In Pursuit of Justice

That’s right!!! Those are not my words…an Israeli minister actually came out and used those words?  Check it out for yourselves.

Here’s the funny part…I first read this a couple of hours ago on BBC News, but the article has since been changed to take exclude any reference to the term “holocaust”.  Again, check it out for yourselves.  You can google “Israel Holocaust Gaza” and the original title “Israel warns of Gaza Holocaust” will come up.  Is BBC that scared of the Zionist propaganda machine ??!!

Back to Gaza…what will it take to stop the tragedy unfolding before the world’s eyes?!  When will people wake up??  People, please wake up and do something!! 

This recent article by Tom Segev published in Haaretz offers some interesting information, in the form of three short segments - all related to the racism of the Zionist state.

The first one provides a brief history of the origin of the “Jewish people” as seen from one professor’s perspective. I am not a historian so I will not comment on the accuracy of the information, but I will note that the Quran does refer to the ‘People of Israel’ and mentions their exodus from Egypt in the time of Pharoah. The second is a funny story yet eye-opening story which is posted below, and the third is a short reflection on the American identity crisis.  Check it out here, excerpts below:

Great article by Amira Hass, check it out here…excerpts below:

For an entire day, the Israel Defense Forces raised the level of hysteria in Israel by announcing they were preparing for the possibility that thousands of Gazans would try to break through the checkpoints. It is easy now for the army to say that the breakthrough did not occur only because of the warnings that Hamas would be held responsible for the blood that would be shed. But anyone who is attentive to the Palestinians as an occupied people rather than as “an intelligence objective” (which openly provided the information that women and children would demonstrate against the siege on Monday), was aware they did not have a plan to topple the barriers at the Erez and Karni crossing points.

The well-publicized army preparations had a racist subtext: Look how Hamas is prepared to send children and women to absorb the bullets. In other words, Hamas is indifferent to people’s lives and can also
set them in motion like pawns. But even the youngsters who two days ago threw stones at the Erez checkpoint walls, thus putting themselves in danger of being shot at and hit by the IDF, and who were arrested, did not do so because someone had “sent” them. In contrast to Israel, the Palestinians do not have compulsory military
service. Everyone who puts himself in danger of dying in what appears to him and his society as the national struggle against the occupation, does so not because “the state” obliges him to do so and sends him but rather because that is what he chooses to do.

Continue here

I’m so sick of all the hype about Speilberg and the China Olympics (almost as sick as I was about the whole Clooney campaign)…this article really puts the issue in perspective.  Excerpts below:

Hollywood director Steven Spielberg has withdrawn as artistic adviser to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing because China has failed to pressure Sudan to end the war in Darfur.

But while Spielberg wants China to use its influence in Khartoum, he has released no statements, of which I’m aware, to press Washington to use its influence to end the larger humanitarian catastrophes in Somalia and Iraq, both of which are directly attributable to the actions of his own country, and therefore should be well within the grasp of the US government to end.

China’s ability to end the Darfur conflict, however, is a far more uncertain matter.

Three of the five rebel groups fighting Sudanese forces in Darfur are unwilling to negotiate a peace, according to the UN’s special envoy to Darfur, Jan Eliasson. (3) This makes it difficult for Khartoum, let alone China, to bring an end to the conflict, unless ending the conflict means Khartoum capitulating and handing Darfur and its oil assets to the rebels and their Western backers. This, of course, would suit strategists in the US State Department, to say nothing of the US oil industry.

By comparison, ending the much larger humanitarian catastrophes in Somalia (with 850,000 displaced, Somalia has been called Africa’s largest and most ignored catastrophe) and Iraq (four million refugees and hundreds of thousands dead as a result of the US invasion) is directly within the capability of Washington. (4)

The US simply has to order Ethiopia, which it directed to illegally invade Somalia in December 2006, to withdraw. (5) If the Ethiopians balk, cutting off the rich flow of military aid Washington rewards the Meles regime with, will exert needed pressure. (6)

As regards the tragedy of Iraq, there can be no greater ameliorative act than immediate withdrawal of foreign troops.

In the fall of 2002, Spielberg said he “could not not support” the Bush administration’s policies on Iraq (8). Today, he seeks to embarrass China over Sudan, another oil-rich country Washington seeks regime change in. And as far a Spielberg is concerned, the US-authored humanitarian catastrophes in Somalia and Iraq are best ignored. Are these the actions of a humanitarian, or of a chauvinist whose concern for the suffering of others stops at the door of, and indeed caters to, US ruling class interests?

I don’t usually like throwing around charged words like “genocide” and ”Holocaust”, but I think this editorial makes some very good points and provides an overview on the seriousness of the tragedy in Gaza and the rest of occupied Palestine.  Excerpts below: 

Many years ago racist invaders occupied my family’s country, my people were subject to brutality, dispossession, torture and killing - several hundred thousand of my people died out of a population of the order of a million. Our homes and lands were taken so that, even if permitted to return, refugees would have nothing to return to. Several years ago the European Union approved our dispossession.

My family was Palestinian, you say?

No. In 1944 the German Nazis invaded Hungary, 0.2 million out of 0.7 million Jewish Hungarians were killed and many of the survivors fled immediately after 1945 or during the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. In 2004 Hungary entered the EU with the EU approval of the permanent dispossession of Jewish Hungarian victims of Nazism and thence Communism. Our lands and homes have been simply given to others. Indeed a relative reported visiting one such property in the heart of Budapest – it was converted into 4 apartments decorated with paintings and photographs of our family members for the amusement of total strangers.

Comparison of the Palestinian Genocide and the Jewish Holocaust in Hungary is appropriate. The Jewish Holocaust occurring in Hungary in 1944 -1945 killed 0.2 million out of a total Jewish Hungarian population of 0.7 million (see: Gilbert, M. (1969), Jewish History Atlas (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London).

Gilbert, M. (1982), Atlas of the Holocaust (Michael Joseph, London). The survivors who fled as refugees remain permanently dispossessed with EU, UK and US approval.

The Palestinian Genocide involved invasion, occupation, disempowerment, dispossession, violence, ethnic cleansing and (within the Holy Land) post-1967 excess deaths totalling 0.3 million out of an average 1967-2008 Occupied Palestinian territory population of 1.8 million. The survivors who fled as refugees remain permanently dispossessed with EU, US, UK and US-lackey Australian approval.

Whereas the Jewish Holocaust involved rapid, anti-Jewish anti-Semitic , race-based extermination for Nazi and Nazi collaborator benefit and gratification, the Palestinian Genocide has involved slow, anti-Arab anti-Semitic ethnic cleansing for Zionist lebensraum .

The fundamental message from the Holocaust AND from the Palestinian Genocide is zero tolerance for racism. You can understand why – apart from being an anti-racist humanitarian – it is impossible for me to be actively or passively complicit in any racist agenda and why I am obligated to oppose the horrendous treatment of the Palestinian People by Zionist-run Apartheid Israel.

Check out the rest of Gideon Polya’s article here

This is outrageous by any standard of the 21st century world…where is Mr. George W. Bush to defend democracy and freedom now??

The finny/sad thing is, the media in the UAE didn’t even report this…I heard it on BBC!

Check out this excellent editorial - excerpts below:

The Arab media, namely satellite television channels, are threatened with losing the limited margin of freedom that they enjoyed in the past few years. This comes after a resolution passed by the Arab information ministers at their emergency meeting in Cairo yesterday to impose new and stringent restrictions on political programmes in particular.

The authors of the new regulation who call themselves media experts in the Arab governments enveloped this regulation with glossy terms, such as banning the encouragement of depravity and refraining from offending God, religious symbols and confessions, and God’s messengers. However, it is obvious that this amounts to putting poison into honey. The primary aim is to muzzle Arab voices that demand freedoms, respect for human rights, fair and direct elections, just and independent judiciary, and fair distribution of wealth.

Licentious satellite television channels are spreading like smallpox in the face of the Arab media. They ruin the minds of the new generations, spread depravity, and arouse instincts. Most of these channels are funded by the states that adopt the new media regulation or by businessmen close to them.

We do not believe that these channels will face any restrictions or harassment in the future because they operate in the framework of a policy, which is well studied by corrupt Arab regimes. These regimes seek to divert the attention away from their corruption, dictatorship, repression, and failure to perform their national and religious duties in liberating the land, by launching more of these channels.

The seriousness of this document lies not in muzzling the media, satellite television channels in particular, but in incriminating these channels and their workers and punishing them by withdrawing their licenses and banning them from continuing their operation.

We support adherence to Arab and Islamic values and ethics. These values promote equality and justice, call for punishing corrupters and plunderers of public funds, and encourage restoration of the usurped rights. However, it seems that the Arab regimes’ information and interior ministers see these values exactly the opposite way.

Because of these regimes and their ministers, our Arab region lives in a state of backwardness, ignorance, illiteracy, and corruption! that has no parallel in any other part of the world.

I am intrigued by what is going on in Turkey.  To me, the decision to allow women wearing the head scarf (a.k.a. hijab) to attend universities is way overdue and is definately a step forward in guaranteeing the sacred ’secular’ value of freedom of religion.  This is especially true considering that over 99% of the Turkish population is Muslim.

What I am trying to understand is why this decision is causing such an uproar.  No, I am not naive, and I did expect this uproar.  But I still don’t understand it.  What are the ’secularists’ so afraid of??  What is so threatening about the hijab??

I have come to believe that all political conflicts boil down to two things: money and power.  That is always the case.  It isn’t religion, ideology or anything else…political conflicts are always about the struggle for either money or power or both.  Always.

So, back to Turkey…the only way I can explain this uproar is to go back to the roots of power in the country.  It seems to me that the ’secularist’ establishment, which is a minority of the country, is afraid of the signs of the ‘Islamists’ gaining a stronger hold on the people and beginning to demand a larger share of the resources and power.  It is not about them protecting their rights or the people’s rights, but rather about them protecting their social status and interests. 

Another thing which I find completely absurd is this debate about which kind of head scarf will be allowed.  Give me a break!  What difference does it make if the scarf is knotted under the chin or left to hang loosely?  Again, I am not naive, and I know that the first kind is worn by Muslim women who are truely practising their religion and the other is worn by women ‘culturally’ practising.  So, if the Turks are worried about ’social compulsion’, shouldn’t the issue be with the second not the first?  Anyways, I just think it’s all ridiculous…let the women wear what they want!  Full stop.

On the other hand, I do understand that the AKP wants to seem as lenient as possible on this issue and take it one step at a time.

Also, I think the point that other human rights issues need to be receive attention as well is a very valid one and will be the true test of the party’s committment to ‘democracy’ and human rights.

Below are exceprts from news articles/opines on this story which I found particularly interesting.  You will notice that the ‘western’ media is actually much more objective than the ‘turkish’ media and so it is easier for them to identify this issue as it really is: a simple matter of personal choice and freedom.  Some Turks on the other hand have very interesting ‘interesting’ interpretations.

I am embarassed to say that the name George Habash meant little to me beyond the image of a leftist Palestinian resistor.  Asad AbuKhalil’s article though sheds some light on Habash’s life and accomplishments, and takes a critical look at the history of Palestinian leftist movements.  Like Habash, and unlike AbuKhalil, I think the Arab left is dead beyond revival.  However, there is much to be learnt from their failures. Excerpts below:

If there is a world revolutionary symbol for the second half of the 20th century, it should be George Habash. He may not be widely known in 2008, but anybody who read a newspaper prior to the rise of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, when Islamism eclipsed the Arab Left, would know him. Habash is one of the main makers of Arab contemporary history and one of the handful of names who changed the course of the Palestinian political struggle.

It is often said that Habash’s “Christianity” — as if he was religious — was the only reason why he was not the leader of the Palestinian national movement, instead of Arafat. I never agreed with the view. Habash’s sincerity, honesty and integrity were the reason why he did not lead the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), while Arafat’s “skills” kept him in power for all those decades. For those who were privileged to have met Habash, his sincerity and honesty came through, as did his natural modesty, and clear sense of himself.

The Movement should also be criticized for developing into an arm of the Egyptian regime; Habash met Egyptian president and symbol of Arab nationalism Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1964, and the two men clearly hit it off. In his later years, Habash would cry whenever Nasser’s name would be mentioned. Habash put a high premium on an Arab sense of dignity, which he felt Nasser represented in his dealings with the West — in contrast to the behavior of Sadat and other Arab rulers. One wonders what Habash must have thought when he saw Arab oil rulers literally dancing with US President George W. Bush.

I last saw Habash a few years ago in Damascus, after his retirement. It was very sad for me because I had to compare the last image with the first image when I first met him as a high school student in 1977. His revolutionary impulse and his passions had not waned, but the empty office spoke volumes. The PFLP was almost dead, and Habash was politically irrelevant. I shared with him some of my criticisms of the Popular Front’s long experience, and typically, he was open-minded and very democratic. I was bothered that he seemed too resigned to the rise of the Islamists (Hamas and Hizballah). In my judgment he was too uncritically supportive of both. “We have tried, so let them now try,” he would say, “It is their turn.” I was hoping to hear words regarding the revival of the Left but I did not.

George Habash lived his life for Palestine — every minute of it. He represented a model of revolutionary struggle that is exemplary in its dedication and asceticism, no matter what one thinks of the PFLP or its long political and military experience. One should not hesitate from rendering a harsh judgment against the PFLP; ultimately it failed politically and militarily. And any evaluation of Palestinian political violence must be made in the context of Zionist mass violence that for decades had set out to destroy Palestinian society and resistance and replace it with its own exclusivist vision. But whatever that judgment it should not detract from an appreciation of the profound influence of the PFLP’s founder who helped shape the politics and worldview of a generation. The present political scene is devoid of any leaders of such character.

Althought I do not always agree with HRW’s stand on the conflicts in Palestine and Darfur, the HRW annual World Report does usually highlight important issues.  This year is no exception:

The established democracies are accepting flawed and unfair elections for political expediency, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2008. By allowing autocrats to pose as democrats, without demanding they uphold the civil and political rights that make democracy meaningful, the United States, the European Union and other influential democracies risk undermining human rights worldwide.

US abuses against so-called “war on terror” detainees are a major concern; 275 detainees are still held at Guantanamo Bay without charge. Some of those remain after being cleared by the United States for release, because they cannot be sent home and no country will resettle them.  
 
The United States continues to have the highest incarceration rate in the world, with black men incarcerated at more than six times the rate of white men.  

Human Rights Watch has documented a number of elections manipulated through: outright fraud (Chad, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Uzbekistan); control of electoral machinery (Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Malaysia, Thailand, Zimbabwe); blocking or discouraging opposition candidates (Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Libya, Turkmenistan, Uganda); political violence (Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Lebanon); stifling the media and civil society (Russia, Tunisia); and undermining the rule of law (China, Pakistan).

It very sad, but not at all surprising, to see that there is at least one Arab or Muslim country in each of the “manipulated elections” category.  The rest of the Arab countries are not on there not because they are doing better, but because they don’t have elections to begin with!

This is what I’m talking about when it comes to HRW and Israel/Palestine:

Israel’s blockade of Gaza denies 1.4 million residents the food, fuel and medicine they need to survive, a collective punishment that violates international law. Palestinian armed groups continue to launch indiscriminate rocket attacks on populated areas of Israel in violation of international law.

It is one thing to be objective, but mentioning the human rights abuses committed by Israel and “Palestinian armed groups” in the same paragraph as if they are remotely equivilant is far from accurate.  The magnitude of suffering and destruction is simply incomparable. 

As I said though, the report is worth skimming through.  Check it out here