Martinez blamed the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land on Hezbollah
which did not even exist until 1982; fifteen years AFTER the occupation of
Palestine began...
"REBELLION is as old as authority itself, and so therefore is the business of putting it down. Nearly 2,000 years ago Jewish militants—known as Zealots, hence the English word—took up arms against the world's greatest power and terrorised those deemed collaborators. The Romans dealt with the revolt in Palestine in familiar fashion, laying waste any town that resisted, prompting many to commit suicide rather than suffer capture... http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10015844
"I rebel, therefore I exist." -Albert Camus
I am still steaming from Oct. 29th, when in a Town Hall Meeting, Senator Mel Martinez blamed the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land on Hezbollah which did not even exist until 1982; fifteen years AFTER the occupation of Palestine began and it emerged in Lebanon!
"Hezbollah began with the determination "to drive Israeli troops from Lebanon. In May 2000 - due partly to the success of the party's military arm - one of its main aims was achieved. Israel's battered and bruised army was forced to end its two-decade occupation of the south. Hezbollah now serves as an inspiration to Palestinian factions fighting to liberate occupied territory. Hezbollah was conceived in 1982 by a group of clerics after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. It was formed primarily to offer resistance to the Israeli occupation. Inspired by the success of the Iranian Revolution, the party also dreamt of transforming Lebanon's multi-confessional state into an Iranian-style Islamic state. Although this idea was abandoned and the party today is a well-structured political organisation with members of parliament. Hezbollah's political rhetoric has centred on calls for the destruction of the state of Israel. Its definition of Israeli occupation has also encompassed the idea that the whole of Palestine is occupied Muslim land and it has argued that Israel has no right to exist.
"For many years, Hezbollah was synonymous with terror, suicide bombings and kidnappings. In 1983, militants who went on to join Hezbollah ranks carried out a suicide bombing attack that killed 241 US marines in Beirut...The party has operated with neighbouring Syria's blessing - with the guerrilla war against being a card for Damascus to play in its own confrontation with Israel over the occupation of the Golan Heights. Over the two decades, Hezbollah evolved into a movement with thousands of trained guerrillas, members of parliament and a dynamic welfare programme benefiting thousands of Lebanese. The group's successful hit-and-run guerrilla war on Israel's much-vaunted army assured it some support and a lot or respect from other religious communities. While, the US listed the group as a terrorist organisation, the government in Beirut declared it a national resistance movement." -Kathryn Westcott, BBC News Online
http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1908671.stm
Of course ALL true Christians renounce the violence committed by Hezbollah as well they should as the violence committed by occupiers!
Another thing that has got my Irish up and flamimg from the Oct. 29th, Senator Mel Martinez's Town Hall Meeting was that he is apparently clueless that another major reason for the Christian EXODUS from the Holy Land is the Separation/Apartheid Wall that costs American taxpayers over 1.25 million per mile!.
Another Senator who denies the facts on the ground is running for President!
On November 15, 2005, Senator Hillary Clinton stood on the Jerusalem side of The Wall and was quoted in Ha'aretz, expressing support for The Wall because it "is against terrorists" and "not against the Palestinian people."
Senator Clinton did NOT visit the Little Town of Bethlehem, which is Occupied Territory, to see what The Wall has done to the Bethlehem economy. But I have.
During Hillary Clinton's short career as a USA Senator she had already accepted $54,618.00 Pro-Israeli PAC Funds by 2006. I shudder to imagine how much bread she is taking from the Pro-Israeli PAC Fund now!
When ever I need a taxi while in Bethlehem or Jerusalem, I call Samir. He can comfortably transport eight in his van and he has an excellent sound system. Samir is an Orthodox Christian in the Syrian Church and has a gorgeous wife and two beautiful kids. Samir has VIP papers which enable him to chauffeur the Patriarchs around town without as much hassle as a regular Palestinian would have to endure at the checkpoints.
Samir, his wife and I rode to the Ben Gurion Airport, three hours prior to my 1 AM flight home on January 5, 2006, the final day of my second journey to Israel and Palestine. We talked a little but mostly we listened to the music of Bob Marley. When we arrived at the checkpoint at the entrance of the airport, Samir rolled down his window and smiled at the young soldier and said, "Shalom" but it sounded more like "Salaam."
Samir's VIP pass meant nothing to the soldier and we were all ordered to disembark and pull out all of my luggage. My passport was demanded without a smile and Samir was led into the interrogation room while his wife and I remained out in the cold trying to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Another soldier examines and probes the van as he thoroughly looks for b-o-m-b-s.
The paranoia I see in so many Israeli's has got to be, some kind of holocaust hangover blinding them to the fact that the oppressed have now become the oppressors; for every one they cross paths with is a terror suspect.
After Samir's van is thoroughly examined for b-o-m-b-s, I received my passport back marked with a red sticker upon it. Back in the van his wife expertly removed the sticker and all the glue from my passport. The sticker brands one as having come through occupied territory. Samir informs me that my third degree would be airport security's territory and that was why the soldier never asked me any questions.
Samir smiled wryly as he told me, "This is what the Nazi's did to the Jews before the Holocaust when they made them wear the Star of David. They marked them as the enemy. Now anyone who knows Palestinians or visits occupied territory gets a sticker on their passport to label them as friends of the enemy."
Then Samir turned up the volume on his Bose system and Bob Marley and the Wailers erupted through the speakers:
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your rights
Get up, stand up
Don't give up the fight.
My luggage had been filled with Arabic nonviolent literature but Samir had cautioned me to leave it all with him to avoid the extra hassle it could cause me during the routine questioning by airport security. So, I left everything with him that I could get on the Internet but kept books, a CD and a DVD. He warned me on what I should and shouldn't say during my interrogation from the inquisitive employees at the Ben Gurion Airport.
I had no fear of any airport security and I always honestly and briefly answer every question with a smile. Every employee I encountered smiled back at me, except for one, and nobody asked me any 'explosive' questions. Three different young women examined and swabbed every item and surface in my luggage and I experienced frisson: the chill in the thrill of the rush you experience in a moment of delight, excitement or fear.
The unsmiling young woman examiner came upon the book from the Holy Land Trust conference I had attended December 27-30, 2005 entitled: Celebrating Nonviolent Resistance. She never looked my way, but she read the cover and scanned all the pages most thoroughly. She then walked away and had a conversation with another young woman, who returned with her and after my luggage passed the inspection, she told me to come with her. She led me to a small dressing room and told me to strip down to my bra and panties. I kept a smile on my face and the pat down was over within a few moments.
In my minds eye, I still see the concrete boa constrictor and electrified fence that divides, separates, humiliates, dominates, controls and denies inalienable human rights to every Palestinian.
The concrete boa constrictor and electrified fence is a master plan to divide, separate, humiliate, dominate, control and deny inalienable human rights to the indigenous people of the Holy Land and it is APARTHEID which means Separation.
"The Apartheid mindset has always been part and parcel of Judaism. Take for example the age of Ezra and Nehemia (ca. 450-430 BC). All the restrictions and rules incorporated into the Jewish religion were intended to preserve the purity of the strain against contamination from the Gentiles....Apartheid is so powerful a mindset in this society, that its existence and preservation is championed by all the members of the "Zionist parties", including those who believe themselves to be in the vanguard of the struggle for socialism, peace and equal rights. We have yet to hear them speak out against the existence of two categories of citizens, or in favor of a comprehensive Israeli school system, or in favor of the abolition of restrictions on where Jews and Arabs are allowed to live. One gets the impression that their energetic struggle for the establishment of a Palestinian state and their vocal opposition to Jewish "settlements" on the other side of the green line is based on their desire to preserve a "Jewish state", something which allows and, in the eyes of many of them, even justifies the retention of discriminatory laws, and the privileges granted to the Jews.
"Everyone who supports democracy and is concerned about the future of Israel, should place the abolition of the Apartheid regime that exists here at the top of his list of priorities. And not only leftists, but also those with liberal views on the right. Those who say we must be ready to "give up a lot for the sake of peace" should to so in good faith: abolish Israel's Apartheid laws and grant non-Jewish resident (sic) the ability to identify fully with the state."- Uzi Ornan, published the Israeli daily Ha'aretz 17 May 1991 http://www.codoh.com/zionweb/ziondark/zionrac03.html
Being a Christian of The Beatitudes, I remain eternally hopeful that change is possible and I imagine what a wonderful world it will be when the leaders of the world would listen deep to the cries of the poor, the oppressed and the occupied.
I Imagine a world where people would plant trees and build playgrounds and construct bridges of community and global neighborhoods in the Holy Land; NOT apartheid walls that are designed to divide.
The Way to security is knowing ones neighbor, and ones neighbor is ones sister and brother, for everyone is a child of God.
IMAGINE the day when leaders of the world do not divide and occupy people;
For then, there will be no reasons for rising up by violent zealots.
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October 31,2007 © Copyright Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor http://www.wearewideawake.org/ Author Keep Hope Alive and Memoirs of a Nice Irish American Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory, Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu." Permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media if this credit is attached and the title remains unchanged.
