Chicago Tribune May 21, 2006 The misbegotten labeling of reality in the Middle East
By Emily L. Hauser TEL AVIV -- In Hebrew, there's a phrase: "likro et ha'yeled b'shmo," that means to call a child by its name. That is, to tell the truth about something that is not pleasant. Unsurprising for a people known, as Israelis are, for their disarming candor. Yet, like politicians around the world, Israel's prime ministers also have demonstrated a striking capacity for abusing semantics, and its people have shown an astonishing willingness to accept their words. Thus, last summer, Ariel Sharon called his retreat-in-the-face-of-defeat from Gaza a "disengagement." And now the most recent example: "convergence." "Convergence" is the name newly elected Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has given his government's proposal to unilaterally withdraw from parts of the West Bank. It was a word I heard over and over as I recently traveled the length and breadth of Israel, from a windy Galilee picnic to dinner on my sister-in-law's desert kibbutz, and a good handful of truck stops in between. After three weeks of it, I wanted to demand of my countrymen that we call this ugly child by its singularly ugly name: annexation. In a move being touted as an act of enormous sacrifice, Olmert has just sworn in a government predicated on the notion of evacuating some 70,000 settlers from the West Bank, about eight times the number removed from Gaza. What he isn't saying is this: About 180,000 settlers will remain right where they are--and the 70,000 will be encouraged to join them--in massive settlement blocs that! already slice through the Palestinian West Bank, making ever dimmer any hope of territorial continuity for the future Palestinian state. Olmert's borders will surround these blocs, "ending" occupation by transforming them into Israel proper and, he maintains, allowing the military to better protect the settlers by putting them in more easily defended, larger groups. Uprooting communities The Israeli proposal involves pulling down towns, uprooting communities, dismantling lives lived long and hard won. It also could cost some $10 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report. It can be assumed that when he comes to Washington this week to meet with the president and talk to Congress, Olmert's cap will be in hand. The intent of the program, he recently told The Wall Street Journal, is to establish perma! nent, i nternationally recognized borders, whether or not Hamas proves itself amenable to negotiations with his government. Olmert is saying that these steps will lead to peace. The evacuation is being presented to Israelis as hitkansut, often translated as convergence. In Hebrew, the word carries a sense of coming-in, circling the wagons. It is not withdrawal from the land, the word suggests; it is pulling together land that is rightfully ours. Only, it's not. Israel is planning the annexation of enormous pieces of land it conquered and occupied in war. When it signed on to the Bush-backed "road map" peace plan, the Sharon government agreed to freeze all settlement expansion and do nothing to prejudice final status talks. Yet Israel ! never a ctually did so; it kept building new homes, carving out new roads and throwing up a towering barrier (maintaining it was free to ignore its commitment because the Palestinian Authority failed on its end to bring a halt to Palestinian violence). "Convergence" is simply a formalized, spun version of this same old, same old. Many Israelis genuinely believe that the government's actions have been justified because the return of any occupied land is an act of largesse. Yet I still cannot understand how any thinking person could believe that unilaterally declaring final borders could lead to peace--or that the Palestinians, fighting decades for the land in question, will quietly accept a decision that treats them as if they don't exist. Misconceptions about Israel There is a Western tendency to think of Israel as a land of Orthodox believers and kibbutz farmers, but it's actually a highly urbanized society where only a fifth of the Jews define themselves as religious. It's a land of high-tech genius, too much caffeine and a general addiction to the news. Israelis will challenge every word out of your mouth until you can stand behind it 100 percent. Unless you tell them an Arab wants them dead. Then, many--by no means all, but far too many--will accept the political twisting of their language until words no longer mean what they mean, and believe that the patently unworkable will keep them safe. Or, as Israeli columnist Gideon Levy recently wrote in Israel's paper of record, Haaretz, "The [national] discourse continues to foster Israel's most deeply rooted national! aspira tion--to have the cake and eat it, too." I'm both an American and an Israeli; though I currently live in the U.S., Israel is my home. As I traveled last month through the glory that is an Israeli spring, the shocking blue sky, the brilliant red of anemones scattered through fields and along highways, I felt the never-distant ache for peace and security and hope sharpen and all but slice through my chest. I can only pray that my American government will not finance this folly, this misbegotten relabeling of reality that my Israeli government is trying to foist on me and mine. If they do, I am certain, peace will only move immeasurably further from our grasp. [American-Israeli Emily L. Hauser has written about the contemporary Middle East for more than 15 years. She spent most of Apri! l traveling through Israel; she lives in Oak Park.] *** http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=5&article_id= 24289 The Daily Star (Lebanon) Wednesday, May 10, 2006 In the end, it's the children who pay By Cesar Chelala The decision by the United States, the European Union and Canada to cut financial assistance to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority, after the Islamist group won the January Palestinian legislative elections, not only fails to respect the results of a clean and democratic electoral process; more ominously, it will further harm Palestinian children, already punished by the effects of Israel's occupation of their land. Following the 2000 intifada, Israeli government policies have had a markedly negative effect on Palestinians, but more especially over children's health and quality of life. A policy of widespread closures has paralyzed the Palestinian health care system and become a form of collective punishment that has turned children into the main victims. Severe disruption of health care has affected over 500,000 children, particularly immunization programs, dental examinations and early diagnosis activities. The deterioration of water and sanitation services has given rise to an increase in the frequency of water-borne diseases. It is estimated that over 50 percent of children living in Gaza suffer from parasitic infections. A persistent climate of violence has resulted in 745 children being killed since September 28, 2000, while 435 are still in detention. Children's basic rights, guaranteed under international conventions to which Israel is party, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child are systematically violated by the Israeli government. A study carried out by the Gaza Community Mental Health Program on children's reaction to war has found that 33 percent of primary school age children have acute levels of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and 49 percent moderate levels. The symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, attention deficits and violent behavior. Less than 3 percent of children surveyed had no symptoms of PTSD. Children living in an area of refugee camps north of Gaza city were found more likely to experience PTSD. People in the West Bank and Gaza continue to be victims of ongoing violence and serious economic decline. It is estimated that 64 percent of Gazans are living below the poverty line, and around a quarter of them are living in deep poverty, a situation that puts children's health and psychosocial well-being under severe strain. UNICEF stated in 2005 that, "The combination of significant distress and long-lasting effects of rising poverty and unemployment is having an extremely negative effect on all basic human development indicators." A survey carried out by UNICEF found that less than two-thirds of children have acquired the needed immunity. Also according to UNICEF estimates, more than 25 infants per every 1,000 of those born alive die before the age of one in the Occupied Territories, a situation that is even worse in the Gaza Strip. Three out of 10 children under five years of age are anemic, while stunting (height for age) stands at 9.0 percent and wasting (weight for height) at 2.5 percent. These high levels of stunting reflect a protein-deficient diet caused by the increasing difficulties Palestinians face in obtaining healthy foods on a regular basis. Food insecurity has also led to vitamin and micro-nutrients deficiencies both in children and adults. Child malnutrition rates are as bad as those in some sub-Saharan countries. In this context, the comments of Dov Weissglas, a senior Israeli government adviser have been totally lacking in human concerns. At a recent meeting with other high Israeli officials Weissglas said, "It's like an appointment with a dietician. The Palestinians will get a lot thinner, but they won't starve." A recent editorial in Haaretz stated, "The unsuccessful comments by Dov Weissglas - whose position and source of authority in the present government is difficult to understand - regarding the need to put the Palestinian nation on a diet, but not to starve it, symbolizes more than anything the humiliating way in which Israel relates to the Palestinians, which was one of the factors in Hamas' rise to power. It is unnecessary and degrading to recommend a diet to a hungry and unemployed nation, in addition to which Israel is still responsible for preventing hunger in all parts of the West Bank that it controls as an occupying power." As things stand now, there is something perverse about making children pawns in a complex political game. It is urgent, therefore, that both funds being retained by Israel as well as international aid from the U.S., the EU and Canada be redirected to organizations such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF. They have expertise in the region and know how to make the best use of those funds, which should be addressed to solving the most pressing needs of the Palestinians, particularly the children, the most vulnerable among them. --- Cesar Chelala is an international public health consultant and winner of an Overseas Press Club of America award. He wrote this commentary for The Daily Star. *** ISRAEL AND PALESTINE: OBSTACLES TO PEACE - www.palestinecalendar.org Schedule of Events at UCLA - Monday, May 22nd - Thursday, 25th - Free admission to all events *** Featured Event *** Tuesday May 23rd, 8:00 pm - Court of Sciences CS50 Obstacles to Peace: Israelis or Palestinians - Dr. Norman Finkelstein Monday, May 22nd, 6:00 pm - Dodd 121 I Am An American: Why Should I Care? - Bruins Try to Answer the Question Tuesday, May 23rd, 12:00 pm - Meyerhoff Park The Vernacular of Justice - Spoken Word Shouts Justice * featuring HBO Def Poets * Wednesday, May 24th, 12:00 pm - Meyerhoff Park Remedy to Ignorance - Bruin Speak Out Wednesday, May 24th, 6:00 pm - Rolfe 1200 *** Film: Occupation 101 *** Los Angeles Premiere *** Screening and discussion with the directors Thursday, May 25th, 12:00 pm - Bruin Walk Apartheid Obstacle Course - Guerilla Theater Thursday, May 25th, 6:00 pm - Rolfe 1200 Where the Sky is Cement & the Clouds are Barbed Wire - Life Under Occupation Friday, May 26th, 12:00 pm - Meyerhoff Park The Final Sky - Bring the Facts, Not the Obstacles Paid for by UCLA Undergraduate Students Association Council For more information, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friends! Exciting news... The student groups at UCLA present a "Palestine Awareness Week" every year to try to educate the UCLA community and the general public about the situation in Palestine. This year's line-up of events is spectacular, and I encourage you to support them by attending some of the events below. This is also an excellent opportunity to take a friend who wants to know more about the issue, and I hope many of you will take advantage of that. Of particular note are the screening of the long-awaited documentary film "Occupation 101" (which I believe is the Los Angeles premiere, and maybe even West Coast premiere!), and the Norman Finkelstein talk - for those who've never seen him before, you'd better not miss this!! Also, Mark Gonzales and the Life Convicts will be performing, I believe during Tuesday's daytime event. The event is organized by these wonderful student groups: Students for Justice in Palestine, Muslim Student Association, and United Arab Society. Please support their outstanding efforts! And please do spread the word! To download a jpg version of the flyer for passing out or posting in your neighborhood, go to www.palestinecalendar.org >From Ramallah... (and wishing I was in L.A. for this!!) Haithem El-Zabri. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Everything you need is one click away. 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