A Willful Ignorance
By Paul Krugman, New York Times 10/28/2003
According to The New York Times, President Bush was genuinely surprised to learn from moderate Islamic leaders that they had become deeply distrustful of American intentions. The report on the "perception gap" suggests that the leader of the war on terror has no idea how badly that war — which must, ultimately, be a war for hearts and minds — is going.
Mr. Bush's ignorance may reflect his lack of curiosity: "The best way to get the news," he says, "is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff." Two words: emperor, clothes.
But there's something broader going on: a sort of willful ignorance, supposedly driven by moral concerns but actually reflecting domestic politics. Surely it's important to understand how others see us, but a new, post 9/11 version of political correctness has made it difficult even to discuss their points of view. Any American who tries to go beyond "America good, terrorists evil," who tries to understand — not condone — the growing world backlash against the United States, faces furious attacks delivered in a tone of high moral indignation. The attackers claim to be standing up for moral clarity, and some of them may even believe it. But they are really being used in a domestic political struggle.
Right of return is still center stage
By Salman Abu Sitta, Daily Star 10/30/2003
It was a dazzling view. Young men wearing university T-shirts. A grand old man in his Arab dress. A woman activist who was buried as a child for three days in the ruins of Tel Zaatar. A veteran fighter from 1948 leaning on his stick. Legislators, writers, camp leaders from Gaza, West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. Businessmen from the Gulf and Europe.
They were about 100, except those who were turned back at the border. The invitations reflected the distribution of the Palestinian population in the world. They could have been 1,000, 10,000 or the whole 5,500,000 refugees. They were all eager to come. It was a sight which would please human rights advocates and distress political cynics.
What do they want? They wanted to say again and again what they said for the last 55 years: “We want to return home,” a basic and simple demand. They were the inhabitants of 530 primary Palestinian towns and villages, in addition to 662 secondary villages, who were expelled from their homes in the largest well-planned and meticulously executed ethnic cleansing operation in the 20th century. Their land makes up 93 percent of Israel’s area. The Jewish immigrants to Palestine could not control more than 7 percent of Israel’s area (5 percent of Palestine) under the protection and collusion of the British Mandate government. To the Palestinian refugees who met in London on Oct. 17 and 18, there is ample proof that the ethnic cleansing they suffered during Al-Nakba of 1948 is still alive and well. Sharon and his likes were the perpetrators of yesterday and are still today in Gaza and the West Bank.
Ramadan begins in Jenin
By Nick Pretzlik, Electronic Intifada 10/29/2003
In the late autumn heat, as puffs of grey dust rise from under the feet of the people of Jenin, I sense the lethargy blanketing the town. The Holy Month of Ramadan, marked by fasting and reflection, has begun and energy levels seem low. But in any case, people have little to do. The Palestinian economy is dead and what money remains in Jenin is slipping away fast -- most of it into Israel itself to pay for electricity, gas, water and telephones, to list just a few of the bills which have to be settled. None of the money comes back. It is hard for a large family to live on a mere US$10 per day and be energetic.
Since I was last here, three months ago, the shops are more pitted with pockmarks from bullets and the roads more damaged by the treads of Israeli tanks. And more Palestinians have died. Violence and death at the hands of the Israelis have become standard, daily fare for the inhabitants of Jenin.
But some aspects of life have remained the same. The women are dignified, the men hospitable, and the children noisy. Little Naim's coffee flavoured with cardamom tastes as delicious as ever and he welcomes me still with one prickly kiss on each cheek. And although Said's girth is somewhat reduced -- he had plenty to lose -- his falafel sandwiches have yet to be bested. Most important of all, society continues to function; families are united, the community is intact, and local services operate.
You Make Them Suicidal And Anti-Semites
By Hazem Saghieh, Al-Hayat 10/29/2003
As a start, I am not one of those who admire suicide operations. There are many moral reservations, not to mention its uselessness on the military and political levels. The perpetrators of these suicidal actions are terrorists not martyrs. Their victims are mostly innocent civilians. There should be no confusion between understanding their actions and justifying them: as in saying that despair and total military imbalance with Israel push them to do what they do. This explanation is similar to the one we give when a man kills or steals because his children are hungry. However, making a justification out of the interpretation eliminates the work of law and makes life a jungle with no limits, generalizing some terrible values in society at large.
Therefore, the killer, or thief, should be charged or convicted, despite the explanation we gave and despite our understanding to this case or that.
Moreover, I am not an admirer of anti-Semitism. It is the lowest expression of racism, and as a result, millions have died throughout history. It has always been an excuse to numerous vicious acts that only deserve grief, condemnation and disgust. Furthermore, it would help no one to deny that the Arabs were infected by anti-Semitism since the beginning of the struggle over Palestine and forcing the Arab-Jewish communities to emigrate. Arab anti-Semitism magnified in the last few years with the escalation of the conflict with Israel, the rise of a certain sense of impotence among Arabs and the surge of fundamentalist movements.
Oh what a stupid war
By Aluf Benn, Ha'aretz 10/30/2003
The declaration of diplomatic war against the Geneva understandings is one of the more stupid undertakings of the Sharon government. Not only is it giving free publicity to Yossi Beilin and political authority to a virtual agreement he worked out with his Palestinian friends, it also exposes the paucity of initiative on the part of the government. Once again, it brings back memories of the days of Yitzhak Shamir when there was a law prohibiting meetings with PLO officials. Ariel Sharon marketed himself as a moderate leader, preaching "painful concessions," but his government is operating according to its right flank: building fences and settlements, along with empty mumblings about a political arrangement sometime in the future.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom tried to persuade his colleagues that it would be best to ignore the Geneva accords instead of strengthening them with unnecessary attention. To prevent a formal government decision against the document, he compromised on a medium-intensity diplomatic campaign against the understandings. The effort is tainted with hypocrisy. Israeli representatives in the capitals of the world, sent into the battle this week, were ordered to ignore the content of the agreement and to attack the procedure. They have to explain that Beilin and company "were not authorized to conduct negotiations," and that advancing the initiative "will harm the road map" - as if the government is doing anything to help the road map, as it refuses to evacuate outposts and plans to fence in half the West Bank.
Palestinian cease-fire can work,but only if Israelis reciprocate
Editorial, Daily Star 10/30/2003
Ahmed Qorei has one of the world’s most unenviable jobs: As prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, his lot is to juggle the best interests of his people, the demands of militant groups, the threats of his Israeli counterpart, and the pressure applied by the United States all while cohabiting with the PA’s president, Yasser Arafat. Despite the innumerable difficulties he faces, Qorei remains determined to restore calm and order in the region and says that to this end, he has Hamas and Islamic Jihad on the verge of signing up for talks on a new cease-fire.
It is always a hopeful sign when the “hard men” of any guerrilla conflict declare themselves open to the possibility of a negotiated solution. But it is not just Islamic militants who have a responsibility to help curb the tit-for-tat violence that has prevailed for almost all of the three years since the beginning of the intifada: Their foes in the Israeli government must reciprocate if Qorei is to have any chance of keeping a lid on this particular pot. There must be no repeat of last summer, when Jihad and Hamas maintained a truce for well over a month only to watch the Israelis exploit the lull to demolish more homes, round up more “suspects” and target more activists and militants for arrest or assassination.
This nefarious strategy eventually destroyed the cease-fire, but now a new window of opportunity beckons. The onus is on Israel to help support any new truce by lowering its profile in the Occupied Territories, suspending a host of tactics that amount to collective punishment, and ending attacks on the groups that adopt the cease-fire. Some semblance of trust might then be rebuilt upon which political talks could resume.
George Galloway's historic speech
By George Galloway, Al-Jazeera 10/30/2003
George Galloway's historic speech, which could change the face of British politics for ever, is given in its entirety below. -- It is a misunderstanding created by circumstances that I am interested only in Middle Eastern affairs - notably, the struggle for self determination of the Palestinian people and against the horrific effects of sanctions and war on the Iraqi people during Saddam's vile dictatorship.
I have been, of course, passionately engaged in these issues but my interest in opposing all forms of imperialism - including the fashionable neo-liberal version of Mr Blair - arises from a deep patriotism about my own islands.
Empire resulted in the cruelty and oppression of millions outside these islands but it also helped to sustain the power of a ruling elite whose basic greed and sometimes malice, where it was not mere indifference and incompetence, oppressed its own people first before it turned its gaze on peoples of different hue and faith.
Caring about the Middle East is merely a reflection of my deep sense of moral responsibility as a Briton for the dabblings in the region by irresponsible, greedy and incompetent officials over many years.
We have opposing us, a surprisingly small national elite that hangs on to power generation after generation by capturing every popular movement of resistance and turning it into a junior club member. In the Middle Ages, Wat Tyler's head was struck off by the King. Today, he would be put in charge of some regulatory Quango.
Scaremongering Against Muslims, The Importance of Reading, and Media Titillation
By Kim Petersen, Dissident Voice 10/27/2003
It was another unmemorable edition of the New York Times on 26 October 2003. The flagship of the US press industry gives credence to the relatively unpretentious US placing on the recently released “Second World Press Freedom Ranking” by Reporters sans frontières. Noteworthy is that the US and Israel both rank inversely at home and abroad. Domestically the US ranks 31st and Israel 44th among the 166 ranked countries; however, they plunge to rankings of 135th and 146th for behaviors beyond their borders.
Mr. Friedman’s real motivation: Post-“Second World Press Freedom Ranking” the New York Times foreign affairs critic Thomas Friedman blathers on about how NATO should expand to include Egypt, Israel, and, of course, Israel.
NATO was originally formed as a collective bulwark to deter attack from the Soviet Union. Now that the Iron Curtain has fallen it begs the question: what is Mr. Friedman’s rationale for this expansion? Mr. Friedman asks instead: why not? Now that the Russian bear hibernates in the western alliance, Mr. Friedman, as if taking his cue from Washington’s neoconservatives, identifies the new threat from “the south -- the Middle East and Afghanistan.” (2) Great, more scaremongering of Muslims, just what the world needs.
It is edifying to read further the logic behind each proposed new members’ inclusion. According to Mr. Friedman, Iraq’s NATO military would serve as a “guardian of Iraqi democracy the way the Turkish Army does in modern Turkey.” Gee, Iraqi Kurds will probably feel as loath about such a military-backed democracy as the Kurds living in Turkey do.
Bush Retreats from Mideast Peace Efforts
By Barbara Slavin, Palestine Media Center/USA Today 10/30/2003
WASHINGTON — When Israel announced last week that it would permit construction of hundreds of Jewish apartments in the West Bank, the State Department acknowledged that the action directly violated commitments Israel made in June to quit building settlements in Palestinian territory, a crucial part of the U.S.-backed "road map" for peace.
But instead of a harsh rebuke, the State Department's reaction was low-key: "I can't really comment on it, other than to say we have made our policy clear, which is that, under the road map, Israel has made a commitment to stop settlement activity, and sticking to that commitment is important," deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said.
The mild response was characteristic of a Bush administration that seems to have given up trying to broker an Arab-Israeli peace in the face of repeated violations of the process by both sides. Just four months after President Bush launched the road map at a peace summit in Jordan and pledged aggressive involvement, the White House has retreated. The turning point was the Sept. 6 resignation of Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who Americans and Israelis hoped could negotiate a peace deal where longtime Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had failed.
The Politics of Peace Prize: Israel and Hannan Ashrawi
By Habib Siddiqui, Media Monitors Network 10/30/2003
In the Sydney Morning Herald, dated October 23, 2003, Mr. Peter Wertheim, a past president of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, was quite upset about Premier Bob Carr’s decision to present this year’s ‘Sydney Peace Prize’ to the Palestinian activist and founder of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH) - Professor Hannan Ashrawi. (http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/22/1066631499913.html?from=storyrhs). He applauds Sydney’s lord Mayor Lucy Turnbull’s decision to withdraw the city’s support for the prize.
Such a disgruntled voice from Mr. Wertheim was not unexpected given the fact that people like him have not been able to rise above their ‘boxes’ and see the world as it is from a neutral point. As far as the Palestinian-Israeli crisis is concerned, his views are arrogantly partisan and myopic. Under ordinary circumstances, such partisan views don’t deserve much deference and would probably have been trashed by most editors. However, since his organization is a powerful one, especially in a country that has been very supportive of Bush’s invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and Sharon’s government, we can guess why his views were published. (And I am sure letters like mine to the SMH editor that differ from his views will simply be discarded.)
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