Christian attorney and human rights activist, Jonathon Kuttab contends that the problem between Israel and Palestine goes beyond politics in the usual terms. The state of Israel has obtained much sympathy and support from the government and churches in the United States without having any conditions attached to that support. Israel hasn't signed a non-proliferation treaty, and no one talks about their arms production and sales.
Israel is demanding that the Palestinians accept Israel as a Jewish country. Jews are favored over non-Jews in housing, jobs, social security benefits, visas, and who gets land. In the West Bank separation has been and continues to be set up through the construction of settlements where only Jews can live. There are different health and economic structures and education system, and a system of roads and walls to promote separation even for Palestinians who are Israeli citizens.
According to Kuttab, the challenge is tremendous. He proposes (1) that the peace community needs to say that the Palestinians don't need more weapons. The solutions is not Fatah overcoming Hamas. Neither do the Israelis need more weapons. (2) Human rights violations by the Israelis and by the PLO must stop. (3) The UN should be supporting international law which condemns taking over another people's country. (4) Racism and discrimination are wrong whether it is against blacks, Jews or Palestinians. All ways of discrimination exist in Israel.
G., the young Jewish man who spoke to us about and took us on a tour of house demolitions, was one of three youths who were the first to refuse to serve in the Israeli military. Palestinian homes are demolished on a weekly basis to allow for the construction of the dividing wall, roads or Jewish homes. He said that the locations of the Jewish settlements were chosen by Israel for a significant reason. It's more about control than real estate. The first block of settlements cuts off the West Bank from the rest of the world except through Israel. The second block with 40,000 people was built on the biggest and most accesible aquifer giving Israel total control over Palestinians' water. As a result Palestinians have running water only 2 or 3 days a week while Jews have running water daily. A third block located in the southeast isn't a strategic area. G believes that if an agreement is reached at Annapolis, Jewish settlers will be removed from that site.
The meeting with Rabbi Jahil, who was born and raised in Australia and whose parents were victims of the Holocaust, was troubling. On one hand he spoke of being a member of Peace Now and wanting to show that peacefulness is part of the Jewish faith and on the other spoke of the superiority of Jews over Palestinians. He spoke of what a wonderful place Australia is in which to grow up, and followed by saying how badly he was treated by his gentile schoolmates there. He seemed unwilling or unable to recognize the injustices imposed on the Palestinians by the Jews.
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2 comments:
Hi Ann,
I apreciate your concise descriptions about the experiences we are having.
One must remember that 'the spoils belong to the victor'. Israel won the West Bank and Gaza in 1967. It appears that Israel is consolidating its security by building settlements in the West Bank in anticipation of returning the West Bank to the Palestinians. Olmert said in Annapolis that Israel cannot absorb the West Bank into Israel for fear of dilution of the Jewish culture and society. The Palestinians cannot be displaced out of the West Bank so the only other option is to make the West Bank, sans the Jewish settlements, into a Palestinian state. In that event, the Palestinians can favor their own and not be dependent on Israel. The Palestinians need to get their act together and form a unified government that will allow both states to exist in harmony.
The discrimination and human rights angle is sad. It is human nature to discriminate and retaliate when one feels threatened. The threat may eventually go away when both parties agree to the right to exist, all be it, a completely separate existence.
Keep up the good work. Your comments are very interesting.
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