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Politics : Israel to U.S. : Now Deal with Syria and Iran -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (4313)	2/22/2004 11:27:55 AM
From: Crimson Ghost	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22250

Senator Kerry pledges undying loyalty to Zionism. Just in case anybody still is under the illusion that getting rid of Bush will usher in an era of peace in the Middle East The Cause of Israel is the Cause of America By Senator John Kerry Feb 22, 2004 Another President for the Israeli Occupation? Editors' Note: We offer this unfettered pledge of fealty to Israel by John Kerry as yet more evidence that there's scarcely a dime's worth of difference between the major political candidates of both parties on the life-and-death issues of our time. AC/JSC (Counterpunch, Feb 17, 2004). My first trip to Israel made real for me all I'd believed about Israel. I was allowed to fly an air force jet from the Ovda Airbase. It was then that Israeli insecurity about narrow borders became very real to me. In a matter of minutes, I came close to violating the airspace of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. From that moment on, I felt as Israelis do: The promise of peace must be secure before the Promised Land is secure on a thin margin of land. Back on the ground on that first trip, I toured the country from Kibbutz Mizgav Am to Masada to the Golan. I stood in the very shelter in a kibbutz in the north where children were attacked and I looked at launching sites and impact zones for Katousha rockets. I was enthralled by Tel Aviv, moved by Jerusalem and inspired by by standing above Capernaum, looking out over the Sea of Galilee, where I read aloud the Sermon on The Mount. I met people of stunning commitment, who honestly and vigorously debated the issues as I watched and listened intently. I went as a friend by conviction; I returned a friend at the deepest personal level. As the only true democracy in the Middle East, Israel has both the burden and the glory of a vigorous public square. We as Americans must be the truest and best kind of ally--forthright enough to say what we think--and steadfast enough to stay the course in hard passages as well as easy days. Herzl's famous words--"If you will it, it is no dream"--signify the promise and the greatest power of Israel--and the hope that a fair and secure peace can be achieved. We must be committed to support Israel in the exacting, essential search for that dream. I will never forget a moment on top of Masada, when I stood on that great plateau where the oath of new soldiers used to be sworn against the desert backdrop and the test of history. I had spent several hours with Yadin Roman debating whether or not Josephus Flavius was correct in his account of the siege--whether these really were the last Jews fighting for survival--whether they had escaped since no remains were ever found. After our journey through history--which we resolved with a vote in favor of history as recorded--we stood as a group at the end of the cliff and altogether we shouted across the chasm--across the desert--Am Yisrael Chai. And across the silence we listened as voices came back--faintly we heard the echo of the souls of those who perished--Am Yisrael Chai. The State of Israel lives. The people of Israel live. In this difficult time we must again reaffirm we are enlisted for the duration--and reaffirm our belief that the cause of Israel must be the cause of America--and the cause of people of conscience everywhere. John Kerry is a Massachusetts Senator and a Democratic Candidate for the Presidency of the United States. Article is originally appeared in the Brown Students for Israel publication "Perspectives: An Israel Review"

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (4313)	2/25/2004 2:07:04 PM
From: Thomas M.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22250

The Nazis had Auschwitz, the Zionists have Gaza: The Penal Colonies by Tanya Reinhart tau.ac.il

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (4313)	2/25/2004 2:18:04 PM
From: Thomas M.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22250

When Shimon Peres was the leader of Israel, his governments were among the most prolific thieves of West Bank land. So, this commentary is interesting: story.news.yahoo.com Peres: Israel Has No Claim to West Bank Tue Feb 24 By Barry Schweid, AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON - Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres (news - web sites), who won a Nobel Peace Prize for his role in turning over control of much of the West Bank to Yasser Arafat's Palestinians, said Monday that Israel has no moral claim to the land or to Gaza and must give up every inch of the territories. Peres, in a speech after meetings with Secretary of State Colin Powell and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, said "time is short" — no more than four months — for Israel to come to terms with Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia. "The opening is not for a long time," he said at a dinner sponsored by the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation, a dovish private group. While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has proposed a withdrawal from Gaza and part of the West Bank, Peres said the offer of his long-term political foe was inadequate and would only perpetuate conflict with the Palestinians. Israel must give up all of the land that it captured in the 1967 Middle East war, he said. "If you keep 10 percent of the land you keep 100 percent of the conflict," Peres said. His prescription for a pullback includes gradual withdrawal from the West Bank after Israel gives up all of Gaza to the Palestinians. "It is not a political decision, it is a moral decision," Peres said. He said Israel should provide the Palestinians with a state that is viable and contiguous. "I think Sharon is having a hard time making up his mind," Peres said. "It won't be simple. It won't be easy." If Israel does not follow through with a total withdrawal, "catastrophe is waiting in the corner," he said. Earlier, at a news conference in the doorway of the State Department, Peres flashed his long-standing optimism that the Palestinians wanted peace with Israel. Also, he said, "good news" was emerging all over the world, with Libya pledging to end its nuclear weapons program and Cyprus on a path to settle its 30-year division. But mostly, Peres was cheered by Sharon's partial pullback proposal while insisting it was far from enough to bring peace to Israel and the Palestinians. Peres was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, along with Arafat and then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, for the Oslo accords that gave the Palestinians wider control of their lives and of parts of the West Bank and Gaza. Six years later, the accord crumbled into the violence of a Palestinian uprising that targeted Israelis both in the territories and in Israeli itself and took the lives of hundreds of people on both side as Israel fought back fiercely. Peres became the focus of criticism as a symbol of a process many Israelis believe allowed the Palestinians to gain strength and weapons for their battle against the Jewish state. Still, now over 80, Peres continues to push for far-reaching Israeli concessions as a pathway to a Palestinian state that he and President Bush say can coexist peaceably with Israel. Even with peacemaking virtually nonexistent now, Peres said there is "a new reality in the Middle East and Sharon has to face it like everyone else." "We shouldn't be blind," he said of Israelis who remain skeptical of Israel giving up land and the Palestinians setting up a state on it. Most Palestinians want to live in peace with Israel, he said. But Palestinian leaders must decide "which camp they want to live in," the one of terror or the one of counter-terror. Three U.S. officials met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders last week in the Middle East and will report Friday to Powell and Saturday to Bush on their findings. The White House and State Department gave no public account of the talks or what the officials found in the region. Nor did they offer any account of Peres' meetings with Powell and Rice.

To: Elmer Flugum who wrote (4313)	2/25/2004 2:21:08 PM
From: Thomas M.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 22250

Meanwhile, back at Zio-Nazi headquarters: haaretzdaily.com Boim: Is Palestinian terror caused by a genetic defect? By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim, addressing the issue of why much of local, regional and world terrorism is directed by extremist Muslims, asked Tuesday, "What is it about Islam as a whole and the Palestinians in particular? Is it some form of cultural deprivation? Is it some genetic defect? There is something that defies explanation in this continued murderousness." Boim was speaking at a memorial ceremony for the victims of a bus attack on the Coastal Highway 26 years ago. MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) said in response that "whoever says that Palestinian behavior is caused by a genetic defect has a brain defect himself and the values of a racist fascist." "Boim is giving racism a bad name, and returning to the same kind of primitive, sickening and dangerous racism from which the Jews have suffered for many generations," Zahalka said, and demanded that the law against racism be enforced following Boim's statements. Meretz MK Avshalom Vilan also condemned Boim's statements and demanded he retract them, reminding the crowd that Boim used to be a high school principal. MK Ophir Pines-Paz (Labor) called for Boim's resignation if he does not apologize. MK Ahmed Tibi (Hadash) said he does not think Boim should resign because the deputy defense minister acts as valuable evidence for those who think the Israeli government embraces a group of fascists. Likud MK Yehiel Hazan supported Boim's statements. "What Ze'ev Boim said, it hasn't been researched, but according to my experience this is true. I think he is correct. It is well-known that Arabs have been slaughtering and murdering Jews for more than a generation," Hazan said. "I think this it is in their blood. It is something genetic. I have not researched this, but there is no other way to explain this," Hazan added. "Don't believe an Arab, even one who has been in the grave for 40 years." Meimad leader MK Rabbi Michael Melchior slammed the statements as racist and against the tenets of Judaism and likened them to claims of genetic flaws linked to Jews by the Nazis and others throughout history. "He is a member of the Israeli government. What he says spreads out across the world as if it is a statement issued by the Israeli government," Melchior said. "I don't think he should resign. I think he should apologize."