= == = = == = = == = = == = = == = = == = = "They have decided upon cold-blooded murder" = == = = == = = == = = == = = == = = == = =
Gush Shalom press release, 12/9/2003
"The government of Israel has tonight resolved to committ a cold- blooded murder, with the implementation deferred - the cold blooded murder of the elected president of the Palestinians. Let there be no mistake about it. Let no one be fooled by the talk of 'deportation'. There is no intention that Arafat will susrvive the enecounter with Sharon's soldiers. I know Sharon, I have followed his career for decades, ever since he was a young commando officer carrying out brutal cross- border raids. He has not changed in any essential, only in the amount of power held in his hands. He means to do it, he means to kill Arafat. He will watch for his chance, wait for a moment when the Amercians look elsewhere - and then he will pounce." That was the immediate response by Uri Avnery, former member of the Israeli Parliament and est Member and veteran activist of Gush Shalom (The Israeli Peace Bloc). "The cabinet ministers of the Government of Israel have tonight adopted an ominous, criminal decision, whose implementation would entail rivers of shed blood - far beyond all the horrors we have already seen in the past three years. The effects will spread far beyoond the confies of this country - throughout the region and the world. The ministers who raised their hands for this infamous resolution will never be able to sheke of responsibily for what they have done".
Avnery - spry and energetic, two days after his eightieth birthday had been marked at hundreds of political and personal friends packing the Tzavta Hall in Tel-Aviv - said these ominous words at the peak of an hours-long vigil opposite the gates of the defence minstry in Tel-Aviv, the place Sharon had chosen to gather the members of his Inner Cabinet. For hours we have been tensely waiting - more than a hundred Tel-Avivian activists of Gush Shalom, Ta'ayush and smaller groups, among them also the former KM Tamar Gozansli, as well as a similar number of Jerusalemites at a simultaneous vigil outside the Prime Minster's office - until we heard the cabinet's ominous decision on a squeking small transistor radio.
Israeli peace activists seem doomed to spend a disportionate portion of their lives on that dismal small parking lot, coming again and again to manifest protest at ever more outrageous acts of the government and army - but this time was different. This time we had the knowlege that in one of the official buildings behind the fence on the other side of the street, a small group of men was at that very moment gathered to take life-and-death decisions - and we, whose own lives might be directly affeted, had no confidence whatsoever in their motives or their judgement. This lent an extra eletric quality to the atmosphere, the feeling of being actors in in vast tragedy - an extra poignancy to the ongoing chanting from young and not-so-young throats: "Sharon, Mofaz and Ya'alon -terrorists in power!" / "All the minsters - are war criminals!" / "Down with the occupation!" / "Sharon, Sharon, the Hague is waiting for you!" / " Jewish - Arab Brotherhood!" / "Peace Yes - Occuption NO, NO, NO!".
Oveall fluttered a big banner bering a long series of words: Liquidation>Suicide Bombing>Liquidation>Suicide Bombing>Liquidation>Suicide Bombing>Liquidation>Suicide Bombing>Liquidation>Suicide Bombing>Liquidation>Suicide Bombing>.....
And now what? The Americans blocked Sharon from sending his troops into the Palestinian presidential compound ialready last night - as according to some press accounts he planned to do. But how much reliance can be placed on the Bush Administaration - which itself engaged more than once in adventurous, ill-considered and ill-fated decisions? For us, at least, the immediate idea is to organise a visit of our own to Arafat's compound - not a visitation of death and destruction such as Sharon is planning, but a visit of solidarity, of belief in the peace between this land's two peoples, a peace which is still possible and which is more then ever a vital need.
Stay tuned for further developments (for further info call Uri Avnery +972-50-306440).
Meanwhile, following is a chilling and inspiring message which we got from Yithchak Frankenthal, coordiantor of the Parents' Crircle - a group of Israelis and Palestinians who all lost loved ones in the ongoing violence, and are dedicated to try and put an end to it.
Date sent: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 18:07:55 +0200 From: Anat <anatl at theparentscircle.com> Subject: Hillel Cafe
It is now 11:59 PM, half an hour after the suicide bombing at Hillel Cafe. Just the night before, my wife and I and two of our friends were sitting at the Cafe until around 11:40 PM. The place was packed. I can now hear the sirens of the ambulances racing through the streets of Jerusalem. I cannot get the images out of my head; images of severed arms, decapitated heads, people with nails and pieces or iron stuck in their bodies, broken tables, the cake and sandwich bar shattered into thousands of pieces. What happened to the sweet waitress who was serving us? What happened to the young bus boy? We were sitting in the middle of the room; all those people came there for a good time and were carried out in coffins. Is the high ceiling still in place? The glass wall shattered into millions of shards, covering body parts and swimming in the blood that spilled on the floor like water. Shema Israel, hear O Israel, we pray - but Israel is not listening. And I feel empty inside, asking myself which of my friends and neighbors were at the Caf? today? I am thinking about the people holding their coffee cups when the bomb went off, and how they were lucky if the shatters only got in their eyes and did not kill them. I think of the man biting into his sandwich not knowing that this would be his last bite ever; about the piles of human bodies flying in the air into one another; about the severed arm thrust into the young woman still seated at her table, but she feels nothing - she is either in shock or simply dead. I see how tables are blown by the blast, hitting the guests, and how in the fireball human flesh mixes with freshly-served cheese; and the smell, the smell of explosives and burnt human flesh blending into one; and the quiet after the blast, and the cries of pain and shock, the shock that comes after the quiet. I think of the victory that the Chief of Staff has announced two months ago, saying we have beaten the Palestinians, and I my heart weep: how could my army chief of staff be such a fool? I think of the folly of the politicians who are leading us from one catastrophe to the next, and I think about how the people keep silent. Has everyone forgotten? Adonai eloheinu - the Lord is our G-od, not Greater Israel. I know the painful truth. The body count will continue, because our political leaders are petty little people. So full of themselves, they are clueless about conflict resolution; they slay Palestinians and expect them to exercise restraint. These wise men believe that the occupation can continue; these glorious generals have for there years now been "letting the IDF win," as the slogan goes; they may be seasoned soldiers, but they are absolutely ignorant in conflict resolution. They believe that by using terror to counter terror they can give us security. They believe that they can devastate the infrastructure of Palestinian leadership and government and at the same time stop militias from wreaking chaos. They have for two years now been pronouncing Arafat "irrelevant", but what does that make of former defense minister Binyamin (Fuad) Ben-Eliezer, of former prime minister Ehud Barak and of the incumbent, Ariel Sharon? Are they any more relevant than he? How long will it take us to wake up from this ongoing folly? How many more body bags will it take? Adonai ehad - G-od is the only unshakeable truth, not any political creed. The beauty of Israel is slain upon the Messianic pipedream - how long shall the petty leaders of this nation triumph? It is now the morning after, and I have just learned that Dr. Appelboim was killed, along with his daughter who was to get married tonight. I knew this wonderful, special man. My heart bleeds for him; it was only two months ago that we had a chat and even argued over my political views. How painful and despairing it is to see more blood being shed in vain. The young bride, excited to start a family with her betrothed, is forever married in a blood wedding to her father. They will lie side by side, as the silence of all eternity quashes the joyful sounds of the wedding that will never be. Shema Israel, yitgadal, veyitkadash shem? raba - hear O Israel, exalted and sanctified be the name of the great Sovereign - these are the words of the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer recited over every freshly-dug grave. Shame on you, leaders of the nations.
Yitzhak Frankenthal, father of Arik, who was killed because there is no peace.
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