Dangerous
Times
By Nick Pretzlik
19 April, 2004
dissidentvoice.org
The world
is too terrible a place to live in, not because of the bad things that
happen, but because of the good people who stand by and do nothing.
-- Albert Einstein
Until
recently it was a mystery to me how in the 1930s on of the most evil
regimes in history could usurp power in a country that at the time represented
the pinnacle of culture in terms of the arts and sciences, and was thought
to be a model of democracy. How could the German populace have permitted
such an occurrence?
As the Project for
the New American Century unfolds and the unholy alliance of Christian
Zionists, Neo Conservatives and corporate and Jewish Lobbies act in
concert to dictate the foreign policy of the worlds only superpower,
the global situation deteriorates. It seems inevitable now that the
bogeyman of organized international terror will fill the void left by
the demise of the Cold War. The fear generated by its intangible tentacles
already acts as the catalyst, which is perverting western democracies
and eroding established civil rights. When people are sufficiently afraid,
they will accept whatever information they are given by those in authority,
even if logic indicates that the information is skewed.
Post 9/11, few Americans
think to ask why it is that much of the world detests the US. Nor is
it often said that this animosity is felt by non-Moslem populations
too -- scratch the surface and anti American sentiment will be found
in the hearts of Bolivians, Colombians and Venezuelans just as it is
in the Arab street. Yet, in the United States it is considered disloyal
- unpatriotic even -- to question whether decades of rapacious American
international trading practices, coupled with support for repressive
regimes in South East Asia, Central and South America and the Middle
East have been influential in bringing this situation about. Not only
that, but the American public has been so well shielded from the facts
surrounding their countrys involvement in post 1945 global events
that the truth can now be portrayed as a lie, as can the corollary that
a lie now be portrayed as the truth.
Once people are
sufficiently confused, frightened and paranoid logic can be stood on
its head. Pre-emptive wars - even preventative wars - are
made acceptable. Attack becomes defense and, providing opinion is suitably
"shaped", the public can be persuaded to tolerate almost anything.
How else could the rocketing and bombing of crowded civilian areas -
as happens on a regular basis in Gaza and in the West Bank be
perceived as acceptable? It is not acceptable. State sponsored targeted
killing is terror by another name.
The policy of targeted
killings by the Israeli armed forces reached its apogee on 22 March
2004. The act itself was nothing unusual. According to Noam Chomsky
in his book Hegemony or Survival: Americas Quest for Global Dominance
(2003), 175 liquidation attempts were carried out by Israel from November
2000 through to April 2003. Two hundred and thirty five people were
killed 156 suspected of crimes; one attempt every five days.
However, on 22 March the victim was Sheikh Ahmad Yassin an elderly,
nearly blind quadriplegic blown apart in his wheel chair on the way
home from the mosque after morning prayers. A crime against humanity?
A perversion of moral standards? You might think so. Not according to
the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, who gave the
murder his seal of approval the following day by symbolically announcing
the sequestration of the empty bank accounts of various Hamas leaders
including Dr Rantisi, Sheikh Yassins successor. A contrast
indeed to Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss at the memorial service in commemoration
of Sheikh Yassin, held in New York, who said in his address The
Jewish people throughout the world, who are true to their religion,
have been thrown into turmoil and are deeply incensed at the recent
happening, the tragedy that has taken place.
Why is it that that
the myths surrounding the state of Israel are so easily accepted, myths
that permit the west to look the other way as Israel continues its assault
on the Palestinians? Why do we not question Israels repeated claim
to being a democracy? It is not. It is an ethnic democracy, whose institutions
are founded on the denial of equality to non-Jews. And can a state be
called democratic if over 20% of its citizens - Israeli Palestinians
-- suffer institutional discrimination in key areas such as property
law, employment opportunities, state benefits and education?
Why do we accept
as fact that the apartheid wall, now being constructed on Palestinian
land, was designed to provide Israel with security? It was not. It was
designed to defuse the looming demographic time bomb, which threatens
the Jewish nature of the state of Israel, and to cement a land grab
in the West Bank, as well as secure important water resources. Why dont
people take note when they learn that the apartheid wall, conceived
in the mid 1970s, long preceded the first Palestinian suicide bomber?
The answer unfortunately
is that relentless Israeli spin and racist propaganda have substantially
succeeded in dehumanizing Palestinians. Fear of "the other"
has entered the psyche and has morphed them into a genetic terrorist
aberration. Palestinians are perceived as a threat even though it is
them who are occupied and them who are the victims of ethnic cleansing
and daily degradation. They -- the victims - are perceived as
the abusers and Israelis -- the actual abusers -- are seen by many to
be the victims. As a consequence Ariel Sharon and his government will
have few qualms about implementing their plans for withdrawal
from 17 of the 21 illegal Israeli settlements in Gaza and for further
truncating the West Bank -- plans which will leave Palestinians in both
areas isolated, incarcerated and impoverished, and without resources
or hope. And because it feels safer to believe what those in authority
tell us, we will probably accept Ariel Sharon and George Bushs
assurances that the plans - in reality recipes for long-term disaster
- are recipes for peace. Let us hope that for once, however, the
world will be seen as it really is and that on this occasion we will
reject what we are told. Failure to do so will fan the embers of fascism,
which already glow brightly in the US political grate.
Nick Pretzlik is
a semi-retired businessman living in London, England. He travels frequently
to the Middle East. He can be reached at: [email protected].
Copyright: Nick
Pretzlik