The lying silence about Gaza

[subsuelo]

Column: John Pilger

"WHEN THE truth is replaced by silence," the Soviet dissident Yevgeny Yevtushenko said, "the silence is a lie." It may appear the silence is broken on Gaza. The cocoons of murdered children, wrapped in green, together with boxes containing their dismembered parents, and the cries of grief and rage of everyone in that death camp by the sea can be viewed on Al-Jazeera and YouTube, even glimpsed on the BBC.

But Russia's incorrigible poet was not referring to the ephemeral we call news; he was asking why those who knew the why never spoke it and so denied it. Among the Anglo-American intelligentsia, this is especially striking. It is they who hold the keys to the great storehouses of knowledge: the historiographies and archives that lead us to the why.

They know that the horror now raining on Gaza has little to do with Hamas or, absurdly, "Israel's right to exist." They know the opposite to be true: that Palestine's right to exist was canceled 61 years ago, and the expulsion and, if necessary, extinction of the indigenous people was planned and executed by the founders of Israel.

They know, for example, that the infamous "Plan D" resulted in the murderous de-population of 369 Palestinian towns and villages by the Haganah (Jewish army), and that massacre upon massacre of Palestinian civilians in such places as Deir Yassin, al-Dawayima, Eilaboun, Jish, Ramle and Lydda are referred to in official records as "ethnic cleansing."

Arriving at a scene of this carnage, David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, was asked by a general, Yigal Allon, "What shall we do with the Arabs?" Ben-Gurion, reported the Israeli historian Benny Morris, "made a dismissive, energetic gesture with his hand and said, 'Expel them.'"

http://socialistworker.org/2009/01/09/the-lying-silence-about-gaza">John Pilger - read more

[sui generis]

1. unfortunately "right to exist" is a phrase used by imbeciles

It's all moot. Israel cannot continue to exist in its current form, it is NOT politically possible or viable, and it's doing a bang up job of ensuring that all on its own.

It makes me truly sad for the little people caught in the crossfire, regardless of their citizenship, religion or state allegiance.

The real problem: if you have to oppress to remain in power you will be exploited, you will create the very enemies you fear. If your only tool is to ramp up oppression to demonstrate your power, you can only ever fail, and you will always be at the center of exploitation and controversy.

Try a little fairness. Drop the iconoclastic cultural bullshit and embrace some evolution. The holocaust tragic as it was, has NOTHING to do with the situation on the ground today, oh and flamers beware, I will back that up so don't even start.

My inner arch demon says, turn the entire middle east to glass. World peace. The history is unimportant if it never changes, and it apparently never will change - interminable war, as it has always been and shall ever be.

My inner arch angel says, if Solomon were to divide this baby, how would it go down.

My inner American says, Israel dooms itself further every time it pulls a stunt like this. How sad for the little people who just want to get through the day. This isn't leadership, and if so, that leadership and lack of vision does NOT have a right to exist.

[Vegasaurus]

2. How absurd

Palestine was not a country, and the indigenous people were given a "right to exist" in the partition.

Those who stayed are content Israeli citizens.

The original settlers of Israel are long dead, but there are three generations now who have lived on that land, and I dare say, they do exist, and they will continue to exist, unless you are proposing a new Holocaust against them.