[DEBATE] : Gandhi on Palestine/Cassam on Israel's March to Madness/Dembele on Resistance-Pambazuka

Fri Jan 23 14:49:06 GMT 2009

MAHATMA GANDHI ON ISRAEL AND PALESTINE

Religious acts cannot be performed with bayonets and bombs

Mahatma Gandhi

With Palestine still facing brutal Israeli action, our attention has  

been drawn to a pair of articles on Zionist politics and the  

Palestinian plight written by Mahatma Gandhi in the period immediately  

preceding the creation of the Israeli state. Entitled simply 'The  

Jews' and 'Jews and Palestine' and written in 1938 and 1946  

respectively, these articles outline Gandhi's sympathy to the Jewish  

cause yet strong desire not to see Palestinians wronged. Deeply  

sceptical of the morality behind marginalising Palestinians through  

the formation of the Israeli state, the father of the Indian nation  

argues a more morally-legitimate course would be to insist on the just  

treatment of Jews wherever they are born and bred.

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/53434

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ISRAEL'S MARCH TO MADNESS

Questioning the sanity of the 'promised land'

Annar Cassam

Following Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's visit to French  

President Nicolas Sarkozy at beginning of the year, Annar Cassam  

questions Israeli's self-identity as a member of the 'free world'.  

Heavily critical of the state's self-appointed role as a bastion of  

Western values restraining savage Arab hordes, Annar Cassam explores  

the parallels between current Israeli action and the history of the  

destructive, pseudo-civilising mission pursued by erstwhile Western  

colonial powers, underlining the power of 'master race' and 'promised  

land' ideologies in paving the way for domination. "Exactly like the  

Afrikaners," she writes,"the Israelis have come to Palestine from  

Europe with convictions about their own uniqueness and superiority  

which they have imposed on the local inhabitants on pain of death and  

destruction. The Jewish 'homeland' may have started out as a refuge  

for the persecuted but it has now become a law unto itself, a  

fanatical fortress to which no international standards and obligations  

apply."

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/53439

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UPHOLDING PALESTINE'S RIGHT TO RESISTANCE

Demba Moussa Dembélé

Since 27 December 2008, the Zionist state of Israel has embarked on an  

unprecedented onslaught against the residents of Gaza. The massive  

bombings have killed over 500 Palestinians and injured over 2,500  

more. The Israeli air force has targeted hospitals, schools, roads,  

bridges, universities, mosques, and even markets. As with previous  

attacks, the Western media has carried fallacious reports, echoing the  

Israeli government's official claim to be responding to, and defending  

itself against, Palestinian rocket attacks. The Gaza strip has been  

under both sustained military attack and an inhumane blockade for the  

last two years since Hamas's victory over Fatah.

http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/53436

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