Great recipe this partition thing!!!! - I think Muhammad Ali Jinnah had the same idea about separate territories for Hindus and Muslims in India in 1940 .... I million dead, 11 million homeless and six decades later, they are fighting over 'bits' lying on the wrong side of the partition.
More recently, Yugoslavia went through the same process, with Serbs, Croats and Bosnians ... So history does repeat itself but we don't seem to learn much - perhaps it is because we forget the lessons so quickly and need refresher courses!!! So perhaps we owe a round of applause for those who handled the dismemberment of the Soviet Union, which went off relatively smoothly, barring ignition Russian resistance in the Baltics and tension over the Black Sea and Crimea between Russia and Ukraine. The point being that there are millions of people living outside their 'ethnic' republic. ________________________________________________ Rui Correia Advocacy, Human Rights, Media and Language Consultant 2 Cutten St, Horison, Roodepoort, Johannesburg, South Africa Tel/ Fax (+27-11) 766-4336 Cell (+27) (0) 83-368-1214 "Quando a verdade é substituída pelo silêncio, o silêncio é uma mentira" - Yevgeny Yevtushenko "When truth is replaced by silence, the silence is a lie" - Yevgeny Yevtushenko -----Original Message----- From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Yoshie Furuhashi Sent: 07 December 2006 09:14 To: [email protected] Subject: [PEN-L] Israeli Official Discusses Iran and His Controversial Agenda <http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/07/world/middleeast/07mideast.html> December 7, 2006 Israeli Official Discusses Iran and His Controversial Agenda By GREG MYRE JERUSALEM, Dec. 6 The newest member of Israel's center-left government seems out of place. Avigdor Lieberman is a West Bank settler who has advocated killing the leaders of the Palestinian group Hamas and reducing the number of Arabs who are Israeli citizens. Yet his portfolio is among the country's most sensitive developing Israel's strategy on Iran. Mr. Lieberman, who became Israel's minister for strategic affairs a month ago, is making his first visit to the United States in that capacity on Thursday and will meet with American officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. In an interview on the eve of his trip, he said, "Our first task is to convince Western countries to adopt a tough approach to the Iranian problem," which he called "the biggest threat facing the Jewish people since the Second World War." He added, "We must also be prepared to deal alone with this problem." For now, Israel's policy is to remain relatively low-key and to work with the United States and Europe in search of a way to halt or contain Iran's nuclear program. Mr. Lieberman says he supports this position, while making clear he has no faith in the diplomatic efforts. "The dialogue with Iran will be a 100-percent failure, just like it was with North Korea," said Mr. Lieberman, who came here from the Soviet Union in 1978, was first elected to Parliament in 1999 and served in the cabinet of the former prime minister, Ariel Sharon. At the beginning of this year, Mr. Lieberman's Israel Beiteinu Party had only three parliamentary seats, and its appeal seemed limited to immigrants from the former Soviet Union. But the party won 11 seats in March, boosting Mr. Lieberman's stature considerably. When Prime Minister Ehud Olmert wanted to broaden his coalition government, he invited Mr. Lieberman to join, making him a deputy prime minister and creating the new Ministry of Strategic Affairs. The move rankled the more liberal members of the coalition and drew sharp criticism from Arab lawmakers in Israel's Parliament. "I've always been controversial because I offer new ideas," the bearded Mr. Lieberman, 48, said in his parliamentary office on Wednesday. "For me to be controversial, I think this is positive." Mr. Lieberman's most provocative plan calls for dividing Jews and Arabs into two homogeneous states, a proposal his Arab critics often describe as racist. Mr. Lieberman calls for a land and population exchange that would seek to reduce significantly the number of Arabs who are Israeli citizens. They currently account for more than a million of Israel's 7 million people. Under the plan, several Arab towns in northern Israel would become part of the Palestinian areas in the West Bank. The major Jewish settlement blocs in the West Bank would become part of Israel. In addition, Mr. Lieberman wants to revamp Israel's citizenship laws. All Israelis, Jews and Arabs would have to pledge loyalty to the state and recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Those who refuse could be permanent residents, but would no longer be citizens, he said. "The best solution is separation between the nations and the creation of homogeneous states," he said. The plan has no support within the current government, aside from Mr. Lieberman. When Mr. Lieberman mentioned it recently, Mr. Olmert immediately distanced himself, saying Israeli Arabs were an integral part of Israeli society. "I think he expresses racist thinking," Mohammad Barakeh, an Arab member of Israel's Parliament, said of Mr. Lieberman. "He's dangerous for us, and dangerous for democracy in Israel. We were here before he arrived in this land, and we will be here after he has disappeared politically." As a group, Israeli Arabs staunchly oppose moves to take away their Israeli citizenship, though most strongly support Palestinian aspirations of statehood. The Palestinians, meanwhile, say Jewish settlements in the West Bank are illegal and should be dismantled. None of this keeps Mr. Lieberman from advocating his plan. "I think the biggest problem of the 21st century is how to deal with minorities," Mr. Lieberman said. "Every country where you have two languages, two religions and two races, you have conflict." He argues that his plan has been misunderstood, and while its tenets have not changed since its introduction two years ago, he now tends to use language that sounds less harsh. "We won't be moving people, we will be moving the borders," Mr. Lieberman said. "It's not a transfer." He is much better known for urging tough measures against Palestinian militants. Last month, before a cease-fire took effect in the Gaza Strip, he called for Israel to focus on the top members of Hamas, the radical Islamic group that leads the Palestinian government. "We need to concentrate on those who have something to lose, the entire upper echelon of Hamas and Islamic Jihad," he said. "The leadership of Hamas needs to go to heaven." -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
