when i was listening to jimmy dennis sitting behind a glass barrier describe his incarceration, in my mind i started planning all the things i'd do to help him get his life back.
woe to me, ten days have gone by and i haven't even sent out an email telling my friends about jimmy and ask them to help him, if they can. any detectives out there?
JIMMY DENNIS.
Ever since i have known Tonya she has been talking about an innocent man on death row. I was sympathetic and signed the petition for a new trial. It wasn't until last Tuesday when Tonya, Monica and I came face to face with jimmy and for six hrs listened to him recount his incarceration for last 19 years that the gravity of the situation sunk in.
in 1992 jimmy was convicted of a murder he did not commit. tonya spent a year and half reading the transcript of the proceedings of jimmy's trial and created a website.
you can do your own research and find out for yourself. but please help jimmy get his life back.
*
sign the petition, tell your friends to do the same
*
get on the email list
*
visit him in in prison
*
do some detective work - interview people in philadelphia area that jimmy thinks will help his case
*
do a documentary.
*
create your own website
*
visit the existing websites.
video
petition
What Happened?
On October 22, 1991 at about 1:50 pm in the afternoon, high school students Chedell Williams and Zahra Howard were climbing the steps the enter the Fern Rock Subway Station in north Philadelphia. They were approached by two men who blocked their way up the stairs. One man demanded earrings at which point the girls ran away from them back down the stairs. One man chased Chedell into the street where he ripped the earrings from her ears and shot her in the neck, killing her. The two men then ran up the street and jumped in a car driven by a third man, and sped off.
There were dozens of eyewitnesses to the crime which happened on a “bright” afternoon, and many of them had a view of the perpetrators in the few seconds that it took for the crime to take place. In addition, a couple of eyewitnesses were able to partially describe the make, model, and color of the car and also provide a few digits in the license plate number. Unfortunately the car was never identified or found.
As the investigation continued, the police heard rumors in the projects that Jimmy Dennis was the one who killed Chedell Williams. Jimmy Dennis maintained his innocence from day one, and when he became aware of rumors he went to the police station to straighten out the matter. The Police told him he wasn't a suspect. However, they continued to gather evidence and later arrested and charged him with murder. Jimmy, unwilling to make any deals, was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced with the death penalty. There have been no charges filed for the crimes committed by the two other men involved the crime.
Why is Jimmy innocent?
* The only evidence tying Jimmy to the crime is the eyewitness stranger identification of three eyewitnesses, two of whom were unsure and another who only saw the perpetrator for a "second". More importantly, these eyewitnesses and others all gave physical descriptions of the perpetrator that are much taller and heavier than Jimmy. It's much more likely they identified the wrong person than it is their descriptions were off by as much as they were. Other witnesses said Jimmy was NOT the perpetrator or chose someone other than Jimmy in the line-ups.
* Several family members, friends, and acquantainces support Jimmy's alibi that he was riding a bus to a different part of town at the time of the crime.
* There is no physical evidence tying Jimmy to the murder.
* The stolen earrings were never found, and Jimmy was not involved in the robbery of the same earrings a few months prior.
* The gun was never found, and no gun has ever found been found in Jimmy's possession.
* The getaway car was never found or linked to Jimmy in any way. Jimmy has never owned a car and does not have a license.
* Jimmy had no motive as he and his singing group were about to sign a record contract.
Copyright 2005 Jeff Boghosian. All rights reserved.
justice for jimmy
http://www.jimmydennis.org/petition.html;
http://www.jimmydennis.org/contactus.html
http://www.troyanthonydavis.org/
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
ussf 2010
late last night a young woman from california and i drove into new york from an intense and inspiring week in detroit attending the
USSF 2010 | Another World Is Possible | Another US Is Necessary
. it was very encouraging to see young people, not only attending in large numbers but also organizing the forum and presenting projects and workshops.
another detroit is happening - testimony to that can be seen in a number of projects including the Heidelberg project in which code pink participated by burying the hummer (pics), d-town farm, and many others. the local communities are stepping up and taking charge to save detroit,
i was most impressed with young desis involvement, particulary, young women working for civil liberties. monami, a young bengali american woman, founded drum 10 years ago, before 9/11 to help working immigrants some non-documented, mostly from south asia.
they are doing wonderful work in collaboration with similar organizations with some amazing results.
another very impressive workshop was presented by young philipino women
one of the guest presenter, hector, a torture survivor from nicaragua was awesome as were two young philipino women who traveled to villages. one published a book of stories written by people who could not get them published. the other brought back traditional musical instruments and wrote and sang a soulful song. this was an unusual interactive workshop.
on the whole it was quite overwhelming.
USSF 2010 | Another World Is Possible | Another US Is Necessary
. it was very encouraging to see young people, not only attending in large numbers but also organizing the forum and presenting projects and workshops.
another detroit is happening - testimony to that can be seen in a number of projects including the Heidelberg project in which code pink participated by burying the hummer (pics), d-town farm, and many others. the local communities are stepping up and taking charge to save detroit,
i was most impressed with young desis involvement, particulary, young women working for civil liberties. monami, a young bengali american woman, founded drum 10 years ago, before 9/11 to help working immigrants some non-documented, mostly from south asia.
they are doing wonderful work in collaboration with similar organizations with some amazing results.
another very impressive workshop was presented by young philipino women
one of the guest presenter, hector, a torture survivor from nicaragua was awesome as were two young philipino women who traveled to villages. one published a book of stories written by people who could not get them published. the other brought back traditional musical instruments and wrote and sang a soulful song. this was an unusual interactive workshop.
on the whole it was quite overwhelming.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Annual Nakba Commemoration Dinner Speech
alan hart
The following is the text of my address to the Annual Nakba Commemoration Dinner, Dearborn, on 15 May 2010. (Video will be posted as soon as possible.)
I’m delighted to be with you on this most significant anniversary, and I want to begin with a very simple statement: In my view Nakba Denial – the denial by all supporters of Israel right or wrong of Zionist ethnic cleansing – is as obscene and as evil, repeat EVIL, as denial of the Nazi holocaust.
But today is not just about remembering what started to happen in Palestine that became Israel 63 years ago. It’s also about saluting the incredible, almost superhuman steadfastness of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians. The Victory sign is only a gesture but I ask you to join me in making it and say after me, “Palestinians of the occupied West Bank and blockaded Gaza Strip, we are with you!”
If one reversed the “V” sign as Winston Churchill sometimes did, one could say it was an appropriate gesture to Prime Minister Netanyahu. He would not have cause for complaint because it’s a gesture he frequently makes to President Obama.
I also want you to know why the occupied and oppressed Palestinians have a special place in my heart as well as my mind. It’s not just that they are the party with right on their side in arguably the most epic might v right struggle in all of history…. If there is one people on earth that ought to have been de-humanized by what has been done to them, it’s the occupied and oppressed Palestinians. They have NOT been de-humanized, but their Zionist oppressors have been, de-humanized by their racist thinking, their insufferable self-righteousness, their contempt for Judaism’s moral values and ethical principles as well as international law, and their criminal actions. Today I go as far as describing Israel’s extreme right wingers as Nazi-like.
For some light relief, and also some rare insight, I’ll now tell you my own favourite stories about the two greatest opposites in all of history – Yasser Arafat, Father Palestine, and Golda Meir, Mother Israel. I think I am probably the only person on Planet Earth who enjoyed intimate access to, and on the human level friendship with, both of them.
One of my most treasured souvenirs from my television reporting days is a signed picture of Golda when she was prime minister. The inscription in her own hand is – “To a good friend, Alan Hart.” Because I am a goy, that meant a lot to me. The picture is on my web site and it’s the first one in my latest book. I have also used it as a protective shield. In the late 1980’s when I lectured and debated coast-to-coast across America and Canada, I had the picture with me. When I was accused of anti-Semitism, I would hold up the picture, read out Golda’s inscription, and say to my accuser – “Do you think that old lady was so stupid that she couldn’t have seen through me if I was anti-Jew!” That always won me the applause of the audience and its contempt for my accuser.
When Golda died I went to Israel as a private citizen to say my last goodbye to her. After the burial ceremony on Mount Herzl, I was watching Prime Minster Begin and his ministers leaving. There was a tap on my shoulder. It was Lou Kadar, a very bright and witty lady of French origin who was Golda’s lifelong best friend and confidant. Lou said: “Alan, please come back to my apartment for a drink. There’s something I MUST tell you.” Over a glass of chilled white wine, Lou asked me a question: “Do you remember that BBC Panorama interview you did with Golda in which said the Palestinians did not exist?” I said to Lou: “Not only do I remember, the whole world remembers because it was Golda speaking on film.” (The full quote was: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian. It’s not as though we came and took their land from them. They didn’t exist.”) Lou then said:
“Golda made me promise to tell you, but not until she was dead, that as soon as those words left her lips, she knew they were ‘the silliest damn thing she had ever said!‘”
When I started to write Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews, I thought that the significance of Golda’s message to me from the grave was almost impossible to exaggerate. On a personal level I took it to mean that Golda wanted me to know that she was not actually as deluded as I might have imagined her to be on account of her denial, while she lived, of the existence of the Palestinians as a people with rights and an irrefutable claim for justice.
Put another way, she was acknowledging the difference between, on the one hand, Israel’s propaganda – the myth Zionism created to fool the world and comfort itself and, on the other hand, what she knew to be true. In effect and posthumously Mother Israel was admitting that the creation of the Zionist state had required the doing of an injustice to the Palestinians, and that Israel was living a lie.
The problem for Golda’s generation with the truth – the actual existence of the Palestinians – was that it raised fundamental questions about the legality and morality of the Zionist enterprise (her life’s work) and the legitimacy of Israel’s existence. On reflection, and because of her last message to me, I am inclined to the view that Mother Israel went to her grave troubled by the injustice done to the Palestinians in the name of Zionism. She would not have been able to escape the logic of reality and the question it begged. If the Palestinians did not exist – no problem. But if really they did exist – “What have we done?”
The Golda Meir I knew would have asked herself that question when it was obvious – as it was before her death – that the regeneration of Palestinian nationalism was as much a fait accompli as the existence of her state.
As it happened the truth was too uncomfortable for Mother Israel to confront while she lived. That was to be a task for her children. One possible implication of her last message to me was that she wanted them to confront it, by asking themselves what they must do to right the wrong done in Zionism’s name to the Palestinians. Some of my anti-Zionist Jewish friends have said that I have been much too kind to Golda. She was, they insisted, “an unchangeable, Zionist zealot.” They could be right and I could be wrong; but I think I knew Golda better than they did, and I’ll stick with my own interpretation.
Now to my own favourite Arafat story. It’s a good story in its own right but it has a point which I want to develop this evening.
In 1984, shortly after the publication of the first edition of my book Arafat, Terrorist or Peacemaker? I had a call from Tunis.
For those not aware of that book, it was the first ever to tell the true story of the Palestinian struggle from the leadership’s perspective. In addition to Arafat himself, my prime sources were Abu and Um Jihad, Abu Iyad and the Hassan brothers, Khalad and Hani. I spent more than a year virtually living with them and others in the leadership to talk the story out of them.
In that book I came to two main conclusions. The first was that by the end of 1979 (more than three decades ago), Arafat had performed a miracle of leadership by preparing the ground on his side for unthinkable compromise and peace, peace on terms which any rational government and people in Israel would have accepted with relief. The second was that what Arafat needed to emerge as the peacemaker he so much wanted to be was a good faith Israeli negotiating partner.
Back to the call from Tunis. It was from Khalad Hassan. He was Fatah’s intellectual giant on the right. When he thought it necessary, he was fiercely critical of Arafat to his face in private, but nobody did more than Khalad to assist the Chairman to sell the idea of unthinkable compromise with Israel to the PNC.
Khalad said: “Habibi, the Chairman is very, very angry with you.”
I asked why. Khalad replied: “You must come here and find out for yourself.”
So I went to Tunis. I was very aware that Arafat had a terrible tempter and I wasn’t looking forward to be on the receiving end of it. I wondered if our friendship was about to end.
For further background you should know that up to this moment I had enjoyed a very special relationship with the “Old Man”. It started early in 1980 when I became the linkman in a secret, exploratory dialogue between him and Shimon Peres, who was then the leader of Israel’s main opposition Labour Party. The hope everywhere at the time, especially in Jimmy Carter’s White House, was that Peres would win Israel’s next election and deny Menachem Begin, the world’s most successful terrorist leader, a second term as prime minister. President Carter was in despair because he had been prevented by Begin and the Zionist Lobby from bringing Arafat and the PLO into the peace process. Working to a Security Council background briefing, my mission was to try to build a bridge of understanding between Arafat and Peres so that in the event of Peres winning the election and becoming prime minister, he could get into public dialogue with Arafat. When Arafat agreed to participate in what I called a conspiracy for peace, he said this to me: “You must understand that I am putting my life into your hands. If word of this leaks before I have something concrete to show for it, I will be assassinated.”
Some years later I discovered who the assassin would have been. Over lunch in his home, I told Abu Iyad the story of my secret shuttle diplomacy between Arafat and Peres, and I ended by quoting what Arafat had said to me at the start of it – that he would be assassinated if word that he was engaged in dialogue with Peres through me leaked. Abu Iyad said: “He was telling you the truth. I would not have ordered anybody else to shoot him, I would have done it myself, with my own gun.”
The following day I told Arafat what Abu Iyad had said. He gave me a long, hard look. Then, in a very matter of fact voice, he said: “I knew that. Abu Iyad would have been the one to do it.” (For those in this audience who may not be familiar with Fatah and PLO politics in 1980 when I started my secret, shuttle diplomacy, Abu Iyad was then the one in Fatah’s top leadership who believed that Arafat’s decision to continue the struggle by politics and diplomacy alone was wrong).
The full, inside story of my shuttle diplomacy is in the forthcoming Volume 3 of the American edition of Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. To wet your appetite for it, and before I get to the climax of my favourite Arafat story, I’ll tell you another because it illustrates how pragmatic, how flexible and how serious Arafat was in his effort to do business with Israel, in order to get an acceptable minimum of justice for his people.
At a point in my to’ing and fro-ing between Arafat in Beirut and Peres in Tel Aviv, I decided that we had made enough progress to suggest that they should have a secret, face-to-face meeting. I suggested it first to Arafat. (For background I should tell you that he was not consulting any of his leadership colleagues). When I put the idea to him, Arafat had only one question – What, really, were the prospects of Peres winning the next election and becoming prime minister? I said the expectation in Israel was that he would win. The polls were actually giving his Labour Party a more than 20% lead over Begin’s Likud. Arafat then said, “Yes, I’ll meet with him.” He had only one condition. The meeting could not take place “anywhere on Arab soil”. I said that was no problem. I lived in a rural even remote part of southern England and the meeting could take place in my home. Arafat said, “You have tell me only where and when and I’ll be there“.
I returned to Tel Aviv via Cyprus as usual. At the time, and still today, I was convinced that Peres wanted to meet secretly with Arafat, but it was a risk too far for him. Months previously when Peres had agreed to talk to Arafat through me, he had said that if word of what we were doing leaked, he would be destroyed and his party would be annihilated at the next election. But Peres wanted there to be a secret, face-to-face meeting with Arafat. He said he would nominate somebody to represent him. I asked who. Peres thought for a minute or so and then said “Aaron Yariv.” When Golda Meir was prime minister, General Yariv was Israel’s Director of Military Intelligence. I said to Peres: “I’m sure that Arafat knows as well as you do that a number of attempts to kill him were authorized by Yariv when he was DMI. Do you really expect Arafat to meet with him?” Peres replied: “It will be a good test of Arafat’s sincerity. If he agrees to meet with Yariv, I’ll know he is serious.”
Peres then commanded me to meet with Yariv and put the proposition to him. If he gave me a “Yes” in principle, Peres would talk with him and, subject to Arafat’s agreement, the secret meeting would be arranged. Yariv gave me a “Yes” in principle.
Back in Beirut, and somewhat to my astonishment, Arafat didn’t need even a few seconds to consider whether he should or should not meet secretly with the former Israeli DMI who had authorized a number of attempts to kill him. “I have only one condition,” Arafat said to me. “I must be assured that Yariv will be speaking FOR Peres“. What Arafat meant and went on to say was that if he made a deal with Yariv, it could only be on the basis of knowing that Peres would honour it. I said I understood that would be the case.
On my journey back to Tel Aviv I allowed myself to flirt for a few seconds with a fantasy. Was it possible, I wondered, that we were on our way to a Nobel Peace Prize?
As soon as I had checked into my room in the Dan Hotel on Tel Aviv’s beach front, I telephoned retired General Chaim Herzog. He was one of two men advising Peres. At the time Herzog was the Labour Party’s secretary general and running his own import/export business. As the founding father of Israel’s Directorate of Military Intelligence, Herzog was already an Israeli legend. He went on to become Israel’s ambassador to the UN and eventually the Zionist state’s president. We were good friends and the reason why I was well informed about what was happening in Israel in my television reporting days is that Herzog was my journalistic deep-throat. On the ‘phone I said to him: “My Arab friend WILL meet with Yariv.” Herzog was obviously excited. He said: “We’re cooking on gas. Go tell Yariv. I’ll brief Shimon.”
Yariv listened to my report of my last meeting with Arafat in complete silence. When I stopped talking, he said: “I’m sorry. I can’t meet with Arafat.” He was obviously very embarrassed.
At this point ladies and gentlemen, and because I want to tell you exactly what happened next, I must ask you, please, to forgive my language. I did an Arafat (and a Begin). I lost my temper. I shouted at Yariv: “We’re not playing fucking games! What the hell is going on?” And I demanded an explanation. His answer was pathetic to say the least. “I didn’t think you’d persuade Arafat to meet with me,” he said. What he meant but didn’t say is that while I was in Beirut getting Arafat’s “Yes”, he, Yariv, had changed his mind and was hoping that Arafat would say “No” so that I could blame Arafat and not him.
I asked Herzog to investigate why, really, Yariv had changed his mind. When he reported back to me, Herzog said I should have a little sympathy for Yariv. While I was away in Beirut, he had done some re-thinking and came to the conclusion that if he met with Arafat, and if word of the meeting leaked, Prime Minister Begin would make an example of him and, as Yariv had put it to Herzog, “He might even have me hanged as a traitor.”
That was not the end of the matter, but to find out how it ended you’ll have to read my book.
Back now to my favourite Arafat story.
When I arrived in Tunis to find out why he was “very, very angry” with me, he was having a meeting with his headquarters staff. When they left his office, a bodyguard who knew me well gestured for me to enter and closed the door behind me. As usual it was just the two of us. Arafat was sitting at his desk, head down, rapidly reading and signing papers. For five very long minutes he didn’t look up or in any way acknowledge my presence. He was ignoring me completely. That was most unusual because Arafat by nature was a most courteous man. (If you were his guest for a meal, he would insist that you sat next to him and would personally serve you from the dishes on the table).
I refused to be intimidated and sat myself down in a chair opposite him. I noticed that my book was open on his desk.
Eventually, Arafat looked up and jabbed an accusing finger at me. With real anger in his voice and flashing in his eyes, he said: “You have made very big troubles for me!” I asked him how. He picked up my open book and read aloud a sentence of what I had quoted him as saying to me: The sentence was:
“Being the Chairman of the PLO is like being the only male customer in a brothel of 22 whores“.
Arafat pronounced the word “hoarez”, but whichever way you pronounced it, there was no getting away from the implication. When he first spoke those words, Arafat was telling me that he and his people were being screwed by each and all of the leaders and governments of the 22 states of the Arab League.
I said: “But Abu Amar, you DID say that to me and it IS true!” If he was going to deny saying it, I was going to remind him of where and when he said it. Something, perhaps it was my response, caused his anger to vanish. He relaxed and then said: “Yes, yes, yes, I DID say it. And yes, yes, yes, it IS true.” Pause. “But you shouldn’t have quoted me. You should have said it was your understanding of my thinking. Then I could have denied it. Now I can’t.”
And that was that. We were still friends.
Still today I think there is no better way of pointing to a truth of history than with the words I quoted Arafat as saying and which he did not deny. That truth can be summarised as follows.
More by default than design, the divided and impotent regimes of a mainly corrupt and oppressive Arab Order betrayed the Palestinians. After the first Zionist fait accompli in 1948, the Arab regimes secretly shared the same hope as all the major powers and Zionism. It was that the Palestine file would remain closed forever. (It had been closed not only by Israel’s victory on the battlefield, but also Jordan’s annexation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem to prevent Zionism grabbing it, and Eygpt’s taking of the Gaza Strip). There was not supposed to be a re-generation of Palestinian nationalism. In the script written by Zionism, and endorsed by all the major powers and the Arab regimes, the Palestinians were supposed to accept their lot as the sacrificial lamb on the altar of political expediency.
In that context it can be said that Arafat’s real crime in the eyes of all who demonized him was causing the Palestine file to be re-opened. After that it was what I have already described as the incredible, almost superhuman steadfastness of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians that guaranteed it could never be closed again – unless Zionism’s in-Israel leaders resort to a final round of ethnic cleansing and are allowed to get away with it.
By now even those of you who are not familiar with my books and other writings will be aware that I am a fierce critic of Zionism, the governments of all the major powers and the regimes of an impotent Arab Order. But that is not a complete list of my crimes. I am also a critic of diaspora Palestinian and almost all other Arab (and non-Arab) activist groups everywhere. At the risk of offending some and perhaps many in this audience, and even further afield, I’m going to tell you why.
As I see it, almost all activist groups are doing their own little things in splendid isolation, and in doing them they demonstrate to me that they have little or no understanding of the strategic essence of what must be done if Zionism is to be successfully confronted and defeated. (If you asked what I would regard as defeat for Zionism, my answer would be the de-Zionisation of Palestine).
My main point is this. While it is true that the incredible, almost superhuman steadfastness of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians is the rock on which all of us who campaign for justice stand, the struggle is not going to be won or lost IN Palestine that became Israel. It’s going to be won or lost HERE IN AMERICA.
In my analysis (and leaving aside the impotence of the regimes of the existing Arab Order) there are three political realities to be faced.
The first is that is that Zionism’s in-Israel leaders are not interested in peace on terms virtually all Palestinians and most other Arabs and Muslims everywhere could accept.
The second is that only an American President has the leverage required to cause – or try to cause – enough Israelis to be serious about peace on the basis of an acceptable amount of justice for the Palestinians. (The leaders and governments of other major powers also have leverage, but they won’t think of using it unless America takes the lead).
The third is that no American President is going to use the leverage he has unless and until he is PUSHED to do so by informed public opinion, by expressions of real democracy in action. In other words, for peace to have a real and I believe last chance, a constituency of understanding has got to be created here in America to enable the President to break the Zionist lobby’s stranglehold on Congress. (As I put it in the Epilogue to the forthcoming Volume 3 of the American edition of this book, in order to use the leverage he has to require Israel to be serious about peace, the President needs enough members of Congress to be more frightened of offending their voters than they are of offending the Zionist lobby in all of its manifestations).
As I dared to suggest in my Dear America Introduction to Volume One of this book, the problem in America is that most Americans are too uninformed and mis-informed TO DO THE PUSHING and make their democracy work. Simply stated, most Americans, like most Westerners, have been conditioned to accept a version of history, Zionism’s version, which is not true. It is, quite simply, a pack of propaganda lies.
The biggest of all the lies is the assertion that poor little Israel has lived in constant danger of annihilation – the “driving into the sea” of its Jews. As I document in detail through the three volumes of this book, Israel’s existence has never, ever, been in danger from any combination of Arab force. Not in 1948. Not in 1967. And not even in 1973. Despite some stupid rhetoric that suggested otherwise and assisted Zionism to get away with the Mother and Father of its propaganda lies, the Arab regimes never, ever, had any intention of fighting Israel to liberate Palestine. Zionism’s assertion to the contrary was the cover that allowed Israel to get away where it mattered most – in America and Western Europe – with presenting its aggression as self-defense and itself as the victim when actually it was and is the oppressor.
I bring the Prologue to Volume 1 of the American edition of this book to a conclusion by quoting an Israeli I admire – Major General Shlomo Gazit. He was the best and the brightest of Israel’s Directors of Military Intelligence. He was also one of the two who were advising Peres when I was shuttling between him and Arafat. Over coffee one morning I said to Shlomo: “I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all a myth. Israel’s existence has never, ever, been in danger.” Through a sad smile, he replied: “The trouble with us Israelis is that we’ve become the victims of our own propaganda.”
The biggest of the supporting Zionist propaganda lies was the assertion that Israel had no Arab partners for peace. As I’ve already said, and you know, Arafat had prepared the ground on his side for peace with Israel by the end of 1979. But there were a number of Arab overtures for peace long before that. I’ll mention just one. From almost the moment he came to power in Eygpt in 1951, Nasser wanted an accommodation with Israel. So much so that he had secret exchanges with Israel’s then foreign minister, Moshe Sharret. In my view Sharret was the only completely sane Israeli leader of his time. It was because he wanted to be serious about advancing a peace process with Nasser that he was destroyed by Ben-Gurion… The documented record is quite clear. It was Israel’s leaders NOT the Arabs who spurned opportunity after opportunity for peace.
Now to what I believe is the real significance of the truth of history as it relates to the making and sustaining of the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel. It is THE KEY to creating the constituency of understanding needed here in America to create the space to enable a president to break the Zionist lobby’s stranglehold on Congress.. Put another way, it is only when enough Americans are informed about the truth of history that there will be – perhaps I should say could be – sufficient pressure on Congress for an end to US support for Israel right or wrong.
Question: Why is it that still today most Americans are ignorant of the truth of history?
A large part of the answer is that the mainstream media still prefers to peddle Zionist propaganda. But in my view the ignorance is also evidence of the FAILURE TO DATE OF ACTIVIST GROUPS OF ALL FAITHS AND NONE. Yes, it’s important to draw attention to what’s happening in Israel/Palestine today and to protest against Israel’s violations of human rights and international law. Yes, it’s important to assist the occupied and oppressed Palestinians to remain steadfast and go on surviving. And yes, it’s important to campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions. But none of this campaigning is going to result in a fundamental change of U.S. policy so long as most Americans remain ignorant of the truth of history and how much they have been conned by Zionist propaganda.
The conclusion invited, or so I believe, is that IT’S TIME FOR ACTIVIST GROUPS TO GIVE PRIORITY TO DEVISING AND IMPLEMENTING A STRATEGY FOR INFORMING AND EDUCATING AMERICANS ABOUT THE TRUTH OF HISTORY, and therefore who must do what and why if this conflict is not to end in catastrophe for all; and by all I don’t just mean the Arabs and Jews of the region, I mean all of us everywhere. The essence of the campaign message would be something like – “Fellow Americans, almost everything you’ve been conditioned to believe about the making and sustaining of this conflict is not true.”
I devoted more than five years of my life to researching and writing the original version of this epic book. My purpose was to provide a powerful weapon to make winning the war for truth possible. The book is about much more than is suggested by its title, Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. (A longer version of the title could be – It isn’t the Arabs who are the real enemy of the Jews, it’s Zionism’s brutal and increasingly Nazi-like colonial enterprise).
Updated to President Obama’s surrender to the Zionist lobby, it’s the first ever book tell the complete story of the making and sustaining of the conflict replacing Zionist mythology with the documented facts and truth of history. And the story as I tell it is not confined to events in the region. I’ve given those events global context, meaning that I take my readers behind closed doors in London, Paris, Washington and Moscow. With this book you can start out knowing nothing worth knowing about the conflict, which sadly is the position of most Americans, and end up seeing how all the pieces of the most complicated jig-saw puzzle fit together. Simply stated, this book enables all readers – almost all of them for the first time ever – to make sense of what is happening and why.
If I had written a pro-Zionist book, I would have had wealthy Jews throwing money at me for promotion of all kinds. My experience to date is that wealthy Arabs, including wealthy Palestinians, are frightened of offending Zionism to assist my efforts to make informed and honest debate possible.
I also think that like most activist groups they have no understanding of how you change lobby-driven government policies in the so-called democratic nations. There is only one way to do it – by informing and educating the citizens, the voters, empowering them to make democracy work and call and hold their leaders to account. When enough citizens want something done, governments have to do it.
So I’m asking you tonight to make good use of my book and become actively engaged in the process of educating your fellow Americans to make democracy work. I am, of course, aware that there is a reason why some and perhaps many Arab and other Muslim Americans think that’s too dangerous and that they should keep their heads down and their mouths shut, in order, as they see it, to protect themselves, their families, their careers and their businesses. The reason is that the monster of Islamophobia is on the prowl in America (as it is in Europe) and licking its lips.
But backing away from this monster is not the way for American and other Western Arabs and other Muslims to protect their own best interests. The best way, I say, is for them to play their ACE card.
What is that? I call it the Patriot Card. Regardless of ethnicity, the one thing above all others that Americans are required to demonstrate in order to be regarded by their fellow citizens as safe and sound is patriotism. Hold on to that thought while I make this short statement.
The best recruiting sergeant for violent Islamic fundamentalism in all of its manifestations everywhere is the double-standard of American-led, Western foreign policy, particularly as it relates to the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel. General Petraeus, and apparently President Obama, now accept that support for the Zionist state of Israel right or wrong, is NOT in America’s best interests and is damaging them.
By helping your fellow Americans to understand this, you would not only be presenting yourselves as real patriots and therefore best protecting your own interests, you would be helping to expose supporters of Israel right or wrong for what they are – brainwashed, deluded and plain wrong at best, and a threat to real national interests at worst. Some would even call them “traitors”.
I’ll close by reading the first sentence of Volume 1 of the American edition of my book and adding a comment.
“Dear Americans, If all of our children, wherever they live, are to have even the prospect of a future worth having, the world needs America’s best, not what it had under the neo-conned regime of President George “Dubya” Bush – its worst.”
My appeal to you this evening is this. If you really care about stopping the final ethnic cleansing of Palestine, keeping hope for justice and peace alive, and best protecting America’s own real interests, become engaged in the war for truth and justice and play your necessary part in helping to bring out the best of America.
Thank you.
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The following is the text of my address to the Annual Nakba Commemoration Dinner, Dearborn, on 15 May 2010. (Video will be posted as soon as possible.)
I’m delighted to be with you on this most significant anniversary, and I want to begin with a very simple statement: In my view Nakba Denial – the denial by all supporters of Israel right or wrong of Zionist ethnic cleansing – is as obscene and as evil, repeat EVIL, as denial of the Nazi holocaust.
But today is not just about remembering what started to happen in Palestine that became Israel 63 years ago. It’s also about saluting the incredible, almost superhuman steadfastness of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians. The Victory sign is only a gesture but I ask you to join me in making it and say after me, “Palestinians of the occupied West Bank and blockaded Gaza Strip, we are with you!”
If one reversed the “V” sign as Winston Churchill sometimes did, one could say it was an appropriate gesture to Prime Minister Netanyahu. He would not have cause for complaint because it’s a gesture he frequently makes to President Obama.
I also want you to know why the occupied and oppressed Palestinians have a special place in my heart as well as my mind. It’s not just that they are the party with right on their side in arguably the most epic might v right struggle in all of history…. If there is one people on earth that ought to have been de-humanized by what has been done to them, it’s the occupied and oppressed Palestinians. They have NOT been de-humanized, but their Zionist oppressors have been, de-humanized by their racist thinking, their insufferable self-righteousness, their contempt for Judaism’s moral values and ethical principles as well as international law, and their criminal actions. Today I go as far as describing Israel’s extreme right wingers as Nazi-like.
For some light relief, and also some rare insight, I’ll now tell you my own favourite stories about the two greatest opposites in all of history – Yasser Arafat, Father Palestine, and Golda Meir, Mother Israel. I think I am probably the only person on Planet Earth who enjoyed intimate access to, and on the human level friendship with, both of them.
One of my most treasured souvenirs from my television reporting days is a signed picture of Golda when she was prime minister. The inscription in her own hand is – “To a good friend, Alan Hart.” Because I am a goy, that meant a lot to me. The picture is on my web site and it’s the first one in my latest book. I have also used it as a protective shield. In the late 1980’s when I lectured and debated coast-to-coast across America and Canada, I had the picture with me. When I was accused of anti-Semitism, I would hold up the picture, read out Golda’s inscription, and say to my accuser – “Do you think that old lady was so stupid that she couldn’t have seen through me if I was anti-Jew!” That always won me the applause of the audience and its contempt for my accuser.
When Golda died I went to Israel as a private citizen to say my last goodbye to her. After the burial ceremony on Mount Herzl, I was watching Prime Minster Begin and his ministers leaving. There was a tap on my shoulder. It was Lou Kadar, a very bright and witty lady of French origin who was Golda’s lifelong best friend and confidant. Lou said: “Alan, please come back to my apartment for a drink. There’s something I MUST tell you.” Over a glass of chilled white wine, Lou asked me a question: “Do you remember that BBC Panorama interview you did with Golda in which said the Palestinians did not exist?” I said to Lou: “Not only do I remember, the whole world remembers because it was Golda speaking on film.” (The full quote was: “There is no such thing as a Palestinian. It’s not as though we came and took their land from them. They didn’t exist.”) Lou then said:
“Golda made me promise to tell you, but not until she was dead, that as soon as those words left her lips, she knew they were ‘the silliest damn thing she had ever said!‘”
When I started to write Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews, I thought that the significance of Golda’s message to me from the grave was almost impossible to exaggerate. On a personal level I took it to mean that Golda wanted me to know that she was not actually as deluded as I might have imagined her to be on account of her denial, while she lived, of the existence of the Palestinians as a people with rights and an irrefutable claim for justice.
Put another way, she was acknowledging the difference between, on the one hand, Israel’s propaganda – the myth Zionism created to fool the world and comfort itself and, on the other hand, what she knew to be true. In effect and posthumously Mother Israel was admitting that the creation of the Zionist state had required the doing of an injustice to the Palestinians, and that Israel was living a lie.
The problem for Golda’s generation with the truth – the actual existence of the Palestinians – was that it raised fundamental questions about the legality and morality of the Zionist enterprise (her life’s work) and the legitimacy of Israel’s existence. On reflection, and because of her last message to me, I am inclined to the view that Mother Israel went to her grave troubled by the injustice done to the Palestinians in the name of Zionism. She would not have been able to escape the logic of reality and the question it begged. If the Palestinians did not exist – no problem. But if really they did exist – “What have we done?”
The Golda Meir I knew would have asked herself that question when it was obvious – as it was before her death – that the regeneration of Palestinian nationalism was as much a fait accompli as the existence of her state.
As it happened the truth was too uncomfortable for Mother Israel to confront while she lived. That was to be a task for her children. One possible implication of her last message to me was that she wanted them to confront it, by asking themselves what they must do to right the wrong done in Zionism’s name to the Palestinians. Some of my anti-Zionist Jewish friends have said that I have been much too kind to Golda. She was, they insisted, “an unchangeable, Zionist zealot.” They could be right and I could be wrong; but I think I knew Golda better than they did, and I’ll stick with my own interpretation.
Now to my own favourite Arafat story. It’s a good story in its own right but it has a point which I want to develop this evening.
In 1984, shortly after the publication of the first edition of my book Arafat, Terrorist or Peacemaker? I had a call from Tunis.
For those not aware of that book, it was the first ever to tell the true story of the Palestinian struggle from the leadership’s perspective. In addition to Arafat himself, my prime sources were Abu and Um Jihad, Abu Iyad and the Hassan brothers, Khalad and Hani. I spent more than a year virtually living with them and others in the leadership to talk the story out of them.
In that book I came to two main conclusions. The first was that by the end of 1979 (more than three decades ago), Arafat had performed a miracle of leadership by preparing the ground on his side for unthinkable compromise and peace, peace on terms which any rational government and people in Israel would have accepted with relief. The second was that what Arafat needed to emerge as the peacemaker he so much wanted to be was a good faith Israeli negotiating partner.
Back to the call from Tunis. It was from Khalad Hassan. He was Fatah’s intellectual giant on the right. When he thought it necessary, he was fiercely critical of Arafat to his face in private, but nobody did more than Khalad to assist the Chairman to sell the idea of unthinkable compromise with Israel to the PNC.
Khalad said: “Habibi, the Chairman is very, very angry with you.”
I asked why. Khalad replied: “You must come here and find out for yourself.”
So I went to Tunis. I was very aware that Arafat had a terrible tempter and I wasn’t looking forward to be on the receiving end of it. I wondered if our friendship was about to end.
For further background you should know that up to this moment I had enjoyed a very special relationship with the “Old Man”. It started early in 1980 when I became the linkman in a secret, exploratory dialogue between him and Shimon Peres, who was then the leader of Israel’s main opposition Labour Party. The hope everywhere at the time, especially in Jimmy Carter’s White House, was that Peres would win Israel’s next election and deny Menachem Begin, the world’s most successful terrorist leader, a second term as prime minister. President Carter was in despair because he had been prevented by Begin and the Zionist Lobby from bringing Arafat and the PLO into the peace process. Working to a Security Council background briefing, my mission was to try to build a bridge of understanding between Arafat and Peres so that in the event of Peres winning the election and becoming prime minister, he could get into public dialogue with Arafat. When Arafat agreed to participate in what I called a conspiracy for peace, he said this to me: “You must understand that I am putting my life into your hands. If word of this leaks before I have something concrete to show for it, I will be assassinated.”
Some years later I discovered who the assassin would have been. Over lunch in his home, I told Abu Iyad the story of my secret shuttle diplomacy between Arafat and Peres, and I ended by quoting what Arafat had said to me at the start of it – that he would be assassinated if word that he was engaged in dialogue with Peres through me leaked. Abu Iyad said: “He was telling you the truth. I would not have ordered anybody else to shoot him, I would have done it myself, with my own gun.”
The following day I told Arafat what Abu Iyad had said. He gave me a long, hard look. Then, in a very matter of fact voice, he said: “I knew that. Abu Iyad would have been the one to do it.” (For those in this audience who may not be familiar with Fatah and PLO politics in 1980 when I started my secret, shuttle diplomacy, Abu Iyad was then the one in Fatah’s top leadership who believed that Arafat’s decision to continue the struggle by politics and diplomacy alone was wrong).
The full, inside story of my shuttle diplomacy is in the forthcoming Volume 3 of the American edition of Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. To wet your appetite for it, and before I get to the climax of my favourite Arafat story, I’ll tell you another because it illustrates how pragmatic, how flexible and how serious Arafat was in his effort to do business with Israel, in order to get an acceptable minimum of justice for his people.
At a point in my to’ing and fro-ing between Arafat in Beirut and Peres in Tel Aviv, I decided that we had made enough progress to suggest that they should have a secret, face-to-face meeting. I suggested it first to Arafat. (For background I should tell you that he was not consulting any of his leadership colleagues). When I put the idea to him, Arafat had only one question – What, really, were the prospects of Peres winning the next election and becoming prime minister? I said the expectation in Israel was that he would win. The polls were actually giving his Labour Party a more than 20% lead over Begin’s Likud. Arafat then said, “Yes, I’ll meet with him.” He had only one condition. The meeting could not take place “anywhere on Arab soil”. I said that was no problem. I lived in a rural even remote part of southern England and the meeting could take place in my home. Arafat said, “You have tell me only where and when and I’ll be there“.
I returned to Tel Aviv via Cyprus as usual. At the time, and still today, I was convinced that Peres wanted to meet secretly with Arafat, but it was a risk too far for him. Months previously when Peres had agreed to talk to Arafat through me, he had said that if word of what we were doing leaked, he would be destroyed and his party would be annihilated at the next election. But Peres wanted there to be a secret, face-to-face meeting with Arafat. He said he would nominate somebody to represent him. I asked who. Peres thought for a minute or so and then said “Aaron Yariv.” When Golda Meir was prime minister, General Yariv was Israel’s Director of Military Intelligence. I said to Peres: “I’m sure that Arafat knows as well as you do that a number of attempts to kill him were authorized by Yariv when he was DMI. Do you really expect Arafat to meet with him?” Peres replied: “It will be a good test of Arafat’s sincerity. If he agrees to meet with Yariv, I’ll know he is serious.”
Peres then commanded me to meet with Yariv and put the proposition to him. If he gave me a “Yes” in principle, Peres would talk with him and, subject to Arafat’s agreement, the secret meeting would be arranged. Yariv gave me a “Yes” in principle.
Back in Beirut, and somewhat to my astonishment, Arafat didn’t need even a few seconds to consider whether he should or should not meet secretly with the former Israeli DMI who had authorized a number of attempts to kill him. “I have only one condition,” Arafat said to me. “I must be assured that Yariv will be speaking FOR Peres“. What Arafat meant and went on to say was that if he made a deal with Yariv, it could only be on the basis of knowing that Peres would honour it. I said I understood that would be the case.
On my journey back to Tel Aviv I allowed myself to flirt for a few seconds with a fantasy. Was it possible, I wondered, that we were on our way to a Nobel Peace Prize?
As soon as I had checked into my room in the Dan Hotel on Tel Aviv’s beach front, I telephoned retired General Chaim Herzog. He was one of two men advising Peres. At the time Herzog was the Labour Party’s secretary general and running his own import/export business. As the founding father of Israel’s Directorate of Military Intelligence, Herzog was already an Israeli legend. He went on to become Israel’s ambassador to the UN and eventually the Zionist state’s president. We were good friends and the reason why I was well informed about what was happening in Israel in my television reporting days is that Herzog was my journalistic deep-throat. On the ‘phone I said to him: “My Arab friend WILL meet with Yariv.” Herzog was obviously excited. He said: “We’re cooking on gas. Go tell Yariv. I’ll brief Shimon.”
Yariv listened to my report of my last meeting with Arafat in complete silence. When I stopped talking, he said: “I’m sorry. I can’t meet with Arafat.” He was obviously very embarrassed.
At this point ladies and gentlemen, and because I want to tell you exactly what happened next, I must ask you, please, to forgive my language. I did an Arafat (and a Begin). I lost my temper. I shouted at Yariv: “We’re not playing fucking games! What the hell is going on?” And I demanded an explanation. His answer was pathetic to say the least. “I didn’t think you’d persuade Arafat to meet with me,” he said. What he meant but didn’t say is that while I was in Beirut getting Arafat’s “Yes”, he, Yariv, had changed his mind and was hoping that Arafat would say “No” so that I could blame Arafat and not him.
I asked Herzog to investigate why, really, Yariv had changed his mind. When he reported back to me, Herzog said I should have a little sympathy for Yariv. While I was away in Beirut, he had done some re-thinking and came to the conclusion that if he met with Arafat, and if word of the meeting leaked, Prime Minister Begin would make an example of him and, as Yariv had put it to Herzog, “He might even have me hanged as a traitor.”
That was not the end of the matter, but to find out how it ended you’ll have to read my book.
Back now to my favourite Arafat story.
When I arrived in Tunis to find out why he was “very, very angry” with me, he was having a meeting with his headquarters staff. When they left his office, a bodyguard who knew me well gestured for me to enter and closed the door behind me. As usual it was just the two of us. Arafat was sitting at his desk, head down, rapidly reading and signing papers. For five very long minutes he didn’t look up or in any way acknowledge my presence. He was ignoring me completely. That was most unusual because Arafat by nature was a most courteous man. (If you were his guest for a meal, he would insist that you sat next to him and would personally serve you from the dishes on the table).
I refused to be intimidated and sat myself down in a chair opposite him. I noticed that my book was open on his desk.
Eventually, Arafat looked up and jabbed an accusing finger at me. With real anger in his voice and flashing in his eyes, he said: “You have made very big troubles for me!” I asked him how. He picked up my open book and read aloud a sentence of what I had quoted him as saying to me: The sentence was:
“Being the Chairman of the PLO is like being the only male customer in a brothel of 22 whores“.
Arafat pronounced the word “hoarez”, but whichever way you pronounced it, there was no getting away from the implication. When he first spoke those words, Arafat was telling me that he and his people were being screwed by each and all of the leaders and governments of the 22 states of the Arab League.
I said: “But Abu Amar, you DID say that to me and it IS true!” If he was going to deny saying it, I was going to remind him of where and when he said it. Something, perhaps it was my response, caused his anger to vanish. He relaxed and then said: “Yes, yes, yes, I DID say it. And yes, yes, yes, it IS true.” Pause. “But you shouldn’t have quoted me. You should have said it was your understanding of my thinking. Then I could have denied it. Now I can’t.”
And that was that. We were still friends.
Still today I think there is no better way of pointing to a truth of history than with the words I quoted Arafat as saying and which he did not deny. That truth can be summarised as follows.
More by default than design, the divided and impotent regimes of a mainly corrupt and oppressive Arab Order betrayed the Palestinians. After the first Zionist fait accompli in 1948, the Arab regimes secretly shared the same hope as all the major powers and Zionism. It was that the Palestine file would remain closed forever. (It had been closed not only by Israel’s victory on the battlefield, but also Jordan’s annexation of the West Bank including East Jerusalem to prevent Zionism grabbing it, and Eygpt’s taking of the Gaza Strip). There was not supposed to be a re-generation of Palestinian nationalism. In the script written by Zionism, and endorsed by all the major powers and the Arab regimes, the Palestinians were supposed to accept their lot as the sacrificial lamb on the altar of political expediency.
In that context it can be said that Arafat’s real crime in the eyes of all who demonized him was causing the Palestine file to be re-opened. After that it was what I have already described as the incredible, almost superhuman steadfastness of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians that guaranteed it could never be closed again – unless Zionism’s in-Israel leaders resort to a final round of ethnic cleansing and are allowed to get away with it.
By now even those of you who are not familiar with my books and other writings will be aware that I am a fierce critic of Zionism, the governments of all the major powers and the regimes of an impotent Arab Order. But that is not a complete list of my crimes. I am also a critic of diaspora Palestinian and almost all other Arab (and non-Arab) activist groups everywhere. At the risk of offending some and perhaps many in this audience, and even further afield, I’m going to tell you why.
As I see it, almost all activist groups are doing their own little things in splendid isolation, and in doing them they demonstrate to me that they have little or no understanding of the strategic essence of what must be done if Zionism is to be successfully confronted and defeated. (If you asked what I would regard as defeat for Zionism, my answer would be the de-Zionisation of Palestine).
My main point is this. While it is true that the incredible, almost superhuman steadfastness of the occupied and oppressed Palestinians is the rock on which all of us who campaign for justice stand, the struggle is not going to be won or lost IN Palestine that became Israel. It’s going to be won or lost HERE IN AMERICA.
In my analysis (and leaving aside the impotence of the regimes of the existing Arab Order) there are three political realities to be faced.
The first is that is that Zionism’s in-Israel leaders are not interested in peace on terms virtually all Palestinians and most other Arabs and Muslims everywhere could accept.
The second is that only an American President has the leverage required to cause – or try to cause – enough Israelis to be serious about peace on the basis of an acceptable amount of justice for the Palestinians. (The leaders and governments of other major powers also have leverage, but they won’t think of using it unless America takes the lead).
The third is that no American President is going to use the leverage he has unless and until he is PUSHED to do so by informed public opinion, by expressions of real democracy in action. In other words, for peace to have a real and I believe last chance, a constituency of understanding has got to be created here in America to enable the President to break the Zionist lobby’s stranglehold on Congress. (As I put it in the Epilogue to the forthcoming Volume 3 of the American edition of this book, in order to use the leverage he has to require Israel to be serious about peace, the President needs enough members of Congress to be more frightened of offending their voters than they are of offending the Zionist lobby in all of its manifestations).
As I dared to suggest in my Dear America Introduction to Volume One of this book, the problem in America is that most Americans are too uninformed and mis-informed TO DO THE PUSHING and make their democracy work. Simply stated, most Americans, like most Westerners, have been conditioned to accept a version of history, Zionism’s version, which is not true. It is, quite simply, a pack of propaganda lies.
The biggest of all the lies is the assertion that poor little Israel has lived in constant danger of annihilation – the “driving into the sea” of its Jews. As I document in detail through the three volumes of this book, Israel’s existence has never, ever, been in danger from any combination of Arab force. Not in 1948. Not in 1967. And not even in 1973. Despite some stupid rhetoric that suggested otherwise and assisted Zionism to get away with the Mother and Father of its propaganda lies, the Arab regimes never, ever, had any intention of fighting Israel to liberate Palestine. Zionism’s assertion to the contrary was the cover that allowed Israel to get away where it mattered most – in America and Western Europe – with presenting its aggression as self-defense and itself as the victim when actually it was and is the oppressor.
I bring the Prologue to Volume 1 of the American edition of this book to a conclusion by quoting an Israeli I admire – Major General Shlomo Gazit. He was the best and the brightest of Israel’s Directors of Military Intelligence. He was also one of the two who were advising Peres when I was shuttling between him and Arafat. Over coffee one morning I said to Shlomo: “I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s all a myth. Israel’s existence has never, ever, been in danger.” Through a sad smile, he replied: “The trouble with us Israelis is that we’ve become the victims of our own propaganda.”
The biggest of the supporting Zionist propaganda lies was the assertion that Israel had no Arab partners for peace. As I’ve already said, and you know, Arafat had prepared the ground on his side for peace with Israel by the end of 1979. But there were a number of Arab overtures for peace long before that. I’ll mention just one. From almost the moment he came to power in Eygpt in 1951, Nasser wanted an accommodation with Israel. So much so that he had secret exchanges with Israel’s then foreign minister, Moshe Sharret. In my view Sharret was the only completely sane Israeli leader of his time. It was because he wanted to be serious about advancing a peace process with Nasser that he was destroyed by Ben-Gurion… The documented record is quite clear. It was Israel’s leaders NOT the Arabs who spurned opportunity after opportunity for peace.
Now to what I believe is the real significance of the truth of history as it relates to the making and sustaining of the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel. It is THE KEY to creating the constituency of understanding needed here in America to create the space to enable a president to break the Zionist lobby’s stranglehold on Congress.. Put another way, it is only when enough Americans are informed about the truth of history that there will be – perhaps I should say could be – sufficient pressure on Congress for an end to US support for Israel right or wrong.
Question: Why is it that still today most Americans are ignorant of the truth of history?
A large part of the answer is that the mainstream media still prefers to peddle Zionist propaganda. But in my view the ignorance is also evidence of the FAILURE TO DATE OF ACTIVIST GROUPS OF ALL FAITHS AND NONE. Yes, it’s important to draw attention to what’s happening in Israel/Palestine today and to protest against Israel’s violations of human rights and international law. Yes, it’s important to assist the occupied and oppressed Palestinians to remain steadfast and go on surviving. And yes, it’s important to campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions. But none of this campaigning is going to result in a fundamental change of U.S. policy so long as most Americans remain ignorant of the truth of history and how much they have been conned by Zionist propaganda.
The conclusion invited, or so I believe, is that IT’S TIME FOR ACTIVIST GROUPS TO GIVE PRIORITY TO DEVISING AND IMPLEMENTING A STRATEGY FOR INFORMING AND EDUCATING AMERICANS ABOUT THE TRUTH OF HISTORY, and therefore who must do what and why if this conflict is not to end in catastrophe for all; and by all I don’t just mean the Arabs and Jews of the region, I mean all of us everywhere. The essence of the campaign message would be something like – “Fellow Americans, almost everything you’ve been conditioned to believe about the making and sustaining of this conflict is not true.”
I devoted more than five years of my life to researching and writing the original version of this epic book. My purpose was to provide a powerful weapon to make winning the war for truth possible. The book is about much more than is suggested by its title, Zionism: The Real Enemy of the Jews. (A longer version of the title could be – It isn’t the Arabs who are the real enemy of the Jews, it’s Zionism’s brutal and increasingly Nazi-like colonial enterprise).
Updated to President Obama’s surrender to the Zionist lobby, it’s the first ever book tell the complete story of the making and sustaining of the conflict replacing Zionist mythology with the documented facts and truth of history. And the story as I tell it is not confined to events in the region. I’ve given those events global context, meaning that I take my readers behind closed doors in London, Paris, Washington and Moscow. With this book you can start out knowing nothing worth knowing about the conflict, which sadly is the position of most Americans, and end up seeing how all the pieces of the most complicated jig-saw puzzle fit together. Simply stated, this book enables all readers – almost all of them for the first time ever – to make sense of what is happening and why.
If I had written a pro-Zionist book, I would have had wealthy Jews throwing money at me for promotion of all kinds. My experience to date is that wealthy Arabs, including wealthy Palestinians, are frightened of offending Zionism to assist my efforts to make informed and honest debate possible.
I also think that like most activist groups they have no understanding of how you change lobby-driven government policies in the so-called democratic nations. There is only one way to do it – by informing and educating the citizens, the voters, empowering them to make democracy work and call and hold their leaders to account. When enough citizens want something done, governments have to do it.
So I’m asking you tonight to make good use of my book and become actively engaged in the process of educating your fellow Americans to make democracy work. I am, of course, aware that there is a reason why some and perhaps many Arab and other Muslim Americans think that’s too dangerous and that they should keep their heads down and their mouths shut, in order, as they see it, to protect themselves, their families, their careers and their businesses. The reason is that the monster of Islamophobia is on the prowl in America (as it is in Europe) and licking its lips.
But backing away from this monster is not the way for American and other Western Arabs and other Muslims to protect their own best interests. The best way, I say, is for them to play their ACE card.
What is that? I call it the Patriot Card. Regardless of ethnicity, the one thing above all others that Americans are required to demonstrate in order to be regarded by their fellow citizens as safe and sound is patriotism. Hold on to that thought while I make this short statement.
The best recruiting sergeant for violent Islamic fundamentalism in all of its manifestations everywhere is the double-standard of American-led, Western foreign policy, particularly as it relates to the conflict in and over Palestine that became Israel. General Petraeus, and apparently President Obama, now accept that support for the Zionist state of Israel right or wrong, is NOT in America’s best interests and is damaging them.
By helping your fellow Americans to understand this, you would not only be presenting yourselves as real patriots and therefore best protecting your own interests, you would be helping to expose supporters of Israel right or wrong for what they are – brainwashed, deluded and plain wrong at best, and a threat to real national interests at worst. Some would even call them “traitors”.
I’ll close by reading the first sentence of Volume 1 of the American edition of my book and adding a comment.
“Dear Americans, If all of our children, wherever they live, are to have even the prospect of a future worth having, the world needs America’s best, not what it had under the neo-conned regime of President George “Dubya” Bush – its worst.”
My appeal to you this evening is this. If you really care about stopping the final ethnic cleansing of Palestine, keeping hope for justice and peace alive, and best protecting America’s own real interests, become engaged in the war for truth and justice and play your necessary part in helping to bring out the best of America.
Thank you.
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Saturday, May 1, 2010
The tragi-comedy of the Arab-Israeli
By Zainab Cheema
Going by contemporary cultural practices, the extinction of a species merits some kind of memorial. Let me specify that by species, I mean in this case a social identity that has been banished to the past tense. After Israel’s April 2010 military order, which is poised to expel thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem, that species is the Arab-Israeli.
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Going by contemporary cultural practices, the extinction of a species merits some kind of memorial. Let me specify that by species, I mean in this case a social identity that has been banished to the past tense. After Israel’s April 2010 military order, which is poised to expel thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem, that species is the Arab-Israeli.
more
Zionist Israel: a colonial settler-squatter entity
Zionist Israel: a colonial settler-squatter entity
By Zafar Bangash
In its long tortuous history, Europe has spawned many demonic ideologies — colonialism, imperialism, nationalism, Fascism, Nazism and Zionism, to name just a few — but while most others have been repudiated, at least theoretically, Zionism is still proclaimed as if it were a badge of honor. It would be difficult to find anyone calling himself a colonialist or imperialist these days, although there are plenty of countries peddling such ideologies under different labels; nor would one find anyone openly proclaiming to be a Fascist or a Nazi. Yet there are plenty of people that proudly claim to be Zionists. They come in all stripes: Jewish, Christian, atheist and (yes) Muslim.
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By Zafar Bangash
In its long tortuous history, Europe has spawned many demonic ideologies — colonialism, imperialism, nationalism, Fascism, Nazism and Zionism, to name just a few — but while most others have been repudiated, at least theoretically, Zionism is still proclaimed as if it were a badge of honor. It would be difficult to find anyone calling himself a colonialist or imperialist these days, although there are plenty of countries peddling such ideologies under different labels; nor would one find anyone openly proclaiming to be a Fascist or a Nazi. Yet there are plenty of people that proudly claim to be Zionists. They come in all stripes: Jewish, Christian, atheist and (yes) Muslim.
more
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Report from Palestine
An Nabi Salih Friday Demonstration - 19th March 2010
Marie and Gwen arrived at ANS by our regular taxi at 11am and sat with Bushra and Naji Tamimi and family in their garden drinking coffee and reviewing the situation since we were last there 2 weeks ago. We were told that the soldiers had been present in the village for about 2 hours already and before the midday call to prayer 2 sound bombs exploded very close to the house. Soldiers were in the garden of the neighbour’s house belonging to Basem and Nariman Tamimi. It is unusual that aggressive activity began before the demonstration.
As usual we joined the gathering in the village square near the mosque as the men left it after Friday prayers. Young boys led the way carrying a large Palestinian flag between them, and most people were chanting, responding to slogans over a loud hailer. Villagers were joined by an international presence of about 4 Israelis, 3 from ISM and ourselves. This is a relatively low number of internationals. A reporter and cameraman from Ha’aretz were also present. The demonstration got a short distance down the road and some way down the hillside, all the time chanting and clapping, before the teargas started and sound bombs and rubber coated bullets were used. These eventually pushed the bulk of the demonstrators back into the village and others sheltered in the various houses that line the top of the hillside. For the next 4 hours there was a running battle between the shebab and the military.
Injuries and other Violations
We ourselves were witness to 2 woundings: an elderly man was shot in the hand and blood was streaming from it; a young man was knocked unconscious on the road by a rubber bullet which hit him in the neck. However, by the end of the afternoon we received reports of the following incidents:
1. Ellen from ISM was hit early on after being deliberately targeted from less than 4 metres. She was shot in the hand by a rubber-coated bullet and was taken to hospital in Ramallah with a fellow ISM person. She was allowed home after treatment the same day. She has a multiple fracture of the wrist.
2. 2 young men from the village, ( Omar Saleh Tamimi and Amjad Alkhafeez Tamimi) were arrested.
Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American and a co-founder of ISM, (female) was also arrested.
3. The house of a 90 year old woman with a heart condition was tear-gassed and she had to be taken to hospital.
4. A young man, Raaft Ahmad was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet and taken to hospital in Salfit. His condition was said to be satisfactory.
5. A man of 65 (an American citizen) was shot with a rubber-coated bullet in the stomach and admitted to hospital. Last night some of his olive trees were uprooted.
6. Dudi, an Israeli activist, received 3 rubber-coated bullets in his leg and was taken to hospital in Israel.
7. 10 houses had their windows broken by shooting.
8. Yesterday 2 men from Deir Nidham, Hassan and Jamil, were arrested while out walking.
9. It should be noted that Marie narrowly escaped injury today when she stood in front of a house with hands in the air to protect women and children inside. She was deliberately shot at at short range and within eye contact.
Comments:
Ma’an News Agency has described this week as “the most violent week in the West Bank for many years”. ANS should be seen in the context of major disturbances in Jerusalem and at several major checkpoints. Also today the first demonstrations in Bil’in and Nil’in where internationals were under threat of immediate arrest and deportation if found on site have taken place. These orders were defied but it is too early to assess the new situation.
In addition, it is clear that the violence against the village of ANS is intensifying both in the length of time they are under attack and the intensity of attack.
Written by Gwen
Edited by Marie
19th March 2010
Marie and Gwen arrived at ANS by our regular taxi at 11am and sat with Bushra and Naji Tamimi and family in their garden drinking coffee and reviewing the situation since we were last there 2 weeks ago. We were told that the soldiers had been present in the village for about 2 hours already and before the midday call to prayer 2 sound bombs exploded very close to the house. Soldiers were in the garden of the neighbour’s house belonging to Basem and Nariman Tamimi. It is unusual that aggressive activity began before the demonstration.
As usual we joined the gathering in the village square near the mosque as the men left it after Friday prayers. Young boys led the way carrying a large Palestinian flag between them, and most people were chanting, responding to slogans over a loud hailer. Villagers were joined by an international presence of about 4 Israelis, 3 from ISM and ourselves. This is a relatively low number of internationals. A reporter and cameraman from Ha’aretz were also present. The demonstration got a short distance down the road and some way down the hillside, all the time chanting and clapping, before the teargas started and sound bombs and rubber coated bullets were used. These eventually pushed the bulk of the demonstrators back into the village and others sheltered in the various houses that line the top of the hillside. For the next 4 hours there was a running battle between the shebab and the military.
Injuries and other Violations
We ourselves were witness to 2 woundings: an elderly man was shot in the hand and blood was streaming from it; a young man was knocked unconscious on the road by a rubber bullet which hit him in the neck. However, by the end of the afternoon we received reports of the following incidents:
1. Ellen from ISM was hit early on after being deliberately targeted from less than 4 metres. She was shot in the hand by a rubber-coated bullet and was taken to hospital in Ramallah with a fellow ISM person. She was allowed home after treatment the same day. She has a multiple fracture of the wrist.
2. 2 young men from the village, ( Omar Saleh Tamimi and Amjad Alkhafeez Tamimi) were arrested.
Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian American and a co-founder of ISM, (female) was also arrested.
3. The house of a 90 year old woman with a heart condition was tear-gassed and she had to be taken to hospital.
4. A young man, Raaft Ahmad was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet and taken to hospital in Salfit. His condition was said to be satisfactory.
5. A man of 65 (an American citizen) was shot with a rubber-coated bullet in the stomach and admitted to hospital. Last night some of his olive trees were uprooted.
6. Dudi, an Israeli activist, received 3 rubber-coated bullets in his leg and was taken to hospital in Israel.
7. 10 houses had their windows broken by shooting.
8. Yesterday 2 men from Deir Nidham, Hassan and Jamil, were arrested while out walking.
9. It should be noted that Marie narrowly escaped injury today when she stood in front of a house with hands in the air to protect women and children inside. She was deliberately shot at at short range and within eye contact.
Comments:
Ma’an News Agency has described this week as “the most violent week in the West Bank for many years”. ANS should be seen in the context of major disturbances in Jerusalem and at several major checkpoints. Also today the first demonstrations in Bil’in and Nil’in where internationals were under threat of immediate arrest and deportation if found on site have taken place. These orders were defied but it is too early to assess the new situation.
In addition, it is clear that the violence against the village of ANS is intensifying both in the length of time they are under attack and the intensity of attack.
Written by Gwen
Edited by Marie
19th March 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
“Something very bad happened to Aafia Siddiqui.”
THE PEACE AND JUSTICE FOUNDATION
11006 Veirs Mill Rd, STE L-15, PMB 298
Silver Spring, MD. 20902
SAFAR 1431 A.H.
(February 2, 2010)
Assalaamu Alaikum (Greetings of Peace): Please feel free to forward.
“Something very bad happened to Aafia Siddiqui.”
– defense counsel Linda Moreno, in Monday's closing arguments
The whole thrust of the government’s closing argument against Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, yesterday, was simple: Dr. Siddiqui picked up a M4 rifle and attempted to kill a number of U.S. personnel (FBI and military), in Ghazni, Afghanistan in July 2008.
The heart of the defense’s closing argument was simple as well: There were no bullet holes in the room that matched the caliber of the M4 rifle; no M4 shell casings were found anywhere in the room where the alleged crime took place; no gunshot residue was found on the curtain that Aafia allegedly fired the gun from behind; Aafia’s fingerprints were not found on the weapon; and only Aafia ended up being shot and seriously wounded on that fateful day.
In short, there was no physical evidence whatsoever to support the government’s claims, while there was a mountain of inconsistency in testimony presented by the government’s own witnesses! As I noted in a couple of interviews after exiting the courthouse yesterday, this case against Dr. Aafia Siddiqui will test the power of [malicious] propaganda, and the politics of fear. Why? Because the FACTS (which are in Aafia’s favor) speak for themselves.
Government witnesses in this case reminded me of the many cases that I’ve weighed into in the past involving police brutality (especially where the brutality resulted in the wrongful death of a citizen). I was reminded of the unofficial doctrine of the “thin blue line” (the us against them mentality) within police ranks - which insures the protection of that criminal element that I believe is present within every large, and many small, police departments throughout the U.S.
I sincerely believe that the same corrosive mindset is at work in this particular case. Persons who committed a deadly offense against an innocent woman entered into a conspiracy to cover their asses; and they have the full weight of one of the most power countries in modern history to back them up.
“Something very bad” did indeed happen to Aafia Siddiqui. This young mother, daughter, sister, and committed Muslim became a victim of American Terrorism!
The case is now before the jury. Please keep Aafia Siddiqui in your prayers.
El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan
Some closing thoughts: After exiting the courthouse yesterday (before doing the interviews), I was met with a very pleasant surprise. Br. Shahid Comrade, of Pakistan – USA Freedom Forum, called me over and said he wanted me to speak to someone over the phone. That someone was Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui (Aafia’s sister). We had about 10 minutes of warm conversation. She thanked me for the work, and particularly the writing, that we’ve been doing around her sister’s case; and I asked her how she and other members of her family in Pakistan were holding up.
Although I never met her, I have a special affection for this sister for having the courage and determination to challenge fear and be that strong voice on the home front for her beleaguered sister (and family). I know it hasn’t been easy. There were overt threats hanging over the head of this family in Pakistan for many years; and I feel certain that an atmosphere of intimidation still exists in parts of Pakistan.
Fauzia informed me that Ahmed asks about his mother often; he misses her and hungers to be re-united. It is also my understanding that he is still not in school, primarily due to the psychic and social instability that still surrounds and emanates from this troubling case. Please keep this family in your prayers as well; and make a special du’a for Aafia’s mother, who’s been struggling with health related challenges.
May ALLAH (SWT) fortify them all! Ameen.
11006 Veirs Mill Rd, STE L-15, PMB 298
Silver Spring, MD. 20902
SAFAR 1431 A.H.
(February 2, 2010)
Assalaamu Alaikum (Greetings of Peace): Please feel free to forward.
“Something very bad happened to Aafia Siddiqui.”
– defense counsel Linda Moreno, in Monday's closing arguments
The whole thrust of the government’s closing argument against Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, yesterday, was simple: Dr. Siddiqui picked up a M4 rifle and attempted to kill a number of U.S. personnel (FBI and military), in Ghazni, Afghanistan in July 2008.
The heart of the defense’s closing argument was simple as well: There were no bullet holes in the room that matched the caliber of the M4 rifle; no M4 shell casings were found anywhere in the room where the alleged crime took place; no gunshot residue was found on the curtain that Aafia allegedly fired the gun from behind; Aafia’s fingerprints were not found on the weapon; and only Aafia ended up being shot and seriously wounded on that fateful day.
In short, there was no physical evidence whatsoever to support the government’s claims, while there was a mountain of inconsistency in testimony presented by the government’s own witnesses! As I noted in a couple of interviews after exiting the courthouse yesterday, this case against Dr. Aafia Siddiqui will test the power of [malicious] propaganda, and the politics of fear. Why? Because the FACTS (which are in Aafia’s favor) speak for themselves.
Government witnesses in this case reminded me of the many cases that I’ve weighed into in the past involving police brutality (especially where the brutality resulted in the wrongful death of a citizen). I was reminded of the unofficial doctrine of the “thin blue line” (the us against them mentality) within police ranks - which insures the protection of that criminal element that I believe is present within every large, and many small, police departments throughout the U.S.
I sincerely believe that the same corrosive mindset is at work in this particular case. Persons who committed a deadly offense against an innocent woman entered into a conspiracy to cover their asses; and they have the full weight of one of the most power countries in modern history to back them up.
“Something very bad” did indeed happen to Aafia Siddiqui. This young mother, daughter, sister, and committed Muslim became a victim of American Terrorism!
The case is now before the jury. Please keep Aafia Siddiqui in your prayers.
El-Hajj Mauri’ Saalakhan
Some closing thoughts: After exiting the courthouse yesterday (before doing the interviews), I was met with a very pleasant surprise. Br. Shahid Comrade, of Pakistan – USA Freedom Forum, called me over and said he wanted me to speak to someone over the phone. That someone was Dr. Fauzia Siddiqui (Aafia’s sister). We had about 10 minutes of warm conversation. She thanked me for the work, and particularly the writing, that we’ve been doing around her sister’s case; and I asked her how she and other members of her family in Pakistan were holding up.
Although I never met her, I have a special affection for this sister for having the courage and determination to challenge fear and be that strong voice on the home front for her beleaguered sister (and family). I know it hasn’t been easy. There were overt threats hanging over the head of this family in Pakistan for many years; and I feel certain that an atmosphere of intimidation still exists in parts of Pakistan.
Fauzia informed me that Ahmed asks about his mother often; he misses her and hungers to be re-united. It is also my understanding that he is still not in school, primarily due to the psychic and social instability that still surrounds and emanates from this troubling case. Please keep this family in your prayers as well; and make a special du’a for Aafia’s mother, who’s been struggling with health related challenges.
May ALLAH (SWT) fortify them all! Ameen.
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israeli gunman
palestinian in class at the check point
Israeli gunman
palestinian children
Musician!
My heart will go on
Urdu Bazaar, Lahore, Pakistan
LAHORE - March 24, 2006: No way-out to avoid a traffic jam near Urdu Bazaar. — Dawn
poor animal!
MULTAN - March 24, 2006: A camel performance at the spring festival organised by the City District Government to mark the Pakistan Day
beast of burden
LAHORE - March 20: BEAST OF BURDEN: A damaged vehicle being taken to a workshop.—APP
Communing with pigeons
KARACHI - March 20: A child enjoys the company of pigeons, whom he feeds, at Hyderi on Tuesday.—APP
Waiting for drinking water
HYDERABAD (India) - March 20: People stand in a line as they wait to fill containers with drinking water supplied by a mobile water vehicle in a slum area in the Saidabad colony here on Tuesday. More than 500 families living in this slum area depend on water supplied by a mobile vehicle and provided by the Metro water works once in three days. 'Coping with Water Scarcity' is the theme for the World Water Day 2007, which is celebrated each year on March 22.—AFP
Mud slide in Kashmir
BAGH - March 20: A man marooned in an area of Azad Kashmir affected by hill torrents following heavy downpour over the past few days is being rescued by local people on Tuesday.—AFP
Palestinians
BETHLEHEM - March 22: Palestinian students wear traditional clothing during a cultural event taking place at the Bethlehem University here on Thursday. The event, which included a mock wedding, is to promote the education of traditional ideals of Palestinian culture.�AFP
The World Water Day,
HYDERABAD - March 22: Peasant women make their way to a distant place in order to fetch water. The World Water Day, being observed on Friday, is intended to highlight the need for reducing wastage of this precious commodity. � Photo by Yousuf Nagori
