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NPK-info 06-04-2001- Nederlands Palestina Komitee / www.xs4all.nl/~npk
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Van Aartsen zei 2 april op Radio 1: "Geen vrede zonder
gerechtigheid",
het ging helaas - nog - niet over het Midden-Oosten [maar over
Joegoslavië].
Bijgaand een memo van Mandela over het Midden-Oosten in een brief aan de
NYT.
Palestinians SUBMIT FINAL REPORT TO SHARM EL-SHEIKH FACT-FINDING
COMMITTEE.
The full text of the Palestinian submission is available NOW at
(It is 73 pages)
DCI/PS RELEASES MAIN FINDINGS OF ANNUAL REPORT ON ISRAELI VIOLATIONS OF
PALESTINIAN CHILDREN'S RIGHTS
The complete report will be published and available to the public within
one
month. Please visit the following link for main findings:
Defence for Children International/Palestine Section is an independent,
Palestinian non-governmental organization, established in 1992 to
promote
and protect the rights of Palestinian children as articulated in the UN
Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as in other international
instruments.
DCI/PS, P.O. Box 55201, Jerusalem
Tel: +972 2 240 7530
Fax: +972 2 240 7018
(Note: please try and use +970, if the above country code does not work)
Email: dcipal@palnet.com
Website: www.dci-pal.org
(click on 'new' for updated information)
NPK/WL, 6-4-2001
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MANDELA'S FIRST MEMO TO THOMAS FRIEDMAN
March 28, 2001
To: Thomas L. Friedman (columnist New York Times)
From: Nelson Mandela (former President South Africa)
Dear Thomas,
I know that you and I long for peace in the Middle
East, but before you
continue to talk about necessary conditions from an
Israeli perspective,
you need to know what's on my mind. Where to begin?
How about 1964. Let
me quote my own words during my trial. They are true
today as they were
then:
"I have fought against white domination and I have
fought against black
domination. I have cherished the ideal of a
democratic and free society
in which all persons live together in harmony and
with equal
opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live
for and to achieve.
But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am
prepared to die."
Today the world, black and white, recognise that
apartheid has no future.
In South Africa it has been ended by our own
decisive mass action in order
to build peace and security. That mass campaign of
defiance and other
actions could only culminate in the establishment of
democracy.
Perhaps it is strange for you to observe the
situation in Palestine or
more specifically, the structure of political and
cultural relationships
between Palestinians and Israelis, as an apartheid
system. This is because
you incorrectly think that the problem of Palestine
began in 1967. This
was demonstrated in your recent column "Bush's First
Memo" in the New York
Times on March 27, 2001.
You seem to be surprised to hear that there are
still problems of 1948 to
be solved, the most important component of which is
the right to return of
Palestinian refugees.
The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is not just an
issue of military
occupation and Israel is not a country that was
established "normally"
and happened to occupy another country in 1967.
Palestinians are not
struggling for a "state" but for freedom, liberation
and equality, just
like we were struggling for freedom in South Africa.
In the last few years, and especially during the
reign of the Labour
Party, Israel showed that it was not even willing to
return what it
occupied in 1967; that settlements remain, Jerusalem
would be under
exclusive Israeli sovereignty, and Palestinians
would not have an
independent state, but would be under Israeli
economic domination with
Israeli control of borders, land, air, water and
sea.
Israel was not thinking of a "state" but of
"separation". The value of
separation is measured in terms of the ability of
Israel to keep the
Jewish state Jewish, and not to have a Palestinian
minority that could
have the opportunity to become a majority at some
time in the future. If
this takes place, it would force Israel to either
become a secular
democratic or bi-national state, or to turn into a
state of apartheid
not only de facto, but also de jure.
Thomas, if you follow the polls in Israel for the
last 30 or 40 years, you
clearly find a vulgar racism that includes a third
of the population who
openly declare themselves to be racist. This racism
is of the nature of
"I hate Arabs" and "I wish Arabs would be
dead". If
you also follow the
judicial system in Israel you will see there is
discrimination against
Palestinians, and if you further consider the 1967
occupied territories
you will find there are already two judicial systems
in operation that
represent two different approaches to human life:
one for Palestinian
life and the other for Jewish life. Additionally
there are two
different approaches to property and to land.
Palestinian property is
not recognised as private property because it can be
confiscated.
As to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and
Gaza, there is an
additional factor. The so-called "Palestinian
autonomous areas" are
bantustans. These are restricted entities within the
power structure of
the Israeli apartheid system.
The Palestinian state cannot be the by-product of
the Jewish state, just
in order to keep the Jewish purity of Israel.
Israel's racial
discrimination is daily life of most Palestinians.
Since Israel is a
Jewish state, Israeli Jews are able to accrue
special rights which
non-Jews cannot do. Palestinian Arabs have no place
in a "Jewish" state.
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, in particular, waged a
war against a
civilian population, in particular children.
The responses made by South Africa to human rights
abuses emanating from
the removal policies and apartheid policies
respectively, shed light on
what Israeli society must necessarily go through
before one can speak of a
just and lasting peace in the Middle East and an end
to its apartheid
policies.
Thomas, I'm not abandoning Mideast diplomacy. But
I'm not going to indulge
you the way your supporters do. If you want peace
and democracy, I will
support you. If you want formal apartheid, we will
not support you. If you
want to support racial discrimination and ethnic
cleansing, we will oppose
you. When you figure out what you're about, give me
a call.
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