Omar Barghouti

When is Killing Arab Civilians Considered a Massacre?

Omar Barghouti — 2006-03-30T01:41:00Z

Recent reports from Iraq indicate beyond doubt that the U.S. occupation army has embarked on a new "tactic" from its menu of atrocities, in an attempt to counter the burgeoning Iraqi resistance attacks against its soldiers. "Old-style" massacres of Iraqis have become so commonplace lately that even Iraqi "allies" of the U.S. were forced to unreservedly condemn them.

Among Western governments, alas, silence prevails. After all, the massacre victims are only Arabs. Not only is there an alarming apathy towards the horrifying spread of this phenomenon, but there is also a despicable aversion to calling it by its name. At the same time, many in the West go up in arms condemning the "massacre" of seals, whales, dolphins or a few white men anywhere around the world. (...)

- / CounterPunch

Secular Arabs Detest Hypocrisy Too

Omar Barghouti — 2006-02-06T12:38:00Z

As a rule, I hate to generalize, but I'll make an exception this time. It seems westerners simply do not get it. Editorials all over Europe have bellowed in unison to defend the right of publishing anti-Islamic cartoons as an embodiment of the untouchable status of freedom of speech, one of the foundations of the democratic, secular ideal that has informed the west since the enlightenment. Even some non-conformant writers, who chose not to join the no-obligations-free-speech chorus, merely highlighted the need for “responsibility,” “wisdom,” and other pragmatic considerations that ought to take into consideration, besides the revered freedom of expression, the just as sacred beliefs of European as well as non-European Muslims, particularly to avoid the current backlash. What both groups do not understand is that what most Muslims and Arabs are accusing the west of is hypocrisy, not indulgence in their cherished freedoms per se.

As a resolutely secular Arab and Muslim, I also share in directing this charge at western elites who either refuse to understand or are intentionally blurring the issues. To put it bluntly, would the west accept or tolerate cartoons which are anti-Semitic, novels which deny the Holocaust, or poetry which favorably evokes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion? This is the fundamental question that ought to be answered, above all others, I believe, in order to grasp where the problem lies. There are laws in most European countries which make it illegal to question the Holocaust, even in academia. What of freedom of speech then, or academic freedom for that matter? Clearly, rationality, sensitivity to the continent's past victims of genocide, and a prevalent understanding of the need to avoid inciting racial and religious hatred at any price were allowed to trump, or at least delineate the limits of, the deeply held value of free speech in this case. (...)

- / ZNet

Re-Thinking the Mediterranean

Omar Barghouti, Adrian Grima — 2005-09-10T01:40:00Z

In a world where the “clash of civilizations” is unfolding as a self-fulfilling prophecy, reclaiming the Mediterranean as a cultural bridge acquires unprecedented import and urgency. Countering the United States' crusade of neo-colonial hegemony, disregard for international law, xenophobia and unchecked projection of immense power on the world stage necessitates a world-wide rejection of fundamentalism, whether in the north or the south, the east or the west. People of conscience everywhere are compelled to unite in resisting empire, or else the ravages and devastation of the old world colonialism will pale in comparison with what we might expect in this modern “crusade,” to borrow George W. Bush.

Rather than succumb to the “clash” temptation by reinforcing “defensive self-pride,” it is time to come to terms with “the bewildering interdependence of our time,” as Edward Said called it years ago in his article about “The Clash of Ignorance.” We are called upon “to reflect, examine, sort out what it is we are dealing with in reality, the interconnectedness of innumerable lives, ‘ours' as well as ‘theirs,'” debunking, in the process, the confused and confusing myths about who or what the West or the Other may be. (...)

- / ZNet

Slave Sovereignty

Omar Barghouti — 2005-01-08T04:53:00Z

Many Palestinians are boasting that they will soon enjoy, again, the most free and democratic elections in the entire Arab World. The only problem is that electing a Palestinian president while still under the boot of the occupier is an oxymoron. Sovereignty and occupation are mutually exclusive. The world, including many well-informed readers, seem to think that the Palestinian people is actually practicing the ultimate form of sovereignty by freely choosing its own president. This is easily extrapolated in the heads of many to mean that Palestinians are in a way free. So what's all this talk about occupation? Notice, for example, how little media attention is given now to the almost daily killings of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli occupation forces. Of course, the only thing that matters is who is running; who is not; what Mahmoud Abbas might have intended to say; or what Marwan Barghouti could have done only if ... . Bulldozing houses in Rafah, expanding colonies in Hebron and killing innocent children in Beit Lahya is simply a bore, a peripheral story, an ordinary occurrence in the midst of an election extraordinaire.

There are several things wrong in this picture, least of which is the fact that it is false. (...)

- / ZNet

Why Boycott Israel

Omar Barghouti — 2004-12-21T02:05:40Z

“Where is the world? Is it dead?” exclaimed the bereaved mother in Rafah on Al-Jazeera. Before her, lied the lifeless body of her little child.

Faced with overwhelming Israeli oppression, Palestinians under occupation, in refugee camps and in the heart of Israel's distinct form of apartheid have increasingly reached out to the world for understanding, for compassion, and, more importantly, for solidarity. Palestinians do not beg for sympathy. We deeply resent patronization, for we are no longer a nation of hapless victims. We are resisting racial and colonial oppression, aspiring to attain justice and genuine peace. Above all, we are struggling for the universal principle of equal humanity.

But we cannot do it alone. We need international support. (...)

- / ZNet

"The Pianist" of Palestine

Omar Barghouti — 2004-11-30T04:36:00Z

When I watched Oscar-winning film The Pianist I had three distinct, uneasy reactions. I was not particularly impressed by the film, from a purely artistic angle; I was horrified by the film's depiction of the dehumanization of Polish Jews and the impunity of the German occupiers; and I could not help but compare the Warsaw ghetto wall with Israel's much more ominous wall caging 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in fragmented, sprawling prisons. (...) - / ZNet

Snuff Films and War Crimes in Iraq

Omar Barghouti — 2004-11-18T04:57:00Z

The recently broadcast NBC footage taken by an American journalist embedded with a Marines unit attacking Fallujah was unambiguous. In a badly damaged mosque, a US soldier has indeed shot dead from a close range, execution-style, an injured person who, according to the journalist himself, was severely injured, unarmed and did not pose any imminent threat. In fact, several other Iraqis were reportedly found in Fallujah with single-bullet marks in their heads indicating a similar fate. It can be accurately concluded that US soldiers are still committing war crimes in Iraq with frightening ease and nauseating impunity. (...) - / CounterPunch

The Death of Arafat and the Two-State Solution

Omar Barghouti — 2004-11-14T01:11:00Z

As the pictures of the human waves have shown, not only his supporters grieved over his death. The more than 100,000 who converged in the Ramallah funeral included many who opposed his political line to various degrees. Even those who categorically opposed his idiosyncratic policy of "la-am," or yes-no, found themselves sharing in this communal sense of loss and sorrow. Arafat was more than just a leader. He was beyond doubt an emblematic Palestinian phenomenon that will not be replaced anytime soon. (...) - / CounterPunch

Executing Another Child in Rafah

Omar Barghouti — 2004-10-26T00:50:21Z

Iman al-Hams was a 13-year old refugee schoolgirl who was executed — after being wounded — by an Israeli platoon commander on the sad sands of Rafah.

According to testimonies given by soldiers in the same company to the mass Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, a soldier in the watchtower identified Iman and cautioned his commander shouting, "Don't shoot. It's a little girl". The company commander, the soldiers testified, "approached her, shot two bullets into her [head], walked back towards the force, turned back to her, switched his weapon to automatic and emptied his entire magazine into her." (...)

- / CounterPunch

No More Tears

Omar Barghouti — 2004-05-21T17:48:13Z

Dear Americans,

I've written to you a published open letter a year after the criminal attacks of September 11th reiterating my heartfelt condemnation of those attacks, while reminding you, despite your pain, to search deeper for the context, for the root causes that made them possible. I still had not run out of sympathy for your victims then. After Iraq, you can still count on my moral rejection of any similarly criminal attack against you in the future, but you can forget about my sympathy. I hope you realize what the difference means. 'Who cares?', you may ask. Well, although I obviously do not speak for the peoples of the south, the Arabs, or even my own people, the Palestinians, I suspect much of what I convey to you here is widely shared in all three domains. (...)