Who cares?

                                                                Who Cares?

Doctors without Borders reports:

In the year since the Great March of Return began, thousands of Palestinians, mostly young men, from the Gaza Strip have suffered life changing injuries at the hands of Israeli forces.[i]

Most have developed “severe bone infections”,  In fact, Israeli forces have injured more than 7,400 Palestinians during the protest. But, who cares?

Certainly not Benjamin Netanyahu. After all, it is his troops who are causing the suffering. If the Palestinians would just get off the world’s stage, all would be well.

And certainly not Donald Trump. To him, the world belongs only to the winners, like himself,  and anyone can see, the Palestinians are not winning.

So, what can we do, if we care?.  We might read the news with more critical eyes and talk to our friends.

You see, when you get down to it, it’s not the Palestinians who are on trial here. We are.

Are we the kind of Americans who care?  I can only hope so.

Thomas Are

September 10, 2019

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[i] Yumma Patel, Over 1,000 patients In Gaza s uffering from “severe infections from gunshot wounds sustained in GrwatMarch of Return. Mondoweiss.net, Sptember 4, 2019.

Liberty at Fifty-two

It was a warm, clear mild summer day, exactly fifty-two years ago on, June 6, the sky was blue and the waters calm as the USS Liberty performed its responsibility on a reconnaissance cruise in the international waters of the Mediterranean. Captain McGonegle had every reason to relax and feel safe. A very large U.S. flag waved in the wind and we were not at war. Overhead jets of our long time friend and ally insured our protection.

Then suddenly, without warning, these friendly jets turned on the Liberty firing bullets and dropping bombs.  Torpedo boats fired rockets blowing a forty-foot hole into its side at the water line. When the captain ordered abandon ship, our so-called ally strafed our sailors in their life boats. Everything possible was done to sink the Liberty. When the attack was finally over, 34 US servicemen had been killed and 171 injured. Why the sudden attack? 

To stop messages from reaching the world that Israel was preparing to invade Syria and occupy the Golan Heights. . The enemy that day was not Russia, North Korea or Chine. Our enemy was long time friend, Israel.

I know it’s hard for most Americans to think that Israel would deliberately attack an American ship, but it is impossible to deny that that is exactly what happened.

Thomas Are

June 8, 2019

                                                                                        

I Am Israel

I am Israel. What that means is that I can do anything I want to do and nobody gives a damn. I can shoot unarmed Palestinians across the fence in  Gaza, bomb their hospitals, schools, sewerage treatment plants and drop white phosphorus bombs on their citizens and nobody gives a damn.  I can push more Palestinians off their land in the West Bank and I can strip Palestinian citizens of their rights in Israel and nobody gives a damn. I can ignore my own professed Jewish tradition and who cares?

Joel Doerfler, Jewish activist for social justice writes:

The Jewish ethical and historical tradition is uniquely or especially committed to social justice and support for underdogs. Empathy for the Palestinians and anger about Zionist depredations is therefore a Jewish imperative.

He goes on to add:

Actually, existing Zionism is a betrayal of the essential Jewish tradition. Not only has it been disastrous for the Palestinians, it has been bad for the Jews. It has turned them into oppressors and caused them to abandon their historical “calling” of repairing the world. As Jews, therefore, we are specially obligated to take up the Palestinian cause.[i]

I ask myself, what motivated a Jewish activist to commit himself so strongly to justice issues? The first answer is exactly that: he is a Jewish activist, committed to his faith.  On top of that, a decade of Begin, Sharon and Shamir, settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza cuts across every Jewish value. I would also guess that Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 grated against his conscience. Throw in a paranoid Zionism that ruthlessly seeks to shut down any criticism of Israel, justified or not, and you have a major contradiction between Jewish values and the State of Israel.

But, I wonder if it has ever occurred to Israel that if nobody gives a damn what Israel does --- that in time they may also not give a damn what happens to Israel. And, that day could come soon.

Thomas Are

May 26, 2019

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[i] Joel Doerfler, An Answer to the Question, “Why do you care so Much about Israel/Palestine?”, Mondoweiss.net, May 20, 2019.

O’Rourke says special relationship with Israel goes against US values of equality and dignity

mondoweiss.net/2019/03/orourke-relationship-equality

Philip Weiss onMarch 22, 2019

On Wednesday night, Beto O’Rourke spoke at the University of New Hampshire and said that Palestinian conditions don’t meet American values of “fundamental human rights and human dignity” and that the relationship with Israel is hurting America’s image in the world.

Asked if he would condemn Israeli, Saudi and Turkish human rights violation, O’Rourke said:

These truths that we hold so dear — that we are all created equal– “all of us” needs to mean, “All of us,” not relationships of convenience for short term security gains but relationships that allow us to continue to be the example for so much of the rest of the world. And we cannot be that if we do not believe in the fundamental human rights and human dignity and safety of our fellow human beings regardless of what side of the line they may stand or sit on.

The only way that I know that we can help to secure that in the Middle East specifically with the Palestinian Authority and Israel is to have two states whose people are guaranteed their security, their safety, their dignity and their political rights. Right now of course we do not have that.

O’Rourke was responding to a Palestinian-American woman. “As an American who stands for the ideals that this country was supposedly built on, dignity justice and equality, I really want those ideals to be seen in Israel and Palestine for both Palestinians and Israelis,” she said, and then went on to ask O’Rourke if he would “hold Israel accountable for its human rights and international law violations,” as well as Turkey and Saudi Arabia too. She was cheered by the crowed.

Then O’Rourke went on for a couple of minutes in this by the questioner.

Thank you for your questions and the way in which you posed them and the context that you provided for everyone here. You’re right, we’ve got this opportunity to live our values. And these truths that we hold so dear, that we are all created equal. All of us needs to mean, All of us, not relationships of convenience for short term security gains but relationships that allow us to continue to be the example for so much of the rest of the world. And we cannot be that if we do not believe in the fundamental human rights and human dignity and safety of our fellow human beings regardless of what side of the line they may stand or sit on.

The only way that I know that we can help to secure that in the Middle East specifically with the Palestinian Authority and Israel is to have two states whose people are guaranteed their security, their safety, their dignity and their political rights. Right now of course we do not have that. And we have problems on both sides. I don’t know that we have a willing partner on the part of the Palestinian Authority.

I know that in Prime Minister Netanyahu we have someone who has openly sided with racists in that country, someone who has warned about Arabs coming to the polls, someone who seeks to exploit division and fear and hatred, that is not somebody who is negotiating in good faith.

When I visited the West Bank and met a young woman perhaps your age… What surprised me when I was talking to her about a two state solution is that she said I don’t care. Whether it’s one state or two state, I want to be treated with dignity. I don’t want to be patted down and searched every time I go to work or try to go to school. I just want to live like everyone else just wants to live.

We are about to lose the last best chance for a two-state solution. On one side wee are changing the facts on the ground. If we continue to allow settlement construction and expansion. On the other side, we are going to fail an opportunity for good faith and good will to make sure that we can guarantee the security of the Israeli people.

So, dignity, safety and security for all concerned, that has to be our policy and our actions have to follow suit.

The questioner later wrote on her Facebook page that O’Rourke had failed to answer her questions re Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, and refunding UNRWA.

While I am most definitely disappointed by Beto’s inability to answer my concise questions regarding UNRWA, BDS and accountability for our allies, I am glad that so many people in the audience during my question and after felt compelled to tell me that they also thought he didn’t answer the question and voiced their concern for the situation in Palestine as well. I am glad that the dignity and human rights is an important issue even to Americans who are disconnected from the conflict and I hope we can continue together to hold our politicians accountable and show them that we will not accept progressive politics that exclude Palestinians.

Letter to the Editor, Palestinians Do Exist

PALESTINIANS DO EXIST

I read with interest Wednesday’s AJC DIGGING DEEPER article, “Mideast Conflict Flares up in Fulton School over Map,” with the subtitle, “Display Seems to Show Palestine Before Israel.”   The article was condemned as “a slight to Israel.” In other words, to simply acknowledge the existence of Palestinians raises sticky questions. The school Principal immediately apologized in spite of the fact that some of his students were Palestinian-Americans.  

Fifty years ago, Golda Meir said:

It was not as though there was a Palestinian people and we came and threw them out and took their country. They did not Exist.[i]

Which is exactly what they did and Israel has been singing her song ever since. However, the Palestinians are still there in spite of illegal settlements in the West Bank and the cruel occupation of Gaza.

Thomas Are

March 15, 2019

678-684-3765

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[i] Quoted in Sunday Times (June 15, 1969), also in The Washington Post. (June 16, 1969)

My Palestinian Flag

Every Friday, I fly a Palestinian flag in front of my cottage. Have done so for years. My reward is that every now and then, someone will ask what its all about. Just last Friday, a delivery man recognized it and thanked me for showing it. Neither of us are Palestinian. He explained that he was just committed to justice and the injustice meted out against the Palestinians is blatant and well known.

While we praised each other, in Gaza, Israel killed two more young men.

Two Palestinian youths were killed by Israeli fire Friday during the weekly protest near the Israeli fence east of Gaza. Hasan Shalabi was killed by Israeli live fire to the chest. He was 14. Hamza Shtewi, 18 died after a shot in the neck. Another 17 Palestinians were shot while protesting along the fence including two journalist and four medics.

The report goes on to say:

Israeli forces shot tear gas canisters at an ambulance and sprayed demonstrators with chemically enhanced sewage water known as “skunk juice”. Palestinians have for nearly a year gathered weekly for unarmed protest since March 30, last year. Protesters are also asking Israel to end its 12 year blockade of its coastal strip.[i]

Two young men who could have become doctors or engineers and made a valuable contribution to life. Now, thanks to Israel, they are dead.

I cannot say that I am surprised. This kind of needless killing has been going on for decades. A big portion of my anger is directed toward our media. News reporters who stick their heads in the sand, more interested in pleasing their advertisers than in standing up for truth or justice.

So, in protest, I fly my flag and Palestinians continue to die at the hands of Israel and with the full support of my government.  But, every now and then, someone will stop and ask,”What kind of flag is that?” And I get to explain a little history.

Then, they will ask. ”Why don’t we hear about this on the news?” and I get to say, “Good Question.”

Thomas Are

February 14, 2019

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[i] Two Palestinian teens Killed by Israel gunfire in Gaza on 46^th Week of Protest.

Al Jazeera, Feb. 8, 2019.

The Gangsters

Let’s be clear. Who are the gangsters? Who simply chooses to ignore even its own laws when it is convenient to do so?

The Fourth Geneva Convention, to which Israel is a signatory clearly states:

An occupying power cannot transfer civilian population to an occupied territory, and is considered illegal.

Sounds pretty clear: Israel’s settlements are totally illegal. But, in Israel, unlike any other government in the world, if you don’t like a law, just ignore it.  Kids playing on the beach at Tel Aviv have no idea that just about an hour’s drive across the way, their government is keeping millions of people locked up behind cement barrows and barbed wire fences so they cannot get out and be noticed. Of course they could know if they chose to, but lying to themselves is the only way to live conscience free. It’s a gang mentality, a group of people who join forces to bully others and to offer each other a rationale for their lawless racketeering, according to Webster...

So, Israel continues to demolish Palestinian homes, uproot their olive trees, lock up their children in military prisons, steal Palestinian water and land, while all the time hoping that by keeping them behind a wall will keep the world from knowing or caring.

However, my major concern is not with Israel. Israel is its own problem.  My anger is with my own country, the United States, which continues to support Israel’s atrocities to the tune of billions of dollars every year, continues to veto U.N. resolutions condemning Israel’s crimes, and all the time hoping a wall will keep the world from knowing.

When I speak or write about Israel, my friends ask, is there any hope?  The answer is “yes.” The gangsters do not intimidate the younger Jews in America or the younger Jews in Israel who are no longer dead locked in covering up for Israel as were their parents.  I call that hope.

Thomas Are

February 2, 2019