By Brian Peterson
Evil Brain
We were concerned about security in our backyard. So we crowned the
six-foot wooden fence with formidable-looking racks of rusty iron-spear
points and spikes. In no time a bicycle had been stolen off the back
porch. Good fences may make good neighbours but they're no real
impediment to someone determined to make it to the other side. So what
if I decided I needed a bigger security zone and rebuilt my fence so
that it cut deep into the neighbour's yard? Such a wall would enrage
the neighbours denied access to their land and make me liable for
prohibitive legal and labour charges for fence removal, mental and
physical cruelty. But if I had the neighbourhood bully bankrolling the
wall's construction, arming me to the teeth and dominating the block
association meetings-my neighbour's only avenue of complaint- what
incentive would I have to tear it down?
Of course, I'm talking about the Israeli apartheid fence being rapidly
erected around the West Bank. Its advocates maintain the fence is a
temporary measure necessary to keep suicide bombers out of Israel. But
while the northern portion of the fence roughly follows the
internationally accepted Green Line, the new southern sections are
slated to cut deep into Palestinian lands to encircle Israeli
settlements deemed illegal by any measure of international law. Critics
call it a blatant theft of some of the best Palestinian agricultural
lands and hundreds of wells; That's no small matter; since the start of
the latest intifada, access for Palestinians to work in Israel has been
severely curtailed and agriculture is critical for survival. The wall
makes isolated Palestinians increasingly dependent on Israeli
gatekeepers who have the power to harass and delay passage of those
affected to their land, hospitals, schools.
A UN Security Council resolution calling for the wall's dismantling was
vetoed earlier this month by the U.S. because it did not expressly
condemn terrorism in strong enough language. However, a UN General
Assembly resolution calling for the wall's demolition was
overwhelmingly passed with only four dissenters. Predictably though, not
one Israeli bulldozer paused in its work of razing Palestinian villages
and uprooting orchards for the wall's construction. Not that I'm
criticizing Israeli government policy. No one should ever criticize
Israel because...uh...that makes one an anti-Semite or a Holocaust
denier or insensitive to the suffering of Israelis-which is obviously
more profound than anyone else's? I dunno; pick one. No, as usual I'm
criticizing the United States' refusal to enforce its own laws on how
the massive amount of taxpayer-funded military and economic aid
delivered to Israel each year is spent.
The U.S. Foreign Assistance Act reportedly prohibits military
assistance to any country "which engages in a consistent pattern of
gross violations of internationally recognized human rights." Under The
Arms Export Control Act the U.S. can only supply weapons that are used
"for legitimate self defense." The Proxmire Amendment bans military
assistance to any government that refuses to sign the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty and to allow inspections of its nuclear
facilities. According to reports, Israel is currently in violation of
all these agreements. Secretary of State Colin Powell, fronting
for an administration stuffed full of rabidly Zionist
neo-conservatives, recently called the wall "troublesome." Whew! I
guess we can all relax now. For those not satisfied by that
condemnation, Nov. 9 has been deemed an International Day of Action
Against the Wall. Try www.stopthewall.org for more details.
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