A wall against fear
By Meron Benvenisti, Ha'aretz 8/28/2003
There was never a rational reason behind the need to establish the "separation fence" or for the route the fence follows, but rather a psychological need that was avidly answered by politicians and generals who had no better ideas. The terrifying wall, which brutally rapes the landscape of hills and orchards and turns the lives of tens of thousands of people into hell, is first and foremost a psychological division of the world into two: on one side lies the protected area of the "home" where people are expected to live normal, peaceful lives, and on the other side, the threat of death, barbarism and terror. To provide a remedy for the geography-of-fear syndrome, the Israeli government is prepared - with the fervent support of most of the public - to invest hundreds of millions of dollars; and the true significance of this witch-doctor's potion is hidden behind the argument over whether this is a "security" or a "political" fence.
This national project is on its way to gaining a place of honor among similar projects - all equally cynical, populist, wasteful and destructive - that were described at the time of their inception as the height of Zionism and the most ingenious defensive system, but whose initiators today deny all involvement with these white elephants that have faded into obscurity. As usual, of course, no one will demand accountability from the witch doctors: There is no price too great for national morale and the fence will never be tested in reality because there will always be those who will say that, had it not existed, the number of attacks would have been incomparably higher.
The familiar sounds of tanks and bombs
By Laura, International Solidarity Movement
Leaving for Gaza City feels like stepping out into the air after having contemplated a cliff for ages. I spend too long packing and wander through the apartment at least three times to make sure I don’t forget something before I close the door behind me, the key turns with a click of finality.
And I’m only going for three, maybe four days. Ya’allah, I feel provincial. Turning through my mind the things I may have forgotten as I head towards the taxis, as I wait for the car to fill up, Qur’an and commentary playing in the tape drive; as the driver climbs into his post, white jalibiya draping, so dignified, broad beard whitening below his white cap; as we pull out of the garage, the man beside me , blue buttondown shirt and freshly ironed black pants - a different dignity (but not so different) - leaning toward the driver as we head for the main road, Sawag, goul Allah, Driver, say Allah. Ya’rab, My God.
And we’re gliding out of Rafah, driving out of our way to avoid the road through Moraj settlement closed since the beginning of the Intifada (and bulldozed to finish the deal at the beginning of the recent Hudna); driving around the Gush Katif Settlement Block (the largest settlement block in Gaza Strip, dividing Rafah and Khan Younis). Driving through the Rafah countryside where the sewage fumes fill the air (unofficial settlement dumping station). My stomach retreats. My temples on fire, it’s unclear whether from the fumes or from the constant anxiety that follows me through days and keeps me away at night, especially at night, in the silence of waiting. I am counting down an unknown number of days remaining before the next incursion, the next shaheed, the next night the tower doesn’t stop shooting and we lie awake all night dreamless.
With curfews and closures, the schools suffer
By Amira Hass, Ha'aretz 8/28/2003
This coming Sunday, 1,085,000 students are supposed to attend 2,098 elementary and secondary schools in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, with the opening of the school year. About 48,000 teachers will be waiting for them at 8 A.M. This will happen where there is no curfew, and where military blockades and checkpoints won't prevent or delay the arrival of the students and the teachers.
Will there be a curfew in Jenin, preventing many of the 35,000 students in the area from starting on Sunday? Will the continuation of the Israel Defense Forces assassination policy in the Gaza Strip interfere with the first day of school of about 210,000 students?
These are the immediate concerns of the Palestinian Education Ministry, which during the past three years has seen the orderly functioning of the education system and the prevention of dropouts as its most important task, despite the huge logistical, economic and psychological difficulties.
The outbreak of the bloody conflict, the curfew and the closure, the economic deterioration and the military attacks, have all forced the ministry to postpone the implementation of the Five-Year Plan for education in the Palestinian Authority, which was completed in 2000, and to postpone the measures for improvement and development.
The Key to Road Map’s Success Lies in a Battered Ramallah Building
By Wafa Amr, Arab News 8/28/2003
That’s the message, Palestinian analysts and officials say, that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat hopes to deliver about himself to the United States by making a power play against moderate Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.
Arafat’s ploy, at a crucial time for a US-backed peace plan, is to force Washington to stop ostracizing him and deal directly with him to salvage the “road map” to a Palestinian state, they added.
Flexing his muscles, the 74-year-old leader has been trying to strengthen his already solid hold on Palestinian security forces in the face of US demands for Abbas to act now against militants opposed to peaceful coexistence with Israel.
And with the collapse of a truce last week and a surge in tit-for-tat Israeli-Palestinian violence, Arafat appears to have won at least a grudging acknowledgement from Washington that its road map may go nowhere without him.
In a politically embarrassing public appeal, US Secretary of State Colin Powell asked Arafat last week to help Abbas take steps to end bloodshed that has included a Palestinian suicide bombing on a Jerusalem bus and Israeli killings of militants.
But in a sign that Arafat’s strategy may not be working, the White House accused him on Tuesday of undermining Abbas’s efforts to win more sway over Palestinian security forces.
The criticism followed a refusal by Arafat to cede control of two major security forces to the reformist prime minister he reluctantly appointed under US pressure last April.
Palestinian Christians between Dreams and Reality
By Rifat Odeh Kassis, Holy Land Christian Ecumenical Foundation 8/4/2003
Introduction: It is no longer possible to take for granted the Christian presence in the Holy Land. In fact, now more than ever before, the actual existence of indigenous Christians is at stake. The threat comes not from the Muslim community, as some would lead us to believe, but from the Israeli military occupation and the double standards used by the West.
It is no secret that Palestinians live within a tribal culture. This reality implies that personal security and protection depend exclusively on the tribe in all sectors of society. Very frequently, even the most "democratic" political parties are based on this very concept. A cursory glance at the names of leaders of specific parties reveals that many members and leaders have the same family names. People sometimes join a particular party not because they are convinced by it's ideology but because it fits into the system of tribal support and protection. The same is true of religious affiliation. A consequence of this reality is that one may become an easy target if the tribe or political party or religion to which he/she belongs is considered weak. It is indeed unfortunate that in certain cases, especially now as the Palestinian Authority lacks real authority and as many people are questioning the role of law, the only protection available is that of the tribe or political party.
Visiting the Injured
By Laura, International Solidarity Movement 8/27/2003
Mohammed’s legs are smattered with scars from bullet holes, his foot is covered in bandages and his knees jut out awkwardly as one who has been lying in the hospital for six weeks, since he was shot by a tank in Beit Hanoun during the invasion while attempting to help two who had been shot dead and another who had been shot in the face, these were children, Mohammed is 17 and he will not walk again. His smiling face beckons us from the corner of the hospital room. Smiling? What can I do, his eyes say. Cry?
In another corner some 20-something officer is recovering from being shot in the leg. He patrols the border at the north of the Gaza Strip and one day he was leaving work and an Israeli soldier shot him in the leg. Like that.
These are not even the recent injuries. Ibrahim’s leg is broken from the attack yesterday in Jabaliya camp. Three Apache missiles in a refugee camp holding 90,000 people in a single square kilometer, the most densely populated place in the world. The activists they were targeting escaped, so the army’s big victory was an old man riding his donkey cart, three donkeys, and twenty-six injured. We heard the F16 riding lower than usual and I’d just learned that the army usually uses F16s to disguise the sound of an Apache. So you won’t be able to run.
The man who was leaving his carpentry job to pick up some small gifts for his children on his way home and got his leg blown apart by the first missile. He tried to move out of the way and then the second missile came from the other direction and so his arm is in a sling as well. Another man who was walking down the stairs to leave work. Another man who was trying to help the injured.
Shebaa Farms: CNN and the US media encounter difficult terrain
By Michael Brown, Electronic Intifada 8/27/2003
During my formative years in North Carolina, my daddy used to say to me, "Son, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." My father's adage applies all too well to CNN.
Over the past 16 months, Partners for Peace has repeatedly contacted CNN to explain that Shebaa Farms is not in Israel, but in occupied territory. Time and again, we have sent letters stating that the United Nations regards Shebaa Farms as Syrian while Hezbollah sees it as Lebanese (as does Syria, albeit disingenuously). The one thing we know is that it is not Israeli.
CNN has the information, but almost without exception gets the story wrong. Indeed, the moment I heard about the August 8 attack on Shebaa Farms, I raced to the cnn.com site to see whether or not they had finally taken the point. They had not.
Letters to CNN on August 8 had not brought improvement when I checked the website the next day. A subheading read, "Rockets, missiles in northern Israel." Later, CNN changed this to the equally confusing "Rockets, missiles across border." This alteration, however, suggests missiles fired across the Israeli border and, presumably, into Israel. But this cannot be the case as Shebaa Farms is not in Israel. CNN, then, is falsely accusing Hezbollah of attacking Israeli territory when in fact the strike came on territory that Israel illegally occupies.
Paris II And The Lebanese Failure
By Randa Takieddine, Al-Hayat 8/28/2003
The meetings between French President Jacques Chirac and Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri are regular and continuous being therefore very ordinary news. Contrary to what ill-intentioned people say about these mutual relations, the French President had announced in a press conference following his first tenure, that he would adopt personal diplomacy regarding his international relations as well as personal friendships in dealing with other Presidents.
Thus, he deployed huge efforts to hold an international conference in the French Presidential Palace (Elysée) in November 2002 in order to encourage other participating countries to offer a financial aid to Lebanon and collect $4.4 billion settling therefore some of its debts.
Arab officials participating in the conference were astonished to witness Chirac's willingness to provide this sum. The political, economic Lebanese situations aborted however the achievements of Paris II, while the political leadership in Lebanon is much more interested in preserving its position - forever if possible - its interests and gains apart from the country's future and its citizens.
Numbers describe flagrantly the worrying situation of a country which citizens are dynamic and youths succeed abroad whenever they have the chance to leave. Following Paris II, the Lebanese government aimed at decreasing the deficit to 25% while the latter currently reached 38.95% widening therefore the gap between the government's objective and the economic status quo. The absence of a wide consensus and the prevailing political situation hindered furthermore the promising privatization process
Stage Is Set for Islamic World Renaissance
By Jonathan Power, Los Angeles Times 8/28/2003
Too many observers look at Iraq as if it were a boxing match. Invasion — one up for the West, well at least for the United States and Britain. Sabotage an oil pipeline — one down for the West. And so it will go on. Only one thing is clear: In the cold, searching light of history, each of these incidents that absorb us will not even rank as footnotes.
Whatever one thinks of political scientist Samuel Huntington's book "The Clash of Civilizations," a competition of civi- lizations it nevertheless is and has long been. And we need to know that history, if only to absorb its greatest lesson: Military success on either side has never determined the direction of the civilization in question for more than a century or two. That is the lesson of the Crusades and it is also the lesson of the great Ottoman Empire, which started to lose intellectual momentum in the 15th century when its military reach was at its zenith.
Yet even if the Christian West is now in the ascendancy, it has never come to terms with how much it owes Islamic civilization. It was the Abbasid dynasty, founded after an internal Muslim coup in the year 750, that absorbed the Hellenic legacy at a time when, under Charlemagne, Europe intellectually withered.
In Charlemagne's Europe, reading and writing were not highly regarded, as they were in the Islamic world. The scientific, medical and philosophical learning of classical antiquity was almost entirely forgotten. Christian culture was backward and conservative, and intellectual life was dominated by the Bible and the Latin fathers of the church. [requires free registration on LA Times site]
Frankensteins in the Pentagon
By Cheryl Seal, News Insider 8/25/2003
DAPRA's Creepy Bioengineering Program - DARPA Bioengineering Program Seeks to Turn Soldiers Into Cyborgs -- Not long ago, the public was stunned by the practical and moral idiocy of the Pentagon researcher (and unprosecuted war criminal) John Poindexter, who proposed a 'football pool' scheme for predicting terrorist attacks. We all laughed at such insanity and were relieved to see the scheme speedily deep-sixed. However, this bit of lunacy was just the lightest ice in the tip of the very large, very dark iceberg that the Pentagon's research program, better known as DARPA, has become.
Just a few weeks before the bizarro world 'terrorism gambling' project was exposed, a DARPA (which stands for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency)-sponsored conference was held in Washington, DC, that showcased the latest love child of the Bush Pentagon: military bioengineering. The euphemisms being used by the Pentagon to disguise the true nature of this research are being spread as thick as bondo and cheap paint at a used car lot. For example, the title of the conference was: 'Harvesting Biology for Defense Technology,' while the subheading of the section on human 'bioengineering' was entitled, rather ominously, in light of the military's history, 'Enhancing Human Performance.'
So how does the Bush DARPA seek to 'enhance' human performance? In a kinder, gentler administration, the solution would be better training, better food, better pay, more leave time, and greater use of stress-reducing duty rotations. But this is not a kinder, gentler -or even rational- administration. Bush and Company plan to enhance soldier performance by squeezing the most that can be humanly -and not so humanly- squeezed from troops without having to resort to anything as primitive as decent pay. Their motto: Get the most human output for the least human input: After all, it's the corporate way!
The Dean Deception
By Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com 8/27/2003
The lying S.O.B. -- Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa!
Or, as the post-Vatican II generation would put it:
Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault!
I confess: I wanted to believe. I wanted to hope. I wanted to have faith in Howard Dean as the anti-war candidate. I even wrote a column about it, wherein I praised the former Vermont governor and sometime critic of the Iraq war. Good lord, I even compared him to Adlai Stevenson!
Boy oh boy, was I ever wrong! How wrong? Here is Dean giving Fred Hiatt of the Washington Post the real scoop:
"'I don't even consider myself a dove,' he told me and my colleague Ruth Marcus during a conversation before the rally…. It's true that he opposed the war in Iraq, he says, but he supported the 1991 Gulf War and the Bush campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. More interesting, at a time when many politicians are shuddering at President Bush's ambitions to remake the Middle East – conservatives, because they are skeptical of such grand reshaping ambitions; liberals, because they see resources being diverted from social causes at home – Dean sounds if anything more committed than Condoleezza Rice to bringing democracy to Iraq.
"'Now that we're there, we're stuck,' he said. Bush took an 'enormous risk' that through war the United States could replace Saddam Hussein and the 'small danger' he presented to the United States with something better and safer. The gamble was 'foolish;' and 'wrong.' But whoever will be elected in 2004 has to live with it. 'We have no choice. It's a matter of national security. If we leave and we don't get a democracy in Iraq, the result is very significant danger to the United States.'"
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