Time to Send “End the Occupation” Packing

Pause and reflect: While we note that International Law still labels Gaza as “occupied”, consider that there is no occupation in the following sense: Goldstein doesn’t live there anymore. He no longer commutes on the Jewish-only highways connecting his illegal settlement to Apartheid Israel. His wife no longer shops in Jewish-owned stores. His kids no longer attend settlement schools. He no longer waters his lawn with water appropriated from Palestinians, etc. You get the picture. In Gaza, there is no occupation in the sense that *our* houses and apartments are occupied. In this sense the occupation of Gaza is over. Yet who could possibly claim that justice has been served and that Palestinian residents of Gaza are free?

The siege, the starvation, the sniping from watchtowers, the bombings, the flyovers … all are testimony to the fact that ending an occupation, in the traditional sense, only goes so far. Arguments could be made that things are even worse, that war crimes have escalated. The 1948 ethnic cleansing and genocide continue unabated since the occupation of Gaza has ceased. Where has that rhetoric gotten us?

We think it very clear that catch phrases like “End the occupation” can help to serve a Zionist interest: The preservation of a Jewish supremacist state in 78% of Palestine.

It’s past time to employ slogans which address the issue more directly, that will clarify the situation and help highlight the path to justice. “End Jewish Supremacism in Palestine”, “No Jewish State”, “Smash Israeli Apartheid”, “Dismantle the Jewish State”, “All of Palestine is occupied territory”. All these address the issue at its core.

Continuing an appeal to merely “End the Occupation”, now only of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, portends a similarly awful “solution.” Imagine no Jewish settlers there: what would stop the Jewish state from erecting more walls and fences, ala` Gaza, which would create additional open-air concentration camps? What would stop them from then shooting at will, bombing at will, the same way they’ve done to Gaza? What would stop them from forcibly removing all Palestinians with Israeli citizenship?

If a peace group makes it absolutely clear that all of Palestine is occupied, then “End the Occupation” might have standing. But no group that we are aware of has made that distinction. So let’s shine the spotlight brightly on groups that promote an end to the “occupation”, and demand to know from them whether they’re in the business to preserve a Jewish supremacist state, or to dismantle one.

Last Reminder to Boycott the Jerusalem Quartet

Fascist countries have long used the subterfuge of exporting their best and finest musicians, artists, dancers, etc. to cover up their war crimes, and Apartheid Israel is certainly no exception. How many concerts must the Jerusalem Quartet perform to cover up the Hanukkah massacre, which used banned white phosphorus weaponry on unarmed civilians and children? How many dance troupes and symphonies must Apartheid Israel send out as “cultural ambassadors” to make the world forget May’s deadly Flotilla attack, where the Jewish state “executed” peace activists? Do people remember Rachel Corrie, who might be turning 30 this year were it not for the Jewish state crushing her, then thumbing its nose at its patron, the Zionist Occupied Territory, aka the United States? Seven years after this crime, and the U.S. still has yet to tell us the name of the bulldozer driver/murderer. Are they afraid to ask their masters?

So we call upon all peace activists to put their feet on the sidewalk, and join us to say “You’re not fooling us” to these musician/soldiers as they buddy up to their musical aficionados. Just say No to mendacity.

Date: Thursday, October 21, 2010
Place: Rackham Auditorium, 915 E. Washington Street (48104), Main Campus
Time: Protest starts at 7:00pm, will go till 8:30. Concert starts at 8:00
See you there.

Eight Vigilers
No Justice, No Peace
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends