Word from a friend

[Averbuch]

Artur,

bless you and thank you for your response

you wrote
> I was touched by your mail (and by the wise words of your daughter,
> Shira). And you may be sure, my friend, that each time I ear of a
> massacre caused by a suicide bomber, or by the Israeli troops
> following the orders of Sharon - my thoughts and concerns are always
> with you, and Avner, and your Palestinian friends and, more largely
> with all Palestinians and Israelis - and not only with some of them>

this is very important for me to know and to hear.

> I am sorry that in the middle of your distress, I have added another
> distress, even if much less vital than what you all suffer each day.

that is inevitable if we try to be truthful and in a way it was the only one
mail that made me fight for "free" space in the list and share this part of
my reality and learn about yours and other's. So i gratful to you in this
sence.

> As someone that fought the Portuguese fascism (before the democratic
revolution of 74)
...I have a personal experience of danger and distress>

this is olso very important for me to know. I never had doubt that you"walk
your talk" but still it is important for me to hear at least some parts of
where and what you are coming from.

>  From my experience of fighting under a fascist/colonialist government,
let
> me clarify that my question to Harrison's (and yours) friend was a
rhetoric
> one and that I would not ask you or her - in a public list or in private -
> your
> comments about Jenin. Nor would I advise you to talk about that over the
> phone or over the internet - unless you and your relatives were in a
neutral
> and safe place... I am convinced that phones and Internet communications
> are now under "control" in that part of the world.
>
> Now let me tell you that - even if that is difficult - we have to make a
> distinction from the feelings and suffering of each Palestinian and
Israeli
> and the political, legal and ethical responsibilities of each part
involved.
>
> In what concerns the political issue, I thing that you all are victims
(like
> in the ex-Yugoslavia) of the artificial division made by UN many years
> ago, by the fact that UN has been unable to enforce their decision to
> create two separated States over there, and, in the last years by
> what I think is a criminal (and suicidal) policy of Sharon, and the
criminal
> help that Bush and the US government are covertly or directly giving to
his
> policies of Palestinian genocide.
>
> IMHO, after the murder of the last Israeli prime-minister that really
cared
> for peace (and that has NOT been murdered by Palestinians), and later
> Sharon's policy created a situation that has NO HOPE for many years
> both to Palestinians and to Israelis. I am sure that many of the Israelis
> that claim for peace understand this. And they are not only campaigning
> for peace and justice to the "others" but also for their own security in
the
> long term that is being destroyed by a policy of war.
>
> Second there is a legal issue. Legal issues, as you know very well, change
> over time. And after a Spanish judge has been able to open a law suite
> against Pinochet, and the genocide of Milosevic is in trial in an
> International
> court, one has to think that this possibility is now open to other
suspects of
> criminal action against humanity. There is a small movement in Europe to
> try that the International Penal Court accepts a claim against Sharon.
>
> But one can ask, and why not also against Arafat? If it is proved that he
has
> direct responsibility in ordering terrorist action, of course he will too.
The
> problem is that this is not easy to prove. The world, and the USA,
> particularly,
> "discovered" terrorism just recently. And they don't care about the
> experiences
> of others.
>
> But in Europe we have a long history of terrorism. There is not one month
> without a bombing attack in Spain done by the Basque separatists (or in
> England by IRA). Would we put under court the prime minister of Spain (or
> UK) because they are unable to prevent the terrorist attacks to be
organized
> in their countries? Would we decide to bomb Madrid (or London) because
> their governments are unable to stop terrorism? (On the contrary, the ones
> that have been arrested were members of the previouys (socialist) Spanish
> government that ordered "terrorist actions" against the terrorists!!!
>
> I am sure that Sharon and Bush are, so much as Arafat, politically
responsible
> for the Israeli attacks in Palestine and to the suicide bombers in Israel.
> I am not
> so sure if there is evidence to put anyone of them in court for crimes
against
> humanity. But I am convinced that it would be good for peace if all of
them
> begin
> to think that they may be arrested and putted into court in any travel to
a
> foreign
> country... And that's all from me in what concerns political and legal
> responsibility.
> But, of course, for the majority of us, that are far from the conflict,
> this is only
> a matter of discussion - but I know, from my passed experience, that it is
a
> matter of life and dead for the ones that live the situation there.
>
> Now in what concerns a more general ethical question: I remember many
> articles and even many posts in this list after the 9/11 saying that
> the world would never be the same and everything should change.
>
> Until now what we have seen, namely from the US government, is MORE OF
> THE SAME but with greater intensity. But in corners that are not so much
in
> the open air different positions are growing up. Positions that have in
common
> one characteristic - they ask "What if" questions.
>
> What if...all that we have been doing is wrong? What if we (in the
> Occident) are the causes of our own problems? What if this is not
> a problem of some distant countries (like Palestine, or Iraq, or
> Afghanistan) but a problem of OUR civilization? What if we should be
> ALL considered responsible for it - not only if we are doing something
> wrong, but even if we are not doing ENOUGH GOOD?
>
> The fact that this position is showing up largely is that I can find
signals
> of it even in a 14 year old girl... When your daughter asks
>
> " because the only sane position in
> this mass, were every one is right and does wrong, in not to be sure that
> you know, and to look for what is right"
>
> What I am trying to do, believe me, is only trying "to look for what is
right",
> knowing that probably I will be, at least partially, wrong, but someone
> out there - in this collective intelligence that is growing up - will
> eventually
> correct me and approach the truth better than I can.
>
> But after I have decided to search for this major "What if" questions, I
came
> to a major problem that I will only formulate now and will not try to
discuss
> any further in this moment.
>
> My problem is: I cannot continue any longer saying: "I never discuss
religion,
> because religion is a matter of faith".
>
> What if the dominant religions of the Occident are part of the problem?
> What if they have always been and still are indeed the MAJOR part
> of the problem?
>
> Please think seriously about that for a while!
>
> Best wishes to all of you and especially for those in the most affected
> countries
>
> Artur
>
> PS: I will be out Portugal during one or two weeks, and without permanent
> access to the Internet. I will probably not read and definitively not
answer
> to any posts before I will be back.
>
> (Sorry if my English is even worse this time than normally... I have no
> time for corrections, and I am already thinking in Spanish ;-)
>
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