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Today's
Stories
December
9, 2004
Paul
de Rooij
The Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers
December
8, 2004
Ralph
Nader
Will the Real Michael Moore Ever Re-Emerge?
Ann
Harrison
The Ohio Recount: Reluctant Officials
and Few Rules
Paul
Craig Roberts
War Crime
Dave
Lindorff
They've Got a Secret: Inside the $40 Billion Black Budget for
Spying
Patrick
Cockburn / Andrew Buncombe
CIA Warning on Iraq: Fallujah Did Not Break the Back of the Insurgency
Col.
Dan Smith
Rules of Engagement in Iraq
Emily
Alves / Michael Johnson
Paradise Lost: Corruption and Clientelism in Costa Rica
Richard
Oxman
The Dylan Bob Wouldn't Mention: Up With Dylan Thomas
Ron
Jacobs
In Fallujah, Freedom Isn't Free
December
7, 2004
Patrick
Cockburn
Running Battles in Baghdad
Behrooz
Ghamari
Lost Muslim Voices of Dissent
Dave
Lindorff
American Fantasies: Psst! Hey Buddy,
Did You Hear How Well the War's Going?
Joshua
Frank
Dean at the DNC?
Richard
Oxman
Down with Dylan: the Insufferable Interview
Ray
McGovern
All Mosquitoes, No Swamp
John
Chuckman
The Invasion of Hallifax: The Imperial Wizard Visits Canada
James
Petras
Latin America: the Empire Changes Gears
Website
of the Day
ToxMap: Who's Poisoning You
December
6, 2004
Paul
Craig Roberts
Paranoia and Pre-emption: Is the
Bush Administration Certifiable?
December
4 / 6, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
Politicize the CIA? You've Got to
be Kidding
Joe
Bageant
Dining with the Rhinos
Alan
Maass
Reporting from the Ground in Iraq: an Interview with Patrick
Cockburn
Brian
Cloughley
Democracy, Bush-style, in the Gulf
Laura
Carlsen
Latin America Shifts Left
Lenni
Brenner
Jefferson, Madison, Bush and Religion
Anna
Ioakimedes
Brazil's Haitian Mission: Doing God's Work or Washington's?
Uri
Avnery
Widow of Opportunity?
Fred
Gardner
Supreme Court Hears Medical Pot Case
Dave
Zirin
Steroids to Heaven
Jackie
Corr
Mining Camp Blues: the Red State Variation
Don
Fitz
Will Greens Abandon IRV?
Lucy
Herschel
"Art can be a Weapon of the Oppressed": an Interview
with Artist Anthony Papa
Richard
Oxman
No Angels in America: Bashing the Gay Play
Ron
Jacobs
Holiday Greeting Card
Poets'
Basement
Collins, Albert, LaMorticella
December
3, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Lie Then Escalate
Ben
Tripp
Fun With Boycotts: How to Shop in a
Time of Crisis
Joe
Allen
Murder in El Salvador: the Assassination of Teamster Organizer
Gilberto Soto
Matthew
B. Riley
Human Rights Court Fails Lori Berenson
Meir
Shalev
In the End, It is the Violin that Wins
Bob
Wing
The White Elephant in the Room: Race and Election 2004
Christopher
Brauchli
When McCain Bit His Tongue
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
The EU, the US, Israel and Iran
December
2, 2004
Tito
Tricot
No Justice in Chile: I'm a Torture
Survivor in a Country Where Torturers Still Run Free
Behzad
Yaghmaian
The Murder of Theo Van Gogh and Muslim Migration
Dr.
Susan Block
Lana and Me: Meetings with Remarkable Apes
Frank
/ Chowkwanyun
Liberalism and Its Bounds
Lee
Sustar
Standoff in Ukraine: the Bad v. the Corrupt
Patrick
Cockburn
Another Grim Record in Iraq
Mark
Engler
Seattle at Five
Michael
Donnelly
Something Stinks in South Bend: the Firing of Tyrone Willingham
Nate
Collins
The Bay Area Mall on an Ohlone Burial Grounds
Saul
Landau
The Assassination of Danilo Anderson
December
1, 2004
Phillip
Cryan
Associated with Whom? Rightist Bias
in Wire Coverage of Colombia
Dave
Zirin
What's the Matter with "Leon"?:
Budweiser's Racist Commercial
Ghali
Hassan
Iraq's Health Care Under the Occupation:
200 Children Die Every Day
Donna
J. Volatile
Beware Western Nations Threatening "Democracy"
Patrick
Cockburn
How Saddam Tried to Arm the Insurgency
Nick
Meo
Chemical War Over Afghanistan
Mike
Ferner
The Battle of Toledo
Mokhiber
/ Weissman
Shame and Determination on Global AIDS Day: 40 Million and Rising
Kathy
Kelly
Looking the Other Way: the Real Crimes
of the UN in Iraq
November
30, 2004
Jennifer
Van Bergen
The Veil of Secrecy
Toni
Nelson Herrera
Meeting Kurtz: When Art is a Crime
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Bush Delusions: Successful at Incompetence
Patrick
Cockburn
The Insurgency Strikes Back: There Are No Safe Havens in Iraq
Chuck
Munson
WTO Protests Five Years Later: Seattle Weekly Trashes Anti-Globalization
Movement
Adam
Williams
Citizenship Sold: Back to Business in Indiana
Gregory
Elich
A Dangerous Turn in the US Plans for
North Korea
Website
of the Day
Read Lynne Cheney's Lesbian Novel Online!
November
29, 2004
Dave
Lindorff
Blowback in Ukraine: The Hand of
the CIA?
Omar
Barghouti
"The Pianist" of Palestine:
Roadblock Concerto at Gunpoint
Mike
Whitney
The US Media and Fallujah: How to
Market a Siege
Uri
Avnery
The Abu Mazen Style: "Give Me
Some Credit!"
Matt
Vidal
Globalization and Economic Inequality: a Look at the Numbers
Patrick
Cockburn
An Interview with Iraq's Foreign
Minister
Alan
Farago
Sex Change and Salvation: God, Girly Men and Endocrine Disrupters
Justin
Huggler
Bhopal 20 Years Later
Antony
Loewenstein
How Australia Reported Arafat's Death and Legacy
Gary
Leupp
Ukraine: Poll Results Aren't the Real
Issue
Website
of the Day
Mosul: Images from a Kill Zone
November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
Linebaugh
Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
Sycorax in Iraq
Alexander
Cockburn
What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
November
26, 2004
Peter
Feng
Gavin Newsom: Man or Machine?
Greg
Moses
It's the White Vote, Stupid
Liaquat
Ali Khan
The Devil's Work: Bush's Minority Appointments
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should Be Banned from Canada: a Memo to the Ministry
of Immigration
Dave
Lindorff
Nation of Sheep, Turkey of an Election: Urkrainians Show the
Way
Gary
Corseri
When Black Friday Comes...
Paul
Craig Roberts
Whatever Happened to Conservatives?
Website
of the Day
Iraq Pipeline Watch
November
25, 2004
Willliam
Loren Katz
Giving Thanks to Whom?: "Thanks
to God We Sent 600 Heathen Souls to Hell Today"
Mitchel
Cohen
Why I Hate Thanksgiving
Mike
Ferner
An Uncommon Mom
November
24, 2004
Gila
Svirsky
License to Kill: the Example of Violence
is Set by the State
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The
Other Mess in Congress
Christopher
Brauchli
The Company He Keeps: the Syndicate of Tom Delay
Dave
Lindorff
Double Standards on Exit Polls: Hypocrisy Sans Irony
Ron
Jacobs
The Occupation of Iraq is the Root of t he Problem
Ken
Sengupta
Witnesses: War Crimes in Fallujah
Diana
Barahona
The Final Holocaust or Why I Voted for Ralph Nader
John
L. Hess
Safire the Shameless
Jason
Leopold
Did Harvard Hire (Another) War Criminal?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Mark of McCain: the Senator Most Likely to Start a Nuclear
War
Map
of the Day
Now and Then: 2004 v. 1860
November
23, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
Bush and Uribe at the Beach
November
22, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Fight Night in the NBA: Selective Outrage
in Detroit
Paul
Craig Roberts
On to Iran: We Won't Get Fooled Again?
Michael
Mandel / Gail Davidson
Why Bush Should be Banned from Canada
Kathie
Helmkamp
Our Son: a Marine Who Won't Kill
Ken
Sengupta
The Triangle of Death: "This is Now the Most Dangerous Place
in Iraq"
Mike
Whitney
Greenspan's Hammer
Roger
Burbach
Why They Hate Bush in Chile
Website
of the Day
Fed Up with Government Lies and Corporate Spin?
November
20 / 21, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Poisoned Chalice
Todd
May
Religion, the Election and the Politics of Fear
Abbas
Ahmed Ibrahim
The Horrors of Fallujah: a First-Hand Account
Kevin
Zeese
Mishandling Nader
Landau
/ Hassen
After Arafat
Tom
Barry
The Vulcans Consolidate Power: The Rise of Stephen Hadley
Fred
Gardner
Pot Shots: Ask Dr. Todd
Justin
E.H. Smith
Triumph of the Will: the Sequel
Carl
Estabrook
Where We Are Now
Gary
Leupp
Imperial History-Making vs. Reality-Based Thought: a Dialogue
Dave
Lindorff
Apocalypse Soon
Jenna
Michelle Liut
Plans Colombia and Patriota: Wanton Wastes of Money, Manpower
and Lives
Mickey
Z.
The Granma Moses of Radical Writing: an Interview with William
Blum
Greg
Moses
The Same Old Struggle Against Imperial America
Sharon
Smith
Abortion Rights and the Election: What Now?
Ron
Jacobs
Sandwiches and Car Bombs
Ben
Tripp
Raising d'Etre: Finding Money in Hollywood These Days
Richard
Oxman
Basketbrawl Two Pointer: Iraq Rules!
Gilad
Atzmon
Politics and Jazz
Poets'
Basement
LaMorticella, Albert, Ford, & Anon.
Website
of the Day
Voice of the Forest
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante
Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
Click
Here for More Stories.
|
December 9, 2004
The Carnivores and the Ivy League Apologist
The
Voices of Sharon's Little Helpers
By
PAUL de ROOIJ
Ariel Sharon is surrounded by a coterie
of "advisors" who step in to develop, perfect and sell
plans for the continued and inexorable dispossession of the Palestinians.
What is surprising is that these advisors, the intellectual
progenitors of continuing mass crimes, are an outspoken bunch;
they don't shy away from revealing their latest fiendish plans
or their true intent. There is no need for conspiracy theories;
their intent and plans are out in the open.
Despite lame denials by the
Israeli government or their media surrogates, the public pronouncements
of these latter day Dr. Strangeloves reveal the plans they have
in store for the Palestinians, Iraqis, and for that matter, the
United States. It is therefore instructive to analyze their
latest statements.
Dovi
For the past few years, Dov
Weisglass has been frequently in touch with Condoleezza Rice,
the next Secretary of State, and they are even on an affectionate
first name basis. Condi calls him "Dovi", and it would
be rather quaint were it not for the issues they must have discussed.
Furthermore, Dovi is doing the thinking for Sharon these days,
and so, Dovi's public pronouncements assume canonical status.
On Oct. 6, 2004, Ari Shavit
interviewed Dov Weisglass for Haaretz [1]. Any article
by Shavit, "a loyal mouthpiece of any leader in power"[2],
should alert one that these were not meant to be ordinary ruminations
by a key political advisor. In fact, Dovi's revelations were
shocking because they exposed the pretense that the US still
supported the "road map", or realize Bush's "vision"
of a Palestinians state. Dovi's brutal pronouncements made it
clear that there was no longer any prospect for a negotiated
solution.
"The significance of our
disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process. It
supplies the formaldehyde necessary so there is no political
process with the Palestinians."
-- Ha'aretz, Oct. 6,
2004.
Dovi's apt use of "formaldehyde",
the morticians' essential fluid, was revelatory. While morticians
are concerned with masking the unpleasant sight of death, Dovi,
a grand mortician, seeks to push a stake through the heart of
the already dead negotiations. He continues:
"The significance of the
disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process. And
when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of
a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees,
the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called
the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed
indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and
permission. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification
of both houses of Congress."
"What I effectively agreed
to with the Americans [in talks leading to Bush's endorsement
of disengagement] was that part of the settlements would not
be dealt with at all, and the rest will not be dealt with until
the Palestinians turn into Finns."
-- Ha'aretz, Oct. 6,
2004.
Just in case the previous shocking
statement was not blatant enough, Dovi spells it out clearly
for an American audience--always a bit interpretation-challenged.
With US official connivance, the Israelis are blocking meaningful
negotiations indefinitely.
Some further context is necessary
to understand these statements. The Haaretz interview
was published about a month before the US elections, a date that
ranks in the Israeli calendar as super Xmas. While during other
election years Israeli politicians would be busy drawing up wish
lists of goodies like F16s, loan guarantees, loan forgiveness,
this year with the Americans fighting Israel's war in Iraq, such
demands would be construed as a bit too crass. This year Dovi
had only one item on his list: he wanted US agreement to terminate
negotiations forever [3]. By making such a radical demand, Dovi
was daring any US politician to object in the middle of an election
campaign, and of course, no US politician did. Yet again, the
failure of the US government to protest indicated that it would
neither confront Israel nor encourage negotiations. So much
for the self-designated "honest broker" label.
One must also remember the
April 14, 2004 Washington meeting where Bush blessed Israel's
so-called disengagement plan. Prior to his departure to Washington,
Sharon waited on the airport tarmac in Tel Aviv until a deal
could be struck on his terms. Surely during this unnerving wait
Dovi must have been talking to Condi. Within an hour the US
government capitulated giving Sharon everything on his wish list,
i.e., anointing the "disengagement plan". So, what
more would they want? Dovi's revealing statements provide the
answer: embalming the negotiations with the Palestinians, implying
that annexation of the West Bank could continue apace, the construction
of the wall would continue, and the creation of two Bantustan-prisons
would be unilaterally imposed. When on May 19, 2004 an AIPAC
audience applauded president Bush's statement about his vision
for a "viable Palestinian state", this revealed exactly
what is intended: an open air concentration camp will be imposed
[4].
Dovi's statements and their
implicit endorsement by the US will create a few public relations
complications. For years, Israel refused to enter into negotiations
because supposedly there was "no one to negotiate with".
Now, after Dovi's revelations we know that no matter who represents
the Palestinians, the Israelis will sabotage negotiations. In
the past, they played along with the "road map" charade,
especially if such a gambit would force the Palestine "Authority"
to repress its own people, but now even this pretense will be
dispensed with. Arafat could now be dispensed with too; and
he proved to have had a timely death. All the appearances and
US assurances that the Quartet "road map" negotiations
would culminate in a Palestinian state were clearly undermined.
The US will once again bear some consequences for this, but
never mind.
Zionism
for Carnivores
Arnon Soffer, a professor of
geography/demography at Haifa University, is another of Sharon's
advisors, advisor to the army's top brass, and is reputed to
be the "intellectual father of the disengagement plan".
In addition, Soffer is also known as a demographic prophet and
someone who considers that the "Palestinian womb is a biological
weapon". Taking as much land with as few Palestinians has
been a key preoccupation of demographers in Israel and those
drawing the path of the wall. This means that a recent Jerusalem
Post interview with Soffer is of particular importance.
Soffer provided some brutal and revealing answers [5]:
Ruthie Blum: How will the
region look the day after unilateral separation?
Arnon Soffer: The Palestinians will bombard us with
artillery fire--and we will have to retaliate. But at least the
war will be at the fence--not in kindergartens in Tel Aviv and
Haifa.
RB: Will Israel be prepared
to fight this war?
AS: First of all, the fence is not built like the
Berlin Wall. It's a fence that we will be guarding on either
side. Instead of entering Gaza, the way we did last week, we
will tell the Palestinians that if a single missile is fired
over the fence, we will fire 10 in response. And women and children
will be killed, and houses will be destroyed. After the fifth
such incident, Palestinian mothers won't allow their husbands
to shoot Kassams, because they will know what's waiting for them.
Second of all, when 2.5 million
people live in a closed-off Gaza, it's going to be a human catastrophe.
Those people will become even bigger animals than they are today,
with the aid of an insane fundamentalist Islam. The pressure
at the border will be awful. It's going to be a terrible war.
So, if we want to remain alive, we will have to kill and kill
and kill. All day, every day.
RB: While CNN has its cameras
at the wall?
AS: If we don't kill, we will cease to exist. The
only thing that concerns me is how to ensure that the boys and
men who are going to have to do the killing will be able to return
home to their families and be normal human beings.
RB: What will the end result
of all this killing be?
AS: The Palestinians will be forced to realize that
demography is no longer significant, because we're here and they're
there. And then they will begin to ask for "conflict management"
talks--not that dirty word "peace." Peace is a word
for believers, and I have no tolerance for believers--neither
those who wear yarmulkes nor those who pray to the God of peace.
[] Both are dangerous.
Unilateral separation doesn't
guarantee "peace"--it guarantees a Zionist-Jewish state
with an overwhelming majority of Jews; it guarantees the kind
of safety that will return tourists to the country; and it guarantees
one other important thing. Between 1948 and 1967, the fence
was a fence, and 400,000 people left the West Bank voluntarily.
This is what will happen after separation. If a Palestinian
cannot come into Tel Aviv for work, he will look in Iraq, or
Kuwait, or London. I believe that there will be movement out
of the area.
It would be difficult to find
a clearer exposition of what the Palestinians can expect, and
what type of society Israel will become. It also becomes clear
why Dovi was so determined to remove any prospect of negotiations,
i.e., he sought to forestall any externally imposed solution.
He knew that any intervention by a World Court or any assertion
of the Palestinian right not to be expelled would interfere with
Soffer's plans. Besides, "peace" is for the moist
eyed liberals, and not for hard-nosed realists.
Drang
nach
East [6]
Zionist plans are not confined
within the borders of Israel and the occupied territories, but
they extend broadly into the region. Strong Arab nations operating
with a unified voice would be able to stand up to Israel. In
the Zionist calculus, to avoid the possibility of resistance,
the countries in the region have to be brought to their knees,
and included in an Israeli controlled sphere of influence. In
this scenario, countries with large armies and with a potential
to interfere have to be demolished. Arab nationalists who seek
to forge unity or to develop the area have to be undermined,
and in their place, atavistic Islamic religious forces have to
be fostered. Weaken, divide and rule. Does this sound far-fetched?
One only has to read Oded Yinon's ruminations [7]:
Iraq, rich in oil on the one
hand and internally torn on the other, is guaranteed as a candidate
for Israel's targets. Its dissolution is even more important
for us than that of Syria. Iraq is stronger than Syria. In
the short run it is Iraqi power which constitutes the greatest
threat to Israel. An Iraqi-Iranian war will tear Iraq apart and
cause its downfall at home even before it is able to organize
a struggle on a wide front against us. Every kind of inter-Arab
confrontation will assist us in the short run and will shorten
the way to the more important aim of breaking up Iraq into denominations
as in Syria and in Lebanon. In Iraq, a division into provinces
along ethnic/religious lines as in Syria during Ottoman times
is possible. So, three (or more) states will exist around the
three major cities: Basra, Baghdad and Mosul, and Shiite areas
in the south will separate from the Sunni and Kurdish north.
Oded Yinon was formerly a senior
Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry official. Although not currently
one of Sharon's advisors, his comments made in 1982 have a prescient
ring to them. One can find recent expositions of the same plan,
and all indicate that the United States is currently fighting
Israel's wars. Creating an Israeli sphere of influence in the
area is emerging as a key motive behind the latest US-Iraq war
[8].
Jamboree
of the Carnivores
Every year a conference in
Herzliya attracts Israeli state planners, think-tankers, and
cheerleaders. It is a jamboree for the carnivores; Zionists
of a vegetarian stripe need not apply. Here, plans are made
on how Palestinians can be further dispossessed, how to handle
the propaganda, or reveal the latest sadistic fantasy. Plans
for the entire region are also proposed and discussed. Out in
the open one can hear what the likes of Soffer, Dovi and Yinon
are currently proposing. Of course, these plans are not presented
in "Western" media; here one will continue hearing
about Israel's peaceful intent, and the "only democracy
in the Middle East".
Also present in Herzliya are
wannabe advisors, and the only way for them to be noticed is
to present ever more extreme plans. There is a dynamic among
these operators to propose plans that veer ever more to the right.
Whereas the likes of Soffer would have seemed extreme twenty
years ago, now his position is centrist. Today's extremists
may become the common ground in a few years time.
The Ivy
League Apologist
One of the attendees at the
2003 Herzliya conference was Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law
School professor and legal contortionist extraordinaire. He
has a bit of a misplaced liberal reputation since he is keen
to justify torture, compulsory ID cards, and overturning international
law. Dershowitz is always eager to dispense advice, and it is
of interest to listen to his ruminations at the conference.
"We have a joint project
between Israel and the US, which lawyers must lead. Our project
is to propose new rules of international law. Israelis are obliged
to follow the rules of law in the democracy called Israel, as
I am within the US. Your moral obligation to comply with international
law is voluntary. You are not represented in the making or implementing
of those laws. International law lives or dies by its credibility,
not by the democracy by which it has been constructed. I am
suggesting the change of the rule of law. Democracy should not
have to justify its actions and show how the rule of human rights
has become a weapon in promoting human wrongs... You are the
lab for that process. You are contributing greatly. Do not
allow the world to bully you into believing that you are the
human rights violators..."
-- Alan Dershowitz, Dec. 2003.
[9]
To implement plans like those
advocated by Soffer requires perpetrating crimes against humanity,
and this obviously clashes with international law. The legal
profession in Israel has long justified Israel's actions by contorted
arguments as those made by Dershowitz [10]. Israeli lawyers
have always been selective on which laws apply to it, and of
course, the core humanitarian law has been excluded. Furthermore,
it will use bits of law that are useful for its purposes, e.g.,
British Mandate period military law, or Jordanian law, and if
all else fails specific military orders are passed [11]. The
veneer of legality is kept, but, as the recent International
Court of Justice ruling pertaining to the wall indicates, it
is increasingly difficult for them to cover up the mass crimes
that the Zionist project requires. Dershowitz recommendation:
don't worry about it and ignore international law. The same
argument will be made for US actions in the war in Iraq, the
torture of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib prisoners, the US military
deaths squads, the use of depleted uranium munitions, etc.
The Consequences
The consequences of the Zionist
project are stark and they are clear for all involved. The Palestinians
are at the receiving end of a genocidal plan. Of course, any
act of resistance will elicit hollers about "terrorism",
and they can expect to be blamed for the cruelty dispensed to
them by the Israelis. Negotiations will amount to "conflict
management" between military rulers and Palestinian collaborators.
Israelis must decide if they
want to become a nation of prison wardens, a fate that awaits
them, their children, and their grandchildren. A permanent state
of simmering war is very costly, and is only tenable thanks to
America's largesse and diplomatic cover. The Zionist project
also entails interfering in all the countries in the area. This
project raises further questions about what type of society it
wants to become, and whether the US will continue supporting
them. Israel cannot escape the consequences of a fundamentally
unjust system; while this persists there will be continued strife,
and all aspects of its society will be grotesquely distorted
[12].
The costs for the United States
are also high and the implications stark. The US is expected
to continue funding Israel in ever increasing amounts, without
a peep of gratitude from the recipient. The US also has to tarnish
its international reputation by having to cover for Israel.
And now the US has to pay a cost in blood; the war in Iraq is
another contribution to Israel. Are Iran, Syria, <fill in
the blank> next?
The US's relation with Israel
is also having distorting effects on American society. The fact
that AIPAC is the most powerful lobby (aka, "the
Lobby") in Washington and that most politicians genuflect
when the word Israel is mentioned indicates that the US political
system may not represent the interests of the American people.
Certainly, US foreign policy is not open to democratic debate,
and currently it is the exclusive preserve of an unaccountable
and reactionary elite. The debate about the US's place in the
world and hence what type of society it wants to become must
urgently be brought out into the open. A simple issue must be
addressed: whose interests is US foreign policy supposed to foster,
and is it in the US's interests to support a malevolent apartheid
state in the Middle East?
Pariah state
and ideology
In the 1990s, the United Nations
attempted to condemn Zionism as a racist ideology. Alas, with
US connivance and massive manipulation, this mild UN rebuke was
not adopted. However, the manifest sadism to which Palestinians
have been subjected indicates that there is a much deeper and
serious objection to this ideology, i.e., the Zionist project,
is inherently genocidal, and the plans of Sharon's advisors and
Israel's history of ethnic cleansing make this abundantly clear.
Zionism has to be considered a pariah ideology. Furthermore,
the combination of pernicious ideologues with a dangerous war
criminal requires that we treat Israel as a pariah state.
Endnotes
[1] Ari Shavit, Top PM aide:
Gaza plan aims to freeze the peace process, Haaretz, Oct.
6, 2004.
[2] Ran HaCohen Mid-Eastern
Terms, DissidentVoice, June 19, 2003.
[3] In reality, Israel received
quite a few more goodies this year. First, an increase in aid
and forgiven loans. Second, it also received thousands of J-Dam
bombs, the type that could demolish Iran's nuclear power plants.
NB: This comes after the delivery of more than 100 special F16s
capable of flying all the way to Iran.
[4] Bush's policy speech in
front of AIPAC in 2004 was frequently interrupted by applause.
It is curious that the word "viable" elicited applause.
Key words and phrases are used that have a special meaning for
US officials and this crowd. Analyzing where the AIPAC audience
applauded will reveal the true meaning of many such terms.
[5] Ruthie Blum, "ONE
on ONE: It's the demography, stupid", Jerusalem Post,
May 10, 2004.
[6] Nazi ideologues referred
to the national imperative for expansion towards the Eastern
Europe as "drang nach Osten".
[7] Oded Yinon, "Strategy
for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties" Feb. 1982. Available
online here: [http://www.corkpsc.org/db.php?aid=5345]
This essay originally appeared in Hebrew in Kivunim (Directions),
A Journal for Judaism and Zionism; February 1982. The
Department of Publicity/The World Zionist Organization in Jerusalem
publishes the journal. Yinon's article was translated by Dr.
Israel Shahak and appeared in his Translations of the Hebrew
press. Invariably statements about plans are more elaborate
and open when written in Hebrew; it is also rare to see them
translated in their entirety into English.
NB: One could easily imagine
the hysterics and indignation if any Arab ideologue were to publish
designs for the region that would include an emasculated Israel.
However, when Israeli ideologues discuss subjugating the region
to its interest, then this is considered par for the course.
[8] It is wrong to suggest
that there is a single motive for wars. It is when there is
a confluence of interests in fostering wars that opinion can
be mobilized in favor of a war. Control of oil, armaments, post-war
slices of the cake, all have constituencies who favored the war.
The centrality of the Israeli motivation is made clear by the
statement by the main actors pushing the war. See also Kathleen
and Bill Christison's "Too
Many Smoking Guns to Ignore: Israel, American Jews, and the War
on Iraq", CounterPunch, January 25, 2003.
[9] Quoted in Azmi Bishara,
"Chutzpah: an avoidance strategy", Al Ahram, Dec. 25,
2003, Issue 670. [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/print/2003/670/op41.htm],
[10] Azmi Bishara observes
that Dershowitz isn't stating anything new. What is reassuring
to the Israeli legal profession is that even a Harvard professor
is telling them to go on doing what they do at present, i.e.,
flout international law.
[11] A good account of the
legal sophistry can be found in Raja Shehadeh's Occupier's
Law, IPS, 1985. Alternatively, Lisa Hajjar's Courting
Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank
and Gaza, University of California Press, 2005.
[12] Take one example: the
construction of the wall is Israel's largest infrastructure project.
It will cost billions. Are they spending all this money and
effort to imprison another people? The wall is compounding the
unjust situation, and thus making matters worse.
Paul de Rooij is a writer living in London. He
can be reached at proox@hotmail.com
(NB: all emails with attachments
will be automatically deleted.)
Paul de Rooij © 2004
Weekend Edition
Features for November
27 / 28, 2004
Peter
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Torture & Neo-Liberalism with
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Alexander
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What Happened to O'Reilly's Loofa?
Fred
Gardner
Ashcroft v. Raich: Medical Marijuana and the Supreme Court
Kathy
Kelly
What We Can Control
Diane
Christian
The Other Cheek: "Empire Doesn't Analyze, It Acts"
Gary
Leupp
One More Neocon Target: South (Yes, South) Korea
Lenni
Brenner
Equality and Rights of Return: Jefferson Instructs the New York
Times
Ron
Jacobs
Death Squads and Iraq's Elections: the Mysterious Murders of
the AMS Clerics
Joshua
Frank
An Interview with Kevin Zeese on Nader, Kerry and the ABB Crowd
Toni
Solo
The Murder of Danilo Anderson
Saul
Landau
Fallujah, the 21st Century Guernica
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Matthew Shepard Case 6 Years Later: Why Hate Crimes Laws are
No Cure for Homophobia
Justin
Taylor
Empire's Lawless Opportunities
Amos
Harel
The Case of Captain R.
Walter
A. Davis
Tabloid Justice
Stephen
Hendricks
God's Kind of Men
Poets'
Basement
Albert, LaMorticella and Ford
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