Palestine, peace not APARTHEID.

Jimmy Carter, Winner of Nobel prize and ex president of the United States of America (Democrat).

The best offer to the Palestinians [at Camp David in December 2000]--by Clinton, not Barak--had been to withdraw 20 percent of the settlers, leaving more than 180,000 in 209 settlements, covering about 10 percent of the occupied land, including land to be "leased" and portions of the Jordan River valley and East Jerusalem.

The percentage figure is misleading, since it usually includes only the actual footprints of the settlements. There is a zone with a radius of about four hundred meters around each settlement within which Palestinians cannot enter. In addition, there are other large areas that would have been taken or earmarked to be used exclusively by Israel, roadways that connect the settlements to one another and to Jerusalem, and "life arteries" that provide the settlers with water, sewage, electricity, and communications. These range in width from five hundred to four thousand meters, and Palestinians cannot use or cross many of these connecting links. This honeycomb of settlements and their interconnecting conduits effectively divide the West Bank into at least two noncontiguous areas and multiple fragments, often uninhabitable or even unreachable, and control of the Jordan Valley denies Palestinians any direct access eastward into Jordan. About one hundred military checkpoints completely surround Palestinians and block routes going into or between Palestinian communities, combined with an unaccountable number of other roads that are permanently closed with large concrete cubes or mounds of earth and rocks.

There was no possibility that any Palestinian leader could accept such terms and survive, but official statements from Washington and Jerusalem were successful in placing the entire onus for the failure on Yasir Arafat[....]

In April 2003 a "Roadmap" for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was announced by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on behalf of the United States, the United Nations, Russia, and the European Union (known as the Quartet).The Palestinians accepted the road map in its entirety but the Israeli government announced fourteen caveats and prerequisites, some of which would preclude any final peace talks[....]

International human rights organizations estimate that since 1967 more than 630,000 Palestinians (about 20 percent of the total population) in the occupied territories have been detained at some time by the Israelis, arousing deep resentment among the families involved. Although the vast majority of prisoners are men, there are a large number of women and children being held. Between the ages of twelve and fourteen, children can be sentenced for a period of up to six months, and after the age of fourteen Palestinian children are tried as adults, a violation of international law[...]

The United States has used its U.N. Security Council veto more than forty times to block resolutions critical of Israel. Some of these vetoes have brought international discredit on the United States, and there is little doubt that the lack of a persistent effort to resolve the Palestinian issue is a major source of anti-American sentiment and terrorist activity throughout the Middle East and the Islamic world[...]

The bottom line is this: Peace will come to Israel and the Middle East only when the Israeli government is willing to comply with international law, with the Roadmap for Peace, with official American policy, with the wishes of a majority of its own citizens--and honors its own previous commitments--by accepting its legal borders. All Arab neighbors must pledge to honor Israel's right to live in peace under these conditions. The United States is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories.
Excerpts from the book from various web sites.



Q: In your book, you argue that ‘because of powerful political, economic, and religious forces in the United States, Israeli government decisions are rarely questioned or condemned.’ Can you explain that more fully?

A: I’ve been all over the Holy Land, I’ll call it, just for a kind of a shorthand description, since the 1970s — the last 30 or 40 years — from Lebanon down to the Sinai. And I’ve been up into the Golan Heights three times, and I’ve conducted three elections there — and I’ve seen the coverage given to Israel’s activities in Europe and in Israel itself — a highly contentious debate over [Israel]. There is no such debate in the United States. There’s not any debate in the Congress. There’s not any debate in the White House, at least since George Bush Sr. and I were there, and in the news media of the United States there is very rarely any editorial comment that would criticize some of the practices of Israel which I consider to be deplorable — and that is the persecution of the Palestinians, and the occupation and confiscation and the colonization of Palestinian land. So there’s no open debate in this country if it involves any criticism of the policies of the Israeli government, even though many people in Israel debate and condemn some of the policies of the right-wing governments under Sharon and Netanyahu and others.

Q: Lately there has been a lot of discussion about the role of the ‘Israel lobby.’ Can you say a little bit about how that impacted you as president? Has it changed over time?

A: Well, I think the Israel Lobby — so-called to use your phrase, that’s not my phrase — is much stronger now and much more effective now than it was when I was in office. I felt, for instance, that we should sell F-16 airplanes to Saudi Arabia so Saudis could defend themselves against threats from Iran, and Aipac and others were adamantly against it, but we finally prevailed. And I called within three months of when I went into office for a Palestinian homeland. And I worked for the Camp David accords, which called for Israel’s political and military withdrawal from the occupied territories, and so forth, and I think that that kind of independence was also exhibited by George Bush Sr., who condemned Israeli settlements in the West Bank and even withheld funds from Israel, which I never did, by the way.… That’s almost an impossibility now in the present political environment of America.

Carter discussing his book on forward.com

The roadmap to nowhere.

Tanya Reinhart is a professor at Tel Aviv University and the University of Utrecht. She is author of Israel/Palestine: How to End the 1948 War (Seven Stories Press, 2002) and The Road Map to Nowhere: Israel/Palestine Since 2003.

Israel backed by mainstream Western media - describes its war against the Palestinians as a war of defence, a necessary response to Palestinian terror, a noble instance of the global war against terrorism. It is amazing how still now, after two years of massive Israeli destruction of the Palestinian society, so little is known about the real facts of how this war developed, and what Israel's role in it is[....]

Ever since the Palestinian territories were occupied in 1967, the Israeli military and political elites have deliberated over the question how to keep maximum land (and water) with minimum Palestinian population. A simple solution of annexing the heavily populated Palestinian land would have created a "demographic problem" - the fear that a Jewish majority could not be sustained. Therefore, two basic approaches were formed. The Alon plan of the Labor party proposed annexation of 35-40 percent of the territories, and either a Jordanian rule, or some form of autonomy for the rest of the land, to which the Palestinian residents will be confined. In the eyes of its proponents, this plan represented a necessary compromise. They believed it would be inconceivable to repeat the "solution" of the 1948 Independence war, when much of the land was obtained "Arab-free", following mass expulsion of the Palestinian residents. The second approach, whose most vocal spokesman was Sharon, strived to get more. In its extreme realization it maintained that it should be possible to find more acceptable and sophisticated ways to achieve a “1948 style" solution. It would only be necessary to find another state for as many Palestinians as possible. "Jordan is Palestine" was the phrase Sharon coined in the 1980's.[...]

Amid the propaganda, a theme that had already emerged in October 2000 was the analogy linking present circumstances to the war of 1948. Major General Moshe Ya'alon, then deputy chief of staff (and the present chief of staff), explained that "this was Israel's most critical campaign against the Palestinians, including Israel's Arab population, since the 1948 war - for him, in fact, it is the second half of 1948" (Amir Oren, Ha'aretz, November 17, 2000). After two years of brutal Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the leading military and political circles in Israel that produced this analogy still believe that "the second half" - a completion of the ethnic cleansing that started in 1948 - is necessary and possible.
Source of full interview

The Ethnic cleansing of Palestine...

Ilan Pappe is senior lecturer, department of political science, Haifa University and Chair of the Emil Touma institute for Palestinian studies, Haifa.

Indeed, I think that the ethnic cleansing in 1948 will never allow Israel to reconcile with the Palestinians and the rest of the Middle East, nor to live in peace with its own Palestinian minority unless Israel boldly faces the past. The ethnic cleansing included the destruction of more than 400 villages, 11 towns and the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians.


The Israeli state, as a political entity, has to acknowledge the ethnic cleansing. Until today it had failed to do so and it should be made accountable for its deeds and offer compensation for the people it wronged. This should be done on the basis of UN Resolution 194 that allowed the refugees to choose between compensation and return.
Source of full Interview

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Tanya Reinhart is a professor at Tel Aviv University and the University of Utrecht. She is author of Israel/Palestine: How to End the 1948 War (Seven Stories Press, 2002) and The Road Map to Nowhere: Israel/Palestine Since 2003.

Israel backed by mainstream Western media - describes its war against the Palestinians as a war of defence, a necessary response to Palestinian terror, a noble instance of the global war against terrorism. It is amazing how still now, after two years of massive Israeli destruction of the Palestinian society, so little is known about the real facts of how this war developed, and what Israel's role in it is[....]

Ever since the Palestinian territories were occupied in 1967, the Israeli military and political elites have deliberated over the question how to keep maximum land (and water) with minimum Palestinian population. A simple solution of annexing the heavily populated Palestinian land would have created a "demographic problem" - the fear that a Jewish majority could not be sustained. Therefore, two basic approaches were formed. The Alon plan of the Labor party proposed annexation of 35-40 percent of the territories, and either a Jordanian rule, or some form of autonomy for the rest of the land, to which the Palestinian residents will be confined. In the eyes of its proponents, this plan represented a necessary compromise. They believed it would be inconceivable to repeat the "solution" of the 1948 Independence war, when much of the land was obtained "Arab-free", following mass expulsion of the Palestinian residents. The second approach, whose most vocal spokesman was Sharon, strived to get more. In its extreme realization it maintained that it should be possible to find more acceptable and sophisticated ways to achieve a “1948 style" solution. It would only be necessary to find another state for as many Palestinians as possible. "Jordan is Palestine" was the phrase Sharon coined in the 1980's.[...]

Amid the propaganda, a theme that had already emerged in October 2000 was the analogy linking present circumstances to the war of 1948. Major General Moshe Ya'alon, then deputy chief of staff (and the present chief of staff), explained that "this was Israel's most critical campaign against the Palestinians, including Israel's Arab population, since the 1948 war - for him, in fact, it is the second half of 1948" (Amir Oren, Ha'aretz, November 17, 2000). After two years of brutal Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the leading military and political circles in Israel that produced this analogy still believe that "the second half" - a completion of the ethnic cleansing that started in 1948 - is necessary and possible.
Source of full interview

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Voices of wisdom in the Middle East.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is dragging for 60 years now. What started as land occupation is turning in a religious war. Two generations from both sides were raised in the hatred and the war. Both “countries” have been led with warriors, none of them was willing to give peace a chance.

What started as a result of a war, resulted in wars. The Exodus or the Jew immigration to the Promised Land accelerated exponentially with the raise of the Nazi power and then the WWII. The 1947 UN partition plan giving 55% of the Palestinian land to Israel is perceived by the Israelis as a right given to them by a body representing the whole world, while for the Arabs it was just plain occupation, resulting in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Since then, it never ended. Israel aggressively seeking to establish itself as a power in the region, never negotiated any issues, believing that it will be a sign of weakness. For the Arabs, it was arrogance and provocation and then the religion got in the middle making it impossible to think of peace.

Up until 5 years ago, any peaceful Israeli or Palestinian was considered a traitor by his own people. Anouar Sadat paid that with his life and so did Yitzhak Rabin.

I was raised hating Israelis and Israel. I could not pronounce it, for us it is Palestine. I still hate and disapprove what the Israeli government is doing but I don’t believe anymore in the war and the violence. If this conflict is going to end anytime soon, it will be through peaceful, wise people. Israel government is wrong in keeping with his non negotiation policy, it is wrong in fearing developed Arab countries as neighbors and is wrong in the flexing muscles policy aimed at making it feared by its neighbors. The Arabs are wrong in making it a religious issue and in going for the Eye for an Eye solution.

The good news in all this is that few voices of reason start to be echoed on both sides. People wise enough to see that the only way is to forget about the past and start a new chapter where we go back to live with each other in respect and peace. Israel need to go back to its pre 1967 border and help its neighbor’s development since it is its only way for peace. Palestinians need also to forget all this injustice and rebuild a country where they could live and let live.

Many Israelis are trying to get their wisdom voice heard among all these war goers. Following are some excerpts of an article from Gideon Levy ,an Israeli reporter in the Haaretz, an Israeli daily newspaper with a liberal editorial line and fervent supporter of the Oslo Accords. I try to follow articles from Amira Hass and Gideon Levy who are part of these voices of the wisdom.

In this article Gideon was reporting on the last drama of Beit Hanun and on Islam Al-Atamna (aka Asma Al-Atamna) , the 14 years old girl who lost 18 members of her family.I consider him a voice of wisdom because he is a reporter whose humanity doesn't allow twisting the truth.

This is Islam al-Atamna. A girl of 14. She is sitting in her black mourning clothes. Eight close relatives - including her mother, grandparents, uncles and aunts - were all killed before her eyes, one after the other. They were killed in the street after they awoke at home in horror at the sound of the first shell that exploded and then fled outdoors, where the next shells caught them. About 11 fell on a residential neighborhood, one shell a minute, a rain of death, pursuing them in their flight. Fatherless for some time already, the girl is left alone in the world with her two little sisters and her 3-year-old brother Abdullah, whose legs were severed and who is hospitalized in the Al-Hilal Hospital in Gaza.

What should we say to Islam? What can we say to Islam? That the chip in the radar system is to blame? That the electronic component is responsible? Perhaps that the Palestinians are to blame?
[....]
On the fourth floor, in the apartment of the family of Amjad Al-Atamna, where two shells fell on two children's rooms, tearing not-very-large holes in their ceilings, signs of the killing are still in evidence. The children were crushed here to pieces by the shells that landed on their heads while they were sleeping the peaceful sleep of little children. The Arabic notebook of Khalil Al-Atamna, wrapped in a cover with colorful cartoons, is among the ruins. Kahlil is hospitalized in serious condition. A third shell hit the wall of the stairwell, killing a mother and her two daughters while they were fleeing. The three were catapulted from the stairwell into the street.

The white IDF reconnaissance balloon looks down from the sky straight into the yards of the homes on this street. Did the balloon record the horror? Didn't they see up there what the Artillery Corps was doing for about 15 minutes?

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The second example of ultimate voice of wisdom is form someone who suffered a direct strike of this non sense and still preaches peace. For those who looked at this tragedy and felt hate and felt like going kill some jews, please read this as reported here by the same newspaper.

Tahani Atamna, whose son Mahmoud, 12, was killed in the shelling, clutched her son's geometry book. "He was number one in his class. The best student," she said.

Three of her other children - Khaled, 7, Khalil, 9, and Khulud, 13 - are unwilling to return home, she added. "Yesterday, we brought them here with two psychologists. But they started to cry and said that they don't want to die. The whole family went. All those who remain are wounded in body or soul."

"I don't wish any Jewish mother to go through what I'm going through, this disaster of seeing her son die before her eyes," she continued. "I only hope that we will be the last victims of this war."

Nor did other family members sound hungry for revenge. "I don't want this to happen to anyone in the world," said Riad Atamna. "Not to Jews, not to Christians and not to Muslims. Enough blood. Enough."

I know that my post is in disagreement with the arab public opinion but my convictions lay in the fact that peace and forgiveness are the solution. Now call me a dreamer, an idealist, that would be a compliment :-)

Israel Kills 18 members of one family in Gaza

Imagine this family waking up on the sound of a distant shell explosion, a familiar sound in their neighborhood, so they try to go back to sleep when another shell explodes near their house prompting the mother to get everybody out of the house……



Asma al-Athamna, 14, said her family was awakened early Wednesday by the sound of an explosion and her mother quickly ordered everyone out of the house.
“She was saying, ’There is shelling,”’ Asma recalled.
As the family exited their home, another shell landed, killing the girl’s mother, older sister and brother-in-law.
“They were killed when they came out of our house into the corridor. A tank shell killed them. I was behind them and I was wounded,” the weeping girl said from her hospital bed.
A woman’s headscarf, children’s boots and slippers, and a pair of jeans - all burnt - were strewn outside the houses.
Khaled Radi, a health ministry official, said all the dead belonged to the same family. More than 50 people were wounded, 14 of them seriously, Radi said.



Her name is Asma, she's 14 from Gaza, Palestine and she just lost 18 members of her family today, including her mother and her older sister!!! Asma did not choose her parents, her country and cannot make yet any decision regarding her life. Who should we blame???



IDF is denying
A military spokeswoman said artillery rounds had been fired at Palestinian rocket-launching sites, but far from the apartment compound.

But the Israeli government expresses regret but feel pressed to continue "military operations" on similar houses
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed regret over the deaths and, along with Defense Minister Amir Peretz, offered “urgent humanitarian aid” to the Palestinian Authority and immediate medical treatment to the wounded.
Israel halted artillery attacks in Gaza while it investigated the incident, but said it would press forward with operations meant to halt Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli communities.

The palestinian government responsible for the safety of Asma, her family and all citizens issued a statement:

Abbas warned that Israel would have to “shoulder all the consequences for these crimes,” and Haniyeh said the Palestinians reserved the right to “self-defense.”

Hamas being the major party in the government had also to issue a statement:
“The truce (with Israel) ended at the end of 2005,” Mashaal told a news conference in the Syrian capital. “The armed struggle is free to resume, and the resistance is dictated by local circumstances.”

“America is offering political, financial and logistic cover for the Zionist occupation crimes, and it is responsible for the Beit Hanoun massacre. Therefore, the people and the nation all over the globe are required to teach the American enemy tough lessons,”



Unfortunately, for Asma this won't be the end of her tragedy, and we won't have time to imagine what her life would be now, because this is the start of a cycle of violence where Asma's family members are just statistics

The killing of Palestinian civilians in the past has often preceded a sharp escalation of violence. A series of deadly incidents last summer, including a June 9 explosion on a Gaza beach that killed eight civilians, was followed by the capture of an Israeli soldier and an ensuing Israeli invasion of Gaza.

It's been a long time since I gave up thinking of how this conflict would end. There is so much hate involving that it would take a miracle to achieve peace in this part of the world. It is just hurting to see a child go through this knowing that soon another child on the other side will go the same experience. We will say they deserve it, and they would say we deserve it. None of us is right when children are dying. I will feel the same way is this child was Israeli. I think with age and with experience of parenting, I learned to see things from a different perspective, a more human one. I understand the reactions of some of us who say "they have what they deserve", I used to think like that, not anymore. Now when I hear someone glorifying violence acts, Israelis or Palestinians, it makes me smile unless there are children involved.

I am sure, I am able to kill someone to protect my child in a direct physical confrontation, I see that as a duty, but I will never kill for revenge or as preventive measure. Instead, I will spend all the time I have left and all the resources I have, to get whoever did this crime in front of a court of law. But that's me and whoever read my posts and my comments would know by now that I am an idealist, yet I understand realism and abide by it.

To finish on a hopeful image that shows that idealists exist on both sides.