An Open Letter to Dore Gold and Other Columnists of His Ilk,
Who Propagate the Myth That The US and Israel Share Common Values.
On November 9, 2012, I was surfing the Internet for the
latest news about the abominable Israel-Palestine conflict, when I came across
a column written by Dore Gold in the Algemeiner website (www.algemeiner.com), titled, “On Middle
East peace, Obama will be more realistic in second term.” In it he wrote that
the US and Israel shared
values. Just a few minutes before, I had seen on YouTube three videos of the
IDF soldiers demolishing Palestinians’ houses in the West
Bank . In one particularly heart-wrenching video, the Israelis were
using heavy drills made by the Caterpillar company, the name clearly visible on
the yellow behemoth, to demolish a well built stone house, while three
Palestinian women were wailing, their arms raised up towards the sky, and
terrified children gripping their mothers’ black garbs. Nearly one hundred
Palestinian men, women and children, and a few reporters with video cameras,
watched in silence. And then I read the gross, biased column by Dore Gold about
Israel
and its high moral values. Immensely disturbed, I immediately wrote a comment
and submitted it to the website. Did the editor publish my comment? Well, make
a guess. He censored my comment, of course, but published four comments, all
supporting Israel ,
of course. I was distressed, but only for a few minutes. After all, I have my
own website where I could publish that comment if I wished. One thing admirable
about the Internet is that once an article appears on a website, it stays in
the Ether World for a very long time, indeed. And so here it is:
Dear Mr. Dore Gold,
You are perpetuating the myth that U.S. and Israel share common values. You
have written, “But at the end of the day, the
U.S.-Israeli relationship is based on common interests and shared values and
those will continue to form the fabric of the ties between the two countries in
the years ahead.” I wish to ask you: What shared values? US values, as proclaimed by our Presidents and
political leaders of both parties, are that America Israel
bulldozes Palestinians’ homes not only in the West Bank, but also in East Jerusalem , evicting the residents and pushing them
to pavements as TV cameras from around the world witness and record the abominable
acts of IDF. America Israel ’s strong allies – Britain , France and Germany
have not only pleaded with Israel
to stop the demolition of Palestinians’ houses and stop the expansion of Israel ’s illegal settlements, but also condemned
Israel
Destroying Palestinians’ water
cisterns, taking over Palestinians’ water reservoirs, burning down their olive
trees, killing their goats, shooting and killing unarmed peaceful protesters at
the illegal separation wall: These actions do not conform at all to American
values. So please stop saying that US and Israel
I hope, for the sake of Israel , that sanity will prevail, and that
Israelis will finally decide to halt their march towards firmly establishing an
old-South Africa style apartheid state. I am
distressed to see that in many aspects, for example: Two sets of laws applying
to Palestinians and Jews, separate roads, some roads forbidden to Palestinians,
arrest and detention of Palestinians – even teenagers and young boys - without
charging and trying them in a court of law, etc., Israel Israel
Yesh Prabhu, Bushkill ,
Pennsylvania
Pope Francis calls for peace in Middle East
ReplyDeleteI read on the MSNBC website that the Pope wishes to see peace in the Middle East. He wants to see the Israel-Palestine conflict resolved soon. So I wrote a comment and sent it. But the website refused to publish it. It acknowledged my comment, but informed the readers that it was unpublished. So here it is:
I am glad that the Pope said, "We implore peace for all the world"; but the Pope is a powerful man; his words carry weight; and when he speaks, people pay attention.
Because the Catholic Church says that the Pope represents Christ's teachings, I think he has a responsibility to at least try to say what Christ himself would have said, and do what Christ himself would have done. Christ was a noble man. There is no doubt that Christ stood by the poor, the oppressed, and the powerless. So it is not sufficient for him to plead for an "end to a conflict that has lasted all too long.” Christ never hesitated or backed away from confronting those who perpetrated injustice and those who oppressed others. It would have been a lot more fitting, appropriate, and just if he confronted the oppressors; in this case: Israel, which has occupied Palestine illegally for over 45 years and subjected Palestinians to indignities. I don't think taking sides in this case would be considered political meddling, because this is not a political issue as much as it is a human issue: An issue of freedom, justice and human dignity.
Yesh Prabhu, Bushkill, Pennsylvania
I have been unable to post on this website my new articles I have written. But I can, for some mysterious reason, post them as "comments" to an article already published.middleeastmonitor.com
ReplyDeleteThe peace talks have started, perhaps for the last time, of course, but after more than two months the talks have made no progress, even according to Mr. Kerry. Meanwhile, as long as the talks continue - supposedly for nine months, but Livni says Israel needs more than nine months, even a year or more, perhaps - they give Israel more time to expand their illegal settlements, especially in East Jerusalem. Sooner or later these talks too, like all the previous "Peace Talks", will collapse. When that happens, Abbas should go to the Hague in the Netherlands and knock on the doors of the ICC to charge the Israeli leaders for having committed War Crimes. And simultaneously he should demand for a vote at the UN Security Council on the pending Palestinians application for the recognition of Palestine as a full member of the UN. These actions will give Abbas the leverage he needs to deal with Israel. Without this leverage nothing will change, and Israel will continue to swallow Palestine slowly and deliberately like a python swallows a living lamb.