC in Al-Bireh, ww.popularartcentre.org) when they suddenly saw an Israeli armored personnel carrier (APC) parked right outside the studio entrance. Khaled, the dance trainer, was with them, and he was terrified that troupe members would be hurt. He bore the millstone of responsibility. After all, it was he who had convinced the parents to let their children challenge the curfew to get to the rehearsals. He panicked, and suddenly, one of the Bara'em girls decided to walk to the entrance despite the presence of that APC. Everyone else followed and they made it to practice! The soldiers did not interfere this time, luckily.
Bara'em’s performance was stunning. The smiles of the dancers were refreshing. As Omar Barghouti, one of the proud choreographers, told me following the event: “Those children became real dancers with power, passion and a very convincing ability to convey the choreographed themes, to entertain and to impress. Our children are not reduced to mere victims, who solicit sympathy; they have a presence that demands solidarity and support. This has been El-Funoun's direction for decades now, and we can finally take pride in passing it on to our next generation of El-Funoun members, Bara'em.”
In the middle of the performance my nephew, Yacoub, 14, took the stage to present a musical solo on the Qanun, a zither-like musical instrument with 26 triple courses of strings and one of the oldest oriental string instruments in Arabic music. As Yacoub fine-tuned his instrument, you could have heard a pin drop while the audience waited in anticipation. My two-year-old daughter seized the opportunity to yell out to her cousin from the middle of the hall, “Yacoub!” It was her way of expressing her excitement of the moment and she brought the entire audience to a warm laugh.
Dance after dance, these young boys and girls dazzled the audience with their agility and outstanding ability to synchronize with the traditional songs depicting the love of life that resides in all Palestinians, a love that appreciates the wonders of nature, respects land and refuses to forget those living in poverty and exile. Each girl dancer wore a traditional embroidered Arabic dress, full of color and full of life. The young boy dancers each wore a simple loose traditional garment reflecting those worn by Palestinian peasants and farmers for hundreds of years.
A scan of the audience brought sadness and hope. A friend, and one of the El-Funoun choreographers, Mrs. Lana Abu Hijleh, sat close to the stage and looked on with a bright smile. This performance was an accomplishment she had a right to be proud of. To see her smile brought hope, especially given that it was only a few weeks ago we paid our respects to her and her family after her mother was murdered by an Israeli solider in the Palestinian City of Nablus as she sat on the porch inside her home stitching an embroidery. I watched other friends enjoying the performance as well, knowing that many of their loved ones were missing from their sides. Instead of being in the audience watching their children culturally flourish, many fathers, brothers and sons instead were languishing in Israeli jails, part of the 7,000 Palestinians arbitrarily arrested over the past two years.
The UNDP, sponsors of this fabulous performance, accepted a gift of embroidery at the end of the event. In making his closing remarks, the UNDP representative was clearly moved by what he had seen – a drop of hope in a sea of despair.
While sitting and watching the performance with my youngest daughter on my lap violently clapping after every dance, I thought to myself, if only our Israeli neighbors could see and feel what we were seeing and feeling. If only the parents of those Israeli soldiers -- not much older than the young Palestinian dancers on stage -- patrolling and occupying our cities could see the energy and determination that was on stage and in the audience. If only my Israeli neighbors could remove the artificial blinders placed on them by their leadership, they would quickly realize that we are a people whose spirit cannot be broken by military occupation. A people whose culture and traditions are deeper than the roots of the olive tress that the Israel bulldozers continue to uproot. If they could only see! If they could only feel!
Before we reached home last night it was announced by the Israeli military that for the next two days Ramallah would be placed under 24-hr military curfew, yet again. It was as if the entire city was being collectively punished for the act of displaying Palestinian culture. Nevertheless, when the curfew is lifted we will send our daughter Areen for her next weekly dance lesson, for we have no time to waste in ending this occupation, so disastrous for us all. Maybe the dance weapon will succeed where everything else so far has failed.
Sam Bahour is a Palestinian-American businessman living in the besieged Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West Bank and can be reached at sbahour@palnet.com. He is co-author of HOMELAND: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (1994).
-Palestine Chronicle (palestinechronicle.com). Redistributed via Press International News Agency (PINA).
