Sabbah Report » Prize

An Open Letter to Margaret Atwood from Gaza: Don’t Stand on the Wrong Side of History

Haitham Sabbah — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 17:37:57 +0000

Besieged Gaza,
Palestine
April.4.2010

Dear Ms. Atwood,

We are students from Gaza representing more than 10 academic institutions therein. Our grandparents are refugees who were expelled from their homes in the 1948 Nakba. They still have their keys locked up in their closets and will pass them on to their children, our parents. Many of us have lost our fathers, some of us have lost our mothers, and some of us lost both in the last Israeli aggression against civilians in Gaza. Others still lost a body part from the flesh-burning white phosphorous that Israel used, and are now permanently physically challenged. Most of us lost our homes, and are now living in tents, as Israel refuses to allow basic construction materials into Gaza. And most of all, we are all still living in what has come to be a festering sore on humanity's conscience-the brutal, hermetic, medieval siege that Israel is perpetrating against us, the 1.5 million Palestinians of the Gaza Strip.

Many of us have encountered your writing during our university studies. Although your books are not available in Gaza-because Israel does not allow books, paper, and other stationary in-we are familiar with your leftist, feminist, overtly political writing. And most of all, we are aware of your strong stance against apartheid. You admirably supported sanctions against apartheid South Africa and called for resistance against all forms of oppression.

Now, we have heard that you are to receive a prize this spring at Tel Aviv University. We, the students of besieged Gaza, urge you not to go. As our professors, teachers and anti-apartheid comrades used to tell us, there was no negotiation with the brutal racist regime of South Africa. Nor was there much communication. Just one word: BOYCOTT. You must be aware that Israel was a sister state to the apartheid regime before 1994. Many South African anti-apartheid heroes, including Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, have described Israel's oppression as apartheid. Some describe Israeli settler-colonialism and occupation as surpassing apartheid's evil. F-16s, F-15s, F-35s, Apache helicopters, Merkava tanks, and white phosphorous were not used against black townships.

Ms. Atwood, in the Gaza concentration camp, students who have been awarded scholarships to universities abroad are prevented, every year, from pursuing their hard-earned opportunity for academic achievement. Within the Gaza Strip, those seeking an education are limited by increasing poverty rates and a scarcity of fuel for transportation, both of which are direct results of Israel's medieval siege. What is TAU's position vis-à-vis this form of illegal collective punishment, described by Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, as a "prelude to genocide?" Not a single word of condemnation has been heard from any Israeli academic institution!

Participating in normal relations with Tel Aviv University is giving tacit approval to its racially exclusive policy towards Palestinian citizens of Israel. We are certain you would hate to support an institution that upholds so faithfully the apartheid system of its state.

Tel Aviv University has a long and well-documented history of collaboration with the Israeli military and intelligence services. This is particularly shameful after Israel's bloody military assault against the occupied Gaza Strip, which, according to leading international and local human rights organizations, left over 1,440 Palestinians dead and 5380 injured. We are certain you would hate to support an institution that supports a military apparatus that murdered over 430 children.

By accepting the prize at Tel Aviv University, you will be indirectly giving a slight and inadvertent nod to Israel's policy of ethnic cleansing and genocide. This university has refused to commemorate the destroyed Palestinian village on which it was built. That village is called Sheikh Muwanis, and it no longer exists as a result of Israel's confiscation. Its people have been expelled.

Let us remember the words of Archbishop Desmund Tutu: "if you choose to be neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." As such, we call upon you to say no to neutrality, no to being on the fence, no to normalization with apartheid Israel, not after the blood of more than 400 children has been spilt! No to occupation, repression, settler colonialism, settlement expansion, home demolition, land expropriation and the system of discrimination against the indigenous population of Palestine, and no to the formation of Bantustans in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip!

Just as every citizen knew that s/he had a moral responsibility to boycott apartheid in South Africa after the Sharpeville massacre, Gaza 2009 was the world's wake-up call. All of Israel's academic institutions are state-run and state-funded. To partake of any of their prizes or to accept any of their blandishments is to uphold their heinous political actions. Israel has continually violated international law in defiance of the world. It is illegally occupying Palestinian land. It continues its aggression against the Palestinian people. Israel denies Palestinians all of the democratic liberties it so proudly, fictitiously flaunts. Israel is an apartheid regime that denies Palestinian refugees their right of return as sanctioned by UN resolution 194.

Attending the symposium would violate the unanimously endorsed Palestinian civil society call for Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. This call is also directed towards international activists, artists, and academics of conscience, such as you. We are certain that you would love to be a part of the noble struggle against the apartheid, colonization and occupation that the Palestinian people have been subjected to for the past 61 years, a struggle that is ongoing.

Ms. Atwood, we consider you to be what the late Edward Said called an "oppositional intellectual." As such, and given our veneration of your work, we would be both emotionally and psychologically wounded to see you attend the symposium. You are a great woman of words, of that we have no doubt. But we think you would agree, too, that actions speak louder than words. We all await your decision.

Besieged Gaza
The Palestinian Students' Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel (PSCABI)

Endorsed by The University Teachers' Association in Palestine

Tel Aviv, Peace and the Obama Prize

Jeff Gates — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:09:18 +0000

Henry Kissinger- 1973, Menachem Begin 1979, Elie Wiesel- 1986, Shimon Peres- 1994, Yitzhak Rabin- 1994, Barack Obama-2009, all Nobel Peace Prize winners.

By Jeff Gates*

The Nobel Committee again piqued the interest of those who marvel at the impact of an annual ritual of global branding that in 1973 labeled Henry Kissinger a peace laureate! As with many aspects of unconventional warfare, what emerges in the foreground often obscures behavior that remains concealed in the background.

Anyone paying attention knows that pro-Israelis manipulated the intelligence that induced the U.S. to invade Iraq. That same source is now hoping to expand this war to Iran-without being detected. In an irony of epic proportions, this award may enable that deceit.

Pundits charge that Barack Obama was given the 2009 peace prize for Not Being Bush. The Nobel Committee cited Obama's multilateralism in contrast to Bush's unilateralism. Yet the same pro-Israeli networks that deployed phony intelligence to manipulate decision-making in the Bush presidency remain active inside the Obama presidency. At least Bush had the mass murder of 9-11 to rationalize his choices.

The manipulation of consensus beliefs discredited the U.S. when it went to war on fixed intelligence. A similar mental manipulation generated consensus support for trade and financial policies that systematically devastated the U.S. economy. The challenge for Tel Aviv is how best to continue its agenda for Greater Israel now that the manipulation of public opinion has grown more transparent-and when entire communities, reeling from the impact of massive financial frauds, are aware that something fundamental is amiss.

Those consensus-enabled frauds include the savings and loan bust of the 1980s, the dotcom crash of 2000 and the recent subprime mortgage meltdown with its massive bailout of Wall Street's financial elite. In the mid-1990s, a similar consensus-enabled fraud impoverished tens of millions of Russians while leaving a legacy of oligarchs in its wake.

In a nation whose population, like the U.S., is less than two percent Ashkenazim, six of Russia's seven richest oligarchs (84%) qualify for Israeli citizenship. Similarly, a list of the top 50 neoconservatives advocating war in Iraq reveals 26 (52%) who are Jewish. Likewise a review of Nobel laureates in economic science confirms that the awards largely honor Ashkenazi "Chicago School" economists.

As financial freedom emerged-by consensus-as a proxy for human freedom, this "Chicago" mindset created oligarchies worldwide, undermining both democracies and markets. The model's fixation on money, since branded the "Washington" consensus, gained global traction as its advocates were lionized as Nobel laureates-discrediting the U.S. in the process.

Obscuring a Criminal State

Consensus beliefs explain how frauds can progress in plain sight as faith-based psy-ops displace facts with what a targeted public can be deceived to accept as true. Deception works the same regardless whether the fraud is a shared belief in Iraqi weapons of mass destruction or a consensus faith in the infallibility of unfettered financial markets. The only modern aspect of this ancient craft is the technological means to defraud on a global scale.

For consensus frauds to become systemic requires lengthy pre-staging and political cooperation. Once a long-deceived public grasps the duplicity at the heart of this mental and emotional manipulation, they will see for themselves its common source-which brings us to this latest Nobel peace prize.

Though Barack Obama conceded he did not deserve it, that misses the point. The primary national security issue he now faces is what strategy to pursue in the quagmire of Afghanistan. His senior military advisers recommend a troop surge to create the stability required for a drawdown of forces.

Others urge a speedy withdrawal. That strategy would leave in place the forces that will reconstitute the Taliban and provide a haven for Al Qaeda there and in neighboring Pakistan. This peace prize complicates the option to escalate. That may well be its purpose.

A quick withdrawal would also help pre-stage a consensus that the next Evil Doer comes from this region. Plus Afghanistan and Pakistan provide a plausible source of serial crises to deflect attention from resolving Israel's brutal six-decade occupation of Palestine. Thus the enthusiasm for Obama's award from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

To date, the U.S. has lost ground in every negotiation with this Israeli leader. The issue of settlements was relegated to background noise. At U.S. urging, the U.N. deferred consideration of the Goldstone Report on Gaza despite facts confirming dozens of Israeli war crimes. By pressuring a Palestinian leader to endorse deferral, U.S. diplomats further undermined the prospects for peace. Meanwhile, Jewish extremists are fueling the hostilities required for a third Intifada.

Branding an Asset

With the expansionist goals of Greater Israel yet to be fulfilled, Tel Aviv needs a U.S. president perceived as a mediator akin to peace laureate Mother Teresa. For a laureate to escalate a war conflicts with the Nobel brand. Obama the Peacemaker can now justify the rapid withdrawal sought by pro-Israelis, his political base and Norwegian peaceniks.

In return, he can be portrayed as heroic-for advancing their agenda. Meanwhile Israel can justify a unilateral preemptive attack on Iran using U.S.-provided bunker-buster bombs, plausibly citing self-defense now that the Peace President is conflicted. That attack will ensure the crises required to help obscure the common source of this systemic criminality. Should the U.S. military object, critics can point to a recent record of dissent on troop strength in Afghanistan and on a policy shift on gays in the military.

Any attack in the U.S. or the E.U. will be blamed on crises in the Middle East, enabling critics to charge that Obama capitulated to Europeans who embrace peace at any price. Though Obama is now being lionized, he will then be demonized. The result will discredit his presidency, endanger the U.S. and pave the way for a more militant successor, a strategic victory for Tel Aviv as the next presidency is likewise staffed with Zionists and pro-Israelis.

Barack Obama is a political product of Chicago Ashkenazim who trace directly to Jewish organized crime of the 1920s. This prize may embolden a trans-generational criminal syndicate for whom peace is an obstacle to the perpetual warfare required to advance Colonial Zionist goals.

This award was announced soon after Obama described Israel as "the Jewish state." That code phrase outraged Muslims worldwide, particularly those whose lands are occupied by an apartheid government. Only America's first African-American president could endorse racist policies certain to push the parties closer to war. Instead of being denounced, he was awarded a Nobel peace prize.

This award is welcome news for a global syndicate scrambling to obscure the common source of the manipulated beliefs that induced war in Iraq-and the common source of the consensus beliefs that enabled financial frauds in the U.S., Russia and worldwide.

To a dispirited public looking for hope, has this Chicagoan been positioned to raise those hopes only to dash them? The facts suggest that this inexperienced commander-in-chief has unwittingly allowed his office to be manipulated by those who mean to make a bad situation worse-possibly far worse.

How can any nation trust that U.S. policy is crafted in Washington and not Tel Aviv? Barack Obama could concede that those who produced his political career are the source of this consensus manipulation. Only with that concession will this prize become deserved.

* Jeff Gates is a widely acclaimed author, attorney, investment banker, educator and consultant to government, corporate and union leaders worldwide; an adviser to policy-makers worldwide; former counsel to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee; and author of numerous articles and books including his latest book Guilt by Association: How Deception and Self-Deceit Took America to War, Democracy at Risk and The Ownership Solution. See www.criminalstate.com

The Day of The Awards of the Absurd, The Nobel Peace Prize Becomes Toilet Paper

Robin — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:48:36 +0000

Illustration by Carlos Latuff

By Robin

Two of them, yes two are in the news today. Two awards announced that are so far into the realm of the absurd, the stuff science fiction is made of, that one must shudder at the realization, Orwell's "1984" has truly arrived, war has become peace.

The first news has circled the globe already, our president, Barak Obama, has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The nomination for this honor coming only days after he took office, prior to any accomplishments whatsoever. Hope inpregnated in the nomination itself. Hope.

What does that word even mean? One definition reads "something that is hoped for or desired" Yet another is slightly different "to look forward to with confidence or expectation."

The first definition goes to longing-coming from oppression in many cases. The second goes straight to expectation and confidence, in this case, Obama who ran on the slogan of "hope" was given the confidence by many who voted for him because they expected results for their longings to be fulfilled.

In the case of Palestine, if one were using this issue to influence your vote, there were two viable options this past presidential election, one of two men was going to win, either McCain or Obama. Ironically at the time, a poll was taken in Palestine where McCain came out on top slightly. I asked a dear Palestinian friend of mine at the time how this could possibly be the case. He told me that Palestinians have learned that they would rather have straight talk from a tough opponent than anything that is lofty and non-concrete. It took me a while for me to understand what he was telling me, but eventually I did. Placing hope in a politician due to lofty speeches is not at the end of the day going to guarantee anything. Improvement possibly could have been hoped for, relief from years of Israeli aggression propped up by America, never. As an American myself, I can only in utter shame and sadness agree. Would McCain have been doing anything better had he been elected? No. He wouldn't have put forth any effort like Obama has in my opinion, but the question begs to be answered, Obama has said many things and then back tracked. His settlement stance is one prime example, first he says no more settlements, then he backed away.

A defining moment in Obama's presidency has been his Cairo speech, the first American president to go straight to the Muslim world to address them. A much needed outreach after eight years of George Bush's Middle East policy which included the pre-emptive, illegal war on Iraq. Obama in his Cairo speech addressed the Palestinian/Israeli issue in the following excerpt:

The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world.

America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed -- more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, it is ignorant, and it is hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction -- or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews -- is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.

On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people -- Muslims and Christians -- have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they've endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations -- large and small -- that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. And America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own. (Applause.)

Oh how the speech was hailed. It's a moment in history! He took himself to the Muslim world in peace. You are going to have to show me though where his speech concerning Palestine was in any way significantly different than what George Bush said when he entered office. He also pledged efforts towards a two-state solution, albeit not as eloquently. 20-20 vision shows us that the Bush administration gave a blank slate to Israel-US efforts towards "peace" in Israel/Palestine were nil during Bush's tenure. One must remember though that at the time of the Cairo speech, Rahm Emmanuel and Dennis Ross had already been welcomed in by the Obama administration. Yes, Obama has sent George Mitchell who accomplished peace in Northern Ireland, yet on the other hand, through votes and pressure on Israel's puppet leader of the PA, Abu Mazen, voting on the Goldstone Report in the Human Rights Council was postponed until March. This is peace? This is "hope"? This is reaching out to the Muslim world?

"War is peace"-George Orwell. The 2009 Nobel Peace Prize goes to President Barak Obama.

News yet of another award of the absurd has also been announced. The Dali Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, has accepted an award presented to him in Congress-the first ever Tom Lantos "Human Rights Award". (view the C-Span video HERE)To have the term "human rights" in the same sentence with the name Tom Lantos goes beyond the pale of decency. Tom Lantos who passed away in February 2008 was on record as being Israel's staunchest hawk in Congress. The Fanonite wrote:

Lantos was also an enthusiastic supporter of Operation Defensive Shield, Sharon's war of terror on the Palestinians. According to one analyst, "Lantos isn't just a Democrat who voted for the Iraq war, he was one of its co-authorsâ€¦Lantos has never met a war he didn't like. His unblinking defense of Israeli policy gives him tunnel vision with the rest of the Middle East.â€ Already in 2006 he was gunning for war; he wrote an article "Now or Never to Prevent a Nuclear-Armed Iran.â€ Lantos was also a prominent supporter of the School of Americas, where Latin America's military dictators and would-be torturers were trained. Lantos played a key role in building Democratic support for the Patriot Act. According to the Jeruslame Post, he represents Israel in countries with which it has no diplomatic relations.

In further absurdity, in January of this year, during the massive Israeli offense on Gaza for which the Goldstone Report has found war crimes were committed, the Dali Lama spoke before a conference wearing a keffiyeh around his neck as he urged Israelis and Palestinians to "work together" (view video HERE)

Today the Dali Lama accepted a "human rights" award from the foundation of a man who over a lifetime in Congress voted for torture (his support ot the SOA) and war. The keffiyeh he wore in January is missing. Chameleon.

Today in Sweden, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Barak Obama, whose administration has like all past administrations done what Israel has "hoped", no "had confidence in" and "expected" the US to do, cover their crimes. "Hope"-yes this was his slogan.

"War is peace".-George Orwell

Postscript: China has accused the US of meddling in their affairs with the presentation of the Tom Lantos "humanitarian award". Note, Obama, todays Nobel Peace Prize winner, has not yet met with the Dali Lama, 1989's Nobel Peace Prize Winner. He is postponing meeting with him until after he meets with China's president next month.