A New Vision in the Face of Apartheid and a Road Map Leading to Nowhere

[Classical_Liberal]

Personal note: I don't agree with all this authors ideas but this is a measure of a sea change in the Arab world.

A New Vision in the Face of Apartheid and a Road Map Leading to Nowhere

By Omar Edaibat

Al-Jazeerah, April 24, 2004



"Why should you not fight in the cause of GOD when weak men, women, and children are imploring: "Our Lord, deliver us from this community whose people are oppressive, and be You our Lord and Master."

In June 2002, the state of Israel unilaterally began construction of the “Separation Barrier”, a fortified structure of concrete walls and electric fences, ostensibly aimed at thwarting the infiltration of suicide bombers into Israel. Not only does this barrier cut deeply into the Palestinian occupied territories, but it is also accompanied by an obstructive military infrastructure of trenches, cameras, buffer zones, and military patrols, callously destroying and confiscating hundreds of thousands of acres of Palestinian land in the process.1 A hidden fact is that this wall is also meant to protect and annex illegal settlements in the West Bank.

It is well known that the Israeli government sponsored settlement programs are in direct violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. As the Secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative (PNI), Mustafa Barghouti, explains, “Through its settlement activities, Israel has sought to transform the West Bank into ethnically Israeli territory, in which Palestinian villages and towns are nothing more than isolated outposts.”2 Such a policy is shockingly reminiscent of the Bantustans of Apartheid South Africa. It is this very occupation .....

http://www.aljazeerah.info/Opinion%20editorials/2004%20opinions/April/24%20o/A%20New%20Vision%20in%20the%20Face%20of%20Apartheid%20and%20a%20Road%20Map%20Leading%20to%20Nowhere%20By%20Omar%20Edaibat.htm

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. what is really sad

is that many Jews have never visited a mosque, and many Muslims have never visited a synagog. And neither groups have visited a church. But when the Children of Abraham pray together, they find that they are worshipping the same God....what is really sad is that Arafat has denied Sufi shayhks the right to invite Jews to practice zikr.

May people find a way to bridge the walls that seperate them, and not listen to those whose path is one of anger, for that leads one astray.

[Gimel]

2. More blather from aljazeerah

Nothing but a rehash of the past two years. Included are several factual errors, as well as accusations that Israel caused the problem, not mentioning the attacks which have killed 673 Israeli civilians over the past three years.

[Classical_Liberal]

3. Well Israel did cause the problem because of the settlements policy

While it didn't mention deaths it specifically renounnced terror in favor of South African ANC tactics. The most important news in the story is the abandonment of the two state solution as a realistic goal.

[Gimel]

4. Hardly relevant

While the author and al Jazzerah may think so, the "abandonment of the two state solution as a realistic goal" has never been pursued beyond the media.

Claiming the settlement policy is the cause of the "Intifada" which attacked and killed primarily Israeli civilians with women and children the highest in the casualty lists, is not recognizing the aims of Hamas and IJ and kindred militant groups.

The fence/wall is a direct response to the Intifada.

[Classical_Liberal]

5. If it was caused by the intifada they would be building it on the green

line.

You will have to rephrase the second paragraph.

There are alot of things that originally weren't persued in the mainstream that have become mainstream over time.

[Gimel]

6. Cart before the horse?

So you say that "you will have to rephrase the second paragraph" because there are Israelis who would be subject to attack as they have lived on the other side of a cease-fire line of 56 years ago?

The PA (Arafat) claims his hands are clean concerning those horrid attacks. It's those nasty friends of his who have done all the dirty work.

Besides that many settlements outside the green line, which will not be included, the "land grab" cry is just to divert attention from the Palestinian aim of destroying Israel as a state. This "one-state solution" flap is another such attempt.

[Classical_Liberal]

7. The settlements shouldn't be included because they are illegal

and not built on israeli land. They should be repatriated in Israel. The Palestinians attacked 56 yrs ago because they were being ethnically cleansed, and not included in the new Israeli state. Even the advocate of transfer Benny Morris admits this.

[Gimel]

8. It is difficult to see that

The Palestinians don't want to be a part of a Jewish state. They also rejected statehood not because they weren't being included in the Israeli state, but because they objected to a Jewish state in any shape or form.

[Classical_Liberal]

9. Well since a Jewish state wouldn't give them voting rights

then there objection is understandable. A Jewish state would either transfer them or treat them like Southern Negroes under Jim Crow. The Palestinians can't be apart of a Jewish state because they aren't jews. It is that simple. They have not rejected statehood. They have only rejected the Bantustan they have been offered which takes land their state would be build on and gives it to settlers, much more is taken to protect the settlers .

[Muddleoftheroad]

10. What makes you say that

The Jewish state gives Arabs voting rights now.

[Gimel]

11. Absolutely

They have voting rights and rights of equal citizenship. The fact that those rights aren't perfectly implemented is not a good enough excuse to destroy it.

A Jewish majority is what is meant by a Jewish state, a state with a "Jewish character", where Jews are not given second-class status, as they are in every other country of the world.

[Classical_Liberal]

13. That is why the ethnically cleansed the majority of arabs

we know this. The majority of Arabs couldn't be part of a jewish state. That is just a fact. If they could than the right of return wouldn't be an issue.

[Classical_Liberal]

12. Only those not ethnically cleansed in 1948

If those people could be part of an israelis state the right of return wouldn't be an issue.

Some non whites had voting rights under aparthied.

10 percent of Alabama blacks managed to vote under Jim Crow. Didn't indicate Blacks were in anyway equal.

[Name removed]

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