Evelyn Hecht-Galinski

Ich betrachte es als eine große Ehre, dass ich als deutsche Jüdin hier bei Ihnen auf dem 8. Europäischen Palästinenserkongress in Berlin sprechen darf. Das heutige geschichtsträchtige Datum des 8. Mai, des Tages der Befreiung vom Faschismus und der Nazi-Diktatur vor 65 Jahren, sollte dem Staat Israel und allen Verfolgten, die selbst so Schreckliches erlebt haben, Mahnung sein, nie wieder Unrecht und Unterdrückung zu dulden oder selbst auszuüben.

62 Jahre Vertreibung und ethnische Säuberung sind genug! 43 Jahre Besetzung und Unterdrückung sind genug! Schlimmerweise ist es für Israel nie genug. Am 13. April trat die neueste Perversion des “Jüdischen Staates” in Kraft: Ein Militärerlass, der den Boden für Massendeportationen aus der Westbank bereitet. Diese Verordnung ist ein klarer Verstoß gegen Artikel 49 der Vierten Genfer Konvention. Dieser Erlass ist ungesetzlich und verstößt gegen internationales Recht, da israelische Gesetze im Westjordanland — also auf besetztem Gebiet — nicht anzuwenden sind. Diese Anordnung beweist nur ein weiteres Mal die Macht und die Willkür der israelischen Armee, gegen unliebsame Palästinenser vorzugehen.

Ich fordere Sie, Frau Bundeskanzlerin Merkel, daher auf, gegen diese Besatzerwillkür zu protestieren und sich bei der israelischen Regierung dafür einzusetzen, dass diese unrechtmäßigen Verordnungen zurückgenommen werden. Außerdem fordere ich Sie, Frau Bundeskanzlerin Merkel, auf, den Begriff der Sicherheit Israels als Staaträson für die deutsche Politik rückgängig zu machen. Dieser Begriff stützt sich nicht auf eine demokratische Legitimität. Nein – ganz im Gegenteil -, das verstößt gegen unser Grundgesetz und gegen allen politischen Anstand, die Sicherheit Israels zur deutschen Staatsräson zu erklären. Genau diese Feststellung führt uns auch zur Problematik der Beziehungen zwischen Deutschland und Israel.

Das unbeschreibliche Unrecht, das von Deutschen organisiert, an den europäischen Juden/ Jüdinnen begangen wurde, darf nicht dafür herhalten, dass anderen Menschen und Völkern Unrecht angetan wird.

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Stephen Lendman

An Israeli settler attacks an Israeli activist during a demon-
stration against settlements in the town of Hebron.

Palestinians are doubly cursed. Israel's military attacks them regularly. During the past week alone, Israeli air strikes killed four Gazans, wounding another 14.

Al-Nabi Saleh village residents participating in a peaceful demonstration were assaulted. Two injuries were reported, including a child. Israel's navy arrested three Palestinian fishermen, confiscating their boats.

Their security forces conducted 91 incursions (13 a day on average) into Palestinian communities, arresting 14 civilians. One injury was reported.

Israeli security forces raided homes of recently released Palestinian prisoners. They were ordered to appear for questioning to harass and perhaps re-incarcerate them.

In addition, Palestinian property was attacked, bulldozed, otherwise destroyed or damaged.

All the above incidents and similar daily ones violate international and Israeli law.

Lawless Israeli settlers also assault Palestinians with impunity. Investigations when held are whitewashed. Rarely is anyone prosecuted even for offenses too serious to ignore.

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Stephen Lendman

First the good. On November 22, the International Middle East Media Center (IMEMC) said a "Freedom Spring" convoy arrived through Rafah's border terminal, connecting Gaza and Egypt.

Arab Spring movement members will meet Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyya and other Palestinian officials. In addition, meetings will be held with women's groups, local NGOs, and others.

Tours through Gaza's refugee camps and visiting UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) are planned.

Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) head Ahmad Bahar called the visit historic, saying "convoy members managed to defend their people's dignity and honor, and now, they came to Gaza to express support and solidarity with their people."

"You came to challenge this siege. I want to tell you that today is the beginning of the end of this siege, the siege that was never lifted, despite conspiracies and claims of easing it. This conspiracy is against the steadfastness of our people, the people who defend their dignity, children and country, the people who want to liberate Jerusalem."

Egyptian Popular Committee Against the Judaization of Jerusalem head, Salah Sultan, said convoy members will "return as fighters and liberators of Jerusalem and the Al Aqsa Mosque. We will stand with you. The world will stand with you to defend Jerusalem, especially after the Zionists declared plans to demolish the historic Moghrabi (Magharba) Gate in Jerusalem that links between the Al Boraq Wall and the Al Aqsa Mosque."

Arab Spring activists represent solidarity with besieged Gazans. They also reflect a growing spirit that others support their liberating struggle.

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Irina Lebedeva

Last October, headlines in US media were grabbed by reports showing that some six decades ago US “researchers” deliberately exposed Guatemalans to syphilis and gonorrhea. The revelations forced the US to apologize. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a statement saying: “The sexually transmitted disease inoculation study conducted from 1946-1948 in Guatemala was clearly unethical. Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health. We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices”.

What seems strange about the whole story is that the US did make an apology for what was done ages ago. US history abounds with cases where one or another American Doctor Mengele subjected humans to experiments with a panacea against some XX or XXI century plague. Only once did Washington apologize before light was shed on the experiments conducted in Guatemala: in 1997 US President Bill Clinton expressed regrets over the Tuskegeeproject carried out in Alabama. The apology was triggered by the publication of data unearthed by Susan M. Reverby of Wellesley College (Massachustes), then an activist of a female committee which took a bite at the Tuskegee case.

According to official reports on the Tuskegee project, 600 African Americans - sons and grandsons of slaves - of whom 399 were allegedly diagnosed with syphilis and 201 were healthy, were subjected to “a medical study”. Many of the people had never seen a doctor prior to the experiment. The authors of the experiments circulated free medical treatment invitations among African American males in a church and at cotton plantations, offering them to consent to a medical checkup to be carried by mobile field brigades. Those who were picked for a study of natural evolution of syphilis in African American males were told that they had “bad blood” and were kept in the dark about the actual cause of their conditions and the purposes of the study. No medications were provided. The Tuskegee experiment subjects who lost eyesight and were exhausted by endless blood and backbone marrow tests were watched without treatment for 40 years. The study was to end with an autopsy as the final part, and the US government provided a funeral insurance in the amount of $50 to secure the consent of the people's families to it. The last of the people thus treated died in 2004.

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Nahida Izzat, Exiled Palestinian

JINSA: The Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs

Did you ever ponder about the question: Who is promoting America's wars?

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