Flashpoints July 24-26: Gaza bombing; Jenin report; more

The Meaning of the Gaza Bombing: by Rabbi Arthur Waskow, "Why did the Sharon government not explore the possibility of a cease-fire? Why did it choose this very moment to kiill a Hamas leader, when the possibility existed of ending the terrorist bombings that have cost so many Israeli lives, so deeply damaged the Israeli economy, and been the target of so many Israeli demands that Palestinians abandon this disgusting, vile, and immoral practice?" (full essay)

Friday, July 26, 2002 - Start Audio
-00:00 Dennis Bernstein: introduction
-01:00 Dennis: the US UN ambassador said that the US would block all resolutions scolding Israel for killing civilians, no matter how many they killed, by whatever means, for any reason, or none at all, at any time, now or in the future.. now w Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies.. Phyllis: this is not new or different.. Negroponte says all future resolutions must criticize Palestinian violence as well.. a benchmark that has to be met by any resolution.. in 1993 Albright went to the Security Council.. demanded past resolutions erased.. no condemnation of Israel is to be allowed.. Dennis: if tomorrow Israel wants to drop five 2,000 pound bombs on Gaza and kill 100 children, OK with the US.. Phyllis: no mention of the occupation, no mention of Israel's duty to protect civilians, no mention of US complicity in violation of the Arms Export Control Act.. groups around the country demanding the US Government Accounting Office investigate the violations of AECA.. the US protecting itself as well as Israel with this move.. if people interested in this issue.. go to End The Occupation and demand the GAO investigate.. this is a clear violation of a host of international laws.. the International Criminal Court could launch an investigation, if Israel does not.. Phyllis' new book, Before and After, How Washington Dominates the UN.. more news: Palestinian phoenix rising and correction: 12 children died and Palestinians vow to copy Israel tactics
-10:00 Dennis: now w Chivvas Moore, teacher at Birzeit University, activist with the International Solidarity Movement.. Chivvas: in Jenin, the journalists have gone, 4,000 people rendered homeless.. some placed in bare apartments in the town of Jenin.. the smell of death still in the camp.. the army still comes in, with tanks, with heliocopters.. Jenin is a disaster.. now the attention of the media no longer.. the infrastructure is gone.. no clinics, no schools, no water, no utilities.. the Pals were trying to fix things as they could.. people still in a state of shock.. many people still missing.. 1000's of people rotting in jail, in illegal settlements.. no notification by Israel.. NGO's working as best they can.. the IRC does not make names public.. Dennis: the impact on the young, on their health, repressing the spirit.. Birzeit University was great, international flavor, supported by Europe.. Chivvas: before they shut us down, I'd taught for five years.. students unable to come to classes because they are locked in.. first my students from Gaza, two years ago.. Gaza basically a large prison camp.. if students were in the West Bank, they couldn't return home.. I could go to Gaza to teach, not many other teachers could do that.. I did that for a year.. but then the students had to be dropped.. I've lost all my students from Nablus.. bombarded by Apache homicide heliocopters.. the roads blocked, people shot if they try to pass.. all cities in the West Bank like little prison camps.. this has a disasterous effect on education.. the students try and try to get to school.. they are shot at.. crawling over barbed wire.. now the closure so tight that no one can get through.. I'm here in the bay area, to start a worldwide effort to reopen Birzeit.. asking everyone put pressure on their government.. our website to develop off the Birzeit University website.. please stay tuned
-21:27 Dennis: about Ariel Sharon's role in the 1982 massacre of Palestinian civilians at the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatilla.. interview with the lead attorney in the case, Chibli Mallat, from Lebanon (link2) (link3).. Mr. Mallat: a horrendous non-stop massacre.. killing with axes, shooting children against walls.. the Israeli army was there surrounding the camp, preventing people from getting out.. Mallat: we found his order to get the Phalangists to enter Sabra and Chatila.. his armies encircled the camps.. allowed the Phalangists to enter.. this crime was never prosecuted.. (long discussion of the strong case against Sharon).. Robert Fisk discovered more victims taken away to a sports stadium, in the custody of the Israeli army.. and were disappeared.. a large scale massacre, under international law, a crime against humanity.. Dennis: were there Israeli soldiers inside the camp?.. Mr. Mallat: (that they wouldn't have entered) defies common sense.. these camps were the nemesis of the Israelis.. the surviving victims saw Israelis inside the camp.. with loudspeakers, telling people of certain ages.. testimony and evidence.. more info: www.IndictSharon.net (other victims) (nurse Ellen Seagal's report) (BBC documentary)
-36:40 Dennis: you rarely if ever hear on mainstream media, the history of Ariel Sharon.. this is the Pacifica pledgebreak..
-58:40 End today's show. today's review by john lionheart

introduction to Robert Fisk speech June 20.. about the many death threats Dennis has received for his work on Flashpoints

Global blowback over attack by US made, Israeli F16.. UN to debate Israeli aggression tomorrow, US to stonewall for Israel.. Sharon defends himself, with the cowardly feeble lie that he didn't know there were any civilians living in Gaza.. the killing of Hamas leaders approved by Israeli cabinet.. US the main enabler for Israeli aggression.. 8 Apache homicide helicopters, 24 Blackhawks.. Robert: US the hand that cradles the rocket.

two death penalty advocates meet with Jeb Bush.. now with SueZann Bosler, daughter of Rev Billy Bosler, who was murdered before her eyes.. SueZann: my father was a minister.. in 1986.. we always had people coming to our house for help.. a man came in with a knife.. I saw my father being stabbed.. I was stabbed in the back.. stabbed my father again.. stabbed me in the head a couple times, I fell down, pretended I was dead.. the man finally left, I went to the phone.. I wanted to hold my dad.. I passed out.. Leslie: your father died, you were in the hospital for a month.. SueZann: when they caught the man, I thought of my father.. twas 10 and 1/2 years in the trial phase.. I begged to get up and state my opinion (to spare the man's life).. but the state had no use for my opinion at all.. I had to hire a lawyer.. the state did not explain my victim's rights.. the judge told me that if I said anything about the death penalty he would put me in jail for six months.. I would see people on TV saying they wanted the death penalty for a killer of a relative, but I had to risk jail to say I didn't want it.. execution would not bring back my dad.. DON'T KILL IN MY NAME.. violence perpetuates violence.. Leslie: you met with Jeb Bush?. SueZann: he said I am furious about delays in executions.. he thinks I would be happier.. he is wrong.. I told him, do not speak in my name.. there are hundreds of us out there.. do not use my victims pain for your political gain.. for more information see: Journey of Hope and Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.
-28:00 Leslie: now with Michael L. Radelet, professor of sociology, expert on the death penalty, author of six books, including In Spite Of Innocence.. Michael: Jeb Bush is not the only politician using families of homicide victims for political gain.. $500,000,000 dollars to spend to help homicide victims.. in Florida 22 people sentenced to death, had to be released.. about racial bias, Jeb appointed a right wing panel.. Sue: about the religious aspect of the death penalty.. it doesn't make sense to me for a supposedly religious person to be in favor of the death penalty.. Michael: about DNA evidence.. allows us to see a whole range of judicial error.. many people vindicated.. how erroneous convictions occur.. at a rate higher that imagined in the past.. Sue: 23,000 signatures presented to him for a moratorium.. but he may get beat by Janet Reno.. Leslie: revenge a natural human emotion?.. Sue: if they had given my father's killer life imprisonment in the beginning, I wouldnt' had to spend eight agonizing years.. hate begets hate.. more info: Murder Victims' Family for Reconcilliation