| 08/11/04 | There should be a limit to …indecency From the Palestinian General Delegation. |
| Besides “complaints” organized by the Board of Deputies against Mayor Ken Livingstone's endorsement of the Palestinian Trade Fair and support from City Hall for its success, there is , these days , also an “uproar” against an article published in the British Medical Journal on the devastating effects of the Israeli occupation on the Palestinian Health System. “Protests” have poured in towards the Medical Journal and “pressures” have been deployed on the pharmaceutical industry whose advertisements keep such a prestigious Journal alive.
In the media and on the satellites , “experts” including the American “peace team” around Dennis Ross – Dennis the Menace – who all had graduated within the ranks of the pro-Israeli lobby before monopolizing American Middle East policy, explain that there might be a window of opportunity for peace now that President Arafat is out of the way, incapacitated in a Paris hospital. The attempts at character assassination of Yasser Arafat, which we have witnessed for decades, continue, relentlessly, to this day. “Arafat is an obstacle to peace and Sharon is a choir boy”. The Israeli media keeps announcing his death in what is perceived as psychological warfare. Haven't they heard of restraint or self-restraint? Here in London, Betar, the “militant” wing of the Likud party, threatens to demonstrate against the Palestinian Trade Fair whose success can be extremely helpful to a Palestinian society and economy vandalized by an endless and brutal Israeli occupation . There should be a limit to indecency. One would hope that the leadership of the British-Jewish community will make sure that no extreme wing within the community will import “thuggishness and vulgarity” also to the streets of London. One would hope that Betar elements in London will not confuse “militancy and bad manners”. There should be a limit to …indecency. We have always expressed the opinion that any victim in this conflict is a victim too many. Invoking, like Betar does, only Jewish Israeli victims is a Judeo-centered approach that forgets that Palestinians have had during the last 4 years more than 5 times as many fatalities and more than 50 times as many casualties, injured, permanently handicapped, mutilated etc. Our victims are not nameless, faceless, fatherless, motherless, childless and …worthless. But the latest campaign, again of extremely poor taste, launched by the pro-Israeli inquisition, is against the BBC radio reporter Barbara Plett .Her guilt: “emotions” and human feelings”. In her report she said: “when the helicopter carrying the frail old man rose above his ruined compound, I started to cry…without warning. In quieter moments since, I have asked myself, why the sudden surge of emotion?” According to The Jewish Chronicle, “(storm over Arafat broadcast -JC I still remember the outpouring of emotions during the media coverage of Rabin's assassination. In spite of discomfort at his elevation to Sainthood, with no mention of his major role in the ethnic cleansing of 1948 in the Lydda-Ramleh area as a Palmach commander and in 1987-1990 as the bone-breaker of Palestinian youth, we did not say anything then. In a difficult emotional period for the Palestinians, one would expect some self-restraint on the other side. So what if a British journalist showed some “feeling”? It is to her credit. But there seems to be no limit on indecency. Dommage. Afif Safieh 2- Letter to The Londoner/ the Newsletter of the Mayor of London London November 2004 To The Londoner It is the truth which is guilty On my return from a very depressing visit to the occupied Palestinian territories, I understood from reading the “Jewish Chronicle” that a campaign of was being “encouraged” against Mayor Ken Livingstone and City Hall for their endorsement and support of the Palestinian Trade Fair. It is not Mayor Livingstone who is guilty. It is the truth which is guilty. The illegality of the Israeli military occupation is not the biased approach of Mayor Livingstone but the position of the entire international community reflected in scores of U.N. resolutions. That the military checkpoints and the Wall of Shame strangulate the society and suffocate the economy is the verdict of all the reports issued by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the International Court of Justice, Christian Aid etc. The Palestinian Trade Fair aims at revitalising a Palestinian economy threatened by total collapse. That it is under attack in London—Betar, the agitated branch of the right wing pro-Israeli lobby is planning a hostile demonstration—shows again, that in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, paradoxically and intriguingly, the oppressors hate of victims much more that the victims hate the oppressor. Afif Safieh Palestinian General Delegate to the United Kingdom Afif Safieh Palestinian General Delegate to the |
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