Freakin' idiots.
Posted on 09/04/2003 5:03:44 PM PDT by yonif
Israel's security fence came under harsh criticism at the United Nations, where an annual conference meant to bolster Palestinian civil society instead spent its energies denouncing Israeli self-defense policies.
Postcards of a Palestinian child dwarfed by the Israeli fence, slide shows of Palestinian humanitarian crises allegedly caused by the fence's construction, informational leaflets printed by the anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox group Neturei Karta, and maps of "Palestine" from the river to the sea from 1920, minus the caveat that Palestine was never a state, were all on display yesterday at UN headquarters in New York, where delegates from across the globe gathered for the International Conference of Civil Society in Support of the Palestinian People.
The theme of the two-day conference was "End the Occupation!"
The conference began with a statement of support by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered by his deputy, under secretary general Kieran Prendergast. Annan's blessing of the conference was roundly criticized Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman, who said the event "sabotages whatever positive developments there may be on the ground and derails the road map and the peace process."
Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman wrote Annan last month urging him to distance himself from what he termed a "forum for anti-Israel propaganda." Foxman said he never received a response from Annan.
Setting the tone for the conference, Palestinian observer to the UN Nasser al-Kidwa urged delegates to overlook terrorism and focus on Israeli crimes.
"Violence in self-defense in the occupied Palestinian territories is not terrorism. It is a reaction to the odious Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinian people. It does not run counter to international law," he said. "Nonetheless we want to put an end to that violence as well."
Israel's rationale for constructing the security fence - to halt Palestinian suicide bombers from entering Israel to blow up discos, buses and cafes - received scant attention at yesterday's opening panel, titled "The situation on the ground: obstacles to peace."
The reasons for the fence's construction, as outlined by delegates, read more like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, with control of West Bank ground water, a lust for ancient Palestinian trees (which, delegates charged, are uprooted from the West Bank and replanted on Israel's side of the Green Line) and a desire to sow discord among Palestinian farmers and merchants among the allegations floated.
"The wall is destroying the Palestinian economy," said Jamal Juma, coordinator for the Palestinian Environmental NGO Network, who presented a slideshow featuring photos of the fence overlaid with occupation buzzwords in bold type, including "apartheid wall" and "ghettoization."
Juma said that up to a quarter of Kalkilya's 40,000-strong population is expected to flee the town by the end of the year due to construction of the fence. One of the cited reasons for Israel's destruction of Kalkilya's outdoor markets to make room for the fence was to end Israeli shopping in the town.
"Prices in the West Bank are cheaper than in Israel," he said.
John Reese, coordinator of the US Campaign to Stop the Wall, accused Israel of building the wall to gain control of Palestinian water and as a place to throw trash.
"The Israeli government, the IDF, the settlers are using the environment as a weapon of war against the Palestinian people, discharging their waste on the cities and farmland of Palestine," Reese said.
He showed slides of pipes allegedly pumping toxic waste in the territories; after numerous pictures of dry-looking pipes, Reese clarified that the waste is pumped only at night, when he apparently didn't snap photos.
The only Israeli speaker at yesterday's panel, former Meretz MK Naomi Chazan, used her time on the podium to urge the UN to skip the first two phases of the three-stage road map, and immediately declare Palestinian statehood. One of the phases she opted to skip demands a Palestinian crackdown on terror, but Chazan was the sole speaker to firmly denounce the attacks.
"It is quite beyond me, when everybody knows it is cruel and senseless and that there is no military solution to the conflict, that people do not speak out against [terror] at all times, in any form," she said.
Additional speakers slated to speak yesterday afternoon and today (Friday) include Cindy Corrie, whose daughter, Rachel, was killed last spring when she sat in front of a moving IDF tank that was destroying terrorist tunnels in southern Gaza, and Greta Duisenberg, the wife of European Central Bank chief Wim Duisenberg, who has blamed "rich American Jews" from the plight of the Palestinians.
Check out this moron:
John Reese, coordinator of the US Campaign to Stop the Wall, accused Israel of building the wall to gain control of Palestinian water and as a place to throw trash.
"The Israeli government, the IDF, the settlers are using the environment as a weapon of war against the Palestinian people, discharging their waste on the cities and farmland of Palestine," Reese said.
He showed slides of pipes allegedly pumping toxic waste in the territories; after numerous pictures of dry-looking pipes, Reese clarified that the waste is pumped only at night, when he apparently didn't snap photos.
In the Arab world, you see: it's "self-defense" to dynamite infants in a pizza parlor, or on a civilian bus.
Yessir. Darned tough, those Jewish babies.
I can certainly see why the typical Muslim male would feel frightened and... inadequate, next to one of them.
Freakin' idiots.
Any relation to Charley?
You know, as someone who isn't deeply involved in this issue, I have to say these "reasons" for the fence would be more plausible if no one was crossing into Israel to bomb the Israeli's. When we have the evidence nearly every day that in fact, people from the West Bank are entering Israels side and attempting to kill Israeli civilians, the idea that the fence is to "sow discord" seem a little less likely than the "to keep out terrorists" reason...
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