Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2002 11:30:35 -0400
From: carol@carolmoore.net (Carol Moore)
Subject: [libs4peace] Must Libertarians Know the Truth??...Re:List of Pro-Israel Resources
To: libs4peace@yahoogroups.com
Cc: info@carolmoore.net, organize-libs4peace@yahoogroups.com ("Organize!")
I know a lot of libertarians would prefer NOT to have to spend dozens of hours figuring out where justice lies in
the Israel-Palestine issue. Plus who wants to get in the middle of an ugly battle, especially when the accusation
"anti-semite" is being thrown around?
It does seem easier to just say: end aid to Israel and other Middle East nations like the LP press release does:
"The first step to achieve that goal, said Dasbach, is for the U.S. government to stop selling weapons to Israel and the
Arab states; pull the plug on foreign aid programs that provide approximately $3 billion a year to Israel and more than $2
billion to Egypt and other Arab nations; and above all, refrain from placing U.S. troops in the region."
However, I think one purpose of the Libertarians for Peace group is to encourage libertarians to become more
familiar with facts to help them overcome their reluctance to deal with non-intervention issue. Here is what why
Libertarians interested in Peace/Non-Intervention need to study the facts:
** We live in the real world where people expect political people, and especially candidates, to have an knowledge and
opinion on conflicts and human rights abuses abroad. At this pont too many libertarians are just repeating reflexive
anti-Arab - "anti-terrorist" government propaganda and without even studying what more balanced libertarians have said.
(For example, some libertarians boast about being so much more free than the Arab world, forgetting to mention the US has a
much larger percentage of our population incarcerated!!)
** As I have complained before, there are some pro-Israel supporters in the Libertarian Party who do not even want the LP or
its candidates speaking out agains aid to the region. Mr. Elias Israel has called this libertarian position "anti-Jewish"
if not properly timed (ie when the state of Israel allows the LP to have that position?) What does he think of the newest
press release? He refuses to tell us if he has changed his opinion on this or not. If Mr. Israel is elected chair I have a
feeling we will see a real clamp down on independent libertarian speech in the party on this and many other issues, going by
his track record.
** There are so many down right lies coming out of the region, from both sides, but especially from the side which has
confiscated the most land and driven the most people off the land, that it ends up being one of those situations where one
becomes morally bound to find out the truth -- like one was about Waco. When the US press starts demonizing one side really
bad, you know it's time to find out about the other side. (And the same is true for Arab citizens of Arab countries,
obviously.)
** Finally, can the libertarian movement, or th party as the representative of it, have any credibility if we only care
about the human rights of Americans and never speak out about human rights abuses abroad -- or speak out against them only
in line with US official foreign policy or the dominant political groups in the party? I don't think so. Sticking one's
head in the sand may be comfortable, but it's a great way to be violated in other areas of the anatomy....
So I personally will end up having to spend more time than I'd like to putting together some more factual sources, links,
web pages, etc. Obviously I'll look at Aaron's listing. I understand his concern about anti-semitism (after all, because
of family fears of being Jewish, I've had trouble tracking down firm evidence that my mother's mother's mother's mother was
Jewish!!). But one must remember that during the 20th century thousands of Jewish thinkers, leaders and individuals
predicted that trying to set up a state in Arab territory would lead to disaster and war. It would have been difficult even
if done in the most libertarian fashion, which it hardly was.
Carol in dc.
List of Israeli and Palestinian Peace groups http://www.ariga.com/humanrights/
*Read the libertarian solution and see lots of land maps at:
http://www.secession.net/israel-palestine-confederation.html
*Read Murray Rothbard's late 1960s War Guilt in the Middle East on why libertarians must take a stand.
http://www.mises.org/journals/lar/pdfs/3_3/3_3_4.pdf
*A lot of documents http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/mideast.htm
* http://againstbombing.com/ and http://www.antiwar.com libertarian perspectives on issue
*Extensive (though all incomplete and somewhat biased) timelines:
http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story564.html
http://www.palestine-net.com/history/bhist.html BIG ONE GET
http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/chronology/0_chronology.htm
http://www.adl.org/Israel/advocacy/chronology.asp?xflag=3
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/world/2001/israel_and_palestinians/timeline/
http://www.masada2000.org/ (yow, is that pro-Israel!)
http://www.netureikarta.org/ AKA Jews United Against Zionism (feisty Orthodox Jews)
http://globalcircle.net/00palestine.htm Interactive, lots of links to facts and figures including:
DISPOSSESSED PALESTINIANS (AND WHERE
THEY MOST WANT TO GO HOME TO...)
District Depopulated Dispossessed Population
Villages 1948 1999
Acre 30 4,038 306,753
Ramleh 64 97,405 635,215
Baysan 31 19,602 127,832
Beersheba 88 90,507 590,231
Gaza 46 79,947 521,365
Haifa 59 121,196 790,365
Hebron 16 22,991 149,933
Jaffa 25 123,227 803,610
Jerusalem 39 97,950 638,769
Jenin 6 4,005 26,118
Nazareth 5 8,746 57,036
Safad 78 52,248 340,729
Tiberias 26 28,872 188,285
Tulkarm 18 11,032 71,944
TOTAL 531 804,766 5,248,185
Aaron Biterman wrote:
> THE BEST WAY TO HELP ISRAEL:
> http://apll.freeyellow.com/israel.html
>
> List of Pro-Israel Resources
> (Learn how to refute false anti-Israel propaganda.)..........