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10/20/2002 -- Because of the complexity of the subject and my own personal connection with the Jewish community in Jackson, I have put off for some time the task of assembling a Palestine page for the Jackson Progressive. In light of events in the Middle East, it simply cannot be put off any longer. The armed forces of the United States will likely invade Iraq within the next few months, in violation of international law. Such an invasion, with the result that thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of innocent civilians will perish, will most certainly constitute a crime against humanity on the part of our U. S. leaders. We ourselves share a part of the responsibility for this unspeakable cruelty and murder by having elected the chickenhawks who represent us in Congress. I protest!

Israel, already in violation of numerous U. N. resolutions regarding its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, is now led by a war criminal, Ariel Sharon, whose stated goal is to claim the entire West Bank for the Jews. If Israel were not our ally, we would be condemning it for ethnic cleansing. In the Palestinian context, that means that Sharon wants to either exterminate the remaining Palestinians or expel them from the West Bank. It is a foregone conclusion among knowledgeable observers that Sharon intends to carry out his plans during the U. S. invasion of Iraq.

The U.S. media have effectively dehumanized the Palestinians, just as they have been dehumanizing the Iraqis. It is a time-tested and proven anesthetic for the collective conscience, invariably administered prior to the commission of monstrous crimes -- crimes like carpet bombing, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Think of all the derogatory names we made up for the Germans, the Japanese, the North Koreans, and the Vietnamese, to name a few of the people we have gone to war with in the last hundred years. Our propaganda machine deliberately made them seem less than human, so that killing them became easy.

The Israelis, once dehumanized and exterminated by the Nazis, now find themselves doing exactly the same thing to a people who have the misfortune to stand in the way of their quest for lebensraum.

There will be little said on this page supporting the position of Israel. This is not because Israel is dead wrong in every respect, or because the editor has an animus towards Israel or the Jewish people -- quite the contrary -- but because a people who call themselves the chosen of God have chosen a very high standard against which their behavior is to be judged. I expect better of a people who are acquainted with persecution. Besides, Israel has plenty of defenders in the U. S. press, which remains strangely silent on the sufferings of the Palestinians but reports with horror any efforts by the Palestinians to free themselves from a brutal occupation. [10/21/02 William Safire's interview with Sharon in the New York Times today was a particularly nauseating instance of the obeisance paid by the mainstream press to a confessed war criminal who happens to be our war criminal.]

The first article is by Israel Shamir, a Russian Israeli writer and journalist living in Jaffa, Israel. His writings appear on his web site: The Writings of Israel Shamir. It has been over a month since Yom Kippur, but his Jeremiad is still fresh and apt:

Israel Shamir: Yom Kippur Blessings to My Brothers in Zion

Links and Articles

Any suggestion as to new and significant links would be much appreciated. --ed.

Interview With Author Ramzy Baroud

11/17/2007 — Ramzy Baroud, veteran Palestinian-American journalist and Editor-in-Chief of the Palestine Chronicle, recently completed a speaking tour of the United States’ East Coast to promote his second book, The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People’s Struggle (Pluto Press, 2006). The Second Palestinian Intifada is a far-reaching account of key events of the past five years that transformed the political landscape not only of Palestine and Israel, but of the entire Middle East. With a critical eye, Baroud takes the most controversial issues head-on: the alarming escalation in suicide bombings, the construction of the Separation Wall, the devastating hunger and unemployment in the Occupied Territories, the brutality of the Israeli army, the political surprise of the Palestinian elections. On November 12, 2007, Baroud was interviewed by June Rugh, a freelance writer, in Seattle, Washington.  Read the interview.

Article: A letter to the Editor and a Response: Israel's Dilemma

12/08/2003 -- A short letter from a reader takes the editor to task for the JP's stand on Israel and the Palestinians. Read the letter and the reply.

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