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Home , Joel Kovel

Published by Americans for The Link Middle East Understanding, Inc.

Volume 42, Issue 1 Link Archives: www.ameu.org January-March 2009

BY JOEL KOVEL

une 8, 1967. Israeli warplanes and boats attack the USS Liberty as it sits in international waters off the coast of Gaza, killing 34 sea- J men, wounding another 137, and leaving the high-tech surveil- lance vessel in ruins. President Lyndon B. Johnson calls off a rescue mission and issues orders that nothing further is to be said about the incident. To this day it is the only peacetime attack on a U.S. naval ves- sel that Congress refuses to investigate. That’s impunity. March 16, 2003. A D-9 bulldozer, made by Caterpillar in the United States and bought by Israel with U.S. taxpayer , crushes Ameri- can citizen Rachel Corrie as she tries to prevent its demolition of a Pal- estinian home in Rafah, Gaza. Rachel is wearing an orange flak-jacket,

(Continued on page 2)

Joel Kovel, a retired medical doctor, is Professor of Social Studies at in Annandale, N.Y. The Link Page 2

(Continued from page 1) AMEU Board and speaking into a bull-horn under a of Directors cloudless sky—yet the Israeli

Jane Adas (Vice President) claimed that its driver could not see her The title of this issue, “Overcoming and that she slipped on debris roiled up Elizabeth D. Barlow Impunity,” could easily have been called by the bulldozer. No protest is Edward Dillon “Overcoming Censorship.” launched from the U.S. Depart- John Goelet Our author, Joel Kovel, is a psy- ment, nor is one generated from within Richard Hobson chiatrist, academic, human rights activ- Congress, which shortly afterwards Anne R. Joyce ist and environmentalist who, in 1998, passed yet another resolution pledging ran as the ’s candidate for Hon. Robert V. Keeley near-unanimous and unconditional U.S. Senator from . He is also Kendall Landis (Treasurer) Jewish, and when he wrote a book in support for the state of Israel. To this Robert L. Norberg (President) which he supported a one-state solution day, no action has been taken against Hon. Edward L. Peck to the Israeli-Palestinian question, i.e., a Rachel’s murderers. de-zionized, secular, democratic state Donald L. Snook in historic Palestine, he—and his pub- Israel lives and breathes impunity. Rosmarie Sunderland lisher—were told by the University of • It clandestinely built a nuclear Michigan Press that his book James M. Wall arsenal with full knowledge of the U. S. “Overcoming Zionism” had crossed the and in flagrant violation of America’s line and that U.M.P. would no longer AMEU National distribute it in the United States. stipulated goal of checking nuclear pro- Council liferation. Israel has refused to ac-

Hon. James E. Akins To make sure that didn’t happen, knowledge its arsenal or to join any in- AMEU now carries the banned book in Hugh D. Auchincloss, Jr. ternational covenants for the regulation its catalog (see page 13 and 14). And William R. Chandler we invited Dr. Kovel to summarize his and restriction of nuclear weapons. But David S. Dodge arguments for our Link readers. This while the U.S. , politicians Paul Findley does not necessarily mean that we sub- and mainstream media obsess over a scribe to the one-state proposal. We O. Kelly Ingram future nuclear threat from Iran, the pre- believe the ultimate deciders must be sent menace of Israel’s nuclear weapons Moorhead Kennedy the Israelis and Palestinians them- goes unmentioned. Ann Kerr selves. For that to happen, though, we Mary Norton do believe that an open discussion of all • The candidates for the 2008 presi- the alternatives, including the one-state Marie Petersen dential election vied with one another proposal, is essential. over who is the better friend of Israel. Don W. Wagner Miriam Ward, RSM John F. Kennedy once wrote: “We In May 2008, Barack Obama went to are not afraid to entrust the American Washington where he pandered to the Executive Director people with unpleasant facts, foreign American Israel Public Affairs Commit- ideas, alien philosophies, and competi- John F. Mahoney tee (AIPAC), promising the Jewish state tive values. For a nation that is afraid to even more impunity, including undi- let its people judge the truth and false- hood in an open market is a nation that vided sovereignty over Jerusalem. Ac- is afraid of its people.” companying him on that trip was Illi- AMEU (ISSN 0024-4007) grants nois Congressman Rahm Emanuel, a permission to reproduce material In our continuing series, The Link’s fervid Zionist, who had volunteered to from The Link in part or in whole. Links, we interview James Ennes, Jr., assist the Israel Defense Forces during who was the lieutenant on the bridge of AMEU must be credited and one the 1991 Gulf , and whose father copy forwarded to our office at 475 the USS Liberty when it was attacked by Israel in 1967. See page 12. was a member of the Jewish terrorist Riverside Drive, Room 245, New group, the Irgun. Six months later, York, New York 10115-0245. Tel. John F. Mahoney, Rahm Emanuel became President-elect 212-870-2053; Fax 212-870-2050; Executive Director Obama’s first political appointment as E-mail: [email protected]; Website: www.ameu.org. chief of staff. The Link Page 3

• Meanwhile, Israel has been shielded from cen- the universality of humankind. sure by more than 40 U.S. vetoes of U.N. resolutions Although I spent a great portion of my adult life and it continues to flout resolutions that variously in movements against , war, U.S. , demand the right of return of Palestinian refugees, the corruptions of media and mass culture, and— the cessation of its occupation of Palestine after the with special emphasis in recent years—the ecological 1967 war, or the taking down of the so-called ravaging of the earth, I remained relatively quiet “Separation Wall,” a monstrosity whose ostensible about Israel itself until the year 2000. This was not purpose is checking Palestinian terror, and whose for lack of aversion to Israeli policies, nor did I fear actual effect is to steal yet more Palestinian land, the accusation of anti-semitism, the identification of separate Palestinians from each other and their mea- which with criticism of Israel I had always regarded ger croplands, and keep them out of view of Is- as tedious, albeit pernicious, nonsense. My reticence raelis—in short, the Wall seals off the West Bank into stemmed, rather, from certain family conflicts. When a giant prison. Meanwhile Gaza has become the ex- the individuals concerned in these—chiefly my ample par excellence of collective punishment, one mother—passed away, my political development in of the gravest violations of human rights. Israel this sphere resumed and, as if to make up for lost knows it can thumb its nose at international law— time, gathered speed. and the principle of law—because it can count on the The brutality of Israel’s response to the Second backing of the U.S. , even when that su- Intifada, which began in late September 2000, perpower itself is attacked by Israel, as happened in pushed the process into the open. I resolved to be 1967. one who would speak out and not hold back, and Impunity is license to do as one pleases, knowing began publishing articles critical of Israel. In 2003, that there will be neither restraint before nor punish- infuriated by the murder of Rachel Corrie and en- ment after the act. It is a conduit to nihilism, that is, a couraged by the support of people like Edward Said, moral degeneration in which everything is permitted I expanded the project into a book-length study. This and nothing is true. It is the absolute corruption that became “Overcoming Zionism,” published in 2007, comes with absolute, unchecked power. This is most about which more will be said later. pronounced in the occupation of Palestine, where In the course of my studies, the problem posed impunity is so marked, the balance of forces so one- by Israel seemed less the particular offenses of the sided, and the conflict so prolonged. The Israeli occu- Occupation or of Israeli foreign policy than of Zion- pation of Palestine is a culture medium for atrocity, ism itself, the defining logic of the Jewish state and which occurs at the far side of silence. When those its central dynamic. Having been a physician I was who should speak hold back, the perpetrator loses accustomed to think in terms of an underlying dis- his way and falls into a moral abyss. The silence ease pattern as the generator of manifest symptoma- which permits this in the case of Israel is largely tology. Accordingly, Zionism is the world-historical made, like D-9 bulldozers, in the United States, Is- disease of Jewry in the present epoch. It is the struc- rael’s giant patron and protective shield. tural disorder that drives ethnocentric chauvinism, As a citizen of the United States and a Jew de- ethnic cleansing of indigenous people, structural ra- scended from Russian-Ukrainian immigrants, I per- cism—and also the peculiar moral logic that shapes ceived this wanton criminality as a betrayal of the the Zionist power structure in the United States and moral identity of the Jewish people, whose wander- configures its impunity. There is a “bad conscience” ings across the globe were a veritable chronicle of the to Zionism, which results as the ancient identity of impunity of the powerful. The impunity of Israel, its the Jew as the ethically superior perpetual victim en- complicity in the injustices wrought by the United counters the endless transgressions required to con- States, all with collusion by great portions of its Jew- struct Zionism’s dream of a Jewish state in historic ish community, filled me with shame and provoked Palestine. Played out within the circumstances of Is- outrage. I came to reject the tribalized identity of the rael’s great patron, the United States, this becomes Jew as perpetual victim, but retained and tried to the manufacturer of Israel’s impunity. cultivate that portion of my heritage which stood for The Link Page 4 The Architecture of Moral Silencing with its apex in AIPAC. Needless to say, a massive and richly funded institutional system of lobbies are The relationship between the United States and a vital part of the process; indeed, one might call Israel is surely one of the most peculiar in all history. them the factories in which the manufacture of the A major aspect of this is that the United States has final product is carried out. But the suppression of become a country in which serious criticism of an- criticism is not made from whole cloth; there are also other country, Israel, is largely forbidden. To say this components and raw materials to be taken into ac- is not to claim that criticism is impossible—after all, count. So it is with the lobbies, the raw material for this essay is part of the United States political culture which entails a common belief system that circulates and is based on such criticism, as is the work of among elites and stems from deeply held assump- AMEU. But there is a kind of prevailing wind that tions that go back to the origins of our society. marginalizes criticism, instills fear, and imposes pen- alties for speaking out. A certain toleration for criti- The lobbies as such are therefore powerful en- cism is allowed, as befits a liberal society. But this is forcers of a much more broadly based system. This set about with taboos, and signposts arise to warn develops within what is called , the inter- the unwary: Do not call into question the right of Israel connected set of institutions that comprises the con- to exist. Do not commit the sin of anti-semitism. Do not nective tissue of a nation, and includes churches and go too far. Do not call Zionism itself into question. synagogues, schools, libraries, publishers, and a wide range of community organizations. Among this It has been widely observed that it is much easier great mass certain Zionist organs of repression have to criticize Israel from within Israel than from within crystallized in recent years—Campus Watch, CAM- the United States. This should not be overstated—the ERA, the David Project, and so forth—and, in alli- great historian Ilan Pappe was essentially driven out ance with traditional Zionist groups such as the of his native land because his epochal critique, “The Anti-Defamation League and the Zionist Organiza- Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine,” went too far in de- tion of America, have acted as focal points of repres- molishing the founding myths of the state; but the sion. I am sure that they communicate with each observation is real enough. Thus the ferocity of sup- other, with AIPAC, and with other major Jewish or- pression of anti-Israel criticism in the United States ganizations, as well. greatly exceeds that in Israel itself. Indeed, the criti- cism America allows of itself is far greater than what But while there are definitely lobbies among it allows for Israel. these networks, the overall network is no lobby. It would be better to call it, as sociologist James Petras This would not be so were it not for the extreme has, a “Zionist Power Configuration,” or perhaps we dependence of Israel on the United States, a support could say, a “Zionist Apparatus.” What we call it is that requires billions of dollars and the most sophis- not especially important; what matters is that we un- ticated military aid, along with the effective silencing derstand that the loose and decentralized character of criticism as the precondition for aid. American of the network floats atop an attitudinal sea that sup- support of Israel would be withdrawn or vastly re- ports the basic notions of Zionism, and functions to duced if key groups within this country or the popu- structure the Israeli cause in the collective mind. lation at large began to think ill of the Jewish state. The peculiar relationship, therefore, would collapse Though a great many repressive acts are initiated like the proverbial house of cards were criticism by one node of the network or another, a great many freely allowed. And once that went, the state of Israel others are executed without any particular organiza- would very likely become radically transformed. It tional focus. These fade off, as is the case with most follows that the impunity granted Israel by the discriminatory campaigns, into gestures and slights, machinations of Zionist suppression is essential to shunnings and glances that never register on the me- the health and vigor of its Jewish state. ter as newsworthy. Thus numberless decisions are made by publishers to automatically reject books The suppression mechanism is usually ascribed critical of Israel, at times without even an acknowl- to an influencing agent, or lobby, either called the edgement of receiving the manuscript; or literary “Israel Lobby” or, equivalently, the “Zionist Lobby,” agents will decline to represent the work; or if the The Link Page 5 book finally does get published library committees know of European support for Zionist settlement, will decide not to purchase it, or editors of journals was a typically imperial ploy to use as cat’s will more or less automatically decide not to review paws to enter the Middle East for purposes of West- it. ern—in this case, French—domination. Needless to All of these mishaps, by the way, happened to say, it fell flat, in good part because Jews at that time me in the course of bringing forth ”Overcoming Zi- had no interest in restoring their glorious past. But onism.” None of them, with an exception to be taken this curious initiative reminds us that anti-semitism up below, required the intervention of Zionist watch- is only one aspect of the complex figure of Christen- dog institutions, or prior consultation with them. dom’s attitudes toward the Jewish people. Along They were carried out under supervision of the with Judaeophobia—and at times shadowing it— Watchdog that lives in the head, signaling editors there has laid another part of the complex: the notion what to publish and what to review, signaling re- of Jews as lost brethren, whose conversion was ea- viewers as to which way the wind is blowing, signal- gerly sought, and whose plight needed restitution. ing authors where to pull their punches and how to No narrative was more emphasized than that Jews couch their arguments, signaling politicians when to had been forcibly exiled as a people and had, there- kowtow, and signaling the thought- of the ap- fore, their “Right of Return.” This became a divinely paratus when and how to attack. sanctioned mission to return to the Holy Land. It de- rived from the Exodus myth of the Egyptian captiv- The formidable matrix of pro-Israel feeling has its ity, and the later actual captivity by Babylon (King corollary in the neglect and disregard of the Pales- Nebuchadnezzar ca. 800 B.C.), and it received its de- tinians, as though these were not fully formed hu- finitive historical shape with the destruction of the man beings with equivalent natural rights. In the Second Temple by Roman legions in 70 A.D., and the process, , the lost cousin of the “Abrahamic” diaspora that allegedly followed. family, is considered an alien religion by the great majority of Americans. This powerful theme served to absolve Christian- ity from guilt over its own failings and persecutory All of this is the result of an unexamined history misdeeds. But it also, in contrast with anti-semitism that underlies and nourishes the apparatus. where the Jew is the eternal and diabolical stranger, Channeling History granted a kind of fellow feeling to the “unique na- tion,” according to which the Jewish predicament as Listen to Napoleon Bonaparte, writing in 1799: strangers within Christendom needed mending, and Bonaparte, Commander-in-Chief of the Armies in which the restoration, and hopefully, conversion, of the French Republic in Africa and Asia, to the of the Jews was the precondition for the return of Rightful Heirs of Palestine. Israelites, unique Christ and redemption of Christians. nation, whom, in thousands of years, lust of con- In numerous instances, this extended to frank quest and tyranny were able to deprive of the identification by Christians with the fate of Jews— ancestral lands only, but not of name and na- tional existence . . . She [France] offers to you at even, often enough, when such attitudes were ac- this very time, and contrary to all expectations, companied by Judaeophobic loathing. Thus the lead- Israel’s patrimony . . . Rightful heirs of Palestine ing British proto-Zionist, the Earl of Shaftesbury, . . . hasten! Now is the moment which may not while advocating in 1830 a Jewish homeland in Pal- return for thousands of years, to claim the resto- estine, wrote that Jews, “though admittedly a stiff- ration of your rights among the population of necked, dark-hearted people, and sunk in moral deg- the universe which had shamefully withheld radation, obduracy, and ignorance of the Gospel . . . from you for thousands of years, your political [are] not only worthy of salvation but also vital to existence as a nation among the nations, and the ’s hope of salvation.” unlimited natural right to worship Yehovah in accordance with your faith, publicly and in like- The rub here is that appeals to Jewish settlement lihood for ever . . . . . of the Holy Land have from the beginning been em- Napoleon’s missive, the first instance so far as I bedded within projects of Western expansionism. By identifying with Jewish restoration Europe could re- The Link Page 6 main unconscious of its own aggression. This could nign deistic impulses became enshrined in the liberal also be projected onto the Jews, who can be consid- democracy set forth in the U.S. Constitution and Bill ered capable of any crime according to the logic of of Rights. But as recent history starkly reveals, the anti-semitism. In any event, Shaftesbury, however theocratic specter remains alive and well in the sincere in his evocation of a proto-Zionism, was also Christian Right, and became an essential component seeking to get a leg up on the French, just as Napo- of the Republican coalition which has dominated leon, 30 years before, was seeking advantage over American politics for the past quarter century, veer- the British. ing the Republic sharply in the direction of Cotton’s Identification with Jews became particularly “Hebraic state,” and both savaging the Constitution strong in outposts of the British , the colonial and sharply increasing Zionist power in the process. settlers of which fell naturally into the habit of think- It is impressive that two of the four presidents ing of themselves as covenantally chosen, morally prior to Obama have been steeped in the ways of the exceptional, and deserving of salvation thanks to the Christian Right. George W. Bush was artfully ma- hardships and persecution they had to endure. No- nipulated by Ariel Sharon in this regard, as on a heli- where was this attitude stronger than in the Ameri- copter trip over the Holy Land in which, choking up can settlements. Its effects have become foundational with tears, Bush swore fealty to the Jewish state. for our national life. They still reverberate today and However the President most thoroughly mari- enter into Jewish life in America, in the relationship nated in Christian Zionist was the much between Israel and the United States, and in the revered Ronald Reagan. From boyhood, the 40th power of the Zionist apparatus. President was exposed to the premillennial- The utopianism which forms so substantial a por- dispensational theology dominant in the Christian tion of America’s basic belief-system was largely an Right, in which signs from present events are inter- Old Testament legacy, elaborated by Puritan elites preted according to biblical texts such as Ezekiel and into a theocratic modeling according to the example the Book of Revelation. For example, when discuss- of the ancient Israelites, whose Thirteenth Tribe the ing with an evangelist preacher in 1976 about how settlers often considered themselves. We find, for “dramatic Bible prophecy” was being fulfilled with example, Cotton Mather, the leading intellectual of the “re-emergence of Israel as a nation,” Reagan was 17th century Puritanism, writing favorably about the asked what America should do if Israel was about to Massachusetts colony becoming “a theocracy, as be destroyed by other nations. His reply was: “We near as might be, to that which was the glory of Is- have a pledge to Israel to the preservation of that na- rael, the ‘peculiar people.’” Mather was extolling the tion . . . we have an obligation, a responsibility, and a example set by his forbearer, John Cotton, of whom destiny.” Similar comments were observed during the American historian Vernon Parrington has writ- his presidency. In 1984, for example, speaking, nota- ten: bly enough, with Tom Dine, then director of AIPAC, To found an Hebraic state in which political Reagan averred: rights should be subordinated to religious con- You know, I turn back to the ancient prophets in formity, in which magistrates should be chosen the Old Testament and the signs foretelling Ar- from a narrow group, with authority beyond the mageddon, and I find myself wondering if—if reach of the popular will, and with the ministers we’re the generation that is going to see that serving as court of last resort to interpret the come about. I don’t know if you’ve noted any of divine law to the citizen-subjects of Jehovah— these prophecies lately, but believe me they cer- this was the great ambition of John Cotton; and tainly describe the times we’re going through. the untiring zeal and learned scriptural author- To a person so disposed, an Israel strategically ity which he dedicated to that ambition justify us in regarding him as the greatest of the New placed in respect to events of cosmic magnitude England theocrats. must be given impunity for crimes committed against mere Muslim heathen. With the Millennium By the 18th century, theocratic Puritanism had at stake, hordes of terror-loving Arabs should not be become layered over with the Jeffersonian belief sys- allowed to stand in the Lord’s way. When Men- tem known as “Arminianism” whose relatively be- The Link Page 7 achem Begin followed suit and conferred Israeli hon- ambivalence toward its patron. This may help ex- ors upon Jerry Falwell, a profound realignment had plain the startling occurrences of hostility on the part been achieved. From being the odd man and pariah of Israel toward its protector, shown for example, by of Christendom, the Jew-as-Zionist now joined the USS Liberty incident, or the turning over by hands with the Christian West as partners for a new Prime Minister Shamir of the espionage gathered by Crusade against the other Abrahamic faith. Jonathan Pollard to the Soviets, which resulted in the Most recently, this crusading impulse has seen death of American agents and the demolition of the the rise of a new kind of courtier, the neoconserva- U.S. network in the Union. And it definitely tive, who further embedded Zionism at the highest contributes to the striking mixture of truculence and levels of American power. The neocon personifies obsequiousness shown toward the United States and Old Testament messianism in the service of United to Zionism’s extreme sensitivity toward criticism. States imperialism. It was natural for a certain cadre These contradictions are deeply rooted in the of Jewish intellectuals to come aboard the project, identity of American Jews. As Zionism proclaims men of radical temperament, some of them veterans that Israel is the state of all the Jewish people, every- of the eclipsed leftism that had once been part of where, it also requires that a proper Jewish identity Jewish identity, and all of them ready to serve the must include Zionism. In the United States, where new crusade. Thus men like Paul Wolfowitz, Richard the phenomenal success of the Jewish community Perle and Elliott Abrams surfaced on the right wing has entailed both the falling away of traditional anti- of the political spectrum and found their home. By semitism and the loss of the traditions that defined no means are all neocons Jewish; however, it is cer- Jewish identity over the centuries, a more or less per- tainly the case that to function as a neocon one must petual identity crisis (aggravated by rising rates of be ardently Zionist, whether of Christian or Jewish intermarriage) has made American Jews, and espe- stripe. cially their better-off members, highly susceptible to Beginning in the 1980s, then, U.S. foreign policy, the lure of Zionism, now perforce an ideology of the which had been moderately pro-Israel since 1948 and right wing despite its socialist origins. Criticism of vigorously tied with Israeli interests since 1967, now Israel becomes an attack on who American Jews are. began to be strongly influenced from within by Zion- Jewish Zionists, however, are not homogeneous, ists, whose messianism dovetailed nicely with the and may be graded on a continuum between “hard” well-worn themes of Manifest Destiny and Amer- and “soft” tendencies. Research suggests that hard ica’s Covenantal obligation to bring democracy to Zionists represent roughly 15-20% of the American the world, by force if necessary. There has devel- Jewish population, and they are the ones in com- oped, in short, a kind of Zionification of the Ameri- mand of the main structures of the so-called Lobby. can security apparatus, with a confluence of Chris- Their hardness consists of the capacity to override tian and Jewish Zionist themes. This continued in a considerations of justice with claims of existential muted way through the Clinton administration and necessity. They live in a constant state of low-grade burst forth under the second Bush. The neocon- hysteria, evoking the canard that criticism of Israel is driven debacle in Iraq undoubtedly has thrown the anti-semitic and summoning the allegedly omnipres- proverbial monkey wrench into this machine. Its fate ent threat of another Holocaust; or they resort to ex- under an Obama administration is, as of this writing, treme racist claims against Palestinian “terror;” or too uncertain for . grandiose and messianic assertions of Israel’s supe- rior “democracy.” They are ardent in going to the Zionism: Hard and Soft barricades for Israel, whether to squash dissenters or keep Congress and U.S. foreign policy in line. They Jewish Zionism was at the same time a rejection exult in Israel’s power, speak of the Jewish state as of the West and an embrace of its colonial impulse, the restoration of Jewish greatness, and, even though for which purpose it had to become the dependent they may have contempt for the peccadilloes of the instrument of a Great Power. The dual role leads to Christian Zionists, have little difficulty in making endless and profound contradictions, among them a tactical alliance with them. permanent state of insecurity grounded in eternal The Link Page 8

The soft Zionist cannot so easily override the The leading instance has been President Jimmy moral contradictions that dog the Jewish state. He is Carter’s “Palestine—Peace Not Apartheid,” pub- therefore obliged to admit criticism. But he cannot lished in 2006 and variously greeted by intellectual allow criticism to reach the stage of calling Zionism officialdom with neglect, scorn, and/or fantastic itself into question. Therefore soft Zionism calls for charges of anti-semitism. Two years later, hard Zion- “responsible” criticism and remains divided in its ist vengeance remained in full swing at the 2008 De- soul. This leads to a veritable frenzy of subterfuges, mocratic presidential convention when Carter, the rationalizations and legal pettifogging. The soft Zi- only president to have actually achieved something onist, generally speaking, does not exult in Israel’s in the way of peace between Israel and its Arab power nor allow himself to dream of Jewish restora- neighbors, was confined to a silent, hasty walk tion. He will console himself, rather, with “realism” across the stage. and call attention to the complexities and imperfec- Carter is very much a Zionist, even, given his re- tions of this world. He will advance the (quite spe- ligious convictions, a kind of Christian Zionist whose cious) notion that everyone is entitled to a national views on Israel/Palestine were laid down by years of state; or ponder the great sufferings of the Jews and biblical study. Needless to say, he belongs to the soft their entitlement, therefore, to a country of their end of the spectrum, able to criticize Israel yet careful own; or congratulate the Jewish state for allowing to keep criticism from troubling the waters of Zion- the Palestinians who live in Israel proper to vote, all ism itself. “Palestine – Peace Not Apartheid” has in the while chiding its improprieties. More generally, this regard copious documentation of the relentless he will consider Israel to be a “normal” state; and drive of the Israeli state to rid itself of Palestinians when its massive impunity and lawlessness is and seize their land. pointed out—for example, that the country has But Carter blocks the realization of what this flouted scores of U.N. resolutions, or that it lacks a means. For example, he asserts: “Continuing impedi- constitution—he will rejoin that after all, England ments [to peace] have been the desire of some Is- lacks a constitution, too, or that nobody is perfect, or raelis for Palestinian land, the refusal of some Arabs that the Arabs are much worse. The technique of the to accept Israel as a neighbor . . .” In other words, soft Zionist, then, is to employ lines of reasoning that individuals are at fault, not any structure. Further, enable Palestinians and Jews to be compared on the equivalence of Israeli and Arab miscreants denies equal ground—for example, how much each side has the central dynamic of conquest. The reader gets a suffered, or as perpetrators of equivalent violence. confusing message: we are shown a systematic, ex- Thus the soft Zionist dwells on narratives— pulsionist logic to the Jewish state, but only unspeci- individualized lines of reasoning that foster the fied individuals are at fault. equivalence of both sides in a complex and imperfect world—rather than on basic structures of justice More, though the mere appearance of the word whose asymmetry reflects the actual history of Zion- “Apartheid” in the book’s title was enough to ignite ist conquest. an explosion of criticism, Carter actually says little about apartheid, and when he does, denies an essen- Soft Zionists are more numerous than hard Zion- tial comparison with : “The driving pur- ists and are often successful in academia, the law, pose for the forced separation of the two peoples is and politics. Being conflicted, they can go one way or unlike that in South Africa—not racism, but the ac- the other, and thus on occasion will aid the cause of quisition of land.” The distinction is pointless—for justice. An important example has arisen in context racism pervades Israel as much as it did South Af- of the debacle of the neocon-driven 2003 invasion rica, and in both instances does so for material rea- and occupation of Iraq. This has provoked a reaction sons—to build a Jewish state and to ensure cheap from representatives of the so-called “realist” school black labor for South African mines and factories. of foreign policy. In the process, Israel itself has come The practical result is to force attention away from under open criticism for the first time from within the logical conclusion that Israel, being equivalently the elites, and this in turn provoked a harsh reaction racist to South Africa, should be treated in the same from hard Zionists. way, that is, be pressed to radically transform itself. The Link Page 9

Another important example is Stephen Walt ruthless criticism of Israel, one that rejects taboos, (Harvard) and John Mearsheimer’s (University of goes to the heart of the matter, and refuses to grant Chicago) “The Israel Lobby and United States For- Israel its impunity. eign Policy,” which argues for a realist foreign policy as against the excesses of the second Bush admini- Overcoming Zionism stration. As if to ward off in advance charges of anti- My 2007 book, “Overcoming Zionism,” tried to semitism or, heaven forfend, hostility to Zionism, address this need by arguing, first, that since no state Walt and Mearsheimer weaken their argument with has an inherent right to exist, the court of world the claim that “We are not challenging Israel’s right opinion is obliged to examine such right in the case to exist or questioning the legitimacy of the Jewish of Israel; second, that such an examination discloses state”—as if someone dared them to say this. Later human rights abuses similar in kind and at least as they assert that they are “pro-Israel” and deny that great in degree as those for which the apartheid state AIPAC is more than an ordinary lobby (except for of South Africa was deemed in need of transforma- being bigger and fiercer), or that Jews who support tion; and third, that people of good will should the lobby can be other than patriotic, decent Ameri- work, nonviolently, for the transformation of Israel cans: “Any notion that Jewish Americans are disloyal into a democratic and secular, i.e., non-racist, state. citizens is wrong.” Indeed, Israel must be treated “as Through a critical rejection of Zionism, therefore, I a normal and legitimate country.” was arguing for the “one-state” solution. Indeed, as Such off-the-cuff statements remind us of obei- the two-state option (aside from its manifold practi- sance routinely made by politicians before Zionist cal obstacles) demands the retention of Israel as a power. By asserting a priori the legitimacy of Israel, Jewish state, with all its malign implications, there is Walt and Mearsheimer forget that no state has an no other option than a single, democratic and secular inherent right to exist, a principle established by Jef- state for those who place human rights and universal ferson in our Declaration of Independence and a values in the foreground of their belief. foundation stone of modern political theory. To take I expected that this would not find favor with the the question of legitimacy off the table in the face of establishment, and I was right. My book received the massive structural evidence of human rights viola- full deck of hostile neglect. It was rejected time and tions by Israel is to assert exceptional privilege for time again by publishers in the United States, often the Zionist state, and to join the chorus granting it rudely and out of hand, as well as by literary agents. impunity. It was kept out of libraries (not one copy circulates Walt and Mearsheimer flatly assert that Jewish throughout the vast system of the New York Public Americans cannot be disloyal. Yet they write of sev- Libraries), and it has been shunned en masse by re- eral who have either committed espionage on behalf viewers in mainstream print publications, including of Israel or are being charged with the same. Are those on the left. these loyal Americans? And how can AIPAC be a Two instances deserve some elaboration. normal lobby when it has been shown to have cir- “Overcoming Zionism” was originally viewed with cumvented the U.S. Department of Justice’s Foreign considerable interest by a senior editor at the Univer- Agents Registration Act? Though Walt and sity of California Press. However, about a month into Mearsheimer effectively challenge the way the Israel the vetting process she wrote me in distress that she lobby grants the Israeli state impunity, they undercut would have to withdraw her provisional offer as it the power of their critique by giving the lobby itself was proving impossible to get the manuscript past impunity. the press’s faculty board. She shared with me a letter Carter, Walt, and Mearsheimer have made im- of rejection, redacting the author’s name but assuring portant advances against the Zionist apparatus. But me that he was a prominent critic of Israel and a per- their tepid and circumscribed criticism leaves un- son with “very progressive politics.” The grounds touched the main problem with Israel: that, driven for rejection had essentially nothing to do with intel- by Zionism, it is compelled to commit human rights lectual or scholarly merit. Rather, it was that: violations on an expanding scale. Plainly, we need a I fear that this book would give intellectual cre- The Link Page 10

dence to political forces that will retard, rather in its newsletter a broadside against me and my than advance, the chances of peace. I believe it “ruthless criticism” of Israel, as well as against Pluto will harden ideological divisions between de- Press. Among the charges: fenders and critics of Israel. Rather than "offer[ing] a way for Jews to reclaim the univer- The book is a collection of anti-Israel propa- sality buried beneath tribalism and exceptional- ganda, misquotes, and discredited news stories, ism" and thereby "help[ing] people break loose and is carried forward throughout by declared from this trap," [claims made in my description contempt for Judaism and its adherents. . . . of the project] I fear the impact of this book will Overcoming Zionism is a wholly unscholarly be just the opposite. It will just make things propaganda text, a rambling negation of every more difficult for progressive Zionists like Mi- aspect of Israeli society, and a near complete chael Lerner, who largely agree with Kovel re- restatement of Israel's history. It is published by garding the horrendous policies of the Israeli the radical left of London, England . . government, but make a distinction between . and distributed in the United States exclusively Zionism as a legitimate national liberation strug- by the University of Michigan Press (UMP). gle and the racism of Israeli policies. StandWithUs-Michigan contacted the office of UMP director Phil Pochoda last week, making In sum, the reviewer felt that I went too far in repeated requests for a statement regarding the questioning the basic legitimacy of Zionism, and book and the reason for its distribution by UMP. thereby made life difficult for soft Zionists. Thus To date no statement or response has been pro- “Overcoming Zionism” would have to be silenced so vided by the director. that soft Zionism could continue to have its moment That was swiftly to change. Three days later, Po- in the sun. The “progressive,” compelled as he twice choda, after promising me on the phone that UMP says by fear, was arguing that a great university would resist this effort to suppress the right of free press could not afford to publish a radical critique. speech, wrote to say that he had caved in . . . Well, So much for the free play of ideas. no, he wouldn’t say that. He put it, rather, that I decided to turn abroad to the more open intel- “Overcoming Zionism” was so vile a work as to be lectual climate of the U.K., and soon found Pluto unfit for human consumption: Press of London willing to publish “Overcoming Zi- Because it is a distributed title for Pluto Press, no onism.” This meant that it needed a U.S. distributor, one at UMP had read Overcoming Zionism prior for which purpose Pluto had contracted some years to the Stand/With/Us diatribe. I and others read before with another great university press, that of the it after that assault, and had fully expected to University of Michigan. For a while all went as an- gear up for, at least, a free speech defense. ticipated. “Overcoming Zionism” was greeted with Though I had no trouble with the one-state solu- the expectable blank silence from established tion your book proposes nor with a Zionist cri- sources. Meanwhile I did what I could to promote it tique, per se—we had, after all, proudly and suc- through alternative channels—, speaking en- cessfully published Virginia Tilley—I (and fac- gagements at small venues and in solidarity net- ulty members I asked to read the book, as well) were apalled [sic] by your reckless, viscious works, interviews on community radio stations, and [sic], and unmodulated attack on Zionism and the like. all Zionists. For us, the issue raised by the book In July 2007, Pluto informed me that despite the is not free speech but hate speech. Perhaps such blackout, sales were proceeding briskly; vituperative and aggressive rhetoric works for “Overcoming Zionism” was not about to wither the barricades, but it cannot be countenanced or away from malign neglect but was being nourished underwritten by the university or the university from below. The Zionist thought police must have press, even in this peripheral, distributed capac- ity. concluded the same, and with alarm, because on Au- gust 13 an outlet near the University of Michigan, Even worse for me, as a result of your book, the StandWithUs/Michigan (considered a branch of the university is in the process of reassessing our relation as a whole to Pluto (and that has been a Campus Watch movement, under the leadership of four year relationship that I have cherished, both the well-known hard Zionist, Daniel Pipes), released personally and professionally). While that re- The Link Page 11

view goes on (and I am only marginally in- himself to be a soft Zionist for whom criticism of Is- volved), we have ceased shipping Overcoming rael is possible so long as it does not go “too far.” But Zionism. what is too far? Is it that which arouses an irrational The rest of this story can be told briefly: an or- and vindictive panic in certain liberals? And who is ganization sprang up in September 2007 called the to determine “too far?” The liberal Zionists? The Committee for the Open Discussion of Zionism (see hard Zionists who launch the attacks? Surely these www.CODZ.org). Responding to the efforts of cer- are not adequate criteria. tain Zionist organizations in the U.S. to suppress • What we need is the realization that although criticism of Israel and/or Zionism, it defended the all living beings have an inherent right to exist with rights of “Overcoming Zionism” and Pluto Press. As dignity, ideas do not hold any such right. If an idea a result, the book was restored to circulation, with can be proven destructive to living beings then it grave reservations being expressed by the faculty should be combated and destroyed, as the idea of board of UMP as to its worth. The attack then shifted slavery and the innate inferiority of women have to Pluto, whose contract with UMP was threatened. been destroyed. This is often not an easy matter to A massive letter-writing campaign ensued, protect- decide, whence we need to install the grounds for ing Pluto’s rights for a while, but these were threat- full and open inquiry, and honor and protect those ened again in November, when several regents of the ideas that run against the grain. university weighed in on the side of repression. At the practical level, both fear and the desire for UMP’s formal ties with Pluto were broken in May, revenge have to be overcome. This happens to the 2008, when the contract was terminated as of the end degree that we reach out and achieve a universal, as of 2008 on the transparently hypocritical grounds against a tribal or chauvinist, perspective. For the that Pluto did not properly vet manuscripts. Some critique of Zionism—the case at hand and, it may be lessons: added, a very bad idea—it is necessary to reach out • “Overcoming Zionism” has continued to sell to comprehend how we have gone astray and make modestly yet steadily, and indeed was helped by the it part of our being. The unity of the Christian West attention aroused by its banning, which substituted and Zionist Israel is given in their common history of at one level for an actual review by stating in effect eliminating indigenous people and using lofty and that the work was important enough to warrant sup- pseudo-spiritual values to justify this. The failure to pression. At another level, the lack of such a review, confront and overcome this history is shown in ra- at least in the mainstream press, meant that the cism and the foundation myths of conquering socie- charges hurled at the book (none quoting, by the ties. Once we reach out beyond these limits, we can way, any actual instances of what I wrote) could not recover what has been lost. There is nothing to fear be substantiated. Those charges—hate speech, vitu- then. No need for impunity—just the taking of re- perative and aggressive rhetoric, anti-Israel propa- sponsibility for what we have done and who we ganda, misquotes, discredited news stories, declared have become. contempt for Judaism, wholly unscholarly, etc., With this, we can begin to change. ■ etc.—are mere mud-slinging, though it must be added that sometimes mud can have considerable weight. • UMP had indeed published a book highly criti- cal of Israel and advocating its transformation, Vir- ginia Tilley’s “The One State Solution.” This is an Author excellent work which I cite approvingly in Joel Kovel “Overcoming Zionism.” What distinguished the two cases is that my book was attacked by the Zionist apparatus and Tilley’s, for reasons unknown, was not. The point is, that the director of UMP accepted the legitimacy of the Zionist inquisitor and revealed The Link Page 12

such as the NEWS, FAQs or RESOURCES tabs.

How do you answer the claims of your critics that the attack has been investigated 15 or more http://www.ussliberty.org/ Go times by Congress and several government agencies and repeatedly been found to be a tragic accident? I would remind those people of the Big Lie: Tell a big enough lie often enough and people will think it is true. An example of this can be found at Interview by www.ussliberty.com/thebiglie.htm. The Library of AMEU President Congress confirms that there has never been a Con- Bob Norberg with gressional investigation of the Liberty attack. James Ennes, Jr., lieutenant on the As difficult as it is for most Americans to com- bridge during the prehend why Israel would attack virtually its attack on the USS only ally, it is even Liberty. more difficult to understand the U.S. Government’s complicity at the Beginning with your eyewitness account, highest levels in “Assault on the Liberty,” published in 1980, you shielding Israel and other survivors of Israel’s 1967 attack on the from censure. ship have exerted every effort to force the U.S. Have there been Government to finally investigate the attack recent disclosures that killed 34 Americans and wounded another concerning the 174. What role does the website have in this ef- cover-up? Many. fort? www.ussliberty.com is the leading web source www.ussliberty.com/sources.htm and for information on this subject. A search for “USS Lib- www.ussliberty.com/smokinggun.htm present irrefu- erty” in every known search engine reports “www.- table statements and eyewitness reports from senior ussliberty.com” or synonyms such as www.uss- government officials of our position. A recent in-depth liberty.org and www.gtr5.com in the top position. inquiry by the Chicago Tribune found at www.ussliberty.com is presently linked by several www.tinyurl.com/2ojn32 or www.gtr5.com/news.htm thousand websites and typically has from 300 to 2,500 should convince any reasonable person. visitors every day. We have had almost 1.5 million visitors since the site’s inception in 1995. It is the pri- What recent changes have you introduced to the mary source of information for scholars, students and site and why? www.ussliberty.com and its several reporters who wish to learn more about the attack and “sister” sites are constantly updated, revised and ex- has provided material for at least five video documen- panded. A new effort by my partner Joe Meadors will taries and thousands of published articles, essays, doc- encourage more , including talk show appear- toral theses, and master’s dissertations. ances, public speaking, and media contacts. A link will be provided when available. It must anger and frustrate Liberty survivors that so many Americans have never heard of the There are numerous websites that deal with the attack. Where on the website would you direct USS Liberty. Are there some you would recom- someone new to the subject? The main purpose of mend, or warn against? See www.ussliberty.com- the website is to educate people who are unfamiliar /links.htm for a list of recommended and non- with our story. Newcomers should click recommended sites. www.ussliberty.com and follow any link of interest, The Link Page 13 , Feb. 1999 The Link issue or Avatar?" "Apostate For AMEU’s See page 15 15 page See video selections. Link issues from theissues past 40 years. from

Link The roleHolocaust of survivorsin Israel'sfounding. The targetingArabs of and inMuslims the US. By a longtimeopponent the occupation. of Selected Well criticallywritten, acclaimed history. Real lifeencounters Iraqis. with Israel's condemns occupation. Jewish-American Palestiniansrespond to ethnocide against them. Reflections on Zionism and Israel. Insideaccountof Israel's policy. settlement Updated edition. Good study of militant Islamic groups. Richly illustratedhistory faithIslam's of andculture. Conversations against theJews occupation. with U.S. policyChomsky. U.S. and 9/11.Noam Forward by Author was subject of subject Author was Updated listing452 of destroyed cities, villages. towns, What Christiansaren't told about Israel Palestinians. & A critical analysis of Israel's occupation. Updated ed. introductionIII. Baker with James by Zionismand role of biblicalupdatededition. promise; and the futureJerusalem of Middlepeace. East United Israel, States, the Palestinians. and Can Israel be bothstate?. a Jewish anddemocratic a Neocons, Israel, Administration.and the Bush Traces the Israelifactor in the US-led invasion of Iraq. see 2 actors; for play One-act of Islam. image America's Confronts Former U.S. Congressman on U.S.-IsraeliCongressman U.S. Former relations. The misuse of anti-semitism & the abuse of history. & anti-semitism of The misuse Reflections on the exploitation suffering.of Jewish What the facts on the groundare tellingus. figures facts and New landthe about of 1947-48. "swap" Insider tells happenedIraqi towhat Jews. $5.00 $9.50 $3.00 $8.00 $16.50 $15.50 $23.50 $16.50 $19.95 $19.95 $16.50 $12.50 $15.50 $25.00 $19.95 $35.00 $15.95 $19.50 $17.50 $15.50 $10.95 $12.75 $12.50 $16.95 $16.50 $17.50 $17.95 $10.00 $19.50 $17.50 $12.50 $17.95 $28.50 $15.50 19.95 Postage & Handling 280 2004 paper 2004paper 322 2008 $22.95 317 $27.95 paper 2007 439 $16.95 paper 1999cloth 474 $17.50 2007paper 314 2007 $24.95 paper 400 2006 $26.95 paper 216 1993 $18.00 paper 227 2003 $19.95 264 $17.95 cloth 2007paper 531 2002 $29.95 cloth 301 $30.00 2002cloth 196 1999 $25.00 paper 749 2005 $49.95 paper 252 2007 $19.95 56 $9.95 cloth 2008 253 $26.95 paper 2003cloth 286 $23.00 2006paper 265 2003 $27.00 paper 240 2002 $12.95 paper 329 2004 $17.99 paper 253 1999 $15.99 paper 578 2006 $22.00 paper 222 2008 $18.00 cloth 204 $24.95 2005paper 258 1998 $26.95 40 $10.00 cloth 2001paper 323 1993 $23.95 326 $14.95 cloth 2005paper 332 2000 $22.50 paper 150 1995 $13.00 cloth 243 $18.95 2003paper 467 2003 $39.50 paper 340 $18.95 All AMEU Prices Include Prices AMEU All AMEU’s Book Selections AMEU’s Civil Rights Peril in in Palestine Israeli An Burning Issues Burning Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths City, One Jerusalem: Tigris the up Swimming Palestine in Witness The Second Palestinian Intifada Sins Original Before & After Lords of the Land of the Lords Liberty the on Assault of Islam name the in Terror War: Unholy The Oxford ofHistory Islam Peacemakers Rabbis,Radicals, and The of Colonization Palestine The Over Holocaust Is What Land?What Whose Promise? Silent No More Palestine: Peace Apartheid Not Palestine: Brothers Blood Land Promised Whose Whose Holy City? Triangle The Fateful Religion and Blood of Clash & the Civilizations Israel Babylon Against Alliance An Sahmatah Deliberate Deceptions Beyond Chutzpah TheIndustry Holocaust Image & Reality of Israel-Arab Conflict Records of Dispossession Ben-Gurion's Scandals Holocaust of the Shadow the In form on page 16. 16. page form on To order, put check in left Use order column. Authors Publication Year Pgs List AMEU Summary Hagopian, E. ed. Halper, J AMEU Armstrong, K. Armstrong, Aziz, B. Baltzer, A. Baroud, R. B. Beit-Hallahmi, Bennis, P. Eldar, A. & Zertal Ennes, J. Esposito, J. Esposito, J. Faber, S. Fayez, J. ed. Burg, A. Burge, G. Burge, Findley, P. Carter, J. Chacour, E. C. Chapman, C. Chapman, N. Chomsky, J. Cook, J. Cook, Cooley, J. Eady & Mast Findley, P. Finkelstein, N. Finkelstein, N. Finkelstein, N. Fishbach, M. Giladi, Naeim Grodzinsky, Y. The Link Page 14 Time 's disastrous occupation. disclosed state documents. rscentury".-- of the For AMEU’s See page 15 15 page See video selections. selections. video

Camp David's ungenerous Camp offer; 15 full-page maps. Good introductoryhistory. Iraq throughjournalist. theanunembedded eyes of Collection Palestinianof modern literature. StruggleaPalestinian of doctor inIsrael. of Palestinian exile. Poignant memory inIsrael's Palestine. dilemma WhyPalestinians don't have a state. Analysis roletheUS of in the MiddleEast. Israel can healHow its "state-sponsoredracism." A 12-yr.-old A soccer-lovingPal. in occupied Ramallah. Youngadult novelof a girl inBeirut. war-torn David.Why Camp from Arafat had to away walk Examines ZionistExamines notion of "Transfer:" 1882-1948. How non-Jews are treated are in state. non-Jews the Jewish How A moral inquirymoral A Catholicby a biblicalscholar. Ilan Pappe et al. on Zionism, Israel, and Palestine. 100"By 1 of top innovato is occupied used Road Map to seizeland. more How used to justify Israel'sThe myths expansionist policies. Authorenvisions a secular, democratic MiddleEast. of an IsraeliMemories peace activist. reason U.S. attacked theIraq. major Examines collapsed. Why process peace the The influenceof lobbies policy. ongovernment survival. of story Extraordinary An Israeli looks at the forces destroying hiscountry. WestFrom to The Bank massacres Wall Personal accountIsrael of How Israel won the battle to become US's ally. US's Israel the battlebecome to won How Author draws on recentlyAuthordraws $8.50 $7.50 $9.50 $7.00 $15.50 $14.50 $18.75 $17.50 $16.50 $15.00 $22.50 $19.95 $17.95 $18.95 $18.95 $17.50 $35.00 $13.50 $17.95 $16.50 $15.50 $12.95 $14.95 $23.95 $12.95 $15.50 $17.50 $15.50 $10.95 $18.95 $19.95 Postage & Handling Handling & Postage paper 2005 93 $19.95 paper 2006cloth 170 $18.95 2007paper 313 1996 $20.00 paper 754 2008 $22.00 cloth 276 $28.96 2002paper 288 2007 $26.00 cloth 350 $29.95 2006cloth 281 2004 $24.95 paper 223 2007 $23.00 paper 299 2006 $26.95 216 $9.95 paper 2008 99 $9.95 cloth 2008paper 365 1993 $24.95 235 $11.95 cloth 2005 310 $25.00 cloth 1988 372 $19.95 cloth 1999 304 $75.00 paper 2006 248 $18.00 paper 2005cloth 254 $17.95 2007 242 $23.00 paper 2004paper 232 2003 $23.95 cloth 225 $16.00 2007cloth 226 2008 $22.00 paper 480 2004 $27.95 paper 455 2005 $14.95 cloth 168 $24.95 2008paper 293 2005 $24.95 paper 228 2006 $17.00 cloth 250 $12.95 2007 224 $24.95 cloth 2006 320 $27.50 All AMEU Prices Include Prices AMEU All AMEU’s Book Selections AMEU’s Obstacles toPeace Hamas: Beginner's A Guide Line Green the Beyond Anthology DoctorA in Galilee Fatima of Search In Married to Another Man Cage Iron The Empire Resurrecting Zionism Overcoming of Ground Piece Little A Oranges in No Man's Land No Man's in Oranges Palestine Inside Out Inside Palestine Palestinians of the Expulsion The Side ofOther Israel Warriors AgainstIsrael Zionism and the state the of and Israel Zionism Theto Road Map Nowhere Speaking the Truth the Speaking Prophet of the Footsteps the In of Zionism The Myths Resistance and Culture Dark Hope TheCabal Transparent David Camp About Truth The U.S. Foreign Policy in the Middle East to Nablus Road the Zoo in The Border the On Toward Tomb an Open foris to us suffer seeVictory you The Ethnic Cleansing of Cleansing Palestine The Ethnic form on page 16. 16. form page on To order, put checkorder, put To in left Use order column. Authors Publication Year Pgs List AMEU Summary Halper, J Hroub, K. Jamail, D. Jayyusi, S. Kanaanah, H. Karmi, G. Karmi, G. R. Khalidi, R. Khalidi, Kovel, J. Laird, E. Laird, E. Makdisi, S. Makdisi, Masalha, N. Nathan, S. Neff, D. Neff, Prior, M. Reinhart, T. Prior, M.ed. T. Ramadan, J. Rose, Said, E. D. Shulman, Sniegoski, S. Swisher, C. Terry, J. A. Thomas, M. Warschawski, M. Warschawski, P. Winslow, Pappe, I. Pappe, The Link Page 15

AMEU’s Video Selections

All AMEU Prices Include Postage & Handling

AJPME, Israel: Myths & Propaganda (2008, DVD, 58 minutes) Israeli historian Ilan Pappe chal- lenges the official Israeli version of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war in part 1, and responds to his critics in part 2. AMEU: $25.00.

AJPME, Beyond the Mirage: The Face of the Occupation (2002, DVD, 47 minutes). Israeli and Palestinian human rights advocates challenge misconceptions about the Occupation and Palestin- ian resistance to it. AMEU: $25.00.

AJPME, Imagine … (2005, DVD, 15 minutes). Palestinian education under Israeli occupation. Ex- cellent for discussion groups. AMEU: $15.00.

Baltzer, Anna, Life in Occupied Palestine (2006, DVD, 61 minutes). By the American grand- daughter of a Holocaust refugee. This is her powerful account of the occupation. AMEU: $20.00.

DMZ, People and the Land (2007, DVD, updated version of 1997 film, 57 minutes). This is the controversial documentary by Tom Hayes that appeared on over 40 PBS stations. AMEU: $25.00.

FMEP, Searching for Peace in the Middle East (2006, DVD, 30 minutes). A film by Landrum Bolling. AMEU: $10.00.

IAK, The Easiest Targets (2007, DVD, 10 minutes) Films various aspects of the occupation, in- cluding Israel’s policy of strip-searching women and children. AMEU: 10.00.

Jordan Sandra, Dispatches: The Killing Zone (2003, 50 minutes, only in VHS). British correspon- dent reports on violence by Israeli forces against international aid workers and reporters in the Gaza Strip. Includes the bulldozer killing of Rachel Corrie. Widely shown on British TV, this power- ful documentary has been aired on only a few U.S. public access channels. AMEU: $10.00.

Munayyer, F. & H., Palestinian Costumes and Embroidery: A Precious Legacy (2008, DVD, 38 minutes). Rare collection of Palestinian dresses modeled against background of Palestinian music, with commentary tracing the designs back to Canaanite times. List: $50.00. AMEU: $25.00.

NEF, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land (2004, DVD, 80 minutes). Excellent analysis of how the U.S. media slants its coverage of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. AMEU: $25.00.

Pilger, J., Palestine Is Still the Issue (2002, DVD, 53 minutes). Award-winning journalist tells why there has been no progress toward peace in the Middle East. AMEU: $25.00.

Real People Prod., Sucha Normal Thing (2004, DVD, 80 minutes). Six Americans document a “normal” day under military occupation in the West Bank. AMEU: $25.00

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______

Zip+4 ______1/09

Rush Order Form Place 9 next to the book or video you are ordering from pages 12, 13, 14 & 15, and indicate quantity if ordering more than one. Make checks payable to AMEU. No. of Books and Videos Ordered: ______Total Price (includes USPS postage): ______Add $3 for UPS delivery, if desired ______Add $3 per book/video for intern’l delivery ______Total Amount Enclosed ______

Name______

Address______

City ______State _____ Zip ______MAIL ORDER WITH CHECK TO:

AMEU, Room 245, 475 Riverside Drive, New York, NY 10115-0245 Americans for Middle East Understanding, Inc. Understanding, Americansfor East Middle Drive Room Riverside 475 245, 10115-0245New NY York,