Posts
since Wed, 26 Dec 2007 20:04:17.
By Debbie Menon
August 31, 2009
I usually love elders, I really do. They are indeed usually forebearers of "the Truth."
With due respect to "The Global Elders" I am rather dismayed to put it lightly, by their recent trip to the "Occupied Territories," primarily for their cowardly and limp-willed lack of forcefulness with Israel.
All fine rhetoric, the same kind of nicey-nicey talk we have been hearing, over and over again for sixty years now.
They met with Shimon Peres, under not one but two Israeli flags, and the PLO quislings, but not a single member of Hamas, the democratically elected representatives of the people of Palestine or under a Palestinian banner.
They went to Palestine to see what was happening. This was presumably a fact-finding mission, perhaps even intended to show solidarity with Palestinians. It was certainly not a mission in which they wished to show support or acceptance of Israel or the status quo!
Gaza is not a State, but it is part or Province of the autonomous and legitimate State of Palestine, and it is governed by Hamas, yes, I deliberately reiterate here, the freely and democratically elected Party selected to Govern in the only free and impartial election ever held in Palestine or even in the Middle East or Arab world, for that matter.
Yet, the Israelis denied the Global Elders access to visit the Gaza strip, in Palestine. This is an illegal act, and might be considered an Act of War in an International Law.
And, although they met with the illegal governors of Fatah, the Israeli puppet quisling "government" of Palestine, and the President of "Israel," they did not meet with the head of Hamas.
Instead of protesting and demanding free passage, they acceded or yielded to the Israeli denial of access as if the Israelis had authority to grant or deny access to Palestine or the Gaza.
Not only did these leaders, not insist on or demand access as they had the right to do, but they then paid an official call on the President of Israel, who, by the act of denying them access to a free and sovereign state himself is perpetrating an International War Crime.
I might note that, it is illegal for a US citizen to pursue or engage in private diplomatic exchange or communications with a foreign official of State in any case, so diplomacy might be well-left in the hands of those who are authorized to practice it.
At best, the Global Elder leaders mission might have been called a public relations mission. If so, in my estimate they have failed miserably through lack of forcefulness, principle and courage.
By submitting and yielding to the forceful and illegal intimidation of Israel, and then meeting with the President of Israel in amicable convention, they are making tacit acknowledgement of Israel's authority in this matter;
Are they not?
The best "diplomacy" or PR they could have practiced would have been to drive into the Gaza with those other folks who went in by trucks, which they did not do!
Au Contraire the "blockade runs" by Greta Berlin and Co. of the Free Gaza Movement and George Galloway and Co. of the VIVA-Palestina Movement, stood upon principle and demonstrated the guts to risk their lives and take a stand for those principles.
The Elders, next best chance at diplomacy would be to hitch a ride on the next boat trip with Greta Berlin and Cynthia McKinney. How many of them will?
The toothless paper tigers and diplomats at the United Nations and the United States Government and others whom Mainstream Media parade daily as paragons of diplomacy do not even have the power or the courage to demand access to Gaza, which they and Palestine hold as rights of passage under International Law, and human rights.
The US Government, by it's '"silence" on the "Israeli piracy" of the Free Gaza Boat and "imprisonment of US citizens," by the Israeli government, and by failing to demand their rights of passage, and then actually meeting with the perpetrator, they have not only failed in their duty as representatives of a peoples government, they have indicated submission and surrender to the dictates of Zionism!
A spade is a spade. A limp-willed wimp is a limp-willed wimp, and natural fertilizer is natural fertilizer, where I come from!
I am comfortable with my position and very uncomfortable with theirs.
And, I am not being negative! In the face of all of this passive negativism I think what I have said is the only positive call for someone to take some action instead of continuing to drag on with a six decade-old lament of a bad situation, about which no one of authority has taken any positive position or concrete effective action to this date.
Or in this case, six decades of the same old tactics which have produced absolutely no progress, while, to the contrary, so much more has been stolen.
"Elderly Statesmen and Corporate Media Pundits" sit and junket around, pontificating, and pronouncing, being nice, la talking nicey-nicey and trying to not offend anyone.
"I think this is a perfect example of a totalitarian government regime's ability to make us believe what they want us to believe, over and over again. I think that it is interesting in what is ostensibly a democracy" - Bill Hicks said that. May his Soul, Rest in Peace. He was way ahead of the times.
What I am saying is, it is long past the time to stop being cowards and start demanding something concrete.
Palestine, Lebanon, the Middle East and what they are permitting Israel to do there, is bad enough, but that is merely a small beginning to the big problem which no one has even acknowledged, discussed or begun to confront. And, we talk about investigating some more dead fish in a small pond, and talk about some more "alleged" crimes. It makes me sick!
The ball is in US President Obama's court and, if he does not put it into play, then someone else, such as the "Elders" had better stop talking and start demanding some kind of concrete action.
They are all men of stature and influence and, although none of them has the sovereign authority of a President or Head of State, two of them were, and all together they carry a hellova lot more moral weight than this US President does legal authority.
I am simply full to the brim with listening to and watching this madness, which recommends more futile sessions and keeping the peace, and not offending anyone.
People are being slaughtered by a tiny Nation of unprincipled, amoral, ghouls and butchers, by God, and these men, leaders and governments of the world run around putting on nice faces, being nice to everyone, sticking in their thumbs and pulling out plums and saying "Look at me Ma, what a good boy am I!" For Chrissakes, people are being killed almost daily because of all of this deceit in plain sight!
And, the Press and the rest of the world laps and sucks it up, while awaiting for the next outrage, the next invasion of Gaza, the bombing of Iran, the Invasion of Lebanon once again, and the final scene where there will be no more Palestine or Palestinians to make an issue of. And, eventually the scene will move on, and replay itself out in a new venue, the same script the same game and the same outcome.
This is the way the world is, and this is Israel, the remorseless, unprincipled barbaric in the most and truest sense, of nations. I think the ruthless barbaric sense of superiority and invincibility Israel is, is in the myth of their "Nation" if not their blood, for there is no such thing as an ethnic or blood Jew or "people." These God's chosen people? My God!
I tire of this charade, and it is time someone began calling these shenanigans, what it is, spades are spades, and naming Zionist Israelis for what they are and, not simply calling them to account, but going to their house, knocking on their door, dragging them out, holding their feet to the fire and calling them to account... at the end of a figurative rope if necessary, and virtual ropes if at all possible!
This is my humble opinion, it is not offered for argument or debate. It is simply what I think. Take it or leave it, agree or disagree as you like.
If it is too harsh for anyones taste or diet, then read the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Readers Digest for opinion.
(Debbie Menon is an independant writer, based in Dubai. She can be reached at debbiemenon@gmail.com)
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