Most of what we hear from Washington about the Arab world is half-truths and extravagant disconcerting insult. While much of the negative portal of Islamic fundamentalism is correct it is less than half of the story. Many in the academic community represent nothing more than Euro-American white studies, updated from its 19th century racialism. Which makes me wonder if one can be a professor and have a PhD with out becoming the whore of US imperialism? I have to admit that those pointing to Islamic fundamentalism as being “the great threat to world peace” make many valid points. However, are we to ignore the threat of Christian fundamentalism here in the United States, including Bush our Present? Many seemed to over look terrorism is a two way street. Some conservatives seemed to be shocked to find many of us after 9/11 was still critical of US policies. Given since the end of WWII. US has carried out not only a number of direct military interventions, but have support US trained death squads in Central America, and supported South Africa's war against front line States in Southern Africa. US supported terrorism in Cambodia by rearming Pol Pot. Washington has been arming Israel to carry to a genocidal war against the Palestinian people. In the Middle East US policy has been one sided. Because criminals attacked us, and they were evil, can we forget Washington is creates its network of terror? Does not the examples of hideous crimes against humanity that is daily coming of Washington affect our judgments. Many seemed to make Arab and Islam but one people. Not all Muslims are Arab and not all Arabs are Muslim. The theory of conflict of cultures has many problems that over looks colonialism, the control of a weak nation by a powerful one politically in order to control the weaker one, US policy was, is and in the future will remain one of insensitive domination. Imperialism is the domination of a weaker nation for the corporate interest of a more powerful nation. After WWII the US has dominated the region of the Middle East with an arrogant display of lack historical or cultural awareness. Many Americans are too forgiving of these past crimes, and therefore cannot know how to deal with the irrational appeal of fundamentalism in the region. Any kind of fundamentalism is as ugly as Fascism. Bush’s anti Arab (Palestinian) is American Xenophobia. Palestinians have an equal "not a greater" claim to the land, than Israelis. This dismissal comes off like a supporter of regional Manifest Destiny, settlers against the indigenous people of the region. Bush’s half-truth refuses to deal with the fact that a settler state that cannot act in good faith with out first examining hw er soul. Pulling out the West Bank or Gaza is not going to happen. Which only feeds the fundamentalist Muslim who hate. One state solution would not cross Bush’s mind; neither would the less satisfactory two state solution. It sounds more like 19th century racialism than a real concern for women. In Bush’s heroic attack against Muslim terrorism, which I share is of set when he becomes a shameless apologist for state sponsored terror of Washington, and Tel Aviv, both nations with dreams of Empire, one a regional Manifest Destiny, the other a global Manifest Destiny. If fundamentalism, national Chauvinism, racism and intolerance, is not only an Islamic problem, he also represents Chauvinism at its most exceptional fundamentalist rot.
Palestinians have an equal "not a greater" claim to the land, than Israelis. This dismissal comes off like a supporter of regional Manifest Destiny, settlers against the indigenous people of the region. Bush’s half-truth refuses to deal with the fact that a “settler state” that cannot act in good faith with out first examining her soul. Pulling out the West Bank or Gaza is not going to happen. Which only feeds the fundamentalist Muslim who hate. One state solution would not cross Bush’s mind; neither would the less satisfactory two state solution. It sounds more like 19th century racialism than a real concern for women. In Bush’s heroic attack against Muslim terrorism, which I share is of set when he becomes a shameless apologist for state sponsored terror of Washington, and Tel Aviv, both nations with dreams of Empire, one a regional Manifest Destiny, the other a global Manifest Destiny. If fundamentalism, national Chauvinism, racism and intolerance, is not only an Islamic problem, he also represents Chauvinism at its most exceptional fundamentalist rot.
Palestinian and Israeli conflict stands at the center of all other issues in the Middle East. There are still few Americans that treat the Palestinians as if they part of the human race. Palestinian people are exposed to degrading cruelty.
We read of political assassinations. Their homes are destroyed. They live in Apartheid. American Government acts as if this is natural, or even acceptable. The Palestinian movement does not have enough individuals in the USA to help bring about a change in US policy in the region.
The Campaign to End the Occupation of Palestine still needs our help. We all need to make sovereignty for Palestine central to any support of Israel. That justice for the Palestinian people is central to peace in that region must be taken very earnestly.
The Bush administration has too many imperial agendas to be trusted. This government uses the Israeli right for its own cynical agenda, and no American President has ever been a friend of the Israeli, the Palestinian or even the American people.
The invasion of Iraq is rationalized by that counterfeit in the White House as necessary for the security of Israel.
The truth is Israel will only be secure when there is security and justice for the Palestinian people. The Peace movement in Israel understands this and the means through which a just and equitable peace can be secured for Palestinians is central to their program. Israelis fate is closely tied to the fate of the Palestinians. There are two nations and one country. Like any other settler state the settlers and the ingenious people must be reconciled within that one country. To restate this point Palestinians have an equivalent "not a superior" claim to the land, all the land, than the Israelis. Many American intellectuals are supporters of regional Manifest Destiny, settlers against the indigenous people of this region. These speakers of half-truth can never understand any “settler state” that cannot act in good faith with out first examining her soul.
Until now this has been a one sided struggle because Israel is a major recipient of US military aid, and little more than a client state for the Washington Empire. Because of the interference of Washington justice for both Palestinians and Israelis is denied. We are in the mist of an apocalyptic war. That fate of Iraq is closely tied to Palestine. Islamic fundamentalism is a symptom. Islamic fundamentalism, Jewish fundamentalism and here in the US Christian fundamentalism are all evil. So is nationalism evil. The US political right actually may have bit off more than it can chew.
A truly great tragedy is the Israeli Palestinian conflict and disentangling the confusing in a manner that makes sense. What happens when the "Other" becomes dehumanized and a threat to one self image simply because they exist? The result is human rights abuses that are clearly documented by many human rights groups, and yet still denied by those individuals who want so desperately to defend Israel as the only way to come to terms with centuries of the brutality of Anti-Semitism.
The unholy marriage between Zionists and the Christian Right brings together the Jewish Settler and the Anti-Semite. What bring together the persecutor of Jews and those Jews who support a Jewish Homeland are their hatred of the Arabs, the vilification of Islam, and the de-humanization of Palestinians. These pro-Israel Christians are not friends of the Jewish Homeland, it is hoped this is the final sign before the Jews in mass accept Jesus and stop being Jews and become Christians.
Bonds between those Jews supporting the Pro-Israel Lobby and the Political Left have been severed. Natural Allies have become Strangers. The Tradition of Jewish Humanism is being neglected in the Popular Press. Israel's despotic and draconian human rights record is swept under the rug. Anyone critical of Israel runs the risk of being labeled Anti-Semite. The cruelty of the Settler towards the Indigenous Community, though a historical constant from the first Jewish settlements to the present is denied by the defenders of Israel. In this Justification Biblical Myths takes the place of serious historical research. The totalitarian worldview stigmatizes compassion for the victims of Pioneer Communities.
The exclusion of the Palestinians from the Human Race was the ideology that removed from open discussion that in fact Israel was morally on the same level as the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia, or New Zeeland. Where settlers prosper the original peoples suffer. The grievous wrongs done to the Palestinians are never given the exposure it demands in the news, in our schools and in our churches.
Religion plays a prominent role in most Settler States, even among the Secular People. Both Israel and South Africa were called Zion by the settlers, giving the settlers not original inhabitants the right to the land, as decreed by God. In the US Manifest Destiny made the conquest of the land an order from God. Religion plays a central role in the exclusion of people from their homes. When the land is the chosen land for God's chosen people, those not chosen by God do not belong there. When the Pioneer is chosen and the indigenous people are not. The collective punishment and automatic destruction of Palestinian villages and American Indian communities to create room for Pioneer Settlements is a shared cultural heritage.
Those on the Left who believe in a mutual reconciliation between the settlers and the indigenous people are truly the best friend of both the Jew and the Palestinian. By separating Judaism from Israel one can offer the single most important weapon against both kinds of Anti-Semitism being anti Jewish and anti Arab. The apologists for Israel are no friend to either Jews or Arabs. To Justify ethnic cleansing in order to create a Jewish Homeland is no different than any other ethnic cleansing.
What is central to the issue of Zionism is it was born out centuries of institutionalized violence, mass murder and oppression and domination directed against the Jews throughout history carried out by the highest and the lowest levels of government in every European nation, and sanctioned by the Church. Zionism is nothing less than survival, or so it seemed. The next issue to deal with is that abused children become abusive parents unless make the concerted effort to break the cycle of abuse. What happens when refugees who survived the Holocaust found a nation? There are people already there.
Israel's abusive treatment of the Palestinian is a matter of public record. All human rights organization place Israel among some of the worst violators of human rights and international law. Israel openly justifies its crimes, by the claim of fighting terrorism. As it stands now in just the last five years for every Israeli killed five Palestinian has been killed. B"Tselem an Israeli human right watch dog claims while civilians on both sides have been killed. That fact remains the majority of victims of Palestinian terror is the Israeli Defense Force, and vast majority of Palestinians killed are civilians who pose no security threat to Israel. The casualties are mostly children, women and the elderly. To retaliate against Palestinian attacks on Israeli Security Forces villages are targeted without any hard evidence of culpability. Demolishing of homes, openly shooting children for no other reason than they are easy targets, and torture of detainees without any confirmation of guilt are common practice. What is unique is there is no attempt at denial but is openly justified. Routine murders, assignations and torture are seen a necessary for national defense. There is no trail and no evidence is presented before carrying out political assignations. Vast expropriations of lands for Jewish settlements in the West bank and even greater expropriation of water from Gaza guarantee the perpetual poverty of any Palestinian State.
The unholy marriage between Zionists and the Christian Right brings together the Jewish Settler and the Anti-Semite. What bring together the persecutor of Jews and those Jews who support a Jewish Homeland are their hatred of the Arabs, the vilification of Islam, and the de-humanization of Palestinians. These pro-Israel Christians are not friends of the Jewish Homeland, it is hoped this is the final sign before the Jews in mass accept Jesus and stop being Jews and become Christians.
Bonds between those Jews supporting the Pro-Israel Lobby and the Political Left have been severed. Natural Allies have become Strangers. The Tradition of Jewish Humanism is being neglected in the Popular Press. Israel's despotic and draconian human rights record is swept under the rug. Anyone critical of Israel runs the risk of being labeled Anti-Semite. The cruelty of the Settler towards the Indigenous Community, though a historical constant from the first Jewish settlements to the present is denied by the defenders of Israel. In this Justification Biblical Myths takes the place of serious historical research. The totalitarian worldview stigmatizes compassion for the victims of Pioneer Communities.
The exclusion of the Palestinians from the Human Race was the ideology that removed from open discussion that in fact Israel was morally on the same level as the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia, or New Zeeland. Where settlers prosper the original peoples suffer. The grievous wrongs done to the Palestinians are never given the exposure it demands in the news, in our schools and in our churches.
Religion plays a prominent role in most Settler States, even among the Secular People. Both Israel and South Africa were called Zion by the settlers, giving the settlers not original inhabitants the right to the land, as decreed by God. In the US Manifest Destiny made the conquest of the land an order from God. Religion plays a central role in the exclusion of people from their homes. When the land is the chosen land for God's chosen people, those not chosen by God do not belong there. When the Pioneer is chosen and the indigenous people are not. The collective punishment and automatic destruction of Palestinian villages and American Indian communities to create room for Pioneer Settlements is a shared cultural heritage.
Those on the Left who believe in a mutual reconciliation between the settlers and the indigenous people are truly the best friend of both the Jew and the Palestinian. By separating Judaism from Israel one can offer the single most important weapon against both kinds of Anti-Semitism being anti Jewish and anti Arab. The apologists for Israel are no friend to either Jews or Arabs. To Justify ethnic cleansing in order to create a Jewish Homeland is no different than any other ethnic cleansing.
What is central to the issue of Zionism is it was born out centuries of institutionalized violence, mass murder and oppression and domination directed against the Jews throughout history carried out by the highest and the lowest levels of government in every European nation, and sanctioned by the Church. Zionism is nothing less than survival, or so it seemed. The next issue to deal with is that abused children become abusive parents unless make the concerted effort to break the cycle of abuse. What happens when refugees who survived the Holocaust found a nation? There are people already there.
Israel's abusive treatment of the Palestinian is a matter of public record. All human rights organization place Israel among some of the worst violators of human rights and international law. Israel openly justifies its crimes, by the claim of fighting terrorism. As it stands now in just the last five years for every Israeli killed five Palestinian has been killed. B"Tselem an Israeli human right watch dog claims while civilians on both sides have been killed. That fact remains the majority of victims of Palestinian terror is the Israeli Defense Force, and vast majority of Palestinians killed are civilians who pose no security threat to Israel. The casualties are mostly children, women and the elderly. To retaliate against Palestinian attacks on Israeli Security Forces villages are targeted without any hard evidence of culpability. Demolishing of homes, openly shooting children for no other reason than they are easy targets, and torture of detainees without any confirmation of guilt are common practice. What is unique is there is no attempt at denial but is openly justified. Routine murders, assignations and torture are seen a necessary for national defense. There is no trail and no evidence is presented before carrying out political assignations. Vast expropriations of lands for Jewish settlements in the West bank and even greater expropriation of water from Gaza guarantee the perpetual poverty of any Palestinian State.
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