Tutu calls US soft on Israel by By Steven Wilmsen, Globe Staff, 4/14/2002 3:26am Mon Apr 15 '02 Likening Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the oppression of blacks by the white apartheid government in South Africa, print article ikening Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the oppression of blacks by the white apartheid government in South Africa, Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu yesterday chided the Bush administration for being too soft on prime minister Ariel Sharon. ''I can't believe the United States really believes in its impotence'' to halt Israel's military reprisals, Tutu told reporters at Boston's Old South Church, where the retired archbishop spoke at a conference aimed at ending the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. ''They have leverage, and they know they have leverage,'' he said. ''Any administration knows it has the capacity. Whether they have the will is another thing.'' Tutu said the Bush administration should demand Israel withdraw from the Gaza and the West Bank, adding that Israel's isolation of Yasir Arafat was ''bizarre and humiliating.'' Speaking earlier to a gathering of about 500 peace activists and members of the pro-Palestinian group Sabeel at the church, he urged a movement in the United States to ''put out a clarion call to the people and the government of Israel.'' ''An unjust Israeli government - no matter how powerful - will ultimately fall,'' he said. Jewish leaders reacted strongly to Tutu's remarks. ''It's tragic that a person of his moral credentials would sacrifice them with such an ugly slur,'' said Rob Leikind, director of the New England chapter of the Anti-Defamation League. ''Israel is in a simple fight for survival. It's a sad day for all of us when people engage in that kind of hyperbole.'' Tutu said that he opposes Palestinian suicide bombings, but that the only way to achieve peace is for Israel to make the first move. With a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters lining the sidewalks outside, Tutu said he also is ''saddened'' by the apparent lack of sympathy for the Palestinian cause in America and by the Bush administration's apparent unwillingness to rebuff Israeli interests at home. ''Somehow, the Israeli government is placed on a pedestal, where to criticize them is to be immediately dubbed as anti-Semitic,'' he said. ''The Jewish lobby is powerful. Very powerful. So what? This is God's world.'' Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his role in dismantling the white government of South Africa, in part by inspiring a peaceful black uprising and focusing world attention on the region - said the movement was inspired ''on a deep level'' by Jewish traditions and by Israeli Jews themselves. But on a recent visit to Palestinian towns, he said he viewed Israeli destruction with a Palestinian villager. ''He pointed out in the distance and said, `That used to be my home, but Jews live there now,''' Tutu said. ''I then recalled how in South Africa, people of color would point in much the same way at their homes that were now occupied by whites. ''I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians at roadblocks. It reminded me of what happened to us in South Africa, where they battered us and heckled us, and they took joy in humiliating us. My heart aches. Have my Jewish friends forgotten their own history? Have they turned their backs on their own profound religious traditions?'' Tutu urged college students to protest Israel's action as they protested apartheid in the 1980s and said the fact that blacks are free now should give people hope for peace in the Middle East. ''We are free today in South Africa because of people like yourselves, people who - when it looked like they were trying to make hell freeze over - you went on. And look at us now. We are free.'' Meanwhile, protesters outside displayed banners and signs reading ''Palestinians are People Too'' and ''No more US $$ to Israel.'' ''Why is there so much hate?'' asked Husam Hamdam, who lives in Boston but grew up in the Palestinian town of Jenin, where Israeli bulldozers have wreaked havoc in recent days. ''My parents went there to start a new life, and now it is taken away again. These people, they have been crucified twice.'' add your comments Source file

For all the senators and congresspeople takin by felixxer 3:28am Mon Apr 15 '02 print comment For all the senators and congresspeople taking money from AIPAC for your votes of "aid" to Israel I say stop using US taxpayer dollars.Just a day ago a poll showing over 60% of Americans want aid to Israel cut if that country does not withdraw from the westbank and today's news has House and Senate members supporting Sharon and the destruction of Palestinian towns and villages. Like the arrogant Israelis you are disregarding the wishes of the majority of the US and the world for Israel to pull back. I say to all Jewish American senators and congresspeople that if Israel is such a great and wonderful friend and country why don't you all leave the country of which you have no loyalty and go to the country that you are loyal to.It is obvious from your votes and shameless money grubbing for campaign funds that you have nothing but contempt for constituents whose voices are being ignored by yourselves. The worst among you, Diane Feinstein who is such a great friend of Israel that she enacts legislation at the drop of the hat.Why stay here Diane? Why not go to your real homeland and get elected to the Knesset? You are such a defender of women's rights but said nothing of the AMERICAN- Palestinian woman gunned down by Israeli troops while holding her nine month old baby on her lap or any Palestinian woman killed by Israeli troops with our weapons purchased with our tax dollars. And Joseph Lieberman who came across as so articulate during the presidential elections and didn't take the low road to politics you turn a blind eye to the crimes of Sharon and instead take the low road of blame on a small group of Palestinian terrorists while like Feinstein saying nothing of the killing of Christian or Muslim Palestinians by Israeli soldiers and helicopter gunships. This letter is from one who once supported Israel and its right to exist and once supported the both of you. Once again I say: If you or your colleagues no longer want to represent US citizens take advantage of your own dual citizenship and leave this country and move to Israel to protect it instead of using America and its tax dollars as a base 7000 miles away. add your comments

Israeli truth sinking FASTER than the Titanic by Kaye 7:46am Mon Apr 15 '02 print comment . 'It's tragic that a person of his moral credentials would sacrifice them with such an ugly slur,' said Rob Leikind, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaa!!!!!! ALL OF A SUDDEN IT IS AN 'UGLY SLUR' TO TELL ISRAEL TO WITHDRAWAL FROM AN OCCUPATION THAT 95% OF THE EARTH'S POULATION DESPISES..... GIVE ME DESMOND TUTU'S MORALS ANY DAY!!!!! POOR DESMOND......NOW HE IS LABELLED A ANTI-SEMITE!!!!! IF ISRAELS JEWS AND HER 'FRIENDS' KEEP THIS EMOTIONAL BLACKMAIL UP THEY WILL ALIENATE AND LOSE ALL RESPECT FASTER THAN THE SINKING OF THE TITANIC. add your comments