How did terrorism start?
I have been called a racist plenty of times, the Arabs are not my favourite personalities but how would you like it if your land was stolen and you were tossed out into the wilderness.
The message below has obviously come from a Palestinian source but there seems little reason to doubt any of it. I have personally been there many years ago and saw for myself many hundreds of mud hovels from which Palestinians had been forced to leave and I saw other acts of brutality one of which was on the same bus I was on.
Now a question arises: To what extent if any would terrorism have inflated to if the Palestinians had not been dispossessed? My guess is that peace would have reigned in the Middle East whereas now we have to put up with terrorists in our own back yard.
International Refugee Day
June 20th marks International Refugee day. The US has shrunk its intake of refugees from some 100,000 annually to 45,000. It also continues to support ethnic cleansing and creation of new refugees and displaced people especially in Palestine (with billions of dollars in aid to Israel and shielding Israel from International law). In the next 6 months 250,000 Palestinians will likely lose their homes. Hartford Public Library hosted an informative series of events including panels, tabling, music etc to highlight refugee heroic struggles around the world (event Tuesday June 20th, 100 attended). US role and Palestinian Refugees The largest remaining refugee crisis in the world
. When Israel was established in 1948, 3/4th of the native Palestinians
(Christian and Muslims) were made refugees (over 500 villages and towns completely depopulated and erased off the maps). The 1/4 who managed to stay were subjected to Marshal law between 1948-1966. Even after 1966, they were not integrated in the society and remain as foreigners in their own lands. Over 100 of their remaining villages are not state "recognized" (get no electricity, water, schools etc). Israeli law also considers 250,000 as "present absentees": present but their land confiscated under "absentee property law"turned over for Jewish use. Israel defines itself as a state not of its citizens (Jewish and remaining non-Jewish citizens) but as a state for Jewish people everywhere. Any Jew, regardless of his current country, is considered a Israeli national entitled to automatic citizenship in Israel while over 5 million Palestinians cannot return to their towns and villages (even for those under Israeli jurisdiction).
. The Right to Return has a solid legal basis. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights article 13 reaffirms the right of every individual to leave and return to his country. The United Nations adopted Resolution 194 on December 11, 1948. Paragraph 11 states: "the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date... compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return." Principles of Self Determination adopted by the UN guarantee inter alia the right of ownership and domicile in one's own country. In 1969 and thereafter, it was explicitly applied to the Palestinian People, including "the legality of the Peoples' struggle for Self-Determination and Liberation". International law states that neither occupation nor sovereignty diminish the rights of private ownership.
. The right of refugees to return is not only sacred and legal but also possible. Demographic studies show that 80% of Israelis live in 15 percent of the land and that the remaining 20% live on 85% of the land that belongs to the refugees. More than 5,000 refugees live per square kilometre in the impoverished and besieged Gaza Strip, while over the barbed wires and walls, their lands are practically empty.
. Ethnic cleansing continues. According to Amnesty International and other Human Rights groups, Israel destroyed thousands of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and confiscated tens of thousands of acres in the past few years to expand Jewish colonies and control rich Palestinian lands. The settlements/colonies contravene the 4th Geneva Convention Article 49 stating that the "Occupying Power shall not transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." In the next six months, nearly 250,000 Palestinians will likely be removed by various means from Palestinian lands coveted by Israel and falling between the "Green Line" (Israel pre-1967 border) and the apartheid wall that Israel is building around remaining Palestinian cantons/ghettos contrary to International law.
. Thanks to special interest lobbies, the US taxpayers are forced to give Israel nearly a quarter of our foreign aid (Israel has a population of 0.1% of world population). Israel is also shielded from International law and basic human rights conventions by our government against the will of the International community. The same special interests also pushed for war on Iraq and now are pushing for confrontation with Iran.
. Israeli Artists' Declaration states: "If the state of Israel aspires to perceive itself as a democracy, it should abandon once and for all, any legal and ideological foundation of religious, ethnic, and demographic discrimination. The state of Israel should strive to become the state of all its citizens. We call for the annulment of all laws that make Israel an apartheid state". Archbishop Desmond Tutu supported boycotts and divestments from what he described as Apartheid Israel adding: "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor."
. Palestinian civil society and many Israeli groups and intellectuals called on the International community to implement boycotts, divestments, and sanctions as non-violent means for bringing peace based on International law. Such a process would be of long-term benefit to all inhabitants of this troubled land. Many unions, churches, and other organizations around the world are heeding this call.