SL should not buy arms from Israel

Object 1

by Shaahidah Riza : -Dec 07, 2015

"Among

those who
came to pay the respects were Ehud Olmert, then the Mayor of Jerusalem future prime
minister, and Ehud Barak who holds the distinction of being Israel's most decorated
soldier....Barak was largely seen as Yitzhak Rabin's designated successor. The expectation

was that if elected he would take on the role of peacemaker, a role which Rabin had
paid for with his life.
Here he was, sitting among us, trying to convince people that in order to really make
peace he had to run without making it look like he wanted peace, so he wouldn't lose
votes for being a peacemaker. I sat quietly wondering if anyone really believed such
nonsense. Finally, I couldn't take it anymore and said, "Why not tell the truth?"
Miko Peled, the General's son
The General's son, Miko Peled did not mince his words when asked who created the
recent Palestinian conflict which saw 114 Palestinians dead and more than 200
wounded since October 2015
"Israel did. The Zionist movement did. colonialism and racism did."

Peled is an Israeli peace activist, born in Jerusalem in 1961, who is well connected
with Israel's political hierarchy which moulded Israel's history. His father Matti Peled
served in the Israeli defence force as a General, in the war of 1967 when Israel
conquered West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights and Sinai. Most importantly, Peled is the
grandson of Dr. Avraham Katnelson, a Zionist leader and a signer of Israel's
Declaration of Independence.
Failing Economy
In an interview with Ceylon Today, Peled highlighted the plight of Palestinians and the
global impact and reactions faced by Israel due to this conflict of seven decades.
Commenting on the impact on the Israel economy due to the global boycott, he said,
"I recently read that the Israel arms industry has gone down about 45%for the last
three or four years. This is very significant as they earn several billion dollars through
that. Some of it is due to the fact that people don't want to do business with Israel,
because there are protests and they know that there is an immoral aspect to the Israel
arms industry. They know what they do in Gaza, what they do to Palestinians. It is a
very significant impact. The European banks are not investing. In the US, academic
organizations, churches and labour institutions are also boycotting. The economic
impact is definitely beginning to show. We know that the Prime minister is discussing
this and is worried about it all the time.I don't know who the biggest arms buyers are.
But I know that Sri Lanka buys arms from Israel, which is unfortunate. Countries which
suffered colonialism should be the first ones to boycott and to fight colonialism in other
countries. The Europeans and Americans have a lot of arms deals with Israel.
Peled also spoke about a recent protest which he attended and was arrested charged
for participating in 'violent' demonstrations.
"I was arrested several times. It was not on a justifiable charge, it was nonsense. The
charge was for disturbing the peace and participating in disturbances. The problem
was not me, but they were trying to paint the popular Palestinian resistance, which
was unarmed and peaceful as a group of mad rioters, who do terrible violent things."
At all times, Peled seems to be a man with a mission, reflecting on his Court case he
said, "This is an opportunity for me to stand in front of the judge and the prosecutor,
knowing that I am perfectly safe, and if I am found guilty it will be a very minor charge,
and say, 'look you are lying to the people, these are not riots, these are not at all
disorderly. Weekly marches are peaceful and quiet until the army starts shooting, and
then of course there will be no more peacefulness. So there has not been a verdict
yet, but I had testified and the main witness for the prosecution who is an officer told
lies standing for an hour while testifying. In my view, it is not violent, it is peaceful, and
the fact that people from all over the world and, Nobel laureates come for these to
show their support because they are nonviolent. The Palestinians' popular resistance
has become a Mecca for activists to support unarmed resistance, and to paint them as
anything else is absolute lies."
Anti-Palestinian

Persecution Lobby
Referring to the presence of the anti-Palestinian persecution lobby in Israel, and
similar likeminded people he noted that their presence was very minimal, adding that
pro-Palestinian sentiments are hardly expressed within Israeli society. He added, "In
America you have a significant number of such people. In Israel it is not negligible
because they have an impact."
He also made reference to the 'so called Israeli peaceful left' drawing a stark contrast
between those who actually support the Palestinian cause; his reaction to them was
caustic, "People who call themselves or identify as the Israeli left, or the Israeli peace
movement, are very pathetic. They still live under this very strange illusion that you
can have the colonialist regime and peace. The reality of the last 70 years in Palestine
has shown it's not possible. You have to make a choice, either have the state of Israel
or you have peace. The idea that you can have an Israeli state and peace which they
are promoting is complete nonsense. They are missing the point."
Peled also mapped out Israel's global dealings with other countries. When asked
about the historical trajectory which shows that attacks on Iraq and Libya and so on,
had Zionist pressure, and whether it was the same with Syria, he conceded that it was
possible. Last week the UK Parliament voted in favour of airstrikes in Syria as well.
Commenting on all of these, Peled said,
"They are all criminals. They are supporting this massive criminal assault on nations
that had done nothing wrong other than they happen to be Arabs and Muslims. I am
sure the Israeli lobby in the US has a great deal of influence over this, and they have a
lot to do with this. It is very unfortunate that this is continuing and it is very unfortunate
that the British Prime Minister is allowing this to continue."
He also opined that Israel plays a manipulative strategic game in the Middle East.
"It is certain that Israel always promotes policies that allow Arabs to kill Arabs. When
Arabs kill Arabs, it makes a moral contrasts. When things are bad for the Arabs and
Arab countries, Israel can always say, 'look we treat the Arabs well, we are not like
their brothers killing them all.' They use that all the time. I am sure they make this to
happen."
UN manipulated
But where is the UN in all this? Is it just a dysfunctional organization controlled by only
a particular set of people? When third world countries commit alleged war crimes, the
UN is up in arms about that. But when Israel does that there are just marginal protests
on that. Peled's response was severe, "Just a few weeks ago, it was the anniversary
of the UN resolution that characterized Zionism as racism. When I wrote about it, I felt
that this was a good resolution. It is sad that they got rid of it."
However, Sri Lanka also went through three decades of war, and was accused of
alleged war crimes and human rights violation during the last stages of the war. As a
result, there was a lot of pressure from the West to conduct an inquiry against the then

Sri Lankan Government and military forces; however when Israel has been committing
war crimes blatantly for years, including using phosphorus in their war fare thereby
violating human rights, the western world is silent. What is the reason for this
duplicity?
"The Israeli lobby in the West is very strong politically; they know how to use the
political systems and the Western states; the US and Europe are all in bed with Israel.
When it comes to arms deals and trade, they don't want to risk that. Europeans are
making billions of dollars because of this conflict. This is the reason for this duplicity. I
know when the tide turns, and it will soon change, there will be requests. We know that
in Spain, Britain and other European countries there are arrest warrants for Israeli
military commanders and politicians. This is something people are pushing to bring
about."
Thus, in the interests of promoting human rights with regard to Palestinians, how
should this shape the diplomatic ties with Israel and countries such as Sri Lanka?
Peled said, "They should call back their Ambassador from Televiv, and kick out the
Israeli Ambassador. There should be no trade or relations until such time the siege on
Gaza is lifted, the Palestinian prisoners are released and Israel calls for absolute free
and fair elections in which everyone can vote, including Palestinians. Anywhere the
Israeli Ambassador shows up, he should be humiliated and shamed. Until then it's a
state which shouldn't be accepted by any country that respects itself, certainly not
countries that have a colonialist history. In Europe it's the worst job in the world to be
Israeli Ambassador, because there is a lot of protest in places he turns up. Nobody
wants that job. Even in the US, the Israeli Ambassador or the Consul cannot show up
for public events. This has to be the case here as well. This only happens as a result
of public pressure; governments don't do this willingly. They have to see that their
constituents demand this. I have to encourage the people of Sri Lanka to act for the
cause of Palestine. It is extremely important that countries like Sri Lanka that suffered
colonialism express their solidarity with Palestinians with more than just words."
What about the Arab neighbours of Palestine? Why is a blatant opposition to Israel not
visible? He responded saying that the Arab countries do not have a government which
represent the will of the people, adding the will of the people are with the Palestinians.
"If they represented the people there will be a completely different relationship. The
trade will be different. They are even opening a diplomatic Israeli mission in the UAE,"
he remarked.
Likening the biased media reportage where Palestinian resistance is criminalized
including the actions of Hamas to apartheid South Africa, he said, "Mainstream media
becomes completely irrelevant, they take the side of the oppressor; the state. This is
the case with Palestine too. If you want news that is trustworthy you have to go to the
untraditional media and the underground media. You have to go to the credible
sources in the internet, to know the reality.The media is biased in the US, and even
Europe. The Israeli media is even worse."
Change should be hard

In a recent interview Peled referred to the Israeli Prime Minister as a war criminal and
said Israel has declared war on children. If the likeminded pro Palestinian lobby was
very small in Israel, why are the rest of the Israelis so 'close minded'?
"Something went wrong with my education. Israelis are a racist society. Netanyahu is
not the first Israeli Premier who is a war criminal. Every Israeli Prime Minister has
been a war criminal from the very start. So there is nothing special about Netanyahu.
Israeli society is founded on racism and racist ideology, and Israeli education is a
systematically racist education system. For example, how could the whites of South
Africa have not gone against the apartheid regime? They were part of it. In Israel it is
even more so. Israel chooses to be a democracy, Israelis vote in very large numbers.
The Israeli Government represents the people and the will of the people. This what the
people want, this is the kind of racist society they wanted to create, and they
succeeded. That's why there is no voice of dissent within Israel."
Peled also referred to like-minded people like him vying for equal rights for
Palestinians and Israel alike, and highlighted the need for a radical change, "It is
important to bring down the Zionist regime. We cannot change the opinion of a racist
society; you force it to fall from the outside and the inside. Public opinion will change
when Zionism falls and they will be forced to go to the polls with their Palestinian
neighbours as equals. When you wake up in the morning you get a Palestinian Prime
Minister. The only change you will get is when change is forced upon them, it is not
something you can convince, condemn or hope for. You have to hit it hard, so that
there is change forced on them. So when people wake up, they will have something
similar to South Africa, when Mandela was President, while people didn't leave, but
they were all very happy."
Source: Ceylontoday
Posted by Thavam