Whenever something happens that the Israeli state and its backer
U.S. imperialism consider harmful to their interests, the entire
Palestinian people and other Arab people are forced to pay. This is
the case with the latest bombings and killings of civilians in
Israel. As soon as the news of the killings became known the
Israeli state pounced on the entire Palestinian and Arab
populations. Far from denouncing this heinous criminal reaction
against the Palestinian and Arab peoples, which is a crime against
humanity, U.S. imperialist chieftain Bill Clinton endorsed it with
the utmost arrogance and shamelessness.
News agencies report that when asked about the demolition of
a Palestinian house and other acts of violence by the Israeli state
against the Palestinian and Arab populations, "Visiting U.S.
President Bill Clinton said he does not criticize Israel's response
to the bombings. Instead, he compared them proportionately to what
similar attacks would mean in the United States and how his
administration would respond. 'Our people would be off the wall;
they would be angry, they would be furious, they would want action,
they would want what the Israeli people want, 'Clinton told
reporters after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres
earlier in the day. Israel Television reported 11 Palestinians had
died for lack of proper medical treatment since a closure on the
Palestinian areas was tightened following a Feb. 25 bombing in
Jerusalem. Some 60,000 Palestinians have been unable to reach their
jobs in Israel during this time. Israel allowed 40 trucks of food
and medical supplies into the Palestinian areas Thursday to
alleviate shortages. In response to accusations that the closure
imposes undue, collective punishment on the Palestinians, Peres
said that was not the government's intention. 'The closure is not
aimed against the Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank,' Peres
said, Clinton at his side. 'We are trying very hard not to create
starvation or suffering in the territories. This is a security
measure and nothing else'."
The Israeli state as a rule, has carried out collective
punishment and terrorism against whole populations right from its
inception and founding in May 1948. Some of its Prime Ministers and
other leaders were notorious terrorists. Terrorism, massacres,
evictions, demolitions, deportations, and full-scale military
attacks and occupations remain the modus operandi of the Israeli
state. In spite of resolutions by the United Nations, neither has
Israel mended its ways, nor has U.S. imperialism, which continues
to arm and finance it. Clinton promised a further 100 million
dollars to assist this latest collective punishment being meted out
by the Israeli state and its backers against the Palestinian and
Arab populations. Instead of bringing the Israeli state to the
dock, entire populations are being terrorised under the hoax of
"catching" the "extremists."
For decades, people have demanded that the root cause of the
conflict in the region be ended with the restoration of the
national rights of the Palestinian people and their return to their
lands. For decades on end the Palestinians have been uprooted and
turned into refugees by the uninterrupted violence of the Israeli
state. Not only has the Israeli state uprooted the Palestinians
from their lands but it brings in outsiders to occupy and settle
Palestinian and Arab lands. This historical injustice is crying out
to the righted but it is not even on the agenda of the "peace
process."All forms of violence including terrorism will disappear,
if the root cause of the conflict, this historical injustice, is
resolved.
All democratic, peace and justice-loving people must also
condemn the anti-people line of collective punishment that U.S.
imperialism metes out to those who do not accept its demand of
servitude and in its continuing crusade against communism. All
people should raise their voices against the blockades,
international pressure tactics, coups d'etat, open aggression and
outright declarations of war against those who choose their own
path such as Cuba and others.
U.S. imperialism has not suddenly become arrogant and
dictatorial. It has been this way for a long time, especially since
the democratic forces defeated the Czarist aristocracy and reaction
in Russia in 1917, and continued their march towards progress
through the October Revolution and civil war. U.S. President
Wilson's demand for an "open door" bit the dust and the world has
never been the same. The time has come to raise our voices anew
against this monster which presents itself to be the greatest
champion of democracy, human rights and freedom, while in actual
fact, is the greatest enemy of humanity and progress. The time has
come to call a spade a spade, and begin to settle outstanding
problems on the basis of people keeping the initiative in their own
hands. There is a need for heroism, for courage, for clarity, for
bold action to create a world in which all peoples have rights by
dint of being human; and all countries, big or small, are equal.
The time has come for the people to capture centre-stage and create
a world that is consistent with their aspirations.
Shawgi Tell
University at Buffalo
Graduate School of Education
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
