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http://www.counterpunch.org/hanania05192004.html

May 19, 2004

Israeli War Crimes
Who to Trust: AIPAC or Amnesty International?
By RAY HANANIA

In a speech recently,
President Bush says Israel has a right
to defend itself against terror but he
made no mention of Israel's government's
"war crimes."

Israel has a right to defend itself
against terrorism, but does Israel's
government have a right to kill
innocent Palestinians?

Does Israel's government have a right
to fabricate excuses that no one can
confirm as reasons to ethnically cleanse
areas of the occupied lands?

Does Israel's government
have a right to steal lands,
expel its Christian and Muslim
Palestinian inhabitants and replace
them with Jewish refugees who claim
a "right of return" that they deny to
others?

Does Israel's government have a right
to violate the Geneva Conventions,
commit war crimes and literally impose
a new form of Apartheid on the occupied
population?

Bush was addressing AIPAC
(American Israel Public Affairs Council),
a foreign lobbying organization that has
as much power in this country as the
Electoral College.

AIPAC defends Israel's
government's right to do
whatever it wishes and is
silent on its military abuses
and atrocities against the
Palestinians it occupies.

But rather than address AIPAC,
Maybe Bush should have spoken to
a gathering of Amnesty International,
an organization that is objective and
more dedicated to fairness, justice,
truth and individual liberties on this
planet than AIPAC.

This week, Amnesty issued a scathing
65-page report accusing Israel not only
of violating the Geneva Conventions -
which Israel does not recognize -
but also of committing "war crimes."

(You won't read much about the report
in our media and you won't find it on
the White House web page, so go to
Amnesty's web page at <www.amnesty.org>
and read it yourself.)

At least there is someone in this world
who does not fear the power of AIPAC or
the defamation of those who criticize
Israel's government "war crimes."

The report said the
demolition and destruction are
``grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva
Convention and are war crimes''

Amnesty called on Israel to
halt the practices immediately,
and said the house demolitions are
linked to Israeli intentions to
take over West Bank and Gaza land.

Haven't people been saying that for years?

Amnesty reports
"Families are forcibly evicted from their homes,
often at night, without prior warning.

They are given only a few minutes to
leave their home and are not allowed
to salvage their possession.

The unprecedented scale of destruction
has resulted in widespread violations
of the right to adequate housing and
standard of living for tens of thousands
of people and violates fundamental principles
of international human rights and humanitarian law.

It goes on to say,
"In the Occupied Territories,
demolitions are often carried
out as collective punishments
for Palestinian attacks or to
facilitate the expansion of
illegal Israeli settlements.

Both practices contravene international
law and some of these acts are war crimes.

The report is devastating and
labels the Wall as a violation, too.

Amnesty concludes
"Israel's right to take reasonable,
necessary and proportionate measures
to protect the security of its citizens
does not allow such disproportionate
and discriminatory restrictions and
collective punishment,

which violate international law."

What that means is this:
the two kids at Columbine claimed they
were being harassed and bullied by other
students had a right to file formal
complaints against the other students
and to bring the harassment to an end.

They did not have the right to bring in
their own weapons and wantonly murder
other students as an act of revenge.

That's exactly what
Israel's government is doing.

Of course Israelis have a
right to defend themselves,

but not to do it in such a way
that they are achieving other
more sinister objectives such
as the theft of Palestinian lands,
which is the foundation of Israel's
policies and actions.

I don't expect AIPAC to replace their
blind support for Israel with truth
and justice above.

And, even tough I am an American who
served during the Vietnam War and whose
father and uncle served during World War II,
I will be accused of being "anti-Semitic"
just for repeating Amnesty International's
conclusions.

But you might think that Bush,
the guy who goes around the word
lecturing everyone about civil rights,
freedom, democracy and justice,
might be less concerned with
appeasing AIPAC.

Bush should be more concerned about
putting truth and justice above AIPAC's
blind support for Israel,

even if it is a presidential
election year and he is stumbling
in the polls.

Ray Hanania is the former National
President of the Palestinian American
Congress.

He can be reached at: www.hanania.com.