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Palestine: A Letter to the Peace Movement
The peace movement cannot be concerned only with the war in Iraq. We
have to look at the bigger picture of all wars to determine what’s
going wrong in our country. This is especially true in regards to
Palestine.
Many in the peace movement believe that the use of violence is
proportionately equal between Palestinians and Israelis and that both
sides are equally responsible for the bloodshed. This is not true. This
is not an equal situation. Israel is one of the wealthiest countries in
the world. Gaza is one of the poorest and with one of the highest
population densities in the world. Israel has the fourth strongest army
in the world with a large arsenal of nuclear weapons, while the
Palestinians have rifles, home-made rockets, and people willing to be
used as suicide bombers.
It is reported that over the last six years, 12 Israelis have been
killed by the rocket attacks. This is horrible. Each person is precious
and each death is horrifying. But this does not compare to the thousands
upon thousands of Palestinian deaths caused by the IDF (Israeli Defense
Forces) and to more than forty years of brutal occupation. Thousands of
Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli detention centers where there is
reported use of torture. People die at Israeli checkpoints because they
cannot get to medical facilities. Palestinians are being denied water,
food and medical supplies. Palestinians have to endure continual attacks
by jets, helicopters and drones used for assassinations (which are
illegal by international law) that also kill many civilians. According
to Chris Hedges
(http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19127.htm), since 2000,
1033 Israelis have died and 4,437 Palestinian have died from this
conflict. 119 of these deaths were Israeli children and 971 have been
Palestinian children. All these deaths are a waste of life, but these
numbers also show that the fault is not equal between the Israelis and
Palestinians.
The fault lies with the aggressor and the occupier. When people live
under a brutal occupation, have their lands stolen, their houses
destroyed, orchards wiped out by bulldozers and have to live with
humiliating checkpoints and be imprisoned by a wall, some people will
respond violently to these conditions. This is not to overlook the
countless numbers of non-violent demonstrations being held (in the
manner of Gandhi and Martin Luther King) by Palestinians, Israelis and
others in protest of Israel's brutal aggression and occupation. But the
media hardly ever reports on these non-violent demonstrations. Also not
reported by most of the media is that Hamas maintained a cease-fire for
nearly two years after they were elected and currently is offering a
cease-fire, which would include not firing the rockets. The offer was
rejected by Israel.
As a peace movement, we have to take a profound look at the
relationship between our government and Israeli government. The
relationship between the two countries is like a hand in glove and it's
debatable as to which is a hand and which is the glove. Over the years,
we have given Israel tens of billions of dollars of our tax monies as
“foreign aid.” (This is not counting loan forgiveness, loan
guarantees, emergency monies and military equipment.)
It's hard for us to look at our own country and to admit that we are
being ruled by criminals. Because we send so much of our tax money to
Israel, we have to also take a hard look at the policies of Israel as
well. So many people have grown up loving Israel that it becomes hard to
acknowledge that the Israeli government is also run by a group of
corrupt criminals like our own.
It's not a secret that many of the planners of the Iraqi war have
close ties to Israel and to the Likud party. I've heard that some have
dual citizenship with both the US and Israel. Some have served as
advisers to both countries. These are people like Paul Wolfowitz,
Douglas Feith, Louis Libby, Richard Perle, Elliott Abrams, John Bolton,
William Kristol, and our vice president Dick Cheney and many others.
When we have grown up being told that the USA is a beacon of light on
the hill for freedom and justice and that Israel is a "land without
people for people without land," it's hard to look at the truth and
change. It's easier to be in denial about what is really happening.
If we in the peace movement stand by silently to these crimes, we
become accomplices. We have to go beyond the limited attachment to our
country, religion, race, or tribal affiliations, and to make a choice of
which side we are on. Only then will we be on the road to peace.
Sincerely,
Kadir Cannon
Citizen Peace Tour
(Kadir Cannon is an artist and activist living in Narbeth, PA. See
more at his website,
http://www.jkadircannon.com/ )
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