1
   

Statement In Solidarity Lebanon And Palestine

 
 
Reply Sun 13 Aug, 2006 10:36 am
Petition for U.S. Jewish Solidarity with Muslim and Arab Peoples of the Middle East
Tuesday, August 08 2006 @ 12:14 PM PDT
Contributed by: Anonymous
Views: 180

As Jews of conscience living in the United States, we are outraged by the violence being perpetrated in our name both as Jews and as U.S. citizens. We, the undersigned, represent Jews across the United States who are choosing to stand in solidarity with the peoples of Gaza and Lebanon.

Please sign and spread the word.

This statement was drafted by U.S. Jews committed to stopping and holding accountable Israel for its destructive policies and practices--most immediately for a halt to the current attacks on Lebanon and Gaza.

We are gathering signatures from Jews committed to this. Our goal is to then publish this statement in the New York Times and other publications.

Click here to add your name below as an American Jew of conscience.

All donations go directly to cover the cost of publishing the ad. If you are able, please make a donation.

August 8, 2006
Petition for U.S. Jewish Solidarity with Muslim and Arab Peoples of the Middle East

As Jews of conscience living in the United States, we are outraged by the violence being perpetrated in our name both as Jews and as U.S. citizens. We, the undersigned, represent Jews across the United States who are choosing to stand in solidarity with the peoples of Gaza and Lebanon.

We are appalled by the blatant self-interest revealed in the U.S.'s leveraging of Israel's actions towards a "New Middle East" agenda, which it has advanced in Afghanistan and Iraq in order to serve an increasingly unilateral economic and political program enforced through military aggression. With Israel as its military proxy, this destructive U.S. foreign policy agenda seeks to establish puppet governments across the Middle East, in a grand effort to ensure continued oil supplies to the West at devastating cost to civilian lives and democracy across the Middle East and beyond.

Focusing upon Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza as well as Iraq and Afghanistan, this vision for a "New Middle East" has facilitated hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian civilian deaths, over a third of whom are children, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi and Afghani deaths. We Jews of conscience know that no justice, no democracy, and no peace can result from such brutality.

We call upon Jews everywhere to hold the U.S. government accountable for its 58-year role in facilitating and benefiting from Israel's long-standing, military occupation of Palestine, its repeated acts of collective punishment against both the Palestinian and Lebanese peoples, and its military dominance over Lebanon and other countries in the region.

We are outraged, but by no means surprised, by Israel's brutality-and consistent support for it by the U.S. government. We are not surprised because Israel was founded through a process of colonization. It is well documented that Israel's founders knew then that their role in this colonizing process would require an ongoing military strategy to continue to "cleanse" the Palestinian population in the name of a "Jewish" state. They also knew that military dominance of neighboring Arab countries would be necessary in the name of Jewish "self-defense." Israel's current attacks on Gaza and Lebanon are consistent with this history and Israel's founding vision.

Over and above its betrayal of Jewish ethical claims to justice, reason, and equity, Israel, the "Jewish" state, has failed to realize its stated goal to provide sanctuary for persecuted Jews. Israel's tactics of fueling hatred and inciting fear, not least where tolerance and co-existence were once longstanding rules, cannot ensure Jewish safety but will endanger the lives of Israeli citizens and residents and of Jews around the globe.

There is no Jewish safety in a country that rehearses the violence and persecution which Ashkenazi Jews experienced for centuries through the annihilation of the Palestinian people and their homeland.

There is no Jewish safety in alignment with the current Christian fundamentalist attack on Islam, used historically not only to justify persecuting Ashkenazi and Mizrahi Jews but to rain terror upon Arabs and Muslims since the time of the earliest Crusades.

There is no Jewish safety in allowing the history of Jewish persecution to be leveraged in support of U.S. political and economic interests as these entail amassing funding for Israel's military industry.

Finally, there is no Jewish safety, nor Jewish claims to justice, reason, or equity, beyond Jewish commitment to the unconditional safety and liberation of the peoples of Palestine, Lebanon and the other Arab and Muslim countries currently under assault by Israel, the U.S. and its allies.

We, Jews of Conscience, demand that the U.S. government:

Require Israel to stop its brutal siege on Gaza and on Lebanon and call for an unconditional cease fire.
Require Israel to stop the expansion of the Israeli Wall of Separation, dismantle the completed sections, and completely withdraw from Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Support the United Nations resolutions demanding that Israel uphold international law and support the sanctions against Israel necessary to enforce these resolutions.
End military and economic aid to Israel.
Support reparations for the Palestinian and Lebanese people for the death and destruction they have suffered and for aid towards the rebuilding of their countries.

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060808121416647
  • Topic Stats
  • Top Replies
  • Link to this Topic
Type: Discussion • Score: 1 • Views: 400 • Replies: 2
No top replies

 
blueflame1
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Aug, 2006 09:56 am
Let the voice of moderation speak

By HRH Prince Hassan bin Talal

How much aggression in our region has been justified by the mantra that Western interests are under threat? The battle cries claim that all is at stake and every strike is a final defense of freedom and stability. But the premise behind this thinking has become all too obvious. Arabs and Muslims of whatever race or hue are not to be trusted. They are not to be dealt with fairly and the "liberal values" that protect the righteous of Israel or the United States are not for our defense or our protection. It seems that even the moderates in Arab societies lack the fiber that would grant them equality under international law. We are all as one, barbarians at the gate to be cowed and bullied into silent submission.

But we should be thankful that Arab moderation fights on with stoicism. Moderation will continue to battle for the hearts of those millions for whom this war on terror is an offense to their existential realities. Boaz Ganor, the prominent Israeli thinker, addressed the question of terrorism and demanded that there be "no prohibition without definition." Terrorism must be defined objectively, based upon accepted international laws and principles regarding what behavior is permitted in conventional wars between nations.

The roots of that Arab anger and disillusionment which allows legitimacy to be handed over to extremists cannot be ignored. Terrorism is a tactic borne out of a perversion of lines of representation. If we do not allow the many to speak, then the violent few will scream to be heard. It may be difficult for most Israelis to admit, but the Shi'a of southern Lebanon became politicized and militarized only in response to repeated Israeli aggression.

The citizens of Israel and the other states in the Middle East must be honest about the effects of decades of abuse of people and of international law, unless you believe that we Arabs possess a unique terrorist gene, which has ignited our responses in recent decades. If this is the case, then throw firewood on the blaze and let our region burn until you have killed or exiled every last Arab in your neighborhood.

The founders of Israel and, indeed, the United States, fought what they perceived as an occupation. Recently, some Israelis commemorated the bombing of the King David Hotel in 1946 as a landmark act in ending the British Mandate. But surely this must be defined as an act of terror. A statement in the British House of Commons at the time described the attack, in which 92 people were murdered, as "one of the most dastardly and cowardly crimes in recorded history."

The Lebanese have been damned to repeat this phrase to describe attacks on their country. But in our world, righteousness belongs to the victor. If this is the way of the new world order, and international law no longer has a place - then, by all means, the extremists on all sides must fight to the death. The question is what can usefully be won in such a scenario? The evils of pain, suffering and moral bankruptcy are all the spoils of our new-world fighters.

The traumatic effects of the collective punishment of civilian populations will be felt for generations to come. The Israeli Defense Forces that occupy have made terror a daily reality for the civilian populations of Palestine and Lebanon, populations who have lived and continue to live under illegal occupation. For the other side of this global war on terror, violence is most often something to read about. The threat of terror is fetishized by media and politicians, and provides a scant excuse for policies that make terror a daily reality in the lives of millions of people in the Middle East.

No one can ignore the pain and suffering of the Israeli people in recent weeks, but the policies of disproportionate reprisal and abuse of humanitarian norms can only beget further violence. Jordan is a country that fought two world wars on the side of the Allies. We have suffered from the shockwaves of aggression on all sides and we have endured threats and terror right up to Zarqawi's terrible attacks on Amman. So do not patronize us by dubbing us allies in the war on terror and then dismiss our words when we question your policies.

The politics you entertain in this region are the product of a false perception. Our regional perspective is being ignored and, all the while, empowered extremists are gaining greater control. We must not be fooled into thinking that a new Middle East can be devised by political strategists and imposed from top down.

The promotion of participatory democracy has been curtailed by a fear of empowering moderate Arabs and moderate Islamists. Regimes within the region and powers outside attempt to stifle the protests of dismayed populations - protests that should be aired through banners and the ballot box. But the moderates are now shouting also. The evolution of freedoms cannot be controlled from above, nor blasted into alien forms that poorly represent the needs of those seeking freedom. With the ever-increasing polarization of hate, we should be grateful that exasperation has not stifled the protest of moderates.

The writer, brother of the late King Hussein of Jordan, is president of the Arab Thought Forum.
0 Replies
 
woiyo
 
  1  
Reply Mon 14 Aug, 2006 10:19 am
How can anyone, pick a side in this fight, when both sides are guilty of letting an abstract concept such as religion, guide them through violence.

Yep, religions, such as these, are such wonderful ideals.
0 Replies
 
 

Related Topics

Obama '08? - Discussion by sozobe
Let's get rid of the Electoral College - Discussion by Robert Gentel
McCain's VP: - Discussion by Cycloptichorn
The 2008 Democrat Convention - Discussion by Lash
McCain is blowing his election chances. - Discussion by McGentrix
Snowdon is a dummy - Discussion by cicerone imposter
Food Stamp Turkeys - Discussion by H2O MAN
TEA PARTY TO AMERICA: NOW WHAT?! - Discussion by farmerman
 
  1. Forums
  2. » Statement In Solidarity Lebanon And Palestine
Copyright © 2025 MadLab, LLC :: Terms of Service :: Privacy Policy :: Page generated in 0.03 seconds on 07/05/2025 at 08:46:50