🚀 go-pugleaf

jazzerciser@hotmail.com (-) wrote in message news:<41a49fba.1263140079@news.individual.net>...
> http://www.halturnershow.com/
> 
> MASS. TOWN TO DIVEST FROM ISRAEL
> JEWS OUTRAGED!
> Hebes scream: Oy Vey! Dey're persecuting us! Veren't the six million
> enough? How long vill this go on? (Hal Turner Says: Israel is a
> terroristic, apartheid state.  They commit crimes against humanity
> regularly.  They commit state-sponsored murder regularly. They deserve
> to be destroyed.)
>                                                - Hal Turner
> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article3332.shtml
> 
> 
> 
> Sell-by date of war crimes about to expire in Somerville, MA?
> Tom Wallace, The Electronic Intifada, 16 November 2004
> 
> 
> 
> The audience at the meeting.
> 
> Tension and apprehension filled the air in the Boston suburb of
> Somerville, Massachusetts on the night of Monday November 8, 2004.
> The Somerville Board of Aldermen held a public meeting to consider a
> non-binding resolution to divest from Israel bonds and from companies
> who profit from the human rights abuses carried out by Israel against
> Palestinian people. If it passes, it will be the first such resolution
> in the world to be passed by a city. The Presbyterian Church and the
> National Lawyers Guild have already voted to divest and The Anglican
> Church is considering it.
> 
> Companies targeted include Caterpillar, United Technologies, General
> Electric, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin Corporation. Caterpillar has
> been the target of numerous boycott campaigns since American Rachel
> Corrie was killed by a D-9 bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier. She
> was trying to protect the home of a Palestinian pharmacist from
> demolition at the time. Caterpillar's D-9 is used by Israel to destroy
> homes (sometimes with people still inside). It is also used to destroy
> land, uproot olive trees and build the so-called separation
> barrier/apartheid wall. When complete, the wall may appropriate up to
> 45% of the occupied West Bank, including much of its most arable land
> and water resources.
> 
> For the past 18 months, the Somerville Divestment Project (SPD) has
> been educating residents of Somerville, Massachusetts about the
> 37-year long Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank,
> including East Jerusalem. SDP members have knocked on doors, stood
> outside mass transit stations, hosted film nights, and had individual
> meetings with many Aldermen in their homes. Through the process, they
> collected almost 1,200 signatures in support of the Socially
> Responsible Investment resolution.
> 
> Their hard work paid off last week when, on Tuesday, November 2, eight
> of eleven Aldermen cosponsored the resolution to divest. Though it
> almost passed, the resolution was sent to the Legislative committee
> for further discussion. Thus the hearing for Monday, Nov. 8 was set
> and the Aldermen invited the Israeli Consul General and
> representatives of the companies whose stock would be sold to present
> their case.
> 
> Hundreds filled the chamber Monday night as tension mounted.
> Supporters of the resolution held small signs that read "Somerville
> for Human Rights". There was extra security at city hall and
> absolutely no backpacks were allowed into the building. The Israeli
> Consulate arrived with a police detail for body guards.
> 
> The hearing began with a display of power by opponents of the
> resolution that was clearly designed to intimidate the Aldermen. The
> Israeli Consul General, the Mayor of Somerville and State Rep. Tim
> Twomey expressed their opposition before the actual hearing began.
> Following this display there was one hour for each side to present
> speakers at 2 minutes each.
> 
> Supporters of the resolution, excited by the possibilities raised by
> such a hearing, were cautiously optimistic about the prospects of
> success. Opponents were incensed that such a hearing was taking place
> at all, that the Aldermen would even consider divesting from Israel,
> and that it almost passed the week before.
> 
> 
> 
> Israeli Consul General, Meir Shlomo.
> 
> The Israeli Consul General, Meir Shlomo, began by saying that he was
> "insulted" by this resolution. "Israel is a country that was based and
> founded on social justice and respect for human rights". He touted
> Israel's sterling record on civil liberties, which he boasted,
> extended to gay people.  On several occasions he noted its freedom of
> the press. He talked about the Israeli Supreme Court, freedom of
> speech, and reiterated Israel's claim to be the only democracy in the
> Middle East. He did not talk about occupation, collective punishment,
> house demolition, land confiscation, settlement expansion or targeted
> assassinations, except to reassure the crowd that Israel has no
> Capitol punishment, even for the worst terrorists.
> 
> As far as I could ascertain, his case against the resolution was that
> Israel was being singled out unfairly. Others would assert that it was
> anti-Israel.
> 
> Next up was Somerville Mayor, Joseph A. Curtatone, who had not
> participated in any of the previous meetings on divestment and who had
> declined opportunities to meet with Somerville residents and members
> of SDP to discuss the resolution. Mayor Curtatone concluded that the
> issue was "too complex", that it "went back centuries" and that the
> aldermen should reject the resolution. With emotions already high,
> those opposing the resolution seemed exhilarated by the mayor's
> guarantee that he would veto the resolution if it passed. The mayor
> then left before hearing from supporters of the resolution.
> 
> As Somerville residents spoke one after the other Monday night, they
> made clear that they do not want their money used to oppress and
> violate the human rights of others. Neither do they want to support
> companies that profit from those violations.
> 
> State Representative Tim Twomey called for a more constructive
> resolution that endorses the roadmap. But he made no suggestion as to
> what the City of Somerville could do to push the roadmap forward.
> Ariel Sharon's senior advisor Dov Weissglass recently put to rest any
> notion that Israel had any intention of implementing the roadmap or
> creating a Palestinian State, which the roadmap calls for.
> 
> The aldermen have wrangled with these types of issues before when they
> passed resolutions against Burma, the Patriot Act and the war in Iraq
> However, never had they encountered such support for human rights
> violations. As one opponent of the resolution put it, "according to
> Donald Rumsfeld, the United States has determined that the Geneva
> Conventions do not apply to its war on terror, why should Israel be
> obliged to abide by them?"
> 
> More opposition to the resolution came from local labor leaders and
> from leaders of Brit Tzedek and Meretz USA. They claimed that the
> resolution would "demonize" Israel and once again we heard that Israel
> was being singled out unfairly. Steve Grossman, the local head of the
> Anti Defamation League (ADL) and former head of the American Israel
> Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) which is currently under
> investigation for passing American top secret material to Israel,
> claimed that the resolution was anti-Semitic. Others went so far as to
> call for an investigation of SDP members.
> 
> Marty Federman, a Jewish educator and former board member and chair of
> the Social Action Committee of Congregation B'nai Brith in Somerville,
> pointed out that tactics including accusations of anti-semitism and
> personal attacks are commonly used against anyone who dares to speak
> out against policies of the Israeli government. He strongly supported
> the resolution based on its merits.
> 
> Larry Miller is a former president of Congregation B'nai B'rith, a
> congregation well represented on both sides. The outpouring highlights
> the deep divisions created by the issue within the community.
> 
> Mr. Miller was embarrassed by accusations of "anti-Semitism" by some
> of his friends toward people who support divestment. He told them that
> they should be ashamed of themselves.  With that, supporters erupted
> with applause while Dr. Annique Kaplan, another of the Jewish
> supporters of the resolution, shouted "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you
> for saying that"!
> 
> As supporters of the resolution spoke, the actual issues surrounding
> it began to focus. First and foremost, the only foreign country that
> the City of Somerville is invested in is Israel. Thus, Israel had been
> "singled out" and given "special treatment" long ago. The purpose of
> this resolution, Liz Monin pointed out, was in fact to end the special
> treatment and demand that Somerville stop taking sides. She dispelled
> the claims that the resolution was "one-sided," by quoting from the
> language of the resolution which she said "seeks to stop taking sides
> and instead take a stand for human rights for all people".
> 
> The atmosphere in the room began to shift as proponents of the
> resolution and therefore of divestment, spoke eloquently about why
> they had become involved with the project. We began to hear about
> human rights violations and the oppression of Palestinians by the
> Israeli army and government. They explained why they support socially
> responsible investing.
> 
> Somerville resident Kevin Qazilbash spoke about the effects of
> collective punishment on children, and he said that, as a father and a
> teacher, he could not look his students in the eyes if he was not
> doing everything he can to work to end the violence against innocent
> Palestinian civilians. Qazilbash also made the point that he is
> against the violence perpetrated by both sides of the conflict, as did
> many people from the other side.
> 
> 
> 
> Hilary Rantisi speaks to the meeting.
> 
> Hilary Rantisi, a Palestinian American now living in Somerville with
> her American husband, spoke in a very personal way about her family
> and about her life. She acknowledged that as painful as her story
> sounded, that she has been privileged. Many more Palestinians have
> suffered much more than she. Many more continue to suffer. We met
> 15-year-old Khalil, who is an exchange student presently living
> outside of Boston. When home in Gaza City he cannot visit family
> members living just 18 miles away due to roadblocks and curfew.
> Several of his cousins have been killed over the past year and he was
> unable to attend their funerals. Just last week, his 16-year-old
> cousin, Hanin, was shot in the head by an Israeli sniper while she
> played with her little brother inside her house. She died instantly.
> 
> Lana Habash, another Palestinian American and Somerville resident
> spoke of the racism upon which the occupation is based. Last summer
> she traveled to the West Bank as an International. She relayed her
> eyewitness account of an Israeli soldier who shot a young Palestinian
> woman in the stomach and genitals right in front of her. "If this is
> what they do in front of us, you can only imagine what they are doing
> when we're not looking," said Habash.
> 
> Almost all of the speakers supporting the resolution, both Jewish and
> gentile alike, had in fact, traveled to the West Bank and witnessed
> first hand the "horror" of occupation. The only opponent who had been
> to the Occupied Territories was a former Israeli soldier who claimed
> that any killings of children or civilians were "mistakes". Meir
> Schlomo had also acknowledged that "mistakes" are made by democracies
> but claimed Israel second to none in rectifying them. He did not cite
> any examples of such rectification.
> 
> Shamai Leibowitz, an Israeli attorney who had come in support of the
> resolution, quickly dispelled that myth. He recounted that as a young
> Israeli soldier he was ordered to commit war crimes in the Occupied
> Palestinian Territories. "My platoon meted out collective punishment
> on whole Palestinian communities, arrested and detained Palestinians
> without charge, demolished their homes, shot live ammunition at
> unarmed civilians, killed women and children, and arbitrarily
> destroyed crops and property". Leibowitz now refuses to serve in the
> Occupied Palestinian Territories.
> 
> As a former Israeli soldier and an Orthodox Jew, Leibowitz felt
> compelled to emphasize the urgent need for divestment. "The flow of
> money that facilitates Israeli war crimes and gross human rights
> violations which have been going on for nearly 40 years in the
> Occupied Palestinian Territories must be stopped".  He, like many
> others, made the point that "only through divestment will Israel be
> forced to end the occupation and therefore achieve peace and security
> for both Israel and Palestine".
> 
> During the hearing last week, five of the aldermen thanked the SDP for
> bringing the plight of the Palestinian people to their attention. They
> had known little about the issue. Many of the people in the room on
> Monday had probably never listened to such impassioned and honest
> descriptions of the West Bank and Gaza, or heard an honest explanation
> of why divestment is important.
> 
> When I got up to speak, I addressed the question of why the aldermen
> had known so little about the issue. I explained how the media works
> in the US on this issue, that after 22 years of badgering by CAMERA
> and now "Honest Reporting" as well, the US media is afraid to report
> on anything Israel is doing in the West Bank and Gaza. Just last week,
> international observers watched as CNN filmed an Israeli soldier shoot
> a Palestinian child who was throwing rocks. CNN refused to air the
> footage or even talk about it. I also told the crowd that "because of
> this experience you no longer have the luxury of ignorance. Now that
> you know what is being done with your money, you have a responsibility
> to stop it, to approve the resolution and support responsible investing".
> 
> As if to underscore my point on media bias, the Boston Globe ran a
> story Tuesday, November 9, entitled "Proposal to Divest Israel Funds
> Sparks Outrage". Roughly 80% of this story was on the opposition to
> the resolution. The author, Benjamin Geden, does not even appear to
> have read the resolution.
> 
> The vote has been put off until Dec.9 , 2004. No doubt, attempts to
> influence the Aldermen by both sides of the issue will continue.
> Regardless of the outcome, people had a real opportunity to hear each
> other, not a common occurrence on this issue. Nancy Murray of Boston
> Committee for Palestinian Rights saw this night as a watershed in the
> struggle for peace and justice for Palestinians and Israelis. Let's
> hope so.
> 
> 
> 
> Related Links
> 
> BY TOPIC: Divestment and Boycott
> 
> 
> Tom Wallace is the former Media Coordinator for the International
> Solidarity Movement, and the Executive Director of MidEast Focus, a
> communications awareness project. Contributions can be made to
> Somerville Divestment Project, PO Box 441259, Somerville, MA 02144,
> USA, or visit our website at www.divestmentproject.org and click the
> 'Contributions' button.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
>                                      E-mail this Page
>                                      Print this Page
> 
> 
> 2000-2004 electronicIntifada.net

Paul