|
Pulse of the Twin Cities Login |
|
If you do not have an account yet
Create One.
|
|
|
Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
|
|
|
|
Jimmy Carter (and others) face criticism for airing plight of the Palestinians
Wednesday 24 January @ 15:19:21 |
 by POLLY MANN
The reaction to Jimmy Carter’s book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” must be quite an eye-opener to those people who have not been involved in discussions or actions around the conflict in the Middle East.
 Who cared what his ideas were about the conflict in the Middle East as long as he didn’t express them? Somewhere there’s supposed to be an inherent right of U.S. citizens to freedom of expression. OK? I think most of us would assume that this freedom of expression means that you’re not penalized for “speaking your mind.” But that’s not always true. Take the ex-President for example.
Fourteen members of an advisory board to Jimmy Carter’s human rights organizations have resigned in a protest against his new book that is critical of Israel. [Publisher’s note: But, as Alexander Cockburn points out in this week’s Nation: “Actually there were, at the time of the resignations, 224 people on this board, where membership is mostly a thank you for a financial donation to the center. So the headlines could be saying, ‘Nearly 95 percent of Carter Center Board Members Back Former President.’”–Ed Felien, Pulse Editor/Publisher.] They claimed it was unfairly critical. And even claiming “unfair” requires analysis. Who claims unfair and on what basis? The departing members claimed, “You have clearly abandoned your historic role of broker in favor of becoming an advocate for one side.”
That side, of course, is that of the Palestinians. I doubt if there’s anywhere in this country—any backwater hamlet—any island off the coast of Maine—anywhere—that you can make any statement supporting equal treatment and justice for Palestinians without being told off and the “telling off” isn’t always “on point” and very often is personally vindictive.
For example, recently the widely-read and highly-respected Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz ran an article regarding the killing of 19 Palestinians by the Israeli military saying, “No excuse can justify this atrocity ... None of Israel’s responses to this catastrophe ... can paper over Israel’s sole responsibility for this fearsome and senseless killing.” Because this kind of news seldom, if ever, makes the mainstream corporate press, I wrote a letter, quoting Ha’aretz, to the St. Paul Villager, who published it. Wouldn’t you know that a reader responded claiming that I had done terrible damage by distorting the root cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict which he claimed is: “the adamant refusal of Arabs to live side by side at peace with Jews and other non-Muslims.” My letter said no such thing, made no reference whatsoever to the cause of the conflict. Whole books are written on the subject. There’s no way I’d address this issue, though I do have an opinion. Of course. The writer also accused me of being hostile to the state of Israel without providing any evidence of that.
But I actually don’t have any real cause of complaint compared to what has befallen others. Jobs have been lost; jobs have been threatened; visas have been denied; lectures canceled, on and on, due to the vilification of people supporting justice for Palestinians. Just recently, it appears that a scheduled lecture by Joel Beinin, a tenured Middle East history professor on leave from Stanford while he serves as the head of Middle East Studies at the American University in Cairo, was canceled owing to pressure from a group of parents and an outside advocacy organization. To learn more about this go to www.muzzlewatch.org.
The plight of the Palestinians grows ever worse. (There I’ve said it, and if somebody wants to make something out of that, so be it.) According to the Guardian Weekly of Jan. 5-11, 2007, Israeli forces killed 660 Palestinians in 2006, well over three times as many as the year before, an Israeli human rights group reported. B’Tselem, an independent body that monitors Israeli actions in the Israeli illegally occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, said at least 322 of the dead Palestinians were not taking part in hostilities when they were killed.
When and if peace comes, the Israeli organizations that work consistently and compassionately for peace will have had a big hand in it. A few of the organizations are: Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace founded by the eminent Israeli peacemaker Uri Avnery; Machsom Watch, a human rights Israeli women’s organization working to “ensure that the human and civil rights of Palestinians who attempt to enter Israel are protected;” Rabbis for Human Rights; Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions which strives to prevent the Israeli military’s demolition of Palestinian homes; Women in Black, Israeli women who demonstrate weekly against the illegal Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories; Breaking the Silence, former Israeli soldiers speak out; Peace Now; and Gush Shalom, the Israeli Peace Bloc.
I really should telephone Jimmy Carter and see how he’s getting along these days.
A Middle East Committee I serve on would be interested in having him come talk about his book. He might even sell a few copies. I’m not too sure how he’d be received at the local colleges or universities. He has said that he’s not getting invited. ||
|
|
 |
|
|
Comments -
Post Comment |
|
The comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for its content.
NO comments yet! Be the first!
|
|
|
