Wednesday, August 02, 2006

 

Pacifica Commentary for August 2, 2006

Where did Hamas come from? It rose up as a response to fifty years of oppression and humiliation of the Palestinian people. Where did Hezbollah come from? It was formed as a defense against Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982 which left 22,000 people dead.

Where did the Iraqi resistance come from? It was born as a result of the US occupation of Iraq.

Why don't Hezbollah, Hamas and the Iraqi resistance just sit still? Didn't Jesus say, "When someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn and offer the other."

Well, that is good advice and certainly may apply to random insults. But Jesus did not say, "Just ignore it when your children are held and tortured by a foreign power." He did not say, "Just be quiet when your home is bulldozed." He did not say, "It is OK to allow your mother, your grandmother and your sick to be bombed to pieces."

How could any sane person not expect resistance from oppressed people? Indeed it is the pathology of militarists that they just never get it. What happened? These people are fighting back? They aren't supposed to do that...are they? Why don't they get the message. We have told them that they will comply or die. Can't they hear us?

Why don't you ask the Vietnamese? Why don't you ask the Salvadorans? The Nicaraguans? The Guatemalans? The Colombians?

The Israeli peace movement and conscious people throughout the world are crying out for an end to this massacre. Here is the Gush-Shalom statement in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz which begins with a quote from the Israeli Defense Force.

"We warned them
And called on them
To escape!"

That is disgusting
Hypocrisy.

Because we have:
Bombed the roads.
Destroyed the bridges.
Cut off the supply of gasoline.
Killed whole families on the way.

There is only one way
Of preventing such disasters,
Which turn us into monsters:
TO STOP!

There is no military solution!

Gush Shalom
P.O. Box 3322
Tel Aviv 61033

www.gush-shalom.org
For information:
info@gush-shalom.org

Published in Haaretz, August 1, 2006.

Be sure to listen to WORLD FOCUS locally on KPFK (90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara) and internationally on www.kpfk.org at 10:00 AM on Sunday mornings.

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?