Continued Policy Of Provocation, Continued Protest

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The accumulation of the IDF's "mistaken killings" of the last days is an all too transparant policy to liquidate the relative calm as a result of intense efforts on the Palestinian side to achieve a cease-fire. Those who want to read the Gush Shalom Hebrew press release about it - and in general - are invited to subscribe to the press release list. Instructions about how to do that in the end of this mail.

announcements

[1] Monday morning Peace Now Tour to new settlements

[2] Wednesday, the case against the settler who attacked Angie Zelter last year

[3] Family members of reservists invited to daily protest of government policy

[4] Uri Ya'akobi back to military prison reports, articles etc.

[5] "The Return of the Dinosaurs" - Avnery reads the Yaalon interview

[6] PCATI on 9 new innocent victims of the continued liquidation policy

[7] Fighting Racism in Kfar Saba - a report

[Through billboard we forward what is on the agenda, based upon our own material and on announcements received from others. We include articles and reports. For more information, approach the addresses appearing in each item.]

[1] Monday morning Peace Now Tour to new settlements

------- Forwarded message follows -------

From: "Ori Ginat"

Date sent: Sun, 1 Sep 2002 15:06:27 +0200

Back to the Settlements......But Just For a Tour Tomorrow, Monday, 2/9 Peace Now will be setting out on a tour of the two new settlments in the Eli and Ariel area. Dror Etkes, Settlement Watch Coordinator, will conduct the tour, which will continue until 14:00hrs Please note the tour will be conducted in a armoured bus. The tour departs Tel Aviv at 10:00hrs from the Train Station, next to the El-Al offices.

For further details call Ori: 03 5663291/ 054405157 or ori@peacenow.org.il

See you tommorrow

[2] Wednesday, the case against the settler who attacked Angie Zelter last year

------- Forwarded message follows -------

From: "angie" reforest@gn.apc.org

[this message was shortened; for the full version ask angie]

Dear Friends, can you support the case against the settler who attacked me last year by being at the court case with placards (against settler violence, the neccesity for the rule of law, for an impartial judicial system, no peace without justice for all and a rule of law or more appropriate slogans) and leaflets/briefings about settler violence......... my lawyer from the PHRMG has said that having people in the court listening to the case would be useful.

This first hearing has been put off several times and I think it is only with the support of the UK Consulate that it has gone so far..... The first court hearing will take place at the Court of the First Instance,
Russian Compound, Jerusalem on Wednesday 4 September at 11.00 am. The name
of the judge is Judge DOTAN and the case file number is 2623/2002.

Angie Zelter, IWPS-Hares, Salfit, Palestine.
Tel:- +972-(0)9-2516-644. Mob:-+972- (0)55-376-204

[3] Family members of reservists invited to daily protest of government policy

------- Forwarded message follows -------

From: "naomi" Nadavy@ccsg.tau.ac.il

Date sent: Fri, 30 Aug 2002 15:41:43 +0200

{text received in Hebrew only]

[4] Uri Ya'akobi back to military prison

We just got the telephone call that Uri Ya'akobi got another 28 days; this means that he will spend Rosh Hashana and all the other "holy days" in the military prison.

You are invited to send him some encouraging words to:

Uri Ya'acobi Military ID: 7342725 Prison-4, Military postal code 02507 Israel

Other possibility: to send him an email via It will be reported to him that you did so, though he will only be able to see the mail after his release.

[5] "The Return of the Dinosaurs" - Avnery reads the Yaalon interview

The Return of the Dinosaurs

Uri Avnery - 31.8.02 How did the dinosaurs die out? There are many theories about this. For example, that a meteor hit earth and the ensuing dust cloud obliterated the sun.

I have a theory of my own: the dinosaurs suffered from a lack of proportion between body and brain. The tyrannosaurus, for example, had monstrous physical dimensions but his brain was the size of a pea. Then our ancestors, the little mammals, arrived and displaced them everywhere.

Now we are witnessing the return of the dinosaurs. Human dinosaurs. People who control immense power structures and who have the brains of a bird.

Take the American tyrannosaurus. He has power that no empire in the history of the world could even have dreamed of. The US military machine can take over the whole world, wage war anywhere, destroy any country, eliminate any people. Over this immense body reigns the brain of George W. Bush, and around him a small group of people whose moral standard and intellectual capacity are like those of the caveman.

But why should we look down on others? After all, the Israeli tyrannosaurus is no different from his big brother. Compared to all his neighbors, he has immense military capacity, and over this huge power reigns the brain of a child.

This week the Chief-of-Staff of the Israeli army, General Moshe Ya'alon, gave an interview to Ha'aretz. Not two months have passed since he assumed office, but the country is full of his philosophical output. We have learned about his mental world, his intellectual capacity and his leadership pretensions. From these three viewpoints, his outpourings are rather frightening - especially since every word of them has been approved, at least post factum, by Ariel Sharon.

The mental world of Moshe Ya'alon is composed of a heap of hackneyed myths that are taught in Israeli elementary schools instead of history. He repeats them like a not-very-intellectual pupil. But his pretensions are those of a super-leader, who stands above the government, the Knesset and the people.

His predecessor, Shaul Mofaz, was a man of the extreme right. Yaalon goes further. He reminds one of the words of King Solomon's son, Rehoboam, who told his people: "My father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions."* (1 Kings 12, 11)

* The Hebrew word for "whips" means also "fools".

These are the main teachings of Ya'alon:

* The Palestinian danger is a cancer.

* This is an existential threat.

* We are David, they are Goliath.

* They have the backing of a quarter of a billion Arabs.

* We have no intention of annihilating them, while they are not ready to recognize our right to exist here as a Jewish state.

* The State of Israel has put on the table (at Camp David) a proposal that would have solved the problem, but they rejected everything.

* It is not a question of occupation. The aim of the Palestinian people is to bring down the State of Israel.

* The Oslo agreement was a Trojan horse.

* The aim of Arafat is to eliminate the State of Israel by stages, using terror and demography.

We learn several things from these teachings. First: Ya'alon is quite devoid of any new, original or creative thought. Any schoolchild in Israel could say exactly the same things. Second: speaking politely, the validity of each of these arguments, which seems to him self-evident, is doubtful. Speaking bluntly, they are a heap of rubbish.

Very briefly:

* It is not the Palestinian danger that is a cancer, but the occupation that breeds terrorism.

* There is no existential danger.

* We are Goliath, very big, very well-armored, very unwise.

* Almost all of the quarter of a billion Arabs are ruled by regimes dependent on the USA, which don't give a damn for the Palestinians.

* A large groups of ministers in the Israeli government indeed aim to destroy the Palestinian national entity by driving the Palestinians out of their country ("transfer").

* At Oslo, the Palestinians recognized the existence of the State of Israel, and that is all that is demanded of them. The character of our state ("Jewish" or otherwise) is not their business.

* At Camp David, Ehud Barak put forward proposals that were very far from "solving the problem".

* If it were Arafat's aim to destroy Israel "by stages", he would have accepted Barak's proposals and moved to the next stage.

* If Rabin's successors - Prime Ministers and Chiefs-of-Staff - had not sabotaged the Oslo agreement, it would by now have brought peace and security.

* Demography is not within the purview of Ya'alon (three children) or Arafat (one daughter). Anyone worried by this aspect of the conflict should move out of the Palestinian territories at once.

There is a psychological condition called paranoia vera, whose victims take a fallacious assumption ("the earth is a cube") and build a whole logical structure on it. The more complete the structure, the more serious the condition.

Ya'alon builds his conclusions on his fallacious assumptions: the present war (the one he, accidentally, is commanding) is the most important in the annals of Israel since 1948. No withdrawal from any place is permissible, because it would encourage the Palestinians. Therefore, not even one single settlement can be dismantled, isolated as it may be. The building of the "security fence" (between Israel proper and the occupied territories) is a mistake ("I would invest the money somewhere else".) Concessions under fire will cause an existential danger. This is an endless war. Generations will pass before certain elements in the region will resign themselves to the existence of Israel. (Ya'alon quotes a 1969 speech by Moshe Dayan, in which he prophesied a war of many generations.) There is no alternative.

But the most severe danger, according to Yaalon, is the internal one. Israeli peace- lovers and human rights activists are undermining the existence of the state and the army and preventing victory. Victory means that "the Palestinian side internalize very deeply that by terrorism and violence they will not vanquish us." Therefore, absolutely no concession is allowed. The withdrawal from the South of Lebanon was a mistake, and so was the withdrawal from Josef's tomb (an isolated site in the middle of Nablus).

This means: there is no place for any offer of compromise and idea of a settlement. What is needed is a more and more repressive occupation. For example: Israel must decree that no one would be allowed to be a candidate in the Palestinian elections if he is "touched by terrorism", much as the American military government in occupied Germany did not allow ex-members of the Nazi party to be candidates in German elections. Ergo: only candidates appointed by Israel will be allowed to be elected and lead the Palestinian people. (Under such a rule, Ben-Gurion, Begin and Shamir would not have been elected in Israel.)

And who is the man who built this beautiful structure? Ya'alon modestly introduced himself: "Personally, I see myself as a Jew, Israeli, humanist, liberal, democrat, peace and security lover." No more, no less.

He forgot to add another attribute: brazenness. An phenomenal Chutzpah is needed for a general on active duty to dismiss with contempt the decisions of the elected governments, past and present, from the Oslo agreement to the security fence. All this, of course, given as "professional expertise".

The question is, what, exactly, is Ya'alon's profession? Talleyrand said that "War is much too serious a matter to be left to military men." He knew what he was talking about, since his boss (Napoleon) was a professional soldier, who put his generals in charge of much of Europe.

A military officer has an important profession. He learns to move forces, use weapon systems, command troops, plan battles. But nothing - nothing at all! - in his professional career prepares him for analyzing intricate political moves, understand international relations or delve into the depths of history. From these points of view, his "professional expertise" is as valid as that of a plumber, an engineer of an ear, nose and throat specialist. It certainly is less than that of a historian, an Arabist or a professor of international relations.

Not to mention that it would be unthinkable for an American, British, French or German Chief-of-Staff to make a fraction of such a statement while still wearing a uniform. In Israel, in the 36th year of the occupation, it sounds quite natural.

The dinosaurs are back.

[6] PCATI on 9 new innocent victims of the continued liquidation policy

------- Forwarded message follows -------

Date sent: Sun, 01 Sep 2002 15:13:33 +0200

From: Public Committee Against Torture in Israel

pcati@netvision.net.il

[sorry: only in Hebrew - you may write to PCATI for English version]

[7] Fighting Racism in Kfar Saba - a report

------- Forwarded message follows -------

From: Fred Schlomka

A house was purchased in the Jewish neighborhood of Schunat Alia in Kfar Saba by Dr. Sultan, a Palestinian, Israeli citizen living in nearby Tira. In July 2002 the property was badly damaged by a fire set by arsonists. After working for the last twelve years at a rental location in the same neighborhood, Dr. Sultan intended to relocate his dental clinic there . This was the second time the building was damaged by vandalism, and it is widely assumed that the reasons behind the attacks were due to racism.

Last Friday, as a protest against racism and in solidarity with Dr. Sultan, a group of volunteers spent most of the day cleaning up the mess and doing repairs and painting. The group was organized by The Sharon Forum, a new coalition of concerned citizens from Arab and Jewish towns of the Sharon-Muthalath area, belonging to various organizations, including youth from the scouts, HaShomer HaTzair, Noar Meretz. Also represented were members of Peace Now, Ta¹ayush and The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions which provided funds for cleaning and painting materials. The funds were collected by the Global Campaign to Rebuild Palestinian Homes, an international coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to rebuilding demolished Palestinian homes in Israel and the occupied Territories

Ms. Paz, deputy mayor of Kfar Saba and Benny Kabra of the city council visited the house and expressed support and appreciation for the effort. Dr. Sultan intends to let the building or sell it, as he is now afraid to maintain a clinic in the neighborhood. He has rented alternate premises for his dental clinic in the Kfar Saba industrial zone.

For more information about the Sharon Forum contact Yaakov Manor at odsh7@zahav.net.il

Fred Schlomka
Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD)

"Inside the Maelstrom", leading article of the latest The Other Israel now available on the internet. Dr. David Hirsh: "Its great to read a thoughtful narrative of the last couple of months... rather than just the crazy news every day... it puts things into perspective." Gila Svirsky: "(...) a thoughtfully written and impressive survey of events. Thanks for being the historians of the peace movement!" http://members.tripod.com/~other_Israel/ed.html

PS: Did it occur to you to write a letter to the editor (or if you are living abroad: to the Israeli Embassy) about the ongoing witchhunt against Gush Shalom - suggesting for example that the Attorney General investigate violations of international law - and not those monitoring them? NB: Don't forget to include your address and phone number.

---- Full transcript of the war crimes panel available on the Gush site For Hebrew http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum.html For English http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum_eng.html French available at request Also on the site: photo's - of action or otherwise informative the weekly Gush Shalom ad - in Hebrew and English the columns of Uri Avnery - in Hebrew, Arab and English (and a lot more) http://www.gush-shalom.org

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