Palestinians and Native Americans 
 
Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:08:43 -0800

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From: "Therese Dietliin" <tdietlin@sbcglobal.net
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  Palestinians and Native Americans [ Post 294282766
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     Category: News & Opinion (General)  Topic:
History & Archaeology
     Synopsis: The Inherent Struggle for Freedom and
Justice     Source: ounterpunch     Published: January 14, 2003  Author: RAMZY
BAROUD
     For Education and Discussion Only.  Not for
Commercial Use.
Few can be as blunt regarding the legacy of the
United States toward the native people of this land as the 26th President of
the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. In his narrative, "The Winning of the
West," Roosevelt spoke about the "spread of the English-speaking peoples 
over the
world's wasted spaces." He wrote: "The European settlers moved into an
uninhabited waste...the land is really owned by no one.... The settler 
ousts no one
from the land. The truth is, the Indians never had any real title to the 
soil."
In an interview with the British Sunday Times, on
June 15, 1969, former Israeli Prime Minister, Golda Meir made similar
claims, stating, "There was no such thing as Palestinians. It was not as 
though there
was a Palestinian people in Palestine considering itself as a Palestinian 
people
and we came and threw them out and took their country from them. They did
not exist."
While Native Americans and Palestinians were the
ancient indigenous peoples of their lands, this was of little or no relevance
to the foreign settlers. What really mattered was "Manifest Destiny", what
really mattered was "Zionism".
Roosevelt goes on: "The world would probably not
have gone forward at all, had it not been for the displacement or submersion
of savage and barbaric peoples as a consequence of the armed settlement in
strange lands of the races who hold in their hands the fate of the years."
In the mid forties, David Ben-Gurion declared that
Israel is adopting a system of "aggressive defense. With every Arab
attack we must respond with a decisive blow: the destruction of the place 
or the
expulsion of the residents along with the seizure of the place."
My grandparents, mother and father, along with
nearly one million people were expelled from their land after the brutal
destruction of 418 villages and towns, and the murder of thousands of 
Palestinians.
They spread in all directions, mostly on foot to clear space for the
Chosen People. They settled in refugee camps, concentration camps, which 
are still in
existence until today. My grandparents along with my mother and my older
brother are buried in one of those camps. My farther and my brothers are 
still living
there.
Ben Gurion retired in 1963, four years before Israel
invaded the rest of Palestine, the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
It created another tragedy, another dispossession, all with the hope that the
state of Israel can become purely Jewish. Israel defied international law that
called for the right of return for Palestinians refugees. Instead, it
instituted its own law, shortly after its establishment in 1948, issuing 
the right of
return for Jews only. Any one of Jewish race, anywhere in the world was and is
still allowed to come to Palestine, granted citizenship, to live free of
charge on a land that is not his, in a place where he does not belong.
Amid this savagery, land grabbing and dehumanization
of the victims, both the United States and Israel have managed to convince
themselves that the way they treated their victims was in fact humane and
civilized. "No other conquering or colonizing nation has ever treated 
savage owners
of the soil with such generosity as has the United States," Roosevelt
said.
But General Didi, from the Israeli army begs to
differ. He oversaw the historic invasion of Jenin last year.
On April 02, 2002, Israel attacked the camp for two
weeks amid complete silence of the international community. For two
weeks, hundreds of Israeli tanks, US-apache helicopters, F15 and F16 
warplanes and
thousands of soldiers brutalized and terrorized the 13,000 inhabitants of
the camp living on just one square kilometer or land. The people of the 
camp fought as
much as homemade explosives, kitchen knives and a few bullets could
take them. They fought and refused to give up since they new that this 
defeat would be
their last. By the end of the invasion, scores of Palestinian bodies were left
to decompose in the streets of Jenin as the Israelis refused to allow
access to the Red Cross to evacuate the dead. The entire population of the camp
was forced to evacuate, and nearly 2,000 homes were destroyed and severely
damaged by Israeli army tanks, bulldozers and air bombardment. .
This is what an Israeli army bulldozer driver, who
is known as "Kurdi Bear" said in his testimony, of what took place in the
camp as he narrated to the Israeli newspaper Yidiot Ahronot:
"Many people were inside the houses we started to
demolish. They would come out of the houses while we where working on them. I
found joy with every house that came down, because I knew they didn't mind
dying, but they cared for their homes. If you knocked down a house, you bury
40 or 50 people for generations. If I am sorry for anything, it is for
not tearing the whole camp down. This is the way I thought in Jenin. I 
didn't give a damn.
If I had been given three weeks, I would have had more fun. That is, if they
would let me tear the whole camp down. I have no mercy."
Let me refresh your memory with what Roosevelt had
said about the conduct of his armies. "No other conquering or colonizing
nation has ever treated savage owners of the soil with such generosity as 
has the
United States."
Roosevelt's words echoed, just a few months ago, by
the Israeli army Jenin commander, General Didi.
The Israeli army has behaved as "as the most moral
army in the world and the most careful army in the world."
Please allow me to shift the course of my thoughts
to finish with these great words from the 1927 Grand Council of American
Indians:
"We want freedom from the white man rather than to
be integrated. We don't want any part of the establishment, we want to be
free to raise our children in our religion, in our ways, to be able to hunt and
fish and live in peace. We want to be ourselves. We want to have our heritage,
because we are the owners of this land and because we belong here.
"The white man says, there is freedom and justice
for all. We have had their "freedom and justice," and that is why we have been
almost exterminated. We shall not forget this."
Similar are the sentiments of Abdelrazik Abu
al-Hayjah, the Palestinian Administrator of the Jenin refugee camp, who
concluded his testimony for the book
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