Truth at Last, While Breaking a US Taboo of Criticizing Israel

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

by George Bisharat

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0102-60.htm

<snip>

Americans owe a debt to former President Jimmy Carter for speaking long hidden but vital truths. His book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid breaks the taboo barring criticism in the United States of Israel's discriminatory treatment of Palestinians. Our government's tacit acceptance of Israel's unfair policies causes global hostility against us.

Israel's friends have attacked Carter, a Nobel laureate who has worked tirelessly for Middle East peace, even raising the specter of anti-Semitism. Genuine anti-Semitism is abhorrent. But exploiting the term to quash legitimate criticism of another system of racial oppression, and to tarnish a principled man, is indefensible. Criticizing Israeli government policies - a staple in Israeli newspapers - is no more anti-Semitic than criticizing the Bush administration is anti-American.

The word apartheid typically evokes images of former South Africa, but it also refers to any institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over another. Carter applies the term only to Israel's rule of the occupied Palestinian territories, where it has established more than 200 Jewish-only settlements and a network of roads and other services to support them. These settlements violate international law and the rights of Palestinian property owners. Carter maintains that "greed for land," not racism, fuels Israel's settlement drive. He is only partially right.

Israel is seizing land and water from Palestinians for Jews. Resources are being transferred, under the guns of Israel's military occupation, from one disempowered group - Palestinian Christians and Muslims - to another, preferred group - Jews. That is racism, pure and simple...

[breakaleg]

1. This interests me.

"Israel's Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty establishes the state as a "Jewish democracy" although 24 percent of the population is non-Jewish. Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, counted 20 laws that explicitly privilege Jews over non-Jews.

The government favors Jews over Palestinians in the allocation of resources. Palestinian children in Israel attend "separate and unequal" schools that receive a fraction of the funding awarded to Jewish schools, according to Human Rights Watch. Many Palestinian villages, some predating the establishment of Israel, are unrecognized by the government, do not appear on maps, and thus receive no running water, electricity, or access roads. Since 1948, scores of new communities have been founded for Jews, but none for Palestinians, causing them severe residential overcrowding."

Here is something concrete that can either be proven or dis-proven. I would like to know how a supporter of Israel views this.

[UndertheOcean]

4. It seems no one has te guts to respond ...

typical.

[Shaktimaan]

16. Sounds interesting.

Can you link to those 20 examples? I'd like to see them.

Most of Israel suffers more from de-facto segregation than outright institutionalized racism. Arabs are not required to attend segregated schools nor are they restricted in where they are allowed to live. There are laws where Arabs are treated differently, such as the requirement that all serve in the IDF being waived for them. But they are allowed to serve if they wish. It seems unwise to require them to serve considering that they might be asked to fight their own families if a war between Israel and, say, Syria broke out.

That isn't to say there isn't racism. There is. And Arab Israelis are doubtlessly treated as second class citizens. But I do honestly believe that this will change as the Israel/Palestinian situation eases. Remember when America was fighting Japan a few decades ago and how we treated ethnic Japanese who were American citizens? Right.

[peacetalksforall]

2. Wow, I'm delirious - less than five minutes ago - I read a truth article

about Brokaw (on/through DU) and now a truth article on Carter. (My slant on truth). THis has been a good hour.

[Tom Joad]

3. A wonderful person, George Bisharat.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Lurking Dem]

6. It is amusing to me

that someone who has such a visible bias is esteemed by the very posters who often scream for "balance" from pro Israeli sources.

A Palestinian American professor who writes for Counterpunch and Common Dreams, has his articles linked at every whackjob Jewish conspiracy site on the Internets, and states lies like “Palestinians living in Israel cannot serve in the armed forces”, is not someone who I would hold in high regard or deem as a truth seeker.

[idontwantaname]

7. ah, but he is not screaming "Palestinians living in Israel cannot serve in the armed forces" today

so what do you think of this article?

[Tom Joad]

8. His analysis is much better than yours.

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

9. Please feel free to post/reference the specific...

...instances of any and all who have posted on this thread where they've screamed for balance from pro Israeli sources.

Taking cheap shots at the source rather than responsibly challenging the content of an editorial is usually indicative someone ill-equipped or simply too intellectually lazy to develop an argument.

Disappointing? Yes. Surprising? No.

[Lurking Dem]

10. Do you REALLY think that "cheap shots"

are not taken all the time about pro Israel sources? Seriously?

[idontwantaname]

11. i think he would like references

and im curious what you thought of the article as it says nothing about palestinians in the IDF...

[Violet_Crumble]

14. I'd like to see some references as well n/t

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

12. I haven't seen any on this thread...

...and, in any case, why would you choose to emulate such behavior?

If a car traveling in front of the car you're driving runs the red light, do you go ahead and run it too?

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. kick for "truthiness."