KEY POINTS
| I have proposed that the best way to conduct a rational debate is to begin with summary bullet points. This helps avoid pointless bombastic rhetoric and focuses on the basic facts. It also avoids the emotionalism of "they are killing our children," which merely vents anger and does nothing to address the fundamental issues. I'll start it off. Here are my key points: 1. Zionism is a race-based program of ethnic cleansing, designed from the very beginning to dispossess the indigenous natives from their homeland. (see statements below) 2. If we assume that Israel is a democracy, that does not necessarily make it a "better" country or one which can freely trample the human rights of others. 3. Israel is not our "ally." Is it a dependent client state. 4. Israel's oppression of the Palestinians is the major source of conflict in the world today. It is the major cause of terrorism and hatred of the US. 5. Israel is a democracy in exactly the same way South Africa was a democracy up until 1994. It is an apartheid democracy with a system weighted toward the privileges of a particular race. It is NOT a true democracy. 6. Zionism is colonialism. 7. The Arabs of Palestine did not leave "voluntarily" in 1948. They were forced out by extensive, methodical terrorism by Jewish guerrilla groups and by fleeing combat operations. 8. Refusal to allow persons displaced by war to return to their homes is a direct violation of the most basic of human rights treaties and a violation of several major agreements in international law. 9. The fact that the Jews "conquered" the West Bank does not allow them to keep it. Hussein "conquered" Kuwait, did we let him keep it? Milosovitch "conquered" Kosovo; was that OK? 10. The solution to peace in the region is for Israel to withdraw it's army of occupation, both military and civilian back to pre-1967 borders. 11. Where the border is drawn is irrelevant to Israel's "security." No matter where you draw the border there will be Jews on one side and Arabs on the other. 12. The fact that a minority of Palestinians still wish the destruction of Israel is not an excuse to keep the entire population imprisoned in a ghetto. 13. Once Palestinians have true freedom and the chance to build a future, they themselves will be motivated to mollify and silence the radical fringe minority. 14. Almost no terrorism is initiated by the one million Arabs who live inside Israel. Why? Because they have freedom and hope for the future. 15. Terrorism by Lehi, the Irgun and the Haganah played a significant role in the establishment of Israel. Ben-Gurion himself frequently referred to himself and his group as "terrorists." 16. Ariel Sharon himself is guilty of some of the most heinous, cruel and heartless acts of terrorism as leader of Group 101. 17. A significant portion of the Jewish population of Israel (60% by some polls) want the Arabs of the West Bank to be rounded up into concentration camps and then expelled into diaspora. This is unabashed racism and ethnic cleansing. 18. Opposing Israel’s admittedly “controversial” policies does NOT make you an anti-Semite. 19. God does not adjudicate real estate matters. And finally, most importantly: 20. The Palestinians are fighting for freedom, liberty and justice; things that we Americans can identify with. FACTS: The "settlements" now occupy 39% of the West Bank. (source: B'Tselem.com) Barak did NOT offer 95% of the West Bank, he offered 95% of Arafat's "demands." He offered about 60% of the land area. He said so explicitly in an Op Ed article in the LA Times a few months ago. STATEMENTS BY JEWISH LEADERS "We must do everything to insure they never return. The old will die and the young will forget. We shall reduce the Arab population to a community of woodcutters and waiters." (David Ben-Gurion - First Prime Minister of Israel. 1949). "We shall try to spirit the [Arab] population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own country .... expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly." -- Theodore Herzl - founder of Zionist movement (from Rafael Patai, Ed. The Complete Diaries of Theodore Herzl, Vol I) "They can ignore our guns and bombs, but when we start destroying their homes, that will get their attention. In Arabic, the worst curse you can call upon someone is to say 'May your home be destroyed." Ariel Sharon in an address to the Knessest, August, 1976. "There is no other way than to transfer the Arabs from here to neighboring countries, not one village, not one tribe should be left" (Joseph Weitz, one of the founders of Israel, 1940) "... it is the duty of the [Israeli] leadership to explain to the public a number of truths. One truth is that there is no Zionism, no settlement, and no Jewish state without evacuating Arabs, and without expropriating lands and their fencing off." -- Yesha'ayahu Ben-Porat, Israeli Cabinet Minister, 1951. "The very point of Labor's Zionist program is to have as much land as possible and as few Arabs as possible!" --Yitzhak Navon ("moderate" ex-Israeli President and a leading left wing party politician.) *** see http://members.tripod.com/oranzof http://gush-shalom.com http://www.btselem.org/English/Publications/index.asp |
