September 26, 2004

And I quote

I know these quotes are well known, but it's not always easy to find them in one place so here they are:

"We must expropriate gently the private property on the state assigned to us. We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it employment in our country. The property owners will come over to our side. Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly."

[Theodor Herzl - Zionism's Founding Father - Diary, 1895]

"His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine ..."

[Lord Arthur James Balfour - November, 1917]

"In Palestine we do not propose to even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country ... Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long tradition, in present needs, in future hopes of far profounder import than the desire and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land: In my opinion - that is right."

[Lord Arthur James Balfour - August, 1919]

"Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French ... It is wrong and inhuman to impose the Jews on the Arabs. What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct."

[Mahatma Gandhi - 1938]

"Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader, I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we came here and stole their country. Why should they accept that?"

[David Ben-Gurion, first Israeli Prime Minister - quoted by Nahum Goldmann, former president of the World Jewish Congress]

"The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not just an issue of military occupation and Israel is not a country that was established "normally" ... Apartheid is a crime against humanity. Israel has deprived millions of Palestinians of their liberty and property. It has perpetuated a system of gross racial discrimination and inequality. It has systematically incarcerated and tortured thousands of Palestinians, contrary to the rules of international law. It has waged a war against a civilian population, in particular children ... Palestinians are not struggling for a "state" but for freedom, liberation and equality, just like we were struggling for freedom in South Africa ..." 

[This quote is often attributed to Mandela but it was not by him. It was by a Palestinian journalist, Arjan el-Fassed emulating a kind of "letter from" style from the New York Times - March, 2001]

"For me, this business called the state of Israel is finished ... I can't bear to see it anymore, the injustice that is done to the Arabs ... All kinds of scum coming from America and as soon as they get off the plane taking over lands in the territories and claiming it for their own ... I can't do anything to change it. I can only go away and let the whole lot go to hell without me."

[Rivka Michaeli - Israeli actress (household name) - Aug, 1998]

"Mom ... I'm witnessing this chronic, insidious genocide and I'm really scared and questioning my fundamental belief in the goodness of human nature. This has got to stop. I think its a good idea for us to all drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop... I still want to dance around to Pat
Benatar records and have boyfriends... But I also want this to stop."

[Rachel Corrie - US citizen and ISM member, murdered in Rafah - e-mail to home Feb, 28, 2003]





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