Letter of conscience-2

The Prime Minister?s apology to Aboriginal people more than one year ago enabled past wrongs and great injustices to be redressed, to some extent at least. However, as so few non-Aboriginal Australians alive today were directly responsible for the wrongs, the apology hardly challenged us.

On the other hand, it appears that it needs great courage for an Australian politician to condemn the airstrikes on the people of Gaza, the Israeli army?s incursion into Gaza, the 18-month siege of the Gaza Strip, the continuing dispossession of Palestinian land, the occupation of the West Bank, the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, and the imprisonment without trial of hundreds of Palestinians, including women and children.

Unless we speak out, even Australians could be seen as complicit in the daily suffering of Palestinian people.

The ties between Australia and Israel are strong. Wealthy Australians provide significant financial support to political figures and Israeli political parties. Jewish Australians are encouraged to emigrate to Israel and populate land stolen from Palestinians. There are no doubt Israeli soldiers with Australian accents fighting in Gaza, as well as Australian Israelis living in illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Mark Regev, an Australian Israeli and media spokesperson for Israel, seeks to silence criticism of Israel by focusing on the violent response by some Palestinians to the Israeli siege of Gaza and the occupation. We are justifiably fearful of being aligned with people who launch home-made rockets towards residential areas as well as send in suicide bombers to crowded restaurants. Yet, isn?t some form of violence an inevitable a response to occupation and institutionalised racism: Jandamarra, the young Aborigine who waged war on the WA frontier, reminds us of this; Nelson Mandela?s decision to take up armed struggle against apartheid is another reminder.

People who know all this may be reluctant to criticise Israel fearing that they will be labelled anti-Semitic. However, criticising the actions of the current Israeli Government would give support not only to many Jewish people involved in the peace movement in Israel and in other parts of the world, but also to Israeli conscientious objectors who choose a prison sentence over army service in Gaza; they choose not to be part of a brutal war machine which is manipulated by cynical politicians, most of whom have come from the Israeli Defence Force or Mossad, Israel?s intelligence service which is responsible for many political assassinations.

Is finding courage to condemn the attacks on Gaza and the continuing occupation of Palestinian land in the West Bank beyond us?
Mr Rudd, other politicians, as well as Australians with a voice could look for inspiration to Jimmy Carter and Reverend Desmond Tutu, who show no fear in criticizing what they refer to as the ?apartheid? policies of Israel.
There is suffering in other parts of the world which also deserves our attention and concern. However, the Australian Government?s unquestioning support of the Israeli Government in recent years, along with the support it receives from the US and Britain, enables the persecution of the Palestinians to continue. It is a conflict which no longer has clear borders; we are all involved in some way or another.

References:
Independent Jewish Voices (Britain): http://jewishvoices.squarespace.com/
Israeli peace group, Peace Now: http://www.peacenow.org.il/Site/en/homepage.asp
Archbishop Tutu on Israel?s apartheid policy: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1957644.stm
Jimmy Carter?s views on talking to Hamas: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/974464.html

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