This marks the death of deterrence
By Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, October 9, 2002
Bush's new doctrine kills the principle of state sovereignty: Whatever the outcome of the intense diplomatic manoeuvres at the UN, whatever cover the UN might give to an American attack on Iraq, they cannot hide a fundamental truth. It has profound implications for future relations between states. Henry Kissinger, archpriest of realpolitik, has called it "revolutionary". Tony Blair appears to have embraced it, though we cannot be sure. A new doctrine of war has been laid down by the Bush administration that casts aside all the traditional tenets of international law as well as the UN and Nato charters. It abandons the concept of deterrence, considered the bedrock of stability throughout the cold war and cited by successive British governments as justification for their nuclear arsenal. Ever since September 11 last year, it has been reflected in speeches, notably by Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, his deputy, Paul Wolfowitz, and Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice. It was spelt out most clearly by Bush himself in June. The US, he said, would no longer rely on "deterrence" and "containment"; it had to be "ready for pre-emptive action".

Should There Be A Jewish State?
By John Spritzler, New Democracy,
Ted Koppel's Nightline ABC-TV show April 18, 2002 featured the question, "Is it anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government's policy towards Palestinians?" Koppel was interviewing the head of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League, who replied that Israel was a sovereign state and of course it was permissible to criticize its policies. But, he warned, to oppose the idea of a Jewish state went over the line and was pure anti-Semitism. Koppel smiled agreeably and gave no hint that a reasonable person might disagree. The idea of a Jewish state (whose Jewish proponents call themselves "Zionists") is sacrosanct in the mainstream U.S. media, which does not give voice to the troublesome questions raised by the issue, in particular that many Jews have historically opposed the idea of a Jewish state. The establishment of Israel has been far more controversial among Jews than most Americans are aware. Jewish opponents of a Jewish state believed in democracy with equal rights for Jews and non-Jews, and thought a purely Jewish sovereignty would be disastrous for ordinary Jews.

How Sharon and the Likud Party nurtured the rise of Hamas
By Ray Hanania, Middle East News Online, June 4, 2002
Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has declared Hamas as one of Israel’s greatest threats, but he was one of the architects who encouraged the rise of an Islamic alternative to the Palestine Liberation Organization that gave Hamas its start. In the past quarter century, Sharon and his Likud government party midwifed the birth of Hamas and coddled the rise of Islamic extremists through policies that were more concerned with undermining the peace process. Sharon’s Likud Bloc party’s extremist policies even provoked party loyalists to acts of violence that in turn pushed Hamas to expand from “armed struggle” against Israel’s military to suicide bombings of civilian targets. Ironically, the two bitter foes, Likud and Hamas, benefit politically from each other’s extremism over the years.

Leaving with mixed feelings
By Arjan El Fassed, The Electronic Intifada, October 7, 2002
I am leaving, but I still have something to get off my chest. I leave with mixed feelings. Friends know that I will always be back. I am forced to leave and return, moving back and forth, between the East and the West, between oppression and resistance, occupation and freedom. Home is not a map, nor a birth certificate. It is, as Mahmud Darwish, the famous Palestinian poet, wrote, "your life and your cause bound up together. And before and after all of that, it is the essence of who you are." It is the essence of being a Palestinian. What do you feel more, Dutch or Palestinian? Journalists always ask me this question, and I always answer with a metaphor. Imagine, you have two children. You love both dearly. However, one of them was wounded. Logically, you give more attention to your wounded child, which, in my case, is my Palestinian background, hoping that this child is not permanently disabled.

The Jerusalem blow -- another reminder of need for urgent change
By Hasan Abu Nimah, The Electronic Intifada, October 9, 2002
AS THE Arab region helplessly awaits what seems inevitable, as the diplomatic as well as military preparation for war continues, a major event of ominous consequences took place in Washington, and took us by surprise here. The surprise is not because all our attention in the region is intensely focused on what the debate at the Security Council will produce, or how to prepare for one of the most serious threats closing in on us. No, and it must be painfully admitted that in this region we do not seem to have much more attention left to spare on any of the approaching dangers from any possible direction. It is sheer and negative indifference.

Jenin Today: They Shoot Children, Don't They?
By Annie Higgins, The Electronic Intifada, October 8, 2002
They shoot children, don't they? Yes, they do. They shoot schoolchildren, don't they? Yes, they do. They begin by prowling the streets at half past seven when students from kindergarten through university are making their way to school. They summon up all their courage to secrete themselves in heavily fortified tanks, armed with shells and dum dum bullets to defend against the danger of unarmed children. Who is hunting whom? The children and young adults are heading toward school. The hunters head toward the children. They find them in the streets, in the school yard, on the bus, and in their classrooms. The tanks' rumble is audible from a distance and is terrifying, but the children walk at a leisurely pace, having learned to gauge the tank's distance by the sound. The tanks emit a thick, acrid smoke that cloaks them from full visibility. These are large, clumsy machines, not terribly fast, but terribly forceful. They make the rounds of Jenin's many schools, trying to enforce a prohibition on school attendance. Children, teachers, and staff continue to attend school, but the shooters continue to make a difference. Since 1 September, school has been in session for a maximum of fourteen days. When they shoot at the children in school, class is interrupted. This is not new, but it is still alarming. Here is today's harvest of students caught by the brave hunters in their tanks.

Israeli Propaganda Mill is at Work Again
By Linda Heard, Palestine Chronicle, October 8, 2002
"If Americans had the chance – or were determined enough – to see beyond such glaringly untruthful propaganda and the Israel bias of their media, they would find such propaganda laughable. They might begin by learning about Mordechai Vanunu ..":  GREECE - Israel is worried about its image these days. With scenes of Israeli soldiers in full battle regalia beating young boys at checkpoints and bulldozing homes and orchards, the Israeli army is looking as though it just stepped out of an old black-and white World War II movie. All it requires are jackboots to complete the parody. They already have the shades. In an attempt to soften this image for the gradually awakening American public, two U.S. Jewish groups – the American Jewish Committee and Israel 21C – have paid for an ad campaign set to air on 100 American cable television networks. The ads are on the theme of "we are a democracy like you" and focus on Israel's supposed freedom of speech, unfettered media, and respect for human rights. One of the advertisements emphasises that Israel is America's ally in the region, while another stresses "common values and common visions".

No Reason For War: An Expose of the Bush Administration’s Claims about Iraq
By Jennifer Loewenstein, Palestine Chronicle, October 8, 2002 
President Bush keeps telling the American public we must go to war against Iraq. The reasons include first, the fact that Iraq possesses or is the process of possessing “Weapons of Mass Destruction” nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons with which it could threaten its neighbors and the world. A second reason is that we have a duty to preserve the credibility of the United Nations, whose resolutions the government of Iraq continually violates. A third reason is that Saddam Hussein is a war criminal with a horrible record of murder, torture, and destruction who must be deposed. A final reason is that this is part of the war against terror; if we are to fight terror we must fight Iraq. Each of these reasons for going to war is a lie to the American people. Each exposes only the hypocrisy and double standards the US holds towards the Middle East. A short summary of what President Bush will NOT tell Americans will help illustrate this point.