Sunday, June 24, 2007

Deja Vu in Palestine





In the mid-nineties after Hamas was established and was working as pretty much the sole provider of social and other services in Palestine, the US and Israel decided that to accomplish their final takeover of what remained of Palestine, they must stage a negotiations process. They did not want to culminate years of brutal occupation by adding an even more brutal genocide to the occupation saga. For their taste, the occupation should end through a negotiated land for peace process that would give Israel most of what it wanted, and the Palestinians just enough of what they could get, that no one would complain anymore that Israel had been less than fair with the people whose land they had illegally occupied for so many years. After all, if the Palestinians were willing to compromise, and it could be made to appear that Israel had also compromised, who could argue that anything unjust, or unfair had taken place.

It’s much like the land deals made between the US settlers and the Native Americans. How often were the Native Americans reminded that their leaders had sold much of the land for beads, guns and firewater, and entered into various agreements that ultimately led to the Native American fate, which was genocide and reservations? Who cared if it was absolutely absurd that negotiations between the white settlers and the Native American would even take place? Most Native Americans probably didn’t even understand English well enough to actually negotiate anything of substance, and there is no proof anywhere that a majority of Native Americans ever agreed to turn nearly all of their land and natural resources over to the settlers, and to voluntarily be placed on reservations. Why would they ever agree to such things? We could argue that they had no idea about the gold, the oil, and the value and importance of the natural resources they owned. We might also argue that rights to fish and hunt and to live undisturbed may have been more meaningful to them at the time, than undeveloped land. What we can’t argue, with any amount of logic or legal and moral thinking to support our argument, is that what ever took place was fair, or just.

The suffering of the Native Americans at the hands of their foreign occupiers is legendary. Billion dollars per year gambling casinos cannot compensate for the massacres, the lies, and the dirty tricks. How much would we have to pay or give back to compensate for the extermination of millions of Native Americans the fake negotiated agreements, and coerced and dishonest peace treaties, shady land exchanges and sales of priceless real estate for beads and booze that stain our US story.

The United States has recognized the evils of the European settlers of this land, their special Indian laws, and deals. We have attempted to wash the Native American blood from our hands with money and apologies that have gone a long way towards relieving our national conscience of the horrors, both real and imagined. Unfortunately there is nothing that we can do to heal the hearts and minds of the Native Americans, who are still struggling to regain their since of humanness and value in spite of our overbearing history, and nationalist pride.

The Oslo peace process was nothing more than an attempt to buy Palestinian land with beads and booze. The only differences between what took place in the US, and what was supposed to take place in Palestine are the geographic location and the race of the victims. Yasser Arafat and his Fatah and PLO were nothing more than drunken Indians, who were willing to give away Palestine in exchange for personal power and prestige, and wealth. Shortly after the US and Israel brought the PLO out of exile from Tunisia, it established a security force that was supposed to bring order to the West bank and Gaza. The first job of the security force was to round up and to arrest all Hamas members, since Israel and the US were planning an election for Yasser Arafat, and he was to have no competitors. Welcome to Palestinian democracy!

Following Arafat’s suspect victory at the Palestinian polls, the news media East and West declared him the legitimate representative for the Palestinian people. This charade took us all the way to Camp David where the big lie failed, resulting in a Palestinian uprising that left thousands of Palestinians dead and prospects for peace shattered by the stark realization that the US and Israel could not be trusted. The Palestinian people realized at that moment that it was not the Israelis that had lacked a peace partner, it was the Palestinians. It was also the Palestinians, and not the Israel’s who simultaneously realized that the PA was created to lend democracy to Israel, to be used as part of its political charade that was intended to lend legitimacy to a failed Camp David peace initiative that was intended to wrestle Jerusalem from Arafat, and to pen the Palestinians on refugee camps, dispersed strategically throughout what was historically Palestine. The reservations would have been called Palestine; its capital would have been Abu Dis. There would be no right of return for the Palestinians living in exile throughout the world, and there was no real solution offered for the millions of Palestinian refugees.

Today, God, history, or fate, whichever one we believe is a superior power, has returned us to the past. Again, the Palestinian leadership is separated between Hamas and Fatah, each on different territory. The US and Israel are making the same choices because they are the only choices available to the types of people who are scripting US and Israeli policies in respect to the Middle East. It doesn’t seem to matter that their very limited vision and dishonest and self-serving objectives are hurting an entire world of people in and outside of the Middle East. Biblical myths, the shameless exploitation of human tragedies, murder and mayhem can only get you so far. Israel, the US and now the EU, who has newly joined this gang of thieves in earnest with its publicly declared support of Mahmoud Abbas and Fatah, will one day get the message that reached Arafat at Camp David. That message is that Palestine is not merely a Palestinian issue. The Al-Aqsa mosque, Jerusalem, and the very nature of the gross injustices of this brutal and illegal occupation cause it to be much more than just another episode of European conquest and colonization.

It is the international and universal nature of this dispute, along with the moral questions it gives rise to, and the potential loss of any respect for law that lessen tremendously the likelihood of Israel’s and the Quartet’s success. As for the Arab governments who have played along, knowing what actually awaits the Palestinians should Israel and its supporters succeed, they should understand that their futures are tied to Palestine’s. If Palestine fails, they also fail, since as one tribe falls, so do they all, eventually. Déjà vu only lasts until we realize that we have seen this all before, and then it ends with a choice to change courses, or to continue down the familiar path.


The New York Times writer, Thomas Friedman wrote some days ago that oil had been discovered in Israel, and that this oil is ingenuity and professional; expertise and entrepreneurial zeal. Oil has also been found in Palestine, and it is symbolized as resistance to occupation, a will to live and survive, and a determination and resolve to be free, and to realize long sought after dreams of sovereignty and prosperity. Palestinian oil is fueling a paradigmatic change that can literally change the world, by ending a certain history, while beginning a new future for us all. Part of Palestine’s guiding vision appears to be an end to the era of European conquest and colonization that has drenched the world in innocent blood, and bad karma. It is symbolized as an end to Déjà vu in Palestine, a new path for the Palestinian people, and also the world.

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Moral voice of America calls for end to Israeli occupation of Palestine


The world demands an end to illegal occupation, racism, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid in Palestine!




Anisa Abd el Fattah

On June 10 and 11, 2007, the people of the United States will gather in Washington DC, the nation’s capital, demanding an end to the 40 year long illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the ethnic cleansing, genocide and apartheid that characterizes this illegal enterprise.

While the governments of the free world continue to betray their trusts to uphold international law, to protect the weak and defenseless against oppression and illegal acts of aggression, genocide and ethnic cleansing, the people of the world are gathering in the major cities throughout the world to demand freedom, and justice for Palestine. It will take more than an opportunistic, and politicized outcry against the situation in Darfur, to mask the blatant hypocrisy and complicity of the EU, the United States, and other governments in the crime of the 20th century, which is the continued and illegal occupation, and genocide in Palestine. We must all ask ourselves how the US government can see so clearly, and feel so passionately about the supposed genocide in Darfur, while it has provided the Israeli with military armaments, and financial support for ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people for years, violating international, and even US law by so doing.

The message being sent by world government hypocrisy, and double standards, and their own racism and culpability, is that if you don’t have oil, the governments of the world couldn’t care less about your rights, or your lives, or the law. And even worse, that racial supremacism, and colonialism is still acceptable in the world against the peoples of Africa and the Middle East, especially if you are Arab or Christian, or Muslim.

On June 10 and 11 the people of the US will speak out against racial supremacism, colonialism, ethnic cleansing, genocide and apartheid in Palestine. June 10 and 11th 2007, the balance of power in this conflict will change. The people of Palestine will no longer stand alone to be victimized by the so called “governments of the free world” and their lackeys. June 10 and 11 2007, in Washington DC, the voice of moral America will cry out in solidarity with Palestine in its demand for freedom, justice and an end to the illegal occupation, racial supremacism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide that is all part of a racist and imperialist attempt to re-colonize the Middle East and Africa.

The moral voice of America will also demand an end to the illegal economic boycott of Palestine, that is part of the Zionist campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestine, and the genocide, and colonization that is taking place there, supported by the US, the EU and other governments, including many of the Arab governments. We pray that the strength of this moral outcry in America, which is a part of the larger and stronger international outcry, will soon lead to freedom for the Palestinian people. We also pray that the crimes of the 20th century against these people will be ended, and as a result, and for the first time in 40 years, there will be a real chance for peace for the peoples of both Israel and Palestine.

Moral voice of America calls for end to Israeli occupation of Palestine


The world demands an end to illegal occupation, racism, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid in Palestine!




Anisa Abd el Fattah

On June 10 and 11, 2007, the people of the United States will gather in Washington DC, the nation’s capital, demanding an end to the 40 year long illegal Israeli occupation of Palestine, and the ethnic cleansing, genocide and apartheid that characterizes this illegal enterprise.

While the governments of the free world continue to betray their trusts to uphold international law, to protect the weak and defenseless against oppression and illegal acts of aggression, genocide and ethnic cleansing, the people of the world are gathering in the major cities throughout the world to demand freedom, and justice for Palestine. It will take more than an opportunistic, and politicized outcry against the situation in Darfur, to mask the blatant hypocrisy and complicity of the EU, the United States, and other governments in the crime of the 20th century, which is the continued and illegal occupation, and genocide in Palestine. We must all ask ourselves how the US government can see so clearly, and feel so passionately about the supposed genocide in Darfur, while it has provided the Israeli with military armaments, and financial support for ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinian people for years, violating international, and even US law by so doing.

The message being sent by world government hypocrisy, and double standards, and their own racism and culpability, is that if you don’t have oil, the governments of the world couldn’t care less about your rights, or your lives, or the law. And even worse, that racial supremacism, and colonialism is still acceptable in the world against the peoples of Africa and the Middle East, especially if you are Arab or Christian, or Muslim.

On June 10 and 11 the people of the US will speak out against racial supremacism, colonialism, ethnic cleansing, genocide and apartheid in Palestine. June 10 and 11th 2007, the balance of power in this conflict will change. The people of Palestine will no longer stand alone to be victimized by the so called “governments of the free world” and their lackeys. June 10 and 11 2007, in Washington DC, the voice of moral America will cry out in solidarity with Palestine in its demand for freedom, justice and an end to the illegal occupation, racial supremacism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide that is all part of a racist and imperialist attempt to re-colonize the Middle East and Africa.

The moral voice of America will also demand an end to the illegal economic boycott of Palestine, that is part of the Zionist campaign to ethnically cleanse Palestine, and the genocide, and colonization that is taking place there, supported by the US, the EU and other governments, including many of the Arab governments. We pray that the strength of this moral outcry in America, which is a part of the larger and stronger international outcry, will soon lead to freedom for the Palestinian people. We also pray that the crimes of the 20th century against these people will be ended, and as a result, and for the first time in 40 years, there will be a real chance for peace for the peoples of both Israel and Palestine.