http://indymedia.org.il
moral equivalence does not legitimate makeSunday 24 Nov 2002
author: Peter Kropotkin
Amos says: "First, I had a typing error in my previous comment - I meant of course "effective" (not "affective”)."
I know...I was giving you the benefit of the doubt, because while the suicide-bombing is affective, it is definitely not effective, unless you mean by effective that it is effective in giving a sense of legitimacy to Sharon's psycho government and to Israel's foreign policy platforms in general.
Amos says: "What is the difference between a Palestinian who
blows himself in a civilian crowd, which includes
women and children, and a Zionist pilot who drops
a 1 ton cluster bomb on a densely populated slum"
The answer to this, obviously, is nothing...In fact, if anything, it is Israel who bears the brunt of the guilt. As is stated in the article by Sara Roy "there is no moral equivalence or symmetry between the occupier and the occupied, no matter how much we as Jews regard ourselves as victims" (http://indymedia.org.il/imc/israel/webcast/42956.html)
Amos says: "Peaceful demonstrations? They tried that as well and just made it easier for the Zionists to slaughter them."
Really? Which peaceful mass demonstration was this that led to a slaughter of the type you speak about? I know of the Nablus demonstration, and that didn't turn into a slaughter. I have been to several demonstrations with Ta'ayush and the Palestinians were on the street but there was no slaughter (tear gas and beating yes, but both against Israelis and Palestinians).
Amos says: "But the so called Zionist “Left” joined all the demagogic hypocrites in the public, among the politicians and in the press – and calls the Palestinian struggle against the occupation “terrorism”...And lastly, here is my definition for a “Zionist”: A Jew who lives (willingly or not)in the Colonial state of Israel, no matter what are his political views (and that includes me…)"
The Zionist "left"...well definitely, they have at times called the Palestinian struggle against occupation "terrorism", but is this true of the non-zionist left? Oh yah, the non-zionist left doesn't exist because any Jew who lives in the region is by definition a zionist regardless if they think that there should be a Jewish state or not. Interesting definition of zionism. It includes people who want to live in a non-jewish state, or even a muslim state, as long as they are Jewish...even if they want to violently expunge the state of Israel, they are Jewish, they live here, so they are zionist...Whatever...so I guess you are also a legitimate target of the Palestinian struggle, because you are a Jew who lives here and is violently opposed to the Jewish state (the opitomy of a Zionist).
But what about all the Palestinians who have been killed by suicide bombers? Are they legitimate targets? You do know that in numerous attacks, Palestinian bystanders have also been killed. In fact in a bombing in Haifa several months ago, a large portion of the dead were Palestinians.
But even more than that, you are mixing the fact of moral equivalence (or should I say immoral equivalence) with effectivity and legitimacy.
And while I agree with you that the acts are morally equivalent (actually on the side of Israel there is much more moral culpability) and even understandable, I completely disagree, and I believe the facts on the ground also disagree, with your points that they are either legitimate or effective.