A Good Day For Palestine
WHY AMERICA MUST STOP SPONSORING THE OPPRESSION OF PALESTINE
By the time we took to the streets of Washington yesterday afternoon near to 4:30 PM, there were, I guess, 4,000 to 5,000 of us--at least 40% of whom were young people, mostly Arab and Jewish Americans. For the first time at any peace event in recent memory, the participants were of one mind, focused on one issue: ending apartheid in Palestine. This unity of mind and spirit was downright uplifting. I felt a joy and well-being I never feel at protests.
I have no illusions. Every building we passed was empty. The White House and the Capitol Building looked as if they had long been uninhabited--stern alabaster monuments to the idea and intention, not the reality of democracy. Washington seemed a city of Sundays, filled with tourists like myself who still believe the city is pledged to the practice of this nation's highest ideals: equality and justice for all. These tourists with their blessed naive faith in their country chase out the people we pay to keep the promise of America to its own citizens and the citizens of other nations.
Our commitment to equality and justice is guaranteed not just to those who live between the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific--but to all nations who are recipients of our largesse in any form, even defense dollars. Our largesse is founded on and granted in the name of the principles for which this country stands: justice and liberty for all. Therefore, Israel which receives $3.5 billion annually in arms grants, is bound by the covenants of human welfare and human-rights protection that are, or should be, the basis of every dispensation of US taxpayer revenue to a foreign power.
It is, to me, a moral transgression of all founding charters of this country-- including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights--to use U.S. taxpayer money for the subjugation of any people. If Israel cannot use my money to protect and promote the welfare of the Palestinians whose lives they have controlled completely and ruthlessly for 40 years, they must pay every cent of it back to me and my countrymen. And we must, in turn, give this money as reparation to the people damaged by its misuse. Further, Israel must forfeit all further aid until it can prove itself a responsible recipient and conduit of this country's largesse.
I read this morning that when we are blinded by the light, only that which belongs in the light can be seen. Israel has become a shadowland of nationalism, colonialsm, racism and fanaticism--requiring, like any dysfunctional power which poses a threat to its neighbors, intervention. Until Israel admits to its loss of humanity and begins a recovery program of its lost humanity, it is no longer worthy of receiving and distributing American largesse given in the highest interests of humanity.
Look at it from a covenental basis: Israel is a second party to whom we entrust our wealth and it is honor-bound to act as a beneficient agent to use it wisely and justly with regard to third parties. The chief third-party recipent of our largesse to Israel is Palestine which we have no other way of reaching and assisting. Israel is in the proven process of destroying Palestine--through a system of apartheid equal in inhumanity, ferocity and devastation to that of South Africa before its liberation. Israel's behavior toward Palestine has been cruel not covenental.
Consequently, I ruefully, regrettfully conclude that apartheid will end in Palestine only when its biggest sponsor, the US Treasury, witholds the money that funds and sustains it. Yesterday in Washington I made known this conclusion through silent prayer and chanted pronouncement. Whether my government likes it or not, there is now a profound moral residue and spiritual resonance of my aroused presence in Washington. And it will linger--sustained by more prayer and activism here at home.
I believe in the Power of One--when one's actions are an expression of the One God and one love which resides within us as the indestructible substrate of human consciousness. As a "son of God," I say that if Israel won't quit Palestine, then America must quit Israel. It is that simple, fundamental and decent. I don't know if we can save the soul of Israel, but I do know we can, and must, save the body of Palestine.
Hence I will no longer tolerate use of my hard-earned tax dollars for murder, humiliation and degradation of the Palestinian people. My money is to be spent providing opportunity in terms of material comfort and prosperity to the Palestinian people equal to that enjoyed by the Israeli people. If Israel cannot distribute American largess with equality to all peoples who live under its dominion, then my money is being given in betrayed trust. If Israel is not up to the task of equal dispensation and equal treatment of all people under its jurisdiction, then we must find other ways to dispense the means of comfort, well-being, justice and prosperity to Palestine.
One thing for sure: Palestine must not be allowed to perish. Its survival and success as a fully sovereign state must become a national American priority. America, as a fiscal sponsor of Israeli apartheid, bears direct responsibility for the fate of Palestine. I will dedicate as much of my life to ensuring Palestine's full destiny as a sovereign nation as I can. And I will ask forgiveness of this country's brutalized people for my contributions as a Jew and an American citizen to their undeserved misery.
By the time we took to the streets of Washington yesterday afternoon near to 4:30 PM, there were, I guess, 4,000 to 5,000 of us--at least 40% of whom were young people, mostly Arab and Jewish Americans. For the first time at any peace event in recent memory, the participants were of one mind, focused on one issue: ending apartheid in Palestine. This unity of mind and spirit was downright uplifting. I felt a joy and well-being I never feel at protests.
I have no illusions. Every building we passed was empty. The White House and the Capitol Building looked as if they had long been uninhabited--stern alabaster monuments to the idea and intention, not the reality of democracy. Washington seemed a city of Sundays, filled with tourists like myself who still believe the city is pledged to the practice of this nation's highest ideals: equality and justice for all. These tourists with their blessed naive faith in their country chase out the people we pay to keep the promise of America to its own citizens and the citizens of other nations.
Our commitment to equality and justice is guaranteed not just to those who live between the shores of the Atlantic and the Pacific--but to all nations who are recipients of our largesse in any form, even defense dollars. Our largesse is founded on and granted in the name of the principles for which this country stands: justice and liberty for all. Therefore, Israel which receives $3.5 billion annually in arms grants, is bound by the covenants of human welfare and human-rights protection that are, or should be, the basis of every dispensation of US taxpayer revenue to a foreign power.
It is, to me, a moral transgression of all founding charters of this country-- including the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights--to use U.S. taxpayer money for the subjugation of any people. If Israel cannot use my money to protect and promote the welfare of the Palestinians whose lives they have controlled completely and ruthlessly for 40 years, they must pay every cent of it back to me and my countrymen. And we must, in turn, give this money as reparation to the people damaged by its misuse. Further, Israel must forfeit all further aid until it can prove itself a responsible recipient and conduit of this country's largesse.
I read this morning that when we are blinded by the light, only that which belongs in the light can be seen. Israel has become a shadowland of nationalism, colonialsm, racism and fanaticism--requiring, like any dysfunctional power which poses a threat to its neighbors, intervention. Until Israel admits to its loss of humanity and begins a recovery program of its lost humanity, it is no longer worthy of receiving and distributing American largesse given in the highest interests of humanity.
Look at it from a covenental basis: Israel is a second party to whom we entrust our wealth and it is honor-bound to act as a beneficient agent to use it wisely and justly with regard to third parties. The chief third-party recipent of our largesse to Israel is Palestine which we have no other way of reaching and assisting. Israel is in the proven process of destroying Palestine--through a system of apartheid equal in inhumanity, ferocity and devastation to that of South Africa before its liberation. Israel's behavior toward Palestine has been cruel not covenental.
Consequently, I ruefully, regrettfully conclude that apartheid will end in Palestine only when its biggest sponsor, the US Treasury, witholds the money that funds and sustains it. Yesterday in Washington I made known this conclusion through silent prayer and chanted pronouncement. Whether my government likes it or not, there is now a profound moral residue and spiritual resonance of my aroused presence in Washington. And it will linger--sustained by more prayer and activism here at home.
I believe in the Power of One--when one's actions are an expression of the One God and one love which resides within us as the indestructible substrate of human consciousness. As a "son of God," I say that if Israel won't quit Palestine, then America must quit Israel. It is that simple, fundamental and decent. I don't know if we can save the soul of Israel, but I do know we can, and must, save the body of Palestine.
Hence I will no longer tolerate use of my hard-earned tax dollars for murder, humiliation and degradation of the Palestinian people. My money is to be spent providing opportunity in terms of material comfort and prosperity to the Palestinian people equal to that enjoyed by the Israeli people. If Israel cannot distribute American largess with equality to all peoples who live under its dominion, then my money is being given in betrayed trust. If Israel is not up to the task of equal dispensation and equal treatment of all people under its jurisdiction, then we must find other ways to dispense the means of comfort, well-being, justice and prosperity to Palestine.
One thing for sure: Palestine must not be allowed to perish. Its survival and success as a fully sovereign state must become a national American priority. America, as a fiscal sponsor of Israeli apartheid, bears direct responsibility for the fate of Palestine. I will dedicate as much of my life to ensuring Palestine's full destiny as a sovereign nation as I can. And I will ask forgiveness of this country's brutalized people for my contributions as a Jew and an American citizen to their undeserved misery.
posted by David Federman @ 6:50 AM
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