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Mandela Was Once a Terrorist
By Lamis Andoni
05/10/07 "Global
Post" -- -- Leaders of Israel, responsible for
the occupation of lands, destruction of people's lives and
violations of the Geneva Conventions, are welcomed and even
celebrated as international dignitaries. Neither
Israeli-perpetrated violence nor its dispossession of indigenous
people from their own land is cause for questioning Israel’s
leadership. But for South Africa to receive a leading member of
Hamas, a violent resistance movement, is a cause for shock if
not condemnation.
If the issue is morality, then what moral values justify Israeli
acts of aggression? The fact in our world today is that force is
rewarded provided it is committed by the powers that be. Cluster
bombs and Napalm, both used by Israel at different wars, are
sophisticated weapons employed by civilized countries.
Suicide bombs and home-made rockets are criminal arsenals
unimaginable to the sensibilities of the societies that
celebrate Hiroshima and Nagasaki as acts of victory against
evil. There will be no solution to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict – ever – if this kind of upper-brow hypocrisy continues
to rule the day.
It is amazing that one could forget that the new South Africa
was liberated by a former terrorist shunned by America, Britain
and Israel. Nelson Mandela is now a celebrated hero. But America
and Israel were the last to abandon racism and support the end
of apartheid in South Africa.
Ismail Haniyeh is no Mandela. But let us be reminded that
Mandela’s was not always a celebrated cause. And he did not
always believe in non-violent means to achieve it. Mandela is
the first to be true to his history. He has refused to change
his position on Palestine, despite continuing to face Israeli
wrath.
Yes, Haniyeh is no Mandela, but he is the son of a people under
occupation. He came to power through fair elections. With the
exception of the last two rocket launches, Hamas had refrained
from any kind of attack against Israel since 2005. The same
cannot be said about Israel, whose army takes the liberty of
venturing into Palestinian towns for destructive promenades,
undeterred by international laws.
It is natural for South Africa to be the first to break the
international embargo and welcome Haniyeh. It is an act of
leadership that is true to its history. Terrorism is rewarded
every day as America continues to devastate Iraq and Israel to
destroy Palestine. Are we concerned about stopping violence in
all its forms, regardless of who perpetrates it?
Palestinians elect their leaders; the world cannot choose for
them. Israel cannot impose Palestinian leaders upon them, just
as Palestinians cannot chose leaders for Israel. If we are
serious about finding solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict
and others, we journalists and opinion makers should start
facing the truth about – and not perpetuate – double standards.
If the world has any interest in bringing peace to Israel and
Palestine, it should stop making fake moral judgments and start
talking to the representatives of the Palestinian people. These
include people like President Mahmoud Abbas, Prime Minister
Ismail Haniyeh, and prisoners like Marwan Barghouti.
South Africa is wise. It knows the meaning of engagement, of
talking, as well as of the struggle for liberation. It can
bridge the gap between a world that celebrates massive invasions
to assert power and the world of people without freedoms, denied
the right to resist and – in the case of Palestine – to elect
their own leaders without being punished for their choice. The
crippling siege of Palestine and the Israeli use of naked force
for collective punishment have failed to eradicate resistance.
Give South Africa a chance to find a language of understanding
that aims at eradicating oppression and not killing people.
Lamis Andoni is an English and Middle East consultant for Al
Jazeera, the Qatar-based news station
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