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Submitted by The Fire Inside on Mon, 04/03/2006 - 8:39pm.
Here's an op-ed running in the Seattle P-I tomorrow.

Seattle P-I:

Corrie was an idealist; but as fate had it, her idealism ended up channeled through the radical International Solidarity Movement, an organization that not only puts at risk the lives of Israeli civilians but also the lives of its members.

ISM tells its young followers that Palestinians have the right to armed attacks against Israelis, while at the same time making clear through its activities that Israel has no right to protect its citizens. While the two positions seem mutually contradictory, the organization apparently reconciles them by summing up the complex Israeli-Arab conflict as singularly caused by a sadistic Israel seeking arbitrarily to oppress Palestinians.

The group's narrative obscures the fact that Palestinian terrorism began even before Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza Strip, that Israel acquired those territories in a war precipitated by neighboring countries openly threatening to destroy the Jewish state and that Israel repeatedly offered to turn over land to the Palestinians.

I also went to the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) website, which evidently was founded in 1982 to serve as a "media-monitoring, research and membership organization devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East."

I looked through their list of media outlets which they feel have portrayed the situation in Israel unfairly. They have not highlighted any errors from the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, so you can take from this writer and organization what you will. They really don't seem to have a ton of complaints against news organizations in general, though. For most of these publications there's only a few articles they feel have made an error (getting corrections from some of the outlets) so having none isn't that out of the ordinary in this case.

»

I find it insulting...

...to hear about how Rachel Corrie was "misled" when what you're really trying to say is you don't agree with her. Step up and tell it like it is. I have the same values as she expressed, and I haven't been "misled." So, why don't you leave Rachel Corrie alone, and tell me why it is wrong to help oppressed people (everywhere)?
»

I simply borrowed from the

I simply borrowed from the title of the piece to use in my own headline.

I don't think she was "misled." "Misled" would imply she was a pawn to another party when, in fact, she was fully-aware of which side she was coming down on.

Whether you think she came down on the wrong side, though, is going to depend what you think about Israeli policy toward those who are suspected (and confirmed) of either aiding or participating in action against Israel and Israeli citizens.

»

Thanks for the clarification

I appreciate what you said.

The thing about "sides" still gets me. This is what I was going around about with WF: it is possible to hold certain values that don't align perfectly with either side. One might believe that terrorism against Israelies is horrible and wrong, while at the same time thinking that the occupation and oppression of the Palestinians is also wrong. As long as we continue to accept the frame that includes "sides," we will add fuel to the conflict.

»

I assume when you refer to

I assume when you refer to "occupation," you mean land lost following the '67 conflict.

If you lose an armed conflict against a foreign force, you lose claim on the land.

»

In response

Linda Frank of Tacoma wrote the following letter to the editor [here via omjp]:

Dear Editors,

Gilead Ini is quite mistaken in asserting that Rachel Corrie was "misled." (4-4 OpEd). He and other detractors of Rachel, and the non-violent International Solidarity Movement (ISM) she served with, might be surprised to know that respected Israeli groups like Rabbis for Human Rights and Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions also stand in front of bulldozers about to demolish innocent Palestinians' homes.

The excuse the Israeli government and its "right or wrong" supporters give for such horrific dispossession of Palestinians (and now death of human rights defender Rachel Corrie) is that of "necessity" to "protect" Israelis by "revealing" smuggling tunnels. Yet Israel has sophisticated technologies to otherwise detect tunnels, rendering their bulldozing "explorations" an exercise in dispossession only (US teams exposed tunnels in Afghanistan using earth-resistance tomography).

Indeed, Human Rights Watch found that "In most cases…[Israel’s] destruction [of more than 2,500 homesin Gaza] was carried out in the absence of military necessity" (as is the case with West Bank Palestinian homes being demolished so the illegal Israeli settlement Maale Adumim can be expanded around Palestinian East Jerusalem).

Palestinians asked the UN for international observers to help protect them. Israel and America objected; ISM, and Rachel Corrie, responded. (Who's being terrorized?)

Sincerely, Linda Frank

»

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