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Occupation remains illegal
By Sister Miriam Ward, Rutland Herald 6/3/2006
How to impress President Bush and Congress? Should it be “convergence,” “conversion,” or, “realignment?” That was the question for Israeli spin doctors. Israeli Prime Minister Olmert shouldn’t have worried. Bush called Olmert’s plan “bold” and Congress gave him standing ovations. Former President Jimmy Carter wasn’t fooled. “Illegal” and “confiscation of land” is how he characterized Prime Minister Olmert’s plan to extend the separation wall and retain large Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Palestinians and a number of American Jewish organizations were more blunt: a “land-grab” and a "water-grab.” To paraphrase another president, “It’s the Occupation. . .”As one who has witnessed the reality of daily humiliation and degradation of Palestinians for three decades, I say, “Enough of Israel’s brutal military Occupation, 39 years this June 5, 2006.”And I say, “Enough of exploitation of language to anesthetize people so they won’t know what is really going on.” How many in Congress along with George Bush really know what Olmert’s conversion, convergence, realignment mean?Ironically, “conversion” as a legal term is the “unlawful appropriation of another’s property,” which undoubtedly is not what the spin doctors had in mind, but which accurately describes the reality of Israeli settlements. Under international law all the settlements are illegal, despite the fact that the Israeli government distinguishes some –the more remote settlements Israel wants to abandon--as “illegal outposts.”Or when Israel speaks of developing “neighborhoods” for Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem, the euphemism evokes a nice, friendly, warm, fuzzy-sounding idea. The reality: Palestinian homes, land and water are taken for this exclusivist project.No matter the fancy words, it remains the Occupation.
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