Ignoring the elephant in the living room

Last Wednesday (June 20) was International Refugee day and the Hartford
public library had a day of events. We had a Palestine table there and
networked with many of the nearly 100 attendees. What most people did not
know is that the largest two refugee populations in the world today are
Palestinians (about 6 million) and Iraqis (about 3 million), both created
and perpetuated thanks to US government foreign policy that is tailored to
serve special interests. A book on display by the previous UN high
Commissioner For Refugees based on her 10 years at the UN (1990-2000)
mentions Palestine only on page 345 and only to say that political
considerations made it difficult to deal with other refugees including
Palestinians. Today, Congresswomen Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) was on PBS radio and
I called in to ask: "considering that Israel is in violation of over 65 UN
Security Council Resolutions, rulings of the International Court of Justice,
and of countless human rights conventions. Considering that Amnesty
International, Human Rights Watch and every credible human rights
organization showed that Israel routinely violates Palestinian human rights.
Considering all of this can you explain why we send Israel billion of our
taxes for military aid? Bush is proposing increasing this aid; will you vote
for this military that is needed here for domestic programs? And how is this
relate to our war on Iraq and upcoming attack on Iran?" Her answer was very
brief and dismissive basically boiling down to "I will vote for the
legislation". She and others in Congress and in the executive branch can do
this because they do not get enough pressure from their employers: the
American people. Thus, they cannot resist the special interest lobbies in
DC and hope these issues will not be discussed. Yesterday, I had a radio
interview on Free Range Radio that expanded on some of the issues of special
interest lobbies [1]. The aid package Bush will push for Israel will be
very large and over 10-year period. Israel (0.1% of the world population)
already gets more foreign aid than all of the rest of Asia (nearly 50% of
the world population). USA Today reports that the US government records loss
last year $1.3 trillion! (In part thanks to endless wars pushed by the
Israel first fifth column in America)[2]

Considering that US supported Israeli apartheid is at the core of the crisis
in Western Asia [3], it is remarkable to what level the US mainstream media
chooses to focus on side issues and ignore the elephant in the room. That
leaves it up to us citizens to shoulder our responsibility in this historic
junction in world affairs. It would seem to me that we have to make a lot
more noise so that politicians and the gatekeepers in large corporate media
cannot ignore the interests of the US public. I urge all to make sure these
elected officials and gatekeepers know where you stand. Letters faxed to
their offices and phone calls do make a difference. It even perks their
ears when their names are mentioned in op-eds and letters to the editor and
in chat rooms, list serves and other mass communications.
Many activists are doing just that and I always try to share examples. A
new initiative is to break the siege on Gaza by ordinary citizen action [4].
On my website, I listed many individuals who do (or if deceased did) great
actions that made a difference [5].

In responding to situations, it is important of course to first understand
what is going on. Hence I shared with you last week an analysis of the Gaza
situation. Based on questions received and discussions held, I wanted to add
a few more comments here. The PLO was instituted to be the sole, legitimate
representative of the Palestinian people [6]. However, the Oslo process
demolished that prospect because at the time, Arafat (thanks to then
advisors like Mahmoud Abbas) engaged in secret negotiations with Israel in
Oslo that resulted in an agreement that violated the tenets of the charter
by recognizing Israel (but without specifying what is Israel or insisting
first on recognition of the right of Palestinian refugees to return; hence
some thought it is a recognition of the legitimacy of the theft of
Palestinian lands). Before that, the 1988 declaration (accepting UN
partition resolution 181) also violated the charter without proper amendment
of the charter. The subsequent meeting in Gaza of a part of the Palestinian
National Council to approve charter modifications is at best debatable in
legitimacy. But while these points maybe debated, it is clear that today
there is a whole new scenario/situation. No one argues that the existing PLO
structure frozen for two decades represent the will of the Palestinian
people. Hamas also does not. Various factions including Fatah and Hamas
agreed to reconstitute the PLO in the Cairo and Mecca accords. Hamas is
also calling for dialogue with the West and with other factions on a range
of issues [7]. Instead, the US and Israel are moving ahead as if they can
create a quisling government. But the US failed to get the UN Security
Council to support its moves.

Reconstituting the PLO is an admirable goal but if faces tremendous (some
would argue insurmountable) challenges. Just to cite one example, it would
be virtually impossible today for the nearly 3 million Palestinians in
Jordan to have representation in a Palestinian body (Jordan authorities who
are under US tutelage would not allow it). The same for the 1.5 million
Palestinians who hold Israeli citizenship. Israel simply would not allow
them to have representation in the PLO or any other similar body. So how do
we move forward? The Late Prof. Edward Said articles on these issues
remain relevant [8]. It would be nice to hear new ideas and not just from
Palestinians. I wrote a book in 2004 proposing we all shift gears to work
on a one state solution collectively as human beings [9]. After that book
was published, there was the call from Palestinian civil society that urged
boycotts, divestments, and sanctions to use to implement human rights
including the right of return, self determination and freedom from
occupation and colonization [10]. Perhaps one way to respond to the
shifting political landscape is to insist on refugees being allowed to
return FOLLOWED by self-determination. This would avoid the problem of who
represents Palestinians at this stage of the struggle.

As I predicted last week, Israel took advantage of the media distractions to
begin to demolish native villages in the Negev [11]. It is important to
point out that Israel's program of ethnic cleansing continued unabated not
only in the West Bank but in the Negev and Galilee (the remaining
Palestinians there are supposedly "equal citizens" in an "Israeli
democracy"). In the past week, there have been countless commentaries on
the violence that happened in Gaza. As Dr. Mona Al-Farra from Gaza wrote
recently "out of this ugly period, we must promote a new vision of equality
for all people living on this land, regardless of race or religion"[12]. It
is incumbent on all of us who still believe in a future of hope to intensify
our efforts at this time of increased budget deficits in the US, endless
wars for special interests, declining stature of the US around the world,
and general disregard for International law and basic principles of human
rights. This means we must speak more truth (and not only to power but to
all) and that we all put aside all other consideration to WORK collectively
for justice (the only route to peace).

Oh, and the smallest of persistent mice do scare elephants :-)

Footnotes

1)Free Range Thought

2) USA TODAY


3)Counter Punch
There Has Never Been a True Left in Israel: Israeli Apartheid is the Core
of the Crisis (in Gaza and beyond) By OREN BEN-DOR


4) Can unarmed civilians break the brutal siege of Gaza? The Free Gaza
Movement thinks so: Free Gaza

5) Qumsiyeh

6) PLO Charter
Constitution of the PLO

7) Engage With Hamas: We Earned Our Support By Ahmed Yousef
The Washington Post 20 June 2007
What Hamas Wants By AHMED YOUSEF The New York Times 20 June 2007


8) Two relevant Edward Said articles
On failure of us Palestinians to challenge "leaders"
1 Here
When will the Arabs Resist? A panorama of desolation. By Prof. Edward Said


9) Sharing The Info

10) Boycott News

11) ILA destroys Bedouin homes to make way for Jewish town By Mijal Grinberg
Haaretz, 25 June 2007


12) Mona El-Farra: When Gaza brothers turn against each other
The Star Tribune

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Mazin Qumsiyeh
http://qumsiyeh.org
http://justicewheels.org
http://endtheoccupation.org
http://academicsforjustice.org
http://pac-national.org