Dear colleagues

Apologies for cross postings - but this email from an Israeli professor of
sociology might be enlightening in these terrible times in Israel/Palestine.

Ronit Lentin



>Dear Friends,
>
>Please circulate this article to your friends, journalists you know and
>web sites that could want to post it.
>
>Yours,
>
>Lev Grinberg
>
>ISRAEL'S STATE TERRORISM
>By Lev Grinberg *
>
>    What is the difference between State terrorism and individual
>terrorist acts? If we understand this difference we’ll understand also
>the evilness of the US policies in the Middle East and the forthcoming
>disasters. When Yassir Arafat was put under siege in his offices and
>kept hostage by the Israeli occupation forces, he was constantly pressed
>
>into condemning terror and combatting terrorism. Israel’s State
>terrorism is defined by US officials as “self-defense”, while individual
>
>suicide bombers are called terrorists.
>    The only “small” difference is that Israeli aggression is the direct
>
>responsibility of Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Ben Eliezer, Shimon Peres and
>Shaul Mofaz, while the individual terrorist acts are done by individuals
>
>in despair, usually against Arafat’s will. One hour after Arafat
>declared his support of a cease fire and wished the Jews a Happy
>Passover feast, a suicide bomber exploded himself in an hotel in
>Netanya, killing 22 innocent Jews celebrating Passover. Arafat was
>blamed as responsible for this act, and the present IDF offensive has
>been justified through this accusation.
>    At the same time, Sharon’s responsibility for Israeli war crimes is
>being completely ignored. Who should be arrested for the targeted
>killing of almost 100 Palestinians? Who will be sent to jail for the
>killing of more than 120 Palestinian paramedics? Who will be sentenced
>for the killing of more than 1,200 Palestinians and for the collective
>punishment of more than 3,000,000 civilians during the last 18 months?
>And who will face the International Tribunal for the illegal settlement
>of occupied Palestinian Lands, and the disobedience of UN decisions for
>more than 35 years?
>    Suicide bombs killing innocent citizens must be unequivocally
>condemned; they are immoral acts, and their perpetrators should be sent
>to jail. But they cannot be compared to State terrorism carried out by
>the Israeli Government. The former are individual acts of despair of a
>people that sees no future, vastly ignored by an unfair and distorted
>international public opinion. The latter are cold and “rational”
>decisions of a State and a military apparatus of occupation, well
>equipped, financed and backed by the only superpower in the world.
>    Yet in the public debate, State terrorism and individual suicide
>bombs are not even considered as comparable cases of terrorism. The
>State terror and war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli Government are
>legitimized as “self-defense”, while Arafat, even under siege, is
>demanded to arrest “terrorists”.
>    I want to ask: Who will arrest Sharon, the person directly
>responsible for the orders to kill Palestinians? When is he going to be
>defined a terrorist too? How long will the world ignore the Palestinian
>cry that all they want is freedom and independence? When will it stop
>neglecting the fact that the goal of the Israeli Government is not
>security, but the continued occupation and subjugation of the
>Palestinian people?
>    As Israelis in the opposition, we are fighting against our
>government, but the international support that Sharon receives is
>constantly jeopardizing our struggle. The whole international public
>opinion must be reverted, and the UN must deploy intervention forces in
>order to stop the bloodshed and the imminent deterioration. Israelis and
>
>Palestinians desperately need the awakening of the international
>community’s public opinion and a reversal in the global attitude. These
>are needed both in order to save our lives (literally), and preserve our
>
>hope in a better future.
>
>* Dr. Lev Grinberg is a political sociologist, and Director of the
>Humphrey Institute for Social Research at Ben Gurion University
>
>Attachment Converted: "C:\EUDORA\Attach\artTerror1.doc"
>

        Dr Ronit Lentin
        Course coordinator,
        MPhil in Ethnic and Racial Studies,
        Department of Sociology, University of Dublin,
        Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.
        Tel: 353 1 6082766. Fax: 353 1 6771300.
        Email: [log in to unmask]
         http://www2.tcd.ie/Sociology/mphil.htm