TJP

Common Ground

By Pamela Sanders Ellis-October 15, 2008 

One thing that we can all agree upon is that we want our children to be safe, happy, and have a future.  Honestly, we want this for ourselves also.  With the sense and “reality” of management, government, and socioeconomic crisis all around us, how can we achieve this obvious objective? 

Alison Weir, founder of IfAmericansKnew.org, traveled from Oakland, California to address the Jefferson County Organization of Democratic Women in Charles Town, WV on September 14, 2008.  She revisited the tragedy of Rachel Corrie, a young American woman from Olympia, Wisconsin, who at the age of 23, died to right a tragic wrong.  As a young girl, she was happy with the thought of being able to “end poverty by the year 2000” and frequently delivered eloquent speeches in her community to that end.  However, on March 16, 2003, an Israeli military bulldozer crushed Rachel to death as she stood to protect a Palestinian family’s home in defiance of the unjust conditions that Palestinians have endured over the past 60 years.

Ms. Weir began to enlighten her audience that, as a professional journalist, she had witnessed first-hand the conditions in Israel.  She could speak from experience and from independent research on the lack of objectivity and balance of American news media reports on the subject of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.  She admitted to being like many of us, only giving a cursory view to the issue.  After all, we have career professionals in the state department, and our elected officials looking out for our best interests as a country, right?  We, all, would like to believe that our system is working in our best interests but, unfortunately, this is not always the case.

Are we aware that over the past 60 years, Israel has received more of our tax money than any other nation on the planet, even more than we give to all of Sub-Saharan Africa combined?  What have they done with this money?  According to Israeli Historian, Ilan Pappe, “The story of 1948…is the simple but horrific story of the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.”  Historic Palestine consisted of a peaceful country approximately the size of New Jersey with a multicultural population of about 86% Muslim, 10% Christian, and 4% Jewish.  Even though Jewish land ownership in the 1930’s was approximately 6%, in 1947, under pressure by a subculture of Judaism known as Zionists from Europe, the UN agreed to give 55% of Palestinian land to the Jewish people even though this land was already owned by another group of people, the Palestinians, for generations.  Violence ensued, including massacres by military Zionists who by 1949 controlled 78% of all the land in Palestine.  After the War of 1967, the Jewish Israeli military government, financed by the U.S. government took the remaining 22% of Palestinian land, and left 750,000 people refugees, living in squalid refugee camp conditions.  These people are still in this same, virtually, hopeless situation today.

We must hold the Israeli government accountable as we must hold our own government and elected officials accountable for any and every wrong committed, which violates high moral standards.  The Palestinian people must be freed from Israeli occupation and be allowed to regain a sovereign Palestinian nation with reparations for the lost homes and land paid for by the Israeli government.  How can people, in religious terms, waiting for a Messiah, not do this?  Maybe the Falashas in Ethiopia, in fact, possess the true Jewish lineage that should be protected by American policy makers.  Perhaps, the Founders idea of ‘All men are created equal” should be applied to Palestinians, Israelis, and to the rest of the world’s nations.  Why are we playing favorites with Israel to the neglect of other peoples inhabiting the earth?  Let your representatives know in Washington by phone, email, and/or letter that we expect Israel to respect the self-determination of the Palestinian people with reparations, and abide by international humanitarian law expressed by the Geneva Convention as a precondition for our limited continued support. 

I don’t justify Palestinian suicide bombings.  The Israelis are using U.S. taxpayer money and weapons, however, two things that are not possessed by the Palestinians.

Rachel Corrie, and countless other schoolchildren across America, are astute enough to understand the value of human life.  It is only when our actions are congruent with our words that we can be safe, happy, and hope to possess a future as a country.  Rachel knew this and was willing to die for it.  She was an American hero.

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