File:TWIP - 2007-04-29 Interview of Author-Activist Omar Barghouthi.vorb.oga

We ask our listeners: were you involved last week in the Israel-Palestine peace movement and the Palestinians' struggle for freedom from Israel's brutal military occupation of their land? Did you speak out on the atrocities being committed by Israel in Gaza and the West Bank? If not, why not?

There are many ways you could get involved. Here are ten examples:

1. you could join the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights by calling (617) 491-2313.
2. you could join the Middle East Crisis Coalition by writing to: crisismiddleeast@yahoo.com.
3. you could join the Israel-Palestine Task Force of United for Justice with Peace by writing to: ujpiptaskforce@yahoo.com.
4. if you are Jewish and prefer to join a Jewish group, there is the Boston Chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace which you can contact either by calling (617) 984-0532 or by visiting its website at www.vopj.org;
5. you could go to Palestine and help with the olive harvest or help Palestinians live their daily lives under occupation by contacting the group Boston to Palestine at its website: www.bostontopalestine.org;
6. you could work with the International Women's Peace Service in Palestine by applying to www.iwps-pal.org;
7. You could go to Palestine under the Birthright Unplugged program or,
8. under the "Needle in the Groove" program by applying respectively at www.birthrightunplugged.org and www.needleinthegroove.org;
9. You could go to Palestine and see what life is really like in a Palestinian Refugee camp by going to the Aida Refugee Camp and participating in its Sixth International Work Camp from August 2 to August 16. Applications can be obtained by writing to helenp149@yahoo.com; and
10. You could join Bethlehem's Siraj Center's "Palestinian Summer Celebration 2007" program. To register for the program or get more information, please visit the website: sirajcenter.org/courses.htm.

It is Sunday, April 29, 2007. We begin with three event announcements followed by a brief commentary and a discussion of the issues of Apartheid and the International Campaign for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel:

Starting tomorrow, April 30 and continuing through Friday, May 4, the Arab Students Organization of MIT, the MIT Muslim Students Association, and the GSC Funding Board will present the "MIT Palestine Awareness Week 2007." Three main events will be held:

• A lecture on Israeli Apartheid in Room 56-114 starting at 7 pm on Monday.
• A showing of the documentary "The Iron Wall" starting at 7 pm on Wednesday, and
• An informal coffee hour and discussion with MIT's students starting at 5:30 pm on Friday. Light refreshments will be served.

Please stop by the information tables: from Monday to Wednesday in the lobby of Building 10, and at the Student Center on Thursday and Friday.

On Tuesday, May 1, the Middle East Initiative at Harvard University will host a talk by Dr. Sara Roy on "Dignity and Dissent: Reflections on Palestine by a Child of Survivors." The event will take place from 6 pm to 8 pm in the Kalb Lecture Room in the Taubman Building at the Kennedy School of Government.

On June 10-11, the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United for Peace and Justice are sponsoring a two-day mobilization in Washington, DC to protest against the 40 year-old illegal Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. Under the banner, "The World Says No to Israeli Occupation," the US Campaign and UFPJ will hold a massive rally and teach-in starting at 1 pm on Sunday June 10 in Washington DC, followed by a grassroots lobbying day on Monday, June 11. The Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights is arranging affordable transportation from Boston to Washington DC and back. If you need a ride, please contact the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights asap by writing to: june10demo@gmail.com.

Debates about possible solutions to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict revolve around two proposals: the "two-state solution" and the "one-state solution," both of which, we keep being told by wise pundits, are "impossible." The "Two-State Solution" we are told is impossible because of the "facts on the ground," namely the large number of Israeli settlements; the networks of Jewish-only roads which connect them; and the wall Israel is continuing to build illegally, all of which have carved the West Bank and East Jerusalem into numerous small enclaves, or "Bantustans," which can not possibly be woven together to form a viable Palestinian state. The "One-State Solution" we are told is "impossible" because Israel would lose its character as a "Jewish State," and anyone who dabbles with that idea is considered at best a "security risk" or at worst "an enemy" of the state of Israel and treated as such. Witness the case of Dr. Azmi Bishara and his National Democratic Party whose declared primary aim is "to struggle to transform the state of Israel into a democracy for all its citizens, irrespective of national or ethnic identity." The Shin Bet, Israel's secret police, has threatened to target anyone who seeks to change the preferential Jewish character of the state of Israel, even by democratic means . Even former Knesset Member and peace activist Uri Avneri has weighed in with scathing attacks against the idea of a single democratic state , .

So, the Councils of the Wise would lead us to believe that no solution is possible. According to them, everything is "impossible." Palestinians have to give up on their aspirations, guaranteed under international law, and acquiesce to the vision the leaders of Israel and the US have for them: a life of US-funded imposed imprisonment, denial of livelihood, starvation, disease, and threat of death, until they leave their land "voluntarily" for Israel to pick up as part of the "Divine Covenant." What these "Grandes Tetes" fail to grasp are the lessons of history. For those who are still open to learning from history, we find among its lessons that the impossible is often more likely to happen than the merely possible. Things do not happen simply because they can happen, or because they are good things that should happen. Things happen because people want them to happen and make them happen. For example, which rigorous analyst in the nineteenth century could have concluded from the world situation then existing that a State of Israel would some day come into being? Who in his right mind at the end of World War I, the "war to end all wars," could have concluded that the terminally wounded Germany would rise two or three decades later to threaten the whole world? And who, as recently as the 1990s, could have predicted that our country, the US, would soon become a police state with aspects resembling the aspects of fascism?

Those who would change the world can not indulge in despondency, for life's difficult accomplishments do not come to the faint of heart. The dysfunctional democracies of the West must be challenged by a massive tide at the grassroots level until their leaders are swept aside or forced to put into practice the revolutionary concepts of respect for the rule of law and respect for the human rights of all people, irrespective of race, color or ethnicity. There is much work to be done. Let us get on with it and be nourished by confidence in our ability to effect change.

We continue today our cycle of discussions on Apartheid and the International Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Campaign against Israel, as a means to non-violently oppose the occupation of Palestine and the imposition of the Apartheid system on Palestinians residing in Israel and in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza.

On July 9, 2005, the first anniversary of the International Court of Justice's ruling condemning Israel's wall built on Palestinian land, more than 170 Palestinian civil society organizations joined together in issuing a "Call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel Until it Complies with International Law and Universal Principles of Human Rights." That call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (or "BDS") formed the nucleus of a growing worldwide movement to non-violently oppose the occupation of Palestine and the imposition of the Apartheid system on Palestinians residing in Israel and in the Occupied West Bank and Gaza.

A report submitted on January 29th by John Dugard, the UN Special Raconteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories , cites Israel for using indiscriminate military power against civilians and civilian targets, resulting in serious war crimes. The report also cites Israel for discrimination against Palestinians in many fields, saying that the provisions of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid appear to be violated by many practices, particularly those denying freedom of movement to Palestinians. The report concludes by proposing that the issue be brought to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's prolonged occupation with features of colonialism and apartheid for the Palestinian people.

Today we are very pleased to welcome our featured guest, Mr. Omar Barghouthi. Mr. Barghouthi is an independent Palestinian political and cultural analyst whose opinion columns have appeared in several publications. He is also a human rights activist involved in civil struggle to end oppression and conflict in Palestine/Israel and an organizer of the Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. He holds a Masters Degree in electrical engineering from Columbia University and is currently a doctoral student of philosophy (ethics) at Tel Aviv University. He contributed to The New Intifada: Resisting Israel's Apartheid (Verso Books, 2001). He advocates for an ethical vision of a single, secular democratic state in historical Palestine. He joins us now by telephone link to Palestine:

Good afternoon Mr.Omar Barghouthi and welcome to "This Week in Palestine."

1. You have, among others, including Dr. Azmi Bishara, Dr. Naseer Aruri, Ali Abu Nimah and Professor Virginia Tilley, advocated for a single democratic state. In an article you wrote on ZNet on September 9, 2005 with Adrian Grima entitled: "Re-Thinking the Mediterranean," you said (and I quote):
   

"Only such a state can reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable: the inalienable, UN-sanctioned rights of the indigenous people of Palestine to self-determination and the internationally accepted rights of Israeli Jews to live in peace and security after justice has prevailed. Regardless of Israel's establishment on the ruins of Palestinian society and as a result of massive ethnic cleansing of most Palestinians during the Nakba (catastrophe of 1948), Israeli Jews and Palestinian-Arabs (Muslims and Christians) should enjoy equal democratic rights without discrimination, and without ethnic supremacy of either community."
I have several questions:

1. Why do you believe that a single democratic state is the most ethical solution?
2. What support does the Palestinian street have for the concept of a single democratic state?
3. How have your ideas been received during your visits to Canada and the US?
4. You are also a founding committee member of "The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel" at the website: www.pacbi.org. Boycotts and divestment campaigns in Europe have been far more successful than in the US, witness a Dutch Bank's withdrawal of its support for the illegal tramway project linking Jerusalem and the settlements, the recent UK Journalist Union's support for the boycott of Israeli goods, and the UK Physicians" calling for a boycott of the Israeli Medical Association and its expulsion from the World Medical Association. How do you account for the far less successful campaigns in the US and what can be done about it?
5. What effects have American laws criminalizing the boycott of anything Israeli had on the BDS campaign in the US?
6. What strategy or direction should the BDS Campaign in the US adopt?
7. As a Palestinian, what would you like to tell the American people?

Thank you so much Mr. Omar Barghouthi for being our guest today. It was a pleasure having you with us.

You have been listening to Mr. Omar Barghouthi, independent Palestinian political and cultural analyst, human rights activist, and co-founder of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. For more information on the Palestinian campaign, please visit his website at www.pacbi.org.

And that is all we have for today. We wish our listeners a pleasant and restful weekend, and look forward to having you with us next week, same time. Until then, this is Sherif Fam signing off for now, and reminding our listeners to get involved in the good fight for peace in the Middle East. Palestine is in dire need and could use all the help it can get. Thank you.