I would like to encourage you to visit http://www.itisapartheid.org/ , the website home we have created for an anti-apartheid campaign. We hope to heighten awareness of, and eventually end, the current apartheid existing in the Israeli Occupied Territories.
To give you some context for this campaign, the Sabeel Conference on "The Apartheid Paradigm in Palestine-Israel: Issues of Justice and Equality” was held in Boston last fall. The keynote speaker was Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an internationally acclaimed Nobel Peace prize laureate.
You can read some comments and thoughts about this conference elsewhere in this blog including the following:
“But saying that it is similar to South Africa misses an important point - the Government of Israel's form of Apartheid is WORSE than what the white Africaaners imposed on the blacks; i.e., in South Africa there were no collective punishments (like destroying a power plant), there were no separation barriers (walls, fences), no destruction of land, no destruction of trees (olive or others), there were no closures and roadblocks, there was freedom of movement, there were no separate roads, no separate license plates, the Africaaners hired the blacks to work for them allowing them to earn a living whereas the Government of Israel uses laborers who are brought in from other countries, and there was a benign condescending attitude of the ruling class for the oppressed and no concerted effort to work towards their eventual removal from the land.”
The conference was an amazing success – it sold out with over 900 attending. You think there would have been extensive coverage from the press (there was a small article buried in the Globe). The fact is, if the media covers anyone who speaks out about the Israeli government’s human rights abuses, they are attacked as anti-Semitic. The Nation Magazine recently wrote an article on how this stifling of dissent is tantamount to the new McCarthyism.
"When Israel does occupy this territory deep within the West Bank, and connects the 200-or-so settlements with each other, with a road, and then prohibits the Palestinians from using that road, or in many cases even crossing the road, this perpetrates even worse instances of apartness, or apartheid, than we witnessed even in South Africa." Jimmy Carter 2006It is in this context that http://www.itisapartheid.org/ campaign was created. The purpose of the ITISAPARTHEID.ORG web site is to use the tools of the internet and ingenuity of its readers to spread the word about Apartheid in the Israeli Occupied Territories. Web savvy people sometimes refer to this as Viral Marketing or a Guerrilla Marketing campaign. Since the media by and large ignore or are afraid to print the truth, the job of the web site is to get the word out in other ways. You can help by putting ITISAPARTHEID.ORG everywhere you can think of.
“Israel has created in the Occupied Territories a regime of separation based on discrimination, applying two separate systems of law in the same area and basing the rights of individuals on their nationality. This regime . ..is reminiscent of .. .the apartheid regime in South Africa.” Israeli Human Rights Group B’tselem, 2002
I hope you are impressed with the web site. The facts on the web site are meticulously researched. The site is based on getting good info out to the public. When the conservatives (in the US) started to label the media as “liberal”, it stuck because they said the lie enough. So by putting the truth -- www.Itisapartheid.org everywhere we can think of -- it will make the truth as available as the air we breathe. I really encourage you to check out the site and join the campaign.
“Apartheid is a crime against humanity. Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property. It has perpetuated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality. It has systematically incarcerated and tortured thousands of Palestinians, contrary to the rules of international law. It has, in particular, waged a war against a civilian population, in particular children.”Nelson Mandela 2001
Thank you for your anticipated interest and support. If you would like any further information, I invite you to contact me.
Richard Colbath-Hess, LICSW
Maserve@bluebottle.com
79 Amory Street
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 354 6471
2 comments:
"Why do I, a 68 year old American Jewish person, get so upset and sad about what is happening in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza?"
OK, Let me try to answer that (it's easy): because you're a narcissistic, high-minded individual, with a need for self-aggrandizement, and thus you're willing to ignore the reality of a few million Jews, surrounded by 300 million Arabs whose attitude toward Jews is one of lethal, virulent hatred (btw, pre-dating the existence of Israel), whose goal is the annihilation of Israel (and Jews everywhere). And you're ignoring the fact that the "Palestinian" Arabs have voted for the Nazi/Gestapo like Hamas (read their charter) to govern them (in all of the territories, incl. the W.Bank). And you're excluding all relevant information and context that would give a fair minded person a chance to understand the reality of centuries of Arab/Muslim barbarity toward Jews under their power. And lastly, you're one of those pathetic Jews, who having achieved success and safety in this blessed land, ignored the slaughter of European Jews (including most of my family), so as not to rock the boat and endanger your status here.
In other words, you're the kind of Jew who will guarantee the continued persecution and destruction of the Jewish people. Oh, just a reminder, from the perspective of the Palestinians, you're just one more useful idiot, and a particularly noxious infidel-Jew. Your high morality is wasted on the barbarians, they'll cut your throat as enthusiastically as if you were the son of apes and pigs (oh, wait, they think you are!).
One last piece of advice: look up the word "dhimmi" and then take a long look in the mirror.
great post, Stefano. sad to say, jewish (small "j") kapos and traitors are all over the place, though SF and Cambridge seem to be ahead of the pack. it's the old story of the Enemy From Within, going back to Isaiah's famous quotation to that effect, and later, to the traitors in the days of the Maccabees and then the 2nd Temple,and so forth.
Post a Comment