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A Jewish UK Labour Member Of Parliament's view of Gaza
I have sadly come to the conclusion that, given the scale of the atrocities and collective punishment waged by the Israelis against the Palestinians, I have no choice but to boycott Israeli products. On reflection, whether Jewish or not, you might decide to do the same.
ISRAEL CAN STOP THIS NOW
By Oona King in Gaza
Thursday June 12, 2003
The Guardian
The no man's land separating Israel from the Gaza Strip gives way to what can only be described as desecrated land. Razor wire and crushed buildings line the route. Torn slabs of concrete look like tattered cardboard on a rubbish heap. In front of us two Israeli tanks block our path. Behind us, the border will shortly be sealed to prevent Palestinian reprisals for the helicopter attack launched hours earlier against the extremist Hamas leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Rantissi - who is still alive. A Palestinian woman and her young child, on their way to hospital, are dead, and 35 are injured.
Later that afternoon we hurriedly leave the building we are in when a missile lands nearby. As two British MPs travelling with Christian Aid, myself and Jenny Tonge are alarmed. For Gaza residents this is business as usual. More than 1 million Palestinians live on this tiny piece of land (smaller than the Isle of Wight) - more than three-quarters of on less than £1.30 a day. Life below the poverty line for these Palestinians contrasts with the 5,000 Israeli settlers who occupy one-third of the land and enjoy watered gardens, first world housing and protection by the Israeli army. This protection means Palestinians wait for hours - sometimes days - at Israeli checkpoints, trying to find work or get access to essential services such as medical care.
The sun is setting on Gaza. From my hotel balcony I hear demonstrations in the street below. It occurs to me that I can put on a headscarf and slip into the crowd as a Palestinian. No one will guess I'm Jewish, still less that I'm a British MP. The sounds lead me to the hospital where Rantissi is being treated. Cars rush into the compound, horns blaring, people hanging out of windows. A man carries an injured girl into the hospital. But most of the Palestinians just stand waiting. They wait for Israelis to stamp their permits, and they wait for a Palestinian state. They are no different from us: deny them human rights and they will respond with unacceptable terrorist violence.
That's what Jews did when they set up the Stern Gang and blew up the King David Hotel in the 1940s. Ninety-four people died. The leader of that terrorist group, on Britain's "most wanted" list, went on to be the Israeli prime minister. Many Jews revere him, even while they abhor the terrorism that ruins their lives today. Israelis must be freed from terrorism - such as yesterday's horrific attack in Jersualem. All terrorism, not least Palestinian terrorism, is abhorrent. But it is also predictable. When the Israeli government chose Tuesday to launch an attack in Gaza (as it did again after yesterday's bombing), it cannot have been ignorant of its effect on the peace process and the certainty of Palestinian reprisals.
The original founders of the Jewish state could surely not imagine the irony facing Israel today: in escaping the ashes of the Holocaust, they have incarcerated another people in a hell similar in its nature - though not its extent - to the Warsaw ghetto.
Any visitor to the Palestinian ghetto can see the signs: residents are sealed off and live under curfew; the authorities view torture as acceptable and use collective punishment as a means of control; soldiers drive families from their homes, confiscate property and demolish neighbourhoods; unemployment runs in places at 80%, and utilities such as water are withheld; the economy has "client" status, and is subservient to the occupiers in every way.
As the more powerful side in the dispute, Israel must break the cycle of violence, comply with UN resolution 242 and withdraw from territories occupied in 1967. As the occupying power, Israel must uphold the fourth Geneva convention and end all collective punishments. Illegal settlements must be dismantled. Repair of water, sewage, and other essential infrastructure should take place immediately.
Just under 80% of all water resources in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are redirected from Palestinians to Israelis. The international community has to recognise the scale of the humanitarian disaster facing Palestinians and George Bush must put greater pressure on Sharon to give meaning to the road map. Yes, there are two sides to every story. But no story should hold within it the horrors I have witnessed here, so similar in detail to humiliations suffered by the Jews.
I have sadly come to the conclusion that, given the scale of the atrocities and collective punishment waged by the Israelis against the Palestinians, I have no choice but to boycott Israeli products. On reflection, whether Jewish or not, you might decide to do the same.
Oona King is Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow
miahr [at] parliament.uk
By Oona King in Gaza
Thursday June 12, 2003
The Guardian
The no man's land separating Israel from the Gaza Strip gives way to what can only be described as desecrated land. Razor wire and crushed buildings line the route. Torn slabs of concrete look like tattered cardboard on a rubbish heap. In front of us two Israeli tanks block our path. Behind us, the border will shortly be sealed to prevent Palestinian reprisals for the helicopter attack launched hours earlier against the extremist Hamas leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Rantissi - who is still alive. A Palestinian woman and her young child, on their way to hospital, are dead, and 35 are injured.
Later that afternoon we hurriedly leave the building we are in when a missile lands nearby. As two British MPs travelling with Christian Aid, myself and Jenny Tonge are alarmed. For Gaza residents this is business as usual. More than 1 million Palestinians live on this tiny piece of land (smaller than the Isle of Wight) - more than three-quarters of on less than £1.30 a day. Life below the poverty line for these Palestinians contrasts with the 5,000 Israeli settlers who occupy one-third of the land and enjoy watered gardens, first world housing and protection by the Israeli army. This protection means Palestinians wait for hours - sometimes days - at Israeli checkpoints, trying to find work or get access to essential services such as medical care.
The sun is setting on Gaza. From my hotel balcony I hear demonstrations in the street below. It occurs to me that I can put on a headscarf and slip into the crowd as a Palestinian. No one will guess I'm Jewish, still less that I'm a British MP. The sounds lead me to the hospital where Rantissi is being treated. Cars rush into the compound, horns blaring, people hanging out of windows. A man carries an injured girl into the hospital. But most of the Palestinians just stand waiting. They wait for Israelis to stamp their permits, and they wait for a Palestinian state. They are no different from us: deny them human rights and they will respond with unacceptable terrorist violence.
That's what Jews did when they set up the Stern Gang and blew up the King David Hotel in the 1940s. Ninety-four people died. The leader of that terrorist group, on Britain's "most wanted" list, went on to be the Israeli prime minister. Many Jews revere him, even while they abhor the terrorism that ruins their lives today. Israelis must be freed from terrorism - such as yesterday's horrific attack in Jersualem. All terrorism, not least Palestinian terrorism, is abhorrent. But it is also predictable. When the Israeli government chose Tuesday to launch an attack in Gaza (as it did again after yesterday's bombing), it cannot have been ignorant of its effect on the peace process and the certainty of Palestinian reprisals.
The original founders of the Jewish state could surely not imagine the irony facing Israel today: in escaping the ashes of the Holocaust, they have incarcerated another people in a hell similar in its nature - though not its extent - to the Warsaw ghetto.
Any visitor to the Palestinian ghetto can see the signs: residents are sealed off and live under curfew; the authorities view torture as acceptable and use collective punishment as a means of control; soldiers drive families from their homes, confiscate property and demolish neighbourhoods; unemployment runs in places at 80%, and utilities such as water are withheld; the economy has "client" status, and is subservient to the occupiers in every way.
As the more powerful side in the dispute, Israel must break the cycle of violence, comply with UN resolution 242 and withdraw from territories occupied in 1967. As the occupying power, Israel must uphold the fourth Geneva convention and end all collective punishments. Illegal settlements must be dismantled. Repair of water, sewage, and other essential infrastructure should take place immediately.
Just under 80% of all water resources in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are redirected from Palestinians to Israelis. The international community has to recognise the scale of the humanitarian disaster facing Palestinians and George Bush must put greater pressure on Sharon to give meaning to the road map. Yes, there are two sides to every story. But no story should hold within it the horrors I have witnessed here, so similar in detail to humiliations suffered by the Jews.
I have sadly come to the conclusion that, given the scale of the atrocities and collective punishment waged by the Israelis against the Palestinians, I have no choice but to boycott Israeli products. On reflection, whether Jewish or not, you might decide to do the same.
Oona King is Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow
miahr [at] parliament.uk
For more information:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,...
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Antisemitic nonsense. Boycotting the only democracy ever in the Middle East, is the action of a brainwashed idiot.
There is nothing in the article above that's "anti-semitic".
Since when did the truth fall under that much loved phrase some of you throw out at anyone who dare to depict your beloved terrorirst state in a manner you disapprove of?
There would be no need for your attempt to character assassinate the above author or anyone else if Israel were not commiting the atrocities it has been for the past 50 plus years, and then blatantly lying about it, or blaming it on someone else.
Sadly you choose to ignore this. Wilful blindness, perhaps? Or just brainwashed? Either way the result is the same.
Or, gasp, are you asking us to believe that the Palestinian peoples are erecting those razor sharp wire fences, digging trenches, stealing Palestinian lands in the Territories, demolishing houses, destroying their own olive and orange grooves, killing their own people?
Oh, and the phrase "democracy", as it applies here, should be defined. Want to do it?
Since when did the truth fall under that much loved phrase some of you throw out at anyone who dare to depict your beloved terrorirst state in a manner you disapprove of?
There would be no need for your attempt to character assassinate the above author or anyone else if Israel were not commiting the atrocities it has been for the past 50 plus years, and then blatantly lying about it, or blaming it on someone else.
Sadly you choose to ignore this. Wilful blindness, perhaps? Or just brainwashed? Either way the result is the same.
Or, gasp, are you asking us to believe that the Palestinian peoples are erecting those razor sharp wire fences, digging trenches, stealing Palestinian lands in the Territories, demolishing houses, destroying their own olive and orange grooves, killing their own people?
Oh, and the phrase "democracy", as it applies here, should be defined. Want to do it?
Three cheers for MP Oona King!!!! I just hope this wasn't lipservice. George W.Bush should go over and do the very same thing as King. It would be good to have boy George go over without a seconds' notice to his pal Ariel . After all was said and done, maybe boy George would become a man and act like a leader instead of the pawn he is.
Ann Sinclair, you must be a disciple of Gehrig. You have the same mentality . You might make Gehrig a good wife. Perhaps....................
Ann Sinclair, you must be a disciple of Gehrig. You have the same mentality . You might make Gehrig a good wife. Perhaps....................
"Or, gasp, are you asking us to believe that the Palestinian peoples are erecting those razor sharp wire fences, digging trenches, stealing Palestinian lands in the Territories, demolishing houses, destroying their own olive and orange grooves, killing their own people? "
Well they do kill their own people, it's kind of central to a suicide attack...
Criticism of Israel is not inherently antisemitic, but much of the reasoning behind choosing to highlight it above any other contemporary politicial issue is.
The current (and some previous ones) Israeli government behaves dreadfully, only a bigot could conclude otherwise, but its behaviour is little worse than how Jordan has treated refugees and how the wider population of the Middle East have to endure terrible regimes. The issue is why choose to highlight Israel above any other nation - antisemitism, anti-Americanism? Where are the placards at the 'Stop the War' march about any of the world's awful regimes? Only "Free Palestine" seems to be exclaimed. It is this obsession with Israel that makes one conclude there must be other factors, antisemitism?
I will never defend Likud's actions, but I am concerned that many (otherwise) right-minded people feel the need to boycott Israeli goods, but are happy to consume goods from governments and nations far more repugnant. More repugnant that is, unless you're an antisemite...
Melanie Phillips, a writer I have little in common with politically, has written a good article on antisemitism and the left, worth a read if you're interested-
http://pws.prserv.net/mpjr/mp/sp220303.htm
Well they do kill their own people, it's kind of central to a suicide attack...
Criticism of Israel is not inherently antisemitic, but much of the reasoning behind choosing to highlight it above any other contemporary politicial issue is.
The current (and some previous ones) Israeli government behaves dreadfully, only a bigot could conclude otherwise, but its behaviour is little worse than how Jordan has treated refugees and how the wider population of the Middle East have to endure terrible regimes. The issue is why choose to highlight Israel above any other nation - antisemitism, anti-Americanism? Where are the placards at the 'Stop the War' march about any of the world's awful regimes? Only "Free Palestine" seems to be exclaimed. It is this obsession with Israel that makes one conclude there must be other factors, antisemitism?
I will never defend Likud's actions, but I am concerned that many (otherwise) right-minded people feel the need to boycott Israeli goods, but are happy to consume goods from governments and nations far more repugnant. More repugnant that is, unless you're an antisemite...
Melanie Phillips, a writer I have little in common with politically, has written a good article on antisemitism and the left, worth a read if you're interested-
http://pws.prserv.net/mpjr/mp/sp220303.htm
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