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New Special Double Issue on the War Print Edition of CounterPunch Available Exclusively to Subscribers: The US vs. Iraq: the Thirteen Year War; The Sanctions That Killed; Bombing Iraq Every 3 Days Since the Ceasefire of 1991; What Would Gore Have Done?; The Rise of the Neocons; Israel's Proxy War Plan; Why Did It End So Quickly?; The Coming Occupation; Re-educating Iraqis, American-style; Those Reconstruction Contracts; Media Hawks; Christian Crusaders; Democratic Candidates and the War; Smart Bombs Go Haywire; Inside the Mind of Santorum; Gore Vidal on John Kerry; Thomas Pickering: the Bad Seed. Remember, the CounterPunch website is supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide web audience is soaring, with more than 60,000 visitors a day. This is inspiring news, but the work involved also compels us to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now! Or Call Toll Free 1-800-840 3683 or write CounterPunch, PO BOX 228, Petrolia, CA 95558

Recent Stories May 16, 2003 Website of the Day Iraq and Our Energy Future May 15, 2003 Ayesha Iman and Sindi Medar-Gould How Not to Help Amina Lawal: The Hidden Dangers of Letter Writing Campaigns Julie Hilden Moussaoui and the Camp X-Ray Detainees: Can He Get a Fair Trial? Tanya Reinhart Bush's Roadmap: a Ticket to Failure Laura Carlsen Here We Go Again: NAFTA Plus or Minus? Kenneth Rapoza The New Fakers: State Dept. Undercuts New Yorker's Goldberg Stew Albert A Story I Will Tell Steve Perry Bush's Little Nukes Website of the Day Strip-o-Rama   May 14, 2003 Cindy Corrie A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter I Can't Hear From Jason Leopold The Pentagon and Hallburton: a Secret November Deal for Iraq's Oil David Lindorff Fighting the Patriot Act: Now It's Alaska John Chuckman Giggling into Chaos Jack McCarthy Twin Towers of Journalism: Racism and Double Standards Wayne Madsen Assassinating JFK Again M. Junaid Alam The Longer View Paul de Rooij The New Hydra's Head: Propagandists and the Selling of the US/Iraq War James Reiss What? Me Worry? Steve Perry More on Saudi Arabia Bombings Website of the Day A Tribute to Ted Joans   May 13, 2003 Saul Landau Clear Channel Fogs the Airwaves Michael Neumann Has Islam Failed? Not by Western Standards Uri Avnery My Meeting with Arafat Steve Perry The Saudi Arabia Bombing Jacob Levich Democracy Comes to Iraq: Kick Their Ass and Grab Their Gas William Lind The Hippo and the Mongoose: a Question of Military Theory The Black Commentator Fraud at the Times: Blaming Blacks for White Folks' Mistakes Stew Albert Asylum Hammond Guthrie An Illogical Reign Website of the Day Sy Hersh: War and Intelligence   May 12, 2003 Chris Floyd Bush, Bin Laden, Bechtel, and Baghdad Dave Lindorff America's Dirty Bombs Sam Hamod and Elaine Cassel Resisting the Bush Administration's War on Liberty Uzi Benziman Sharon and Sons, Inc. Jason Leopold The Decline and Fall of Thomas White Rich Procter George Jumps the Shark Federico Moscogiuri Going to Israel? Sign or Else Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/12 Book of the Day Fooling Marty Peretz Website of the Day T-Shirts to Protest In   May 10 / 11, 2003 Alexander Cockburn Rosenthal Faces the Music in Key Med Marijuana Case JoAnn Wypijewski Labor in the Dawn of Empire Annie C. Higgins The Last Time I Saw Mus'ab Ron Jacobs The Devil in New England William Mandel One on One with Sen. Joe McCarthy Jason Leopold Halliburton Still Flouts the Law as It Profits from Terror Patrick Cockburn The Iraqi Quagmire Larry Magnuson William Bennett: Next Viceroy of Iraq? Sasan Fayazmanesh The Good Terrorists? Anthony Gancarski Chalabi: Drowning in Ba'ath-water? Steven Sherman A Letter to My European Friends Khaled El-Bizri Mr. Bush Comes to Santa Clara Bruce Jackson How Fear Curdles the Soul Adam Engel Flag in the Rain Poets Basement Reiss, Guthrie, Hamod & Albert Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/10 Website of the Weekend Killing Again   May 9, 2003 Rahul Mahajan Don't Lift the Sanctions Yet Wayne Madsen When Lying Pays Off: Neo-Con Fabricators Chris Floyd The Karamazov Question Don Monkerud The Great Christian Schism: War or Peace? Sam Hamod and Elaine Cassel Drunk on Power: Bush, Power and the Pathology of the Dry Drunk Hammond Guthrie Bombastic Promise Keeping Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/09   May 8, 2003 Julie Hilden When It's a Crime to Visit Your Son Mickey Z. Partisan Protests? Mark Zepezauer Evil is as Evil Does David Lindorff The Coming Senior Revolution Abu Spinoza The Detention of Dr. Huda Ammash Ben Tripp The Other "F" Word Norman Madarasz God in the Service of the Security State: a Dispatch from Brazil Stew Albert Pushovers Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/08 Website of the Day Department of Sexual Security   May 7, 2003 Alexander Cockburn Quoting Under the Influence: Breasts, Martinis, Hitchens David Krieger Winning the War; Alienating the World Sen. Robert Byrd Bush's Troubling Speech Bruce Jackson Bill Kunstler's Last Big Speech Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/07 Website of the Day The Truth About Bush's Military Records   May 6, 2003 Paul de Rooij An Activist in the Trenches: an Interview with Gretta Duisenberg Anthony Gancarski Money to Burn: in Defense of Bill Bennett John Stanton Bush's War on Jesus Sam Hamod W. Bush: the Little Snot, the Little Bully Robert Fisk Bush Says the War is Over: Tell It to the Shi'a Kathleen Christison A Roadmap to Nowhere Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/06   May 5, 2003 Gary Leupp Phase Two: Syria and Iran Jorge Mariscal The Militarization of US Culture Ishmael Reed A Family Values Man Tarif Abboushi Sharon's Confidence: Bush Won't Come to Shove on Roadmap Leila Matsui Regime Change Begins at Home...Literally Steve Perry Bush's Wars Sam Smith Coalition of the Shilling   May 3, 2003 Ron Jacobs Tears of Rage: Remembering May 1970 Elaine Cassel William Bennett, a Freudian Perspective Sam Hamod Understanding the Shi'a of Lebanon Scott Fleming Getting Shot on the Oakland Docks Mickey Z. Cuba and Puerto Rico: 100 Years of Terror William S. Lind Don't Take Col. John Boyd's Name in Vain Dr. Bruce Blair The New Nuclear Terrorism Threat Joanne Mariner Cluster Bombs Over Iraq Anthony Gancarski Hot Fun in the Summertime Ilian Pappe Searching Jenin William MacDougall America's Kids Are All Right: Pre-Teen Conservative Commentators Seth Sandronsky Incarcerated and Invisible Rich Procter Over Our Dead Bodies Lenni Brenner How Bob Dylan Found His Voice Adam Engel American Bulk Poets' Basement Reiss, Guthrie, Albert Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/03   May 2, 2003 Caoimhe Butterly Crowd Control American-style Neve Gordon US: No Right to Know About the Disappeared John Chuckman Tom Friedman's Life as a Pet Hamster Bradley Burston Betting on Abu-Mazen...To Lose Harvey Wasserman Bush's Military Defeat John Troyer Question Those Writing History Saul Landau The Cuba Conundrum Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/02 Website of the Day Moussaoui's Quiz   May 1, 2003 Jeffrey St. Clair Santorum: That's Latin for Asshole Iain Boal A May Day Message to the FCC: "We Are Many; They are Few" Diana Johnstone About Cuba Sam Hamod Killings at Al Fallujah, City of Mosques Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity Intelligence Fiasco Lee Sustar Greed Air: Airline Workers Agree to Pay Cuts, While Bosses Stuff Their Pockets Peter Linebaugh May Day at Kut and Kienthal Stew Albert Straight Shooters Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 5/01 Website of the Day South Bay Mobilization   April 30, 2003 Ashley Smith Under Uncle Sam's Thumb: a History of Washington's Occupations Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/30 Gary Leupp Shooting Schoolboys: Preliminary Thoughts on the Fallujah Massacre Robert Jensen Fighting Alienation in the USA Wayne Madsen The Four Horsemen of Propaganda Ahmad Faruqui Bush's Strategic Myopia About the Middle East Gabriel Kolko Iraq, the US and the End of the European Coalition Adolfo Perez Esquivel A Nobel Laureat's Letter to Bush: "You Talk of Freedom; You Detest Freedom"   April 29, 2003 Gary Leupp Disorder and Opportunity: the Results of the Iraq War Uri Avnery Don't Envy Abu-Mazen Anthony Gancarski Brush with the Law Mickey Z. POWs: Then and Now CounterPunch Wire How to Spin Israel on the Hill: Internal Lobbying Documents Robert Fisk Did the US Murder Journalists? Chris Floyd Bush Telegraphs His Punches on Syria Wayne Madsen About Those Iraqi Intelligence Documents Wallace Gagne Pilgrimage or Demolition Derby? Eliot Katz Playing Catch with Cracked Globes Steve Perry Bush's War Web Log 4/29     Hot Stories Elaine Cassel Civil Liberties Watch Michel Guerrin Embedded Photographer Says: "I Saw Marines Kill Civilians" Uzma Aslam Khan The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War: What America Says Does Not Go Paul de Rooij Arrogant Propaganda Gore Vidal The Erosion of the American Dream Francis Boyle Impeach Bush: A Draft Resolution Click Here for More Stories.   Subscribe Online Search CounterPunch

May 17, 2003 Sharon's Second Front The Children's Teeth By URI AVNERY One of the most progressive Jewish principles of old is now being put to the test: "In those days they shall say no more, 'The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth are set on edge'. But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge." (Jeremia, 31.) A suicide bomber kills himself. Should his orphan children be punished for that? The Israeli army of occupation says: Yes, indeed! Furthermore, anyone who helps the children is a criminal, an accomplice, a supporter of terrorism. If the potential suicide bomber knows that his family will starve after his death, he might shrink from committing the deed. But if he knows that somebody will take care of his family, his readiness to become a martyr will be strengthened. That is to say: "The fathers have eaten a sour grape and the children's teeth shall be set on edge. Every one shall die for his fathers iniquity, the teeth of his whole family shall be set on edge." In recent times, this logic has frequently been acted upon. When Stalin's secret police arrested a man as an "imperialist spy", his family was dispersed, his wife sent to the Gulag and the children to the party's orphanage. The Nazis created the term "Sippenhaft", meaning that the whole family is responsible for the acts of any of its members. Until now, such methods were associated with totalitarian regimes. Even if this method were effective, if starving the wives and children of suicide bombers deter others, we must still say: No. We cannot allow our state to behave like this, just as we do not take hostages and shoot them or wrap the corpses of suicide bombers in pigs' skins, as has been suggested by some (to prevent them from entering paradise). In the final analysis, that is not wise, either. The prophets of Israel were no fools. And to the matter at hand: This week the leaders of the Islamic Movement in Israel ("Northern Branch") were arrested. The huge propaganda apparatus of the army and Security Service, which controls all our media, accused them of "helping Palestinian terrorism". Two days later, the mountain gave birth to a mouse (as the Hebrew saying goes). The main accusation against the Islamists was that they are supporting the family members of suicide bombers and other "martyrs". The police officer in charge declared that, beyond that, there is no evidence of support of terrorism. All in all, the only offences allegedly discovered were of an economic nature, such as money laundering. "Economic offenses", and for that such a gigantic operation! The arrests were conducted like a military operation against a dangerous enemy. In the middle of the night, a convoy of 800 police rolled into the township of Um-al-Fakhem, accompanied by a company of reporters and photographers. Policemen in bulletproof vests surrounded the homes of the "suspects", all of them respected public figures. Snipers were at the ready, as the policemen burst in and dragged the leaders out of their beds. The climax of the operation was the arrest of the head of the movement, Sheikh Ra'ed Salah. His father was dying in hospital, the Sheikh was lying next to him to give him support in his last hours. The policemen woke him up and took him out in his underclothes to the waiting photographers, as we saw on TV. If they wanted to humiliate him, they failed. The dignified bearing of the Sheikh put the policemen to shame. His father died a few hours later, alone. I must disclose here that I am not entirely objective where Sheikh Ra'ed is concerned. Ten years ago, in the winter of 1993, when Yitzhaq Rabin expelled 415 Islamic activists and left them in a deserted field on the Lebanese border, we set up protest tents opposite the Prime Minister's office. With us in the tent was Sheikh Ra'ed. For 45 days and nights in the fierce cold of snow-covered Jerusalem, we lived together ­ the Sheikh and his followers, I and my spouse Rachel and a changing number of guests, Jews and Arabs. We spent hundreds of hours talking about everything under the sun, and the Sheikh taught us a lot about the Kor'an and Islam, especially its tolerant face. I admit that the Sheikh, who was 34 years old at the time, charmed us. Unlike the stereotype of a religious extremist, he was full of humor. He is a wise person. In daily life he was pleasant, courteous and modest. I was impressed by his leadership style: early in the morning he got up and started to clean the area around the tents. His men were quick to join him. No orders, no requests. This does not mean, of course, that I accepted his ideas. I reject any religious regime. I support the total separation of religion from politics, between church (or mosque or synagogue) and state. Religious fanaticism is completely alien to me. That did not prevent me from liking Ra'ed Salah. End of personal note. The solidarity of the Arab citizens of Israel with their kin in the Palestinian territories in their struggle against the occupation seems to me quite natural. I understand their feelings and their desire to tender humanitarian aid. All the more so as Gush Shalom, the movement to which I belong, collects money and sends food to the beleaguered Palestinian villages and refugee camps, as an act of solidarity. This can also be construed as "aid to terrorists" ­ after all, if the army wants to starve the population into surrender, who are we to alleviate their hunger? Clearly, all these are pretexts. One does not send 800 policemen just to prevent children from getting bread or to arrest people laundering money. If so, what was the real aim? The Sharon government is now engaged in an all-out struggle to destroy the Palestinian people as a national entity. The re-conquest of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the enlargement of the settlements at a frantic pace, the building of the "separation walls" that will cut off about half of area of the West Bank, the daily assassinations and other killings, the starving of the population, the wholesale demolition of homes and the building of bypass roads ­ all these are meant to beat the Palestinian people into submission and to break their will to resist. Sharon is now opening a second front. The million and a quarter Palestinians who are Israeli citizens were not directly involved up till now. A lot of declarations of support for their compatriots beyond the Green Line, some humanitarian actions, here and there some individuals who actively helped bombers. All in all, very little, under the circumstances. Sharon is going to change that. The attack on the Islamic Movement is the beginning of a concentrated onslaught that will drag the "Israeli Arabs" into the bloody fight. Breaking the back of this population is aimed at driving the Palestinians deeper into despair. It is, of course, convenient to start with the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, because it is the most distant from the Jewish public. It does not participate in the Knesset elections. It is easy to create suspicion and to attack it. But let there no doubt: if this operation succeeds, all the other sections of the Arab population, from Azmi Bishara to Hadash, will follow. The recent attempt to get them out of the Knesset was just the beginning. After that, it may be the turn of the Jewish peace forces which support the establishment of a viable Palestinian state in all the occupied territories. Let there be no illusions: Sharon's final goal is turning the whole country, from the Mediterranean to the Jordan river, into an exclusively Jewish state. In this vision there is no place for Arabs, whether in the occupied territories or in Israel proper. Whoever opposes this vision is an enemy (if an Arab) or a traitor (if a Jew). Therefore, paradoxically, the struggle over Sheikh Ra'ed, the religious extremist, is also a battle for the future of Israel as a democratic, secular and liberal state. Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is one of the writers featured in The Other Israel: Voices of Dissent and Refusal. He can be reached at: avnery@counterpunch.org. Yesterday's Features Ayesha Iman and Sindi Medar-Gould How Not to Help Amina Lawal: The Hidden Dangers of Letter Writing Campaigns Julie Hilden Moussaioui and the Camp X-Ray Detainees: Can He Get a Fair Trial? Tanya Reinhart Bush's Roadmap: a Ticket to Failure Laura Carlsen Here We Go Again: NAFTA Plus or Minus? Kenneth Rapoza The New Fakers: State Dept. Undercuts New Yorker's Goldberg Stew Albert A Story I Will Tell Steve Perry Bush's Little Nukes Website of the Day Strip-o-Rama   Keep CounterPunch Alive: Make a Tax-Deductible Donation Today Online! home / subscribe / about us / books / archives / search / links /