Agreed. Sometimes we hold our positions...our beliefs in spite of the
facts. While I grew up in what would be called a Christian
neighborhood, my parents taught us to respect those people who held
different beliefs than ours. I was taught about the horrors inflicted
on European Jews, and I wholly supported the establishment of the
nation Israel. After all, it was their land, and they had been driven
out and had been persecuted around the world. Besides, nobody was
living there at the time(1948). And when the Jews began building
their towns and planting their fields, I cheered. It was the same
feeling I had when I went with my buddies to the Saturday Matinee and
watched the settlers and the cowboys driving the pesky Redskins off
the land. After all, they weren't using it. They didn't have farms
and towns. And that's the official message I was receiving in the
Fifth, Sixth and Seventh grades. You can imagine how easy it was to
first blame those ill tempered Palestinians for all the troubles in
the Holy Land. But I grew up in Seattle, in a Land of White
Protestants, sucking up the propaganda being spoon fed to us by good
White middle aged women, many of whom had received their teaching
credentials after two years in Normal School. They passed along the
values of the 1800's.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/11/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, remember that Bernie is just a bit younger than I. We grew up in
Jewish families at a time when our families and all people of good will
thought that Israel was a wonderful idea. It took years and years for the
truth of what Israel actually is, to become evident to me. But most older
Jewish people haven't changed and still feel that basic connection, even
Noam Chomsky does, but not at the same level as Bernie. However, Bernie is
representing himself as the leader of a political revolution of the young,
and he can't be an authentic leader of he continues supporting Israel.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Thursday, May 11, 2017 11:47 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Israel Resorts to Psychological Warfare to
Try to Break Palestinian Hunger Strike
Bernie Sander's remarks are evidence that he is a flawed human, like the
rest of us. I suspect his thinking regarding Israels relationship to
Palestine is colored by the munitions manufacturers in his own state. What
he does not understand is that by turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to the
atrocities being inflicted by Israel, he is putting the lie to everything he
claims to believe about oppressive government, and their greed driven
oppression. This is why we all need to think for ourselves and not put our
blind trust in the hands of others. Bernie has many good points, but he
needs to understand that he is being carefully watched, and that he will be
called out for his transgressions.
Of course so must Donald Trump be called out. And all elected officials.
To me it is a strange turn of events when we get all bent out of shape over
the suggestion that Russia has tampered in our Election. First, isn't this
what we Americans are so wrapped up in?
Tampering in the politics of other nations? And even more to the point,
what about the tampering by Israel in our government's decisions regarding
our continuous arming of Israel, while turning our backs on the oppression
Israel puts upon Palestine? And how strongly is Bernie fighting the
oppression placed by his government upon the Indigenous People here at home?
Can he not see the similarities?
Back in our Sunday Schools it is so easy to agree that Man cannot Serve Two
Masters. Then we go out into the real world and attempt to serve an entire
crowd of them. So, I can understand where Bernie is coming from. Support
and dollars mean a great deal in our "free election" system. But it causes
me to not trust Bernie at the level he might want me to.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/10/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
And this is the country that Bernie Sanders recently told reporters,
at the Carter Center, that he still supports. He is still saying that
He wants Israel to treat Palestinians fairly, that he wants equal
treatment for both sides, and that with fairness, a two state solution
can be found. And that is why he signed the letter with all of the
other senators, complaining that the UN is singling out Israel for
criticism and that this is anti-semitic.
Well, they didn't use that word, they implied it.
Miriam
Israel Resorts to Psychological Warfare to Try to Break Palestinian
Hunger Strike Wednesday, May 10, 2017 By Charlotte Silver, The
Electronic Intifada | Report
More than 1,500 Palestinian prisoners entered their fourth week
without food on Monday as Israel intensifies its efforts to break the
hunger strike.
The striking prisoners are demanding improvements in conditions and an
end to solitary confinement, heavy restrictions on family visits and
administrative detention -- prolonged imprisonment without charge or
trial.
Israel has refused to negotiate with or discuss the demands of the
hunger strikers, referring to the prisoners as terrorists and calling
the strike a media ploy.
Meanwhile, the Israel Prison Service is attempting to demoralize its
participants and their supporters.
Threats of Force-Feeding
Israeli media report that the government is considering bringing in
foreign doctors to potentially force feed hunger strikers.
The Israeli Medical Association stands with global medical opinion
that force feeding is "never ethically acceptable," as is stated in
the World Medical Association's Malta Declaration, and is tantamount to
torture.
In a statement released on Saturday, strikers said "we emphasize that
any attempt to implement the crime of forced feeding against any
prisoner on hunger strike will mean for us a project of the execution
of the prisoners."
Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike died as a result of being
subjected to forced feeding in the 1970s and '80s, according to the
rights group Addameer.
"Psychological Warfare"
On Sunday, Israel released footage that it said shows hunger strike
leader Marwan Barghouti eating sweets in the bathroom stall of his
prison cell on on 27 April and 5 May.
The videos are time-stamped but could not be independently verified.
Israel Prison Service sources told the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz that
they intentionally set Barghouti up.
Israeli authorities have sought to discredit Barghouti since he
launched the mass hunger strike last month, casting the protest as a
political maneuver to assert his popularity and vie for leadership of
the Palestinian Authority.
Public security minister Gilad Erdan, who pushed for the legalization
of forced feeding in 2015, called Barghouti a "murderer and a hypocrite."
"The Palestinian prisoners' hunger strike has nothing to do with their
prison conditions, and everything to do with the political interest of
Marwan Barghouti," Erdan stated on Sunday, repeating claims he made in
The New York Times last week.
Barghouti's lawyer called the video "psychological warfare" against
the prisoners.
"We can't address the content of the clip so long as they don't let us
meet with Marwan. Let us visit him and then we will check the claims with
him,"
the lawyer said.
Barghouti's wife, Fadwa Barghouti, said the video was a "low" move by
Israel.
"The prisoners are familiar with Israel's lies and games and the video
they released signals the beginning of its fall," she said at a press
conference on Sunday.
Punishment
After nearly three weeks of refusing to allow hunger strikers to meet
with their lawyers, on 3 May the Israel Prison Service was told by the
high court that the practice was illegal.
Over the weekend, lawyers met with detainees at Ketziot and Nitzan
prisons for the first time since the strike began.
At Ketziot, lawyers reported that several of their clients were unable
to walk or stand.
In addition to increased raids and transfers to solitary confinement,
Israel has also begun seizing money from striking prisoners' accounts.
In response, the Palestinian Authority announced that it would stop
paying an allowance to prisoners. This money is used for purchases at
the prison commissary, including salts, which are a vital nutrient for
hunger strikers.
According to lawyers who visited Ketziot, the prison authorities have
denied prisoners access to the commissary and have begun fining them
for not standing up during roll call.
A committee formed to support the hunger strike is calling on the
Palestinian Authority to halt security coordination with Israel and
suspend municipal elections scheduled for 13 May.
There are some 6,300 Palestinian prisoners currently being held by
Israel, according to the rights group Addameer.
Charlotte Silver
Charlotte Silver is a journalist in San Francisco, formerly based in
the West Bank, Palestine. Follow her on Twitter: @CharESilver.
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