jad@whutt.att.com (John A Dinardo) (06/17/91)
The following excerpts are from the June 12, 1991 edition of
the UNDERCURRENTS program, broadcast daily over Pacifica Radio
Network affiliate WBAI-FM 99.5 in New York City, which I
transcribed from a tape recording:
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(continuation)
PHYLLIS BENNIS:
The economic pressures are leading to the same kinds of feelings.
I was in the Gaza Strip all day today -- in Jabalya Camp, in Gaza
City, all over the main part of the Strip. And the sense of
economic desperation is really growing. We asked one representative
of one of the international organizations working in Gaza, how
people are surviving with the unemploymemt rate, among the people
who used to work inside Israel from Gaza, ranging somewhere up to
60 percent. We said, "How are people surviving?" And he said,
"Well, first of all, they're cutting back on their consumption
patterns." This is obviously a very poor population who never had
a high consumption pattern anyway. They're now eating cheaper foods,
which means people are subsisting largely on bread, olive oil, and
maybe some spices, but very little protein -- very little good food.
The women -- and men, as well, but particularly the women -- are
beginning to sell their jewelry. We heard stories of women who,
during the very brief period (sometimes one-half hour or one hour
in as much as an entire week) [when the populace was allowed to
exit their houses] during the curfew that was imposed throughout
the Gulf War, would have to first try and find, in that very brief
time, a buyer for their wedding gold before they could have enough
money to buy bread for their families before the curfew went back
into effect.
So there's this tremendous sense of pressure -- a tremendous sense
of things beginning to increase in tension. And there's just no
relief in sight. Things are worse than I've ever seen them.
LAURA FLANDERS:
As far as the response from the people -- people in that country
and elsewhere -- in talking about the future of the Intifada, what
have you found in terms of that discussion on your trips there?
PHYLLIS BENNIS:
..... There's a sense here that things will have to change. There's
a sense that we have entered a different period of history since
the Gulf War, and that everything is different, and we cannot rely
on the kinds of assumptions that for so long governed the dynamics
of the Intifada. On the other hand, there is no clear set of
alternatives emerging.
The aspects of the Intifada that characterized the later period,
in terms of the creation of alternative institutions and economic
systems designed to help resist dependency on the Israeli occupation
authorities -- those things still exist, but they are under
tremendous pressure. The pressure of taxation, for example, has
meant that the issue of calling for even broader civil disobedience
may have to be reassessed. There's just no way for people to live
with the kind of tax pressures that the Israelis have imposed.
And there has not yet been created the ability of the Intifada's
leadership to provide alternatives. Asking people to avoid working
inside Israel can only work for so long when there are no
alternative jobs available. So the whole question of the direction
of the Intifada is very intimately bound up with the question of
the economy. And right now that remains an unresolved question
that is rapidly reaching crisis proportions.
(to be continued)
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The criminals against humanity who perpetrate these atrocities
derive their political power and financing from you and me!
>From THEY DARE TO SPEAK OUT, by Paul Findley, a 22-year veteran
of the House of Representatives:
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Washington is a city of acronyms, and today one of the best-known
in Congress is AIPAC. The mere mention of it brings a sober, if not
furtive look, to the face of anyone on Capitol Hill who deals with
Middle East policy. AIPAC -- the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee -- is now the preeminent power in Washington Lobbying.
..... AIPAC sometimes finds out what Congressmen say about Middle
East policy even in private conversations, and those who criticize
Israel do so at their political peril. ..... It is no overstatement
to say that AIPAC has effectively gained control of virtually all
of Capitol Hill's action on Middle East policy. Almost without
exception, House and Senate members do its bidding, because most
of them consider AIPAC to be the direct Capitol Hill representative
of a political force that can make or break their chances at
election time.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I hope you will save the installments of this ongoing series and
disseminate them to anyone whom you think might care enough
(e.g. leaders of religious congregations, senior citizens groups,
compassionate members of your community, etc.) to contact their
Congressperson and insist that the leaders responsible for these
crimes against humanity be charged with violations of the Nuremburg
Principles, the Fourth Geneva Convention and the International
Treaty Against Genocide (which President Reagan signed in 1988).
John DiNardo