Wednesday
November 15, 2000
Non-violent struggle? How?
Articles by Mr. Majid Tehranian have always interested me. In particular
his persistence in promoting peace in a peaceful manner. I mean not fighting
for peace, as most advocate.
I have been also been tempted to write some notes on some of his previous
articles but never got around to do it and lost the urge later on. However,
I thought this time I should respond to "More
powerful force". Perhaps coming from the same background I am
prejudiced about the subject of his choice for the article and I feel compelled
to comment.
I suppose he must believe in what he is preaching but I have reservations
about some of the facts he mentions. He says his son is a Jew. I have recently
learned that no matter who the father is you will be a Jew if your mother
is a Jew. This suggests that Mr. Tehranian's wife is a Jew. Why is it that
a person will be a Jew if their mother is a Jew is something that perhaps
Mr. Tehranian can explain?
You then wonder why does a Jew remain as such regardless of the fact
that the blood composition changes? Why is being Jewish so important that
they do not wish to lose their identity? How come 'god' decided to make
the Jews 'the chosen ones'? How come they have been 'promised' the 'land'?
Then perhaps Mr. Tehranian can also explain why the current 'Israelis'
have claim over the piece of land that he refers to as 'Israel'? Is the
possession 50% ownership? The fact is that the 'Israelis' have forced the
Palestinians off their homeland and are now taking over various pieces
of land around by continuously settling at these places and with the help
of the military might of the U.S. they continue displacing Palestinians.
Mr. Tehranian wishes to further peace by engaging Palestinians and 'Israelis'
in peaceful negotiation. This amounts to getting the sheep and wolves talking
to each other. Over the past few weeks almost 200 people have died almost
all of them Palestinians. We are not talking about numbers these were people
(human beings) that were slaughtered by the military machine of the U.S./'Israel'.
How is it possible to soothe those people who have suffered these losses
to come to grips with the peace proposed by Mr. Tehranian? It is easy to
sit back and say that now that you can't bring back these people let's
stop getting more people killed. While he is right in the sense that the
blood shed must be stopped it is so irresponsible asking those who have
suffered the losses to sit at a table and talk about future with those
who have inflicted the losses.
'Israelis' have for a very long time shielded themselves behind the
atrocities that the Nazi Germany inflicted on them. They have used and
are still using this as an excuse to do what ever they wish to do. They
have alienated the Palestinians by suggesting they have been victimised
by the Arab 'terrorism'. Of course in the meantime forgetting to mention
the terror mechanism they used to displace Palestinians and are now using
to leep them off their land. They talk a lot about the Jews who were tortured
and murdered in the Nazi Germany's camps but do not talk about torture
they have been and are still inflicting onto Palestinian captives in their
prisons.
When the three 'Israeli' soldiers were captured by the Palestinians,
their friends all over the world tried to use whatever "diplomatic"
leverage they could to get them freed. Most countries due to economic sanctions
have to accept these "diplomatic" efforts being exercised by
friends of 'Israel' because their survival normally depends on accepting
these "diplomatic" overtures. I am not suggesting that the crisis
in Palestine can not be resolved peacefully. However, we should not forget
that until the question of how the 'Israelis' came to steal that land is
not completely resolved no peaceful outcome will result.
'Israelis' have always been cleared of any wrong doing when they bombarded
various places such as Syria or Lebanon territories using the excuse of
chasing 'terrorists'. They bombarded the Iraqi nuclear power plants using
the same excuse (protecting their safety), suggesting their safety is more
important than the safety of other human beings on earth.
I believe before any thing else is done (such as getting 'Israelis'
and Palestinians talking to each other) there needs to be an understanding
that more than anything else 'Israelis' must be stopped and prevented to
do what they have been doing, that is terrorising the Arabs. They have
been hunting down any person who has been involved during the Nazi Germany's
era in harming the Jews. While this is very noble thing it can not come
from those who have been treating the Palestinians so inhumanly for the
past fifty years.
It is very noble to talk of struggle for justice. Unfortunately the
history of "Israel" has proved over and over again that they
know nothing about justice. I've always had difficulty understanding why
always those who have been victims of violence and injustice turn out to
be the most cruel and unjust.
What is amazing is that Mr. Tehranian suggests that "all acts of
violence on both sides must be stopped". When Palestinians demonstrate
out of their helplessness against injustice by "Israelis" it
can not be called violence. Violence is when "Israeli" soldiers
shoot and brutally kill Palestinian children.
Worst of all Mr. Tehranian suggests that Palestinians must end "terrorism"
against "Israel". While it is "Israel" that has been
and is still terrorising Palestinians. One wonders how could a person like
him promote peace when he is accusing victims of terror. The "Israelis"
have always attacked and killed many Palestinian ordinary people who had
fled for their lives to Syria or Lebanon or Jordan. The "Israelis"
have used the latest weaponry provided by the allies (U.S. Government)
to kill many innocent people and yet Mr. Tehranian talks about Palestinian
"terrorist" acts against "Israel".
Mr. Terhranian also mentions those nations that according to him struggled
for independence in non-violent manner and includes the United States among
these nations. For the life of me I can't remember the non-violent struggle
by the United States for independence (unless he is talking about civil
rights!). I would very much appreciate if Mr. Tehranian enlightens me in
this regard.
With due respect for Mr. Tehranian I hope and wish that he is truly
an unbiased person trying to promote peace. He may have well intentions
but his article suggests otherwise as it reflects a one-sided understanding
of the situation. I suppose before you can solve a problem you need to
clearly define it and have all the factors involved identified.
Jamshid Entesari
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