A group of former European heads of state and foreign ministers have sent a letter to Catherine Ashton advocating some important steps in the Israel-Palestine conflict, and included a surprisingly sharp rebuke of US policy. I report here for IPS.
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“How Can The Jews, Of All People, Do This?” Easily.
Posted in Jewish Community, Jewish State, tagged Abe Foxman, AIPAC, Anti-Semitism, Becket, Benjamin Netanyahu, David Duke, Gaza, Gilad Atzmon, human rights, Israel, Jewish State, Jews, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Middle east, Occupation, Palestine, Palestinians, Peter O'Toole, pro-Israel, Richard Burton, West Bank, Zionism on March 19, 2013 | 3 Comments »
“How can the Jews, of all people do this?”
The West Bank Separation wall, covered with graffiti
I hear this too often when discussing the dispossession and occupation of the Palestinian people. It’s a tiresome line. Sure, I understand that on the surface this seems a reasonable question. But one doesn’t have to look very far to see that it isn’t.
Oppression and suffering don’t necessarily lead to a greater sensitivity to these things. We see this on a personal level, as well as on a larger scale. The victim of child abuse may well grow up to become an abuser. The victim of sexual abuse may also react to such an experience by repeating it on someone else. Many such people do not repeat the cycle, but many do.
Similarly, some large groups of people face discrimination and then bring it to others. Puritans faced discrimination in Europe, came to “the New World” and visited worse upon the native population, on slaves, and as time went on, on various other ethnic groups. Power changed hands at different times in Eastern Europe, and discrimination against one group or another continued to flourish. Shi’a have faced great discrimination in the Muslim world, and this has not brought about an egalitarian government in Iran. Hutus were once the majority treated like a minority in Rwanda. The Nazis rose to prominence on the strength of wounded German pride after years of economic deprivation in the wake of the First World War. The examples are legion. (more…)
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