Dr Summerfield's article and his response to his critics
As members of ECO (Ebrei contro l’Occupazione – Jews Against the
Occupation – Italy) we wish to congratulate Dr Summerfield for his article
and his response to his critics. In a world where media bias is strongly
in favour of Israel, where papers and television give about one tenth of
the space they dedicate to Israeli deaths to Palestinian ones, while they
forget to explain what the Israeli occupation is like and to tell about
the current situation of man-made hunger in the Occupied Territories (1),
such honest exposures of facts are badly needed.
The birth of the Jewish state carried with it the ethnic cleansing of
the original inhabitants of the British Mandate. Another ethnic cleansing
was carried out in 1967. Now we see the third one, which Israel implements
by making life impossible for Palestinians. What is going on now is an
ethnical cleansing carried out by hunger due to unemployment – obtained by
confiscating agricultural land, by closures which make it impossible to
reach any workplace, by the prohibition to work within the Green Line, by
closing schools and health structures, by the Apartheid Wall.
Israel wants the Occupied Territories’ land and water – it doesn’t
want their inhabitants, since they are of the “wrong” religion, of the
“wrong” ethnical group. What is carried out now, in front of our eyes, is
the creation of the “Greater Israel”: the Occupied Territories are named
“Judea and Samaria” and their inhabitants, since they are of the “wrong”
religion, have no rights – not even the right to live. Whoever says this –
and there is no exception in Dr Summerfield’s case – is branded as an
“anti-Semite”. As European Jews, who know by experience what real anti-
Semitism is, we should oppose the use of the word “anti-Semite” to brand
those who rightfully condemn Israel’s racist practices.
Generally speaking, Western media prefer not to see and not to tell;
those who do say and tell are exceptions. So Palestinian attacks to
Israelis seem to happen in a vacuum – to be expression of blind hatred
against Jews. As members of the civil society, we should condemn attacks
to civilians, whoever practises them. Those of us who are physicians
should remember our duty to prevent diseases – such as malnutrition and
anaemia – not only to fight them once they are fully established. For
this, the British Medical Journal should be commended for publishing Dr
Summerfield’s timely report.
Dr Paola Canarutto – on behalf of Ebrei contro l’Occupazione
Rapid Response:
Dr Summerfield's article and his response to his critics
As members of ECO (Ebrei contro l’Occupazione – Jews Against the
Occupation – Italy) we wish to congratulate Dr Summerfield for his article
and his response to his critics. In a world where media bias is strongly
in favour of Israel, where papers and television give about one tenth of
the space they dedicate to Israeli deaths to Palestinian ones, while they
forget to explain what the Israeli occupation is like and to tell about
the current situation of man-made hunger in the Occupied Territories (1),
such honest exposures of facts are badly needed.
The birth of the Jewish state carried with it the ethnic cleansing of
the original inhabitants of the British Mandate. Another ethnic cleansing
was carried out in 1967. Now we see the third one, which Israel implements
by making life impossible for Palestinians. What is going on now is an
ethnical cleansing carried out by hunger due to unemployment – obtained by
confiscating agricultural land, by closures which make it impossible to
reach any workplace, by the prohibition to work within the Green Line, by
closing schools and health structures, by the Apartheid Wall.
Israel wants the Occupied Territories’ land and water – it doesn’t
want their inhabitants, since they are of the “wrong” religion, of the
“wrong” ethnical group. What is carried out now, in front of our eyes, is
the creation of the “Greater Israel”: the Occupied Territories are named
“Judea and Samaria” and their inhabitants, since they are of the “wrong”
religion, have no rights – not even the right to live. Whoever says this –
and there is no exception in Dr Summerfield’s case – is branded as an
“anti-Semite”. As European Jews, who know by experience what real anti-
Semitism is, we should oppose the use of the word “anti-Semite” to brand
those who rightfully condemn Israel’s racist practices.
Generally speaking, Western media prefer not to see and not to tell;
those who do say and tell are exceptions. So Palestinian attacks to
Israelis seem to happen in a vacuum – to be expression of blind hatred
against Jews. As members of the civil society, we should condemn attacks
to civilians, whoever practises them. Those of us who are physicians
should remember our duty to prevent diseases – such as malnutrition and
anaemia – not only to fight them once they are fully established. For
this, the British Medical Journal should be commended for publishing Dr
Summerfield’s timely report.
Dr Paola Canarutto – on behalf of Ebrei contro l’Occupazione
(1) See http://www.bethlehemmedia.net/feat66.htm
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests