Dave Silver

March  23, 2002                                 
 

The U.S. brokered Madrid Accords in 1991 through Oslo in 1993 and the Wye
Plantation agreement of 1998 all had two features in common;  to maintain de
facto control of the Occupied Territories of Gaza and the West Bank and
prevent the “sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence
of every state in the area” as called for in Security Council Resolution
242, adopted unanimously in November of 1967.  We witness the 35 year
Israeli occupation, the longest in modern history, billions of U.S. dollars
for F-16s, Apache helicopters,  Merkava tanks which according to Edward Said
destroys people, houses, olive groves and fields on a daily basis.
In this manner the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) maintain 220 ghettos of
Palestinians and Arabs, Apartheid style.

To make sure that the “Jewish State” keeps its hegemony in the area, the
U.S. helps Israel to develop and manufacture weapons of mass destruction so
that it can protect the economic and geo-political interests of its
imperialist benefactor.  Using the tragedy of the European Holocaust, a
racist Zionist ideology (we are “chosen” and unique) was used to justify the
expulsion of well over a million Palestinians and Arabs.  After 1967 the
Jewish state controlled all of the land which the international community at
one time sought to carve out as a state for Jews and a state for the
Palestinians.

Given the opportunist and corrupt Arafat who can’t even leave his office in
Ramallah without permission, assassination of Palestinian leaders and
unemployment and poverty at about 50% in the Territories on the one hand and
the wantonly barbaric civilian suicide bombings which increase the state
terrorism of the IDF on the other, what kind of solidarity should we on the
Left advocate for a truly secular, sovereign Palestinian State?   Brother
Said thinks we ought to support a new independent secular nationalist
current (of which he is a part) which is now emerging but yet to attain the
status of a Party or a bloc, which includes functioning labor, health,
educational and other organizations.  In mid December the group issued a
collective statement (ignored in the U.S.) calling for Palestinian Unity and
Resistance and the unconditional end to the Israeli military occupation.

        In addition we in the belly of the beast must demand an immediate halt to
all military aid, the Right of Return of refugees who wish to do so, the
dismantling of all Settlements and compensation for destroyed homes,
Jerusalem as an international city and for massive international assistance
to rebuild and develop the economy where the leaders of a new Palestine and
not transnationals, I.M.F. or World Bank determines how, when and where the
assistance shall be used.  Achieving these goals are crucial to the
liberation of the Palestinian people.
(dm.silver@verizon.net)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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