Boycotting the claims of benjamin pogrund
By Frank Barat
(source:The Palestine Chronicle)
Benjamin Pogrund piece (See Guardian, August 24), arguing that "Boycotts only harden Israeli opinion", is a groundbreaking work of distortion of history, denial of facts, propaganda, disinformation and could have been written by Mark Regev, spokesman for the Prime minister of Israel.
Benjamin Pogrund should know better.
He is wrong on pretty much every single argument he makes.
Apartheid entirely applies to the State of Israel policies towards the Palestinians. We are here talking about "The Crime of Apartheid" (as defined by the 2002 Rome statute of the International Criminal Court). "inhumane acts of a character similar to other crimes against humanity "committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime." It lists such crimes as murder, enslavement, deprivation of physical liberty, forced relocation, sexual violence, and collective persecution. [1]
Anyone who has recently been to Israel, the West Bank and Gaza knows that the above definition clearly describes Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians and its "Arab minority" (understand Palestinians currently leaving in Israel, 20% of Israel’s total population). There are many examples available, the more recent one being the eviction of 2 Palestinian families from occupied East Jerusalem to make space for Jewish only accommodations.
He then goes on and describes this "conflict" as a "national-religious" struggle between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians". Again Mr. Pogrund uses right wing propaganda and the over used "Clash of civilizations" (a favorite of GW Bush, Lieberman, Christian Zionists…). This "conflict" is not about religion. This "conflict" is about colonialism, imperialism and human rights. This is a political "conflict", not a religious one.
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