TEHRAN (FNA)- Israel maintains its military occupation of Palestine after some 6 decades, but a noted political activist believes that the cost of occupation should be raised so that it’s no longer possible for Tel Aviv to keep on suppressing the Palestinians.
Paul Larudee tells Fars News Agency that there’s much work that needs to be done to make sure that the voice of the suppressed Palestinians is heard by the global public.
According to Mr. Larudee, what’s happening in the Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip these days is a “human-made disaster” which the Israelis have created and the world community has condoned.
“This is a human-made disaster and the disaster is continuing because it is the Israeli policy to maintain the maximum level of disaster that the world will permit; and the world is quite tolerant in permitting a very high level of disaster,” he said.
A founding member of the Free Gaza Movement and the Free Palestine Movement, Mr. Larudee has been involved with the cause of the Palestinian people for a long time.
In his interview with FNA, Paul Larudee noted that there’s literally “no elected person in the [US] Congress that can get elected by criticizing Israel.”
The 69-year-old Larudee, who is of an Iranian descent, currently resides in California, and has taken part in several global and regional initiatives aimed at helping the Palestinian people and championing their cause. He is also the author of many political essays and articles available in print and online.
Paul Larudee responded to FNA’s questions about the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The following is the text of the interview.
Q: How do you assess the humanitarian situation in Palestine, in general, and the Gaza Strip, in particular? What’s your feeling towards the fact that the people there are denied access to food, medicine, water and shelter, as well as scores of other goods they need for their daily lives? Why is the world community silent about their ordeal?
A: Did Gaza have an earthquake, a tsunami or a hurricane? What happened? There was no natural disaster there. This is a human-made disaster and the disaster is continuing because it is the Israeli policy to maintain the maximum level of the disaster that the world will permit; and the world is quite tolerant in permitting a very high level of disaster. They’re doing nothing to help. Some of them are willing to repair the damage if permitted by Israel, but Israel is not permitting international community to go in and repair the damage. And the international community is quite tolerant with Israel’s refusal. So, this is the entire international community permitting Israel to practice ethnic cleansing in Gaza. That’s the bottom line.
Q: So, why do the world powers allow Israel to continue practicing these harsh and unconventional policies in the Occupied Territories, and especially in the Gaza Strip? Why don’t they take a firm stance and make it clear that killing and blockade won’t be sustainable forever?
A: Well, it’s for a number of reasons. One of this is that they absolutely don’t care at all about what happens to Palestinians, if they die under miserable circumstances, from killing weapons that poison their body or white phosphorus that burns inside their body. They don’t care. The United States doesn’t care! But more important than that is the fact that the Israelis have accomplished a great deal in terms of manipulating the governments of other nations and especially powerful nations like the United States. So, nobody can get elected to political office in the United States without the permission of Israel and its allies. And therefore, there is no elected person in Congress that can get elected by criticizing Israel. That’s why they follow Israeli policy to the maximum. So, we cannot expect the United States or other countries to do anything on the basis of conscience. And to think that they will do it because it’s some sort of national priority or benefit to the United States, that’s nonsense! There is no benefit to the United States in protecting Palestinians. So, we find the United States allied with Israel.
Q: It sounds like the criticism of Israel has become so costly and risky in the West that few people jeopardize their reputation and job by directing criticism against what Israel is doing in the Gaza Strip or West Bank. Are they so powerful that they can raise the costs of criticizing their actions and intimidate those who are inclined to voice opposition to their policies?
A: Well, they haven’t stopped you Kourosh, and they haven’t stopped me and there are a lot of people that they haven’t stopped. They’re very powerful. They have a lot of money behind them and they’ve managed to strangle nations like the United States, France, Britain, Germany and quite a few others; you could even include India to a certain extent. And they’re experts at this, but they are not strangling the grassroots which cares very deeply, as the movement is growing. And after the grassroots, you have the press that needs to come along; and the press today, believe it or not, is much, much better than it was 15 years ago. There’s more criticism in it. It has got still a long way to go. And for last of all, it will be the governments that begin to change their policy. So, I don’t know how patient we have to be. I don’t like patience very much! So, I think impatience is a virtue. But we’ll not be surprised; things will be very hard until the very end and then it’s possible that everything will change very quickly, as it did with South Africa
Q: So, finally, do you believe that the future would be better for the people of Palestine? Are there solutions to adopt to force a change in the Israelis’ behavior and ensure a safe, peaceful and untroubled life for millions of Palestinians suffering under military occupation?
A: There’s only one way. Any nation that has given up a power or given up an occupation – it’s when the occupation becomes too expensive for that nation to bear. We must make the occupation impossible for Israel to continue. A lot of this depends on the Palestinian people and I would not recommend to the Palestinians to depend on the international community, although it’s good to get as much support as possible from the international community. But it’s really the responsibility of the Palestinians if they want this. It’s their choice; it’s really their responsibility to make the occupation really unbearable for the Israelis and then the Israelis will change what they’re doing.
Interview by Kourosh Ziabari
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