ZGram - 10/29/2001 - "Time for a little straight talk."

[Ingrid Rimland]

Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

October 29, 2001

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Please do me a favor and compliment this Sunday columnist for this article
- because writing in Florida, he is going to get a lot of flak.  Still, the
journalistic integrity we are used to seeing in the British Independent and
lately in the Guardian is beginning to take some roots in America as well.
This one was Published in the St. Petersburg Times on October 24, 2001:

[START]

By BILL MAXWELL   maxwell@sptimes.com

http://www.sptimes.com/News/102401/Columns/The_compatibility_of_.shtml

 How about a little straight talk about the relationship among Israel, the
Palestinians and the United States?

 "The murder of Israel's tourism minister this week was a disturbing
escalation of Palestinian terrorism against Israeli democracy." Thus began
the New York Times' lead editorial of Oct. 19. "The group that claimed
credit for shooting Rehavam Zeevi, the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, has a history of terrorism and opposition to the Oslo peace
agreements," the editorial later comments.

 I maintain that American values should not be confused with those of
Israel, that the Jewish state's policies toward the Palestinians should not
be ours. Before proceeding, I must deconstruct some parts of the Times'
editorial.

 The word "murder" in the first sentence, for example, is meant to evoke
the heinousness of Zeevi's death. Indeed, murder is heinous. The sentence
goes on to say the killing was an act of "Palestinian terrorism against
Israeli democracy." Meant primarily for American consumption, the
implication is that "democracy" itself -- a form of governance that all
Americans can identify with -- is under attack.

 Now to the second quote, which states that the PFLP "has a history of
terrorism and opposition to the Oslo peace agreements." The subtext is that
a group claiming to be fighting for Palestinian autonomy does not want
peace with Israel, which may be right.

 All this sounds logical if we read the editorial in isolation. Although it
later argues for Israeli restraint after Zeevi's shooting, the editorial
misleads by casting the powerful Jewish state as a victim that shares
American values and ideals.

 It suggests that our nation's war against al-Qaida terrorism is the same
as Israel's half-century-old war against the Palestinians.

 The comparison is wrong and dangerous. Yes, Israel is a democracy. But
unlike the United States, it does not have a constitution, thus abrogating
the rule of law. Against the principles of Oslo, Israel's armed settler
population continues to devour Palestinian land. Israel has created a
diaspora inside and outside its borders.

 For decades, the Jewish state has brutalized an entire people, bulldozed
homes, dynamited others, raided neighborhoods with powerful gunships. Do
these state-sponsored actions manifest American values?

 Again, let us talk about "murder" in this troubled part of the world.
Speaking of Zeevi's assassination and Israel's reoccupation of major West
Bank towns, Morton Klein, president of the Zionist Organization of America
said: "Would the U.S. respond with restraint if one of our Cabinet
ministers was murdered by a terrorist? I don't think so."

 On its face, the analogy is ludicrous. I agree that Zeevi was "murdered."
But what is missing in Klein's challenge? Klein, along with Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon, conveniently forgets that Israel has carried out a policy of
"targeted killings" of Palestinian leaders for many years.

 Israel does not call its killings "murder." The Times' editorial does not
mention Israel's "murder" of Palestinians. Euphemisms will not change the
fact that to gun down a stateless Palestinian militant in the doorway of
his home is to "murder" him. To pack a man's cellular phone with
explosives, detonate it and blow off the man's head is to "murder" the
fellow.

 The question, at least to me, is this: If I "murder" your man, should I
expect you to "murder" my man in return? I am not condoning "murder" on
either side. I am saying that "murder" begets "murder," especially in a
region where the rule of law is a Chimera.

 Now, back to the Times' observation that the PFLP has opposed the Oslo
accords from the beginning. Well, guess what? So has Sharon. So did Zeevi,
a powerful conservative who wanted to forcibly remove Palestinians from
Gaza and the West Bank. Sharon's and Zeevi's are not -- or at least should
not be -- American values.

 Alas, however, one of the best ways to determine the values of a nation is
to follow the money. America is Israel's most loyal and vocal international
ally. We hand the Jewish state $270-million in economic aid and about
$2-billion in military aid. How much of this money funds the continued
dehumanization and disenfranchisement of the Palestinian people?

 What does our largess say about our values? What does it say to the
Islamic world? Do we care? This is no time for blind allegiance to past
practices. This is a time for straight talk, fairness and wise action.

[END]

  ====

 Thought for the Day:

  "Asked tonight what the attack meant for relations between the United
States and Israel, Benjamin  Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied:
'It's very good.' Then he edited himself: 'Well, not very good, but it will
generate immediate sympathy.'"

 [New York Times, 12 September 2001, p. A22]