Human Rights and Jimmy Carter

04/19/2008

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Original text copyright by the author and MidEastWeb for Coexistence, RA. Posted at MidEastWeb Middle East Web Log at http://www.mideastweb.org/log/archives/00000688.htm where your intelligent and constructive comments are welcome. Distributed by MEW Newslist. Subscribe by e-mail to mew-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. Please forward by email with this notice and link to and cite this article. Other uses by permission.

by Moderator @ 11:05 AM CST [Link]

Replies: 3 comments

letter to tikkun magazine

Dear editor:

One of the most valid points in your article about Annapolis was that each side--Palestinians and Israelis--should teach history in their own schools the way their enemies would teach it. So as a first step toward peace, I, a Jewish American, part of the diaspora Jews, will do just that right here in your magazine.

But I will take it one step further: I will teach that mutual history the way it is seen--not by the Palestinians--but as it is seen by fellow Jews and Zionists like Benny Morris and Ami Isseroff. I suspect you are familiar with them although 99% of Americans are not because of the biased and bigoted US corporate media.

I would also include in that teaching, Professor Ian G. Lustik of the University of Pennsylvania. He is an expert on the subject of Israeli-Palestinian history. I think you are also familiar with him since you published one of his articles in your magazine.

Mr. Morris, a renowned Zionist historian, has documented how Zionist terrorists stole the land of the Palestinians between 1947 and 1949, committing at least 24 massacres such as the one at Deir Yassin with the purpose of ethnically cleansing the Palestinians, a necessary element in establishing a majority Jewish state.

Professor Lustik points out how the first secretary of state of Israel called this terrorism the smaller holocaust indirectly caused by the larger holocaust committed by Hitler. The secretary even mentioned taking some of the German-paid reparations to Israel and diverting them to the Palestinian victims of "The Tragedy" as the Palestinians refer to it.

I believe Professor Lustik will also concede that the Israeli government doesn't even want to allow the refugees caused by The Tragedy and later acts of Israeli terrorism and ethnic cleansing to return to the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, let alone the actual land that was stolen from them within the current borders of Israel.

Ami Isseroff, a Zionist for peace, gets into the nuts and bolts of one of the particular massacres committed by Zionist terrorists, the Irgun and the Stern Gang, at Deir Yassin. He explains how the terrorists shot and killed prisoners, women and children at close range. He also explains how the villagers of Deir Yassin had signed a peace treaty with the Zionists before they were attacked unmercifully.

Oh, and as part of our history lesson for peace I have another source that is not Palestinian or Arab: "The Surrogate Colonization of Palestine" by Scott Atran. Mr. Atran points out the cause behind the riots of the 1920s in which Palestinians killed Jews. Wealthy Zionists who purchased a small portion of the land later to become Israel, purchased the land from those who stole it from the Palestinians, the Ottoman landlords. Only the Ottomans allowed the Palestinians to continue to work the land and make a living without having "legal" ownership to it. After the Zionists purchased this land--bought fenced property--they proceeded to kick the Palestinians off of the land they had worked and lived on for generations. I presume these wealthy Zionist thieves had armed gangs to protect them so the displaced Palestinians took out their anger on less well-armed Jews who may have been illegally immigrating into Palestine.

And thus began the war that continues even now and extended itself into America on 911.

So how's that for our first history lesson for peace?

Posted by scottsoperson @ 04/25/2008 06:16 AM CST

Sadly, Jimmy Carter even during his administration did go against his image of Mr. Clean and did violate human rights. His actions also lead to the rise of Islamic Fundamentalism in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

His administration started the funding of fundamentalists in those countries as a counter to the Russians, leading us on the road to 9/11.

He put the US bases in the Phillipines as a higher priority than human rights in that country (yes he gave lip service but when it came down to it, he went for the advantage of keeping US bases there). He helped the Khmer Rouge keep its seat in the UN despite the knowledge of the mass killing that had gone on under their government.

He picked and chose where he would recognize human rights and where he would not. I'm sure there are more examples but these are some very blatant ones. If you do more reading, you will find more examples of his two-handed policy.

He was a disaster as a president. He has done good things since being out of office but frankly he should probably stay out of politics as his judgement is not the best. I'm sure he means well in his school-marmish self-righteous way but his main drive is his ego and to prove what a 'good' person he is.

Posted by Karen @ 05/04/2008 07:38 PM CST

Coming from a Buddhist perspective which is conducive to dialog, I fail to understand how "meeting" (read: conducting dialog) with "enemies" is counterproductive. I am also non-violent, but I can understand boycotting a country while maintaining diplomacy to improve a situation.

Psychologically, I do have some understanding of the effectiveness of ignoring your enemies. For instance, there have been many times when people have targeted me as a victim of their unacceptable behavior. I have noticed that the best way for this behavior to stop is to essentially ignore it, to not react to it (we're talking non-violent resistance). However, the efficiency of this approach is limited. This essentially staves off the behavior away from myself. Hardly does it tend to teach a lesson, as the perpetrator quickly finds alternative victims.

I do not see war or death as a solution by any means to any situation (except in a last resort of self-defence), for my perspective of death is not one shared by monotheistic schools. Death is not the termination-- the end of life. Rather it is the latency of life, like leaves on a tree during the winter-- not visible (latent), but having the capacity to return come spring (manifestation).

People die, but ideas don't. That's the problem with the US approach to our "idealogical wars". They can't kill the ideas of people by destroying them. Education is the only real solution. That means if we have to go and education foreign leaders on the folly of their policies, so be it.

If you are a silent witness, you are as guilty as the perpetrator of the crime.

Posted by wikibuddha @ 05/20/2008 09:31 PM CST

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