A Discussion With Tikkun.org on the Legitimacy of Extreme Anti-Israel "Activism" and the Killing of Israeli Soldiers
| In response to Mark
Levine's article, "The
Death of Rachel Corrie," I would like to point out some gross
errors he makes in the assumptions his article are based on. He
blames the current situation and the "occupation" on Israel. The
fact is that the current situation is a direct result of the Palestinian
Authority rejecting final status offers made during and after the year
2000 Camp David summit. According to Dennis Ross, who was present
at the talks, Arafat was offered 97% of the West Bank and Gaza with full
control over boarders, a capital in Jerusalem and the right of return
for Arab "refugees" to within the boarders of the newly created
Palestinian state. He rejected that offer and turned to
violence. The responsibility for this current conflict and for
Israel's partial reoccupation of territories formerly under PA control
is squarely on the shoulders of Arafat and the PA. As for his assumption that Rachel Corrie and the members of the ISM were just peace loving pacifists anything could be farther from the truth. Rachel herself publicly praised the "courage" of terrorists who died while killing Israeli soldiers and the ISM has acted numerous times to shield terrorists known to be involved in the murder of Israeli civilians. Just a few days ago they were caught actively hiding a senior member of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in their main office in Jenin. I feel sorry for Mr. Levine's history students. They're not going to get much of an education from a man who doesn't know how to do basic research, considering the number of inaccuracies he manages to stuff into such a small space. Editor, www.landofisrael.info |
| Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2003
15:36:30 -0800 Subject: Rachel Corrie Letter From: Tikkun Media <media@tikkun.org> To: <editor@landofisrael.info> Would you mind sending some sources for the claims you make re: Rachel Corrie’s praising the courage of terrorists, your definition of “terrorists” and the events of last week’s hiding of the senior member of Islamic Jihad? Thanks very much. -- <name removed> Media Coordinator www.tikkun.org |
| Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2003
18:04:08 +0200 From: Admin <admin@landofisrael.info> To: Tikkun Media <media@tikkun.org> Subject: Re: Rachel Corrie Letter Regarding the hiding of the Islamic Jihad member, two web links: Israeli army says senior Palestinian militant shielded by foreign activists Senior Islamic Jihad terrorist arrest while hiding in the offices of the International Solidarity Movement in Jenin Regarding Rachel Corrie's praising courage of those killing Israeli soldiers: "...fighters last night offered their life for their friend and killed two of the illegal occupying force, and injuring another. Two young fighters were killed and I don't yet know the extent of other injuries. ...these young guys really fought it out. ...put all the Israeli/American propaganda aside for a few minutes and try to imagine, please, the courage it requires to do what these young fighters do..." "Courage And More Martyrs", Feb. 10th 2003 by Rachel Corrie Article published by the ISM (International Solidarity Movement) [Update: Please read this response by a friend of Rachel Corrie to the sourcing of the above article.] Regarding my personal definition of "terrorist": The Palestinian leadership rejected the final status offers made during and after the Camp David summit which are documented by Dennis Ross, and then made a conscious decision to increase the level of violence significantly from what had been going on prior to September 2000. Due to this I consider all attempts to attack either Israeli soldiers or civilians to be acts of terrorism. I would like to make a note here that my comment on the ISM members aiding terrorists was referring to incidents in which they acted as human shields for individuals involved in the premeditated murder of both soldiers and civilians. For your general interest, extensive links and info on the Rachel Corrie incident are available on my website at: http://www.landofisrael.info <name removed> Editor, www.landofisrael.info |
| Date: Wed, 09 Apr 2003
18:04:47 -0700 Subject: Re: Rachel Corrie Letter From: Tikkun Media <media@tikkun.org> To: Admin <admin@landofisrael.info> We won’t be publishing either your letter (we don’t post letters to the editor on our website) or a correction for these reasons: As for “praising the courage of terrorists”, this is a matter of perspective. I hesitate to actually define a “terrorist” as it quickly approaches the status of “communist” or “patriot” in its imprecision and politicization but I don’t feel that those whom Rachel Corrie memorializes fit this label. While we mourn the death of IDF soldiers along with innocent Israelis and Palestinians, it can hardly be considered terrorism when a Palestinian kills a member of an occupying military engaged in atrocities well-documented by too many human rights groups to list here. Regarding the Camp David talks: this is a hotly contested issue. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to send you a copy of Rabbi Lerner’s Healing Israel/Palestine, which dispels many myths surrounding the “generous offer” including the undisputed fact that no offer was put on the table at all — at least not in writing. In any case, it’s a nuanced argument with which you clearly disagree but which we don’t feel requires correction or qualification. Finally, as for the hiding of senior members of Islamic Jihad let’s handle it this way: When there’s an independent trial establishing that the Palestinian man is indeed behind a suicide attack and then an independent trial establishing that the ISM knowingly hid this guilty party, we will look into the matter. As for now, the fact that this man was accused and arrested does not translate unequivocally, or even beyond a shadow of a doubt, to willingly harboring terrorists. Thank you for reading Tikkun and for commenting. -- <name removed> Media Coordinator www.tikkun.org |
