Mazin Qumsiyeh of the excellent Wheels of Justice peace initiative has drafted this list furnishing facts about why good people of conscience everywhere will not be celebrating Israel at its 60th anniversary this month, just as apartheid-era South Africa was not accepted or celebrated. There are many more reasons, and he invites people to add to it.
Israeli psychologist and exile Avigail Abarbanel notes, “If a day comes, and I hope it does, when Israelis decide to stop living in denial, they will have to realise that real peace will only come through justice. Justice in this context means one thing, that the ideal of an exclusively Jewish state at the cost of an entire people might have to be abandoned. Only a bi-national state and a right of return for the Palestinian refugees will come close enough to rectifying some of the injustices committed in 1948 and since. Having been ethnically cleansed, this is also what the Palestinians are entitled to under international law and common human decency.”
The invasion of Iraq, the wanton destruction of Lebanon, the sabre-rattling against Iran ….
See also these recent pieces:
“Just as none of us is outside or beyond geography, none of us is completely free from the struggle over geography. That struggle is complex and interesting because it is not only about soldiers and cannons but also about ideas, about forms, about images and imaginings.”
Edward Said (1994)
"Those who crusade, not for God in themselves, but against
the devil in others, never succeed in making the world better,
but leave it either as it was, or sometimes perceptibly worse
than what it was, before the crusade began. By thinking
primarily of evil we tend, however excellent our intentions,
to create occasions for evil to manifest itself."
-- Aldous Huxley
"The only war that matters is the war against the imagination.
All others are subsumed by it."
-- Diane DiPrima, "Rant", from Pieces of a Song.
"It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there"
-- William Carlos Williams, "Asphodel, That Greeny Flower"
Hello my friend,
I am trying to spread the news about http://peoplesgeography.com/, they are attempting to get one black balloon for every day of the 60 year occupation. They plan to release them on may 15th over Jerusalem. Please spread the word if you are interested.
It took the Israelis much less time than it took us to destroy themselves, but the Israelis have always been aided and abetted by shortsighted American politicians who fear the “anti-semite” label for speaking out. This undoubtedly emboldened the nutjobs in Israel.
The Israel that Ben-Gurion envisioned no longer exists. It has become a police state that treats aboriginal Jews with slightly less disdain than it treats the Arabs within its borders. The Israeli politician who even hints at a different way has as much to fear from the wingnuts within Israel as he or she has from any outside entity. Israel will probably continue on the path its on until the US Government collapses, and their major source of funding dries up. Maybe then, the millions of good hearts in Israel can come to the fore, and some real resolution might begin.
Alas, the America that Jefferson envisioned also doesn’t exist anymore, unfortunately.
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To all the Good Jews.
Who you celebrate the independence from? Did the Palestinians ever occupy you? All what we know that Europe turned on you and you exiled us by force. If you need your independence go after the Germans, Polish, and the many Europeans who killed you.
We will say it loud on May 23 in Chicago that we will never forget. Palestinians are the Key holders of peace. Join the thousands and strengthen the network of the thousands of activists. Express your opinion and let the many panelists know of where Palestine should go. Support our efforts to empower our community and assert the Palestinians right of return. Join the many Palestinian Americans and their supporters in Chicago commemorating the 60th year of the forced exile of the Palestinian people. Be pro active, ask questions to the Panelists and discuss the current event. We must empower ourselves and make a strong network for Justice, Peace and Freedom. Be pro active. Enough talks, actions are required.