January 3, 2005

Calgary Sun

Reality trumps PR
Israel faces a tough sell in increasingly brutal conflict

By Bill Kaufmann

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Calgary/Bill_Kaufmann/2005/01/02/805461.html

Another year dawns, promising a dozen more months of misery for Palestinians under a brutal occupation.

But not all is well for those in Canada running interference for Israel's inhuman subjugation of its neighbours.

A poll conducted by the pro-Israel lobby released in November proved unnerving to its sponsors by showing 89% of Canadians believe both sides in the conflict share equal blame and that 83% insist on Ottawa remaining neutral on the issue.

Given Israel's continued ethnic cleansing, wanton destruction of Palestinian neighbourhoods, raids that kill children and endless humiliations, that lobby should be grateful the results weren't truly damning.

Normally, the oppressed would garner clear favour over the oppressor but the North American media still largely serves the interests of the latter.

Many of those commenting on the conflict are loathe to touch on the occupation and dispossession that are its roots.

It's like writing about a truck-train wreck and ignoring the train. They'll devote endless ink on how Palestinians goad themselves to violence, leaving out the obvious - that without the occupation such incitement would fall on deaf ears.

When your soldiers gun down farmers in their fields and riddle 13-year-old girls with bullets, it has an effect.

We also hear how the death of Yasser Arafat brings new hopes for peace, and how it's up to the prostrate Palestinians being steadily forced into ever-tinier land prisons to ensure it.

Among those surveyed, 32% believed Ottawa favoured Israel while 4% felt their government tilted to the Palestinians.

That last figure dovetails with Canada's dramatic shift at the UN Nov. 30 when it cast its vote against condemning the Jewish state's brutality against civilians. "It is very important we now make sure the new authority is going to ... be one that leads us on the road to peace," said Paul Martin, referring to the current Palestinian election.

Nonetheless, the Canada Israel Committee (CIC) is stepping up its PR efforts, though on its website admits ruefully "the more Canadians become familiar with the conflict, the more they tend to sympathize with the Palestinians."

That tends to be the case when you herd entire populations into barbed wire ghettos where they can be battered at will.

"The Palestinians are viewed as the underdogs and Canadians traditionally identify with the underdogs.

We need to change this perception," concludes the CIC shamelessly.Even with its media echo chamber, it's a tall order when one of the most powerful militaries on Earth controls the lives of every Palestinian in the occupied lands.

It's no easy sell when Israeli soldiers at checkpoints deny the elderly access to medical care under the guise of "security."

And Ariel Sharon's much-ballyhoed pullout from Gaza was recently put into perspective by his senior adviser Dov Weisglass who made clear what many have known all along - the move is just a cover to maintain control of the West Bank.

"Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And this with ... a presidential blessing and ratification of both (U.S.) houses of Congress," Weisglass told Haaretz.

"The disengagement is actually formaldehyde," he said. "It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians."

So there you have it - the Palestinians don't have a partner for any real or just peace, at least none currently in power.

The CIC has its job cut out for it and Paul Martin should be let in on Weisglass's non-secret.

Given Palestinians have known this through Israel's daily habit of strangling their existence by extending illegal settlements and their "security fence," is it any wonder some of them react with such hideous, fatalistic violence?

One Calgarian who toured the tortured land in the spring of 2003 said he was shaken by the depth of the oppression.

"What we're being told (by the media here) versus the reality on the ground, the chasm is quite wide," said Kalil.

Still, Kalil counted Israelis as victims of the occupation - yearning for peace, yet held hostage to the violence it breeds. "They're living behind the wall, too," he says, adding the mental toll on Israeli soldiers upholding the clampdown is huge.

A few years ago, spinmeister David Wilder of Hebron's Jewish settlement told me "you must go to Gaza," hinting it's there I'd see Palestinian barbarity for myself. Instead, I found an imprisoned, resilient people and proof of Israel's shame.

Reality has a way of trumping the most concerted PR effort.