The rat, the squirrel and the Russian Jew. A story.
Jonatan Amitay
Only the next morning while having my cup of coffee did the picture of the evening before; the mini confrontation with Alex, the visiting Russian Jew, become clear to me. The haze lifted over the horror of his words, the sometimes crazed look in his eyes and the panic the panic of a cornered being begging for its life: please don't do this to us
We were about to disperse, the regular Friday vigil against the occupation was to be over in a few minutes. A man in his mid forties walked over from my left facing the line, asking if anyone spoke Hebrew. I did, I said. What is this demonstration for, he asked. I told him it was to end the occupation. Do you have any idea what you are doing? He asked in a startled tone. When was the last time you've been to Israel? Can you imagine what we are experiencing? When was the last time you've experienced danger, you, here in this peaceful Canada, where the only thing you complain about is the weather, hot, cold, too hot, too cold have these people (on the line) no shame? The words kept pouring out, admonishing, accusing, pleading for my understanding, like begging me to abandon my evil ways. The people on the line were already gone, only a small group was left discussing some issues. A few passers-by looked bemused at the two men of the same height and girth, one leaning (uncomfortably, I may say) against the iron fence shielding the ROM(Royal Ontario Museum)from the street, the other man, very animated and facing him. Once in a while I'd try to ask a question, not to argue- right from the start I realized it was useless, but to plant a doubt, an idea, into this tormented stranger's mind. "Would you say the same to an Israeli Peace Now activist?" "We are anything but FOR Israel, only our ways of seeing the problem and the solution are different"; words that would only get his torrent going with double the force, and eliciting a stream of curses against anyone in the Israeli peace camp. "Look what Rabin brought us?! I cried when he died, but today I'm happy, and I wish Peres was dead too I hope Sarid was killed and the children of the peaceniks roast in hell, damn them all you see this woman?" he pointed to a woman wearing a kaffiya in the small group away from us, "She's not Arab and she's taking a ride on you naïve people" (apparently she didn't look to him neither Jewish or Arab), you are all fools, and tomorrow she will be out to kill you people". The words kept coming at me and piling up. Many times there was no order to his thoughts. Of course he reminded me of the 3000 years of persecution, of the world not caring and not lifting a finger "I'm Russian and I was brought up with no religionwhen Stalin died my parents cried for the loss of the Great Leader, the "Sun onto the Nations" I'm ashamed when I go into a church, I like it, but I'm ashamed as a Jew Look!" He pointed to behind the fence where a rat was chasing a frightened squirrel who was trying his best to out-maneuver and escape the rodent but to no avail, "that's what they are going to do to us they are animals, all they do is breed, they are filthy, you want to tell me they can be trusted? There's no one to talk to, like can you talk to this iron fence no one but us, I knew nothing of Jewish history, we were not allowed to be taught it, only in Israel did my eyes open"
He opened the paper bag he was carrying, "look at all these medicines! Not that you can't buy them there, but here they are much cheaper. I spent two hundred dollars", and he showed me the bottles of various herbal sedatives," We are going crazy, we need lots of medication for our nerves" On and on, looking into my eyes, pleading for my understanding. "Don't do this, tell them not to demonstrate against us, it's terrible, the damage, you can't do this, the world's against us, no one to talk to, all they want is to eliminate us, look at these animals" and again he pointed to the rat and the squirrel who were still at it; the rat, half the size of the squirrel, chasing the poor thing. The scene seemed to push his buttons, and also put a stamp of approval on his fears.
There was no point in arguing with him. It was getting late. We were standing there for almost an hour. It was cold. In my mind I tried to turn this episode into a live lesson in paranoia. As his words of condemnation and brutality towards the peace camp and an uncaring world kept coming, and his praises for the patriotic settlers, the true saviors of Israel kept my head spinning, I tried to make sense of this Russian Jew, 10 years in Israel, an honestly fearful man. Could I alleviate his fears? Was there anything at all that I could come up with to calm him down, to make him stop swearing at all the people who were not with Sharon, or with far right?
What the hell DO you tell a paranoid?
"Thank you for listening and not turning away. I see you are an honest man. Tell them, plead with them. I don't want to hold you any longer, I know you said you have a birthday to go to, I'm on my way, you are saintly, thank you" and we shook hands. I wished him a nice visit in Canada and we departed.
The rest of the evening I tried not to think of the episode. The birthday party was of help.
The next morning the enormity of the dilemma- the Jewish desperate need for a home, and the Zionist ideology of Sharon and ilk, that denies any existence for another people on the land, hit me in force. The stranger's paranoia became clear, human, scary and grotesque:
From not being allowed to learn and know about Judaism and Israel, an almost complete "Goy", he had been transformed in Israel into a Jewish zealot, a new carrier of those 3000 years of misery and oppression. An unstoppable ultra nationalist machine that will show no mercy to anyone, Jew and non-Jew who he will perceive, through his tormented psyche, to be his enemy.
What have they fed him there, in his new home? What baggage, if any, had he brought with him from Russia that made him so open to the extreme brand of ferocious and uncompromising Zionism, and in fact, is there in reality another, kinder and more conciliatory brand? How in ten years has he become so totally shut off from what he believes to be an entirely untrustworthy world, and pouring fire and brimstone on anyone who dares disagree with him and with the most vicious elements in the Israeli society?
Has he caused me to loathe him, feel compassion, grieve for him and for a country that I believe has lost its moral compass? Am I at the point of having to admit that my Palestinian friend is right when she says that Israel has never had one? That Zionism by its very nature is a one-dimensional, constricted, unforgiving and xenophobic doctrine?
A man on his way back to his new-found home with a paper bag filled with two hundred dollars worth of herbal medications for his shattered nerves.
"A Lesson in Democracy"
Guy Beniovitz,
Yediot Aharonot Internet edition
Here, ya Ahmad, in the little schoolhouse of Uncle Bush and Teacher Israela, we will give you a new education. You must understand that you are guilty - though it's not your fault - and we only want to help.
Don't worry, ya Ahmad, we'll educate you yet, you and all the Palestinians. For sure we'll educate you. Lesson number one: replace that wild-eyed terrorist of yours right away. A sensitive intellectual with a Romanian accent would be nice. Second lesson: implement democracy right away, and not pretend democracy, but the real thing, like in Belgium let's say, but with baqlawa instead of chocolate. And the third lesson: get a haircut. It's not nice to sit there in detention with long scruffy hair.
Why are you rolling your eyes, ya Ahmad? Don't you understand, my dear, that you are stuck in the 12th century, with a revolting culture that encourages the suicide of children? What's so hard to understand about that? But it's OK, it's not your fault, you're just a slightly backward people, what can you do. Here in the little schoolhouse of Uncle Bush and Teacher Israela, we will re-educate you.
Stop fingering those beads and concentrate. You surely know that everything happened because of your leaders, right? You know that. Oh yes, we already covered that in the last lesson. So pay attention:
this time we'll teach you how the Jews only wanted what was good for you, but you refused every time. What did we want, after all? To get out of the occupied territories, to divide this bleeding land into
two states, and to dismantle all the settlements.
Why are you laughing, you impudent boy? What demolition of houses and uprooting of trees? Well, OK, you forced us to do that because of your behaviour. Ahmad my dear, a good education requires the stick sometimes. Besides, you are the ones who used that suicide weapon - whoever heard of such a thing? Suicides who kill innocent civilians!
Why are you now mentioning the airplanes and the helicopters and the tanks? First of all, we tried hard to warn you, and secondly, it's your fault for living so close together. So here and there a kid goes, what can we do? We are always sorry, always! The Security ["Defence" - trans.] Minister's secretary always prints up an announcement of our remorse, several copies. And you? You don't even send a little fax of apology.
No electricity? How's that relevant? Believe me, you're only proving that you need education. Do you really think that the technicians and the pilots and the engineering corps and the paratroopers and the soldiers of the Sayeret and the Nahal and the Golani and the Giv'ati and the Navy really want to be in your midst? That they really want to be in the [occupied] territories? Come on! But you force us. You and your suicidal friends. And stop whining to me about your father who needs dialysis. You should have thought of that before you started doing terrorism.
In the end, Ahmad, the problem is that you understand only force. But it's OK. We, the humanists of the Middle East, will give you the necessary education. A little democracy, Zionism, love of the country, military government. We like our Arabs educated, with a nice tray of baqlawa, homemade humus and an apologetic smile. And it wouldn't hurt if you called me Effendi now and then.
By the way, on second thought it seems to me that there are too many of you. Remind me at the next lesson to talk about condoms.
Translated from Hebrew by Mark Marshall
Despair, lack of a proper vision, and revenge
are stumbling blocks on the road to victory
No day is passing without bringing still more evidence of the barbarity of the Israeli occupation.
We learn that more Palestinians of all ages are killed. More obstructions are imposed on the normal productive activities of the Palestinian population. More and more do the settlers act like the Hitler-youth. More and more do the Israelis inflict humiliating measures on the Palestinian young and adult population.
The claim for the blood of the killer is a primeval need that most parents of a murdered child would feel with an
unbearable intensity. Few are the saints on earth who can ignore that gut's demand. Patients suffering
unbearable pains are given morphine to alleviate their sufferings. Nobody dares criticize a person who has lost
most of his skin in a fire when he asks for the strongest pain killers. Likewise, nobody should dare criticize
parents asking for revenge. This is the only aspiration whose realization could somewhat calm the unbearable.
This demand for revenge must be treated with respect. And since the personal revenge is impossible, since in
most cases one cannot get the name of the individual killer, since the killer can be as anonymous as the pilot of
an apachi helicopter, the revenge is requested from anonymous entities. It is the whole Israeli people who is
perceived as THE murderer, and must be made to pay for the crime.
The Palestinian psyche is injured and is in need to have its dignity restored. The easiest way is to take revenge
and inflict heavy casualties on the Israelis. It results in a short-term benefit, antidote to the humiliating feeling of
powerlessness. It is a pale antidote to the loss of a child, at a time when no other antidote is available.
Those parents asking for revenge are carrying the martyrdom of their children. Is it fair to ask from martyrs
to accept a second martyrhood in the form of renouncing their justified claim for revenge?
It is with these considerations that, respectfully and empathisingly, I am requesting a renunciation of the
tit for tat revenge, of the blood for blood revenge. I am suggesting instead a revenge that can only be
accepted within a vision, the vision of victory, the victory of the Palestinian people. There is no sweeter revenge then victory.
The difficulty is in the absence of that vision. The Palestinian people needs a vision of victory which is
not utopic, but carries within its folds the promise of materialization, the promise of success.
It is that vision which I would suggest in my next posting as a better substitute for revenge.
From Socialist Worker Newspaper -- www.socialistworker.org
Should we blame the "Israel lobby"?
IT'S NO secret that the United States is the most powerful and important backer of the state of Israel. The most common explanation for U.S. support is that the "Israel lobby" exercises huge influence in pressuring the American government.
Sometimes, explanations like this come from those who claim that "the Jews" have the U.S. government wrapped around their fingers. We can reject this as crude anti-Semitism.
But that said, there is a powerful network of Zionist organizations -- led by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) -- that donates money to pro-Israel candidates and lobbies the U.S. government on behalf of Israel. There's nothing anti-Semitic about pointing this out - -especially since pro-Israel organizations aren't shy about touting their own influence. Just last month, they claimed credit for defeating Rep. Earl Hilliard (D-Ala.), one of the few critics of Israel in Congress, in his Democratic primary race.
But are these organizations and their lobbying efforts the reason why the U.S. supports Israel? From a socialist point of view, the answer is no.
Israel annually receives more than $3 billion in U.S. aid. Egypt runs second at around $2 billion. Yet no one would seriously claim that the aid that Egypt receives is the result of an "Egyptian lobby."
What's more, about 99 percent of the nearly $83 billion that the U.S. has given to Israel came after 1967. During the first 19 years of Israel's existence, from 1948 to 1967, the U.S. supported it. But Israel didn't
become the central lynchpin of U.S. policy in the Middle East until after it proved its worth by smashing the Egyptian, Jordanian and Syrian armies during the 1967 Six Day War. Ironically, Richard Nixon, an open anti-Semite, was the president who oversaw the initial buildup of U.S. support for Israel.
It's no coincidence that Israel and Egypt are the two top recipients of U.S. aid. Both are important allies in the region where the lion's share of the world's oil is located.
Since the end of the Second World War, the U.S. has tied its "national security" to its access to and control of the flow of oil. That's why the U.S. has given military and economic aid to prop up "friendly" states in the region--not only Israel, but Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf monarchies, too.
The U.S. puts Israel at the top of the list because its government and population form the only uniformly pro-U.S. state in the region. In countries like Egypt, pro-Western governments rule over restive populations
that hate the U.S. government's support for Israel and for their own oppressive regimes.
The U.S. attempt to reconcile support for Israel with support for conservative Arab regimes sometimes leads to conflicts. After the 1991 Gulf War, for example, the Bush Sr. administration withheld U.S. loan guarantees
to strong-arm the Israeli government into participating in the U.S.-sponsored Madrid "peace talks." When one White House political adviser warned against the Bush administration's stand, Secretary of State James Baker is alleged to have said, "Fuck the Jews. They don't vote for us anyway."
Today, veterans of both the Bush Sr. administration and the early 1990s Israeli government are working hand-in-glove. What changed? Not the strength of the "Israel lobby," but the policy of the U.S. government.
In the early 1990s, the U.S., under both Bush and Clinton, wanted to push "the peace process" as its plan for "regional stability." Today¡¯s Bush administration has abandoned that strategy for now.
The U.S. government--for its own imperial reasons--decides how much leeway Israel has. And this leeway defines how successful the "Israel lobby" will be.
As long as Israel remains central to U.S. imperialism in the Middle East, Israel will continue to receive U.S. backing and aid. That's why Israel's ace in the hole in Washington isn't AIPAC--but the Pentagon, the CIA and the military-industrial complex.
I admit it. I'm guilty.
Amelia Peltz
Guilty of what, you may ask? Well it might seem strange, but guilty of not writing. Of not doing more to adequately chronicle all that has been taking place in Palestine during the past few weeks. Not just in Ramallah, but throughout the West Bank and Gaza. Aside from being chronically exhausted from heat and stress, I have been struggling with a certain sense of depression. Whenever I sit down in front of my computer to write I feel so inadequate as though my words can never and will never make a difference. Who am I to think that I can do anything to change the horrible, if not criminal, situation that has encompassed the lives of the Palestinian people?
But there is another issue too. I am aware that my "reports" often come across as sounding angry and accusatory and I fear that some people may have taken my past diatribes personally. Please understand that my anger is not directed at any of you, despite the fact that my writing style might lead you to believe otherwise. I do not intend to alter or "water down" what I have to say, but realize that my anger (no matter how valid or invalid it may be) is a lament at the lack of compassion and humanity that I face on a daily basis.
So, full of reproach at my unwarranted sense of self-pity, I sat down this evening to try and put emotions into words.
I am writing this letter on a Saturday evening a day of the week when many people are preparing for a fun evening out with friends and loved ones. As I write, my desk periodically shakes due to the sounds of gunfire and tank shelling. Israeli soldiers are driving through the deserted streets of Ramallah shouting "Mana ata jawaal, Mana ata jawaal" you are under curfew. Periodically they catch someone trying to break curfew and either detain them or shoot in the air like just a moment ago on the street in front of my house. You may not believe this, but I cannot remember what it must be like to have the freedom to do something as simple as taking a walk, let alone enjoy a Saturday night out with friends. I now consider myself lucky if curfew is lifted for a few hours so I can go to my office and meet with my colleagues, then dash to the market to get a few days worth of fruits and vegetables before curfew is slammed down on us once again.
And I am lucky. I have a job that pays me even on the days I am home under curfew (fortunately I am able to do a lot of my work from home). I have money to buy food and medicine. My house has not be invaded and destroyed. My partner has not been arrested, though the threat remains every day that the situation could change and he will end up in the notorious Naqab prison along with our dear friend, Majed. Once again, Majed was arrested and incarcerated along with over 1,700 other Palestinian men. He is suffering from a disease in his eyes that will undoubtedly leave him blind by the time he is released.
Recently there has been an international chorus of voices, including the United Nations, the World Bank, and USAID, proclaiming the grim reality that there is a humanitarian crisis facing the West Bank and Gaza. I will add my little voice to this international chorus there is a humanitarian crisis facing the entire Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza! I don't know how much more strongly this can be emphasized, I really don't. And my words certainly cannot do justice to these facts taken fro m a recent USAID report (I can send this report to anyone who is interested) and a report by the Middle East Research and Information Project (which I have attached at the end of this letter):
· 75% of the population is living below the poverty line, which means they are living on less than $2 per day
· Unemployment rates have skyrocketed to an unprecedented 62%
· Over 2 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza are living under curfew
· Approximately 50% of all Palestinians are dependent on food assistance from the FAO or UNRWA in order to feed their families
· Communicable diseases are spreading, due to lack of medical care and improper sewage disposal (garbage cannot be removed while under curfew)
· During a recent survey of 300 households in Nablus, none were found to have an adequate supply of safe drinking water
· 21% of children are suffering from acute malnutrition.
The numbers only tell half the story. The other half is told through the looks of desperation and despair that are evident in the eyes of people who are struggling to survive.
Two weeks ago I went to Jenin. Last week I was in Gaza. I left both cities ill, physically and emotionally. And I am ashamed that I cannot find the words to tell you about the widespread poverty and destruction. But what can be said that will do any justice to the lives of people who are struggling to survive under a brutal occupation and ceaseless war? But survive they do. For so many, it is an awful existence being dependant on food aid, relying on life savings to buy medicine, dodging bullets and ducking tank shells just to stay alive for - how long? a day, a week? Many have said that the Palestinian resistance is being crushed. While it is not nearly as strong as it was a year ago, I can assure you that the resistance is alive and well. But it is taking on new and creative forms, too.
For example, I heard a story the other night that in a part of the city of Bitounyia (southwest of Ramallah) every night a certain time, the residents bang as loudly as they can on pots and pans so as to annoy the Israeli soldiers . Often in the evenings around my neighbourhood, children come out to fly their homemade kites. One night, I counted over 50 in the sky! And of course non-violent demonstrations and marches in the streets still continue, even if they are on a small scale. Despite their non-violent nature, these protestors (of which I am one) are always met with tear gas, concussion grenades and live ammunition.
These acts of resistance are our survival strategies.
I was recently interviewed by a British news agency that is working on a report describing life, such as it is, in the West Bank. The last question that the reporter asked me was how long this situation can last.
"Before what", I replied? "What else do you want! How much more suffering and death do we half to endure before we can compete for a spot on the evening news?"
But these, in my opinion, are not the right questions to ask. What we should be asking is how, despite the enormous might of inhumanity inflicted upon Palestine, do people continue to survive? And, more importantly, how can the world be a witness such suffering not just in Palestine, but on a global scale - and not act upon it?
Sometimes, my only survival strategy is to cry. At the end of the day, after the demonstrations have ended, the curfew is imposed, bullets pierce the night sky, and dreams of peace with justice seeming like a childhood fantasy, tears are the only comfort. They are small drops of humanity, struggling to claim their place in the world.
With love from Palestine,
Amelia
Amelia Peltz is a member of SUSTAIN (Stop U.S. Tax-funded Aid to Israel Now) who lives and works in Ramallah and also does activist work with the International Solidarity Movement . Below she chronicles some of the feel ings of despair, that almost all of us activists feel, of not being able to do enough......
Dear all,
It's been awhile since I've had the inclination to share anything specific, but this week something made me wonder if all of us trudging along in this commitment to finding a "better way" or a "just solution" or a
"reverse of the solution" may be experiencing similar syndromes.
Is anyone else (in Israel or Palestinian inititatives) finding it harder to make excuses for continuing on what seems a naive path? Or making excuses for still having trust in the other side whatsoever? Or coming
up with ANY credible response to our relevant populations in light of the insanity being played out on both sides?
Finding credibility - for the total non-believers - or the outright violent perpetrators - may be a pipedream. But the day has come, it seems to me, to find a new message that will make sense to those rational souls among us who are NOT violent, and NOT vengeful, but who believe that we, the believers, are simply naive babes-in-the woods. A strategy of choice reflects no strategy at all if it makes no sense to the majority.
And that is our present state of affairs.
There MUST be a message that can resonate for other than the marginal number of sympathizers, that is credible and does not reflect a fall-back position. My instinct tells me that - despite our basically
secular membership in this "club" - the message will have to reflect the religious values that support a just and fair coexistence. We need not have to make excuses for curfews or cold-blooded murder.
While our regular work must go on, is anyone prepared for going the extra mile and developing that message? Right now, I believe we might as well be mute, because the present message is falling on deafened ears.
Melisse Lewine-Boskovich,
PEACE CHILD ISRAEL
POSITION PAPER AND ANALYSIS ON IMMEDIATE CIVIL SOCIETY RESPONSE TO THE VACUUM OF AUTHORITY IN PALESTINE
A WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR CHANGE UNDER VERY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS
The analysis and recommendations in this letter results from a generalization of the outcome of several joint Israeli/Palestinian meetings and discussion groups sponsored by IPCRI. These meetings and discussion groups took place during and after the recent incursions.
The current situation on the ground in the West Bank has created a vacuum in political, governmental institutions and polytypical leadership. This situation is at the same time filled with great dangers and new opportunities for significant possibilities for real change. The Palestinian Authority has become completely dysfunctional, not able to provide security, police protection or civil services. The recent closure of Hamas and other non-governmental service provider organizations has further enhanced the chaotic situation on the ground. The elimination of any Area "A" by Israel has created a situation whereby there are no clear "rules of the game" in place in the occupied territories. The old rules of the Oslo Agreement and the Paris protocol have become null and void. While in the occupation period of 1967 - 1993 the Israeli government was taking charge and responsible for the civilian population, since the 1994 agreements, it was the PA that was supposed to do that. With the recent developments, the Israeli authorities are not legally taking charge of the responsibilities towards the civilian population, while the institutions of the PA have been more or less eliminated, even those related to law and order.
The talk of reform and the few decision that have already been taken in this regard will probably take more than a year to enact, if at all. The vacuum will last as long as the process of reform and re-structuring in the PA will take place, i.e., a year or two, and thus the vacuum will continue for a long time with no expected change in the attitude and activities of the Israeli army.
This vacuum will not be filled only by Hamas and leftists, but also with the growing mafias and street thugs that are gaining de facto control of most communities due to the elimination of most PA security institutions. If elections are held under this environment, it is clear that the victory of those elections will go to those forces in Palestine that present the most extreme positions vis a vis the peace process, Israel and the United States. We are likely to end with a situation that looks very much like Algeria.
The existing vacuum will not remain static for long. It is likely to be filled by the Islamic and secular leftist opposition in Palestine if nothing is done to prevent this. From our analysis there is a window of opportunity for real change that is small and its time frame is very limited. This window of opportunity should be used for Palestinian civil society and civil society leaders to provide new moral leadership for the Palestinian people. The initiative started by Prof. Sari Nusseibeh with the petitions regarding suicide bombers is a good start in that direction. The activities of the human chain that were supposed to be held this past weekend would have provided additional public support in this direction. The majority of Palestinian civil society is mostly a secular one; is now free from the hegemony of the PA and the natural ally to Israeli and international forces of peace, conciliation and human development. Its objectives need to be clarified and highlighted: it is the only source of a new political moral and ethical guidance to the population as whole in presenting an ALTERNATIVE to the political platform of the extremists and fill this specific vacuum that the PA has not been able to produce in the past 19 months.
The actions taken by Palestinian civil society and its leaders must be strengthened through partnerships with forces and governments in the West, with the United States and the European Union leading the way together with natural allies in Israel. It is clear that this initiative must be led by charismatic leaders going public with their initiatives now. The main candidate for this in Palestine is Sari Nusseibeh who could be supported by other leading players of civil society organizations. On the Israel side people such as Ami Ayalon could play a very positive role.
Time is a most critical factor. The window of opportunity is one that will be here for a limited period of several weeks. What is required is a decision of the United States and the European Union to address this opportunity immediately with both significant political and financial support.
The Palestinian Civil Society cannot replace the Palestinian Authority in providing services, however it can and it should provide the moral direction for the reconstitution of a peace process and for the establishment of democracy and clean government in Palestine.
There are significant people in Palestine and Israel who share this vision and would be happy to work on such an initiative. The concept of a program of action is at two levels: civic society level and the governmental level. At the civil society level, there is the need to support the instant creation and activating of three forums: A) A Palestinian uni-national forum of those NGO's active in peace dialogue, peace education and development; B) A joint Israeli/Palestinian forum of those active in peace dialogue, peace education and development; c) an International partnership with the joint Israeli-Palestinian forum. At the governmental level, the issue of looking at the Palestinian civil society and various activities and forums needs to be recognized and fully supported as at present it is the viable alternative to provide moral/political guidance and to participate in the setting up of the terms of reference along which reform and stabilization programs will be set up, implemented, and monitored.
We cannot stress the time factor enough. Immediate attention should be given and action must follow swiftly.
We the undersigned feel that it is our national responsibility to issue this appeal in light of the dangerous situation engulfing the Palestinian people. We call upon the parties behind military operations targeting civilians in Israel to reconsider their policies and stop driving our young men to carry out these operations. Suicide bombings deepen the hatred and widen the gap between the Palestinian and Israeli people. Also, they destroy the possibilities of peaceful co-existence between them in two neighboring states.
We see that these bombings do not contribute towards achieving our national project that calls for freedom and independence. On the contrary, they strengthen the enemies of peace on the Israeli side and give Israel's aggressive government under Sharon the excuse to continue its harsh war against our people. This war targets our children, elderly, villages, cities, and our national hopes and achievements.
Military action is viewed are not assessed as positive or negative exclusively out of the general context and situation. They assessed based on whether they fulfill political ends. Therefore, there is a need to re-evaluate these acts considering that pushing the area towards an existential war between the two people living on the holy land will lead to destruction for the whole region. We do not find any logical, humane, or political justification for this end result.
Signatories:
Below are some of the Palestinian intellectuals and public figures who have signed the petition:
Dr. Sari Nuseiba, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi , Saleh Ra'fat , Salah Zuheika , Mamdouh Nofal , Hanna Sineora
Dr. Mohammad Ishtiya , Ibrahim Kandalaft , Dr. Eyad El-Sarraj , Dr. Moussa El-Budeiri , Huda El-Imam
Dr. Marwan Abu El-Zuluf Saman Khoury , Dr. Said Zidani , Dr. Omayya Khammash , Dr. Jad Is'haq
Dr. Manuel Hassasian , Salah Abdel Shafi , Shaher Sa'ad , Dr. Mohammad Dajani , Imad Awad
Fadel Tahboub, Majed Kaswani, Taysir El-Zibri, Dr. Ahmad Majdalani , Dr. Taleb Awad, Khader Sh'kirat
Zahi Khouri , Majed Abu Qubo' , Ehab Boulous , Dr. Isam Nassar , Dr. Salim Tamari , Dr. Suad El-Ameri
Dr. Adam Abu Sh'rar , Dr. Riema Hamami , Subhi El-Z'beidi , Dr. Munther El-Dajani , Osama Daher
Simone Cupa , Jeana Abu El-Zuluf , Yousef Daher , Jamal Zaqout , Dr. Saleh Abdel Jawwad
Dr. Nathmi El-Ju'ba , Dr. Jamil Hilal , Dr. Arafat El-Hadmi , Dr. Leila Faydi , Dr. Zakaria El-Qaq
