Dear Usama,
I am writing to you, a supporter of War on Want, to urge you to buy the new single Freedom for Palestine by Oneworld.
I have visited the occupied Palestinian territories and have witnessed the humiliation of Palestinians at Israeli military checkpoints: the inhumanity that won’t let ambulances reach the injured, farmers tend their land or children attend school.
This treatment is familiar to me and the many black South Africans who were corralled and harassed by the security forces of the apartheid government.In South Africa, we could not have achieved our freedom without the help of people around the world, and musicians were central to our struggle. Through music and art we speak to a common humanity, one which transcends political and economic interests.
For this I am proud to support Freedom for Palestine by OneWorld. I urge everyone to buy the single and spread its message.
Please do so now, [online].Let’s send a message to governments that a critical mass of people want to see an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine and the oppression of its people. By acting together we can break cycles of injustice, end the occupation and build a new world based on our common humanity and justice.
Support Freedom for Palestine.
Peace. Shalom. Salaam.
Yours,
Desmond Tutu
UNITY 
June 27, 2011 at 12:55 am |
How about an end to the hatred and expressed desire to exterminate the Jews as enshrined in the pali documents.
June 27, 2011 at 3:06 am |
The simple fact is that the average Israeli, whether on the street, in the government or the military, would be very happy to have peace with a self-governing Palestinian state. But there is no one to make peace with. Both Hamas and the supposedly more moderate Fatah refuse to end their commitment to the destruction of Israel. Both bombard their populace with an unending stream of scurrilous anti-Semitic filth in an effort to whip up support for that intended destruction. Both continue to support acts of terror aimed at innocent civilians, including infants and children, while making heroes out of those who commit those gruesome murders. Just this week we were treated to the spectacle of Hamas shrilly condemning Israel for ending post-graduate college education for terrorist prisoners as a human rights violation while illegally and cruelly holding Gilad Shalit a prisoner without rights, privileges, visits from the International Red Cross or even proof of life for the last two years; this in breach of all international law and any civilized interpretation of human rights and common decency.
Given all this, all of which is one hundred percent true and undisputed, I ask you: would any government, any people, allow such a state to be formed on their border, a state that would be only a few short miles from their major population centers? Israel is a nation, a home for the Jewish people. It is not a suicide pact.
July 6, 2011 at 12:37 am |
Gilad Shalit should be released. And so should the hundreds of Palestinian children held in Israeli jails.
July 6, 2011 at 2:30 am
If every single Palestinian in every Israeli prison for any reason were exchanged for Gilad Shalit tomorrow, it would not bring Hamas or Fatah one minute closer to making peace. It would not end the anti-Semitic spew from either. It would not stop them from making heroes out of murderers.
If they should ever change their course and abandon their Jew-hatred and desire to destroy Israel and massacre its people, they would be surprised at how fast Israel would race to negotiate.
June 27, 2011 at 4:05 am |
Duh, there is no occupation of Gaza! No Israelis are in Gaza.
What about the humiliation of airport inspections for bombs that might be terrorists. Palestinians got what they asked for.
July 10, 2011 at 11:13 pm |
There is a distinct difference between peace and capitulation. As is between thousands of Palestinian civilians – many of them women and children – who continue to be incarcerated in Israeli prisons WITHOUT a charge. The Israelis have a name for this: Administrative Detention (ref: http://www.btselem.org/administrative_detention). There is a difference between a belligerent, fully armed soldier on active duty and innocent, unarmed civilians – that difference ought to be more than merely one being Israeli and thousands being Palestinians. Nonetheless, I for one would advocate the honourable release of Shalit. But then I don’t have members of my family held in Israeli custody perhaps because they refused to be quietly and orderly evicted from their family home served with a demolition order.