Action Items
USA Today publishes call for ethnic cleansing
Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry, The Electronic Intifada, 22 February 2002

Source
"No to Palestinian state"
by Emanuel A. Winston
Editorial/Opinion section, Page 14A
USA TODAY, 22 February 2002

The nations think a new state of Palestine would solve all Mideast problems. Not true. A Palestinian state would be the ultimate poison pill for Israel, given the Palestinians' unbroken record of war, terrorism and broken peace agreements.

Wherever Yasser Arafat has nested, he has stockpiled smuggled-in weapons for a war to the death of the Jewish state ‹ the end he has pledged himself to repeatedly and publicly, both before and after the 1993 Oslo agreement. And he's doing it again.

Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has dusted off the old formula: recognition of Israel in exchange for a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and withdrawal to the 1967 armistice lines ‹ called by some Israelis the "Auschwitz borders."

This is the same Saudi Arabia that has been funding Osama bin Laden and other anti-American and anti-Israel terrorists for the past 40 years. Fourteen of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were Saudis.

Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, like Syria and Iran, has taught the children of several generations to hate Israel so much that when they grow up they will commit ritual suicide for Islam and kill Jews. Arafat has thus programmed the ongoing genocide of his own young people as well as those of Israel.

Regrettably, there is no ready solution for deprogramming the Arab culture that has taught its youth to hate and kill with such ferocity that nothing, including a state of their own, will change their minds or cure their murderous behavior.

This clash of civilizations demonstrates radical Islam on the march: first to eliminate Israel and then to dominate the hated West. Global terrorism is driven by radical Islamists who find the economic, scientific and cultural advances of the West unbearable and indigestible. They cannot and will not take yes for an answer because they must win back the pride they lost and the shame they suffered from having lost six wars to Israel, with unending terrorism in between.

A PLO state will only guarantee unending war, drawing in all like-minded nations. The simple answer, instead, would be to create a vast separation from Israel, resettling the Palestinians in Jordan, where 80% of the population already is Palestinian.

Emanuel A. Winston is a Middle East analyst and commentator.

Problems:

1. "...resettling the Palestinians in Jordan..." is a thinly-veiled euphemism for ethnic cleansing - No American newspaper would print an article containing similar incitement against any other ethnic group.

2. The language is racist - The article dehumanises Arabs in general and Palestinians in particular using the same vicious terminology about "Arab culture" that is typical of traditional anti-Semitic and racist diatribes. No American newspaper would print an article that made such broad defamatory statements against any other ethnic group:
Regrettably, there is no ready solution for deprogramming the Arab culture that has taught its youth to hate and kill with such ferocity that nothing, including a state of their own, will change their minds or cure their murderous behavior.
3. Neutral representaton of Winston as "a Middle East analyst and commentator" - In various bios freely available on the Internet, Emanuel A. Winston is credited as the Middle East Analyst of the Freeman Center for Strategic Studies, a far right pro-Israeli think tank.

Winston also is described as founder of the "Winston International Institute For The Study Of Prejudice". One page on Bar-Ilan University's website describes the Institute, which does not appear to have a website, as an organisation that:
"develops programs to promote conflict resolution and tolerance between Arabs and Jews and mutual understanding among Israel's religious and secular communities and diverse ethnic groups."
Prior to calling for the ethnic cleansing of four million Palestinians, tolerance and prejudice expert Winston's other writings included an undated article credited as originating from Gamla Online, titled Obligated To Kill, in which Mr. Winston opens with the assertion that:
In the Bible (the Torah), we are instructed to kill first whoever comes to kill us.
and continues on to suggest the systematic obliteration of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, city by city as a sensible course of international action against terrorism.


Solution

This action item is now considered closed as it is out of date. EI's original action request follows.

Write a letter of 250 or fewer words marked "FOR PUBLICATION" to USA TODAY via editor@usatoday.com:

1. Citing the article, "No to Palestinian state", by Emanuel A. Winston from 22 February 2002.

2. Noting that printing a call for ethnic cleansing in the 21st Century is beyond the pale of legitimate debate.

3. Noting that articles that dehumanise entire peoples and cultures are simply raw racism and should not be given space in respectable newspapers.

4. Noting that Emanuel A. Winston has a long history of publishing extreme and violent "solutions" for his Arab and Muslim "problem" that USA TODAY should have been aware of.

5. Please write an original letter and do not simply copy & paste the information above. As always, be brief, polite, quote accurately, and include your name, address, and telephone number (which most publications require to ensure publication).


You said...

Dear USA Today,

Regrettably, I understand that there are individuals such as Mr. Winston that hate and dehumanize people outside of their own ethnic group, however, I cannot understand how a paper such as USA Today provided a forum for Mr. Winston's racist views. I realize that with any issue, there will be opposing views, but this article reeks of hatred and racism. It is certainly no secret that Mr. Winston has written numerous articles touting the same horrendous views he voiced in your paper.

From a correspondent in Merrick, NY

.....

Dear USA Today,

I do not understand how your paper can print such offensive statements. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom of platform.

From a correspondent in New York, NY

.....

Dear USA Today,

I was appalled at your decision to print such a bigoted and inflammatory piece written by Emanuel A. Winston, "No to a Palestinian state." His "simple answer" of so-called resettlement of Palestinians is eerily similar to what one might hear from the most extreme white sheeted racists in this country in regard to Blacks or Jews. When Milosevic and his cronies recently began their "resettling" of a whole people the U.S. and NATO called it ethnic cleansing and considered it so immoral as to respond with a massive bombing campaign. Milosevic is rightly on trial now for these actions. South Africa was the subject of a massive boycott and intense diplomatic pressure for its apartheid "resettling." [...] Winston's blanket aspersions regarding Arabs and Arab culture are quite repulsive and are an unvarnished attempt to dehumanize the Palestinians. This is utter racism. Saying that the Palestinian culture "has taught its youth to hate and kill" is completely off the mark and conveniently ignores the 35 years of brutal occupation inflicted on and endured by these people. The Palestinians are under attack in and for their very homes.

From a correspondent in Nashville, TN

.....

Dear USA Today,

...No reasonable person can doubt that it is a truly frightening moment when a nationwide, mass-circulation newspaper in a very influential country -- namely, the United States -- prints an open call for the expulsion of several million people from territory occupied by one of that country's staunch allies.

From a correspondent in Pittsburgh, PA

.....

Dear USA Today,

Emanuel A. Winston's article is a sad rallying cry for an old world hatred and prejudice. It's author appeals to the historical dark side of human nature which seeks to demonize another people to deny its own shortcomings. The global threat of terrorism rises with every such assault on our higher capacity for understanding. Will you give an airing to voices that encourage trust and reaching out, instead of those that prey on the worst of human fears? The danger is that if such sentiments prevail in our nation today, than the war on terrorism we champion will soon become a war of terrorism we're promoting--a self-justified assault upon those whom we've denied humanity. This dead-end tragic scenario is currently unfolding in the case of Israel against the Palestinians. Will the United States be swept into that same black hole of despair? Please print more contributions from those who can turn the tide of events to reconciliation and hope. We want a future, not the past repeated.

From a correspondent in San Diego, CA

.....

Dear USA Today,

If Winston's essay were reworded to ascribe to Israelis and Judaism what Winston ascribes to Palestinians and Islam, such an essay would properly be labeled as racist. Mr. Winston's line, as demonstrated in his other writings, is unambiguously racist. His call for "resettling" is a call for what is expressly forbidden under international law. Indeed what Mr. Winston advocates is explicitly defined as a crime against humanity. Surely if USA TODAY wished to find an alternative opinion to that of its editors, USA Today could have found one free of the grossly racist sentiments of the likes of Emanuel Winston.

From a correspondent in New York, NY


This action item (#24, 22 February 2002) was prepared by Ali Abunimah and Nigel Parry.


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