Those are the chances for a just and equitable settlement
of the Palestinian/Israeli conflict anytime soon, or per-
haps ever. Why? The evil axis (U.S.-Israel) doesn't
want a settlement. They just want to keep chipping away
at Palestinian land and people until there's nothing left.
But evil? Yes, we've aided and abetted in these crimes to
the tune of more than $100 billion over the years. That's
money from our taxpayers' pockets that could have gone
to our crumbling infrastructure or universal health care.
Here's Juan Cole (www.juancole.com/) 6/12/2010:
"'Gaza' is an abstraction to most Israelis, including [parti-
sans of Israel like] Sen. Charles Schumer of New York.
A majority of the 1.5 million Gazans is not even from
Gaza. but rather is from what is now Israel. Americans
do not know, and perhaps do not care, that 68% of Ga-
zans are refugees living in 8 refugee camps, who
were ethnically cleansed and violently expelled
from their homes in 1947-48, in what is now
Israel. And no, they were not combatants, just civil-
ians caught up in a civil war of sorts. They lost massive
amounts of property and their homes, which would now
be worth billions, but never received a dime from the
Israelis in reparations or compensation. Then in winter
of 2008-2009, the Israeli military (with our weapons
and help) destroyed one in every eight Palestinian
homes, rendering even more people homeless."
Here's Noam Chomsky: "The most significant acts to
undermine a peaceful settlement are the daily US-backed
actions in the occupied territories, all recognized to be
criminal: taking over valuable land and resources and
constructing what the leading architect of the plan, Ariel
Sharon, called 'Bantustans' for Palestinians -- an unfair
comparison because the Bantustans were far more viable
than the fragments left to Palestinians under Sharon's
conception, now being realized. But the US and Israel
even continue to oppose a political settlement in words,
most recently in December 2008, when the US and
Israel (and a few Pacific islands controlled by the US)
vote against a UN resolution supporting 'the right of the
Palestinian people to self-determination' (passed 173 to
5, US-Israel opposed, with evasive pretexts).
The Israeli party line is that anyone and everyone who
criticizes their behaviour "hates Jews," so should be ig-
nored. And any Jew (like Chomsky) critical of Israel is
a "self-hating Jew," so everything they say is false.
Actually, according to polls in the Israeli press, around
40% or so of Israelis disapprove of what their govern-
ment has done or is doing to the Palestinians. One of
them, who was born and educated there, and is now a
history prof. in the U. K. has written: "When the Zionist
movement started its ethnic cleansing operations in
Palestine, in early Dec. 1947, the country had a "mixed"
population of Palestinians and Jews. The indigenous
Palestinians made up the two thirds majority, down from
90% at the start of the (Br.) Mandate (in 1919)" (From
Ilan Pappe: The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.) He
went on to write: "The ethnic cleansing included the
destruction of more than 400 villages, 11 towns and the
expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians. The Israeli state, as
a political entity, has to acknowledge the ethnic cleans-
ing. Until today it has failed to do so, and it should be
made accountable for its deeds and offer compensation
for the people it wronged."
In a recent interview, after discussing the racial discrimi-
nation and segregation experienced daily by Arabs living
in Israel proper, Pappe went on to say: "The situation
in the occupied territories is far worse. House demoli-
tions, expulsions, killings, torturing, land confiscation
and daily harassment at will of the population has been
going on from the first day of the occupation in 1967: it
did not start because of suicide bombs which appeared
for the first time in 1995 as a very belated response for
more than 25 years of occupation." (For the rest of this
last quote, Google Ilan Pappe and look for "A Conver-
sation With Ilan Pappe.)
Here's what some people have written about Pappe's
book: "Ilan Pappe has written an extraordinary book
of profound relevance to the past, present, and future
of Israel/Palestine relations."
--- Richard Falk, Prof. of Int'l Law and Practice,
Princeton University
"This is an extraordinary book -- a dazzling feat of
scholarly synthesis and Biblical moral clarity and
humaneness." -- Walid Khalidi, Former Senior
Research Fellow, Center for Middle Eastern
Studies, Harvard University
"An instant classic. Finally we have the authorita-
tive account of an historic event, which continues to
shape our world today, and drives the conflict in the
Middle East. Pappe is the only historian who could
have told it, and he has done so with supreme com-
mand of the facts, elegance, and compassion. The
publication of this book is a landmark event."
---Karma Nabulsi, research fellow at Nuffield
College, Oxford University
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
Saturday, June 12, 2010
DEAD IN THE WATER
That's the Obama presidency. Whether you are
talking about Afghanistan, or the oil leak, or the
economy. As Bob Herbert observed today in a
NYT op. ed.: "Far more concern is being expressed
for the wildlife threatened by the oil gushing into
the Gulf of Mexico than for the G. I.s being blown
up in the wilds of Afghanistan." He went on to say:
"Ultimately the public is at fault for this catastro-
phe in Afghanistan, where more than 1,000 G. I.s
have now lost their lives."
We're at fault because we are allowing it to continue,
like a losing poker player who keeps raising his bets
and piling in his chips, hoping to bluff his opponent
into folding. The opponent knows we'll run out of
chips before he does: after all, he is holding the best
cards! He lives there and belongs there. We don't.
He is the right religion, we aren't (for that part of the
world.) He speaks the language and understands the
culture. We don't. It's true that the Taliban is hated
by many (if not most) Afghanis, but so are we. He
isn't wiping out wedding parties and funeral crowds
with mistaken drones, or breaking down doors of
people's homes in the middle of the night and dragging
young men out to be imprisoned at Bagram. We are.
President Karzai has read the writing on the wall. He
is quoted in today's NYT as saying he doubts that the
Taliban can be defeated. He should know. He's a
Pashtun, like most, if not all of the Taliban. His half-
bro Walid is a wealthy warlord in Kandihar, the heart
of Taliban country. Wally, who is on our CIA's payroll,
obviously thrives in close association, if not cahoots
with, the Taliban.
Our forces recently captured (and destroyed much of)
Marja, a Pashtun town in Taliban country. We then
brought in government administrators from Kabul
who are Tajiks, from northern Afg. They don't speak
Pashto. (There is no Afg. language.) The Pashtuns
and Tajiks have been enemies from time immemorial.
Tajiks and Uzbeks control the new Afghan. army we
are training, so it doesn't attract many Pashtuns, who
may enroll for the signing bonus and then go AWOL
and sell their rifle to the Taliban! The few who stay
complain of discrimination by the Tajiks. Whose
orders do you suppose the Pashtun soldiers will follow?
One of many major mistakes we made in Viet Nam
was underestimating the determination of that people
to resist at any cost domination by a foreign power,
whether us, the French, or the Chinese. We are re-
peating that mistake in Afgh. The Pashtuns are 40
million strong (more living in Pak. than Afgh.) and
have never been conquored by anyone (Including
Alex. the Gr., the Brits (twice), the Soviets, and
Karzai doesn't believe we have the will or the wit to do
the job either. I'm afraid he may be right. We aren't
making any progress. We may be dead in the water.
(By the way, I've dealt with the ethnic divisions in
Afgh. in earlier blogs. If you need more, I suggest that
you Google them.)
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
talking about Afghanistan, or the oil leak, or the
economy. As Bob Herbert observed today in a
NYT op. ed.: "Far more concern is being expressed
for the wildlife threatened by the oil gushing into
the Gulf of Mexico than for the G. I.s being blown
up in the wilds of Afghanistan." He went on to say:
"Ultimately the public is at fault for this catastro-
phe in Afghanistan, where more than 1,000 G. I.s
have now lost their lives."
We're at fault because we are allowing it to continue,
like a losing poker player who keeps raising his bets
and piling in his chips, hoping to bluff his opponent
into folding. The opponent knows we'll run out of
chips before he does: after all, he is holding the best
cards! He lives there and belongs there. We don't.
He is the right religion, we aren't (for that part of the
world.) He speaks the language and understands the
culture. We don't. It's true that the Taliban is hated
by many (if not most) Afghanis, but so are we. He
isn't wiping out wedding parties and funeral crowds
with mistaken drones, or breaking down doors of
people's homes in the middle of the night and dragging
young men out to be imprisoned at Bagram. We are.
President Karzai has read the writing on the wall. He
is quoted in today's NYT as saying he doubts that the
Taliban can be defeated. He should know. He's a
Pashtun, like most, if not all of the Taliban. His half-
bro Walid is a wealthy warlord in Kandihar, the heart
of Taliban country. Wally, who is on our CIA's payroll,
obviously thrives in close association, if not cahoots
with, the Taliban.
Our forces recently captured (and destroyed much of)
Marja, a Pashtun town in Taliban country. We then
brought in government administrators from Kabul
who are Tajiks, from northern Afg. They don't speak
Pashto. (There is no Afg. language.) The Pashtuns
and Tajiks have been enemies from time immemorial.
Tajiks and Uzbeks control the new Afghan. army we
are training, so it doesn't attract many Pashtuns, who
may enroll for the signing bonus and then go AWOL
and sell their rifle to the Taliban! The few who stay
complain of discrimination by the Tajiks. Whose
orders do you suppose the Pashtun soldiers will follow?
One of many major mistakes we made in Viet Nam
was underestimating the determination of that people
to resist at any cost domination by a foreign power,
whether us, the French, or the Chinese. We are re-
peating that mistake in Afgh. The Pashtuns are 40
million strong (more living in Pak. than Afgh.) and
have never been conquored by anyone (Including
Alex. the Gr., the Brits (twice), the Soviets, and
Karzai doesn't believe we have the will or the wit to do
the job either. I'm afraid he may be right. We aren't
making any progress. We may be dead in the water.
(By the way, I've dealt with the ethnic divisions in
Afgh. in earlier blogs. If you need more, I suggest that
you Google them.)
jgoodwin004@centurytel.net
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