----- Original Message -----
From: Maurer at ems-online.org
To: ems_nahost at hotmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, May 21, 2002 6:19 PM
Subject: Infodienst Nahost: Avnery traf Arafat
EMS-Informationsdienst zur Lage im Nahen Osten
Von: Andreas Maurer at MISSIONSWERK am 21.05.2002 18:19
An: ems_nahost at hotmail.com
Kopie:
Thema: Infodienst Nahost: Avnery traf Arafat
Der israelische Friedensaktivist Uri Avnery traf Palästinenserpräsident
Arafat
in Ramallah. Hier sein Bericht:
Uri Avnery
11.5.02
A Meeting with Arafat
"They want us to enact a constitution? No problem!
I shall ask Israel to send me a copy of theirs and copy it word for word!"
Arafat sent me an amused look. Israel, of course, has no constitution.
That was on Wednesday evening, after five Gush Shalom activists -
Haim Hanegbi, Adam Keller, Oren Medicks, Rachel Avnery and I - had succeeded
in
reaching Ramallah (forbidden to Israelis) and entering the bombed,
fortified compound of the Palestinian leader.
There was a danger that Ariel Sharon, who was returning at the same time
from
Washington, would exploit the murderous suicide bombing in Rishon-Letzion
the
evening before in order to achieve his old aim: killing Yasser Arafat.
That would have been a disaster for Israel and prevented peace for
generations.
We thought that the presence of Israelis in the compound might help to avert
such an attack.
Immediately after Arafat had finished his meeting with the European
emissary,
Moratinos, during which they concluded the final agreement ending the siege
of
the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, he received us for a long meeting.
"I shall give scholarships to the 13 who are to go abroad," he remarked, as
if
continuing the previous conversation, and read us the document he had just
signed.
Since meeting him in 1982 in besieged Beirut, in rather similar
circumstances, I
have met him many times.
I found him relaxed, smiling, self-confident, a little tired.
He laughed when I described the "reforms" that George W. Bush demands to be
carried out in the Palestinian Authority:
Palestine should become democratic like Saudi Arabia, there should be a
separation of power like in Syria, it should be headed by a powerless
president
like Jordan, there must be a unified security service like in Egypt and an
independent court like in Iraq.
The new Bush-Sharon idea of "reforming" the structure of the Authority
(meaning:
the appointment of American agents),
as a pre-condition for peace, does not seem to have made a deep impression
on
him.
Actually, it is hard to decide whether this is a cynical pretext for
postponing
a solution or just a demonstration of monumental stupidity.
"There will be no Palestinian Hamid Karzai," he said, alluding to the
puppet-president the Americans have brought to Afghanistan from outside.
Never before has Arafat been so deeply entrenched in the innermost heart of
the
Palestinian people as now.
His prestige has risen sky-high all over the Arab world, where the masses
compare their own kings and presidents to the man who has endured six weeks
of
siege,
some of them almost without food, without water and electricity, at a
distance
of two meters from the Israeli soldiers (we measured the distance
ourselves),
without flinching.
The idea that somebody from the outside could turn him into a figurehead is
ludicrous.
"The PLO stands above the Palestinian Authority, and I am the head of the
PLO,"
he reminded us.
The PLO represents all the parts of the Palestinian people, while the PA was
elected only by the inhabitants of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem)
and
the Gaza Strip.
During the meeting, senior officers entered several times and reported on
Israeli troop concentrations around the Gaza Strip and Ramallah. It seemed
as if
Sharon's attack could start at any moment.
He paid attention and issued short orders. Yasser Abed Rabbo was present
throughout the meeting, and other senior personalities entered from time to
time
and listened.
We asked about his reaction to the Rishon-Letzion suicide bombing that had
happened 24 hours earlier.
"I have published a strongly-worded condemnation (Arafat used, for the first
time, the Arab word 'irhab', terrorism) and ordered the arrest of Hamas
activists."
He replied. "They have timed the attack exactly during the meeting in which
Sharon asked Bush for permission to carry out his plans against the
Palestinian
Authority and myself. The Hamas leaders knew that they are helping Sharon.
They want to destroy the Authority and don't mind using Sharon for this
purpose."
"Think for yourselves," he continued, "Do I look such an imbecile as to put
bombs under my own seat?" It was almost midnight when the meeting broke up.
The soldiers invited us to a dinner of pitta, sardines, cheese and humus.
During the long night in their company, we became an attraction in the
compound,
which houses more than a hundred armed soldiers of Force 17, who continued
throughout the night to fortify the place with sandbags.
Many of them crowded around us, showering us with questions that showed that
they were immensely curious about the situation in Israel, as much as we
were
curious about the situation on their side.
We were sitting in a great circle in a hall, where all the furniture had
been
moved to the walls, talking and smoking. Haim became friendly with a
youngster
of 17, who had not seen his family in Jenin for four months,
because of the blockade, and was very worried about their fate. Another has
not
seen his family in Gaza for two years. All his possessions have been burned
in
the fires that had broken out in the adjacent buildings, leaving him only
the
clothes on his back.
Adam had a debate with a 25-year old who spoke good Hebrew and remembered
nostalgically the Iraqi Jew who had employed him in the Beer-Sheva market.
There
was a man of 37 who had been arrested at 15 for throwing stones and spent
15
years in prison, and who is now serving as an officer.
Only one soldier did not join in, his face stiff. He listened, saying only
that
he does not believe that peace would ever come. And Rachel took pictures.
All of them wanted to know what the Israelis think, and first of all why
Israel
does not want peace. These terrible "armed men" (as they are called in
Israeli
press-releases), with their various Kalashnikovs, some of them in civilian
clothes ("all our uniforms were burned by your missiles") spoke longingly
about
peace. After some hours of conversation Oren summed up:
"We could sign a peace treaty within five minutes."
There was something surrealistic about the situation: all of them spoke
about
the Ra'is with unbounded admiration. Like us, they expected to be attacked
any
moment by the Israeli tanks, but they had a friendly conversation with the
Israelis who had come their way.
When we lay down, at long last, on our mattresses, side by side with some
"internationals" from several countries who had also come to serve as "human
shields",
I was called to give a live interview by phone to al-Jazeera television,
which
brought the news of our being there into millions of homes all over the Arab
world. Another little bridge for peace.
In the morning, after a quick wash (there was a long line for the bathroom)
we
strolled around the compound, guided by the courageous Netta Golan, who had
been
there throughout the long siege.
A smell of urine and excrements filled all the rooms that had been occupied
by
our army. Somebody had painted Mezuzot on all the doorways. In one room
there
was a high pile of destroyed computers; everywhere the furniture was
destroyed.
On all the walls graffiti:
the Israeli national anthem (with crude mistakes), the name of Israel in
Arabic
(wrong spelling), a slogan in English:
"Isreal (sic) rules". In the walls, the gaping holes that have become a
trade
mark of the IDF, in spite of the fact that all doors had been open.
Outside, heaps of crushed cars. On the side, the black, armored Chevrolet
that
President Clinton had given Arafat as a gift,
squashed, with tank marks clearly visible on the roof. Everywhere the dirt,
destruction and mindless vandalism of the "most humane army in the world".
It did not make us feel very proud.
Der "EMS-Informationsdienst zur Lage im Nahen Osten" dient der Verbreitung
von
Nachrichten und Informationen aus dem Nahen Osten. Er hat nicht den
Anspruch objektiv oder ausgewogen zu sein. Die Zusammenstellung der
Nachrichten ist nicht umfassend sondern bedingt durch die jeweilige
Informationslage im Nahostreferat des EMS. Die einzelnen Beiträge
geben
nicht die Meinung des EMS wieder.
Pfarrer Andreas Maurer, Nahostreferent
Evang.Missionswerk in Südwestdeutschland e.V.
Association of Churches and Missions
Geschäftsführung des Evangelischen Vereins für die Schneller-Schulen
Vogelsangstr. 62, D 70197 Stuttgart
Tel. ++49/711/63678-37, Fax ++49/711/63678-45
mailto:Maurer at ems-online.org
http://www.ems-online.org
Folgendes ist zusammengestellt von Ruth Luschnat aus Berlin
(Part 3: April 23, 2002)
From: Ruth Luschnat
To: frauennetz at listen.attac-netzwerk.de ; FrauenNetzAttac at attac-netzwerk.de ; attacmod-d at listen.attac-netzwerk.de ; attac-berlin-diskussion at listen.attac-netzwerk.de
Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2002 2:30 PM
Subject: [FrauenNetz] a-Vernetz Englisch: Bat Shalom Declaration
Eine Nachricht der Diskussionsliste des FrauenNetzAttac --
Subject: [FeministPeaceNetwork] Israeli and Palestinian Women Joint Statement
Reply-To: FeministPeaceNetwork at yahoogroups.com
Here's the joint Israeli-Palestinian women's peace statement, issued by Bat Shalom and the Jerusalem Center for Women. This was on the front page of the weekend newspaper in Israel. -----Original Message-----
From: bat shalom [mailto:batshalo at netvision.net.il]
Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2002 10:40 AM
To: batshalo at netvision.net.il
Subject: Israeli and Palestinian Women Joint Statement
Bat Shalom & Jerusalem Center for Women Joint Declaration Palestinian and Israeli Women Demand Immediate End to Occupation
Israel has launched a war against defenseless Palestinian communities. The terrorization of innocent civilians, the unlawful killings and arrests, the siege imposed upon President Arafat, and the destruction of property, infrastructures and institutions, can only lead to further escalation, prolonging the sufferings of both nations and destroying any prospects for peace. The climate of fear and the obsession with reprisals that grips our two peoples obscure the true cause of this cycle of violence - the continued and unlawful Israeli occupation of the Palestinian people and their land.
It is our role, women on both sides, to speak out loudly against the humanitarian crimes committed in order to permanently subjugate an entire nation. Right now, in the face of uncontrolled military turmoil, we jointly ask the international community of states to accept its duty and mandate by international humanitarian law to prevent abuses of an occupying power, by officially intervening to protect the Palestinian people.
Beyond the immediate crisis, we know that there is one future for us both. The deliberate harming of innocent civilians, Palestinian or Israeli, must not be condoned. By working together we improve our chances for a better future. We believe that women can develop an alternative voice promoting effective peace initiatives and sound approaches. We undertake to work for this goal together.
Women have already begun to give substance to the recognition that a just peace is a peace between equals. When we call for a Palestinian state (on the territories occupied on 4th of June 1967) alongside the state of Israel, we envision true sovereignty for each state, including control over land and natural resources. We envision a settlement based on international law, which would endorse sharing the whole city of Jerusalem, the dismantling of the settlements, and a just solution to the question of refugees according to relevant UN resolutions. In continuing our joint work together, we want not only to achieve an end to the occupation; we want to help create the conditions for a life of security and dignity for both peoples.
We call upon all women and men, young and old, to join us in our sincere quest to preserve life, human dignity and freedom in our region. Dehumanization, hatred, revenge, and oppression contribute nothing to the resolution of a century of conflict. Mutual recognition and respect of each other's individual and collective rights will pave the way for peace making.
April 2002
The Jerusalem Center for Women and Bat Shalom
Part 1:
Subject: Re: [FeministPeaceNetwork] Ran Ha Cohen: Israel-A suicide bomber?
Reply-To: FeministPeaceNetwork at yahoogroups.com
Hallo Nicole,
thank you for your elucidating statements on suicide and israel, aswell as those about the finacing of Hamas. Those are thouhts to think about. I still want to add some other things i have heared from people or read in the last time
about those issues.
Beforehand i want to tell about an article* i read today about the confused feelings of the majority of people living in Israel.
>From that input i have the feeling that the thoughts you bring in can now only be considered by certain small special circles there. Which doesn't mean that they should no be put forward for making people think differently. Maybe even more so!
It seems to be a kind of "suicidal" confusion + those who want to live think of leaving.
In the heated discussion on those subjects here in Berlin Aneta Kahane (from the jewish community and an NGO against racism) says, that the leaving of the more reasonable people from Israel would bring disaster, since this would only leave the simpler minded people and the danger of more violent solutions against Palestinians, or else a civil war in Israel about the then "non solvable" questions of settlements and the zionist core myth of this state, now having to be transformed to the roots. The former would easely ignite a big wave of antisemitism worldwide including lots of terrorist attaks everywhere.
The article* in taz from 13/14.04 (Anne Ponger) talks about people starting to think to immigrate from Israel because of the situation. Pols made in Israel showing the comlete confusion: 70% are for Sharon, even when 69% believe that he has no political idea for solving the problem; 70% support the actual millitary operation, but 74% are deeply depressed; 70% would not object to a - small - Palestinian state, but neither under Arafat nor under Hamas; 49% are against the Saudid Peace Plan, but 50-70% would agree to a differing grade of dismantling of the settlements, if this would open the chance to bargain security for land with the Palestinians.
Your arguments show the specific situation, the intertwined and mirroring sucidal question. Such the argument of a friend of mine might be only partly appliable:
She told me: During the fight of the suppressed black majority in South Africa against the Apartheit there came a point where the question of suicidal attaks as strategic means was on the agenda. After discussing intensively, the ANC decided not to take up this strategic means, because: it is wrong to choose
ways that make you loose what you are essencialy fighting for!
Very true i think, something to be put forward by both sides towards their suicidal compatriotes.
Joshua from Kongo sayd to this: there has allways been attaks bombings and also suicidal bombings, but you can see a difference still: there are those attaks aimed only at important and responsable leaders, while more right wing attaks are mostly undifferentiated into the other population seen as "the enemy" as such, creating an atmosphere of fear and hatred usefull and familliar to more right thinking. Both sides then will drift to the right. He, after hearing the South Afrika story, goes on: Well, for people living under Apartheit the situation was much worse than for the Palestinians (i don't know if he has made experience of it, i guess not): In South Afrika men and women were forced to live apart, not able to be together, while men had to work in other parts etc.
In the present situation it is not very sensitive to make such statement, but there is obviously no big love from some Afrikans towards the arabic world (history).
There are some people thinking that Sharon, and maybe a good part of the above mentioned people answering the pols, is looking for a solution that would resemble a lot the Homelands inside South Afrika: small islands of the Palestinian State within Israel, not one congruent state. Of course this is the
solution to be prevented, since it is a horror and the suicidal atmosphere will not be releived but go on.
The other article is from Diplo (Monde Diplomatique) 4-02 (Olivier Roy)
(I fear it doesn't exist in english, but for german or french: www.monde-diplomatique.ch, www.monde-diplomatike.de)
about the background of the spreading of "Salafism", the new globalised and strictly reduced and simplistic version of islam, greatly financed by the Imams of Saudi Arabia (which are independent of the governing Monarchy). This article sheds a light on the
different groups and backgrounds in the world, aswell as the existencial and psychic situation of those prone to embrace this kind of fundamentalist offer to
manage with their life situation. It shows how the globalisation has brought about this modern and harsh version of islam, which in fact kills all differences of the cultures of islam and gives a "security" for every possible life situation by making their adepts "independent" >from surrounding influences, ordering them to close up conscously and to abide only to the sharia and the fatwas given out about every simple question (e.g. how to brush your teeth). Inside the muslim world there are a lot of differences, but the strategies of those groups seem to me to bring in a general influence towards strenghening and harshening the use of the sharia, which then puts more pressure on women.
Some of those groups and their adepts (like the Taliban are one) will take on the call to a worldwide Djihad and become bombs if needed. Their enemies are Jews, Christians and other Muslims alike, but first of all the western civilisation headed by the US.
When you say, that the scool books of the Taliban are still produced in the US, this is a very special task for people living there to find out about and make this public, since this is unmasking as unreal any claim of the Bush warriors against (muslim) terrorism, since of all dangers for any culture by fundamentalist (muslim) terrorism, including the islamic cultures themselves, this is one of the ideological key sources. I think, considering this it would be a strong point to unite women of all creeds to voice specific protests against the hypocrisy of the Bush administration and thereby getting visible for
strenghening a discourse of women standing together for waging peace and meanwhile deffending their rights. Was there a contact mail to the WLUML ?
greetings from Berlin
Ruth
4) Israel - A Suicide Bomber?
>Ran HaCohen
>AntiWar.com; April 12, 2002
>
>Palestinian suicide attacks have been singled out, over emphasised and
>isolated from their context in Israel's 35-year occupation of the
>Palestinian territories, the proper infrastructure of Palestinian terrorism.
>
>Professional demonisers like Thomas Friedman work hard to persuade us of
>suicidal lies like the one claiming suicide bombers are "a whole new form
>of warfare" unique to Palestinians.
>[http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/31/opinion/31FRIE.html]
>I truly doubt whether the term "Kamikaze" is of Palestinian origin. There
>were no Palestinian suicide bombers around back in 1991, when Rajib Ghandi
>was assassinated by a suicide bomber; in fact, the person accused of
>launching more suicide attacks than anyone else is not Yassir Arafat (his
>direct involvement in such attacks may be an outright Israeli fabrication)
>but Velupillai Prabhakaran, who heads the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
>
>The Talmud reminds us that people often accuse others of their own faults.
>Is this the case with Israel as well? Can Israel be seen as a suicide
>bomber? Well, the latter part of the term obviously holds true: reports of
>Israeli bulldozers digging mass graves in Jenin have not been confirmed
>yet, but the enormous scale of Israeli bombing in occupied territories
>hardly needs this evidence. During the British Mandate in Palestine
>(1917-1948), the Royal Army considered bombing Jenin from the air, but
>dropped the idea for humanitarian reasons; the Israeli army has now used
>F-16 jets, helicopters and airborne missiles against this city, while
>destroying dozens of houses as well as the entire water, sewage and
>electricity infrastructure by tanks and bulldozers.
>
>But has Israel itself suicidal elements? We'll have to take a short survey
>of Palestinian suicide bombing to get to that.
>
>Suicide Bombers Analysed
>
>Demonisation successfully coats the suicide bombers with a satanic aura of
>ultimate evil, disabling any rational discussion of the subject. Suicide
>bombers are represented as a doomsday weapon, as a threat to world
>security, to civilisation itself (see, again, Thomas Friedman's column).
>It's high time to lift this aura.
>
>In my previous column I argued that suicide itself is not considered a
>crime by most people. The major ideology of modern times, Nationalism,
>often praises sacrificing one's life for one's nation. Israel loves to
>praise itself for everything positive in Palestinian society ("we brought
>them prosperity" etc.) and to blame some "Arab spirit" for everything
>negative. But Palestinians suicidal tendencies maybe have their roots not
>only in Islamic fundamentalism but also in Zionism. Israeli school children
>are raised on the myth of the Zionist officer Joseph Trumpeldor, whose last
>words were: "It is good to die for our country". Similarly, the first
>association Israeli soldiers had in mind for the Palestinians fighting to
>death in Jenin was the Zionist Masada myth, where besieged ancient Jews
>swore to die rather than surrender to the Romans. [Editor's Note: See Item #18]
>
>Suicide bombers, as I argued before, are not different from any other
>weapon. They can be used against three kinds of targets: soldiers,
>settlers, and civilians inside Israel. Let's consider each of these cases.
>
>Bombing Occupation Soldiers is LAWFUL
>
>When acting against soldiers, the suicide bomber has international law on
>his side. Yes: international legislation acknowledges the right of occupied
>people to use force against their oppressors, both inside the occupied
>territories and outside them. Based upon the principles of the Hague
>International Convention of 1907 and confirmed in the Nuremberg Tribunal
>after World War II, this determination was essential to forestall Nazi
>claims that partisans, Ghetto fighters, and other underground resistance
>forces in the territories occupied by Germany had allegedly been
>"terrorists". In the Nuremberg Tribunal it was unequivocally set down that
>resistance fighters, including those who had struggled within Germany
>itself, acted in accordance with the regulations of international law.
>
>A fact actually unheard of in the media.
>
>Bombing Settlers in the Occupied Territories
>
>Bombing civilians, however, is a crime. If Palestinians do it inside the
>occupied territories, the great question is what those civilians, also
>known as settlers, are doing there. Their presence in the occupied
>territories may not justify killing them, but it raises serious doubts as
>for who is responsible for it. Is it the Palestinians legitimately fighting
>occupation - or is it rather Israel, that moves civilians into occupied
>territory contrary to international law, exposing them to Palestinian
>attacks? Israel now claims to be deporting Palestinian civilians from
>battle zones in order to protect them. Why does it let its own civilians
>live in these territories, which are one big battlefield?
>
>In fact, extremist settlers like those in Hebron - 500 settlers among
>120.000 Palestinians in the heart of the city - often refuse to be
>protected. When the army offers to install bullet-proof glass in their
>windows, they reject it, claiming the army should ensure their houses are
>not shot at instead of stopping the bullets at their windows. Is this not
>suicidal?
>
>Bombing Civilians Inside Israel
>
>Okay, this of course is totally illegal and immoral. But have you ever
>wondered how suicide bombers get into Israel? Not in a satanic rain like
>the frogs in Magnolia. In fact, they walk into Israel.
>
>Walk??? - Yes. They cross the imaginary Green Line between Israel and the
>occupied West Bank simply on foot, and then they take a lift, or a bus, or
>a taxi, to wherever they want to explode.
>
>This may sound incredible, but it is true. There is no visible border
>between Israel and the West Bank.
>
>Now the problem of intruders has been bothering humanity for quite a few
>millennia, from China to Berlin; the usual solution is expressed by the
>English term "fence". If Israel had wanted to stop suicide bombers, all it
>had to do is put a fence. This is Israel's weak spot the Palestinians have
>found. It's a very revealing weak spot.
>
>Why does Israel not put a fence? The construction itself is not a problem.
>There are quite sophisticated hi-tech fences nowadays. The Gaza Strip is
>surrounded by one, reducing intrusions to a zero level. A few weeks after
>the Israeli withdrawal from South Lebanon, a fence along the border was
>completed there too. So why not in the West Bank?
>
>There are three reasons why Israel does not put a fence along the Green Line:
>
>(A) First and foremost, as even Israeli politicians admit, it's "a
>political problem". A fence might be interpreted as a border. Israel is
>unwilling to give up the West Bank. Therefore, it rather lets its citizens
>die in suicide attacks. It's as simple as that.
>
>(B) More specifically, the numerous Israeli settlements spread throughout
>the entire West Bank are a problem for such a fence. If the settlements are
>taken in, you have to take the surrounding Palestinian population too, and
>then what's the point. If you leave the settlements out, you solve only
>part of the problem.
>
>The smaller part of the problem, actually. Israel cares much more about its
>200.000 settlers in the West Bank than about its 6 million citizens inside
>the Green Line (indeed, most settlements are surrounded by a fence). Take
>this financial evidence: in the 1990s, the Israeli Government spent on
>every settler an average of 5,428 NIS a year. The national average per
>citizen was just 3,807 NIS. Israeli Arab citizens were worth much less:
>2,402 NIS. The cheaper the citizen, the cheaper his life.
>[http://www.adva.org/settele/settel.htm]
>
>(C) One cannot ignore the propaganda profits. Israel uses terror attack on
>its citizens, especially on civilians inside the Green Line, to justify its
>ever more violent occupation and to endlessly expand its illegal
>settlements. Why build a simple fence, if you can occasionally sacrifice a
>few civilians in return for a huge propaganda benefit for the occupation
>and the settlements?
>
>Looking at the Mirror
>
>So Thomas Friedman is right to argue that by using suicide bombers the
>Palestinians have found Israel's weak spot. This weak spot is the policy of
>occupation and settlements. Had Israel agreed to end occupation and
>dismantle the settlements, as international decisions demand, it could
>simply put a fence along the Green Line and stop suicide bombers. But a
>fence would harm Israel's settlements policy, and this is why Israel does
>not build one. This behaviour, on a national level, is suicidal: the State
>of Israel knowingly sacrifices its own civilians for the Molech called
>settlements. The Palestinian suicide bombers are thus but a mirror image of
>the Israeli policy, a policy which is both "suicidal" (sacrificing one's
>own civilians) and murderously bombing.
>
>-----------------------------
>
>Ran HaCohen is on the faculty of Tel-Aviv University's Department of
>Comparative Literature. He also works as a literary translator and critic
>for the Israeli daily Yedioth Achronoth.
Part 2:
>Subject: [FeministPeaceNetwork] "Let us not take up the wrong fight"
>Reply-To: FeministPeaceNetwork at yahoogroups.com
>
> The following is an appeal published in Le Monde (April 9, 2002). It
>might help balance out certain very nasty images of anti-Semitism in France
>which tend to present the situation as out of control and pitting "community vs.
>community" and involving entire generations of Arab youths. Yes, there's some
>intercommmunity ill will, but that's not the dominant tone. Most people, even
>those who identify with "communities" of one kind or another, are shocked. Many
>Arabs in France, including the most prominent ones, are quite clear on opposing
>anti-Jewish acts. This appeal was signed by dozens of French and/or Arab
>artists, writers, editors and professors.
>
>"Let us not take up the wrong
>fight..." (or: "Let us not mix up our battles")
>
>As Arabs, we assert that the anti-Jewish acts that have taken place in France over
>the past several weeks are intolerable. The anger and rage that the crimes of
>Sharon inspire in us should not and cannot, under any circumstances, justify
>unjust associations and uncontrolled drifts [into hatred, into violence].
>
> Although the investigations by French authorities on
>these hateful attacks have not yet reached firm conclusions, we say that
>whatever the result might be, we call on the Middle Eastern and North African
>communities in France to be extremely vigilant and we wish to remind people of a
>few obvious facts. The Jewish community cannot be
>identified with the Israeli people. Nor is the Israeli people, by a long shot,
>in the image of Sharon. The many Israelis who support Sharon today out of fear
>and insecurity will become more conscious of their blindness if we know how to
>convince them of our absence of animosity towards them, as a community and as
>human beings. Our most precious partners and partisans
>are those Israelis and Jews who work, by the side of the Palestinians, against
>the occupation, repression, and colonization and for the coexistence of two
>sovereign states, Palestinian and Israeli. Many of them have tragic family
>histories marked by the holocaust. It is up to us to show them respect and join
>them on the high ground that consists of knowing how to leave the tribe when it
>comes to defending universal rights and freedoms.
>Let us not fall into Sharon's trap. Let us not mix up our battles. An insult to a Jew
>or an Arab is the same thing. It only profits, in both cases, fascist extremism
>of the likes of Sharon. Defining attacks against synagogues and Jewish-owned
>businesses as "crimes against the Palestinians", Leïla Shahid [spokesperson in
>France for the Palestinian Authority] couldn't have said it any better. Let us
>heed her appeal
>Ce texte est cosigné par / This text is signed by:
>
>Adonis (poet), Ahmad Abodehman, Abdel Hamid Akkar, Malek Alloula, Khalil
>Al Nouaymi, Salwa Al Nouaymi, Mohammad Bahjaji, Hoda Barakat, Jamel Eddine
>Bencheikh (writer), Tahar Ben Jelloun (well-known novelist and essayist), Fathi
>Ben Slama, Karima Berger, Mohamed Berrada, Hassan Chami, Mohammed Choukri,
>Dominique Eddé, Wafa El Amrani, Zeynab El Aouaj, Asmahan El Batraoui, Ibrahim El
>Khalib, Kadhim Jihad, Mohammad Kacimi, Elias Khoury, Idriss Khoury, Rachid
>Koreichi, Abdellatif Laâbi (historian), Wassini Laaraj, Issa Makhlouf, Fayez
>Malas, Alia Mamdouh, Farouk Mardam Bey (Palestinian intellectual), Hassan Nejmi,
>Hachem Saleh, Mayssoun Sakr, Elias Sanbar (poet, writer, editor of the French
>edition of the Palestine Studies Review), Mary Seurat, Abdel Jabar Shimi,
>Gilbert Sinoué, Habib Tengour, écrivains/writers, Yto Barrada, Randa Chahal,
>Fouad El Koury, Safa Fathi, Najib Gouiaa, Joana Hadjithomas, Khalil
>Joreige, Dina Kamel, Nadia Kamel, Michel Khleifi (Palestinian film-maker),
>Ibrahim Khill, Mohamad Malass, Yousry Nasrallah, Mohammad Qassimi, Ghassan
>Salhab, Elia Suleiman, cinéastes, photographes, peintres / Film-makers,
>photographers, painters, Sidi Mohammed Barkat, Hamid Barrada, Marwan
>Bechara (Palestinian teacher and writer in France), Elmostafa Ben Boucetta,
>Mohammad Enkheira, Ali Ben Saad, Claude Brahimi, Faouzia Charfi, Mohamed Charfi,
>Khedija Cherif, Iarbi Choulkha, Hicham Djaït (historian), Anne-Marie Eddé,
>Rudolf El Kareh, Burhan Ghalioun (historian), Sabri Hafez, Abdallah Hamoudi,
>Mohammad Harbi (former Algerian political leader, professor, historian), Bachir
>Hilal, Mahmoud Hussein (two Egyptian UNESCO officials), Adil Jazouli
>(sociologist), Rashid Khalidi (Palestinian intellectual), Walid Khalidi, Bassma
>Kodmani (professor), Hala Kodmani, Khadija Mohsen-Finan, Lotfi Madani, Ilham
>Marzouki, Camille Mansour (important Franco-Palestinian philosopher, jurist),
>Ouardia Oussedik, Hamadi Redissi, Moustapha Safouan, Houari Touati, chercheurs,
>professeurs des universités, éditeurs / Researchers, university professors,
>editors
>
>. LE MONDE | 09.04.02 | 11h42
>Ne nous trompons pas de combat
>
>En tant qu'Arabes, nous affirmons que les actes anti-juifs qui ont
>lieu en France depuis quelque temps sont intolérables. La colère et la rage que
>nous inspirent les crimes de Sharon ne doivent et ne peuvent, en aucun cas,
>justifier les amalgames et les dérives. En attendant l'issue des enquêtes menées
>par les autorités françaises sur les auteurs de ces agressions odieuses, et quel
>qu'en soit le résultat, nous appelons les communautés moyen-orientales et
>maghrébines de France à une extrême vigilance, et souhaitons rappeler, à tous,
>un certain nombre d'évidences :
>
>La communauté juive n'est pas
>identifiable au peuple israélien.
>
>Le peuple israélien n'est pas non plus
>- loin de là - à l'image de Sharon. Les nombreux Israéliens que la peur et
>l'insécurité rangent aujourd'hui à ses côtés prendront mieux conscience de leur
>aveuglement et de leur fourvoiement si nous savons les convaincre de notre
>absence d'animosité à leur égard, en tant que communauté et en tant
>qu'hommes.
>
>Nos partenaires et nos partisans les plus précieux sont les
>Israéliens et les juifs qui ouvrent, aux côtés des Palestiniens, contre
>l'occupation, la répression, la colonisation et pour la coexistence de deux
>Etats souverains, palestinien et israélien.
>
>Un grand nombre d'entre eux ont une histoire familiale tragique, marquée par
>l'holocauste. A nous de leur rendre hommage et de les rejoindre sur cette ligne
>de crête qui consiste à savoir quitter la tribu quand il s'agit de défendre des
>droits et des libertés universels.
>
>Ne tombons pas dans le piège de
>Sharon. Ne nous trompons pas de combat. L'insulte contre un juif ou un arabe,
>c'est la même. Elle ne profite, dans les deux cas, qu'à l'extrémisme fasciste
>dont se réclament Sharon et les siens. Qualifiant les attaques contre les
>synagogues et les commerces juifs de "crimes contre les Palestiniens", Leïla
>Shahid ne pouvait mieux dire. Ecoutons son appel.
