BRINKMANSHIP IN MIDDLE EAST MADNESS

by Jeremy Lee
Israel has now declared full-scale war on the Palestinians, filling Gaza and the West Bank with hundreds of tanks, thousands of troops, supported by artillery and helicopter gun-ships. The media has been barred, indicating that the Sharon government wishes to hide its actions, preventing the world from seeing what is occurring. Nevertheless, reports from one or two intrepid journalists who have managed to witness part of what is going on give a picture of unmitigated horror. All vestiges of civilized humanity have been eradicated. The wounded lie where they have been shot, unreachable by ambulances. The burial of the dead has been prevented. The Palestinian population – men, women and children – have been confined to their homes in a 24-hour curfew, deprived of basic necessities such as water, food and lighting. Tanks indiscriminately smash homes, and troops roam from one heap of rubble to the next in the hope of apprehending youths and girls who might conceivably be potential suicide bombers.
In mid-March, two weeks before this massive escalation, the US – incredibly – tabled a resolution before the UN Security Council which " ...legitimised the aspirations of the Palestinians for self-rule and endorsed a series of similar initiatives, the latest one being pushed by Saudi Arabia ..." (The Australian Financial Review, 22/3/02).

Hitherto, the US has always used its power of veto on behalf of Israel to annul such propositions in the Security Council. But this time it sponsored the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Does this mean that the US is taking a more objective approach? By no means. It dares not even draw public attention to its actions in this regard, simply wringing its hands impotently, while Ariel Sharon pours contempt on the timid and half-hidden actions of the US by his savage invasion.

Vice-President Dick Cheney's tour of the Middle East to drum up support for another US war against Iraq proved impotent. Little wonder. Palestinian Yasser Arafat, penned in isolation amidst the rubble of his headquarters, currently looks a statesman compared to Sharon. According to Time (1/4/02) 36% of Israelis want him assassinated, while a further 66% want him exiled permanently. Yet it is obvious that Arafat has had little control over Palestinian militants for some time, and none now. Any action against him would give him martyr status, and would inflame Islamic nations round the world.

Apart from its heavy military presence in the Occupied Territories, which has necessitated the call-up of reservists, Israel also faces renewed activity on a second front, Lebanon, where rocket attacks have been launched on northern Israel. Some 25,000 Syrian troops are stationed in Lebanon, plus 12 refugee camps housing 280,000 Palestinian refugees, which are the scene for seething military activity. There is no doubt that Israeli Prime Minister Sharon, despite the US resolution at the UN Security Council, would dearly love an American escalation of war into Iraq as both cover and diversion for his own dark activities. But the US would have to risk such an escalation alone. Both Europe and former Islamic allies in the war against terrorism cannot be counted on to sanction further activities – let alone partake. It would take something as disastrous as the bombings in New York and Washington before wavering support could be stiffened again. In the present climate anything could happen anywhere in the world.

CLERIC SPEAKS OUT

Apart from the Pope, no Christian leader has had much of relevance to say about the Middle East; which is why it was heartening to see the following letter in The Australian (3/4/02):

"Witnessing the horrors in Israel/Palestine, I ponder how long it will be before the world recognizes the right of Palestine to exist an independent state. "I fail to understand how the Jewish people, who were victims of the Holocaust, can fail to uphold the rights of Palestinians to a free homeland. Two wrongs just don't make a right "The latest ramblings by the US President can only be described as 'frightening'. To try to link the Palestinians with Al Qu'ida and terrorism generally is a long and mischievous bow. As I long and pray for the peace of Jerusalem, I grieve for the Palestinian people who have lived in that land since the time of Christ, and long before."
Rev. Graham Reynolds, Dean, St.Alban the Martyr Cathedral, Griffith, NSW.

Ironically, at the time of writing, hundreds of Islamic Palestinians are seeking sanctuary from their Israeli pursuers in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, reputedly Christ's birth-place, over which the angelic host sang "Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards men ...."

MORE BLUNDERING IN AFGHANISTAN

Now that the need and opportunity for bombing in Afghanistan diminishes, and the complex problem of "mopping up", diplomacy and re-building gets under way, the Western Alliance is facing a sombre reality. The Taliban and Al Qa'ida are very much alive. And they're fighting back. A major survey by journalist Michael Ware in Time (1/4/02) who was permitted to meet with Taliban leaders, claimed that the growing resistance in Afghanistan was much more than "a few pockets" as Donald Rumsfeld is so fond of stating. Considerable numbers who have survived, together with their arms, are re-establishing their communications. They are hard to identify as they merge with the civilian population, which largely supports their cause in the face of what they see as "the US war against Islam".

There is still heavy fighting between ethnic factions, which can only be checked by a continuing western presence. But how long is the US prepared to stay? For the years that are necessary to bring some sort of peace to Afghanistan? Withstanding all the time the steady trickle of casualties of US troops that will inevitably result? That is the path the former Soviet Union trod, with heavy casualties and eventual withdrawal.

NOTICED THE PRICE OF OIL?

NEW ZEALAND SLIPPING DOWN THE MULTICULTURAL MUDSLIDE

The latest census in New Zealand shows all the ingredients of racial mixing that have beset Europe and America. The original partnership between Whites and Maoris has been one of the more successful racial arrangements over the years, recognizing the distinctions of both races. Part of that success has depended on the setting aside of some land areas for exclusive Maori use as set out in the Treaty of Waitangi, but even this has been marred with hostilities at times. The massive influx of Pacific Islanders and, more lately, Asians has been ominous.

The census revealed:
• The census counted more people of Asian ethnicity than Pacific peoples.
• Almost 240,000 or 1 in 15 people were Asians.
• Numbers of Asians have more than doubled between 1991 and 2001.
• There were 231,801 Pacific Islanders.
• 1 in 7 people are of Maori ethnicity.
• Two-thirds of Asians live in the Auckland region and 1 in 8 live in the Wellington region.
• Two-thirds of Pacific Islanders live in the Auckland region. Among the fastest-growing minorities are Koreans (19,026), Arab (2,856), Croat (2,502), Iraq (2,145), South African (14,889) and Russian (3,084). Auckland is now a city of crime and violence.

Of course, New Zealanders have never been asked by referendum whether that approve this drastic change to the make-up of their nation.

PRISON INDUSTRIES

One industry has profited considerably from the events in New York and Washington on September 11th, 2001 – that of prison industries. The Australian Financial Review (22/3/02) noted:
"While global security companies had been experiencing a contraction within the market for the past five years, the events of September 11 have put an end to that. Before then, growth had been forecast for Group 4 at about 5 percent a year, but this is now expected to get close to 8 or 9 percent.....: The comment came in a full-page article describing a merger agreement between Wackenhut, the US multinational which runs prisons and detention centers in Australia among other countries, and the Danish firm Group 4 Falck, the world's second prison services group. Group 4 Falck will acquire 100 percent of Wackenhut's shares, valued at $A62.26 each. That's twice as much as shares in Australia's four major trading banks fetch.
There must be excellent shareholder profits in the imprisonment business, with a guarantee of continual expansion.

Wackenhut's Australian subsidiary, Australian Correctional Services, runs the detention centers at Curtin, Port Hedland, Perth, Woomera, Villawood, Christmas Island and Maribyrnong. Also three jails in Queensland, NSW and Victoria, plus the transport of prisoners and a police custodial center in Melbourne. The record of privatised detention centres in Australia has not been a happy one, with a number of reports of brutality and indifference to suicides. The psychology, which obviously entails making as big a profit as possible from each operation, is incompatible with the idea that imprisonment is about reform and rehabilitation rather than revenge. But if you want a good return for your investment, privatised prisons and burgeoning prison and refugee populations are about the best on the stock exchange!

A CENTURY OF SERVICE – Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

ANOTHER CENTURY OF SERVICE – Sir Walter Crocker

At the same time, we want to acknowledge the hundredth year of Sir Walter Crocker, distinguished statesman and former Lieutenant Governor of South Australia. Sir Walter, who celebrated his birthday (March 25th) with "a quiet day at home with his two sons, five grandchildren and close friends" said he would "spend the day soberly".

In 1992 he graciously consented to write a foreword to the book "The People's Prince: Discovering the Real Prince Charles", a collection of major addresses by Prince Charles published by the Australian Heritage Society. Reading his words 10 years later makes one realise he understood how 'fragile' is our world.
"Existence for living things on earth carries no guarantee of permanence... the whole world, and particularly the developed countries, face stresses which could entail calamities... The threats are compounded by instabilities, brought about by human greed and human folly - in the financial system (which is fiduciary and fragile) and in the system of international relations..."

"The People's Prince" is available from all League book services.

As we look on at the struggle of the Palestinian people against huge odds – including the might of Israel (the tail that wags the super-power America), we need to be reminded the movement known as political Zionism wants nothing less than all of Palestine, and the Palestinian people know it.

WHEN PALESTINIANS HAVE NO HOPE
by James Goldborough – from Antiwar.com website, March 28th, 2002

The measure of the failure of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is this: The Palestinians are stronger today than they ever have been. It is strange to think that these bedraggled people, living in squalid refugee camps under the gun muzzles of Israeli tanks, could be gaining in strength, but it is a fact. The dynamic of this awful conflict has changed dramatically in a single year. The Palestinian strength grows from evidence that an entire generation is ready to die for the cause. And another generation is ready to follow, for the Palestinian birth rate and population under 5 years old are twice that of Israel. Warfare by collective immolation is not something that can be defeated by a conventional army.

When Benjamin Netanyahu, Sharon's critic on the right, calls for "complete military victory", he can only be thinking of re-occupation of all the West Bank and Gaza, the bankrupt policy Israel abandoned a decade ago.

The Bush administration has much to answer for in the Middle East collapse. Bush blamed Clinton for being too involved in the Middle East, and so decided to do nothing. September 11th is no excuse for the failure, for Bush did little before that date to deal with the Palestinian powder keg.

People without hope – the creation of martyrs
Carte blanche was given to Sharon to "fight terrorism," with the results we see today. Obsessed with Iraq, Bush failed to see that the real threat to US security lay in the festering Palestinian problem and its potential to radicalize the entire Middle East. The most perverse result of Bush fecklessness and Sharon's intransigence has been the creation of a generation of Palestinian martyrs. Israelis, like most people, don't want to die. Dealing with people who want to die, who regard dying as better than living, is not easy. Short of killing them all, the only solution is to help them want to live, which Sharon has no desire to do.

All nations worry about fanaticism these days – America more than most. But the Palestinian bombers are not just fanatics. The September 11th bombers were recruits to al-Qaeda, brain-washed Muslim killers with only dim understanding of why they were doing what they were programmed to do. The Palestinian martyrs are everybody – girls from nice families, middle-aged fathers, peaceful bus drivers, young people living at home and unconnected to radical fundamentalism or international cells such as al-Qaeda. They appear willing to die for a simple reason – their lives are hopeless.

Reference point is slavery
Most people grow up with hope. Young Israelis, like young Americans or – because of September 11th – even young Afghans, grow up with hopes for an education, a job, a house, a family. Hope is what life is all about. Try to imagine what it is like to have no hope. For Americans, the only point of reference would be slavery. Slaves could not own property, marry, travel, earn money, learn to read or write, become free. Slaves had no hope. They worked until they dropped. Slavery created America's great tragedy, the civil war. Cousin fought against cousin to give slaves hope.
The Palestinian generation of martyrs has no hope. I have been in their camps, seen how they live. Young Palestinians are born, raised and die in those camps. The camps are their prisons. Is it any surprise they regard death as liberation? Who wouldn't? The camps bred Intifada I, which began in 1986 and led to the Oslo peace process. Israel's great leader of the time, Yitzhak Rabin, murdered by a Jewish fanatic, understood the hopelessness of the Palestinians. Oslo, directed by Clinton, got close to success at Camp David in July 2000. But it failed. Each side today blames the other for the failure.

Robert Malley, at Camp David as a member of Clinton's National Security Council staff, spreads the blame equally. He writes:
"The mutual and deeply entrenched suspicion meant that Barak would conceal his final proposals, the 'endgame', until Arafat had moved, and that Arafat would not move until he could see the endgame."

Sharon set off Intifada II – it worked to perfection
But all was not lost. The two sides met again in January 2001, in Taba, Egypt, and says Malley, "produced more progress and more hope". But it was too late. Sharon, who for the Palestinians symbolizes the end of hope, set off Intifada II on September 28th, 2000, by visiting the Temple Mount. "For Barak to have allowed Sharon to go there," writes Avishai Margalit, Schulman professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, "escorted by hundreds of armed Israeli policemen, showed the worst possible political judgment."
For Sharon it worked to perfection. Palestinians were soon dying by the hundreds and Israelis by the dozens. Sharon easily beat Barak in elections a year ago by promising to restore the security he himself had destroyed. Sharon's failure can be seen in what his year in office has brought. For Israelis, there is no security anywhere, not on streets or buses, in cafes or malls. Death is everywhere. A generation of Palestinians without hope is robbing Israelis of their hope. Only through creation of a viable Palestinian state, where young Arabs can learn that living is better than dying, will the killing stop. (End).

The seeds of this disaster, now coming to fruition, were sown many years ago. One of the best books to read on the subject is Douglas Reed's "The Controversy of Zion". Order a copy from your League book service now.

HOLOCAUST - Reports Of Israelis Slaughtering Palestinian Men

A Western journalist in Ramalla was interviewed by CNN by telephone on the March 30th, 2002. From the Rense.com website. This message was from a "researcher and Israeli Army war veteran well known to the site who monitors CNN closely". He said that the Israelies came to his office and told 5 Palestinian men to lie down on the floor, face down, and just shot them down in the back of the head. CNN was very ethical today by broadcasting immediately after that a telephone interview from the same office in Ramalla from their own correspondent MICHAEL HOLMES who verified that he saw the same 5 bodies being shot at close range directly in the back of the head. To the 'extreme surprise' of the researcher, CNN correspondents continue to say that an investigation into this event should be carried out. "It seems to me," reports the researcher, "the Israelis are conducting a wholesale massacre of all Palestinian men".

Rense.com write:
We heard this particular story only because the massacre happened inside the western journalist's office. We do not know what is happening in the rest of Ramallah... we do know that the Israelis are rounding up Palestinian men. I saw a CNN camera showing Israelis rounding up all men in the streets and taking them away. During previous wars, we rounded hundreds of prisoners of war into small places and slaughtered them. This is no secret and Sharon is the No.1 expert in this department. We are witnessing another Holocaust in front of our eyes. Later, the Israelis will say that all these men were just killed in the course of ordinary war. It seems obvious the Israelis have clear orders to kill most every Palestinian man over the age of 14 and under the age of 45 (emphasis added...Ed).

GLOBALISATION – NOT JUST GOODS AND SERVICES BUT ALSO PEOPLE

by Phillip D. Butler
So, you thought slavery was dead! The news is, the money-changers are openly promoting the slave trade – but they say it is for commercial reasons. Paul Kelly, Editor-at-Large Weekend Australian, 30-31/3/02, wrote: "The World Bank has just put migration on to the global development agenda in a fashion that won't disappear. In its path-breaking 2002 report, 'Globalisation, Growth and Poverty', the bank takes the logic of economic integration one step further – it is time not just for liberalisation of the market for goods and services but for people." (Emphasis added.)
The money-changers continue to treat people as a commodity, to be traded as any other commodity is traded, so long as a dollar is made. In his article Kelly continues, "Australia is in danger of being left behind as a savage new competition for migrants begins." Where are the bulk of these migrants to come from? Why Asia, of course. Is that what Australians want? Is that what you want? Were you asked?

For all its faults, One Nation certainly forced the 'genie out of the bottle' and put immigration on the agenda. But not for long. It is being re-presented as "a need to import brains from Asia". The home-grown variety, the Aussies must be too stupid or dull. It seems we haven't got the 'brains' needed. The 'asianisation' of Australia will continue to be forced down our throats; no matter that it will continue to fracture and fragment what is left of our own culture and society.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

We have received a number of letters agreeing and disagreeing on the comments made by Betty Luks and Jeremy Lee on the Governor-General and his actions. Thank you to those who took the time and trouble to write. Any 'Letters to the editor' for On Target should be sent to: PO Box 27, Happy Valley, SA, 5159.

The substance from a couple of the letters is here reproduced
: "I am not one bit interested in how well he (Hollingworth) came over on his TV hour. Betty, neither is it a case of people not being perfect, or making mistakes. Your comments are without substance. Hollingworth held a position of great responsibility and failed dismally... First it was the lawyers (legal advice was to do nothing: legal advice from Anglican lawyers whose first concern was to protect the Anglican Church)... I led the QCWA in opposition to sex education in the schools... I had studied the sex education programmes in the US, the UK, Europe and the beginnings of it in Australia; revealed that the communist movement was behind it; reported on psychological effects of sex education in mixed classes and at too young an age and so on and on... I have followed this very closely and School Board Minutes, etc., reveal that Hollingworth and the Anglican Church not only covered up, but allowed the perpetrators free reign and promotion. Nothing can excuse this sinfulness. My heart aches over the whole business." Signed QK, Qld.

"It seems Hollingworth did neglect his Christian duty towards members of his flock. As you say, all of us at some time have left undone those things we ought to have done. This is no excuse, but does not upset me a great deal... for backsliding carries its own punishment... What does upset and worry me is the fact that the man is a republican, as were Hayden and Dean before him. What IS going on?... As mentioned elsewhere in O.T. republicanism is the antithesis of Monarchy. So. What does that make the man in question? To say nothing of the man who appointed him." Signed TG-M, Qld.

NEW BOOK

SYDNEY CONSERVATIVE SPEAKERS' CLUB

BASIC FUND

OLGA SCULLY'S COURT CASES