>--- Original Message ---
>From: Bill Bartlett <billbartlett at DODO.COM.AU>
>To: CHOMSKY at MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
>Date: 5/9/02 1:13:33 PM
>
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,712266,00.html
>
>This slur of anti-semitism is used to defend repression
>
>Ending Israel's occupation will benefit Jews and Muslims in
>Europe
>
>Seumas Milne
>Thursday May 9, 2002
>The Guardian
>
>Since the French revolution, the fates of the Jewish people
and the left have
>been closely intertwined. The left's appeal to social justice
and universal
>rights created a natural bond with a people long persecuted
and excluded by
>the Christian European establishment.
>
>From the time of Marx, Jews played a central role across all
shades of the
>left. They were heavily represented among the leaders of the
Russian
>revolution - hence Hitler's denunciation of communism as a
>"Judaeo-Bolshevik conspiracy" - and the left-led underground
resistance to
>the Nazis. It was the Red Army which liberated the Auschwitz
death camp. In
>Britain, it was the left which fought to defend the Jewish East
End of London
>from fascists in the 1930s. In the Arab world, Jews were crucial
to the
>building of political parties of the left. And despite the changed
class balance
>of many Jewish communities, Jews remain disproportionately active
in
>progressive political movements - including Palestinian solidarity
groups -
>throughout the world.
>
>But now the left stands accused of anti-semitism because of
its opposition to
>Israel's military occupation and continuing dispossession of
the
>Palestinians. As the Palestinian intifada and Israeli repression
rage on,
>rightwing commentators and religious leaders have claimed the
left is guilty
>of "anti-Jewish prejudice", double standards towards Israel
and even apeing
>the anti-semitic "blood libels" of the Middle Ages with the
ferocity of its
>charges of Israeli massacres. Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan
Sacks, has
>widened the attack to the media and equated any questioning
of Israel's
>legitimacy with "calling into question the Jewish people's right
to exist
>collectively". In the US, the denunciation of the left over
Israel has been
>extended to include the whole mainstream European political
system.
>
>There is little question that there has been a growth of overt
anti-semitism
>in Europe, especially since the collapse of European communism
more than a
>decade ago. That trend has quickened since the start of the
second intifada and
>Ariel Sharon's election as Israel's prime minister. In Britain,
physical
>attacks on Jews have increased significantly - even if they
remain far fewer
>than assaults on black, Asian and Muslim people - and now a
London
>synagogue has been desecrated. With the far right on the march
across the
>continent, it is hardly surprising that a community barely a
couple of
>generations away from the most devastating genocide in human
history feels
>beleaguered - a perception heightened by atrocities against
civilians in
>Israel, such as Tuesday's suicide attack in Rishon Letzion.
>
>No doubt some on the left have wrongly taken the comparative
wealth and
>position of Britain's Jewish community as a sign that the social
cancer of
>anti-semitism is somehow less dangerous than other forms of
racism. The
>graveyards of Europe are a permanent reminder that it is not.
The left is
>certainly not immune from racist currents in society; and it
needs
>aggressively to police the line between anti-Zionism and anti-semitism,
>taking into account Jewish sensitivities in the way it campaigns
for justice
>in the Middle East.
>
>But none of that excuses the smear that left or liberal support
for
>Palestinian rights is somehow connected to resurgent anti-Jewish
racism -
>an absurd slur which is itself being used as an apologia for
Israel's brutal
>war of subjugation in the occupied territories. All the evidence
is that it is
>the far right, the traditional fount of anti-semitic poison,
which has been
>overwhelmingly responsible for attacks on both Muslim and Jewish
targets
>in Europe. Violence from the Islamist fringe no doubt also poses
a threat, but
>not even in the wildest rantings of Israel's cheerleaders has
it been
>suggested that any group on the left could have had anything
to do with, say,
>the trashing of the Finsbury Park synagogue. Nor is it hostile
media
>coverage that is fuelling criticism of Israel, but what is actually
taking
>place on the ground in Bethlehem, Nablus and Ramallah.
>
>The reality is that, contrary to the claims of the supporters
of Israel's
>35-year-old occupation, its existence as a state is not remotely
in danger.
>Nor by any stretch of the imagination does it "stand alone",
as some have
>insisted. Its security is guaranteed by the most powerful state
in the world.
>
>There is, however, a very real and present threat to the Palestinians,
their
>national rights and even their very presence in what is left
to them of
>Palestine. Evidence of serious Israeli breaches of the Geneva
convention -
>war crimes - across the West Bank has been collected by human
rights
>organisations in recent weeks. But Israel has been able to swat
away the
>Jenin investigation team, ordered in by the UN security council,
with
>impunity. To refuse to acknowledge these brute facts of power
and injustice
>is itself a reflection of anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia,
both currently
>more violently represented on Europe's streets and more acceptable
in its
>polite society than anti-semitism. For the left to ignore such
oppression
>would be a betrayal. As the Zapatista leader Marcos has it,
he is "a Jew in
>Germany, a Palestinian in Israel".
>
>Last week, Dick Armey, the Republican leader in the US House
of
>Representatives and a key Bush ally, called for Israel to annex
the occupied
>territories and expel the Palestinian inhabitants. In other
words, he was
>proposing the ethnic cleansing of the Arab population. His remarks
aroused
>little comment, but coming at a time when 40% of the Israeli
public, as well
>as cabinet ministers, openly support such a "transfer", it can
only be taken
>as encouragement by the most extreme elements in the Israeli
>establishment. Ethnic cleansing is not of course a new departure
for Israel,
>whose forces twice organised large-scale expulsions of Palestinians,
in
>1948 and 1967 - as documented in the records and memoirs of
Israeli
>leaders of the time - to secure a commanding Jewish majority
in the
>territory under its control. But the refugees created in the
process remain
>at the heart of the conflict. It was the tragedy of the Zionist
project that
>Jewish self-determination could only be achieved at another
people's
>expense.
>
>A two-state settlement is now the only possible way to secure
peace in the
>forseeable future. But for such a settlement to stick there
will have to be
>some reversal of that historic ethnic cleansing. Those who insist
there can
>be no questioning of the legitimacy of the state in its current
form - with
>discriminatory laws giving a "right of return" to Jews from
anywhere in
>the world, while denying it to Palestinians expelled by force
- are scarcely
>taking a stand against racism, but rather the opposite. They
are also doing no
>favours to Israelis. The latest suicide bombings have demonstrated
the
>failure of Sharon's strategy for dismantling the infrastructure
of terror.
>What is needed instead is a strategy to dismantle the infrastructure
of
>occupation. Not only would that open the way to peace in the
Middle East. It
>could also create the conditions for Muslims and Jews in Europe
to realise
>their common interests.
>