Go Gandhian, Wolfowitz tells Palestinians

[dutchdemocrat]

How about Wolfowitz and the rest of the war gang go 'Gandhian'? This is absurd. Or why not the Israeli's?

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Go Gandhian, US tells Palestinians

WASHINGTON : Claiming that the greatest obstacle to Palestinian Statehood was "Palestinian terrorism", US Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz has suggested Palestinians could adopt Gandhian principles to bring "enormous changes" quickly.

With President George W Bush prepared to put pressure on Israelis to change, Wolfowitz said "If the Palestinians would adopt the ways of Gandhi, they could, in fact, make an enormous change very, very quickly. I believe the power of individuals demonstrating peacefully is enormous."

Addressing students in Georgetown University in Washington , D.C. , most of his speech and answers to questions from students were devoted to "winning the battle of ideas" in the Islamic World.

He said that while those "madrassas that turn out terrorists are well-funded", those which teach respect for all religions and teach that Islam is a peaceful religion are starved of funds.

"Many good, decent Muslims have spoken out against those who have tried to hijack their religion," said Wolfowitz. "Unfortunately, all too often, they have to do so in the face of threats and intimidation from well-funded extremists."

SNIP


http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=266156

[elperromagico]

1. He stole that from Michael Moore!

I believe Moore suggested that to Arafat in an open letter in Stupid White Men.

[regnaD kciN]

10. Actually...

...it came originally from Rabbi Michael Lerner, of Tikkun.

And it's not a bad suggestion. Unfortunately, coming from Wolfie, it has about as much chance of catching on as advice (good or otherwise) for Israelis would have coming from Louis Farrakhan.

[not systems]

2. Finally get to put to the test the ...

theory of passive resistance against missles and D9 Cats.

If they take up his call.

[paulsbc]

3. he is spot on

the Palestinians could have had their own nation and peace by now if they would have done what Clinton brokered. Clinton was very close to a solution to the mess, I wish he would have succeeded, his legacy would have been cemented by that achievement...

[regnaD kciN]

11. Nonsense...

...before trying to spread that myth any more, you should examine some of the facts about what happened at Camp David 2000. A good starting place would be the web site for Gush Shalom, the Israeli peace movement.

[Scott Lee]

12. The Barak Plan was complete BS

And Arafat would have signed his, and possibly the that of the cause of true Palestinian sovereignty's, death warrant by endorsing it.

[OneBlueSky]

4. as if Wolfie had any concept . . .

of what Gandhi was all about . . . the guy's got a lot of damn gaul, if you ask me . . .

[sujan]

5. but Gandhi also said,

The cry for the national home for the Jews does not make much appeal to me. The sanction for it is sought in the Bible and the tenacity with which the Jews have hankered after return to Palestine. Why should they not, like other peoples of the earth, make that country their home where they are born and where they earn their livelihood? Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French. It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct.


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'nuff said.

[keopeli]

6. The problem is, Ghandi practiced what he preached.

Ghandi didn't get rich off of his efforts.

Ghandi didn't run his house like a CEO trying to make every penny out of every endeavor that he makes.

Ghandi didn't shoot first and ask questions later.

Ghandi didn't seek to capture his oppressors dead or alive.

Ghandi wasn't crusading his armies to oust all infadels under the battle cry, "Bring 'em on!"


People listened to Ghandi because he was Ghandi.

[Resistance Is Futile]

7. Translation

Likud speak to English: Sit down, shut up and die quietly.

[JackSwift]

8. It's what millions of Palestinians do every day

A small percentage of them don't. Nothing the violent ones have done justify the oppression of the millions of others.

As far as Ghandi's argument goes, the Jews tried to live in other countries, and were horribly oppressed. It didn't work for them. It still makes no sense to force them upon the Arabs, but under the circumstances, nobody else has welcomed the Jews any better, except here in the US and perhaps the UK.

As far as blame goes, there is more than enough to go around.

[JackRiddler]

9. hypocrisy yet

Coming from Wolfowitz, big supporter of Israel at its worst, a joke. It works both ways, doesn't it? By the same token, since 1967 Israel had the chance to try the methods of the enlightened capitalist, and turned the Palestinians into an obedient servant class with moderate chances of upward mobility. But instead the Israeli state has always pursued a policy of eliminating the Palestinians from the land, of colonization, of bringing in its own settler-immigrants to replace the Palestinians. This effort was continuous and redoubled with each stage of so-called peace process. (If I don't have it wrong believe 20,000 settlers in 1980... 50,000 in 1990... 150,000 today... on all the best land, holding all the best water.)

Wolfowitz is absolutely right, however. The Palestinians would have triumphed long ago if they had adopted civil disobedience tactics and limited themselves to rock-throwing. It would have taken a lot of discipline - probably just as many Palestinians would have died, and yet effectively "turned the other cheek." But I think by now they would have completely undermined support for Israel in the States and the West, if only there had been no suicide bombings. This mad, murderous and completely pointless form of "combat" is what produces the "equivalency effect," or worse, makes the occupiers look morally superior (since they kill their civilian non-combatant victims as "collateral damage.")

(Now go explain that to a bunch of half-starved children - 2/3 of the Palestinians are under 18! - who have zero prospects and have known nothing but an ever-tightening imprisonment in the land of their birth.)

Despite all the "targeted" assassinations (which the Western media inevitably says were of "militants," case closed), despite the thousands of arrests, Israel has left the Hamas sheikh in place all these years.

When Mohamed Awad, an American-Palestinian, began to preach the tactics of MLK in the territories, he was deported forthwith.

I find that revealing.

[Orangeone]

13. Non violent

Resistance doesn't work if the media doesn't cover it and there is no publicity. Palestinians get killed every day for resisting non-violently. Also, why doesn't International Solidarity get more support? It's an organization that assists in non-violent actions, yet they get bashed by Pro-Israel supporters.

[Tinoire]

14. Non-violent resister

In Memoriam
~ Rachel Corrie ~
1979 - 2003



Some things Mr. Wolfowitz can do to encourage non-violent resistance:
Ask Congress to Support H.Con.Res. 111, (Calls for Investigating Rachel Corrie’s Death)
Honor Rachel, End Home Demolitions - Jeff Halper, Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions
SUSTAIN demands end to Caterpillar sales to Israeli Defense Forces
Greens Call for an Investigation of the Murder of American Peace Activist Rachel Corrie by Israeli Forces

====

On March 16th, an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer two-stories high crushed to death 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, an American nonviolent human rights protestor. According to numerous witnesses and photographic documentation, she was killed intentionally.

Rachel and a handful of others practicing Gandhian nonviolence in the Gaza Strip had been pleading with Israeli soldiers for two hours not to destroy a Palestinian family home. Suddenly, the Israeli bulldozer operator began driving his giant bulldozer toward the home, Rachel sitting in the bulldozer's path. Witnesses report that she then stood up on the mound of debris and dirt pushed by the bulldozer blade and looked straight at the operator through the window. He continued, and she was pulled underneath the tractor, its blade crushing her. He then backed up, running over her again, burying her deeper into the dirt.

Three friends ran to Rachel and dug her out. According to an eyewitness report by Joe Smith of Kansas City: "Her body was in a mangled condition, she said 'my back is broken!' but nothing else. Her eyes were open and she was clearly in a great deal of pain." A Palestinian ambulance made it through Israeli forces, and took her to the hospital, where she died. Reports are unclear whether it was her fractured skull or the suffocation caused by crushed lungs and being buried in the dirt that caused her death.

George Bush has yet to condemn this atrocity by an "ally" who receives more US funding than any other nation on earth, over $10 million per day. Congress has yet to pass a resolution condemning this use of American tax money to kill an American citizen. The U.S. State Department has yet to impose any diplomatic sanctions whatsoever against a government whose "apology" for one of its soldiers crushing a young, peaceful American student has consisted of calling it "regrettable," and blaming Rachel for the Israeli soldier's decision to kill her.

The American media have yet to accord this horror the attention it would normally merit, if it had been done by any other country on earth, including the U.S. government. We heard about Chandra Levy for many months. We read about the students in Tiananman Square for years. We heard news reports about Rachel Corrie for approximately two days. Apart from her hometown Washington state newspapers, there were virtually no follow up stories ­ no stories about the memorial service held the next day in Gaza that was broken up by an Israeli tank, while the bulldozer that killed her drove slowly, exultantly past. No stories about Israeli forces blocking the ambulance carrying her remains from exiting Gaza. No stories about Rachel's grieving parents and siblings, about their inability to travel to Palestine. No stories.

<snip>
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/rachelcorrie/poster.html

[dutchdemocrat]

16. Rachel Corrie

Is my hero. And I am sorry if I offend anyone in saying this, but my rage over the spotlight on Jessica Lynch, her alleged rape, and her Iraqi tormentors has just escalated ten-fold. I feel sorry for Lynch but the fact that Corrie was figuratively buried in the media makes me ill, when all she was - is what we should all be.

A Hero.

[IndianaGreen]

15. Why don't we bulldoze Wolfowitz's home, with him and his family in it

and see how Gandhian he feels afterwards? What a moron! The IDF uses snipers to kill children for throwing rocks, and murders in cold blood international observers and peace activists.

What part of armed struggle for liberation does Wolfowitz not understand?

[laura888]

17. yes, let's see then how much he believes in being passive...

...when his house is being bull-dozed, isn't allowed to use the roads, and he can't see the sunset because of the new friggin' wall that's twice the height of the berlin wall.


he is a moron!