|
November 25, 2001
Alexander Cockburn
Harry Potter
and Terrorism
November 24, 2001
Patrick Cockburn
He Who
Has
the Guns Rules
November 23, 2001
Phyllis
Pollack
Long
Live The Clash
Cockburn/St. Clair
The Press
and
the Patriot Act
November 22, 2001
Oscar
Gonzalez
A
Homeland Thanksgiving
November 21, 2001
CounterPunch Wire
Rep. Chambliss
Calls for Arrest of Every Muslim That Enters Georgia
Tom Turnipseed
Broadcasting
and Bombing
David Price
Academia Under
Attack
Molly
Secours
Modern
Day Witch Trials
Tariq Ali
Killing
Mr. Biswas
November 20, 2001
Sam Bahour
Plain
Truths About Palestine
Michael Ratner
Moving Toward
a
Police State
A Photographic Journal of Life
in an Afghan Refugee Camp
By Judith Mann
November 19, 2001
Edward
Said
Suicidal
Ignorance
November 18, 2001
John Farley
Shame on You,
Chelsea!
Kalpana
Sharma
Flower
Power:
A Blow for Peace
Tony Mauro
The Quirin
Ruling:
FDR's Horrible Precedent for Bush's Terror Courts
C.G. Estabrook
American
Crusades
November 17, 2001
Zoltan Grossman
It Ain't
Over Til It's Over
November 16, 2001
Rick Giombetti
Rep.
McDermott and
the Decay of Liberalism
Fawzia Afzal-Khan
The Voices
of Muslim Feminists
Mokhiber/Weissman
Kill,
Kill, Kill
November 15, 2001
George
Monbiot
Blasting
Our Way
Toward Peace
Jack McCarthy
Hitchens
Mind-Meld
and Hot Bodies
Steve
Perry
Afghan
Puzzle Palace
RAWA
We Do Not Accept
the Northern Alliance
November 14, 2001
Jensen/Mahajan
The
Press Must Press Harder on Afghanistan
David Vest
The Great Unificator
Harry
Browne
Preventing
Future Terrorism
November 13, 2001
Peter Mahoney
Veteran's
Day, 2001
Rep. Ron
Paul
Expanding
NATO
Is a Bad Idea
November 12, 2001
Robert Jensen
Goodbye to
All That...
Patriotism
Nancy
Oden
My
Day at the Airport
CounterPunch Wire
East Timor
10 Years
After the Massacre
C.G. Estabrook
Instead
of Terror
Alexander Cockburn
Wide World
of Torture
November 11, 2001
Douglas
Valentine
Homeland
Insecurity: The Politics of Terror in America
November 10, 2001
Grover Furr
Seeking an Opposition
to the Afghan War
Bruce
Kyle
Anatomy
of a Green Smear:
Backstabbing Nancy Oden
Resources:
100s of Links
About 9/11
CounterPunch:
Complete
Coverage of 9/11 and Its Aftermath
Five
Days That
Shook The World:
Seattle and Beyond
By Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
Photos by Allan Sekula
(Click Here to Order from CounterPunch
Online at 20% Off Amazon.com's price!)
INSIDE
EXCLUSIVE
TO
COUNTERPUNCH
SUBSCRIBERS
Published Oct. 15, 2001
8-Page Special Issue
War Diary
CIA's Assassination Plan a History of
Torture in US Prisons
bin Laden and Bush
Business Connections
Aisha Ikramuddin on the Hidden Hype
of US Food Bombs
Peter Linebaugh on
Pakistan
Christopher Hitchens' Love for Mrs. Thatcher
Jiang Zemin Tells Bush:
Nuke 'Em
Search
CounterPunch
Read Whiteout and Find Out
How the CIA's Backing of the Mujahideen Created the World's Most
Robust Heroin Market and Helped to Finance the Rise of the Taliban
and Osama bin Laden
Whiteout:
CIA, Drugs & the
Press
by Alexander
Cockburn
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The Memphis Blues Again:
Six Decades of Memphis Music Photographs
Photos by Ernest Withers
Text by Daniel Wolff
The New Intifada:
Resisting Israel's Apartheid
Edited by Roane Carey
A Pocket Guide to
Environmental Bad Guys
by James Ridgeway
and Jeffrey St. Clair
The
Phoenix Program
by Douglas Valentine
Al Gore:
A User's Manual
by Cockburn
and St. Clair
Buy
This Explosive
New Book at an
Amazing Discount!
Reviews of Gore:
a User's Manual
|
November 25,
2001
Israelis Have a Choice
By Sam Bahour
Only three days have passed following US Secretary
of State Colin Powell's Middle East policy remarks at the University
of Louisville's McConnell Center for Political Leadership in
Kentucky. Following Secretary Powell's tribute to a key member
in the audience, Kentucky's Republican Senator Mitch McConnell,
one of the fiercest opponents of the PLO and the Oslo Peace agreements,
who together with Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein, published
AIPAC's (the Israeli political lobby in the US) most recent initiative
against the Palestinian Authority (Ha'aretz 22/11/2001), Secretary
Powell boldly declared:
"The overwhelming majority of Palestinians
[...] have seen their schools shuttered and their parents humiliated.
Palestinians need security as well. Too many innocent Palestinians,
including children, have been killed and wounded. This, too,
must stop."
Today, a 16-yr.-old boy was killed by
Israeli troops while attending the funeral of five 6-14-yr.-old
Palestinian schoolchildren that were instantly shredded to pieces
yesterday by an Israeli bobby trapped mine planted near their
school! Also today, three Palestinians in Nablus were killed
when an Israeli helicopter fired a missile on their car, their
bodies were charred beyond recognition. Two days ago, a 56-year-old
Palestinian heart patient died after his ambulance was held at
an Israeli checkpoint and refused permission to proceed to a
hospital. The Israeli occupation forces in Gaza demolished the
same day 18 Palestinian homes and entered the Palestinian City
of Birzeit and detained five Palestinians. These actions are
added to the, to numerous to mention, indignities that the illegal
Israeli occupation causes to Palestinians, indignities that the
best of media cameramen cannot capture.
Today, Secretary Powell's words seem
equivalent to that of a policeman walking past a rape victim,
still pinned under her assailant, and verbally scolding both
parties by advising them to work out their differences. Nevertheless,
America has spoken. Israeli occupation must end. Palestinians
have a legitimate right to self-determination. All have a right
to live in security.
The current Israeli government led by
internationally accused war criminal, Ariel Sharon, and politically
cushioned by the Foreign Minister media wizard, Shimon Peres,
have proved their incompetency or unwillingness to rein Israel
in from the cold. Israel adds to its shame every day that it
continues its criminal occupation of the West Bank, Gaza Strip
and East Jerusalem. The Israeli economy is failing, and will
continue to due so, as long as regional instability continues.
A steady stream of Israeli soldiers killing Palestinian children
is tearing the Israeli moral fabric beyond repair. If Israel
is a real democracy this is the time for its people to act.
Israelis have a choice.
Remain silent and watch a people that
have endured 34 years of occupation, coupled with one steady
year of being bombed and locked up like a pressure cooker, explode
while Israeli leaders explain that what is needed is 100% quiet
to quell the situation.
Or, Israelis can take back Israel, for
the sake of Israel. Israel can unilaterally begin to make right
their 50 years of historic injustice against Palestinians. Israel
can end occupation tomorrow and return to the negotiation table
stronger than ever before. Israel can take its citizens out of
dangers way and avoid putting its teenagers in a situation where
they can fire upon innocent Palestinian children.
Occupation will end because it always
has. This is a fact. Israel would be doing itself a monumental
favor by ending the occupation on its own terms, rather than
withdrawing due to additional international pressure.
As the pressure cooker prepares to explode,
national egos need to be set aside. The time to end occupation
is now; otherwise, Secretary Powell's words will become an extended
license to kill for Ariel Sharon and gang. CP
Sam Bahour
is a Palestinian-American businessman living in the besieged
Palestinian City of Al-Bireh in the West Bank. He is co-author
of HOMELAND: Oral Histories of Palestine and Palestinians (1994)
and may be reached at sbahour@palnet.com.
|