| October 25, 2006 Clash of Civilizations? Wrong, Mr. Harper! ... reactionaries within our own society who are stripping complex conflicts of their historical and political contexts, and defining them as clashes of civilizations and/or religions, are a reflection of the very extremists they condemn. By Bahija Réghaï
Mr. Harper said that his standing up with Israel has been guided by Canadian values: “Freedom. Democracy. Human rights. The rule of law. And the uncompromising opposition to terrorism.” In fact, his position is contrary to all these values. Freedom – Palestinians want it. Israel denies it to them. Who could fault Palestinians for adopting the popular American motto: “Live Free or die”? Democracy – Even before the 2006 election that brought Hamas to power, institutions of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), including the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) or Parliament, were not able to meet for years, or function as they were meant to because of Israeli military sieges, closures and roadblocks. The current PLC was elected in what was deemed a model election. The Palestinian democratic will, however, does not seem important to Israel as it holds in Israeli prisons members of the current Palestinian government. Israeli Professor Avi Mograbi said recently in an interview that Israel may be a wonderful democracy for Jews, but it is a military dictatorship to Palestinians. Human Rights – Although Canada and the world agree that the Geneva Conventions apply to the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Israel has not only ignored all of its responsibilities vis-à-vis the people it occupies, but has imported and still continues to import and settle its own citizens on occupied lands - a grave breach of the Conventions. The Shabaa Farms are not accessible to their rightful Lebanese owners, there are now more than 400,000 Israeli settlers on Palestinian land, and 30,000 on Syrian land. Rule of Law – The double standards and selective enforcement undermine the rule of law within the UN framework. Any legal order requires first and foremost that all states are treated equally. Israel has still to implement a list of UN resolutions, and has refused to end its illegal occupation or to respect the status of Jerusalem – with impunity. Moreover, only Israel can publicly announce without censure its intention to assassinate a Lebanese official. Only Israel can kidnap and detain elected members of parliament without creating an uproar. Were the shoe on the other foot, the pro-Israel lobbies would be requesting censure and more. Terrorism – Dropping bombs where ordinary people live will kill innocents, even if terrorists supposedly hide among them. It violates the Fourth Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilians. The killing of Lebanese and Palestinian civilians by Israel has been called accidental, whereas the deaths caused by the rockets of Hizbullah and Hamas are called deliberate. This distinction is deeply flawed. Israeli bombs may be smart, but they don’t choose their target, they don’t discriminate. If a house is targeted on the grounds that a "suspected terrorist” is inside it, the ensuing deaths may not be intentional, but neither are they accidental. They are predictable. Any act that will inevitably kill innocent people is as immoral and illegal as a deliberate attack on civilians. The UN has not been able to come up with a definition of terrorism that the US and Israel would accept. However, according to Canada’s own definition, Israel’s killing of thousands of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians, many of them children and women, and its bombing of their schools, water treatment plants and other civilian infrastructure amount to terrorists acts. Orwell said that "political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectful." Beyond the overarching message that Israel is more equal than others, Mr. Harper’s insidious Newspeak seeks to divide Canadians, shape our thinking and our perception of those opposed to Israeli policies, and generally play to our latent xenophobia: · Muslims/Arabs are dangerous · They are trying to destroy our way of life · The defence of Israel is the defence of Western values Although the details of the alleged plot in Toronto have still to be revealed - it is looking increasingly like entrapment — and although there hasn’t even been a single advanced terrorist plot uncovered in Canada, this didn’t stop Mr. Harper from pre-judging the Toronto suspects, conveniently muddling the issue, and presenting it as a black and white “us” vs.“them” situation to suggest that Israel has the same enemies and faces the same terrorists as we do in Toronto and in Afghanistan. Harper’s Newspeak conflates Israel and Judaism and thereby, through a quick sleight of hand, transforms the fight for freedom from colonization into one against “the Jews“ - as in WWII - because “they are different”. The morphing of what is essentially a legitimate reaction to state perpetrated injustice into an illegitimate prejudice against a religion and a people comes naturally to those who use the same twisted logic to blame Islam and all Muslims for the sins of a few among them. Lumping people together because of their ethnicity, religion or skin colour is the first step toward accepting racist policies. It ignores that people make choices based not solely on tribal allegiance, but on a myriad of factors, including one’s principles and experience. Such corruption of language and reality does great injustice to Judaism, and to Jews who have traditionally been associated with a strong commitment to universal justice. In fact, just as white South Africans, including Jews, fought alongside the ANC against Apartheid, so are Jews, in and outside Israel, standing up with Palestinians against Israeli atrocities. Neither Palestinians nor Lebanese are involved in a so-called clash of religion or civilization. In fact, it is important to understand that those reactionaries within our own society who are stripping complex conflicts of their historical and political contexts, and defining them as clashes of civilizations and/or religions, are a reflection of the very extremists they condemn. Their worldviews are mirror images. One couldn’t exist without the other. Both are xenophobic and irrational, and both are ultimately a threat to the peace and security of our multicultural society. The wars fought since the end of World War II reveal the futility of state violence in resolving political issues. In spite of their military superiority, neither the US nor the USSR was ever able to defeat resistance movements. Israel has always been officially "going after the terrorists," but its actions have invariably harmed civilians in an indiscriminate manner. By its own recent admission it has violated and said that it will continue to violate Lebanese airspace, and it has also admitted to using white phosphorus munitions that cause severe burns and agonizing deaths. Mr. Harper has chosen to side with the mighty and powerful, not because of Canadian principles - he rejects fairness as moral relativism – but because, like the neo-cons, he believes that the end justifies the means. In his Manichean worldview, truth does not underpin all other values. And while he defines himself, like many Canadian politicians, as a “friend of Israel”, it is not the act of a true friend to encourage another to continue on a path of destruction. By eschewing justice, an essential condition to peace, Mr. Harper and friends condemn the region to more death and mayhem. Unless challenged, Mr. Harper's simplistic worldview and blind partisanship will lead Canada down the same path the US is taking: polarized and locked into a permanent situation of war. War is peace? Think again. Judeoscope: Transcript and Audio of Prime Minister's Speech at B'nai Brith award dinner Harperwatch Bahija Réghaï is a writer, a frequent guest speaker on French language radio about Middle East issues, and a well-known peace activist in Ottawa, Canada. Comments:
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