This article is from
Uri Averni, a maverick Israeli politician and and one of the country's
foremost journalists.
> Twin Towers
>
> Uri Avnery
>
> 15.9.01.
> After the smoke has cleared, the dust has settled down and the
initial
> fury blown over, humankind will wake up and realize a new fact: there is
> no safe place on earth.
> A handful of suicide-bombers has brought the United States to a
> standstill, caused the President to hide in a bunker under a far-away
> mountain, dealt a terrible blow to the economy, grounded all aircraft, and
> emptied government offices throughout the country. This can happen in
> every country. The Twin Towers are everywhere.
> Not only Israel, but the whole world is now full of gibberish about
> "fighting terrorism". Politicians, "experts on terrorism" and their likes
> propose to hit, destroy, annihilate etc., as well as to allocate more
> billions to the "intelligence community". They make brilliant suggestions.
> But nothing of this kind will help the threatened nations, much as nothing
> of this kind has helped Israel.
> There is no patent remedy for terrorism. The only remedy is to remove
> its causes. One can kill a million mosquitoes, and millions more will take
> their place. In order to get rid of them, one has to dry the swamp that
> breeds them. And the swamp is always political.
> A person does not wake up one morning and tell himself: Today I shall
> hijack a plane and kill myself. Nor does a person wake up one morning and
> tell himself: Today I shall blow myself up in a Tel-Aviv discotheque. Such
> a decision grows in a person's mind through a slow process, taking years.
> The background to the decision is either national or religious, social and
> spiritual.
> No fighting underground can operate without popular roots and a
> supportive environment that is ready to supply new recruits, assistance,
> hiding places, money and means of propaganda. An underground organization
> wants to gain popularity, not lose it. Therefore it commits attacks when
> it thinks that this is what the surrounding public wants. Terror attacks
> always testify to the public mood.
> That is true in this case, too. The initiators of the attacks decided
> to implement their plan after America has provoked immense hatred
> throughout the world. Not because of its might, but because of the way it
> uses its might. It is hated by the enemies of globalization, who blame it
> for the terrible gap between rich and poor in the world. It is hated by
> millions of Arabs, because of its support for the Israeli occupation and
> the suffering of the Palestinian people. It is hated by multitudes of
> Muslims, because of what looks like its support for the Jewish domination
> of the Islamic holy shrines in Jerusalem. And there are many more angry
> peoples who believe that America supports their tormentors.
> Until September 11, 2001 - a date to remember - Americans could
> entertain the illusion that all this concerns only others, in far-away
> places beyond the seas, that it does not touch their sheltered lives at
> home. No more.
> That is the other side of globalization: all the world's problems
> concern everyone in the world. Every case of injustice, every case of
> oppression. Terrorism, the weapon of the weak, can easily reach every spot
> on earth. Every society can easily be targeted, and the more developed a
> society is, the more it is in danger. Fewer and fewer people are needed to
> inflict pain on more and more people. Soon one single person will be
> enough to carry a suitcase with a tiny atomic bomb and destroy a
> megalopolis of tens of millions.
> This is the reality of the 21st century that started this week in
> earnest. It must lead to the globalization of all problems and the
> globalization of their solutions. Not in the abstract, by fatuous
> declarations in the UN, but by a global endeavor to resolve conflicts and
> establish peace, with the participation of all nations, with the US
> playing a central role.
> Since the US has become a world power, it has deviated from the path
> outlined by its founders. It was Thomas Jefferson who said: No nation can
> behave without a decent respect for the opinion of mankind. (I quote from
> memory). When the US delegation left the world conference in Durban, in
> order to abort the debate about the evils of slavery and in order to court
> the Israeli right, Jefferson must have turned over in his grave.
> If it is confirmed that the attack on New York and Washington was
> perpetrated by Arabs - and even if not! - the world must at long last
> treat the festering wound of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is
> poisoning the whole body of humanity. One of the wise guys in the Bush
> administration said only a few weeks ago: "Let them bleed!" - meaning the
> Palestinians and the Israelis. Now America is bleeding. He who runs away
> from the conflict is followed by it, even into his home. Americans, and
> Europeans too, should learn this lesson.
> The distance from Jerusalem to New York is small, and so is the
> distance from New York to Paris, London and Berlin. Not only
> multi-national corporations embrace the globe, but terror organizations do
> so, too. In the same way, the instruments for the solution of conflicts
> must be global.
> Instead of the destroyed New York edifices, the twin towers of Peace
> and Justice must be built.
>
> =========================================
> For information about Gush Shalom visit the website:
> http://www.gush-shalom.org/
> email: info at gush-shalom.org;
>
> > ==^================================================================