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Commentary :: Middle East
Part I - ISM Activist Reflects On Occupation Of Palestine
Interview of Joshua Brown, ISM activist, by Jean Cushman. Joshua Brown traveled to Palestine as a member of the International Solidarity Movement. Through non-violent direct action, ISM works toward an end to the occupation of Palestine. ISM challenges the Israeli military at checkpoints to permit the passage of ambulances or people in need of food and other necessities; participates in workshops for children; protects the human rights of Palestinians. These internationals put their lives on the line to support the Palestinian's aspirations for freedom. Further, they bring back testimony and documentation of the inhuman living conditions of the Palesitnians suffering under Israeli rule in the occupied territories.
Q - Joshua, welcome back from Palestine.
Joshua - Thank you.
Q - Joshua, what made you want to go to Palestine? What motivated you to get into a situation where you could have been killed or injured?
Joshua - I think that having been an activist for a long time one of the things that I have found essential to my success in organizing for positive social change is that I need to educate myself and others about the reality of situations, I've consistently found that the information that's readily available in mainstream media and mainstream educational outlets is not meant to be motivational - it's not meant to inspire action. So if you are interested in creating positive social change (as I am) you really have to take on the responsibility of educating yourself and others. For me traveling to and living in Palestine over this last month was a highly productive, concentrated experience in educating and preparing myself to educate others about the true conditions that the Palestinian people are living under.
To do this I felt that I had to gain firsthand experience that would not only increase my ability to discuss the situation with people, but also lend my words greater legitimacy. I'm hoping those who return from spending time in Palestine with ISM or other groups can bring the information to the average American citizen and we can substantiate our stories with some documentation that that would force a fundamental shift in US policy towards Palestine by stopping US tax funded aid to Israel.
Q - When we talked in August by phone I heard loud Israeli gunfire in the background and shooting. That influenced my thinking and our readers can hear that on Tape V, the audio portion.
You also told me about non-violent direct actions you took part in. Could you elaborate on that?
Joshua - Sure, I can give you examples in my time of working with ISM in Palestine over the last month of non-violent direct action. But first, it was not the internationals who initiated the actions, rather these were suggested and directed by Palestinian people themselves. We are not going there as internationals to implement our ideas about what is best for the Palestinian people. We offer our assistance to achieve goals set forth by Palestinians. We use our "international privilege" that allows us to go outside and violate the curfew and speak with soldiers without being brutalized and arrested. Our privilege allows us to do a lot of things that Palestinian people are not allowed to do, like picking up a hoe and a shovel and going to a roadblock that a village has requested be removed and laboring for hours under the hot sun to slowly chip away at this mound of dirt that was placed in a number of minutes by a large bulldozer. We can eventually, with a lot of hard work and determination, remove the roadblock. The roadblocks that we chose were ones that were recommended or requested by the Palestinian people in various villages or towns. For example, we removed a pair of roadblocks that were preventing water trucks to deliver water, needed in the village of Iraq Boreen. It took many hours but the result was quite successful - the trucks were able to deliver water to about 100 homes there. At last I'dd heard, the roadblocks were still open and that was after a week and a half. It didn't always work that well. Sometimes the soldiers come and prevent ISM volunteers from completing the opening of the roadblock and then they bring a bulldozer and make it larger.
Another type of direct action was escorting families that had been pinned down under curfew and had to get past soldiers or tanks in order to return to their homes. We would walk with them and that would allow them to safely pass in front of the soldiers. Some of these were very small interventions effecting maybe a certain part of someone's day - but for us it was really empowering and really rewarding and also reinforced our reputation in the community.
Also when people had to absolutely leave their homes for something - perhaps to see a doctor, attend a funeral or a wedding - we assisted them in safely going from one place to another. So if we had to pass soldiers or tanks we were able to make that journey safer for the family. That was another form of direct action. For example, we escorted a family from Salem to the Balata Refugee Camp so there could be a wedding. It was the family of the groom and we were coming to meet the family of the bride. They had wanted to have it (the wedding) for a long time. So the Village of Salem never really had any open curfew – so they were forced to arrange the wedding at a time during curfew. We had the honor and unusual opportunity to attend that wedding ceremony.
On the rare occasion when the curfew opens for the City of Nablus then the IDF blocks the roads and puts down checkpoints, prohibiting the villagers from coming to the city for those few hours. Then we would go out to the checkpoints and do "checkpoint watch." We tried to prevent human rights abuses there by assisting ambulances and assisting women with children, and families with elderly members to pass through the checkpoint. The soldiers forced people to wait in the sun anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours before they would give them a determination to pass.
Q - I believe you told me a story about a man who came in an ambulance with a significant wound in his stomach?
Joshua - Yes that was one day at the Beit Iba checkpoint where two internationals and I spent five hours at the checkpoint. There was an ambulance waiting for about 30 minutes as they make all the ambulances wait at least that long. We went to the ambulance to speak with the driver. Inside, a man was on a stretcher, bleeding from his stomach. There was a large 12 inch gauze pad over his stomach and it was slowly soaking with blood. I asked the driver what the situation was. The man had fallen off a tractor and had impaled himself on a sharp branch or stone. So we began advocating for this ambulance to be let through the checkpoint heading into Nablus from Beit Iba. We argued with the soldiers for 15 - 20 minutes before the ambulance was allowed to pass. So all together it was at least 45 minutes. We were very frustrated by this, quite clearly it was a life or death situation. I remember saying to the commander of the attack, "Do you want this man to die here today - is that your goal?" And it didn't seem to phase him. Then in 5-10 minutes I went back and said to him, "How do you think the American people would feel about how you are using their tax dollars?" That seemed to have a little bit more of an effect on him. It just happens every day.
Q - And I imagine there's not someone there to advocate for them?
Joshua - There are several organizations that try to send internationals in the ambulance to try to help with these things because it's such an ongoing problem that's such a human right violation. There are organizations that are specifically trying to do that work. Yes, but there's not always someone there to help. You have a Palestinian ambulance driver who's risking his or her life trying to get people to hospital - and you have soldiers accusing them of functioning as taxi cabs or trying to smuggle fighters when clearly you can see there's a woman in labor in the back of the ambulance - or a man bleeding from his stomach.
Also, we visited occupied houses and attempted to deliver food and medical supplies and to assess the conditions under which the family was forced to live because the IDF had come and taken over their home or apartment building to use it as a military base and they'd locked the families in one floor in the house or in their apartment. So the soldiers had free access to the rest of the home or apartments and used it as a vantage point and for snipers. So families are just randomly targeted for this extremely high level of oppression and subjected to constant surveillance and intimidation. I couldn't comprehend this concept of an occupied house until I had gone to two different ones. There are probably 6-8 occupied houses in the Nablus area. This is a standard method of operation the IDF uses to increase their presence in communities and increase the level of fear.
Another really important direct action that we did was working with children. The lives of Palestinian children under occupation are horribly impacted. The physical, social and psychological impacts of occupation are intensified for children. In speaking with people back here in the states I've found myself saying, "There are no children in Palestine." Occupation doesn't allow them to be children, you know, they're expected to be small adults. They're born into a situation that most Americans would never have to imagine let alone survive.
We were able to assist some coordinators, teachers and other individuals Palestinian folks who organize children's workshops. We helped manage the energy of the kids - that positive energy that emerged when they were finally able to come together in a somewhat safe space - secretly in violation of curfew - to be able to play together, paint, draw and dance.
We often joked about our role there (in the workshops). In America when children have a birthday party, parents often bring a clown for entertainment and we often joked that we were the clowns. We were these strange foreign people who didn't speak the right language, dress the right way and were somewhat dirty from taking down roadblocks. And we were kind of fascinating to the children. They seldom see someone from another country. With the occupation of Palestine there's really no tourism anymore. Children are not able to spend time with their neighbors,let alone people from other nations around the world.
Q - Was that for you too somewhat of a relief to be with children?
Joshua - Yes, absolutely. When we had our morning meetings with other ISM activists we would always tell people, "You need a break from all of these tanks, guns, violence and confrontation - you should come and play with the children a little bit," because that re-kindles your spirit and reminds you of why you're there. Not just to oppose what the Israeli army is doing to the Palestinian people, but also to support the Palestinian people, who they are and their beautiful spirit. We were there to support a future of freedom and democracy for Palestine and the children represent that future.
Q - Joshua, we (Americans) hear that the occupation is to insure the security of the Israelis? From your experience, what is the purpose of the occupation?
Joshua - I can't speak authoritatively on this question because I cannot and would not like to be inside the mind of Ariel Sharon. His occupation of Palestine gave me enough nightmares. But I can speak about their (the Israeli government's) actions. From my three and a half week's experience under occupation and from speaking to Palestinians living under it, some of them all their lives, it seems to me the goal of the current Israeli government is to reoccupy all of Palestine.
As of April, Sharon had succeeded in that goal. And then you would need to ask, "why?" The expansion of settlements continues steadily along with the escalation of violence against Palestinian people. So why would he continue to escalate violence against the Palestinians when he's already re-occupied all of their land? What more could he possibly take from the Palestinian people then the freedom to step outside of their house or the West Bank. What more can he want from them? Well, I guess, once you can't step outside of your house, then the only thing you can lose is your house.
Also, there are the desperate economic conditions they are subjected to. The ability to control their own destiny is an essential element of their humanity and Sharon, through his policies, has been attacking and removing the humanity of the Palestinian people. So what are they to do? It seems to be that Sharon has been creating situations that justify his increased violence against the Palestinian people. The Israeli government speaks of killing civilians as necessary to maintain the security of Israel - it seems to me if you want security you will not get it through threat and enactment of violence, but through some sort of agreement, peace, and compromise. And when Sharon has used the IDF to reoccupy all of the Palestinian land, he creates a situation where the Palestinian leadership have absolutely nothing with which to bargain. I think that the best way I can describe it is that it's impossible for someone to negotiate when the other party is standing with their foot on your neck. What do you have to bargain with? Israel holds all the cards politically and militarily. They have the support of the most powerful country in the world - America - and they have massive amounts of funding from America. They have 78% of the land of Israel and 22% of the land of Palestine occupied. They destroyed the offices of the Palestinian Authority. They've told Yasser Arafat that if he leaves the country he will not be allowed to return. Yet, Arafat is expected to make concessions in order to secure a meeting with the Israeli government - which can be canceled for no apparent reason. Then the international media reports that the Palestinians "don't seem to want to negotiate with the Israelis." The Palestinians can't come out of their homes to talk to the Israelis. The Israelis won't meet with them to hear their grievances or what they want from Israel. The Israeli army and government set all of the ground rules, all of the timelines and controls media coverage by censorship for the whole process. And then the Palestinian people and Palestinian leadership are blamed for the lack of process. Actually, the Palestinian people have a much greater stake in creating peace than the government of Israel. And the government of Israel has a much greater stake in propagating a terror campaign than anyone in Palestine. The Palestinians have nothing left to lose and everything to gain. Sharon's government has taken 100% of the land - and therefore has nothing more to gain - only things to lose by negotiating. So Sharon is on a fast track towards the manifest destiny of Zionism from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River and the annihilation of the Palestinian people on their native lands. This is the only conclusion that I can draw from the actions of the Sharon government upon the Palestinian people.
Q - Is there a movement against Sharon among the Israelis?
Joshua - I think that several generations of Zionists have come to Israel and Palestine and have been populating that area and supporting the colonial government of Israel. But those generations have had children who are in their mid-20's or so. They didn't choose to leave a life in another country and come and colonize this land. They were born into this situation and that puts them in a whole different mindset open enough to look around and say
"There's something fundamentally wrong with this situation." And you can see some of the results of that thinking among 20-somethings in Israel who participate in peace groups like Ta 'Ayush or Gush Shalom. They are willing to demonstrate for peace in solidarity with the Palestinian people and they risk violence from the Israeli army. They risk imprisonment for crossing the green line into Palestine and the disaproval of their parents who may be ideologically committed to Zionism. These people are taking a stand against Zionism and racism and for the shared future of Israel and Palestine. There is also a growing number of "refuseniks" - people who refuse military service. I spoke with an Israeli peace activist whose son who had just finished high school and was preparing to refuse the draft. He said, "My son is preparing to go to jail. He doesn't want to kill and oppress Palestinian people. So he's made himself a target for imprisonment by the Israeli state."
Q - Joshua, how does our view of Israel as a democratic country effect the way Americans react to the situation of Israel and Palestine?
Joshua - Well, Israel gets all of this military and economic support from America primarily I think because Americans believe that Israel is a democracy. I believe that to be a democratic government you need more than just the majority of the people agreeing who the President or Prime Minister should be - you need to have a government that reflects the needs and the ideas of the people of that country and in Israel the government definitely does not reflect the needs of all of its people. The Arab population in Israel, the Palestinian people who are citizens of Israel are not represented by Ariel Sharon, nor by the members of the Knesset. This lack of representation would immediately disqualify Israel from being a "democratic" government. So democracy is being thrown around as a "Get out of jail free card" -- And I don't think we know what democracy means - if we are using it for such a powerful excuse to oppress people and I think we should understand a little better what it means.
(continued in Part II)
#file_1#
Joshua - Thank you.
Q - Joshua, what made you want to go to Palestine? What motivated you to get into a situation where you could have been killed or injured?
Joshua - I think that having been an activist for a long time one of the things that I have found essential to my success in organizing for positive social change is that I need to educate myself and others about the reality of situations, I've consistently found that the information that's readily available in mainstream media and mainstream educational outlets is not meant to be motivational - it's not meant to inspire action. So if you are interested in creating positive social change (as I am) you really have to take on the responsibility of educating yourself and others. For me traveling to and living in Palestine over this last month was a highly productive, concentrated experience in educating and preparing myself to educate others about the true conditions that the Palestinian people are living under.
To do this I felt that I had to gain firsthand experience that would not only increase my ability to discuss the situation with people, but also lend my words greater legitimacy. I'm hoping those who return from spending time in Palestine with ISM or other groups can bring the information to the average American citizen and we can substantiate our stories with some documentation that that would force a fundamental shift in US policy towards Palestine by stopping US tax funded aid to Israel.
Q - When we talked in August by phone I heard loud Israeli gunfire in the background and shooting. That influenced my thinking and our readers can hear that on Tape V, the audio portion.
You also told me about non-violent direct actions you took part in. Could you elaborate on that?
Joshua - Sure, I can give you examples in my time of working with ISM in Palestine over the last month of non-violent direct action. But first, it was not the internationals who initiated the actions, rather these were suggested and directed by Palestinian people themselves. We are not going there as internationals to implement our ideas about what is best for the Palestinian people. We offer our assistance to achieve goals set forth by Palestinians. We use our "international privilege" that allows us to go outside and violate the curfew and speak with soldiers without being brutalized and arrested. Our privilege allows us to do a lot of things that Palestinian people are not allowed to do, like picking up a hoe and a shovel and going to a roadblock that a village has requested be removed and laboring for hours under the hot sun to slowly chip away at this mound of dirt that was placed in a number of minutes by a large bulldozer. We can eventually, with a lot of hard work and determination, remove the roadblock. The roadblocks that we chose were ones that were recommended or requested by the Palestinian people in various villages or towns. For example, we removed a pair of roadblocks that were preventing water trucks to deliver water, needed in the village of Iraq Boreen. It took many hours but the result was quite successful - the trucks were able to deliver water to about 100 homes there. At last I'dd heard, the roadblocks were still open and that was after a week and a half. It didn't always work that well. Sometimes the soldiers come and prevent ISM volunteers from completing the opening of the roadblock and then they bring a bulldozer and make it larger.
Another type of direct action was escorting families that had been pinned down under curfew and had to get past soldiers or tanks in order to return to their homes. We would walk with them and that would allow them to safely pass in front of the soldiers. Some of these were very small interventions effecting maybe a certain part of someone's day - but for us it was really empowering and really rewarding and also reinforced our reputation in the community.
Also when people had to absolutely leave their homes for something - perhaps to see a doctor, attend a funeral or a wedding - we assisted them in safely going from one place to another. So if we had to pass soldiers or tanks we were able to make that journey safer for the family. That was another form of direct action. For example, we escorted a family from Salem to the Balata Refugee Camp so there could be a wedding. It was the family of the groom and we were coming to meet the family of the bride. They had wanted to have it (the wedding) for a long time. So the Village of Salem never really had any open curfew – so they were forced to arrange the wedding at a time during curfew. We had the honor and unusual opportunity to attend that wedding ceremony.
On the rare occasion when the curfew opens for the City of Nablus then the IDF blocks the roads and puts down checkpoints, prohibiting the villagers from coming to the city for those few hours. Then we would go out to the checkpoints and do "checkpoint watch." We tried to prevent human rights abuses there by assisting ambulances and assisting women with children, and families with elderly members to pass through the checkpoint. The soldiers forced people to wait in the sun anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours before they would give them a determination to pass.
Q - I believe you told me a story about a man who came in an ambulance with a significant wound in his stomach?
Joshua - Yes that was one day at the Beit Iba checkpoint where two internationals and I spent five hours at the checkpoint. There was an ambulance waiting for about 30 minutes as they make all the ambulances wait at least that long. We went to the ambulance to speak with the driver. Inside, a man was on a stretcher, bleeding from his stomach. There was a large 12 inch gauze pad over his stomach and it was slowly soaking with blood. I asked the driver what the situation was. The man had fallen off a tractor and had impaled himself on a sharp branch or stone. So we began advocating for this ambulance to be let through the checkpoint heading into Nablus from Beit Iba. We argued with the soldiers for 15 - 20 minutes before the ambulance was allowed to pass. So all together it was at least 45 minutes. We were very frustrated by this, quite clearly it was a life or death situation. I remember saying to the commander of the attack, "Do you want this man to die here today - is that your goal?" And it didn't seem to phase him. Then in 5-10 minutes I went back and said to him, "How do you think the American people would feel about how you are using their tax dollars?" That seemed to have a little bit more of an effect on him. It just happens every day.
Q - And I imagine there's not someone there to advocate for them?
Joshua - There are several organizations that try to send internationals in the ambulance to try to help with these things because it's such an ongoing problem that's such a human right violation. There are organizations that are specifically trying to do that work. Yes, but there's not always someone there to help. You have a Palestinian ambulance driver who's risking his or her life trying to get people to hospital - and you have soldiers accusing them of functioning as taxi cabs or trying to smuggle fighters when clearly you can see there's a woman in labor in the back of the ambulance - or a man bleeding from his stomach.
Also, we visited occupied houses and attempted to deliver food and medical supplies and to assess the conditions under which the family was forced to live because the IDF had come and taken over their home or apartment building to use it as a military base and they'd locked the families in one floor in the house or in their apartment. So the soldiers had free access to the rest of the home or apartments and used it as a vantage point and for snipers. So families are just randomly targeted for this extremely high level of oppression and subjected to constant surveillance and intimidation. I couldn't comprehend this concept of an occupied house until I had gone to two different ones. There are probably 6-8 occupied houses in the Nablus area. This is a standard method of operation the IDF uses to increase their presence in communities and increase the level of fear.
Another really important direct action that we did was working with children. The lives of Palestinian children under occupation are horribly impacted. The physical, social and psychological impacts of occupation are intensified for children. In speaking with people back here in the states I've found myself saying, "There are no children in Palestine." Occupation doesn't allow them to be children, you know, they're expected to be small adults. They're born into a situation that most Americans would never have to imagine let alone survive.
We were able to assist some coordinators, teachers and other individuals Palestinian folks who organize children's workshops. We helped manage the energy of the kids - that positive energy that emerged when they were finally able to come together in a somewhat safe space - secretly in violation of curfew - to be able to play together, paint, draw and dance.
We often joked about our role there (in the workshops). In America when children have a birthday party, parents often bring a clown for entertainment and we often joked that we were the clowns. We were these strange foreign people who didn't speak the right language, dress the right way and were somewhat dirty from taking down roadblocks. And we were kind of fascinating to the children. They seldom see someone from another country. With the occupation of Palestine there's really no tourism anymore. Children are not able to spend time with their neighbors,let alone people from other nations around the world.
Q - Was that for you too somewhat of a relief to be with children?
Joshua - Yes, absolutely. When we had our morning meetings with other ISM activists we would always tell people, "You need a break from all of these tanks, guns, violence and confrontation - you should come and play with the children a little bit," because that re-kindles your spirit and reminds you of why you're there. Not just to oppose what the Israeli army is doing to the Palestinian people, but also to support the Palestinian people, who they are and their beautiful spirit. We were there to support a future of freedom and democracy for Palestine and the children represent that future.
Q - Joshua, we (Americans) hear that the occupation is to insure the security of the Israelis? From your experience, what is the purpose of the occupation?
Joshua - I can't speak authoritatively on this question because I cannot and would not like to be inside the mind of Ariel Sharon. His occupation of Palestine gave me enough nightmares. But I can speak about their (the Israeli government's) actions. From my three and a half week's experience under occupation and from speaking to Palestinians living under it, some of them all their lives, it seems to me the goal of the current Israeli government is to reoccupy all of Palestine.
As of April, Sharon had succeeded in that goal. And then you would need to ask, "why?" The expansion of settlements continues steadily along with the escalation of violence against Palestinian people. So why would he continue to escalate violence against the Palestinians when he's already re-occupied all of their land? What more could he possibly take from the Palestinian people then the freedom to step outside of their house or the West Bank. What more can he want from them? Well, I guess, once you can't step outside of your house, then the only thing you can lose is your house.
Also, there are the desperate economic conditions they are subjected to. The ability to control their own destiny is an essential element of their humanity and Sharon, through his policies, has been attacking and removing the humanity of the Palestinian people. So what are they to do? It seems to be that Sharon has been creating situations that justify his increased violence against the Palestinian people. The Israeli government speaks of killing civilians as necessary to maintain the security of Israel - it seems to me if you want security you will not get it through threat and enactment of violence, but through some sort of agreement, peace, and compromise. And when Sharon has used the IDF to reoccupy all of the Palestinian land, he creates a situation where the Palestinian leadership have absolutely nothing with which to bargain. I think that the best way I can describe it is that it's impossible for someone to negotiate when the other party is standing with their foot on your neck. What do you have to bargain with? Israel holds all the cards politically and militarily. They have the support of the most powerful country in the world - America - and they have massive amounts of funding from America. They have 78% of the land of Israel and 22% of the land of Palestine occupied. They destroyed the offices of the Palestinian Authority. They've told Yasser Arafat that if he leaves the country he will not be allowed to return. Yet, Arafat is expected to make concessions in order to secure a meeting with the Israeli government - which can be canceled for no apparent reason. Then the international media reports that the Palestinians "don't seem to want to negotiate with the Israelis." The Palestinians can't come out of their homes to talk to the Israelis. The Israelis won't meet with them to hear their grievances or what they want from Israel. The Israeli army and government set all of the ground rules, all of the timelines and controls media coverage by censorship for the whole process. And then the Palestinian people and Palestinian leadership are blamed for the lack of process. Actually, the Palestinian people have a much greater stake in creating peace than the government of Israel. And the government of Israel has a much greater stake in propagating a terror campaign than anyone in Palestine. The Palestinians have nothing left to lose and everything to gain. Sharon's government has taken 100% of the land - and therefore has nothing more to gain - only things to lose by negotiating. So Sharon is on a fast track towards the manifest destiny of Zionism from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River and the annihilation of the Palestinian people on their native lands. This is the only conclusion that I can draw from the actions of the Sharon government upon the Palestinian people.
Q - Is there a movement against Sharon among the Israelis?
Joshua - I think that several generations of Zionists have come to Israel and Palestine and have been populating that area and supporting the colonial government of Israel. But those generations have had children who are in their mid-20's or so. They didn't choose to leave a life in another country and come and colonize this land. They were born into this situation and that puts them in a whole different mindset open enough to look around and say
"There's something fundamentally wrong with this situation." And you can see some of the results of that thinking among 20-somethings in Israel who participate in peace groups like Ta 'Ayush or Gush Shalom. They are willing to demonstrate for peace in solidarity with the Palestinian people and they risk violence from the Israeli army. They risk imprisonment for crossing the green line into Palestine and the disaproval of their parents who may be ideologically committed to Zionism. These people are taking a stand against Zionism and racism and for the shared future of Israel and Palestine. There is also a growing number of "refuseniks" - people who refuse military service. I spoke with an Israeli peace activist whose son who had just finished high school and was preparing to refuse the draft. He said, "My son is preparing to go to jail. He doesn't want to kill and oppress Palestinian people. So he's made himself a target for imprisonment by the Israeli state."
Q - Joshua, how does our view of Israel as a democratic country effect the way Americans react to the situation of Israel and Palestine?
Joshua - Well, Israel gets all of this military and economic support from America primarily I think because Americans believe that Israel is a democracy. I believe that to be a democratic government you need more than just the majority of the people agreeing who the President or Prime Minister should be - you need to have a government that reflects the needs and the ideas of the people of that country and in Israel the government definitely does not reflect the needs of all of its people. The Arab population in Israel, the Palestinian people who are citizens of Israel are not represented by Ariel Sharon, nor by the members of the Knesset. This lack of representation would immediately disqualify Israel from being a "democratic" government. So democracy is being thrown around as a "Get out of jail free card" -- And I don't think we know what democracy means - if we are using it for such a powerful excuse to oppress people and I think we should understand a little better what it means.
(continued in Part II)
#file_1#
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