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Sam Bahours Direction of ProgressSaturday 15 Feb 2003
author: Alexander R Suarez-Cohen
To the Commentors:
You have no right to criticise this man, you have no idea, you are completely blind & ignorant to the everyday lives of Palestinians & the conditions they are forced to endure everyday. How has Palestinians (At least the majority) faced the Occupation? Well lets look at the facts, long before Gandhi, from all forms of Occupation whether Roman, British, or Zionists, whether, victimized from Jews, Christian or Moslems, they have faced it through non-violence resistance.
After 60 years of resistance from Zionism brutality (1920s-1980s) finally some militarism picked up among Palestinans, & during the 90s the suicide bomb was introduced. But always, it was natural for Palestinans, especially among children, to respond to the abuse with love, or brave resistance of non-violent means, defiantly crossing checkpoints & protesting, whether staying in their homes & markets as they as structures where crushed but spirits where strong, or whether leaving their homes during curfews, in mass crowds & protesting, revealing their superiority, their majortity, & their determination as the international observe with admiration.
After the first Intifada during the 80s, finally the world payed more attention to Palestinans, some used these violent means, to justify the Occupation, which much of the world new nothing about, other took sympathy & realized the desperation demonstrated, others saw justification.
Since then, international activists have been helping in the non-violent movement, still intact & strong, ibedded in the Palestinan society, among the original cultures to start such strong resistance, using love, which no matter the brutalities, still triumphs over hate.
Also, to the people who might confuse Zionism with Judaism, they are not the same nor inter-related, as many scholars, including Einstein where firmly against the formation of a Zionists State, consider the idealogy a contradiction, that God was supposed to give them this land for freedom & instead to rob it from others & inslave its natives & imprison & torture its own people, or betray & use its allies?
Israel is not a Zionists state, many are resisting within. Sam Bahour is smart in directing his calls for justice upon Israel, it should be known he has many comrades & admirers in the Israeli community, he lacks any insecurities, he need not explain himself to ignorant people, if you want to comment go to Palestine yourself like I plan to do.
Opinion polls should be considered, of course they cannot be entirely accurate. Nevertheless, all the recent polls have shown that the overall majority of settlers are prepared to leave as soon as a democratic descision is made by their government in support of this, many settlers will be & are leaving, & only military outposts are left to replace them. The government is desperate to make as much settlements as possible, to maintain their Occupation, but many are not cooperating & refuse to live in these territories.
Few if any would resist their own government, the over all majority are there for economic benefits, not ideaology, many hate living in the territories, taught to hate Palestinians as they continue to grow & overwhelm the settlers many are even desperate to leave.
The army & settlers works together abusing Palestinans & are rewarded for it, but alot of them are getting sick & tired of this, for it has been continuing for generations, as the world becomes more aware, & more activists arrive to intervene, the settlers become more willing to leave it is only a matter of time.
The settler issue can be handled easily, there is too much propoganda around this it should be obvious to everyone that they must leave. Once they have left a real peace process can begin.
We, the international activists, our presence is an Occupation based on love, unlike the Israeli boys forced to work for an Occupation based on fear. Or the settlers, their only inspiration is from benefits & encouragment, or maybe from abusing another Palestinian, ideaology cannot be a justification for this & this is not a the root-cause of these settlers.
There is nothing stronger then the heart of a volunteer, & their is nothing stronger then love, love conqueors all, love will always triumph over the hate fear they demonstrate, as the new age of technology begins, solidarity will organize faster then ever, we are more prepared then ever, to fight the brutalities of Colonialism, Imperialism, in its very lasts form on this earth, through Zionism.
This is a problem we Americans had faced from the British, this is a problem familiar for most of society, we must learn from out mistakes in the past, or from our triumphs, we must recognize our history to help us from the present to the future.
The United Nations knows it is their responsilbity to help in the re-construction process of Palestine, it is only a matter of time, all the war mongering will be silenced with our call for peace, much stronger & more sincere then any politicians, we the people, are the true patriots, the true leaders above our rulers. Sam Bahour has bravely directed his call at the Israelis & many are responding positively, I hope that more activists can join & reach the region especially Israelis, we will reach peace have no doubt!!!
In Solidarity,
Alexander R Suarez-Cohen
E-mail me for questions comments, etc: [email protected]