O saudoso humanista Stéphane Hessel apresenta o Tribunal Russel

Em francês, subtitulado en español (13') 2010

How the Russel Tribunal on Palestine operates

The RToP was established in response to a call by Ken Coates (Chairperson of the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation), Nurit Peled (Israeli, Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Speech 2001) and Leila Shahid (General Delegate of Palestine to the European Union). Responsibility for organizing the Russell Tribunal on Palestine lies with the International Organizing Committee (IOC), whose founding members are: Ken Coates, Pierre Galand, Stéphane Hessel, Marcel-Francis Kahn, Robert Kissous, François Maspero, Paulette Pierson-Mathy, Bernard Ravenel and Brahim Senouci.

The following bodies also form part of the structure of the Tribunal:

The International Support Committee, made up of individuals from the academic, scientific, cultural and political fields with an international reputation and no current political mandate.

The National Support Committees, which contribute to fund-raising and ensure popular mobilization and media coverage. They may also assume responsibility for organizing a session in their country or help to organize others. National Support Committees have been established to date in the following countries: France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, Italy, and Spain and Catalonia. National Committees are also in the process of being established in the Netherlands, Austria, Algeria, Lebanon, India and Chile.

British barrister Michael Mansfield explains what the Russel Tribunal is about

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine in its original form (organisation of one international session every year) started in 2009 in Brussels.

Its findings and recommendations provide both an important legal basis and a strategic direction for further support for the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people. A key follow-up task is to ensure that the findings and recommendations reach the widest possible audience and are translated into initiatives and actions that produce concrete changes.

In this regard, the Final conclusions of the RToP have been published and distributed to a wide range of stakeholders and decision makers mainly in Europe, United States of America and of course Israel and Palestine. Parallel to this, talks have been organised to present the work of the RToP in Brussels, Montreal, New-York, Boston, Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg, Geneva, Luxembourg, Rome.

A follow-up group named “Palestine Legal Action Network” (PLAN) has also been created to take forward the Tribunal’s recommendations through legal advocacy, media advocacy and campaigning. This group will seek to implement the RToP recommendations, help others to take action in line with the RToP findings against the State of Israel and/or third parties, and simply assist and support the ground-breaking work of international civil society in endeavouring to achieve justice for the Palestinian people and in putting an end to Israel’s impunity.

An informal working group composed of the jury, the legal experts, the core team as well as many patrons and local and national organisers has operated throughout the history of the RToP. Many members of this international network expressed their willingness to continue working together after the work of the RToP came to an end, and it will be one of PLAN’s roles to continue feeding this group with ideas, proposals and actions.

Moreover, many groups, organisations, charities and individuals working on the Palestine issue will engage in frequent discussions of the utility of the RToP’s work in enhancing the legitimacy of citizen-based advocacy. Working simultaneously on the legal, institutional and activist fronts and in many different countries, PLAN will operate in line with this important RToP dimension.

The Russell Tribunal on Palestine’s Emergency Session on Israel’s Operation Protective Edge held on the 24/25 September in Brussels has found evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of murder, extermination and persecution and also incitement to genocide.

The Jury reported: ‘The cumulative effect of the long-standing regime of collective punishment in Gaza appears to inflict conditions of life calculated to bring about the incremental destruction of the Palestinians as a group in Gaza.’

‘The Tribunal emphasises the potential for a regime of persecution to become genocidal in effect, In light of the clear escalation in the physical and rhetorical violence deployed in respect of Gaza in the summer of 2014, the Tribunal emphasises the obligation of all state parties to the 1948 Genocide Convention ‘to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide.’

The Jury heard evidence from eyewitnesses to Israeli attacks during the Gaza war 2014 including journalists Mohammed Omer, Max Blumenthal, David Sheen, Martin Lejeune, Eran Efrati and Paul Mason, as well as surgeons Mads Gilbert, Mohammed Abou Arab, Genocide Expert Paul Behrens, Col Desmond Travers and Ivan Karakashian, Head of Advocacy and Defence for Children International.

In terms of the crime of incitement to genocide, the tribunal received evidence ‘demonstrating a vitriolic upswing in racist rhetoric and incitement’ during the summer of 2014. ‘The evidence shows that such incitement manifested across many levels of Israeli society, on both social and traditional media, from football fans, police officers, media commentators, religious leaders, legislators, and government ministers.’

The Tribunal also found evidence of the following war crimes:

Willful killing;

Extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity;

Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population and civilian objects;

Disproportionate use of force;

Attacks against buildings dedicated to religion and education;

The use of Palestinians as human shields;

Employing weapons, projectiles, and material and methods of warfare which are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering which are inherently indiscriminate;

The use of violence to spread terror among the civilian population.

The Tribunal further stated: ‘It is recognised that in a situation where patterns of crimes against humanity are perpetrated with impunity, and where direct and public incitement to genocide is manifest throughout society, it is very conceivable that individuals or the state may choose to exploit the conditions in order to perpetrate the crime of genocide... We have have a genuine fear that in an environment of impunity and an absence of sanction for serious and repeated criminality, the lessons from Rwanda and other mass atrocities may once again go unheeded’.

The Tribunal calls on Israel to fulfill its’ obligations under international law and for the state of Palestine to accede without further delay to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, fully cooperate with the human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry and fully engage the mechanisms of international justice.

The Tribunal also reminds all states to cooperate to bring to an end the illegal situation arising from Israel’s occupation, siege and crimes in the Gaza Strip. In light of the obligation not to render aid or assistance, all states must consider appropriate measures to exert sufficient pressure on Israel, including the imposition of sanctions, the severing of diplomatic relations collectively through international organisations, or in the absence of consensus, individually by breaking bilateral relations with Israel.

It calls upon All states to fulfill their duty ‘to take such action under the Charter of the United Nations as they consider appropriate for the prevention and suppression of acts of genocide’.

The Tribunal presented its’ findings to the European Parliament afeterwards. Video below.

Session at the European Parliament
Sessão no Parlamento Europeu

O Tribunal Russel para a Palestina em sua forma atual de uma sessão anual começou em 2009 em Bruxelas. Ele não tem nenhum poder oficial. Porém, suas descobertas e recomendações fornecem bases legais e direção estratégica para apoio dos direitos fundamentais do povo palestino. Uma de suas tarefas principais é a de assegurar-se que suas investigações e julgamento sejam divulgados e traduzidos em atos que produzam mudanças concretas no terreno.
Para isto, as conclusões finais do RToP têm sido publicadas e distribuídas para formadores de opinião e empresários europeus e estadunidenses, além dos governos de Israel e da Palestina. Concomitantemente, organiza apresentações de seu trabalho em Boston, Bruxelas, Estrasburgo (Parlamento europeu), Genebra, Luxemburgo, Lyon, Montréal, Nova York, Paris e Roma.

O TRoP criou também um grupo juridico - “Palestine Legal Action Network” (PLAN) - para que acompanhe e implemente suas recomendações através de advocacia legal, midiática e campanhas diversas de apoio a ações da sociedade civil em fase com o objetivo de conseguir justiça para o povo palestino e terminar com a impunidade de Israel.
O grupo de trabalho do TRoP é composto do júri abaixo, de especialistas jurídicos, da equipe de base e de uma rede internacional de apoio que continuará alerta e atuante.
Além destes, o PLAN vai operar junto aos muitos grupos, organizações civis - estudantis e sociais - e caritativas, frentes ativisitas, legais e innstitucionais envolvidas na defesa dos direitos dos palestinos em vários países do mundo.
Na última operação militar israelense, Protective Edge, na Faixa de Gaza, o Tribunal Russel (RToP) descobriu evidência de crimes de guerra, contra a humanidade, crimes de execução sumária, exterminação e perseguição, assim como incitamento a genocídio. Os depoimentos recolhidos foram de pessoas que presenciaram o massacre ou que registraram depoimentos de pessoas impedidas de comparecer pessoalmente.
Em termos de crime de incitamento a genocídio, o TRoP recebeu evidência de violenta retórica racista e incitamento à violência nos meses de julho e agosto de 2014. "As provas mostram que tais incitamentos foram manifestados em vários níveis da sociedade israelense, tanto na mídia social quanto tradicional, de torcedores de futebol, de policiais, de comentaristas, de líderes religiosos, de parlamentares, e de ministros".
O Tribunal Russel encontrou provas de:
Assassinato deliberado;
Extensiva destruição de propriedade sem necessidade militar;
Ataques deliberados contra população e propriedade civil;
Uso desproporcional de força;
Ataques a prédios educativos e religiosos;
Uso de palestinos como escudos humanos;
Emprego de armas, projéteis, materiais e métodos de guerra visando causar danos e sofrimentos desnecessários e indiscrimandos;
Crueldade no propósito de disseminar terror na população civil.
E "Reconhecemos que em uma situação em que crimes contra a humanidade são perpetrados com impunidade, e em que incitamento direto e publico é manifestado em todos os seguimentos sociais, é compreensível que indivíduos ou o Estado escolha explora as condições no intuito de perpetrar o crime de genocídio... Tememos que em um ambiente de impunidade e de ausência de sanções à séria e repetidada criminalidade [de Israel], as lições de Ruanda e outras atrocidades em massa sejam mais uma vez vãs.
O Tribunal apela para que Israel cumpra suas obrigações perante o Direito internacional e que a Palestina aceda plenamente, sem tardar, ao Estatuto de Roma da Corte Penal Internacional, que coopere com a investigação do Conselho de Direitos Humanos e que acione todos os mecanismos da justiça internacional.
O Tribunal lembra também a todos os Estados de cooperarem para acabar com a situação ilegal advinda da ocupação israelenses, sítio e crimes na Faixa de Gaza.
Além da obrigação de não lhe fornecer ajuda nem assistência, todos os Estados têm de considerar medidas apropriadas para exercer pressão suficiente sobre Israel, inclusive sanções, corte de relações diplomáticas coletivamente através de organismos internacionais, ou na ausência de consenso, individualmente, cortando relações bilaterais com Israel.
Apelamos para que todos os Estados cumpram seu dever de tomar a medida apropriada junto às Nações Unidas a fim de prévenir e suprimir atos de genocídio".

Russel Tribunal on Palestine - Extraordinary Session 24-25/09/2014

Israeli Operation Protective Edge

Jury Deliberation - Palavra final do Júri

Paul Laverty, Scotland

Ken Loach, England

Roger Waters, England

Vandana Shiva, Índia

Ronnie Casrill, South Africa

Ahdaf Soueif, Turkey

Message of support from American playwriter Eve Ensler
(best known for 'The Vagina Monologue')

"This a wail, a scream on paper. There are no more words. Only this moment where we rise against the illegal and deathly occupation of Palestine, against mass slaughter of the defenselles, against the complicit silence of the international community, againts teh the military might and arrogance of the Israeli and the US governments who choose annihilation over justice and love."

Message from American writer Alice Walker

Message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu

N.B.

I couldn't donwload the videos. But I strongly recommend the viewing of all of them. Following the order below. From John Dugard's link you can acceed to the others.

Não consegui baixar os vídeos. Porém, recomendo-os todos na ordem abaixo. A partir do link do vídeo de John Dugard dá para aceder aos das outras testemunhas.

Pierre Galand abre a sessão Extraordinária do Tribunal Russel para a Palestina

http://youtu.be/pH4aq1p50Vk

Depoimentos -Testimonies

South African International Law professor John Dugard
Talks framework of International Law in Israel-Palestine
Fala sobre a legislação internacional em Israel-Palestina

http://youtu.be/qJyEHHmkFlw

Paul Behrens - Russel Tribunal 2014 - 24/09

Law Professor talks requirement for Genocide

Fala sobre o conceito de Genocídio e se o caso de Gaza se enquadra

Retired Irish Colonel Desmond Travers
Taks about munitions employed by Israel army during Operation Protective Edge
Fala sobre a munição que a IDF usou durante a OPE
http://youtu.be/k0wB3Chps20

Israeli journalist David Sheen
Talks incitement for Genocidade in Israeli society discourse during OPE
Fala sobre o incitamento a Genocídio na sociedade israelense
http://youtu.be/SDNFdjwolaI

Palestinian journalist Mohammed Omer

Recounts examples of executions by the Israeli Army during OPE

Dá exemplos de execuções sumárias praticadas pela IDF

http://youtu.be/xWQm8MO_dRI

Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert

Talks about bombing and attacks on health facilities by Israely army during OPE

Fala sobre o bombardeio e o ataque de hospitais
http://youtu.be/JV2wNvKG6NY

Palestinian doctor Mohammed Abou Arab

Talks about intentional attacks on health personnel committed by the IDF

Completa o depoimento de Mads

http://youtu.be/B-DllTVjAV0

IDF reservist Eran Efrati (video C4)

Talks about the killing of Palestinian civilian Salem Shamaly by an Israeli sniper during OPE

Fala sobre o assassinato do civil palestino Salem Shamaly por um sniper israelense

http://youtu.be/Y8XuwLGLDrQ
Crime que Eran Efrati denuncia em seu depoimento

British journalist Paul Mason

Talks about War crimes committed during OPE

Fala sobre Crimes de Guerra

http://youtu.be/cM9EU-0XS-E

German journalist Martin Lejeune

Talks about destruction of civilian infrastructure by the Israeli army during OPE

Fala sobre a destruição de comércios e residências pela IDF

http://youtu.be/ZaF8lVbQNG8

Palestinian filmaker Ashraf Mashhrawi

Ewa Jasiewicz reads his letter because he was forbidden to attend session

Leitura da carta de Ashraf, impedido de sair da Faixa de Gaza

http://youtu.be/5eQUhSJ6S5k

Ivan Karakashian, from Defense for Children Palestine, an independent child rights organization
dedicated to defending and promoting the rights of children living in the

Recounts instances of use of young palestinians as human shields

Fala sobre o uso de jovens e meninos palestinos como escudo-humano

http://youtu.be/VFlR3A6ipz4

American journalist Max Blumenthal

Speaks of Israeli War Crimes committed during OPE

Fala sobre os Crimes de Guerra que Israel cometeu

http://youtu.be/iWrOuGNrzZc

French lobbyist Agnes Bertrand

Speaks of Euroepan Union accountability
and complicity in Israel's violations of Iternational Law

Fala sobre a responsabilidade e a cumplicidade da UE nos atos ilegais de Israel

http://youtu.be/XEEoLyOkC4Y

Michael Deas, from the BDS Movement

Speaks about ending Israeli impunity and the role of civil society
by the means of boycotting

Apela para o fim da impunidade de Israel através do boicote

http://youtu.be/LumB-5zujoA

Encerramento: Pierre Galand

http://youtu.be/2NGlbEKLVYc

Press Conference

http://youtu.be/zgWUY0Jeo1k

JURY:

: John Dugard, Profesor of International Law, Former Special rapporteur for both UN Commission on Human Rights and International Law Commission

: Michael Manfield, Queens Council, Master of the Bench, Greys Inn; Professor of Law, City University, London; Fellow of Law, University of Kent; President of the Haldane Society and Amicus; practising Human Rights lawyer for 45 years.

: Richard Falk – UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur for Palestine, 2008-2014 and Milbank Professor of International Law, Emeritus, Princeton University

: Roger Waters is a founding member of the band Pink Floyd; a songwriter, bass guitar player and vocalist

: Ahdaf Soueif – Egyptian novelist and political and cultural commentator.

: Ronald Kasrils, writer, activist and former government minister, South Africa

: Vandana Shiva – Indian environmental activist and anti-globalization author.

: Ken Loach – English film and television director

: Paul Laverty – Scottish lawyer and scriptwriter

: Christiane Hessel – Activist and author

: Radhia Nasraoui – Tunisian lawyer, specializing in human rights

: Miguel Angel Estrella, Argentine Pianist and UNESCO goodwill ambassador

PS. Thanks to the valuable work of writer Henning Mankell on behalf of Palestine worldwide and mainly in his country, Sweden's new centre-left government has indicated that it intends to formally recognise the state of Palestine - making it the first major European country to do so.

The move is significant because it comes amid a diplomatic push by Palestinians at the UN to secure a security council resolution setting a two-year deadline for Israel to end its occupation of Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem by November 2016.
"The conflict between Israel and Palestine can only be solved with a two-state solution, negotiated in accordance with international law," Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said on Friday, during his inaugural address in parliament. "A two-state solution requires mutual recognition and a will to peaceful co-existence. Sweden will therefore recognise the state of Palestine."

Separately on 13 October British MPs will be asked to vote on a motion - put forward by the Labour MP Ghrahame Morris - calling on the UK to recognise Palestine.

The announcement by the Swedish prime minister Stefan Löfven is seen as a significant boost to the recent Palestinian ampaign to push forward and seek unilateral recognition following the "collapse" of more than 25 year US-sponsored peace process.

REcognition by Sweden will be seen as a significant diplomatic blow to Israel, which was warned by the White House last week that it risked allienating "even its closest allies" if it continued with settlement building.

The Swedish announcement came as the EU joined Washington in harshly critising last week's announcement by israel of planning approval for .600 new housing in a settlement across the green line.

Swedish ambassador in Tel Aviv told Binyamin Netanyahu that his country's decision is final.

P.S.bis: Apelo em favor de Shireen Issawi e Bushra al-Taweel, ativistas palestinas engajadas na promoção e proteção dos Direitos Humanos das centenas de prisioneiros palestinos em Israel.

Bombardeie o

http://socialbombing.org/FreeShireenBushra

Shireen Issawi and Bushra al-Taweel are women devoted to promoting and protecting the human rights of Palestinian prisoners. Both their cases raise serious concerns that Palestinian human rights defenders are being targeted by Israeli authorities for arbitrary arrest and detention due to peacefully and legitimately exercising their fundamental right to freedom of expression on the significant human rights issue of Palestinian prisoner conditions and rights.

THIS IS NOT A PETITION, BUT A CAMPAIGN THAT ALLOWS YOU TO SEND MICHEL FORSTA MESSAGE THAT CANNOT BE IGNORED THANKS TO MEDIA MECHANISMS STARTED BY SOCIALBOMBING. MICHEL FORST WILL RECEIVE THE MESSAGE THROUGH MORE THAN ONE CHANNEL: SOCIAL NETWORKS, NEWSPAPERS, TV, RADIO, ONLINE ADVERTISING, BANNERS, FLYERS, SANDWICH BOARDS AND OTHER CHANNELS CAPABLE OF GENERATING MEDIA BUZZ.
Press “ACT NOW”, “twitter” and/or “facebook” and “BOMB” then “tweet” and/or “share”

Noam Chomsky: Only One Thing Will Make Israel Change Course

"Israel's brutalization of Palestinians through exercises like "mowing the lawn" will persist without a change in U.S. policy.

On August 26, Israel and the Palestinian Authority both accepted a cease-fire agreement after a 50-day Israeli assault on Gaza that left 2,100 Palestinians dead and vast landscapes of destruction behind.

The agreement calls for an end to military action by Israel and Hamas as well as an easing of the Israeli siege that has strangled Gaza for many years.

This is, however, just the most recent of a series of cease-fire agreements reached after each of Israel's periodic escalations of its unremitting assault on Gaza.

Since November 2005 the terms of these agreements have remained essentially the same. The regular pattern is for Israel to disregard whatever agreement is in place, while Hamas observes it—as Israel has conceded—until a sharp increase in Israeli violence elicits a Hamas response, followed by even fiercer brutality.

These escalations are called "mowing the lawn" in Israeli parlance. The most recent was more accurately described as "removing the topsoil" by a senior U.S. military officer, quoted in Al Jazeera America.

The first of this series was the Agreement on Movement and Access between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in November 2005.

It called for a crossing between Gaza and Egypt at Rafah for the export of goods and the transit of people; crossings between Israel and Gaza for goods and people; the reduction of obstacles to movement within the West Bank; bus and truck convoys between the West Bank and Gaza; the building of a seaport in Gaza; and the reopening of the airport in Gaza that Israeli bombing had demolished.

That agreement was reached shortly after Israel withdrew its settlers and military forces from Gaza. The motive for the disengagement was explained by Dov Weisglass, a confidant of then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was in charge of negotiating and implementing it.

"The significance of the disengagement plan is the freezing of the peace process," Weisglass told Haaretz. "And when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem. Effectively, this whole package called the Palestinian state, with all that it entails, has been removed indefinitely from our agenda. And all this with authority and permission. All with a [U.S.] presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses of Congress."

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

This pattern has continued to the present: through Operation Cast Lead in 2008-2009 to Pillar of Defense in 2012 to this summer's Protective Edge, the most extreme exercise in mowing the lawn—so far.

For more than 20 years, Israel has been committed to separating Gaza from the West Bank in violation of the Oslo Accords it signed in 1993, which declare Gaza and the West Bank to be an inseparable territorial unity.

A look at a map explains the rationale. Separated from Gaza, any West Bank enclaves left to Palestinians have no access to the outside world. They are contained by two hostile powers, Israel and Jordan, both close U.S. allies—and contrary to illusions, the U.S. is very far from a neutral "honest broker."

Furthermore, Israel has been systematically taking over the Jordan Valley, driving out Palestinians, establishing settlements, sinking wells and otherwise ensuring that the region—about one-third of the West Bank, with much of its arable land—will ultimately be integrated into Israel along with the other regions being taken over.

The remaining Palestinian cantons will be completely imprisoned. Unification with Gaza would interfere with these plans, which trace back to the early days of the occupation and have had steady support from the major Israeli political blocs.

Israel might feel that its takeover of Palestinian territory in the West Bank has proceeded so far that there is little to fear from some limited form of autonomy for the enclaves that remain to Palestinians.

There is also some truth to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's observation: "Many elements in the region understand today that, in the struggle in which they are threatened, Israel is not an enemy but a partner." Presumably he was alluding to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Emirates.

Israel's leading diplomatic correspondent Akiva Eldar adds, however, that "all those 'many elements in the region' also understand that there is no brave and comprehensive diplomatic move on the horizon without an agreement on the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders and a just, agreed-upon solution to the refugee problem."

That is not on Israel's agenda, he points out, and is in fact in direct conflict with the 1999 electoral program of the governing Likud coalition, never rescinded, which "flatly rejects the establishment of a Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan River."

Some knowledgeable Israeli commentators, notably columnist Danny Rubinstein, believe that Israel is poised to reverse course and relax its stranglehold on Gaza.

We'll see.

The record of these past years suggests otherwise and the first signs are not auspicious. As Operation Protective Edge ended, Israel announced its largest appropriation of West Bank land in 30 years, almost 1,000 acres.

It is commonly claimed on all sides that, if the two-state settlement is dead as a result of Israel's takeover of Palestinian lands, then the outcome will be one state west of the Jordan.

Some Palestinians welcome this outcome, anticipating that they can then engage in a fight for equal rights modeled on the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. Many Israeli commentators warn that the resulting "demographic problem" of more Arab than Jewish births and diminishing Jewish immigration will undermine their hope for a "democratic Jewish state."

But these widespread beliefs are dubious.

The realistic alternative to a two-state settlement is that Israel will continue to carry forward the plans it has been implementing for years: taking over whatever is of value to it in the West Bank, while avoiding Palestinian population concentrations and removing Palestinians from the areas that it is absorbing. That should avoid the dreaded "demographic problem."

The areas being taken over include a vastly expanded Greater Jerusalem, the area within the illegal separation wall, corridors cutting through the regions to the east and probably the Jordan Valley.

Gaza will likely remain under its usual harsh siege, separated from the West Bank. And the Syrian Golan Heights—like Jerusalem, annexed in violation of Security Council orders—will quietly become part of Greater Israel. In the meantime, West Bank Palestinians will be contained in unviable cantons, with special accommodation for elites in standard neocolonial style.

For a century, the Zionist colonization of Palestine has proceeded primarily on the pragmatic principle of the quiet establishment of facts on the ground, which the world was to ultimately come to accept. It has been a highly successful policy. There is every reason to expect it to persist as long as the United States provides the necessary military, economic, diplomatic and ideological support.

For those concerned with the rights of the brutalized Palestinians, there can be no higher priority than working to change U.S. policies, not an idle dream by any means."

Noam Chomsky is Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the author of dozens of books on U.S. foreign policy. He writes a monthly column for The New York Times News Service/Syndicate.