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2002/04/30
A new French Revolution, The Observer 28.04.2002
From the pavements in Paris, the anti-fascist New Revolution looks set for victory as it reawakens the national conscience. The slogans are sharper than May 1968 and the young multi-ethnic marchers, sometimes accompanied by the parents who took part in the long-ago student revolt, are more politically and historically aware than their elders. So Socialist voters will go to the polls without a hoped-for dispensation from the white-haired leader for what will amount to an immoral act: backing a right-wing candidate carrying a sackful of corruption allegations. The slogan Votez escroc, pas facho (Vote for a crook, rather than a fascist) contains the twisted logic of the Cold War get-out, 'Better dead than red'. Everyone except the extreme Left, who creamed off much of Jospin's vote, have said much the same, led by the Greens' Noël Mamère, who called on his backers to say 'Yes' to Chirac 'with your back turned, your nose blocked and your eyes blindfolded'.
And some words about another terrible, more or less forgotten (at least in the headlines and in our minds) conflict:
Putin can rampage but Sharon can't?, International Herald Tribune 30.03.2002 Even as Ariel Sharon is pilloried for using a campaign against terrorism to assault Palestinian civilians and their self-government, Putin is quietly getting away with almost exactly the same crime. Ever since Sept. 11, Putin and Sharon have tried to convince the world that the Muslim national movements seeking to end the military occupations by Russia of Chechnya and by Israel of the West Bank and Gaza are indistinguishable from the terrorists of Osama bin Laden and deserve the same treatment. The war grinds brutally on, week after week, killing one to two Russian soldiers a day on average. With the world's acquiescence, it will likely go on that way for years - unless Russia gives up and unilaterally withdraws. Den glemte krigen, Klassekampen 26.04.2002 Ingen vil lenger høre om krigsforbrytelsene som Russland bedriver, sier den russiske journalisten Anna Politkovskaia. Anna Politkovskaia, journalist i den russiske avisen Novaya Gazeta, er oppgitt over omverdenens likegyldighet overfor den russiske krigføringen i utbryterrepublikken Tsjetsjenia. Det internasjonale samfunnet ønsker ikke å tenke på denne krigen. Det er helt klart et utslag av doble standarder; tsjetsjenske lik er tydeligvis vanskeligere å få øye på enn de jugoslaviske. Jeg er såret over den holdningen europeerne, og diplomatene i FN har inntatt. Jeg forstår deres beveggrunner, men kan på ingen måte støtte dem. Jeg hater doble standarder i en enhver sammenheng, og spesielt når det kommer til krig/fred-problematikk, hvor antallet ofre er så høyt, avslutter Anna Politkovskaia.
Desmond Tutu; Apartheid in the Holy Land, The Guardian 29.04.2002
In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish people. They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am patron of a Holocaust centre in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders. What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another people to guarantee its existence. I've been very deeply distressed in my visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us black people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police officers prevented us from moving about.
David Chandler; What Happened in the Jenin Refugee Camp?, (own site) April 27, 2002
It is interesting that the IDF would feel these photos would sway public opinion to their version of the story when in fact the photos are consistent with the Palestinian version. They had to be posted with the confidence that the public is mathematically illiterate. Unfortunately this assumption is too often accurate. Convincing students that thinking quantitatively is important in all aspects of life (not just in science classes) is part of my professional preoccupation. 2002/04/25
Once upon a time in Jenin, The Independent 25.04.2002
What really happened when Israeli forces went into Jenin? Just as the world is giving up hope of learning the truth, Justin Huggler and Phil Reeves have unearthed compelling evidence of an atrocity. The thought was as unshakable as the stench wafting from the ruins. Was this really about counterterrorism? Was it revenge? Or was it an episode – the nastiest so far – in a long war by Ariel Sharon, the staunch opponent of the Oslo accords, to establish Israel's presence in the West Bank as permanent, and force the Palestinians into final submission?
Naomi Klein; Sharon's best weapon, The Guardian 25.04.2002
Anti-semitism sustains Israel's brutal leader - the fight against it must be reclaimed.
Children become the new martyrs of Gaza, The Guardian 25.04.2002
A tragic new twist was added to the Middle East conflict when three 14-year-old Palestinian classmates were buried in Gaza yesterday after mounting a futile attack that ended with them being shot dead by Israeli soldiers. They were victims of a disturbing trend among Palestinian children to copy their elders by participating in the 19-month-old uprising and are among the youngest Palestinian combatants to be killed yet. They reflect a desperate desire for revenge in Palestinian areas over the four-week-old Israeli offensive on the West Bank.
Ottar Brox; Arbeidskraftimport er klassekamp, Klassekampen 24.04.2002
Den nye, unge og svarte kontorvaskeren med flyktningstatus er like interessert som de slitte, innfødte husmødrene, i at ikke arbeidsinnvandring brukes som middel til å presse yrket ytterligere ned. Det som kanskje kan forbause overfladiske sjeler, som for eksempel mange av Carl I. Hagens velgere, som neppe kjenner til mer enn en brøkdel av det som partiet deres står for, er at Hagen er tilhenger av arbeidskraftimport – på betingelse av at de importerte ikke får de rettigheter som fagbevegelsen og arbeiderpartiene har vunnet gjennom over hundre års kamp. Carl I. Hagen beundrer Sveits, og har ingenting imot fremmedarbeidere, om vi bare kan sørge for at de ikke får de norske rettighetene, slik at vi kan sende dem tilbake når vi ikke har bruk for dem lenger. 2002/04/24
Christophe Aguiton; The West Bank: a first-hand account, Sand in the Wheels (n°124), ATTAC Weekly newsletter - Wednesday 17/04/02
Pure sadness. Sitting on the plane that was taking me from Paris to Tel Aviv last Wednesday, that was the feeling that overwhelmed me as I contemplated the prospect of witnessing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at first hand.
An interesting site presenting diaries and stories live from Palestine. As they put it; "when journalists can't get in, local residents take over".
Ben Granby; I brought Jenin to Israel, a story from the diary project Live from Palestine, The Electronic Intifada Monday, April 22, 2002 Last night I brought Jenin to Israel. I tried to at least. I walked from East Jerusalem to West, seeking a drink after spending a night in the devastated northern West Bank town. Jenin was still on my boots. Its mud splattered my pant legs too. I wanted to track it across their faux-antiquated stone streets. More stories at Live from Palestine. 2002/04/23
Brian Whitaker; Battle for truth in Jenin, The Guardian 23.04.2002
Israel insists it has nothing to hide in Jenin. So why is it trying to prevent the world discovering its innocence. Most people would know a massacre if they saw one. [...] The Israeli government objects to the word "massacre" being used to describe what happened in Jenin refugee camp earlier this month. "Only" 40 or so Palestinians were killed, it says, and they were all terrorists. There are good reasons for believing both these Israeli claims to be false but, even if they were true, the nature of the act is no less important than its scale. Both the International Committee of the Red Cross and Amnesty International say there is enough evidence to justify a full-scale investigation for war crimes.
Cactus48 web site
If you care about truth, and not just what you've been told all your life, then you may come to believe, as we have, that one of the greatest injustices the world has ever known has been done to the Palestinian people. Objections to Israel and its policies do not reflect anti-Jewish beliefs. Palestine is simply a matter of freedom lost and justice denied. We are American Christians who grew up believing that all Americans care about such things. Jews for Justice in the Middle East; The Origin of the Palestine-Israel Conflict, Third edition Including Intifada 2000) As the periodic bloodshed continues in the Middle East, the search for an equitable solution must come to grips with the root cause of the conflict. The conventional wisdom is that, even if both sides are at fault, the Palestinians are irrational "terrorists" who have no point of view worth listening to. Our position, however, is that the Palestinians have a real grievance: their homeland for over a thousand years was taken, without their consent and mostly by force, during creation of the state of Israel. And all subsequent crimes - on both sides - inevitably follow from this original injustice. This paper outlines the history of Palestine to show how this process occurred and what a moral solution to the region's problems should consist of. If you care about the people of the Middle East, Jewish and Arab, you owe it to yourself to read this account of the other side of the historical record.
Striking Back at the Empire, AlterNet 17.04.2002
The story has seduced us because terrorism is truly evil. Acts of violence against non-combatants, designed to sow fear among civilians, are terrible and horrific. But if we truly oppose terrorism -- not just terrorism when it happens to us -- if we truly believe we must "root out and destroy" agents of terror wherever they reside -- we cannot support Bush's war policy.
Walking Among Bodies in Jenin, AlterNet 22.04.2002
In the days before the Red Cross was allowed into the Jenin settlement, a Palestinian American university teacher gained entrance and saw body parts and houses in rubble, and took eyewitness accounts of atrocious acts at the hands of Israeli soldiers. 2002/04/18
Kissinger faces UK questioning over dictators' network, The Independent 18.04.2002
Investigators from France and Spain want to question Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state, about terrorist crimes orchestrated by Latin American dictators in the Seventies when he visits London next week. While US Secretary of State in the Seventies, Dr Kissinger sent signed documents to the US embassy in Paris informing the American ambassador that Paris was to be the Condor plan's headquarters in Europe, Mr Bourdon said. "He knew precisely what was going on." Dr Kissinger faces a criminal suit in Washington for his suspected involvement in the assassination in 1970 of the Chilean armed forces chief Rene Schneider. The case is being brought by Schneider's family. 2002/04/17
Coup and counter-coup, The Economist 17.04.2002
Hugo Chavez is back in office as Venezuela’s president. A new regime installed by coup on Friday lasted just 36 hours. As Mr Chavez returns to work, promising there will be no witch-hunt against his opponents, the role played in the weekend’s events by the Venezuelan media is coming under close scrutiny. For those interested, more info on Venezuela on this Economist page: Country briefings: Venezuela.
George Monbiot; World Bank to West Bank, www.monbiot.com/The Guardian 9th April 2002
There are two sets of human shields in use in the West Bank. The first is less than willing. The Israeli army, like the terrorist organisations it has fought, has been taking hostages. Its soldiers have been propelling Palestinian civilians through the doors of suspect buildings, so that the gunmen they might harbour have to kill them first if they want to fight back. The second set of human shields has deliberately placed itself in the line of fire. Since the army's offensive in the West Bank began, hundreds of Israeli peace campaigners and foreign activists have been seeking to put themselves in its way. At great personal risk, members of the International Solidarity Movement have sought to protect civilians by making hostages of themselves. It is a display of extraordinary courage and self-sacrifice. It is also the latest incarnation of a movement which just months ago was left for dead. The movement to which many of the peace activists now risking their lives in Ramallah and Bethlehem belong has no name. Some people have called it an anti-globalisation or anti-corporate or anti-capitalist campaign. Others prefer to emphasise its positive agenda, calling it a democracy or internationalist movement. But because they have always put practice first and theory second, its members have proved impossible to categorise. Whenever it appears to have assumed an identity outsiders believe they can grasp, it morphs into something else. It is driven by a new, responsive politics, informed not by ideology but by need.
Kim Moody; Why Not in the U.S.A.?, Sand in the Wheels (n°114), ATTAC Weekly newsletter - Wednesday 23/01/02
Around the World, Mass Political Strikes Challenge the Effects of Globalization. Why Not in the U.S.A.?
Dean Baker; New Economy Takes a Dive, Sand in the Wheels (n°105), ATTAC Weekly newsletter - Wednesday 21/11/01
While most of us have known that the economy has been heading down for a while, the release of new data on economic growth makes it official: the economy is in a recession. With hundreds of thousands having already lost their jobs and the unemployment rate moving rapidly higher, workers now feel lucky just to be employed. The healthy wage growth of the late nineties has come to an end. In addition, millions of workers have seen much of their retirement savings disappear in the stock market plunge that began in March of last year.
Marc Laime; Internet war economy, Sand in the Wheels (n°77), ATTAC Weekly newsletter - Wednesday 18/04/01
A very intriguing process of imitation leads everyone involved, closely or not, in the "new economy" to toll its death knell, even though it was praised to the skies yesterday. Industrials, financers, analysts, journalists and all kinds of experts are now condemning "an artificial universe maintained by international finance and disconnected from the real economic mechanisms".
The Background is Oil, From the wilderness/www.copvcia.com December 2001
Many people have assumed that the last presidential election simply resulted in a political squabble due to the close vote. A few have opined that this squabble resulted in a power grab by one segment of the elite in this country. As for the events of 9-11, the established line is that this was due to evil people who hate freedom and democracy. However, many people have sought to explain that these terrorists were bred by decades of imperialist intervention undertaken by this country in order to keep secure the privileged position of US corporations and the US public in general. There are a small few who have wondered whether the events of 9-11 were the work of Islamic terrorists at all, just as there are a few who believe that the Bush regime staged a coup in every sense of the word. The wisest and best informed say all of this is about oil.
Secret documents reveal EU's tough stance on global trade, The Guardian 17.04.2002
The European Union is demanding full-scale privatisation of public monopolies across the world as its price for dismantling the common agricultural policy in the new round of global trade talks, secret documents leaked to the Guardian revealed yesterday. The sweeping requests for the opening up of sensitive sectors of its trading partners' economies including water, energy, sewerage, telecoms, post and financial services are contained in a 1,000-page draft document prepared by Brussels officials for approval by member states next month. "We are shocked by how the the EU is preparing to trample over its claims to be in favour of sustainable development in the naked pursuit of the interests of European multinational service corporations," said Dave Timms from the World Development Movement. "These documents confirm our worst fears about these negotiations. The EU is targeting sectors where there is no evidence that liberalisation benefits developing countries."
Henrik Skrak; Imperiet tar hemn, Røde Fane nr 2, 2002
Den 11. september. Datoen er blitt eit begrep. To kapra passasjerfly fløy inn i tvillingskyskraparane til World Trade Center med 20 minutts mellomrom. Samtidig gjekk eit tredje fly til åtak på Pentagon. Gjerningsmennene døydde saman med ofra sine. Trass i det var den amerikanske statsleiinga veldig raske til å peike ut skyldige: Osama bin Laden og organisasjonen han skal leie, al-Qa'ida. I denna artikkelen kjem eg ikkje til å spekulere i skyldsspørsmålet. Det har andre gjort (1). Eg vil derfor heller ikkje freiste forklare korfor terrorhandlinga skjedde. Eg nøyer meg med å behandle utviklinga og dei allmenne resultata av konflikten. Til nå. For ennå er det ikkje slutt. I skrivande stund går bombinga av Afghanistan inn i dag hundre.
Israel faces rage over 'massacre', The Guardian 17.04.2002
Israel's international reputation slumped to its lowest point for two decades yesterday, amid condemnation in Britain and Europe of the Israeli army's behaviour at the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin in the West Bank. There were calls for a United Nations-led inquiry into allegations that the Israeli army carried out a massacre and that its soldiers were guilty of war crimes. Senior politicians lined up in London and Brussels to express outrage. With the Israeli army still blocking full access to Jenin, it is impossible to establish even a rough body count. However, both Amnesty and the New York-based Human Rights Watch yesterday called for inquiries.
- Ser ut som en jordskjelvsone, Nettavisen 16.04.2002
– Jordskjelv kan man ikke gjøre noe med, men dette er gjort av mennesker, sier Røde Kors-representanten Ola Skuterud på telefon fra Jenin. Mens han snakker, oppdager han tre føtter i ruinene av en stue. Etter flere dagers forhandlinger med den israelske hæren, slapp Røde Kors og Røde Halvmåne tirsdag ettermiddag omsider inn i hjertet av den ødelagte flyktningleiren Jenin på Vestbredden.
Edward Said; Tanker om framtiden - hva skjer etter overlevelsen?, Klassekampen 17.04.2002
Alle som har et minimum av kontakt med Palestina er nå i en tilstand av lamslått raseri og sjokk. Selv om det nærmest er en gjentakelse av det som skjedde i 1982, er Israels nåværende totale kolonialistiske angrep på det palestinske folket (med George Bushs sjokkerende uvitende og groteske støtte) enda verre enn selv Sharons to tidligere omfattende raid i 1971 og 1982 mot det palestinske folket. 2002/04/16
Graham Usher; Palestine Militias Rising, The Nation 29.04.2002
The young fighters are positioning for leadership in the post-Arafat era, whether this comes through his natural demise or through forced removal by Israel. The contours of the contest are already clear: between the historic Oslo leadership that seeks a negotiated settlement courtesy of US and international intervention, and a resistance vowing that the intifada will end only with independence, even if that means the destruction of what is left of the PA. Arafat has maintained his leadership by balancing between the two wings; he will side with the winner, say Palestinian analysts. If Sharon succeeds in reimposing military rule throughout the occupied territories, the Palestinian national leadership will revert to what it was after Karameh, this time laced with a strong Islamist current. It will be young, underground, armed, refugee-based, perhaps more democratic and certainly more radical. It will take the Palestinian-Israeli conflict back three decades, and perhaps further.
Ten-day ordeal in crucible of Jenin, The Observer 14.04.2002
The Palestinians have called it a 'massacre', alleging that their houses were bulldozed with families still inside, that helicopters fired indiscriminately on a civilian area, and that ambulances were prevented from reaching the wounded in a calculated policy that meant they would bleed to death. Israeli soldiers contend that their colleagues were lured to their deaths, their units were attacked by suicide bombers, and that militants they have captured were behind suicide and gun attacks on Israel's cities. They charge that the camp at Jenin was a cancer that needed to be cut out. What is clear, however, is that between these two positions it is the civilians of Jenin who have suffered the most. Israelis may talk of punishment and retribution for the militants' attacks. But if a crime has been committed, it has also been against the ordinary people of Jenin.
Celebration and soul-searching, Ha'aretz 16.04.2002
The conclusion should be self-evident: To free itself of the stranglehold, Israel must remove itself from the territories. The public is ripe for the emergence of a leader courageous enough to correct the tragic mistake, made by every Israeli government since 1967, to build settlements. The territories were to be a bargaining card in peace negotiations, when the time came that the Arabs agreed to such talks. Everyone knows that if not for the settlements, it would have long since been possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians.
Bush's Betrayal of Democracy, The Washington Post 15.04.2002
Had the armed forces and its allies succeeded in forcing Venezuela's democratically elected president and legislature out of office this past week, Latin America would have experienced its first outright military coup in 26 years, with the notable exception of the overthrow of Haiti's first-ever elected president in 1991. Unfortunately, the Bush administration did not seem to understand what was at stake in Venezuela. Deviating sharply from the policies of its predecessors, and confusing the understandable dislike of a particular leader and his policies with the importance of supporting democracy, it publicly countenanced the military action. The administration was visibly out of step with other hemispheric leaders who condemned the military coup. It also stood in sharp contrast to the policies of the first President Bush, who vigorously opposed the overthrow of the leftist, anti-American Aristide in Haiti, sending an unmistakable signal of the U.S. commitment to upholding democracy in the post-Cold War era. As a result, the United States now risks losing much of the considerable moral and political leadership it had rightly won over the last decade as the nations of the Americas sought to establish the fundamental principle that the problems of democracy are solved in democracy, not through resorting to unconstitutional means. Gregory Wilpert; Coup in Venezuela: An Eyewitness Account, ZMag 12.04.2002 At this point, it is impossible to know what will happen to Chavez' "Bolivarian Revolution"-whether it will be completely abandoned and whether things will return to Venezuela's 40-year tradition of patronage, corruption, and rentierism for the rich. What one can say without a doubt, is that by abandoning constitutional democracy, no matter how unpopular and supposedly inept the elected president, Venezuela's ruling class and its military show just how politically immature they are and deal a tremendous blow to political culture throughout Latin America, just as the coup against Salvador Allende did in 1973. This coup shows once again that democracy in Latin America is a matter of ruling class preference, not a matter of law.
History is against the West Bank settlements, Middle East Times, Issue 15 April 2002
Israeli settlers on the West Bank – many of them American Jews holding dual nationality - have much in common with French settlers in Algeria prior to independence in 1962. French youth were brought up to believe that Algeria was an integral part of Metropolitan France. Many of the one million French in Algeria were third-generation settlers who had never set foot in France proper. They were known as pieds-noirs. Algerian Arabs, like today's Palestinians, opted for terrorism to get France to understand Algeria was Algerian. Eight years of terrorism and counter-terrorism killed nearly half-a-million people before France conceded Algeria's independence. But by then it was too late for some one million French settlers. They were sent packing by the newly-independent Algeria. Terrorist violence has been seen as a legitimate response to occupation in a wide variety of conflicts during the past 60 years. In Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, the country's future president, and his Mau Mau terrorists launched attacks against white settlers and their black supporters. In 1953, Kenyatta was convicted of managing a terrorist campaign against British rule. Thousands were killed before independence finally came in 1964. In Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, the first terrorist attack in an eight-year war of terrorism against white settlers took place on Christmas Eve 1972, against a farming family outside the town of Centenary. Unmentionable acts of terrorist cruelty became the norm in the African National Congress' war against South African apartheid – a war that was backed by governments and public opinion across the world. The cruelties were regarded as legitimate against white oppressors and fence-sitting blacks.
«Israel er en amerikansk militærbase» - Intervju med Noam Chomsky, Klassekampen 16.04.2002
Det stemmer at Clinton-Barak tok et par skritt mot en Bantustanlignende avtale av det slaget som Sør-Afrika iverksatte i den mørkeste apartheid-tiden. Like før Camp David ble palestinerne på Vestbredden holdt innenfor 200 atskilte områder, og Clinton-Barak foreslo faktisk en forbedring: konsolidering i tre kantoner, under israelsk kontroll, i praksis isolert fra hverandre og fra den fjerde kantonen, et lite område i Øst-Jerusalem, senteret for palestinsk liv og for kommunikasjonene i regionen. Og selvsagt skilt fra Gaza, der utfallet ble holdt i det uvisse. Men nå er den planen tydeligvis skrinlagt til fordel for en ødeleggelse av PA. Det betyr ødeleggelse av institusjonene i det potensielle Bantustan som ble planlagt av Clinton og hans israelske partnere; de siste dagene er til og med et senter for menneskeretter ødelagt. De palestinske figurene som ble utpekt til å være motstykke til de svarte Bantustanlederne utsettes også for angrep, selv om de ikke drepes, trolig på grunn av internasjonale konsekvenser. Den framtredende israelske intellektuelle Ze'ev Sternhell skriver at regjeringen «ikke lenger skammer seg over å snakke om krig når det de egentlig holder på med er politivirksomhet i kolonien, som minner om situasjonen da hvite politiet tok over de svartes fattige boområder i Sør-Afrika i apartheid-tiden.» Denne nye politiske linjen er et tilbakefall til et lavere nivå enn Sør-Afrikas Bantustan-modell for førti år siden, den modellen som Clinton-Rabin-Peres-Barak og deres medspillere tok sikte på under «fredsprosessen» i Oslo.
Kjetil Lismoen; TV-bildenes avmakt, Morgenbladet 12.04.2002
Når nyhetsmediene bare viser bilder fra krigens redsler i Midtøsten uten nærmere analyser, bidrar de til å øke hatet og voldsspiralen, mener medieprofessor Rune Ottosen. Men det finnes alternativer.
The do-it-ourselves solution, Le Monde diplomatique April 2002
For the founders of the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Coalition, there is a possible way out of the present murderous impasse in the region: a return to the agreement drawn up at Taba in January 2001. Two of those who drew it up, one Israeli and one Palestinian, propose an alternative way forward.
The case against the Hague courtLe Monde diplomatique April 2002
There is no denying certain facts. Many Kosovars were the victims of real crimes perpetrated by the Serbs; but the prosecutor has not been able to charge Milosevic with genocide in Kosovo. Hence the extension of the trial to include events in Croatia and Bosnia. Yet everyone knows that the Dayton accords sanctioned the ethnic cleansing at the time and that those responsible for it were present at the negotiating table. If Milosevic is guilty of crimes against humanity, then others are too. Not to mention their willing accomplices: the governments of the West. 2002/04/10
Göran Rosenberg; Dødsdansen i Midtøsten, Morgenbladet 05.04.2002
Selvutslettelsens logikk er både skremmende og fascinerende. Skremmende fordi logikken mangler. Det er ikke logisk at den som kan velge liv og fremtid velger død og selvutslettelse. Fascinerende fordi selvutslettelsen til et visste punkt likevel er logisk. Hendelsen A leder til hendelsen B som leder til hendelsen A som leder til hendelsen B som leder til selvutslettelse. Hele omverdenen kan stå ved siden av og påpeke at det ikke er logisk å tilintetgjøre seg selv, at isteden for at A og B skjer så bør C skje, men omverdenens logikk biter ikke på logikken i en verden som er styrt av A og B. Jeg kjenner vagt til visse dyr blant oss som dreper seg selv og sine. Noen spiser opp sitt eget avkom, andre spiser opp sin partner, og noen toger ut i havet for å drukne seg. Det sies at det finnes darwinistiske forklaringer på alt dette. At enkelte mennesker iblant finner det logisk å ta sitt eget liv er også forklarlig, om enn beklagelig. Den logiske utfordringen oppstår når hele menneskelige samfunn velger selvutslettelsens logikk fremfor selvbevarelsens. Den pågående dødsdansen i Israel-Palestina er en slik utfordring. Det finnes ingen seier å vinne i denne hevnens og voldens pas-de-deux, uansett hvilke illusjoner partene selv må ha om denne saken. Det finnes ikke et eneste scenario der det ene samfunnet kan overleve på ruinene av det andre. Det palestinske samfunnet, som ikke lenger har noe å miste, har evnen til å dra Israel med seg ned i dypet. Det israelske samfunnet, som ennå tror de har alt å vinne ved å la palestinerne miste alt (også håpet), vil snart ikke ha noe av verdi å vinne.
The Israel lobby, The Prospect Magazine, April 2002
America's unconditional support for Israel runs counter to the interests of the US and its allies. We need an open, unprejudiced debate about it. Today the Israel lobby distorts US foreign policy in a number of ways. Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, enabled by US weapons and money, inflames anti-American attitudes in Arab and Muslim countries. The expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land makes a mockery of the US commitment to self-determination for Kosovo, East Timor and Tibet. The US strategy of dual containment of Iraq and Iran, pleases Israel-which is most threatened by them-but violates the logic of realpolitik and alienates most of America's other allies. Beyond the region, US policy on nuclear weapons proliferation is undermined by the double standard that has led it to ignore Israel's nuclear programme while condemning those of India and Pakistan. Israels mektige venner i USA , Aftenposten 10.04.2002 I USA er stemningen mye mer Israel-vennlig enn i Europa. Kan det skyldes innflytelsen til den mektige jødiske lobbyen? Mens det tynnes i rekkene av aktive Israel-venner i mange europeiske land, og mens pro-palestinske stemninger brer seg i takt med Israels militære fremrykning, er bildet annerledes i USA. Her forblir stemningen klart pro-israelsk til tross for tilløp til alvorlige gnisninger mellom Washington og Jerusalem. Details Concerning Senior Wanted Suspects from the Palestinian Terrorist Organizations Hiding in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity , Israel Defense Forces (official website) 02.04.2002 On 2 April 2002, upon the entry of IDF forces to Bethlehem, many wanted suspects from all the Palestinian terrorist organizations forced their way into the Church of the Nativity and have barricaded themselves inside the church ever since. The number of terrorists who took over the church is estimated to be around 250, a few of them injured. Religious Trapped in Nativity Church, Lycos News/Associated Press 05.04.2002 Back at the compound of the 150-year-old Evangelical Lutheran Christmas church, the Rev. Raheb said in a telephone interview that two tank shells tore up the front of a gift shop and workshop alongside the church during a 13-hour firefight Tuesday. Raheb said that as soldiers entered the church compound, an Israeli commander apologized. "He said, 'Sorry. We know there was no firing that took place from your church,"' Raheb said. The Vatican's missionary news service, FIDES, said an envoy of the Holy See in Israel negotiated the departure of the four priests. FIDES also released a statement by the Custodians of the Holy Sites that expressed concern that the Israelis were mistakenly considering the monks inside the church to be hostages. The statement said there were fears that the Israelis might view the monks to be hostages in an attempt to legitimize an attack on the church, "which is not acceptable on any pretext." The statement said, "The monks are not hostages. They are in their home and in their place, out of faith and vocation, and out of obedience to the orders of their superiors." Still, the embassy of Israel in Norway asks norwegian religious leaders to critisize the palestinians for this... Stålsett burde kritisere palestinerne, Nettavisen 10.04.2002 – Hvor er biskop Gunnar Stålsett og andre religiøse ledere når palestinerne misbruker kirker og moskeer, spør Israels ambassadør Liora Herzl. Beleiringen av Fødselskirken i Betlehem har vakt sterke reaksjoner i Norge. Nå slår ambassadør Liora Herzl tilbake. – 200 væpnede palestinere holder prester og nonner som gisler i Fødselskirken, mens de skyter mot våre soldater. Men vi hører ikke noe kritikk fra religiøse ledere i Norge mot disse handlinger – ikke fra en eneste en, sier hun til Nettavisen. Herzl mener likevel holdningene til Israel i Norge ikke er så negative som massemediene vil ha det til. – Folk ser mye kritikk mot Israel i pressen hver dag, og har få muligheter til å se den andre siden av saken. Samtidig får vi blomster og brev hver dag. Bare se på kontoret mitt, sier hun, og legger til at mange buketter står rundt omkring i ambassaden. På kontoret teller vi tre blomsterbuketter og sju hilsningskort.
Procession of lame leaves the dead in Nablus, The Times 09.04.2002
Inside is death and blood. Ten bodies are lain in a row in the courtyard, while 30 wounded Palestinians walk and crawl, moaning, across the blue linoleum that has been torn up to serve as stretcher, blanket and shroud. In the deepest corner of the war zone that is Nablus kasbah, Palestinian doctors and ambulance workers have been trapped for five days in the al-Baiq Mosque, treating fighters and civilians injured since the Israeli attack on the West Bank
Well, we'll have to see what really happens.
Israeli troops pull out of West Bank towns as US steps up pressure, The Independent 09.04.2002 Israel today started to pull back troops from two recently seized Palestinian towns in the West Bank, after openly defying pressure from the United States to wind down its latest bloody invasion of the occupied territories.Yet even as withdrawal from Tulkarm and Qalqilya in the northern West Bank was taking place, Israeli forces entered Dora, in the southern West Bank. Witnesses said they heard the sound of gunbattles as tanks and helicopters advanced. Israel pulls out of two West Bank cities, but enters other areas, The International Herald Tribune/AP 09.04.2002 Under heavy U.S. pressure, Israel withdrew Tuesday from two Palestinian towns, but soldiers took over other areas of the West Bank and fought dozens of beleaguered gunmen in a refugee camp.
A lack of vision, Ha'aretz English Edition 10.04.2002
Sharon's statement that he has now ordered the army to speed up its operations Sharon's statement that he has now ordered the army to speed up its operations in the territories, and to withdraw from those areas where it has completed its mission, may be regarded as the beginning of the end of Operation Defensive Wall. Despite all the support and friendship toward Israel from the American administration in Washington during the days of terrible terrorist attacks and at the beginning of the military operation, and despite President Bush's own distinctly negative attitude toward Arafat, the time is at hand when the global interests of the U.S. will dictate that it sternly demand an end to the military Sharon's statement that he has now ordered the army to speed up its operations in the territories, and to withdraw from those areas where it has completed its mission, may be regarded as the beginning of the end of Operation Defensive Wall. Despite all the support and friendship toward Israel from the American administration in Washington during the days of terrible terrorist attacks and at the beginning of the military operation, and despite President Bush's own distinctly negative attitude toward Arafat, the time is at hand when the global interests of the U.S. will dictate that it sternly demand an end to the military action.
Funny! Take a look...
Somebody's master's voice, The Guardian /cartoon/ 09.04.2002 Steve Bell on Bush getting Blair in a spin 2002/04/05
Rule Britannia’ raises its head again as Blair aide calls for ‘new imperialism’, The Daily Star (Lebanon) 02.04.2002
As in the rest of the world, much of Britain’s focus on the Middle East last week was on the Arab League summit in Beirut, and on the Cabinet’s support for the adoption of Crown Prince Abdullah’s peace initiative by the Arab states. For a brief moment, it seemed that Britain was indeed encouraging diplomacy, especially when Foreign Minister Jack Straw joined other world personalities in urging Israel to remove impediments to Yasser Arafat’s attendance. “It is in no one’s interest, least of all Israel’s, that President Arafat be prevented from attending the summit,” he said. “Israel’s refusal will damage achieving the outcome we want.” A few days later, Britain welcomed the peace initiative endorsed by the Arab summit, and a spokesman for the Foreign Office urged “Israel to respond positively to the assurances the Arab states have offered on its future security.”
Magnus E. Marsdal; Med terror på tunga, Klassekampen 05.04.2002
«Alt tyder på at Bush vil bruka 11. september som eit høve til å lansera ein ny, aggressiv amerikansk utanrikspolitikk som snarare enn ein spesifikk krig mot terrorismen vil representera ei brei endring av retning», skriv The New Yorker . Artikkelen er bygd på samtaler med fleire høgtstå ande figurar frå det militær-strategiske tenkeloftet til Bush-administrasjonen. Fleire av dei hevdar USA er i ferd med å utvikla ei doktrine med like store konsekvensar som kald-krig-strategien for «containment» av Sovjet-kommunismen, utvikla i 1945-1947. Terror er eit stikkord for frykt. Slik Communism var det i etterkrigstida. Slik Draugen vart brukt til å skræma ulydige ungar. 2002/04/04
Suzanne Goldenberg; Israel tightens its iron grip on 1m Palestinians in West Bank, The Guardian 04.04.2002
The Israeli army expanded its occupation to nearly all of the Palestinian towns in the West Bank yesterday, pushing forward even as international condemnation of its sweeping offensive reached a critical mass. As more than 150 Israeli tanks rolled into the city of Nablus firing shells late last night, the army stood on the verge of controlling the lives of more than 1 million Palestinians, living in West Bank cities and towns.
Robert Fisk; Armoured invasion brings no peace to Bethlehem, The Independent 03.04.2002
If this is a war on terror, Jesus wasn't born in Bethlehem. The first to die was an 80-year-old Palestinian man, whose body never made it to the morgue. Then a woman and her son were critically wounded by Israeli gunfire. We walked like robots back down those dangerous streets. It had been like this when the Israelis, having humiliated Arafat, invaded West Beirut in 1982. Sharon was in control then too. The Israelis were engaged, he told us then, in a "war on terror". Civilians died in their thousands. And then came the massacre of Palestinians by Israeli allies at Sabra and Chatila. So when, I asked myself as we made our way back to Jerusalem, will the massacre start here?
Derek Brown; This is what the bombers want, The Guardian 03.04.2002
By using massive military power to respond to Palestinian suicide bombings, Israel is playing into the hands of the 'martyrs' and ensuring further blood will be shed. Israel's armchair warriors are in full cry. Commentators and analysts of all political hues are urging their government and army to take ever more rigorous measures against Palestinian militants. There are, of course, dissident voices counselling restraint, but they are being all but drowned out in the shrill chorus of calls for action, action, action. The belligerence is understandable, perhaps, in the fervid aftermath of the Passover massacre in Netanya, which has now claimed 25 Israeli lives. But that does not stop it being wrong-headed.
Syria to redeploy troops in Lebanon, The Guardian 03.04.2002
Syria is to redeploy around 20,000 troops in Lebanon, the Lebanese army said today. The news came as border skirmishes between Israeli soldiers and Lebanese guerrillas continued for a second day.
Morten Rønning; Svak kritikk mot næringsliv i krig, Klassekampen 27.03.2002
Norge setter fokus på finansiering av konflikter, men lar de multinasjonale selskapene slippe billig. The International Peace Academy og Fafo holdt mandag et seminar i New York for å belyse de økonomiske drivkreftene bak krig og konflikter. Siktemålet var blant annet å definere hvilken rolle FN kan spille i forhold til dette problemområdet. En omfattende dokumentasjon vedrørende handel med diamanter, tømmer og olje ble lagt fram, et resultat av et større prosjekt i Fafo. Seminaret var sponset av Norge i sammenheng med Norges presidentskap i FNs sikkerhetsråd. 2002/04/03
Life here has totally stopped; it’s dead, Palestine Indymedia 01.04.2002
Like all other Palestinians in Ramallah, Ashraf, 25, is imprisoned in his home. Ramallah has been declared a ‘closed military area’ and there is an Israeli tank outside his door. Israeli soldiers have been ordered to shoot-to-kill anyone on the streets. Here's what he had to say on the phone from Ramallah today. More up-to-date information and eyewitness reports at Palestine Indymedia.
U.S. won't call Arafat a terrorist, Powell says, International Herald Tribune 03.04.2002
The United States, struggling to keep alive its hopes for a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, said Tuesday that Yasser Arafat should not be labeled a terrorist and that Israel should not force the Palestinian leader into exile. But Secretary of State Colin Powell, continued Tuesday to defend the Israeli military crackdown in the West Bank, including the siege laid to Arafat in his headquarters compound, as a justified move, and one likely to end in a few weeks.
It’s the occupation, stupid, ArabNews 03.04.2002
Israelis did not found their state in Palestine by persuasion. Rather, they did it through violence, war, the murdering of civilians and the forcible eviction of Arab inhabitants from their land — to whom they have subsequently denied their historical rights. This is why Israelis still live by the gun. They know, deep in their heart, that the land does not belong to them. It will take generations before they can get over that complexity. Despite all this, the Palestinians still have the humanity to express their willingness to share the land of their forefathers with a Jew who has just arrived from Brooklyn and elsewhere. It was just this stance that was supported by the whole Arab world at the Beirut summit.
British troops prepare to fight, The Guardian 03.04.2002
The first contingent of the biggest deployment of British combat troops since the Gulf war were today in Afghanistan training to fight al-Qaida. The contingent will double the number of western ground troops in Afghanistan, allowing them more effectively to cut off exit routes similar to those that Taliban and al-Qaida forces used to escape being killed or captured at Tora Bora, or more recently in Operation Anaconda in the east of the country. But with the enemy regrouping, coalition forces suspect that the remaining fighters will make a shift toward pinprick attacks directed at western targets inside Afghanistan.
Israel steps up attacks, The Guardian 03.04.2002
Israeli forces intensified their military action today as tanks rolled into two more West Bank towns before dawn while the siege of Palestinian gunmen in Bethlehem continues.
Keep out, Israel warns US broadcasters, The Guardian 03.04.2002
Israel has threatened legal action against CNN and NBC for ignoring military orders and broadcasting from the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, as part of the crackdown on foreign media reporting of its conflict with the Palestinians. The Israeli government has also has revoked the accreditation of two Abu Dhabi TV journalists, after the station broadcast a story on March 31 alleging that Israeli troops executed a group of young men in Ramallah.
Israel driver terror mot medier, Nettavisen 03.04.2002
Norsk Journalistlag krever at regjeringen tar opp de israelske angrepene på blant annet norske journalister direkte med Israel. – Regjeringen må ta direkte kontakt med den israelske regjeringen om dette spørsmålet. Regjeringen må også om nødvendig foreslå tiltak i FNs sikkerhetsråd som kan stanse overgrepene, sier Ann-Magrit Austenå, nestleder i Norsk Journalistlag (NJ).
Nordmenn i Sharons krigsmaskin, Nettavisen 03.04.2002
Advokaten Torger Dahl organiserer nordmenn og svensker som vil gjøre tjeneste i den israelske hæren. Selv reiser han snart til ny tjeneste for jødenes land. Siden 1995 har Oslo-advokaten Torger Dahl tjenestegjort i Israel Defence Force (IDF) i til sammen 25 uker. I åtte perioder har han sovet, spist og jobbet sammen med israelske soldater. Selv om han ikke er enig i politikken til Ariel Sharon vil han likevel støtte sine venner i Israel. – Jeg er sionist. Jeg støtter lojalt den israelske staten. Den er mye mer enn Sharon og hans politikk, sier Dahl til Nettavisen.
Robert Fisk; Watching from on high as Israeli guns keep firing, Argument - The Independent 01.04.2002
"It's only just beginning, you know that?" the paratrooper asked. "They are idiots down there. They should know their terrorism is over. We're never going back to the '67 borders. Anyway, they want Tel Aviv." A clap of sound punched our ears, a shell exploding on the other side of the hill upon which Ramallah lies. I wandered closer to the city, through a garden of daffodils and dark purple flowers to where an Israeli boy soldier was standing. "I want to go home," he said blankly. I said 20 seemed to be too young to be a soldier. "That's what my mother says."
Neve Gordon; Open Letter to the Commander of the Israeli Paratroopers, AlterNet 01.04.2002
This letter by Israeli human rights activist and writer Neve Gordon was published in the weekly Jerusalem newspaper Kol Ha'Ir. It is addressed to Aviv Kohavi, Brigade Commander of the Israeli Paratroopers, and describes the Israeli military incursion into the Balata refugee camps in the West Bank.
Dispatches From Ramallah, AlterNet 02.04.2002
Eyewitness acccounts of the Israeli invasion are pouring in from Ramallah and Bethlehem every day. The following reports and testimonies are being circulated on listservs and indymedia sites.
Norsk våpen mot arabisk boikott , Aftenposten 03.04.2002
Oljeprisen fortsetter opp og passerte tirsdag 27 dollar. Olje-minister Einar Steensnæs fastslår at Norge kan øke oljeproduksjonen for å motvirke en arabisk oljeboikott. Trusselen fra Irak tirsdag om en slik boikott, som et våpen mot USA og Israel i konflikten i Midtøsten, ble riktignok avfeid av andre arabiske land som lite realistisk.
Mark Tran; Oil: a weapon of mass disruption, The Guardian 02.04.2002
Major Middle East oil producers have ignored calls for an oil embargo from Iran and Iraq, but in the longer term they may be unable to resist pressure to use this weapon of last resort. Arab governments remain largely impotent, while Israel bears down on the Palestinians. But they have one weapon that strikes fear in the west - oil.
Hizbullah launches rocket attacks on Israeli border, The Guardian 02.04.2002
Hizbullah guerrillas in Lebanon today followed up an earlier rocket attack on northern Israel by firing on Israeli positions in a disputed zone near the Lebanese border and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Fra forskningsfronten, nærmere bestemt avsnittet for kvasi-forskning og pseudo-vitenskap...
Patriotisme gir bedre sædkvalitet, Nettavisen 02.04.2002 Patriotisme gir bedre sædkvalitet Menn som elsker flagget, nasjonalsangen og militærleker har bedre sædkvalitet enn andre menn, mener en forsker. |
