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July 29, 2002
Tom Stephens
Fast
Track and the
Hypocrites of the House
Linda Belanger
Why Do They Do It?
Alfredo Castro
Colombia's
Disappeared
Anne Brodsky
Inside Pakistan and
Afghanistan with RAWA
Andrew George
The Fires
of Summer:
Don't Blame the Greens
David Vest
A Blind Mule and
a Box of Medals
July 28, 2002
Bob Geary
Our Dinner
with Fidel Castro
July 27, 2002
Ian Daoust
The New
Mahler, Seattle Style
Gavin Keeney
Zizek
and Lenin
Ralph Nader
Citigroup
Heal Thyself
M. Shahid Alam
American
Presidents (Poem)
Mokhiber / Weissman
Push Back: Women Take
on the Corporate Beasts
July 26, 2002
Jerre Skog
American
Dictatorship:
It Couldn't Happen...Could It?
Philip Farruggio
Lie,
Rob and Steal
Rep. Ron Paul
Monitor
Thy Neighbor
Ron Jacobs
Thinking
About the
Weather (Underground)
Walt Brasch
Ashcroft's War on Bookstores
July 25, 2002
Norman Madarasz
Paul
Krugman's Howl:
Populism, War and
the Melting Economy
Gavin Keeney
Van Morrison: In September
Rep. Cynthia McKinney
War
on Terrorism or
Police State?
July 24, 2002
Gary Leupp
An Islam Primer
July 23, 2002
Jeffrey St. Clair
The Battle
for Zuni Salt Lake
Ansar Ahmed
Am I with You, George?
Bill Christison
The
Disastrous Foreign Policies of the US: Oppression Abroad Means
Repression at Home
July 22, 2002
Rick Giombetti
Glaxo Raises White Flag
in Paxil Case
Wayne Madsen
Forbidden
Truth
The Press, Bush, Oil
and the Taliban
July 21. 2002
Francis A. Boyle
The Rogue Elephant
Jennifer Harbury
Why are
the FBI & CIA Targeting Me?
Joan Claybrook
Time
for a Special Prosceutor
for Thomas White
Gloria Bergen
The Struggle
of Workers
in Palestine
Dave Marsh
Mr. Big Stuff:
Alan Lomax, Great White Fraud
James T. Phillips
"I'll
Tell You No Lies"
The Human Rubble of War
July 20, 2002
Gavin Keeney
The Grave
New Urbanism
World Trade Center Burlesque
Jacob Levich
"I
Was Schooled in Hate"
Confessions of a
Summer Camp Terror Tot
Thomas Croft
Augusta,
GA
Growing Up in the Deep South
Alexander Cockburn
The
Market Hogwallow:
Popgun Populism Isn't Enough
July 19, 2002
Abe Bonowitz / SueZann
Bosler
A Discussion
with Jeb Bush on the Death Penalty
Jonathan Power
No Need
for War Against Iraq
Rick Giombetti
Qwest
Death Watch
Kurt Nimmo
Of Mice,
Bullets & Bombs
M. Shahid Alam
Through
Racist Eyes:
Is Eurocentrism Unique?
July 18, 2002
Mokhiber / Weissman
Business
As Usual
Jerre Skog
I Spy: Now
Let's be Fair,
the USA Ain't East Germany
Ralph Nader
The CEO
Crimewave:
Corporate Socialism
Mahbubul Karim (Sohel)
The Rising Tensions
Between Spain and Morocco
Alexander Cockburn
Drivel
and Squawk:
Can the Times' Jeff Gerth
Save the White House?
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The New Intifada:
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A Pocket Guide to
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July
30, 2002
A
Feast of Bombs
Sharon's
Endgame for Palestine
by Neve Gordon
JERUSALEM. A few hours after the F-16 jet dropped a 1-ton
bomb on a crowded residential area in Gaza, killing 17 people
-- 11 of them children -- and wounding over 140 more, Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon exclaimed that the attack had been one of Israel's
"biggest successes."
Israeli spin-doctors immediately understood
that the massacre would generate bad PR and changed the official
line, using apologetic adjectives like miscalculation, mistake,
error, and oversight to describe the deadly assault. Noble Peace
Prize laureate Shimon Peres took it upon himself to lead the
remorseful choir, hoping to suppress world censure.
Despite harsh international criticism,
Sharon remained unrepentant. The Israeli press has suggested
that his triumphant cry has less to do with the operation's formal
objective -- the extra-judicial execution of Hamas leader Salah
Shahada -- than with the successful annihilation of a unilateral
ceasefire agreement formally finalized by the different Palestinian
military factions a day before the massacre.
Predictably, Hamas did not wait long
to retaliate. As I write these lines, the television is broadcasting
gory images of the dead and wounded students of Hebrew University,
which my partner and many of our friends attend. Ambulance sirens
echo outside, while every few minutes the number of casualties
is updated on the screen. Yet another massacre has been perpetrated.
There is nothing fatalistic about Middle
East violence, even though the carnage scenes have become routine.
Butchery is an act of free will. Sharon deliberately chose to
add fuel to the dying fire when he bombed Gaza, because he does
not believe in a diplomatic solution to the bloody Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. Neither do Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Sharon will now most likely use the Hamas
attack in order to justify Israel's further reoccupation of Palestinian
territories. His overall objective, though, is not to wipe out
the Palestinian Authority, as some commentators seem to suggest,
but rather to forcibly change its role. Regardless of whether
or not Yasser Arafat remains in charge, if Sharon gets his way,
the "reformed" Palestinian Authority will no longer
serve as the political representative of an independent state.
Rather, it will operate as a civil administration of sorts, responsible
for education, health, sewage and garbage collection.
The strategy is clear: confer on the
Palestinians the costly role of managing civil life, but eliminate
their political freedoms. South Africans called it Bantustans.
To accomplish this vision Sharon needs
to break the spirit of the Palestinian people. This, it seems,
is exactly what he has been trying to do. Following the brutal
Israeli assault dubbed "Defensive Shield," he has held
almost 2 million Palestinians under tight military curfew. These
people have been imprisoned in their homes for over six weeks.
Sharon will continue the strangulation
and humiliation of the Palestinians, hoping that at a certain
point they will bow down. The reprisal attack by Hamas only gives
him more ammunition, which is why he considers the Gaza massacre
a feat worth celebrating.
Neve Gordon
teaches politics at Ben-Gurion University, Israel, and can be
reached at ngordon@bgumail.bgu.ac.il
Today's Features
Tom Stephens
Fast
Track and the
Hypocrites of the House
Linda Belanger
Why Do They Do It?
Alfredo Castro
Colombia's
Disappeared
Anne Brodsky
Inside Pakistan and
Afghanistan with RAWA
Andrew George
The Fires
of Summer:
Don't Blame the Greens
David Vest
A Blind Mule and
a Box of Medals
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