Condemn All Murder Of Children

The death of the three allegedly kidnapped Israeli youths saddens me. It is appalling but before we rush to judgment as to who killed them let us analyze the facts.

Israel came off one of its worst diplomatic months ever. In April, Israel reneged on releasing Palestinian prisoners it had committed to releasing and then it announced further illegal settlement housing starts amid US attempts to salvage the talks. US Officials blamed Israel. The Palestinians sought membership in 15 international agencies and are about to seek membership in the International Criminal Court. The Palestinians have ended 7 years of rift between Hamas and Fatah, much to Israel's chagrin.  Countries across the globe, including the US, welcomed the new Palestinian unity government despite by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plea otherwise.  France, UK and several other European countries warned their businesses not to do business with corporations that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The Presbyterian Church voted to divest from 3 US corporations who so profit.

Indeed, the diplomatic tide against Israel was being written on the wall.

A week before these youths went missing, the head of the Israeli Mossad predicted that 3 Israeli youths would go missing. Israel in all its communications demanded that the PA disavow the unification agreement between Hamas and Fatah. That was the Israeli intent behind its Operation Brother's Keeper. Israel may have already known the fate of the missing teenagers.

It is not beyond the realm of belief that Israel would sacrifice the lives of its citizens for the greater good, to gain sympathy from world public opinion. So let us not condemn anyone here because it is not proven if they were kidnapped, even the NY Times questioned the "alleged" kidnapping.

It is also within the realm of belief that Israel will fabricate charges on some innocent Palestinians to cover its tracts. Let us not forget the thousands of alleged confessions that Israel gained through the use of torture.

Let us not forget that the US courts found Mohammed Salah innocent despite the torture induced confession written in Hebrew. At Israel's insistence, Salah was put on the terrorist watch list, was stripped of his ability to work and support his family and was striped of any rights. He fought back against the Israeli accusations and won.

Yes, the murders of these 3 Israelis needs to be condemned in the strongest terms. But so does the murder of 8 Palestinian children during the massive operation to find the missing Israelis.  The collective punishment perpetrated against the Palestinian population also needs to be condemned.

You cannot condemn one act and not the other.

  

World Community Lesson Flies Over Netanyahu

The last month in the Israel/Palestinian conflict has taught us a valuable lesson.  The world community took two actions that were fair and balanced, signaling to the parties, including the extremists, that enough is enough; end the conflict by nudging the parties towards boundary lines based on UN Resolution 242, i.e. a Two State Solution.

At first the world community supported Israel for defending itself against rocket attacks from the Hamas controlled Gaza. Then the world community overwhelmingly supported an upgrade in Palestine’s status at the UN from an “entity” to a “state.”  What is the world community of nations trying to tell the Israelis and Palestinians? 

I hope that both the Palestinians and Israelis interpret the world community actions in the spirit that I believe they were taken.

After the cease-fire between between Gaza and Israel, Hamas leader  Khaled Meshaal quickly stated that Hamas is willing to accept a TSS with 1967 borders. This is a major accomplishment for the advancement of peace in the region.  No similar statement was heard from any of the major parties within Israel. 

In fact, after the UN voted to upgrade the status of Palestine to that of observer “State”, Israel responded by stating that they will go forward with objectionable plans to build settlements in Area E1 around Jerusalem, which effectively kills the TSS by dissecting a West Bank home for a Palestinian State. This too is a major accomplishment but not for the advancement of peace but for the prolongation of the status quo, i.e. occupation.  This is sad.

Britain, France Spain, the European Union, Denmark, Sweden, Australia and Egypt have all summoned its Ambassadors to Israel, a step short of “recalling” the Ambassador to protest the Israeli settlemtn announcement.  Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel decided to meet formally with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sternly tell him to drop plans to build 3,000 new settler homes in a highly contentious strip of the occupied West Bank near Jerusalem.

Netanyahu responded by not fully appreciating what the World community was trying say to Israel and Palestine by telling the German press, "I appreciated the support of Chancellor Merkel and the German government during the operation in Gaza..At the same time, I would be disingenuous if I didn’t tell you that I was disappointed, as were many people in Israel, by the German vote in the UN.  

Netanyahu also stated that the UN vote also would unite the West Bank Fatah Party with the Gaza Hamas Party, as if that was taboo.  This just reinforces my argument that Israel is not looking for a TSS but a Three State Solution (TSS).  He also referred to Hamas as terrorist, overlooking the fact that in his own coalition includes the Shaas Party, whose  whose spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yousef calls for the annihilation of the Palestinians. 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abass has signaled, after the upgrade of the UN status for Palestine and in response to the Israeli action on new illegal settlement building, that he will seek International Criminal Court action “in the case of Israeli aggression.”  Netanyahu responded by withholding $100 million of taxes that Israel collects on behalf of Palestinians and must turnover to the Palestinian Authority.

            The world community lesson of the past month has flown over Netanyahu’s head as he wants 100% consent without objection.  Not every country can be as controlled by Israel as the United States.  Netanyahu doesn’t seem to understand that 95% of the world community wants a fair and balanced resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians.  His defiance is hindering any chance for a TSS  and only drives Israel into a One State Solution (OSS).

Israel turns to the further Right

The turn to the further right by the Likud Party in Israel just reinforces the 

argument that 1) there is no political will within Israel to make a 

comprehensive peace with the Palestinians and 2) the Two State Solution 

(TSS) is dead. If one reads between the lines and listens carefully to what 

Israeli spokespersons are saying one will comprehend what Israel wants: a 

Three State Solution (3SS) with 1) Israel with Area C and part of Area B; 2) 

Palestinian Authority with Area A and part of Area B; and 3) Gaza. Israel is 

already calling the checkpoints between Area's A and C as border crossings, 

an obvious reference to two entities and its spokespersons state that Oslo 

gave Area A and B to Palestinians and the Palestinians negotiated away 

Area C. As to Gaza, they claim that in 2005 that they dismantled the 

settlements and left Gaza giving them their "own State." Palestinians are 

falling into the Israeli cunning trap yet again. Palestinians need to resist 

by 1) seeking UN recognition--and use this platform to press for a One

State Solution (OSS) 2) strongly support the BDS movement 3) Support 

the emergence of a new generation of Palestinians who will take up 

their stone and restore the dignity of future generations and 4) most 

importantly, unify the leadership in Gaza and the West Bank at all 

costs.  

See Jerusalem Post article: http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/

Article.aspx?id=293562

No Talking Endlessly

A Facebook member contacted me with the following message: hello---can you say something about achieving peace both for Israel/Palestinians and over all area -- or are you just anti-Israel? I see you are educated…. so you should be working for a solution

My reply:

I am not anti-Israel.  I was one of the first Palestinians to call for the recognition of Israel.  In1980 I championed the recognition of Israel at college campuses and within the Palestinian community in Chicago. I attended the White House Rose Garden peace signing ceremony on September 13, 1993 and witnessed the famous handshake between Rabin and Arafat. 

I have always been and continue to be an advocate for peace.  Yet, I like many peace-loving Palestinians have become disillusioned by Israel's constant talking but not really talking.  They want to talk but never conclude the "talks" and all the while they want to illegally confiscate more Palestinian land and build more illegal settlements and transfer more hard core machine gun taunting settlers into these settlements.  Their justification for this is that the Palestinians have given up Area C in the Oslo Agreement.  This is hogwash. 

They cut down our olive groves and then Israeli supporters justify this by saying that "terrorists" hide in the trees.  This is hogwash. 

When I ask Israeli's to explain the discrepancy between laws that differently effect Palestinians and Israelis and how they cannot call Israel an apartheid state, they have no explanations. They have no explanation for Jewish only roads; no explanation for colored license plates for Palestinians; no explanation for a wall that divides farmers from their farm land; no explanation for surrounding towns with barred wires and checkpoints out of those towns that allow residence ingress and egress at only certain times of the day.  In one such town, an elementary school is outside the wall and the guards at the 3pm crossing when children are released from their school purposefully choose to not open the gates leaving the children alone to wait until the evening crossing before they can return to their families and homes. This is a direct policy that builds frustration and hatred and ultimately aims to continue the status quo--occupation.

No one can explain to me that why Israel always asks the Palestinians to return to the "negotiating table" when Israeli soldiers carry out a direct and humiliating policy to destroy the human will of the Palestinians.  No one asks the Israelis why their leaders continue to frustrate and subjugate Palestinians into complacency.  No one asks Israel to stop its policy to dehumanize Palestinians and establish a policy to build an atmosphere of confidence in the future.

The future is in numbers. Peace will be established when Israel realizes that the will of the Palestinians people cannot be destroyed; that they cannot continue their apartheid practices especially when in 2016 it is expected that the population in Palestine and Israel will be such that Israelis are the minority.

The problem with a lack of peace is that the Israeli political system gives too much power to its minority parties.  In all the 64 year history of Israel, there has been only one Israeli government that had a majority in its Knesset.  All the other Israeli governments have been run by coalition governments that are beholden to right wing minority parties that do not want peace because these parties wield the ongoing threat to switch their allegiance in the Knesset in a no confidence vote thus bringing down the ruling party.  (See my article Soul Searching Leads to Peace http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2011/12/soul-searching-leads-to-peace.html  which explains how the Israeli political system is a hindrance to peace. ) 


The only way for peace to be achieved is through a One State Solution.  It is not an impossibility.  South Africa has proven that. Despite the decades of White Rule in South Africa the Black population, through the heroic efforts of Nelson Mandela, reconciliation between the people of South Africa, thought to be unattainable, was achieved successfully. Recompilation can be achieved in the Holy Land.  

I still have hope for peace. I will always have hope for peace.  I want to live with Jews, Muslims and Christians in prosperity in the Holy Land.  I want to work for a solution but I cannot and will not talk for the sake of talk if it will lead to a never ending talks.  


A One State Solution is the only thing to "talk" about. 

Why Can't We Live Together

I have not written about Middle East affairs for several months.  I have been tending to the needs of my brother Munther who has since succumbed to the cancer that invaded his body.  His death certificate came in today and the place of birth that was inscribed therein stated “Israel.”  I was offended as I am sure my brother would also have been.  Even in death, the Palestinian identity is being eliminated. I'm having the death certificate changed.

When asked by the Funeral Director where my brother was born, I informed her that Munther, known as Mike, was born in Jerusalem.  That information was translated to being Israel.  Jerusalem is not part of Israel under international law and is subject to final status negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis.  Negotiations have been unfruitful and the circumstances indicates that one day soon, all of the land now known as Israel and Palestinian Territories will be one state encompassing all Palestinians and Israelis.   Perception however has been painted in public opinion that Jerusalem is Israeli.  Nothing can be further from the truth.  Palestinians have not and will not give up its claim to Jerusalem. 

Israelis are doing everything they can to ethnically cleanse Jerusalem by not only excluding Palestinians from returning to the place of their birth but also by making it difficult for Palestinian residence in ethe Holy City to remain.   This brings me back to my brother Mike and his perceptive insight on this matter.

My brother Mike did not discuss politics much.  In fact he had a convoluted logic and unreasonable thinking when it came to the Middle East.  Mike was a jokester and when he offered a solution to the Middle East conflict which was unreasonable and contained convoluted logic, it at first made me laugh. However, when I thought about it while preparing his eulogy, I realized his point.  First let me tell explain his solution.

He stated, several months before his passing, that an Arab man and woman and a Jewish man and woman should be selected and placed on an island.  Then he said, America should “nuke” the entire Middle East.  After the nuclear dust settles, he stated, “ Take the Arab man and Jewish woman and have them mate; likewise for the Jewish man and the Arab woman. And then start all over!”

Unreasonable?  Yes.   Convoluted logic? Yes.  But if you really think about it, I think my brother Mike was trying to tell us that we should all just live together.

            By the year 2016, it is predicated that Palestinians will outnumber Israelis in Israel and the Palestinian territories, i.e. West Bank and Gaza.  Israel cannot continue to govern as a minority entity for regardless of the Israeli position that the Palestinian Authority governs Areas  A & B in the West Bank and Hamas governs Gaza, the fact is Israel controls all the territory west of the Jordan River.   The apartheid practices of Israel will catch up with reality.  And then we will be faced with the reality that my brother Mike was trying to convey: Why can’t we all live together.  

(© Copyright 2012, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.) 

Pressure Upon Israel Could Resolve Iranian Nuclear Issue

             The crisis over the Iranian nuclear aspirations is really quite simple to resolve if there is political will to resolve it. The issue is not the threat of whether Iran will use a nuclear bomb against Israel but rather whether Israel will continue its hegemony over the Middle East, especially over the Palestinians.   Additionally, the hypocrisy that the West adopts visa via Israel and every other Middle Eastern country is overwhelming to the people of the region.  Putting a little pressure upon Apartheid Israel can solve many of the Middle East problems.

           

The belief that Iran will use a nuclear weapon against Israel as an offensive strategy is foolish.  It is inconceivable that any country will use a nuclear bomb against another in an offensive manner. President Harry S. Truman used the nuclear bomb against Japan because he perceived that an invasion of Japan will result in an excessive amount of US casualties. Additionally, President Truman used the atomic bomb knowing full well that there would be no retaliation as no other country had the capability to retaliate with nuclear power. This is not the case today.

            It is highly unlikely that Iran would strike Israel for several reasons.  First, Iran would be committing suicide as Israel has an enormous nuclear capability to strike Iran back with much more devastation. Thus it would be suicidal for Iran to strike the first blow.  Second, the proximity of millions of Muslims around Israel, including Iran, would cause such devastation from the atomic burst that Iran will not benefit strategically within the Muslim world.  Third, the proximity of Jerusalem, a holy site for Muslims, to any potential target within Israel makes striking Israel with nuclear weapons theologically impractical. 

            The hyperbole rhetoric emitting from Apartheid Israeli leaders against Iran is aimed to deflect news coverage about its apartheid practices against the Palestinians.  To seek the sympathies of the West, Apartheid Israel falsely portrays itself as a goldfish in a sea of piranhas. The real fact is that Apartheid Israel is the great white shark in a small pound of fat cat fishes.   As the only nuclear power in the Middle East, Israel continues its hegemony over the Middle East with unchecked arrogance.  In 1981 and 2007, Apartheid Israel attacked Iraq and Syria, respectively, in an unprovoked attempt to prevent them from developing nuclear capabilities.  Additionally, while the US and the West demand inspections of North Korea and Iran’s nuclear facilities, nothing is said about Israel’s nuclear power plants which, according to exports, have produced hundreds of nuclear weapon warheads.

            Apartheid Israel would like the West and Russia and China, as they are UN Security Council permanent members, to believe that Iran will use nuclear weapon to “wipe Israel off the face of the earth.”  In fact, Iranian President Ahmadinejad never said this statement and this translation is completely wrong.  But Israel knows that perception is reality and putting this perception into minds makes it the “perceived truth”—but this is not always the “truth”.

            President Ahmadinejad, during the speech in which he is accused of wanting to “wipe Israel off the face of the earth,” used the words words “rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods” which mean “regime occupying Jerusalem.”[1] Ahmadinejad was advocating a regime change in Israel.  But Apartheid Israel does not want the world to know this and the American press does not want to investigate Israel in fear of retaliation from the powerful Israeli lobby.  To be fair, this wrong interpretation came not from Israel but from Iran itself.  However, when Iran tried to correct the wrong terminology, the quote spiraled out of control.  Of course, Apartheid Israel made this wrongly translated term the center of its propaganda campaign to deflect coverage of its apartheid practices.

            The West’s domination over the Middle East through its proxy Apartheid Israel and the support of Arab dictators and kings who repress the people’s human spirit to be free and democratic continues to make the region unstable.  Further, the discrepancy in policy towards Arab countries and Apartheid Israel leads many in the region to wonder how America and the West could be so hypocritical.  Apartheid Israel can occupy Palestine for over 40 years and no military force is sent to remove the occupier.  Yet, Iraq’s occupation of Kuwait could not be tolerated for one day as the US and Britain rallied the world around Operation Desert Storm in 1990. Apartheid Israel has imprisoned over 1.6 million Palestinians in Gaza and bombed the population relentlessly in the 2008-2009 onslaught without a whisper from the US and the West.  Yet, the world comes to the aid of the Libyans during their Arab Spring revolution to oust Muammar Gaddafi.  The 1.5 billion Muslims cannot understand why they are treated different than the 15 million Jews.

            What further perplexes many Arabs is that Israel is a nuclear power that has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). While Pakistan and India have also not signed the Treaty, they have both publicly stated that they do have nuclear warheads.  Israel, on the other hand, has been purposely deceptive as to its nuclear capability.

India has pledged a no first use policy unless it is attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons.  Additionally, India has expressed its commitment to non-proliferation but stated that it considers the “NPT as a flawed treaty and it did not recognise [sic] the need for universal, non-discriminatory verification and treatment."[2]  India has cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) by entering into agreements to inspect its facilities.

Israel will not cooperate with the IAEA. When called upon to open its nuclear facilities in September, 2009, Israel’s chief delegate to the IAEA conference responded “Israel will not co-operate in any matter with this resolution."[3]  Why haven’t Western countries called upon the UN to impose sanctions against Israel for its refusal to have its nuclear facilities inspected?  Why is this double standard for Israel tolerated?

Striking a balance between Iran and Israel can be one way to make Iran more cooperative and to abandon any military component with its nuclear ambitions. Having Israel submit to inspections of its nuclear capabilities and to make it pledge a no first use policy similar to India will give assurance to Iran and all Middle East countries that the West is willing to deal fairly with the people of the region. Additionally, the West needs to exert pressure on Israel to resolve Palestinian statehood aspirations by ending decades of occupation. Failing diplomatic pressure, sanctions upon Israel should be on the table.

Fair dealing in the Middle East is the only thing Arabs want to see. They do not want the West to adopt a pro-Arab policy.  Arabs want a fair policy in the Middle East that treats every country and every religion equally and with dignity.  If this was the policy, the issue with the Iranian nuclear ambitions would not be an issue.  The lack of fairness in Western Middle East policy, however, is driving the region into another major war.  Pressuring Israel to act the way the West demands Iran to act would solve the Middle East problems.

            The question is whether there  is a political will to pressure Israel?


2/25/2012 update:  I just read this article by Allan Hart, author, and found this statement quite interesting to this article: 


"From recently de-classified documents we now know that in a memorandum dated 19 July 1969, Henry Kissinger, then national security adviser, warned President Nixon that the Israelis “are probably more likely than any other country to actually use their nuclear weapons.” And as I mentioned in my post of 30 January with the headline Is Israel on the road to “self-destruction”?, Golda Meir said in an interview I did with her for the BBC’s Panorama programme when she was prime minster that in a doomsday situation Israel “would be prepared to take the region and the world down with it.”"

(© Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

---

[1][1] ‘Wiped Off The Face of the Earth’ The Rumor of the Century, Arash Norouzi, May 26, 2007 http://antiwar.com/orig/norouzi.php?articleid=11025

[2] India seeks Japan's support, calls NPT 'flawed' By IANS, Sat, Mar 24, 2007

http://www.whereincity.com/news/3/15197

[3] Israel pressured on nuclear sites, Aljazeera, September 18, 2009, http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2009/09/2009918173136830771.html

When Will Israel Attack Iran?

                Major events between the Palestinians and Apartheid Israelis usually happen in a lame duck session of an outgoing US President, i.e. the time between the November election and the inaugural of a new President.   Should President Barack Obama lose his bid for a second term as US President in November of this year, recent history teaches us that something dramatic will happen in the Middle East.  There is a concern that during that time period Israel will strike Iran to preempt it from obtaining a nuclear facility capable of producing a nuclear bomb.

                The rhetoric coming out of the Apartheid Israeli government about the option to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities is at a high pitch tone.  While this saber rattling by Apartheid Israel is aimed to deflect its own atrocities against the Palestinians, it is hypocritical in that Israel has a history of opacity about its own nuclear reactor.   Nonetheless, Apartheid Israel is preparing the world public opinion for an attack against Iran. The question is not whether Apartheid Israel will attack Iran but rather when will it attack?

Apartheid Israel has a history of attacking Middle Eastern countries that are attempting to develop nuclear power.  On June 7, 1981, Apartheid Israel destroyed a nuclear reactor under construction 10.5 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. On September 6, 2007, Apartheid Israel struck a nuclear reactor in the Deir ez-Zor region of Syria.  Syria denied that the nuclear reactor was designed for military purposes.   

The time between the outgoing and incoming US Presidents seems to be the timing when Israel will most likely attack Iran.  I say this because of several historical events which happened between these time frames.  

               

In 1980, the Iran Hostage Crisis did not end until the inauguration of President Ronald Reagan and the departure of President Jimmy Carter.  In 1988, secret events were undertaken by the United States to have the PLO recognize Israel during the time after the 1988 elections and the inaugural of President George Bush Sr.  In 2008, when President George W. Bush was leaving office and Americans elected Barack Obama as President-Elect, Apartheid Israel launched Operation Lead Cast against the Palestinians in Gaza.  The assault on Gaza did not end until two days before the inaugural of President Obama.

 

                These significant developments in the Middle East around a lame duck Presidency period leads me to conclude that should President Obama lose his bid for re-election in November, then it is highly likely that Apartheid Israel will attack Iran between the election and before the inaugural of the newly elected Republican.   If this happens, President Obama will not be in a position to do anything against Apartheid Israel that cannot be undone by an incoming President beholden to the Apartheid Israeli lobby.   Additionally, a President-Elect can then claim that what has been done by Israel is done and cannot then challenge Apartheid Israel but will instead have to deal with the fallout of the attack.

               

As noted above, Israel has had a history of vagueness about whether it has a nuclear reactor with enriched uranium capable of producing an atomic bomb.  It has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, neither has Pakistan or India though these countries are confirmed nuclear powers. Israel remains ambiguous about its nuclear capabilities.   

               

It is hypocritical for Israel to have a nuclear reactor, not be a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and then threaten to attack another country for trying to develop nuclear capability. It is believed that Apartheid Israel has between 75 to 400 nuclear weapons and has had them since 1967.

                While Iranian President  Mahmud Ahmadinejad has made statements calling for Israel’s destruction, it cannot be reasonable believed that he nor any Iranian leader will attack Apartheid Israel with a nuclear weapon.  Such an act would be contrary to the Muslim dogma of protecting the holy city of Jerusalem.  Any such attack will inevitable have a considerable fallout throughout the Middle East and will affect millions of Muslims including Iran itself.  Any such attack would be unrealistic from an offensive standpoint. 

               

Israel, on the other hand, is willing to take offensive measures against Iran as they have done so against Iraq and Syria.  While the fallout of the Iraq and Syria attacks was next to nothing, it may not be so with Iran.  Iran has one and a half more times the population of both Iraq and Syria.  Iran controls the Strait of Harmous of which 20% of the world’s oil supply flows.  Just the mere threat that the oil flow will be impeded by Iran has driven the price of a barrel of oil up. Having the oil supply actually interrupted will cause havoc with any already burdened world economy. 

Israel will attack Iran. The real question is whether anyone has the political will to stop Israel? 

Communicating With Catholics

                I just realized that by putting the word Catholic on my Facebook status, my status gets posted to the Catholic Facebook friend’s activity page where there are 411,000 members.  As a member of the Catholic Facebook page, I, a Christian, now have the ability to communicate my Palestinian message to other Christians.  I suppose that there are many other Facebook pages that I can do the same to.

                Such out of the box thinking needs to be part of the Palestinian agenda to expose the Apartheid State of Israel.  We need to find different ways to inform the world that Israel is daily inflicting a brutal campaign of fear to rid Palestine of Palestinians.  So I turn to my fellow Christians to say the following.

Apartheid Israel has imprisoned the 4.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza with an Apartheid Wall or electronic barbed wires.   Palestinian towns are imprisoned in enclaves with only one entrance and exit point controlled by apartheid Israeli soldiers. The gate is open for short periods of time during the morning, afternoon and evening.  Some days, in the apartheid Israeli soldier forgets to open the gate for the afternoon opening and children coming back from school have to wait outside the town gates until the evening opening.

                Many Catholics may not realize that a Catholic synod, a special council of church members that holds regular meetings to discuss religious issues, stated in October, 2010 that Israel is the root cause of all the Middle East woes.  The final statement of the synod listed the occupation, the apartheid wall, the numerous military checkpoints, the huge number of political prisoners, and the Israeli policy of fear which disrupts everyday Palestinian life as the main reasons behind the exodus of Palestinian Christians.  It also stated that these continuing Israeli aggravations are the cause for attacks on Israel.

                The Catholic synod even stated that Christ nullified God’s promise to the Jews.  While the purpose of this blog is political rather than religious, the implication of this statement is both political and religious.  The religious and political cover Apartheid Israel uses to retain, occupy and plunder Palestinian land can be negated if Catholics grasped the concept that Christ’s New Covenant made Christians the inheritors of God’s   promise. Instead the Christian religious right misunderstands Jesus’s teachings when it supports Israel’s domination of Palestinian land. This in turn is a direct contradiction of Jesus’s teachings when such policy strengthens Israel and contributes to the exodus of Christians from the Holy Land.

                But my purpose in writing this blog is not to get too deep into a religious dissertation but rather to call upon Catholics to understand what is happening in the Palestinian Occupied Territories. I want Catholics reading this message to understand that Israel is not the democracy it says it is. I want Catholics to understand that Israel is an Apartheid State.  I say this because Apartheid Israel has laws that allow Jewish communities to screen new applicants, a legal way to exclude Palestinians from mixing with Jews. Apartheid Israel has roads that are for the exclusive use of Jews. Does this sound like the Whites Only bathrooms and drinking fountains of the American Southern States?  Palestinians have to have a different colored license plate to distinguish them from Jews.  Is this not racism? Is this not an Apartheid system?

                The percentage of Christians is dwindling tremendously in Jerusalem and in Palestine.  Christians are losing a presence in the Holy Land for which it will take decades if not a century to build back up. Can Catholics sit idly by and close their eyes to what is happening in the Holy Land?  Can Catholics allow Israeli atrocities and policy of fear to drive Christians completely out of the Holy Land?

                Communicating to the Catholics and other groups in this way needs to be part of the Palestinian agenda.  We have a just cause that needs to be communicated.  

(© Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)

التواصل مع الكاثوليك

(قمت بترجمة هذه المقالة على Google. محدودة كما هو قدرتي على قراءة اللغة العربية،أنا لا يمكن أن تضمن دقة الترجمة)

أدركت ذلك تماما من خلال وضع كلمة الكاثوليكية على الفيسبوك وضعي ، ويحصل على نشر وضعي إلى صفحة الفيسبوك نشاط الكاثوليكية الأصدقاء حيث هناك 411000 عضوا. كعضو في صفحة الفيسبوك الكاثوليكية ، وأنا ، وهو مسيحي ، والآن لدينا القدرة على التواصل رسالتي الفلسطينية لمسيحيين آخرين. أفترض أن هناك العديد من صفحات الفيسبوك أستطيع أن تفعل الشيء نفسه ل.

                من مثل هذا النوع من التفكير يحتاج إلى مربع تكون جزءا من جدول الأعمال الفلسطيني لفضح دولة الفصل العنصري في إسرائيل. نحن بحاجة إلى إيجاد طرق مختلفة لتعريف العالم بأن إسرائيل هي إلحاق اليومية حملة وحشية من الخوف لتخليص فلسطين من الفلسطينيين. لذا فإنني أنتقل إلى المسيحيين زملائي أن أقول ما يلي.وقد سجنت اسرائيل الفصل العنصري الفلسطينيين 4.5 مليون نسمة في الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة مع جدار الفصل العنصري أو الأسلاك الشائكة الإلكترونية.مسجونون المدن الفلسطينية في جيوب مع مدخل واحد فقط ونقطة الخروج التي يسيطر عليها الجنود الاسرائيليون الفصل العنصري. البوابة مفتوحة لفترات قصيرة من الوقت خلال فترة ما بعد الظهر ، صباحا ومساء. بعض الأيام ، والجندي الإسرائيلي ينسى الفصل العنصري لفتح بوابة للفتح بعد ظهر اليوم والأطفال يعودون من المدرسة إلى الانتظار خارج أبواب المدينة حتى افتتاح المساء.



                قد لا يدرك الكثير من الكاثوليك ان المجمع الكنسي الكاثوليكي ، ومجلس خاص لأعضاء الكنيسة التي تعقد اجتماعات منتظمة لمناقشة القضايا الدينية ، صرح في تشرين الاول ، 2010 ان اسرائيل هي السبب الجذري لجميع مشاكل الشرق الأوسط. البيان الختامي لسينودس سرد الاحتلال ، وجدار الفصل العنصري ، والعديد من نقاط التفتيش العسكرية ، وعدد كبير من السجناء السياسيين ، والسياسة الإسرائيلية من الخوف الذي يعطل الحياة الفلسطينية اليومية حيث أن الأسباب الرئيسية وراء هجرة المسيحيين الفلسطينيين. وذكرت أيضا أن هذه مفاقمة الاوضاع الاسرائيلية المستمرة هي السبب لشن هجمات على اسرائيل.



                المجمع الكنسي الكاثوليكي وذكر ان المسيح حتى يبطل وعد الله لليهود. في حين أن الغرض من هذا بلوق هو سياسي وليس ديني ، والآثار المترتبة على هذا البيان على حد سواء السياسية والدينية. والفصل العنصري بغطاء ديني وسياسي يستخدم للاحتفاظ اسرائيل ، احتلال ، ويمكن أن تبطل نهب الأراضي الفلسطينية اذا الكاثوليك اغتنامها المفهوم القائل بأن المسيح العهد الجديد جعل المسيحيين ورثة وعد الله. بدلا من ذلك اليمين المسيحي الدينية يسيء فهم تعاليم يسوع عندما كانت تدعم هيمنة اسرائيل للاراضي الفلسطينية.هذا بدوره يشكل تناقضا مباشرا من تعاليم يسوع عند هذه السياسة يقوي اسرائيل ويساهم في هجرة المسيحيين من الأراضي المقدسة.



                ولكن هدفي في كتابة هذا بلوق هو عدم الحصول على عميق جدا في أطروحة دينية بل ندعو الكاثوليك لفهم ما يحدث في الأراضي الفلسطينية المحتلة. أريد الكاثوليك قراءة هذه الرسالة إلى أن يفهموا أن إسرائيل ليست هي الديمقراطية تقول انها هي. أريد الكاثوليك أن نفهم أن إسرائيل هي دولة الفصل العنصري. أقول هذا لأن الفصل العنصري اسرائيل القوانين التي تسمح للجاليات اليهودية الشاشة المتقدمين الجدد ، وسيلة قانونية لاستبعاد الفلسطينيين من الاختلاط مع اليهود. الفصل العنصري الإسرائيلي والطرق التي هي للاستخدام الحصري لليهود. هل هذا الصوت مثل الحمامات البيض فقط ونوافير مياه الشرب في الولايات الجنوبية الأمريكية؟ الفلسطينيون ان يكون لديك مختلفة وحات ملونة لتمييزهم عن اليهود. أليس هذا عنصرية؟ هذا هو نظام الفصل العنصري لا؟



                نسبة المسيحيين تتضاءل بشكل كبير في القدس وفي فلسطين.المسيحيون يفقدون وجودها في الأراضي المقدسة والتي ستستغرق عدة عقود إن لم يكن من قرن من أجل بناء احتياطيا. ويمكن أن نقف موقف المتفرج الكاثوليك وإغلاق أعينهم على ما يحدث في الأرض المقدسة؟ يمكن أن تسمح الكاثوليك الفظائع الإسرائيلية وسياسة الخوف لدفع المسيحيين خارجا تماما عن الأرض المقدسة؟



                التواصل للكاثوليك والجماعات الأخرى في هذا الطريق يجب أن يكون جزءا من جدول الأعمال الفلسطيني. لدينا قضية عادلة لا بد من إبلاغها.


(Zanayed © ، فادي يسمح نشر أو توزيع هذه المواد شريطة أن لا تغيير محتواها وأشار المصدر وصاحبه).

Leadership is the Art of Conviction

                A friend emailed me a YouTube clip about the “West Wing” TV show which included a map of the Holy Land that was drawn in 1709.  The “West Wing” is about the US Presidency.  This particular episode was aired on 1/9/02.  As I am interested in the Presidency, I viewed the clip.

Martin Sheen acts in the show as the President. He receives as a gift from his aid a map entitled “Canaan, Palestine” and tells his staff that he wants to frame it and put it in the White House.  His staff is vehemently opposed, expressing that it does not recognize Israel. When Sheen’s character President Bartlett explains that the map was drawn in 1709 and that Israel would not exist for another 250 years, they are not impressed, insisting that this would only bring trouble to the President.

This episode of “West Wing”, although a fictional TV show, gives us an insight as to how Presidents think and how those thoughts are limited by the constraints around them.   I wrote an article last year entitled “Constraints on Obama.”  http://fadizanayed.blogspot.com/2011/12/constraints-on-obama.html.  In it I give 6 reasons that limit the real US President in what he wants to do to bring peace between Palestinians and the Apartheid Israelis.  What I did not include in that article is the constraints from the people that work for the President.  

In the “West Wing” show every aide advised the President not to put up an “old” map of the Holy Land in the White House because “it does not recognize Israel and some people will find it offensive.”  The fictional President Bartlett responds by stating that no one opposed an aide’s map of the US when the original 13 states were colonies of Britain, when France owned 1/3 of the US (Louisiana Territory) and Mexico owned the remaining part.  The aides are unimpressed and tell the President that he does not need the headaches that will come from hanging an “old” map of Palestine in the White House.

The headache that the supporters of Apartheid Israel will give to anyone that hints in any way, shape or form that he is at least sympathetic to the Palestinian desire for freedom is massive.  Many politicians and others with any public persona who are perceived as “anti-Semitic” have been singled out by the Apartheid Israeli lobby.  The methods and power of that lobby is excellently documented by former Illinois Congressman Paul Finley in his book They Dare To Speak Out.  

Aides to the President are there to help the President in his tremendous task of leading the world as the only Super Power.  Avoiding trouble is one way aides assist the President.  Opposing Apartheid Israel in any way is trouble.   Succeeding US Presidents have said that the illegal Apartheid Israeli settlements are an “obstacle to peace.”  Yet, no President can ask Apartheid Israel to dismantle or stop building settlements despite the billions of dollars in aid that the US gives to it.  Why is this so? Simple answer: the Apartheid Israeli Lobby.

This lobby constrains US Presidents to a point that it is understood that politics is the art of the possible.  If a US President believed that it was politically possible to bring peace to the Israelis and Palestinians, then peace would have been achieved long ago.  But because of the power of the Apartheid Israeli lobby, US Presidents know that they cannot possibly bring peace to the Middle East. 

Succeeding Apartheid Israeli governments appease US Presidents by signing agreements with the Palestinians but their intent is not to have peace as they keep delaying final status talks because   internal Apartheid Israeli politics constrain it from making peace while Apartheid Israeli supporters constrain US Presidents from helping the parties achieve peace.  With these political constrains, peace is not possible.

Aides to the President know these political realities.  They can suggest actions that make it look like the US wants peace but this is political appeasement for internal US politics.  What these aides, President Obama, Apartheid Israeli leaders and lobbyists also know is that the reality of the population demographics in Apartheid Israel and Palestine is that in 2016 Palestinians will outnumber Jews. 

While Presidential aides will not advise the President to call Israel an Apartheid State as that would be political suicide, the reality is that is what Israel is.  Former President Jimmy Carter has called the situation in the West Bank an apartheid system of government—now he is shunned by Apartheid Israeli leaders.

The problem with Presidents is that they do not understand that they were elected to lead and sometimes leading people to what is the right thing to do is not always politically correct but morally right.  President Obama has stated that it is in the US national security interest to establish peace between Apartheid Israel and Palestine.  Yet the political constraints around him limit his ability to do what he believes is the right thing to do.

If President Abraham Lincoln did what was politically correct during his presidency, slavery in the US may have lingered longer in the US.  But President Lincoln knew that despite the Southern Slave States threat to secede from the US, slavery had to be eradicated and therefore issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  He led the nation to the high moral standards that he believed in despite the political consequences that were against him.

President Obama needs to be like President Lincoln.  President Obama knows that peace in the Middle East is the moral and right thing to achieve; therefore he should take the steps to achieve that peace.    

           Who am I kidding here?  President Obama needs to get reelected and thus the constraints against him are way too powerful than the morals that lead him to lead.  Politics is the art of the possible but leadership is the art of conviction. 




(  © Copyright, Fadi Zanayed.  Publication or distribution of this material is allowed provided its content is not altered and the source and its author are cited.)