Dear Friends,

Here are my latest thoughts on the situation in Israel.  Please publish this
opinion if you find it useful.  I am looking for publishers in the United
States as well.  I think it is important for the concept of 'ethnic
cleansing' to be properly applied to Israel's policies.  I find it equally
important to stress that American involvment is what makes the ethnic
cleansing possible.  I know many Americans who feel this way now, and
suspect many more will understand if it is explained to them.  The average
American really does mean well.  Americans just don't understand the
situation because the media and US government statements have been biased so
strongly towards Israel.  Be that as it may, here are my views...

Chris

------------------------

I read a newspaper article recently in which Saeb Erekat, a spokesman and
negotiator for the Palestinians, claimed that getting rid of Arafat was the
real endgame of the Israeli actions.  I am not sure if Mr. Erekat really
said this, but if he did, I think it is representative of the limited
thinking that makes the violence in the Middle East so hard to understand.
Getting rid of Arafat is not the endgame for the Israelis.  Getting rid of
the Palestinians is the endgame.  Getting rid of Arafat is at best the
beginning of the endgame.  Let me explain...

It is time to call a spade a spade and use the proper term for the Israeli
policy in the Middle East. That term is 'ethnic cleansing.'  Israel was
founded on the principle of ethnic cleansing.  Consider the following simple
principles that all Israeli leaders agree upon.  First, Israel must remain a
Jewish state.  Second, Israel must be a 'democracy'.  Third, Israel must
comprise all of the land under Israeli control, including the territories.
If Israel is to remain 'Jewish' AND be a 'democracy', then large numbers of
Palestinians must and have always had to be 'removed'.  The only real
difference between what is happening to Palestinians and what happened to
Bosnians is that the ethnic cleansing is proceeding at a slower pace in
Israel, but the crude cycle of abuse, bate, blame and bludgeon, so
characteristic of ethnic cleansing, is all too obvious.

What is the land that comprises 'Israel'?  From the Israeli point of view,
it is Israel proper AND the 'Palestinian' territories.  Occupation is merely
the first step towards complete digestion.  The Jewish settlement pattern
already makes the Palestinian territories look like Swiss cheese, and the
Israeli government has allocated another 375 million dollars for settlement
expansion this year alone.  What are these settlements?  Nothing less than
fortified camps of well armed fanatics who hate Palestinians.  They are the
vanguards of a policy of total Jewish urbanization.  Israeli 'Doves' might
argue that they have always held out the possibility of a Palestinian state
in these areas, but their claim rings hollow since the settlements got their
start during times of moderate labor governments in Israel.  In order for
Israel to fully absorb these areas AND retain their 'essential Jewish
quality', it will have to get rid of Palestinians.  The US, which rooted out
Milosevich and helped place him on trial in the Hague, is supporting an
Israeli government that is committing ethnic cleansing.

Some might argue that the term ethnic cleansing is extreme in this context,
since it normally involves large numbers of civilians being systematically
slaughtered.  First, large numbers of Palestinian civilians ARE being
killed.  Historically, it has been at the rate of 10 or 20 Palestinians to 1
Israeli.  Only recently has it gotten as close as 4 to 1.  Second, the
Israeli method of ethnic cleansing involves a wide range of methods:  by
crowding the Palestinians with large numbers of armed fanatics who hate
them, by periodically killing civilians in 'reprisals', by destroying large
numbers of Palestinian homes and agricultural assets and generally squeezing
the Palestinian population into desperate slums, the Israelis are hoping
that, given time, the bulk of the Palestinians will give up and leave the
country of their own accord.  We might call this a kinder, gentler ethnic
cleansing...

So why would the US support such an awful regime?  Some suggest that the US
supports Israel because it is the only democracy in the region.  As noted
above, Israel is not really a democracy at all, and will never be one unless
it can eliminate the Palestinians.  Others say that the US needs Israel to
help look after the US national interests given the rich oil reserves in the
region.  I submit that the US would probably get along MORE easily with the
Arabs who actually control the oil if it wasn't sponsoring Israel's ethnic
cleansing of Arab people...  The real reason for US support involves the
simple and obvious fact that the US government is very easily bought.  The
main sin of the Palestinian people is that they are running a rich American
cousin deficit.  This may sound like the worst kind of 'anti-Semitic'
conspiracy theory.  It can easily be checked, however, by reviewing the size
of the Jewish lobby in Washington, the records of its spending habits and
the resultant enormous aid and support for Israel.

Does this unflattering review of the Israeli government imply that Jews are
some uniquely awful, conniving race of people who are pulling dirty,
deceitful tricks to further their cause?  Not at all.  It means Israelis are
just like everybody else...  I, as an American, can certainly claim no moral
basis for criticizing the Jewish state, as any native American can tell you.
As a person of German decent, I cannot take pride in what the Germans did in
World War II.  My reason for reviewing Israel's actions is simply to take an
honest look at what is really going on, namely, ethnic cleansing.  The
Israelis need to quit hiding behind the myth that they are a democracy and
are behaving in a decent and honest manner.  Israelis need to admit that
they are committing ethnic cleansing and ask themselves if this is the
legacy that they wish to leave their descendants; if this is indeed a
fitting monument to the 6 million dead from World War II?  The Americans
need to quit hiding behind the myth that there is nothing they can do about
the problems in the Middle East, when American sponsorship is what makes
Israel's ethnic cleansing possible.  US citizens must face the fact that
they are committing ethnic cleansing by proxy, and ask themselves how they
really feel about it...

The only solution to this tragedy that does not involve the ethnic cleansing
of either the Palestinians or the Jews, is for Israel to become a genuine
democracy and extend full citizenship to everyone, regardless of race,
religion or gender.  If the Israelis are wise, they will also throw in a
generous war reparations package for dispossessed Palestinians.  The two
state solution is probably no longer an option since there is no land left
for a viable Palestinian state.  In short, the Israelis are going to have to
join the community of civilized nations and become a genuine, modern
democratic state.  Israeli hawks will rise up in self-righteous indignation
and exclaim that this is unacceptable!  They may well get away with it too,
as long as the United States is backing them.  This means the real and final
solution also requires the United States to do an about face in the Middle
East and return to its core value of the right to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness for all, regardless of race, creed or gender.

Will the United States government have the guts to admit its errors and
stand up for it's own principles?  Will President Bush see the uninformed
arrogance of his simplistic mantra, "Arafat must stop terror first!", and
realize that he, Mr. Bush, needs to stop the American sponsored ethnic
cleansing of Palestinians first?

On this point, I remain a hopeful cynic.  As they say, "Money talks!"

Dear Friends,

It is Easter Sunday, 2002.  A day, which in the Christian world, is full of
hope, life and rebirth.

On this day, the Israeli government will turn out the lights in Palestine.
When the lights are turned back on, there will be many dead bodies, and the
casualty ratio of Palestinian to Israeli will have swung back strongly in
favor of the Israelis.  Summary executions will be the order of the day.
The clock for the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians will have moved
another tick.  This will have happened during the reign of George W. Bush
and Colin Powell.

I pray that this will not be the case, but I very much fear that it will be.

Chris

A man is lying on the ground.  A large boa constrictor has wrapped itself
around the man and is slowly squeezing him to death.  The man looks around
in desperation and sees another large man standing near by in a colorful,
red, white and blue suite with tails and a button with the words 'Uncle Sam'
on it.  With some effort, the man on the ground manages to free up one arm
and taps Uncle Sam on the shoulder and says, "Excuse me kind sir, but I am
being crushed to death.  Could you please help me?"  Uncle Sam smiles
quietly at the victim and says, "Certainly.  I will just feed the snake some
of the food that it likes and talk to it soothingly, and it will not coil so
tightly around you, for it is my pet, you see, and I know it well..."  The
boa, however, only knows one action, and that is to coil tighter until its
victim grows cold and still.  Now and again, the suffocating man grows
impatient with his desperate situation and struggles against the snake,
sometimes even striking against its muscular sides.  The snake takes
advantage of these opportunities to slip its coils ever tighter, for such
gains, once made, are easy for the snake to hold...

Sound familiar?  The man on the ground is the Palestinian people, the boa
constrictor is the radical Israeli Government and Uncle Sam is, you guessed
it, the United States.  The squeezing of the coils of the snake is the slow
and agonizing ethnic cleansing that the Israeli government is committing
against the Palestinians by building settlements, killing people, destroying
business and agricultural assets, wiping out governmental bodies and
infrastructure, etc.  The struggling of the man against the snake is the
suicide bombings and attacks by Palestinians against this aggression, which,
however understandable, are ultimately not in the best interests of the man
because it merely speeds up the process of his suffocation.   It should also
be obvious that aspects of the Palestinian terror are appreciated by the
Israeli government, since it speeds up the process of ethnic cleansing.
Even a boa constrictor can become a bit impatient.

It may be tempting to generalize this illustration and say that the snake
represents the Jewish people, but this is absolutely wrong.  The snake of
this story represents the greed, pride and self-centeredness that lies
latent in all of us and shows up in cultures as radical fundamentalism and
nationalism.  It is something that is to be resisted and countered wherever
it is found.  It is a syndrome that seems to turn up frequently in cultures
that have themselves undergone times of stress.  The Germans succumbed to
Nazism following the hard times after World War I.  Israelis seem to have
fallen prey to a narcissistic form of Zionism after the Holocaust.  We will
have to be careful that the Palestinians, should they be given a chance to
recover, do not rebound into a similar fanaticism after more than 50 years
of a slow and grinding ethnic cleansing.  It is incumbent upon responsible
nations of the world that have the resources to help pick up the Palestinian
people and carefully nurture them back to health; not because the
Palestinians are a weak people, but because they have been traumatized for
so long and need our help.

I am encouraged in this regard by an interview that I saw this morning.
Bryant Gumbal spoke with a young Jewish American who is in the trenches with
the Palestinians and International peacekeepers in Ramallah.  This young Jew
explained and defended the Palestinian position on International television
because he knows that it is the right thing to do.   He is asking for more
International peacekeepers to stand with and protect his Palestinian friends
in their hour of darkest need; where summary executions are becoming the
order of the day.  This man and the countless Palestinians and International
peace keepers huddled in Ramallah deserve our support.  Their vision of a
brighter, saner tomorrow needs to be heard.

Chris