Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 21:09:11 -0700 From: pjw8@dana.ucc.nau.edu (pjw8) Subject: [aiarizona] another letter from the jewish side To: aiarizona@yahoogroups.com
I have received several positive messages about the letter I sent recently (see below for an edited version,to clarify that the person I quoted wasn't Truman but Morris Ernst.) I will be speaking on Israel, Iraq,the US, human rights, oil and the pursuit of capital at the Local to Global Justice Teach-in, Friday April 19th, 3:15pm, ASU Payne Education Building and the Memorial Union Building, this is an all day event with many other speakers, website is www.spidel.net/justice, or email amyjoychamplin @yahoo.com, or saheekil@asu.edu. Thank you, Philippa
Friends, This letter (see below) is not from the Jewish side, it is from the Israeli-Zionist side. I am Jewish and I absolutely deplore the goals, strategies and tactics of the Israeli state. I believe that they have brought shame to the good reputation of Jews everywhere. How can the authors of this letter maintain Israel's 2000 year old land claim? They say the Jews had nowhere to go after World War II, but Zionists were begging countries to close their borders to European jews so they would have no choice but to go to Israel. When President Truman sent Morris Ernst a Jewish lawyer on a mission to explore the possibilities of an international effort for every country to open its borders to Jews after WWII, Mr Ernst wrote in his memoirs: "I was amazed and even felt insulted when actie Jewish leaders decried, sneered and then attacked me as if I were a traitor. ...I was openly accused of furthering this plan of free immigration in order to undermine political Zionism" (Hirst, David, The Gun and the Olive, London: Faber and Faber, 1978, 115.) They say it was the Arab leaders who originally led their people into refugee camps, but Israeli settlers did the deals with the major Arab landlords and the ordinary people were forced off the land; the camps became their only homes. The Palestinians as a people, as a whole, are brave freedom fighters.Israel is simply continuing the same cycle of violence perpetrated by the holocaust in Nazi Germany. You demonise a whole movement and organisations on the basis of Arafat's actions, and you don't recognise the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people. Another thing that is bringing shame to many of us Jews: the Israeli support of sanctions against Iraq, which according to UNICEF has killed half a million children. If you don't like the risks of being killed, you can always leave. The Palestinians in the refugee camps don't have that choice. The whole world is not with Israel. The time has come to give Palestinians their own independent state, and that means giving up a little of the Israeli state, in recognition of past crimes. There are are many Jews who feel the same way I do, so please forward this letter too! Philippa W.
>===== Original Message From snail =====
>Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 12:11:16 -0700
>From: sharps@centerlynx.com ("Andreasen")
>Subject: FW: FW: Open Letter from Sharansky
>To: eichraoren@centerlynx.com ("James Eric Andreasen")
>
>
>Friends,
> I recieved this forwarded message today from
>friends in Israel. Please send it out throughout
>America and help spread Natan's message.
>Thanks,
>liz
>
>
>
>Subject: Fwd: FW: Open Letter from Sharansky
>Note: forwarded message attached.
>
>
>__________________________________________________
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>Reply-To: <kira@sirote.net>
>From: "Kira Sirote" <kira@sirote.net>
>To: "Yossi Sirote" <Yossi_Sirote@swissre.com>,
> "Dovid Friedman" <Dovid.Friedman@gfinet.com>,
> "Gary Levin" <gblevin@yahoo.com>,
> "Michael Berman" <mjberman@netvision.net.il>,
> "CarolynB18@aol. com" <CarolynB18@aol.com>,
> "Dad@Sirote. Net" <dad@sirote.net>,
> "Lewis Alster" <alstmayl@hotmail.com>,
> "Burry & Leah Sirote" <burry@sirote.net>,
> "Josh Mark" <joshhmark@earthlink.net>,
> "Gidon Razin" <Gidon.V.Razin@aexp.com>,
> "Damelins@Netvision. Net. Il" <damelins@netvision.net.il>
>Subject: FW: Open Letter from Sharansky
>Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 00:17:18 -0700
>
>The following is a critically important letter from Natan (Anatoly)
>Sharansky which must receive the broadest possible circulation.
>
>Letter from Natan Sharansky
>
>April 8, 2002
>Jerusalem
>
>Dear Friends,
>As we continue to face critical days and mounting pressures, I feel, it
>important to share firsthand some thoughts on the evnts of the last few
>days.
>President Bush's statement Wednesday concerning events in the Middle East
>was of historical importance. He stated with a simple but profound clarity
>that, " the Palestinian people deserve a government which respects human
>rights." For a decade, the entire civilized world, with Israel and the US
>leading, betrayed its principles by promoting, supporting, and condoning a
>corrupt leader who suppressed any Palestinian impulse and aspiration for a
>free and just society. Israel's leaders cynically and fallaciously reasoned
>that this would be good for us because such a dictator would suppress
>terrorism in exchange for his international rehabilitation and a license to
>plunder his people. It would be easier, our leaders told themselves,
>because he would not be hindered by human rights organizations or by a
>Supreme Court.
>
>This bargain with the devil, as all others, was bound to
>boomerang. Not only did Arafat fail to curb terrorism, herecruited,
>supported, and directed the terrorists themselves in the most cruel and
>inhumane acts of wanton and indiscriminate terror yet witnessed.
>In the face of President Bush's clear statement that Arafat betrayed his
>obligations and refused to fight the terrorists, how can Israel trust him in
>yet another promise to stop terrorism?
>
>Terrorism will be eliminated when we eliminate it, and the terrorists will
>be incarcerated when we take them into captivity. The Tenet agreement which
>is being promoted by the US administration as an appropriate exchange for a
>premature cessation of our efforts at effective self help, is based on an
>obligation by Arafat to
>arrest and punish the same terrorists with whom he is closeted in Ramallah.
>Arafat has not merely failed to thwart terrorism, he has promoted, enlisted
>and paid the terrorists per suicide bomb assembled. He has perpetuated and
>exploited the misery of the Palestinian Arabs.
>
>How can anyone seriously treat Arafat and his corrupt gang of terrorits as
>partners for peace? Arafat has finally been exposed and his naked
>duplicity, wickedness, and corruption can no longer be clothe by us in self
>deception.
>
>By ignoring Arafat's despotism, corruption, and flagrant disregard of
>agreements, we not only betrayed our own principles, we thereby enabled the
>growth and spread of terrorism until it reached the inconceivable and
>monstrous proportions of today.
>
>In the last month, over 150 of us have been murdered either by sitting in a
>cafe, or by going to the supermarket or by celebrating the Feast of Freedom
>with our families on Seder night. Statistically, for our small society,
>this is a loss even greater than that of September 11th. But this story is
>not one of statistics. For with each family suffering a loss, there is
>unbearable grief and pain, and a terrible, never ending void. And for each
>family suffering a death, tens of other families have had members
>permanently disabled, injured, and scarred. At the funeral of my Housing
>Ministry colleague, Aviel Ron, and his two murdered children, his widow, the
>mother of their two children cried out in utter disbelief, "ze lo yachol
>leeheeyot"--this cannot be happening. This is what all of us are all
>saying, and all of us we must do everything in our power to make absolutely
>sure that this does not continue to happen!
>
>What our Defense Forces are doing now is long overdue. Our vast
>intelligence networks are working together intensively to identify the
>leaders and carriers of this explosive and venomous terrorism. We are
>determined to reach the villains and not innocent Palestinians. Because we
>are so careful to avoid unnecessary losses-on both sides- we must proceed
>carefully, deliberately, and surgically. Those we seek out hide behind
>innocent civilians, and especially, children and adolescents. They hide in
>churches and mosques and take monks and nuns hostage. Those we are chasing,
>booby trap houses and even churches. Advancing cautiously means moving
>methodically and slowly. We cannot treat every house as booby trapped and
>bomb it-lest we risk injuring innocent people; but we must treat every house
>as if it might be booby trapped-lest we risk the lives of our young
>soldiers.
>
>Because of these circumstances, we need several weeks to eliminate most of
>the sources of terrorism. This is a job which can be done effectively. We
>have already arrested over 400 terrorists, about 100 of whom actually
>committed the murders. We have arrested those who directed the massacres at
>the Dolphinarium, at Seafod, and at Sbarro Pizza. The terrorist
>responsible for the massacre at the Seder in Netanya was killed in a highly
>sophisticated operation conducted by the IDF and the Security Forces.
>We can do the job responsibly, effectively, and honorably, but we must be
>given the proper time. If we are forced to recede before the completion of
>our mission, we will, at some point, have to return. And the cost to us and
>the price in innocent lives will be far greater.
>
>History teaches us that Jews have often been killed in cruel and unusual
>ways. From the harugei hamalchut in Roman times to the inquisition, pogroms,
>and more recently, the gas chambers. Now, we experience yet another cruel
>innovation--human suicide bombs.
>
>But this time, things are different. For we have a sovereign Jewish State
>to defend and protect its citizens. Israel's first responsibility is to
>protect us from this recent wave of carnage. And by protecting us from this
>new weapon of terror, Israel defends freedom and civilized values
>everywhere. To prematurely end our campaign against this new threat, is to
>place our innocent civilians in harm's way to the detriment of all.
>Israel must be no less resolute in fightng terrorism directed against us
>than the US in fighting terrorism against its citizens. The wishful
>thinking of Oslo has long since self destructed and we can no longer pretend
>that Arafat is a partner for peace.
>
>You are no doubt facing conflicting pressures and will face even more in the
>next few days. The media is reporting what it understands based on many
>fragmented sources. I can promise you that the true story is really quite
>clear. We are a democratic state fighting to eliminate the worst wave of
>terrorism unleashed against a civilian population in human history. This
>campaign which will require several weeks, has only one purpose: to
>dismantle the terrorist infrastructure which was built by the Palestinian
>Authority and its leader Arafat with Israeli, US, and European resources.
>To force us to stop before its completion would be a tragic error. These are
>not easy times but more than ever they call for us to be united in this
>campaign to eliminate terror. This is the humane course; this is the only
>course consistent with President Bush's forthright stand against terror.
>We need your understanding. We need your support. And we need them now as
>never before. I know the power and glory of Jewish unity and I know that
>together we can prevail.
>Natan Sharansky
>============================================================
>
>--
>"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny;
>when the government fears the people, there is liberty "
> Thomas Jefferson
>
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