A Boycott Of Israel: Something Has Changed

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By John Pilger

08/23/07 "ICH" -- -- From a limestone hill rising above Qalandia refugee camp you can see Jerusalem. I watched a lone figure standing there in the rain, his son holding the tail of his long tattered coat. He extended his hand and did not let go. "I am Ahmed Hamzeh, street entertainer," he said in measured English. "Over there, I played many musical instruments; I sang in Arabic, English and Hebrew, and because I was rather poor, my very small son would chew gum while the monkey did its tricks. When we lost our country, we lost respect. One day a rich Kuwaiti stopped his car in front of us. He shouted at my son, "Show me how a Palestinian picks up his food rations!" So I made the monkey appear to scavenge on the ground, in the gutter. And my son scavenged with him. The Kuwaiti threw coins and my son crawled on his knees to pick them up. This was not right; I was an artist, not a beggar . . . I am not even a peasant now."

"How do you feel about all that?" I asked him.

"Do you expect me to feel hatred? What is that to a Palestinian? I never hated the Jews and their Israel . . . yes, I suppose I hate them now, or

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article18248.h...

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1. He hates Jews because rich arabs treat him like scum?

Well, of course he does.

This country he speaks of, what is its national anthem? Language? Customs? History? His language is Arabic. His religion is Islam whose holy cities are in Arabia. Arabia wouldn't take him for all the tea in China. But the Jews are the ones he hates.

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2. ........and in the same article

The courageous Israeli historian, Ilan Pappé, believes a single democratic state, to which the Palestinian refugees are given the right of return, is the only feasible and just solution, and that a sanctions and boycott campaign is critical in achieving this. Would the Israeli population be moved by a worldwide boycott? Although they would rarely admit it, South Africa's whites were moved enough to support an historic change. A boycott of Israeli institutions, goods and services, says Pappé, "will not change the position in a day, but it will send a clear message that are racist and unacceptable in the 21st century . . . They would have to choose." And so would the rest of us.

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3. Notice how the people who really want a boycott

are the same ones who really want Israel to not exist.