raining ktula

Is Hillary Clinton the Senator from NY or Israel?

November 14th, 2005 by ktula

On a three-day visit to Israel, Senator Hillary Clinton made a few unbelievable comments in support of the wall Israel is building. The route of the so-called “separation wall”, in some places, goes deep into the occupied territory of West Bank. She claimed:

‘This (the wall) is not against the Palestinian people’
‘This is against the terrorists. The Palestinian people have to help to prevent terrorism. They have to change the attitudes about terrorism.’

I have a few questions of my own for the Senator from the state of New York.

1. How is this separation wall not against the Palestinian people? In most places, the path of the wall cuts deep into West Bank, directly impacting the lives of more than half a million Palestinians. Some Palestinian villages are even cut off from the rest of West Bank, by virtual of being caged in by walls on all sides. The Palestinians in these “no man’s land” are pretty much prisoners in their own land, where even to tend their own fields, they need permissions from the Israeli authorities. The Israelis have, for the longest, claimed that the separation wall is in place for security purpose only. I, like most others, have absolutely no problem with Israel putting the security of its own citizens above all else. But why not build the wall on the internationally-recognized Green Line ? If Israel wishes to, she could build the wall to be a mile high and 1 mile wide, but west of the Green Line, on her own territory.

   The path of the wall is designed to encompass all the major Israeli Jewish settlements in the occupied territory of West Bank. It is very clear to any observer that this is yet another attempt by Israel to create facts on ground. The idea is simple: If we steal the land and force the original occupants to leave, we then populate the vacant land with our own, and eventually, after a few generations, facts will be created on ground and it will be impossible for anyone else to remove them.

2. How shall the Palestinians change their attitudes about “terrorism” when day by day they see more of their land being usurped away for the growth of existing Jewish settlements, for the constructions of new settlements, for the constructions of Jews-only bypass road, essentially cutting West Bank into apartheid-like Bantustans?

   The only way, as i see it, for the Palestinians to change their attitudes about “terrorism” is for the US to finally act like an honest broker, which is way overdue. Senator Clinton cannot expect the Palestinians to remain non-violent when they continue to see Israel receive more than 3.1 billion dollars of military and financial aid from Uncle Sam while Israel continues to defy international law by settling its citizens into the occupied land and at the same time, abuse every known human rights law in its treatment of the Palestinians.

   It is high time for Senator Clinton to remove the 3.1 billion dollars of aid to Israel, to publicly support the divestment compaign against Israel, and also to support economic sanctions, not unlike the one imposed upon South Africa during its apartheid days, against Israel. Without the support from its only sponsor, Israel will never be able to continue its bankrupt settlement policies.

3. Senator Clinton, during your three-day visit, did you manage to speak to any Palestinians affected by the wall? Were you able to talk to the Palestinian farmers whose only livelihoods were crushed with the uprooting of the Olive trees, some of which were hundreds and possibly thousand years old?
4. Senator Clinton, while you were there, did you visit groups, such as the International Solidarity Movement, which supports non-violent protests against the Israeli occupation and the wall, which was deemed illegal by the World Court? I was at a speaking tour organized by the ISM in Seattle less than 2 weeks ago and i came away from this talk with a renewed optimism in the effectiveness of non-violent protests. One of the two speakers, Ayed Morrar, came from the village of Budrus, located in the “no man’s land”, blocked on all sides by the original route of the wall. According to the ISM,
   

   Ayed led his village of Budrus in a victory for nonviolence over the Israeli military in 2003-2004. Through a campaign of 50 protests, the village of Budrus pushed the Wall’s path off village land and to the Green Line. Day after day, Budrus’ men, women and children blocked the destruction of their land and construction of the Wall by marching to the land, despite soldiers’ attempts to stop them, and placing their bodies in front of the bulldozers.

   Hundreds of residents were injured during the campaign by clubs, tear gas and rubber-coated steel bullets. Ayed was jailed for eight days by Israeli authorities, but was eventually released due to international outcry and because his only offense was organizing nonviolent protests. Two of Ayed’s brothers were also arrested for organizing protests, but eventually released.

   It is heart-warming to know that non-violent protests like the ones organized by the villagers of Budrus can be successful, even though it had taken a very heavy toll on them. Senator Clinton, shouldn’t you be supporting non-violent protests wholeheartedly if you want the Palestinians “to change the attitudes about terrorism” ?

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