[GushShalom] In the midst of increasing escalation
Gush Shalom (Israeli Peace Bloc)
info at gush-shalom.org
Fri Apr 4 01:46:15 IDT 2003
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Gush Shalom
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April 3, 2003
[In the midst of increasing escalation, there in Iraq but also here in Israel/Palestine what can
one do but continue to protest, rebuild, refuse and cry out.]
[] Saturday-demonstration against The Wall - joint protest tent to be erected
[] 16 houses demolished - rebuilding activity also Saturday
[] Tomorrow Friday, CO-solidarity vigil harrassed last week: needs support
Four more COs to go to prison
[] "Dress rehearsal in Tulkarm" - Gush Shalom ad
[] Avnery on retroactive terrorists and embedded journalists
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[] Saturday-demonstration against the wall - joint protest tent to be erected
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 13:16:02 +0200
From: Bat Shalom <batshalo at netvision.net.il>
òáøéú áàúø
www.gush-shalom.org
Demonstration Against the Apartheid Wall
Join Us!
The residents of Salfit area invite you to join themin their struggle against the expropriation of
thousands of dunamsin favor of the construction of the apartheid wall and expansion of
settlements in the area.
The first action in their campaign against the wall will be a demonstration that will take place
this Saturday the 5th of April at 10:00 AM.
Transportation:
8:00 Jerusalem - Binyanei Hauma
9:00 Tel Aviv - Habima
9:10 Tel Aviv - North Train Station (El Al Terminal)
Starting Saturday a protest tent will be set up by the villagers in cooperation with Israeli and
international activists. Activists who are interested in joining the protest tent during day and/or
sleeping there at night please contact Ronen: 03-5180658 or ronen at indymedia.org.il
For further information: Bat Shalom 02-5631477, 02-5632622
The Alternative Information Center 02-6241424, 02-6241159
Ronni 054-700640
Further information will be disseminated soon.
[] 16 houses demolished - rebuilding activity also Saturday
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Thu, 03 Apr 2003 17:56:41 +0300
From: Fred Schlomka <fred at icahd.org>
Today the Israeli authorities destroyed 16 homes in the Jerusalem area including houses in Sur Baha
ir and the Shawamreh family home in Anata where ICAHD and the Rebuilding Campaign have been
Building. This is the 4th demolition of the Shawamreh home.
We will rebuild the Shawamreh home again - immediately
If the families in Sur Bahair are willing - we will rebuild there also immediately
This Saturday we were planning to continue finishing the Shawamreh home and plant trees in
their garden. Now we will plan to clear the site and prepare it for another (the fifth) house.
The Israeli Government and the IDF have been escalating house demolitions in Israel and the
Occupied Territories. Show your opposition to these violations of human rights by helping to
rebuild.
When: Saturday, April 5th
Where: Anata, East Jerusalem
TRANSPORTATION:
* Transportation from JERUSALEM will leave from the parking lot of Gan HaPa'amon
(Liberty Bell Park), next to the gas station, at 9:00 AM.
* Transportation from TEL AVIV will leave at 9:00 AM from the Northern Train Station.
Lunch will be provided.
The action will be cancelled in the event of rain
Contact Fred Schlomka 056-875-893 for more details
On Saturday morning contact Victoria 053 440 -517 (Jerusalem transport only)
Please respond by email to confirm your attendance so we know how many buses to arrange
[] Tomorrow Friday, CO-solidarity vigil harrassed last week: needs support
Four more COs to go to prison
------- Forwarded message follows -------
From: "Anat Matar" <matar at post.tau.ac.il>/ neta_rotem at yahoo.com
[combined of two messages]
Next weeknew draft resisters will join their friends in the military prisons:
Yoel Perlman, Rotem Ronen, Mel Bergman and Tal Manor. Sunday morning at 7.15 the
Shiministim group will meet in front of the Tel Hashomer Induction Base (Bakum) to
accompany the first two to the gate. (Details Noa Kaufmann 055-841553)
Last week the "CO-Parents Vigil" in front of the house of Finkelstein was harrassed by
violentLikkud supporters. Therefore:
Join us tomorrow - we, too, are not going to give up!
Tomorrow,4 April, at 14:30.
Address: 12 Halevi St., Petach Tikva.
How to get there: Driving through Jabotinsky St. and passing the Rabin (Beilinson) Hospital,
turn right into Yitzhak Sade St. (second light after the hospital). The street changes names to
Trumpeldor and then Ha'nessiim. At the roundabout turn right into Halevi St.
Tel Aviv meeting point: El Al Terminal, 14:00 (for car owners with empty seats and car-less
supporters.)
[] "Dress rehearsal in Tulkarm" - Gush Shalom ad
[òáøéú òì ôé á÷ùä àå á÷øåá áàúø]
Gush Shalom ad in Ha'aretz, April 4, 2003.
TULKARM: DRESS REHEARSAL
In Tulkarm, IDF officers have deported about 2000 men from their homes
and left them in the open air. Each one of them had to find shelter on his
own.
Colonel David, commander of the Ephraim brigade, took responsibility
for the action, but there can be no doubt that he acted on orders from
the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense and the Chief of Staff.
It looks like a dress rehearsal for "transfer", an army training exercise for
mass expulsion.
The IDF generals exploit the opportunity, when the eyes of the world are
turned towards Iraq, in order to intensify their war against the Palestinian
people.
On the Road Map of Sharon, Mofaz and Ya'alon, there is only one
direction: Palestinians Out!
Where is the voice of the Israeli conscience?
Gush Shalom protests against the decision of Israeli Cable TV to drop BBC
World. This is clearly a political act. Join the campaign to compel them to put it
back. Sign the undertaking to leave Cable TV and use other TV outlets. Details:
www.gush-shalom.org/bbc.
Help us to publish ads
checks to:
P.O.Box 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033,
[] Avnery on retroactive terrorists and embedded journalists
[òáøéú òì ôé á÷ùä àå á÷øåá áàúø]
A Crooked Mirror
Uri Avnery, 2.4.03
[This is a continuation of Avnery's Iraq War series; for earlier parts go to http://www.gush-
shalom.org ]
# Read the Bible. George Bush, we are told, is a deeply religious person, and so is his
yeoman, Tony Blair. It is a pity that they do not read the Bible more.
One of the most beautiful Hebrew sentences can be found in I Kings XX. When he
threatened Israel, the King of Syria boasted of his mighty army and demanded surrender. King
Ahab replied with four immortal Hebrew words, rendered thus in English: "Let not him that
girdeth on (his harness) boast himself as he that putteth it off."
# Retroactive Terrorists. Schoolbooks in dozens of languages must now be rewritten.
The old books said that the men and women of the French resistance in World War II were
heroes. These civilians went out in the night to bomb German trains, kill German soldiers and
execute collaborators. The instructions came from London. They knew that if they were caught,
they would undergo gruesome tortures and be put to death. American and British movies sang
their praise.
The Russian partisans, whose slogan was "Death to the Invader!" made the life of the
German soldiers hell. The partisans were hanged in droves. The original guerillas – for whom
this Spanish word meaning "little war" was coined – attacked Napoleon's soldiers. Goya
immortalized them in his magnificent painting. A whole generation of Israeli children was taught
to admire the Irgun and Stern Group fighters, all civilians, of course, who blew up the
installations of the British army and killed its soldiers. It appears now that they were all vile
terrorists.
# Presstitution. In the Middle Ages, armies were accompanied by large numbers of
prostitutes. In the Iraq war, the American and British armies are accompanied by large
numbers of journalists.
I coined the Hebrew equivalent of "presstitution" when I was the editor of an Israeli
newsmagazine, to denote the journalists who turn the media into whores. Physicians are bound
by the Hippocratic oath to save life as far as possible. Journalists are bound by professional
honor to tell the truth, as they see it.
Never before have so many journalists betrayed their duty as in this war. Their original sin
was their agreement to be "embedded" in army units. This American term sounds like being
put to bed, and that is what it amounts to in practice.
A journalist who lies down in the bed of an army unit becomes a voluntary slave. He is
attached to the commander's staff, led to the places the commander is interested in, sees what
the commander wants him or her to see, is turned away from the places the commanders does
not want him to see, hears what the my wants him to hear and does not hear what the army
does not want him to hear. He is worse than an official army spokesman, because he pretends
to be an independent reporter.
The problem is not that he only sees a small piece of the grand mosaic of the war, but that
he transmits a mendacious view of that piece.
In the Falklands and the first Gulf wars, journalists were simply not allowed to reach the
campaign area. It seems that a bright fellow at the Pentagon had an idea: "Why keep them
out? Let's allow them in, they'll be told what to write and broadcast and eat out of our hands
like puppies."
# Shame. Since the age of 19, I have been a journalist. I was always proud of it. On
innumerable forms I wrote "Profession: Journalist."
I am ashamed when I see a large group of journalists from all over the world sitting in front
of a many-starred general, listening eagerly to what is called a "briefing" and not posing the
simplest relevant question. And when a courageous reporter does stand up and ask a real
question, no one protests when the general responds with banal propaganda slogans instead of
giving a real answer.
Remember the virtual surrender of the Iraqi 51st division? The "uprising" of the people of
Basra that never was? The thousand and one other lies, that have gone with the wind? Where
were the journalists when all this happened?
Almost all the journalistic reports of this war are a crooked mirror. We see in it a
manipulated, distorted and mendacious picture. Therefore, praise be to the few who, like Peter
Arnett, are ready to sacrifice their career on the altar of truth.
# The bottom of the barrel. I am ashamed of being a journalist. I am doubly ashamed of
being an Israeli journalist.
In this war, all sections of the Israeli media have sunk to a new low. No criticism at all get
s
published. The opponents of the war have effectively been silenced. Even in the American
media, some voices of dissent are being heard. In Israel, this is not possible. It would be worse
than treason.
The only exception I know of is the TV reporter San Semama, who stole into Iraq, was
caught by the Americans, imprisoned in a jeep and starved for 48 hours. He saw what was
really happening. Parts of his reports were published here and there, and then the curtain of
silence came down. All the rest – journalists, pundits, the bunch of ex-officers and so on –
appear on our screens, hour after hour, and repeat like parrots the American propaganda-line,
even when it is manifestly ridiculous.
# Toy soldiers. I am especially allergic to "military correspondents". They are indeed a
unique human species, the ultimate he-men, the ultimate soldiers. They are also ridiculous
frauds.
I saw them first in our 1948 war, when I was a combat soldier. When we were lying in the
mud and crawling among the thorns, from time to time we saw such a "soldier", clean shaven,
in a fresh uniform, wearing a helmet and radiating all the martial virtues. These were the military
correspondents, attached to brigade headquarters, associating with senior officers, far from the
front line.
(I really shouldn't complain. When I published my combat-diary after the war it became a
run-away bestseller overnight – simply because not one of these toy soldiers was able to write
an authentic book about the war.)
# The theater of operations. I read somewhere that the briefing room of General Tommy
Franks was created by a professional designer for a quarter of a million dollars. The American
army does invest a lot of money in designing this theater.
I assume that much bigger sums are paid to the professional designers who shape the
public appearances of President Bush. One should pay attention to the scenery – much more
interesting than George W.'s words.
For some months now, Bush is almost always seen against a background of soldiers. The
stage designer sees to it that the soldiers are all around the President, so that from any photo
angle the admiring faces shine behind him.
A few days ago, the designers achieved a special effect: behind the President there stood a
white Coast Guard ship, with red-uniformed sailor tastefully dispersed on it in photogenic
groups. Other sailors were in front and on either side of the President. No scene from opera
could have been better arranged. I would not have been surprised if the President had started to
render an aria. But he only uttered his usual inanities.
# The Great Patriotic War. When the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, Stalin understood
that the Russian people would not lay down their lives for Marxism-Leninism. Overnight he
changed his message. Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Field Marshal Suvorov and Prince
Kutuzov were resurrected in order to win the masses for what was officially named the Great
Patriotic War.
Saddam Hussein does it now. He calls upon his people to stand up and kill the invaders –
not in the name of the Ba'ath party (whose founders were Christians) but in the name of Allah
and the Muslim homeland.
--
Join the fight to bring the BBC back to the Israeli screens.
More details: http://www.gush-shalom.org/bbc
--
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with
\\photo's - of action or otherwise informative
\\the weekly Gush Shalom ad - in Hebrew and English
\\the columns of Uri Avnery - in Hebrew, Arab and English
[NB: extra deliveries re the Iraq War]
\\and an archive full of interesting documents
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