An extremely well written summary of the Palestinian's nightmare. It
has been in response to a public statement by the Liberal Party. Read
carefully because the facts are correctly stated exposing the spin and
double speak.
Subject: Press Release from the Liberal Party of Canada
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 00:55:26 -0500
Rt. Hon. Micheal Ignatieff:
I am a member of the Liberal Party. I was shocked and in a state of
disbelief when I saw the press release from your office (see the
bottom of this email).
It is stated in your press release: "The Liberal Party of Canada
unequivocally condemns the rocket attacks launched by Hamas against
Israeli civilians and calls for an immediate end to these attacks. We
affirm Israel 's right to defend itself against such attacks, and also
its right to exist in peace and security."
This statement promotes the usual pro-Zionist narrative about the
current brutal assault on Gaza by Israel. Nowhere does one see the
scholarship one expects from an experienced professor who should have
done basic research first, And, in its absence, please let me provide
the following basic facts:
In reality, the conflict causing this violence is not centuries old.
Nor is it too complex to address. Prior to 1900, Jews and Palestinians
lived together in Palestine for generations without the extreme levels
of hatred and violence which now exist. With the advent of Zionism,
the political movement to establish a Jewish state in all of historic
Palestine, tensions began to escalate. The leaders of the Zionist
movement sought to control more and more of what they considered to be
land promised to them by God. In 1947-48, the violent ethnic cleansing
of Palestinians from their homeland by Zionist militias and the
creation of the Jewish state of Israel began the conflict in earnest.
Since then, Israel's continued seizure of Palestinian land through the
establishment of illegal settlements in the West Bank has accelerated
the aggression. In addition, Israel has refused to abide by UN
resolution 194 which guarantees Palestinians the right of return to or
compensation for lands taken from them during the war in 1947-48. As a
result of that war and the 1967 war Israel expanded well beyond the
borders allotted to it by the original partition of Palestine and has
been in violation of the Geneva Conventions as well as the terms of
the original United Nations partition plan since its inception.
The real reason for the conflict in Palestine is not Jews or
Palestinians, it is the Zionist colonization of Palestine. Zionism, a
virulent form of ethnic nationalism, fosters a culture of exclusivity
and entitlement within Israeli society. Jews are "The Chosen People"
living in "The Promised Land." These inherently racist attitudes
create an atmosphere which legitimizes collective punishment and human
rights abuses against Palestinians simply because they are not Jews.
Jewish lives are valued more than Palestinian lives. This attitude was
epitomized by the statement of extreme right wing Israeli Rabbi,
Eliyah, in April of 2008. "The life of one yeshiva boy is worth more
than the lives of 1,000 Arabs."
The stated goal of Zionism has always been and continues to be the
expulsion of the Palestinians and the colonization of all of
Palestine, not just the area which currently is Israel. This is a
fact, not idle supposition. In his book, The Ethnic Cleansing of
Palestine, Ilan Pappe, an Israeli Jewish historian, gives a well-
documented account of the brutally orchestrated removal of
Palestinians from their lands and the systematic plan for the ongoing
colonization of Palestine. Pappe uses Israel's own archives to support
these facts. For those pro-Zionists who consider Pappe to be too much
of a "self-hating Jew," a term often used to slander any Jewish
scholar who attempts to expose the dark underbelly of the Zionist
movement, they can read essentially the same history in Benny Morris's
writings. Morris is a fervent Zionist historian who has fully
acknowledged the facts of Zionist history. But he sums up his findings
by saying, in effect, the ethnic cleansing was a necessary evil and
his only regret is that Israel did not complete the job back in 1948.
Indeed, the world has stood by for the last 60 years and allowed
Israel to aggressively colonize Palestinian lands in violation of
international law and the Geneva Conventions.
The Zionist narrative attempts to portray Israel as a victim of
unprovoked Palestinian violence. But Palestinian resistance to the
colonization of their land is recognized as a right under
international law. The widely accepted and vociferous contention that
"Israel has a right to defend itself,"which you also state in your
press release, is a bizarre transposition of the rule of law. It is
like saying the family that occupied your home has a right to defend
itself from your actions to remove them. Israel does not have any
right under international law to "defend" its ethnic cleansing and
illegal occupation of Palestine. The attack on Gaza, and indeed, any
Israeli action taken against Palestinian resistance, whether that
resistance be violent or nonviolent, is not an act of self defense. It
is an act of aggression against a legitimate resistance movement.
Israel is not defending itself, it is defending its illegal
colonization of Palestinian lands.
From a purely moral perspective, it is absurd to suggest that the
monstrous assault being unleashed against the captive and defenseless
people of Gaza by the world's fourth largest military is in any way
justified by the firing of crude homemade rockets into Israel. There
are 1.5 million people in Gaza. They have no army, no navy, no air
force. More than two thirds of the population is comprised of women
and children. After having the nerve to conduct democratic elections
in January, 2006, the Palestinians have had their elected officials
imprisoned and assassinated. Their government has been removed in an
administrative coup and replaced by the quisling Fatah party in the
West Bank. When Hamas resisted this coup and reclaimed control of the
government they were freely and fairly elected to lead, confirmed by
President Carter and other Western observers, it was Hamas who was
considered the aggressor, not those who removed them from power in the
first place. Again, the rule of law was transposed and used to justify
the demonization of Hamas.
To make matters worse, in an attempt to coerce the Palestinians in
Gaza to abandon their legitimately elected representatives, Israel,
with the help of the international community, has kept Gaza under
siege for most of the last three years. Gazans have been denied many
of the basic necessities of life, including such things as paper and
pencils, school books and even sanitary napkins. Israel recently added
shoes and clothing to the list of forbidden imports. They claim Hamas
might use them to make military uniforms. This, despite the fact that
Israel often justifies its killing of civilians in Gaza by asserting
that the Hamas militia can't be distinguished from civilians because,
yes, you guessed it, they don't wear military uniforms.
The main power plant in Gaza has also been bombed, severely limiting
the amount of electricity available. This electricity is necessary for
water and sewage treatment along with the more obvious aspects of
normal daily life. Fuel supplies have been restricted. Importation of
cement has been curtailed preventing necessary repairs to civilian
infrastructure. The Israeli Air Force has used F-16 Fighter Jets,
supplied by the U.S., to make frequent low level super sonic flights
over Gaza creating massive sonic booms which, according to the Gaza
Community Mental Health Program and Physicians for Human Rights-
Israel, "are having serious effects on children in Gaza, including
anxiety, panic, fear, poor concentration and low academic success."
The sonic events are also suspected of inducing miscarriages in
Palestinian women.
These are just a few examples of the war of collective punishment and
terror being waged against the civilian population in Gaza. These
tactics have increased in intensity over the last three years,
culminating these last six weeks in the nearly complete denial of
food, medicine, electricity and fuel to the million and a half people
living in Gaza. So why would Hamas be engaging in resistance to
Israel, anyway? One can only imagine.
This background story to the devastation in Gaza is completely
ignored. It's as if history began just a few months ago. Out of the
blue, those crazy terrorists started firing rockets into Israel for no
reason at all. How dare they? There is little discussion of the fact
that Palestinian militants actually have a reason to be firing rockets
at Israel.
Over the last 60 years, there has never been a sincere effort on the
part of Israel to avert conflict with the Palestinians. On the
contrary, conflict has been continuously inflamed in order to
facilitate and legitimize the colonization of Palestine. Regardless of
the repeated empty rhetoric on the part of Israel about wanting a
partner in peace, since 1967, when the illegal settlement campaign was
begun, there has not been a single Israeli administration which has
not expanded the settlements in the West Bank. This is in direct
violation of the Geneva Conventions, not to mention the many so-called
agreements Israel has entered into over the years promising to halt
the expansion of settlements.
Simply put, Israel is colonizing Palestine. Its Zionist founders
always intended to achieve this end, and the current regime has no
intention of sidelining that plan. Any other claim made by the
government of Israel is pure guile. And this deception has been
perpetrated with funding and encouragement from successive United
States administrations since 1947. Indeed, none of Israel's current
illegal aggression would be taking place without the approval of the
United States along with the massive amounts of military aid provided.
This is the history of the current conflict which we are not allowed
to hear. Not because it is too complicated for us to understand, but
because it is too offensive to the sensibilities of those who blindly
support Israel, and that includes Canada.
The situation is dire. Our public discourse is a cornucopia of lies,
obfuscation and denial. Facts are considered irrelevant. Reality is
turned upside down and language has become meaningless. Imperial and
colonial violence is defined as righteous self defense. Resistance to
that violence is defined as terrorism. The United States and Israel,
two of the world's most celebrated so-called democracies, are in
reality rogue militarized nations engaging in collective punishment,
torture, wars of aggression and criminal foreign policies which
flagrantly disregard even the most basic concepts of fairness and
human decency.
We strongly urge you to do the right thing. Ask Israel to abide by UN
resolution 194 which guarantees Palestinians the right of return to or
compensation for lands taken from them during the war in 1947-48.
Respectfully submitted.
Siddiq Burney
Vice-President
Halton Islamic Association
