top
Palestine
Palestine
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

How can people celebrate ethnic cleansing?

by blahh
On April 17th 2002, UC Berkeley students gathered to celebrate Israeli Independence Day. While celebrations in Israeli itself this year were grim due to the increasing brutality of the war, Berkeley students were on the whole upbeat about the mass killings. While many signs said that "Israel wants Peace" it was clear by the anti-Palestinian rhetoric(calling Palestinians terrorists and praising Sharon’s actions) that this Peace would be that of an apartheid state over a conquered people.
israel1.jpg
Whatever one thinks about the events of 1948 and 1949, the death and destruction are hardly things that should be celebrated.

"As a consequence of the fighting in Palestine/Israel between 1947 and 1949, over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs became refugees"

"One Israeli military intelligence document indicates that at least 75 percent of the refugees left due to Zionist or Israeli military actions, psychological campaigns aimed at frightening Arabs into leaving, and direct expulsions. Only about 5 percent left on orders from Arab authorities. There are several well-documented cases of mass expulsions during and after the military operations of 1948-49 and massacres and atrocities that led to large-scale Arab flight. The best-known instance of mass expulsion is that of the 50,000 Arabs of the towns of Lydda and Ramle. The most infamous atrocity occurred at Deir Yasin, a village near Jerusalem, where estimates of the number of Arab residents killed in cold blood by Israeli fighters range from about 125 to over 250.
"

from
http://merip.org/palestine-israel_primer/pal-refugee-citizen-pal-is.html

Here is a map of Palestinan refugees worldwide from :
http://mondediplo.com/maps/refugeesdiasporapaldpl2000

Here is a map of Palestinain refugees in the Middle East:
http://mondediplo.com/maps/refugeespalestiniandpl2000
§Acknowledgement of mass transfers
by blah
ethnic_cleansing.jpg
While taking in refugees is usually a good thing, Israel's policy of taking in anyone who is Jewish is intended more as a way to guarantee a Jewish majority than to protect immigrants. The shear number of those being brought into Israel is a number the proIsraeli crowd celebrates but in any other country it would be seen as a form of ethnic cleansing (since its making up for a local population that was pushed out). It would be in many was comparable to apartheid South Africa having come up with a policy to take in millions of white immigrants to guarantee white rule.
§Doing the Ethnic Cleansing Shuffle
by blah
genocide_shuffle.jpg
§Wrapping oneself in the flag
by blah
wrappedinflag.jpg
After 9/11 the American people were told by the media that flying American flags was a way to show mourning for the deaths in New York. Quickly it became apparent that this was not the case and the patriotism was used to rally support for carpet bombing of Afghan civilians. ProIsrael groups in the US are doing the same with the Israeli flag. Flying the Israeli flag has nothing to do with being Jewish and opposing antisemitism and has everything to do with making Palestinians in the US feel unwelcome. For a Palestinian, seeing an Israeli flag on a US campus is a hate crime every bit as painful as it would be for a Jewish student to be forced to see others rallying with Nazi flags.
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
JA
Wed, Feb 12, 2003 9:49PM
x
Wed, Feb 12, 2003 9:01PM
C.Campbell
Wed, Feb 12, 2003 5:07PM
hahah
Wed, Feb 12, 2003 1:22AM
hahah
Wed, Feb 12, 2003 1:11AM
Somebody hasn't read up on
Wed, Feb 12, 2003 12:22AM
you are SO clueless
Tue, Feb 11, 2003 11:56PM
and
Tue, Feb 11, 2003 10:56PM
........
Tue, Feb 11, 2003 10:52PM
anti-semites?
Tue, Feb 11, 2003 9:56PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$260.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network