Finkelstein wants to break siege of Gaza

Finkelstein wants to break siege of Gaza

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:55:37 GMT

Here follows an interview by Press TV with internationally renowned political scientist and author, Norman Finkelstein. Finkelstein speaks about his motivation to launch a campaign to break the siege of Gaza. The campaign is scheduled for the December 31, 2009/January 1, 2010, pending final preparations.

Press TV: Your trip to South Africa is linked to a campaign to break the siege of Gaza. Tell us more.

Norman Finkelstein: Several weeks ago, I guess about six weeks ago, I joined a US delegation to Gaza to see the aftermath of the Israeli massacre and also to get some sense of what we can do. I met with people at all levels of Gazan society; people in orphanages, in schools, hospitals and I also had several meetings with senior officials in the government in Gaza and there was a consensus from the top to the bottom of Gazan society that the main obstacle they are now facing is the siege. The devastation was horrific enough, but beyond the devastation, the problem now is they can't rebuild anything. The whole place is just rubble because even six months after the Gaza massacre, no cement is allowed in, no glass is allowed in and everything is exactly as it was on January 18th when the Israeli assault ended.

I then proposed, when we were meeting with the parliamentary representatives that we should attempt to break the siege non-violently with a march. And the idea was enthusiastically received both by the members of the government and by the people in Gaza. So, we began to organize, in the US initially, an international coalition to end the siege of Gaza. We now have a European branch, in Lisbon and chapters in several countries in Europe. And the main challenge now is twofold: number one to enlist prominent moral authorities internationally in support of the march - and that is one of the reasons I am here, because South Africa has a high concentration of internationally prominent moral authorities; everybody ranging from Nelson Mandela to Bishop Tutu to Ela Ghandi and others. The second thing is, we have to bring over bodies. The more people we bring over, the more likelihood that when we march, Israel won't be able to shoot and we'll be able to lift the siege. So we are hoping for several thousand people, including from the Arab world and from South Africa.

Press TV: What is the plan for the campaign?

Norman Finkelstein: We are still working on the details, because the Erez crossing which connects Israel with Gaza is a very complex maze now and it's about a mile long. It's been rebuilt and redesigned in recent years and I have heard it's quite complex, it's a rats maze. So we are sending over a high-level delegation in September who will work out the logistics and figure out exactly what is and what is not feasible.

Press TV: Does this mean the march will pass through Israel?

Norman Finkelstein: No, we want it to be strictly legal. In my opinion Israel's weakest card is international law and the Palestinians strongest card is international law. We have no intention and no desire to violate the internationally recognized borders of Israel. On the other hand every human rights organization in the world has said Israel's siege of Gaza is a form of collective punishment. In the words of Amnesty International “it's a flagrant violation of international law”. So our concern and our aim and our objective and our purpose is to break the siege.

Press TV: We have seen attempts to break the siege, for example the boat campaign, British MP George Galloway's Viva Palestina campaign. How is yours different?

Norman Finkelstein: First of all, we see all of the campaigns as complementary. There is no issue here of conflicts in the campaigns. Galloway's convoys have been basically humanitarian in their thrust and they have been entering through Egypt, not challenging the Israeli side of the siege. What's called the Free Gaza boats - it's a similar idea, but they have been focusing on the naval or the passage through the international territorial waters and then the territorial waters of Gaza. It's also been limited due to the nature of trying to break a naval blockade. It's also been limited to a handful of people.

We want to get thousands of people from the outside marching and also alongside them several hundred thousand people in Gaza. We did receive the good news that the Hamas cabinet met and they officially endorsed the march. So, I guess the main difference is going to be hopefully, the mass quality of the non-violent action. It won't limit itself to a handful of very courageous and noble people, but it will hopefully expand the base of active participants to include several hundred thousand people, including several thousand internationals.

Press TV: Considering the international governments' response to Hamas in how they have supported the siege, now that you have Hamas's endorsement, do you not think that will affect your campaign?

Norman Finkelstein: I have thought of that. I have not been privy to the conversations of the organizing committee on how they are going to deal with the Hamas endorsement. But I thought myself; during Ghandi's non-violent undertakings in India, there were a large number of terrorist organizations in India who did not agree with Ghandi's tactics. And I asked myself, how would Ghandi have reacted if those terrorist organizations - I'm not saying Hamas is terrorist - I'm talking about India, if they had endorsed his non-violent actions. There is no doubt about how we would have reacted. He would have said terrific. So why shouldn't we be gratified if Hamas says we are willing to give non-violence a chance. And then the burden is on the international community. You want Hamas to act non-violently. You keep saying that what the Palestinians need is a Palestinian Ghandi. Okay, we're giving you the Palestinian Ghandis; we are giving you several thousand from around the world and we are giving you several hundred thousand from Gaza. And these Palestinian Ghandi's have the official endorsement of Hamas, so what is you excuse now? They are trying to do it non-violently. I think if we explain it correctly, the endorsement is entirely in our favour. It says Hamas is willing to give it a chance … to end this brutal, murderous, illegal, flagrant violation of international law. Now let's show them: you want a Ghandi, you want them to have a Ghandi. Let's show them a Ghandi, otherwise you (International governments) are just hypocrites.

Press TV: How successful have you been in enlisting support from South African “moral authorities”?

Norman Finkelstein: We have a considerable distance to go. From my perspective, we are not asking anyone to endorse something that's controversial. These are not complex issues. The siege is a flagrant violation of international law, that's the formal language for a war crime.

When I asked John Dugard, the respected South African jurist [UN Rapporteur for Human Rights], “will you endorse?”, in less than 24 hours he wrote back “Ofcourse”, because we are not asking to endorse Hamas rocket attacks on Israel, we are asking for basic humanity. How much can the Palestinians endure?
I follow the conflict fairly closely and if you were to ask me now to list the names of all of Israel's campaigns against the people of Gaza since 2005, I can list to you Operation Summer Rains, I can list for you Operation Autumn… I can't even remember all the names. These people have been mercilessly and endlessly and ceaselessly assaulted.

Is it so controversial to say let's end the siege so they can rebuild from that monstrous attack that Israel launched on December 27th? Anyone with even a jot of humanity has to acknowledge that what is being done there now is so inhuman and inhumane.

When former President Jimmy Carter went to Gaza, he came back and he said “The Palestinians are being treated like animals”. In the United States, to be honest, animals are not treated that way. They really are not. There is an SPCA in the US that will provide shelter for a homeless dog and Palestinians aren't even allowed shelter, they are not being allowed to rebuild their homes.

So, I am confident that if you make a humanitarian appeal, an uncontroversial one, and if I can get past all the roadblocks - the advisors and the advisors and the advisors - I am confident that not only Nelson Mandela, but 99% of the South African people will say ofcourse, why not?

I have been to Gaza; it's amazing how little animosity the people of Gaza have. The whole war - it wasn't a war - the whole massacre in Gaza was paid for and supplied by the United States; I came as an American. The whole war was executed by Israel, which calls itself the state of the Jewish people; I am Jewish. Everybody I met in Gaza knew I was an American and knew I was Jewish. I can tell you without fear of contradiction, I can even put a polygraph to my wrist, I did not receive one hostile word from anyone in Gaza, just “thank you for coming”.

It was almost confounding how gracious the people were and how little they looked for sympathy. You went from nursery to orphanage to hospital and nobody wore their suffering on their lapel. They had a lot of dignity, a lot more than I think I am capable of.