Ray Hanania’s Column
Nazi-like Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon believes he is taking the Palestinian people to the brink of destruction, but he doesn’t realize that the brink of disaster is not for the Palestinians, but Israel itself.
Sharon is singlehandedly doing what the Arabs have failed to do themselves, forcing them to unite and to abandon their past policies of coddling Israel’s intractable refusal to compromise.
In the past, the Palestinians and the Arabs have accepted Israel’s near-maximum demands as pre-conditions to start negotiations. So, the discussions have always only focused on returning “most of” the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and setting aside the issue of returning “parts” of East Jerusalem until latter negotiation dates.
Yet during negotiations, Israel always cleverly backs out, stopping short of giving the Palestinians anything other than a future as a subjugated people.
The dream of cxompromise with Israel is over, today, and it is clear to nearly everyone that Sharon has opened the door to the new possibility of correcting the original injustice of 1948 and restoring Palestinian control over all of Palestine, an action that the pro-Israel American apologists have dubbed as the “destruction” of the State of Israel. This term has been exploited, abused and exaggerated as certainly as Israel’s cadre of apologist s and have exploited the term anti-Semitism to muddy-up anyone who has dared to speak out against Israel’s cowardly brutalization of civilian targets.
The changes in the world are subtle, but significant.
First, a recent Gallop Poll shows that while most Americans (80 percent) believe that the US must pressure the Palestinians to end the conflict, most Americans, more than 72 percent, also believe that they must pressure Israel, too.
Second, the truth of what is happening is getting out to the American public despite one of the most unprofessional blackouts imposed by the anti-Arab American media. The Palestinian and Arabviewpoint is making it to the American people, despite this blitzkrieg of media hatred.
Third, the lessons of the first Intifadah are not lost and we are seeing the results. No matter how hard Israel and its manipulators in the American media try to prevent the world from seeing the truth of israel’s viciousness, it comes out either on TV, the Internet or in newspapers. The Israeli army is guilty of Nazi-like war crimes including executing in cold blood, Palestinian prisoners it has captured. Several of these executions have been captured on TV.
Fourth, the Second Intifadah is working. The world can see the ridiculousness of Christian Amanpour standing there asking Yasir Arafat, who is besieged in a bunker surrounded by the Israel blitzkrieg, if he will do something to stop the violence. More and more Americans have said they were appalled by her display of ignorance, and are now seeing the Palestinian cause as being the victim of Israel’s State terrorism.
Finally, while President George Bush remains in a leadership stupor in the White House, incapable of doing anything, some view his inactions as the cause of the violence. That is true. His failure to lead has given Sharon the green-light dripping with red-blood to murder Palestinians at will. But, the absence of President Bush’s leadership has one other positive impact. It has left the leaders of the Arab World subject to an intense pressures of their own people, billions of Muslims and Arabs around the world who are demanding that the Arab World and the Muslim World finally severe all ties to the Nazi-like government regime of Ariel Sharon.
These are events we could never have hoped for. It proves that by standing up to Israel’s brutality, and even in the face of losing so many innocent Palestinian lives either to Israeli army murder or suicide bombings, the Palestinians will defeat Israel.
Now is not the time to surrender to Israel and accept compromise.
Now is the time to forge ahead and demand even more.
Now is the time for all Arab governments to severe all ties with Israel, to isolate Israel again as was done years ago. To return Israel to the situation where it cannot be allowed to think that it can murder innocent Palestinian civilians and find terrotirial gains.
Israel’s Nazi-like government must be shown that its policies of murder and executions and killings will carry a heavy price in future talks, and that all of jerusalem is now on the table and that all of Palestine is on the table, too.
Why shouldn’t 3 million Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to their original homes and lands that were stolen from them in 1948. The Jewish people waited 2,000 years to get back what they asserted was theres. The Palestinians can wait too. Why be in such a rush to give away our rights?
Time does not erase the crime.
And where once many Arabs were willing to compromise and give in to israel’s demands, much of that willingness is now gone forever.
Many Palestinians are chanting today, “Thank you Ariel Sharon for opening the door to our victory!”
In the face of Sharon’s vicious campaign, many Palestinians can see victory!
(Ray Hanania is a Palestinian American writer based in Chicago and a regular contributor to MMN. His columns are archived on the web at www.hanania.com)
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