da ALJAZEERA e da HAARETZ

Palestine, occupation and self-criticism

By Lawrence Smallman

Yosef Lapid is the only Holocaust survivor in Israeli cabinet (Yosef Lapid è l'unico sopravvissuto all'olocausto nel governo di Israele)

Israeli politicians have for decades been known to severely criticise their own government's heavy-handed approach to Palestine. (I politici Israeliani per decenni hanno notoriamenete criticato severamente l'approccio pesante alla Palestina da parte del loro proprio governo.) After 42 violent deaths, dozens of destroyed Palestinian homes and a critical UN resolution, even prominent Israelis are adding their voice to a chorus of world outrage. (Dopo 42 morti violente, dozzine di case Palestinesi distrutte e una risoluzione di condanna dell'ONU, anche Israeliani importanti stanno aggiungendo la loro voce al coro dell'indignazione mondiale.) Israeli Justice Minister Yosef Lapid stunned Prime Minister Arial Sharon when he compared a television image with his personal experience of the Holocaust. (Il Ministro Israeliano della Giustizia Yosef Lapid ha sbalordito il Primo Ministro Sharon quando ha paragonato un'immagine televisiva con la propria personale esperienza dell'Olocausto.) [Attenzione: il confronto è fra episodi e immagini, non fra due eventi storici non comparabili. h] Leader of the centrist Shinui Party, he has became the first cabinet minister to criticise the most recent Gaza raid and called on the cabinet on Sunday to halt the demolitions. (Leader del centrista Shinui Party, egli è stato il primo ministro del governo (Sharon) a criticare il più recente raid di Gaza e domenica ha invitato il gabinetto a fermare le demolizioni.) Scene reminiscent of the ghettos of mid-twentieth century? "I saw on television an old woman picking through the rubble of her house in Rafah, looking for her medicine. ("Io ho visto in televisione una vecchia donna che frugava tra le macerie della sua casa a Rafah, cercando la sua medicina. "She reminded me of my grandmother who was expelled from her home during the Holocaust," political sources quoted him as saying. ("Mi ha ricordato mia nonna quando fu espulsa dalla sua casa durante l'Olocausto," fonti politiche hanno citato ... Lapid's grandmother died in the gas chambers at Auschwitz death camp. (La nonna di Lapid morì nelle camere a gas del campo della morte di Auschwitz.) Dismissed But an angry Sharon retorted that Lapid's remarks were "unacceptable and intolerable", the sources said. (Ma un irato Sharon ha ribattuto che le osservazioni di Lapid erano "inaccettabili e intollerabili", hanno riferito le fonti.) However, there are numerous examples of other prominent Israeli politicians and military figures criticising their own brutal policies. (Comunque, ci sono numerosi esempi di altri eminenti politici e figure militari che criticano le loro stesse politiche brutali.) Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was quoted in Haaretz on 3 June 1998 saying if he were a Palestinian, he would also join a resistance group. (Il precedente Primo Ministro Ehud Barak è stato citato in Haaretz on 3 June 1998 quando diceva che se lui fosse stato un Palestinese, si sarebbe unito a un gruppo della resistenza.) "We're told all the time the Palestinians want to throw us into the sea. We have six million people in the strongest Army in the region yet we speak of them as if they were two equal powers. It's just manipulating people's fears" Shrilamut Aroni, former cabinet member Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, was quoted by Nehum Goldman in the book The Israeli Paradox, as going a step further: (Il primo Primo Ministro Israeliano, David Ben-Gurion, è stato citato da Negum Goldman nel libro "Il paradosso Israeliano", mentre andava oltre:) "If I were an Arab leader I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal, we've taken your country. "There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing, we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?" Military criticism More recently, Israeli tactics have come in for severe criticism from the very people ordered into the occupied Palestinian territories to "prevent terrorism". On 4 April 2002, a reservist who refused to serve - Ishai Rosen-Zvi – questioned his own army's tactics. "We are at war again, what is this war intended for? Preventing terrorism? This isn't even an unfunny joke. It is clear and embarrassing to repeat that these operations are the ultimate laboratories for the creation of terrorism." Leaving their Rafah home to an Israeli 'defence force' bulldozer "Occupation of towns and villages, the breaking and entry and vandalising of homes. The cutting off, the humiliation, the suppression, killing by the fastest and most effective factories of terrorism." Rosen-Zvi even claimed that in the late 90s, support among Palestinians for human bombing ran at about 20%. "Today it is hard to find someone among them who will denounce this phenomenon." "Nobody believes that more occupation, more killing, destroying and humiliation will help to decimate it." Explanation Former cabinet member Shrilamut Aroni attempted to explain why more Israeli politicians fail to see the brutality of their policies. "The Jews were once victims. Now we're brainwashed to believe we'll always be victims and victims can do no wrong. Suddenly we've become strong and greedy and pretend we can justify everything. "We're told all the time the Palestinians want to throw us into the sea. We have six million people in the strongest Army in the region yet we speak of them as if they were two equal powers. It's just manipulating people's fears." "It is clear and embarrassing to repeat that these operations are the ultimate laboratories for the creation of terrorism" Ishai Rosen-Zvi, Israeli reservist refusnik But the final word must go to Moshe Dayan - one of the most candid, and charismatic, generals in Israeli history. Speaking to Haaretz on 4 April 1969, he summarised the number one reason for the current Intifada. "Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages. I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist, not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. "There's not one single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population."

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E4D19123-9DD3-11D1-B44E-006097071264.htm

da HAARETZ

'Help us free our boys' - By Lily Galili

Two weeks ago, the refusenik movement in Israel received an unexpected expression of support from Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, who openly spoke of his understanding and sympathy for conscientious objectors of all sorts. It provided an ideological shot of encouragement to refuseniks and their supporters. The parents of the five refuseniks now serving jail terms in civilian prisons for their refusal to serve in the Israel Defense Forces will use Mazuz's statement in an upcoming publicity campaign prior to a June 15 hearing to discuss lightening the prison sentence. The attorney general's statement is quoted in a flyer appearing under the headline "Free the boys." (Due settimane fa, il movimento refusenik in Israele ha ricevuto una inattesa espressione di supporto dal Procuratore Generale (?) Menachem Mazuz, che apertamente ha parlato della sua comprensione e simpatia per gli obiettori di coscienza di ogni tipo. Questo ha fornito una possibilità di incoraggiamento per i refuseniks e i loro sostenitori. I genitori di cinque refusenik, che stanno scontando una condanna in prigioni civili per il loro rifiuto di servire nelle Foze della Difesa di Israele, useranno la dichiarazione di Mazuz in una imminente campagna pubblicitaria di un'udienza il 15 Giugno per discutere lightening the prison sentence. La dichiarazione del procuratore generale è citata in un opuscolo sotto il titolo "Free the boys".)

The parents offer Mazuz's statement as a sympathetic statement by the civilian justice system that acts as a counterweight to the military justice system, which is treating the case in a way that appears to them as being vindictive and lacking proportionality. The message of the campaign is intentionally non-ideological but rather emotional: "Help us free our boys." It is an attempt to enlist support not necessarily from those who traditionally back the refusal to serve, but from the public at large, which can rally around the call to reduce the refuseniks' sentence, a right that is granted to murderers and rapists. (I genitori presentano la dichiarazione di Mazuz come un'affermazione di comprensione da parte del sistema della giustiziacivile che che agisce in qualità di contrappeso rispetto al sistema della giustizia militare, che sta trattando il caso in un modo che gli appare vendicativo e sproporzionato. Il messaggio della campagna è intenzionalmente non-ideologico ma piuttosto emotivo: "Aiutateci a liberare i nostri ragazzi". E' un tentativo di ottenere un sostegno non necessariamente da coloro che tradizionalmente appoggiano il rifiuto a servire, ma da un pubblico più largo, che può riunirsi aound the call per ridurre la condanna per i refusenik, un diritto che è garantito ad assassini e stupratori.)


However, immediately after Mazuz made his statements came the week of carnage in Gaza. Although there is seemingly no connection between the two issues, heart and emotion are now being given to the dead sons, but not necessarily to the imprisoned sons. One doubts that the crowd that rose to its feet to applaud the Givati Brigade commander on Yair Lapid's talk show at the height of the Rafah operation would identify with the parents of the refuseniks. "It most certainly makes things harder," says Marit Zameret, the mother of the imprisoned Shimri. "When I was handing out the first flyers with the demand to release them, at the demonstration at Rabin Square, people were telling me that it's safer to sit in jail than to be in Gaza. It's true. Right now, even I'm happy that he's sitting in jail." [...] (In ogni caso, immediatamente dopo che Mazuz ha fatto la sua dichiarazione, è arrivata la settimana della strage di Gaza. Sebbene apparentemente non vi sia connessione tra le due cose, cuore ed emozione stanno ora battendo per i figli morti, non per i figli imprigionati. ... scusatemi ma non riesco ad andare avanti con la traduzione, forse rifiuto di capire o non capisco davvero. Scusatemi ancora.)

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/objects/misc/BackHome.jhtml

Ho scelto due articoli per dare almeno uno sguardo al punto di vista dell'altro. h