4 -10 April 2002
Issue No.580
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Al-Ahram Weekly Online 4 -10 April 2002 Issue No.580 |
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Other lives are sacred
Thomas Friedman, who is quite close to decisionmaking circles in the US, provides an insight into the administration's current thinking in an editorial (a masterpiece of imperialist literature) published in the New York Times of 31 March.
Friedman states that "Palestinians... actually want to win their independence in blood and fire." The assumption here is that Palestinians have deliberately chosen violence to achieve their independence. Such a statement is void of both historical reality and common sense.
The article then suggests a plan that is in fact being implemented now: "First, Israel needs to deliver a military blow that clearly shows terror will not pay" (i.e. under the guise of fighting terrorism, anything goes). "Second, America needs to make clear that suicide bombing is not Israel's problem alone" (i.e. the US does well to encourage Israeli terrorism). Friedman then advises that "we should make clear that Arab leaders whose media call suicide bombers 'martyrs' aren't welcome in the US".(a reconfirmation of his role as spokesman for US arrogance). He ends by claiming that "Palestinians are so blinded by their narcissistic rage that they have lost sight of the basic truth civilisation is built on: the sacredness of every human life." Does such sacredness extend to the Japanese victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the million Iraqis killed by US/ UN sanctions and the American soldiers deliberately exposed to radiation from nuclear test blasts?
* This week's Soapbox speaker is former professor of physical chemistry at Alexandria University and Michigan State University.
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