July 13, 2006

"Saving Private Shalit" - NOT

by Henry Lowi

Several Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat with Lebanese guerrillas, Israel has invaded Lebanon , has advised the UN that it is at war with the state of Lebanon , and has called up a reserve infantry division (i.e. lots of soldiers).  War with Syria cannot be far away.

If I were being called up as a reservist, I would say:  “Not one soldier for the war of aggression and ethnic cleansing!  Not one soldier to Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, or the West Bank!  Release the Palestinian political prisoners unconditionally!” (including Marwan Barghouti, General Secretary of Fateh-Tanzim, Ahmad Saadat, General Secretary of PFLP, Muhammad Kanaaneh, General Secretary of Abna al-Balad, and Tali Fahima, Israeli peace activist and living link to the Palestinian resistance in Jenin)

Notice that Israeli militarism is effective at destroying Palestinian lives, but ineffective at protecting Israeli lives.

That is why all the B.S. -- about “Saving Private Shalit” and stopping Kassam attacks -- is B.S.  Corporal Shalit's family has recognized that their son is being treated as a dispensable pawn.  So are the people of Sderot and Ashkelon and Kiryat Shmoneh.

This is all about colonial domination and usurpation, with all the genocidal tendencies that European settler-colonialism has fine-tuned for centuries, and that Zionism has made into an art.  The sooner Israelis rise up against the racist regime that abuses them and reduces them to cannon-fodder against their neighbours, the better.

We are at the very early stages of building a movement, to isolate Israeli apartheid politically, disarm it, dismantle it, and replace it with a democratic regime that respects human lives and human rights.  There is a long road ahead.

This is the ultimate justification and motive for the BDS campaign that was initiated by the Palestinians under occupation, endorsed and supported by those Israelis who recognize Palestinian rights, and that is attracting the attention of decent people in many countries.

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*Henry Lowi is a Jewish peace activist living in Toronto, Canada.