Forty Years Too Long

On June 10th, 1000's of Americans rallied in Washington at the foot of the Capitol. They were there to deliver an emphatic statement of opposition to 40 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine. I joined other Brooklynites in traveling by bus to stand and state my opposition to the depressing and deplorable situation created by that six-day war of 1967 and the continuous occupation of lands and brutal oppression of the people who live there.

As a Jew, I was brought up by my parents to raise my voice against injustice. When it is Jews that are doing the injustice then, I believe, it's more important than ever to take a stand. The Jewish people who suffered terrible injustice and oppression througout the years, who survived the Holocaust - the Nazi attempt to exterminate them - must stand up and loudly say "no" when a government that says it represents all Jews, perpetrates injustice against another people. It's particularly important because the occupation, as are all occupations, is based on appeals to national, racial and religious superiority. By saying "no" we are asking people to remember the oppression and brutality that we, as Jews, suffered and to understand that we must never ever be a party to the same kind of treatment of other people.

Likewise, as an American citizen I oppose this occupation. This is an occupation and subjugation of the Palestinian people that is bought and paid for by staggering sums of money given the Israeli government by my government. Israel is the single largest recipient of U.S. aid, way out of proportion to its population and its needs. Over $84 billion has been transferred to that state from the taxes of U.S. citizens. In our government's attempt to control the oil resources of that region, Israel has been our staunchest ally. Thus, if one wants peace with justice in the Mid East, one must oppose the military funding and one-sided support of our government for the state of Israel. Without that support, Israel would not be able to hold the lands it has occupied illegally for 40 years.

The conditions in Gaza and the West Bank today are horrendous and getting worse. Gaza could rightfully be called the world's largest prison. The Israelis have formally left and removed their settlements but control every aspect of that area's life and well-being (or lack of well-being): transportation, water resources, trade, etc. Aided and abetted by the Western powers with the United States at the helm, assistance has been cut off and people there forced into dire circumstances, living below a bare subsistence level. Bush bleats and endlessly preaches to others about the blessings of democracy but when people actually hold a free election and the results go against American strageic interests, then do all pretenses of democracy and the "right to choose" go out the window. So it was when Hamas unseated Fatah in the Palestinan election and the West cut off all aid sending Palestinians into even deeper poverty and misery.

It's the occupation. The entire situation of Israel and Palestine can be summed up by that single phrase. This is an occupation that has been enforced and expanded by illegal settlements on land grabbed from its rightful owners; an occupation implemented on the back of thousands of despicable and immoral house demolitions; an occupation built on the wholesale bulldozing of age-old olive orchards; an occupation to be made permanent by the construction of an Apartheid-like separation wall that cuts entire Palestinian villages in half, depriving the residents of their farmland; an occupation designed with hundreds of roadblocks and checkpoints that cause interminable waiting times for people to go about their daily lives or to carry out even the simplest chores such as getting to work or going shopping or attending schools or reaching hospitals.

It's the occupation. Suicide bombings, the rise of extremist fundamentalism, the internecine strife that is now thrusting Palestine toward civil war, all this and more can be laid at the door of the Israeli occupation. Brutal injustice and occupation supported by naked military force breeds desperation. Desperation breeds terrorism and fanaticism because people feel that their situation is hopeless. End the occupation and peace will prevail. End the occupation and terrorism will lose its raison d'être. It's the occupation that underlies all the seemingly intractible problems and the endless warring, hatred and animosity that permeate the region. Once that basic fact is understood then the road to peace becomes pefectly clear: To end the occupation is to move towards peace and justice for both Israel and Palestine.

And so we travelled to Washington by bus, boarding early Sunday morning and returning late that night. The bus was organized by Brooklyn Parents For Peace. I give them high credits for that act and for their principled opposition to the ocupation. The same kudos to United For Peace & Justice, the country's largest peace coalition. It's not been easy to speak out on this issue. The tiny, but powerful, right wing in the American Jewish community has conducted a campaign of intimidation and rigid censorship, smearing anyone who is critical of Israeli policy as an anti-Semite. Thus do Jews, who know in their hearts that Israel is wrong or who have misgivings about its policies, fail to speak out and keep their disagreements inside themselves for fear of being villified. And thus, has former President Jimmy Carter been reviled and marginalized for bravely speaking out against the injustice of the occupation, properly noting its similarity to the Apartheid that reigned for so long in South Africa. Carter is surely not an anti-Semite but he certainly is a man of principle and refuses to be silent as obvious injustice continues for decades.

It is very late, but not too late, for progressives and thoughtful Americans, and particularly for Jews, to speak clearly and loudly. We must break through the curtain of silence that has been fostered in this country on the question of the Israeli occupation and subjugation of the Palestinian people. Indeed, if we love Israel and want to see it fulfill its destiny of a humanist and democratic state, then we must never turn away from criticizing the failed policies it has pursued for 40 years; polices which take it in the very opposite direction. That is why I believe it is imperative for us all to say clearly and forthrightly: End the occupation!

May a just peace prevail for both the Israeli and Palestinian people.

At 6:30am on Sunday, June 10th, Brooklynites lined up to board the bus to Washington.

The Brooklyn Parents For Peace delegation. BPFP sponsored the bus.

The protest was organized by the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United For Peace & Justice, the country's largest peace coalition.

The demand is made to Congress - we want a just peace for all the region's people.

Cindy and Craig Corrie addressed the crowd. They are the parents of Rachel Corrie, the courageous young American woman murdered by a U.S.-made Catepillar bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier. She was intentionally run over as she stood to defend a Palestinian family whose house was about to be demolished.

Part of the crowd of thousands demonstrating at the Capitol.

Poetry, People and Peace on the East River

Last night, Brooklyn Parents For Peace held its annual fund-raiser. Several hundred friends and supporters turned out to a spacious loft overlooking the East River and the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood. If you weren't there, you missed a wonderful and memorable evening.

Time for old friends to reconnect.

A vast array of delicious food, donated by Brooklyn restaurants and groceries, was set in a side room bordered by windows that looked out on the fabulous view of river and bridge. People stood and sat enjoying drink and food and conversing with friends and fellow activists they had not seen for a while.

A wonderful feast for eye and mouth.

Food, glorious food! Courtesy of Brooklyn restaurants and grocers.

Think it's easy to organize an event like this? It is if you have an Eleanor Preiss as hard-working member and a devoted staffer like Nora Gordon, both of whom worked so very hard to make this the success that it was.

Local activist and Congressional candidate, Chris Owens, chats with Stacey Weinstein (your Blogger's wife).

Good times in DUMBO.

The view from the window of our DUMBO venue.

Perfecting this lovely scene of people, food, wine and peace was the harmonious sound of the Strings For Peace, our talented local musicians playing delightful chamber music.

Strings For Peace.

The shining star of the evening was Brooklyn's own Grace Paley, reknowned short story writer, poet and peace activist. People listened in rapt attention as Grace read from some of her writings which were, in turn, humorous, ironic, compassionate and down-to-earth. Her writing evinces a world view that demands peace and equality. On this night Grace was helped in her readings by two other well known poets and authors, Jan Clausen and Sapphire.

David Tykulsker, Co-Chair of Brooklyn Parents For Peace, introduced the evening's participants.

Poet and performance artist, Sapphire, reads from Grace Paley.

Poet Jan Clausen, talking about Grace.

The audience paid close attention.

An overflow crowd filled the loft to support Brooklyn Parents For Peace.

Rusti Eisenberg, Co-Chair of BPFP, reported on the tremendous work of our members, over the course of the last month or so, to put pressure on Congress to finally stand up to Bush. "But we're not finished yet - gotta keep the pressure on!"

Finally, Grace herself!

Grace reads!

Pausing to make a point.

After, Grace posed with part of our BPFP Literary Committee.

~~~~

The following is an article about U.S. pilots who were used to drop bombs on Vietnam during that immoral war. This is an excerpt of an article written by Grace Paley for the NY Times in 1972 --

“…none of these men were forced into the job. They were not drafted, they volunteered. They were trained….Each of these men may have accomplished half a dozen My Lais in any evening.

“The Vietnamese have a saying: The man in the sky is a killer, bring him down; but the man on the ground is a helpless human being. The men who were shot down, the human beings who fell alive into the shallow paddies, on beaches, into villages they’d just bombed, became POW’s. Their Vietnamese captors were often half their size, half-starved, stiff with the grief of continuous loss of dear family, but survivors with a determination to win. They shared their squash and water spinach with these captured Americans whose great frames immediately (it’s been reported) suffered the lack of beefsteak.

“Nine prisoners of war have been returned to the United States, the last in 1969. I was a member of the peace movement delegation which escorted the last three from Hanoi to home….With obvious logic, the Vietnamese had asked that the United States government not use these returned pilots against them again. But the United States was not ready then for any easing of war or righteousness.

“Therefore, at the present time, they are all in or associated with the armed forces. Some are training younger pilots to fly out again and again over that tortured country, that laboratory for American weapons engineers.

“I would like to add two recollections that are painful to me, but I want to share the recollections and the pain.

“At a festive dinner in a Hanoi hotel, a celebration of departure after arduous years of imprisonment, one of the pilots turned his ingenuous American boy’s face of about 30 to me. He said, ‘Gosh, Grace, to be truthful I really liked bombing.’

“One summer day before I left for North Vietnam, a woman called me at home. She was a pilot’s wife. She had not heard from her husband in two and a half years. She asked me to get information about him in Hanoi, if any existed. I tried. But no one had seen or heard from him, neither the Vietnamese nor the pilots we talked to. When I came home I had to call and tell her this. She asked me why the Vietnamese insisted on keeping the pilots.

“I explained that they were considered war criminals who had come 10,000 miles to attack a tiny country in an undeclared and brutal war.

“She said, ‘Well, they’re airmen. They’re American officers.

“I told her about the villagers living in wet, dark tunnels for years, shattered by pellets, seared by napalm — I told her only what my own eyes had seen, the miles of maniac craters –

“She said, ‘Oh, Mrs. Paley, villages and people! My husband wouldn’t do that.

“I held the phone for a while in silence. I took a deep breath. Then, I said, ‘Oh? Well, I guess it must have been someone else.”

As the sun set on the East River, we hoped that it's also setting on a disgraced and corruption-filled White House and its immoral war. And many pledged to redouble their efforts to make sure that our long national nightmare finally comes to an end. In its place may we welcome peace for all the world's people.

A Nasty War And How To Stop It

Brooklyn Parents For Peace table at Prospect Park.

It's easy to feel disheartened, depressed and defeated. After last November's tumultuous election, when the American people threw out Republican warmongers and Bush-rubber stampers and replaced them with anti-war Democrats, we rightfully anticipated that Congress would finally find its spine and put an end to the disastrous war and occupation in Iraq.

So when the new Congress with its new Democratic leadership, caved in to Bush several weeks ago and gave him yet another rubber-stamp check of $100 Billion (bringing the total thus far to a staggering $433 billion ) we were furious. But beyond anger, many felt deflated and hopeless. "What's the use?" people thought. "We've demonstrated, petitioned, voted and demonstrated some more. Yet the war goes on." Just as the Imperial President -- with his 29% approval ratings and polls showing nearly 70% of Americans opposing the war -- ignores the will of the people, so has Congress ignored that same message and voted to fund an escalation instead. More tax dollars down the rat hole of war and corruption. More young American lives cut short. More innocent Iraqi citizens killed. More agony of a small and poor country ground down into dust, destruction and civil war.

It's enough to break your heart and to break your will. But that would be the wrong reaction. The entire world is opposed to Bush and this war. But the entire world also depends on the American people to end it! That's right. They depend on us to end this war. And, in the end, it will be the American people who carry out that task on behalf of all humanity.

When working for peace it's important to take the long view. This war has now gone on for a longer amount of time than our country was engaged in World War II. But there was never a guarantee that we could bring it to an end within a prescribed amount of time. The bloody forces of OIL, who launched and maintain this war and who want to capture Iraq in order poket her petroleum, are very powerful. To mobilize the American people in sufficient numbers to defeat that power is not an easy undertaking. But, regardless of difficulty, that's the job that has to be done.

Now is not the time to give up. To the contrary: The reality of where we're at should have us working ever-harder to end the war. The reality is that we've had an immensely profound effect on our country and our people.

It is the American peace movement and nobody else that has shifted a majority of Americans to now oppose this war. It certainly was not the complicit media. It certainly was not our political leaders who cowered for so many years as Bush waged this immoral war. No, it was we who pointed out from day one, how wrong this war was. And now a majority of our citizens agree!

And it was the American peace movement that was responsible for a huge shift in Congress last November. Just look at that last vote of several weeks ago. Pessimists and defeatists will say that Congress caved in. And they'd be right. But that's only half the story. The other part is that 142 members of Congress voted against the Supplemental bill. That would have been unthinkable just seven months ago when opposition could be counted on the fingers of your hands!

Here in Brooklyn, I can proudly point to the work of my peace group (Brooklyn Parents For Peace) who waged a fantastic campaign on the streets of our communities. Six hundred postcards were collected from residents and sent on to our Brooklyn Congressmembers! Thousands of leaflets imprinted with the phone numbers of Representatives to be called, were handed out. Dozens of phone calls to Congress were launched right at our table with a exciting new approach using our own cell phones: a Congressional Call-A-Thon to demand that Congress stand up to Bush.

Brooklyn Parents For Peace's leaflet handed out by the thousands to Brooklyn Residents.

Did we end the war yet? No.

Were we successful? Absolutely! Look at this --

Five of the six Brooklyn reps voted against the funding supplemental (the sixth is the Republican Bushite, Vito Fossella who will go to his political grave in support of the Administration). We were told by one Congressional aide that his boss was voting NO because "you guys have made it impossible to do anything else."

The moral of this story is this:

People in action can push Congress to finally say NO to Bush.

People in action can end this war.

Now is precisely the time to turn up the street heat.

Now is precisely the time to get even more people into action than we've done till now:

• More people, more pressure.

• More pressure, more Congressmembers voting the right way next time. And that means fewer Democrats slipping away to join the Republicans to vote more money for war.

And there are more "next times" coming down the pike right now. Bush has already asked for another $140 Billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

So what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!

The glass is half full and we've got to fill it all the way to the top with the sweet elixir of peace.