Erik
Arnold
"As the Constellation roared into the dark toward teeming Asia, I
heard excited voices discussing Palestine. "No matter what they do,
they won't be able to keep the Jews off that agenda," a man said.
"Whether they let us raise the question of Jewish aggression or not,
we are going to raise it!" another man shouted. "Their crimes
will not be covered up-"The Jews are the greatest racists on earth
and I'll prove it!" a dark faced man with a thin moustache shouted
above the roar of the plane's four engines..."What are these?"
I asked. "Photos of Arab refugees driven by Jews out their homes!"
he said. "There are nine hundred thousand of them, homeless, starving..."
"Are you a delegate to the Asian-African conference?" I asked
him. "No. I'm a journalist. "Is Palestine coming up for discussion
at Bandung?" I asked. "We are going to raise it," he swore.
"The world must know what has been done! It's our duty to make the
world know..."...Though the conversation about the alledged aggression
of the Jews in Palestine raged up and down the aisles of the plane, I
could hear but little of it; all I could make out was that the Jews would
come under sharp and bitter attack at Bandung, and that they had enemies
who had a case and knew how to present that case at the bar of world opinion...I
recalled that six million Jews had been gassed, hounded, slaughtered,
and burned by German Hitlerites, and I knew that that people, hapless
and haunted, had yet more suffering and trials to bear in this world.
(Richard Wright, The Color Curtain, 1956, pgs.76-78)
The above passage, written by the American author Richard Wright just
before the start of the Bandung conference of April, 1955, could as easily
have been written by someone en route to the upcoming racial conference
in South Africa; both are part and parcel of what may be termed "The
New Imperialism", an attempt by Third World nations to impose their
collective will in a way that they couldn't do on an individual basis.
The danger that this new imperialism, along with its reinvigorated European
counterpart, poses to Israel is very grave, indeed. It has now become
common practice for Western European governments to apply a universal
standard of law in arresting and punishing those deemed guilty of "crimes
against humanity." What this law really consists of, however, is
a mystery. In an era when the idea of "diversity" in every way,
shape, and form is being constantly championed, the notion of a supra-national
law applicable in all countries and circumstances seems somewhat contradictory.
Nevertheless, as soon as the "guilty" individual sets foot on
European soil he is liable to be arrested, tried, and, if found culpable,
imprisoned. An impressive list has already been compiled that includes
everyone from Bosnian Serb generals to ex-Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Israeli political figures, including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, seem
poised to join the roster in the near future.Ominous signs are already
on the horizon.According to the British television program Panorama, Sharon
bears direct responsibility for the 1982 massacre of Muslims by their
Christian Arab brethren. The fact that an Israeli commission of inquiry
held at the time found Sharon only indirectly responsible,as well as his
successfull libel suite against Time Magazine regarding similar charges,apparently
is irrelevant. The Prime Minister also faces the possibility of being
indicted by a Belgian court on the same charges.Yet another example involves
the hysteria over the appointment of ex-Shin Bet head Carmi Gillon as
ambassador to Denmark, with the concomitant threat of his arrest and trial
if and when he arrives in that country. There is no telling where it will
end. Perhaps the entire Jewish population of Israel will be put on trial
for "crimes” committed by its citizen soldiers; all Jews serve
in the army, therefore, there is no reason why the New Universal Law cannot
find fault with them as well.
These attitudes are reinforced by prejudicial thinking that depicts Zionism
as a kind of precursor to Nazism. For instance, a passage on Theodor Herzl
in the Spanish-language Enciclopedia Alfabetica reads as follows: ...Impresionado
por el proceso a Dreyfus, reclamo la creacion de un estado judio que debia
basarse en la pureza racial de sus ciudadanos. (Impressed by the Dreyfus
trial, he demanded the creation of a Jewish State that would base itself
on the racial purity of its citizens.) (Enciclopedia Alfabetica, 1994,
volume 5). That the cosmopolitan Viennese Herzl, who envisioned an important
role for Arabs in his Jewish State, could be depicted in such a completely
false light leads to the conclusion of either complete ignorance or deliberate
distortion on the writer's part. Europe's desire for Israeli cession of
territory to the Palestine Arabs is somewhat similar to its treatment
of the "Sudeten German Question' of the thirties. The German minority,
complaining of alledged mistreatment and discrimination at the hands of
the Czech majority, made increasingly stronger demands for political and
cultural autonomy which began to threaten the integrity of the Czech state.
As the Great Democratic Powers of France and Britain decided it was better
to placate Hitler and Sudeten leader Konrad Henlein rather than risk an
"escalation" in the area, it was agreed at Munich to give the
Sudetenlad to the Reich. Czech President Benes was not even invited to
preside at his country's dismemberment. Not long afterwards, the bulk
of the rump state of Czecho-Slovakia was annexed directly to Germany.
Thus was the most politically and economically advanced of the Eastern
European states sacrificed on the altar of Chamberlain's "peace in
our time."
The "New Imperialism" of the Third World is basically an attempt
by these countries to assert themselves collectively, whether it be in
international forums, such as the U.N., or gatherings on the level of
Bandung and Durban. In each one of these cases, Israel is always one of
the prime topics for discussion. These forums are used as arenas for Third
World nations to play on the West's bad conscience. Zionism can be conveniantley
denounced as an Occidental subterfuge, ignoring the fact that half of
Israel's Jews have roots in the Middle East. The Arab role in the mass
Jewish exodus from the Muslim world to Palestine is never dealt with;
thus, the Arabs escape all responsibility. It is much easier for them
to be self righteous than to deal with their own numerous sins.