Palestinian Forums for Peace and Freedom
Posted: Sunday, April 23, 2006
by Peter Brown
Peter Brown Freelance Writer
Palestine suffers but is destined to emerge from its pain as a model for the development of future societies.
Just as Mandela’s vision for South Africa created a rainbow alliance, with conciliation triumphant over revenge so will the inherent moral strength and courage of the Palestinian people, whose innate respect for freedom and fairness has been forged through constant struggle in a just cause, triumph over adversity.
Fundamental Islam may be feared and generally misunderstood by the west but the western powers fail to appreciate that their own ideals embracing concepts of globalisation and materialistic excesses of rampant capitalism and imperialism are no less extreme and represent core values which are rejected by people across the globe. One only has to look towards South America to see challenges to the new world order. Messianic leadership in the west assumes that their vision for the world is the sole vehicle for universal freedom but democracy as a concept, which involves and empowers people in formulating policies which are followed by their elected leaders for the common good, is not reflected in our systems. Power is increasingly exercised by corporations for corporations. Politicians are not perceived as the people’s champions and are more likely to be despised and mistrusted by the electorate. It is a common belief in western societies that our leaders are out of touch with the people and that their agenda is set by big business.
In western democracies there are many who feel powerless and choose not to vote because the choices they are offered are all the same. The unfortunate rise of the Nazi BNP in the U.K. reflects a rejection of the status quo by swathes of the working classes.
Islam’s values offer more for the oppressed and poor and its more moderate influences will find its voice in the new Palestine.
Hamas must preserve its impeccable rejection of the state of Israel but it knows it has only borrowed the trust of the Palestinian people. Hamas are realists and their legitimacy to represent their people must be respected by the West. Western powers are fundamentally misguided in their insistence that there should be pre-conditions to peace negotiations with Israel.
Lasting peace will only be achieved when Israel ends its occupation, moves its borders and is then recognised as a legitimate state by a free and sovereign Palestine. Palestine cannot continue as a Bantustan. Its Forums will not allow it.
Peter Brown.
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More commentsthis is really good i like the way that you really got to our hearts it really does work and it makes you think doesn't it about the people who are suffering this really is good well done sir
What utter nonsense. Comparing this section of geopolitics to anything having to do with Apartheid S. Africa should be deemed a crime. Apartheid is a system that was based on racial separation rootewd in Christianity. Both Arab AND Jew are not only of the same race, they are of the same sub-grouping! Not to mention that 2 million plus Arabs are full and equal citizens of Israel, enjoying EVERY single right that Jewish Israelis do! Then, consider that there has NEVER been antion of Arabs there, nor did Israel ever refuse them self-determination! In 1919 both were offered states with the proposed Arab nation being a full 60 plus percent larger! Had they not refused, Trans-Jordan would not have been created by the Brits 3 years later! Arabs suffer because they made and continue to make poor choices. Stop bombing babys in pizza resturants and maybe Israel will Withdraw from the WB as it did from Gaza, as Israel planned more than 2 years ago. Westerners for the most part haven't a clue. So fascinated with that part of the world, as they rape the rest of it. Spolied children! Shame!You must have a peculiar bias and vested interest to miss the similarities between apartheid S. Africa and OCCUPIED PALESTINE. Nothing you have said refutes Peter Brown's comments! And stop the unneccessary insults.
Furthermore, how is Israel OCCUPYING a nation that has NEVER existed! Was Jesus "Palestinian?" Was Ma'sah'dah a HAMAS fort now? Such ignorance. Shame. Both Gaza and the WB ARE and have been for 4500 years Jewish lands. The WB of course is Judea and Samaria, both Jewish lands. Arabs are interlopers who already have 32 nations of their own without the PA, one of which, Jordan, is populated 80% wise by people calling themselves "Palestinians!" Israel still recognises the need for self determination by a group that did not exist until 1948 due to their cohesiveness and the hatred shown them by their Arab brethren who have refused them citizenship in every nation they REmigrated to, save Jordan that had no choice. Finally, the author has an amazing ignorance concerning Islam. A religion that says Jews should be reviled is nonsense. Yet, if people choose to follow it, good for them. Just do not tell our single nation of 5 million to lovingly embrace the culture of hatred that has already coopted 57 other nations. Arabs are native to one place, Hejaz, a tiny area in what is now Saudi Arabia. By VIOLENT expansionism centred around Outer Jihad they have migrated to all of N.Africa north of Sahara, and all of the Mid-East. Let them enjoy their 32 nations but do not expect us, the only people surviving who have ever had a nation there to bow down to them. HAMAS' Charter has 7 articles calling for EXTERMINATION of ALL world Jewry! It claims the Jews are behind the Holocaust, control all world economic institutions (how original), behind all wars since the French Revolution, control all world media, and that the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is completely factual! Yes, tell us how charitable Islamic fundamentalism is. How typical of Westerners, dictating terms to a part of the world they have no buisness being in.
rachamim ben ami from mindanao, philippines - you do not know what you speak of, and if you do know tha in which you speak of, you do so with a forked tongue - and not single word do you utter in which there is not a messenger upon your shoulder to write it down, and on the day of severance, those words will close in around you on all sides, and you will have nowhere to run...
Please do not bombard Peter's writing... which was written two years ago... in this rude manner. Your naive view that Israel could not be guilty of occupying Palestine flies in the face of international law, and common sense! As for your peculiar assertion that Peter making a connection/comparison between Palestine and Apartheid South Africa was utter nonsense which should be deemed a crime .. you should note that your Israeli Prime Minister shares Peter's views prior to Inniapolis " Mr Olmert told the liberal daily Haaretz: "If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights (also for the Palestinians in the territories), then, as soon as that happens, the state of Israel is finished." I think in future you should write your own piece about Israel's God given right to occupy most of the Middle East and their occupation of Gaza/WB instead of attacking Peter, who is in my opinion , a far better writer than you are!!!!
Excuse me but he invites comments. To take issue with a political position is a given. Politics, being among the most contentious subjects on Earth naturally invites different perspectives. Israel is guilty of violating International Law? Where is the trial? Not even an indictment. You know why? Israel is administering a land that has only ever had one nation on it, a Jewish Nation. The same is true for most of Gaza of course but then Israel ceded it out of pragmatism, not morality. An Arab in Gaza is telling an Israeli Jew that Israel is occupying soemthing? Arabs are native to only one place, Hejaz in Arabia. When they first appeared in history, roughly 400 years BCE, we had already been in Gaza, and the rest, for the better part of 2100 years. Think about it before tossing out "occupation." Talk about common sense... You have no idea what Olmert was talking about. He was saying what I just said, that to maintain a hold on Gaza, and most of the "WB" would mean we would have to annex it. To annex it, as a liberal democracy, we would then be faced with a S. African quandry. How do we annmext it and not offer equal citizenship to its Arab residents? As a liberal democracy we cannot. We would of course have to give them the vote. To give them the vote of course means that with a simple election, Arabs could then do what decades of terrorism and propaganda could not, it would ngate the Zionist character of the Jewish State. This is the reason why Sharon founded Kadimah, the party to which Olmert belongs. How is it possible that you live in Gaza and could be ignorant of this? using Gaza as the example, which was the initial rationale, 20,000 Jews were living among more than 2 million Arabs in an area less than 11 miles long north to south. It is the most densely populated spot on the planet. To police it, we deployed 45,000 regular troops every day of the year. It is not saying Israel is S. Africa. On the contrary, it is showing we are not. In any event, how would you call Israel, a nation with more than 2 million Arab citizens of its own, an Apartheid State? not to mention that even "Palestinians" are the same exact race os Jews so the phrase Apartheid is ridiculous and used out of sheer ignorance and/or hyperbole.Oh dear, dear....You know as well as anyone that Israel would NEVER allow a SINGLE, DEMOCRATIC, country where all citizens, Jew or Arab could enjoy equal rights!!!The Israeli's only want a Jewish state... they will not contemplate anything else!There will therefore need to be a two state solution with a viable Palestinian State.You can believe it is God's will that Israel dominates her neighbours and fail to recognise the arab property rights but you are living in the real world and should abandon your zionist fairy tales...
Your arguments are simply ridiculous. 600 years ago there wasn't a single american in America. Should they give the whole country back? Obviously not. The problem with your point of view is that it's 4000 years old. In todays world we shouldn't be stealing land from people who have been living on it for centuries. Palestinians ancestors of about 50 generations ago stole the land from the jews (not even, Romans were the ones to shatter Israel, not arabs). That doesn't give you the right to kick out todays palestinians from the land their great great grandfather lived on. The word Apartheid is adapted to the situation. I frequently visit Israel and can tell you that Palestinians cannot even afford to drink coca cola. Palestinians in Israel have a house, have money to buy food and water. Wich is great. But that's about it. They cannot live the same life style as the jewish population. They are heavily subject to racism when seeking out jobs. They have the same rights on the paper wich is why Israel can defend itself against international accusations. But go to Israel to see for yourself. Palestinians do NOT have the same rights, they live a much harder life.
And Israel is 1 mio arabs. Not "more than 2 mio"
"600 years ago there was not a single 'American' in 'A,erica,' whould Americans give the land back to the Natives?": IF the Native Americans have managed to maintain a very cohesive culture, and enjpy enough of a population to make it a viable endeavour why should that not have their land returned to them?What Euorpeans have done in the Americas is the worst crime against humanity EVER. IT makes the WWII Holocaust pale in comparison in terms of final numbers and yet you make it sound as id correcting this huge injustice would be a neagtive thing?"Racahmim's worldviewpoint is 40000 years old, that is the problem.": First, Jews have CONTINUOUSLY LIVED THERE, not lived there 4000 years ago and left. WE have always been there only falling into minority in later years. Yet, we always held the majority in Jerusalem, Caesaria, Tiberias, Safed, and so on.Our continued existence on the land is not what grants us our nationhood, our statehood. Statehood is due to the UN legally ratifiying the Resolution that legalised our nationhood in 1947. The issue of how long we have lived there has to do with ignoramuses trying to portray Israel as a nation of interlopers and/or colonialists. A nation of occupiers.We exist legally and righteously by the provenance of the World Body and by the International Courts. If one wishes to throw morality into the mix as the original author here has done, than that subject must also be confromnted and this si why it matters just how long we have been there, and so on."Palestinians whose ancestors of 50 generations ago...": Try 4 generations mate. Fact is, The Turks, and British after them all took very accurate population census and these show an inrease in 3 digits over every 10 year priod, an increase in the Arab demographic that could only be actual IF supported by a huge influx of Arabs from other places."50 generations?" Well here is the good news, today we have genetic scienmce that would show if indeed "PAlestinians" were the decendants of 'Umar's armies as they swept through the land on their steeds and camels. Guess what? Very few "PAlestinian" if any have anything more than 300 years on the land with the vast mojority having ancestors who arrived in the latter 1800s CE/AD.It would behoove you to study instead of relying on fringe sites and spurious information that has no basis in reality."Romans were the ones to shatter Israel, not Arabs.": Romans WERE the ones who shattered JEwish Government there, absolutely but we Jews held the mjority population wise, culturally wise, well into the Byzantine Era, the era immediately preceeding that of the Islamic Advent. So, when Khalifa 'Umar rode his fast legged camel into Jerusalem and began tearing down the remnants of the 3rd Temple so that he could build that monstrosity, Mosque of Omar, we were still the vast majority in the land and our culture was the culture practiced.Take a look at your map one day, look at al Hejaz the only true Arab home. Then look at every nation around it in every direction and see what "Arab Expansionism" has wrought. Even if Jews had had their homeland decimated before Arabs, it was the Arab People today who squat in our villages, farm our land, claim our holy spaces, and make war over it so what of the Romans. We saw the Romans rise, and fall, we saArabs rise, and indeed we will watch them fall like the rest. This however does not change the fact that they have committed terrible crimes while pointing their fingers elsewhere.Ciam Gaza? A Land ruled by Jews in the time of King David? A place where the Jews joined the Byzantine Garrison to tend off Arab marauders? A place that held a vast Jewish majority until 1825? Seesm that at the very least you get yourt facts straight."The right to kick Palestinians off of land that their great grandfather lived on.": First, in truly legal terms it certainly does. If old great grand dad squatted on my land he needs to leave and post haste. That however is not even an issue since as I said earlier, Israel and its predecessor the Yishuv agreed in 1919 (officialy listed as 1921) to COEXIST with Palestinians and indeed allowed the Arabs to have the vast majority of the land!What happened then? Care to tell us? ARABS REFUSED AND MADE WAR, as they continue to do today."The word 'Apartheid' is adapted to the situation.": Fiurst off, you make no sense at all. The word "Apartheid" has an exact meaning. Ergo, if you choose to apply that word tyou are suggesting soemthing very precise. You are not talking about the price of coal. That is laughable. You are condemning an enitre nation, Israel, to be guilty of the most vile form of racist violence known in recent history.You viosit iIsrael many times? It is possible but I tend to think you are laying given the misinformation you have represented so far. There are Israeli Jews who are as left as it gets and they are right in front of the situation so if they are able to hold such acidic views why should it be impossible for you? So, you visit.Your comaplint then is that PAlesatinians cannot buy cola? QWow, life is terrible for them. Guess what genius, they have strip malls and supermarkets EVEN IN GAZA. Not to mention the fact that even with the Gazan Blockade we have Israeli Jews manning Crossings like Kissufim where we withstand mortar fire just to shi0p them humanitarian aid. That is the jist of it, as we send them food they send us rockets.You agree that Arabs have equal rights, but still try to defend your use of the word "Aparthied." I will try to be patient and imagine you to be very young, maybe 15? In your mind you might equate matters of social justice with vile racist laws but it is not one and the ssame. You are absolutely correct that Arabs cannot have all the same jobs as Israeli Jews. Do you know why?In ISrael we all serve in the armed forces for at least 3 years and your military record pretty much dictates what kind of job you are going to get. Most Arabs refuse military service (they do have an alternative called National Service where they do strictly community service type things like help old people in their own community) but still, they refuse to serve. To rectify this apprent disparity, the Govt. has a programme of Affirmative Action and still Arabs lag behind. Their bad choices once again. Do not blmae ISrael.Any Arab, even a "Palestinian" can buy a condo in Tel Avivi but should any Jew try to buy land in Ramallah or in Khan Yunis it is a capital offence. Want to talk of Apartheid? Talk about the kind being practiced by Palestinians AGAINST Jews.As for your last post about "1 mio not 2 mio," I have no ideas what you are talking about. If you mean to talk about the population of ISraeli-Arabs, there are actually far more than 2 million within the GreenLine.Arabs buying property in Tel Aviv? Israelis occupying property in East Jerusalem!This joker attacks PB but exposes his own racism by demanding a Jewish state whilst denying the rights of Palestinians to have their own state!He no doubt wants them all to leave the vast expanse of land he claims for Israel!Remind us again the extent of your zionist map... Jewish encroachment of west bank and particularly east Jerusalem is designed to scupper a viable Palestinian state.If the Israelis are unprepared to live alongside a Palestinian state and are determined to colonise the area we will all have to fight them one day..."Your comaplint then is that PAlesatinians cannot buy cola? QWow, life is terrible for them. Guess what genius, they have strip malls and supermarkets EVEN IN GAZA. Not to mention the fact that even with the Gazan Blockade we have Israeli Jews manning Crossings like Kissufim where we withstand mortar fire just to shi0p them humanitarian aid. That is the jist of it, as we send them food they send us rockets."You have neither wit nor shame to post such obviously erroneous comments!You must take stock of the situation and recognise not only the infamous war waged against the people of Gaza but the refusal of Israel to allow entry of much needed materials required to rebuild the shattered strip. Your brave forces of occupation destroyed Gaza's cement factory... what threat did it pose your military??As for the occupiers providing health care and food... it is international law that you do so. You do no favours!You are expert at repeating tired propaganda about the moral and cultural superiority of the Israelis case but unfortuneately for you the world judges the Jewish state by its actions not just its words.Maybe if you described a political solution to the conflict instead of justifying every Israeli action and land grab you could be taken seriously.Maybe you could contribute to the discussion about peace with justice TO ALL not just the Israelis!The resistance is a response to the occupation... end the occupation and the resistance will end too!
Palestine is an occupied land surrounded by prison walls and with economic sanctions. This is a crime against humanity and YES Zionism is an APARTHIED SYSTEM based on the SouthAfrican Bantustan Model. Zionism was the best friend of APARTHEID
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