Below is a letter written by Anna Baltzer who enlists our help to defy those who want to silence the discussion.  Also see complete extended interview.

Last night Dr. Barghouti and I were on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart talking about Palestine.

The show was overwhelmed with angry emails and phone calls prior to the appearance, and up until the last minute it seemed like they might cancel. During the taping the show had its only heckler in 11 years. The entire staff were very nervous and may come to regret the monumental decision (and not make it again) as they will surely be inundated now that the show has aired.

That is why it is CRUCIAL that the show receive letters of support from anyone who appreciated the interview.

PLEASE take a moment to give a quick thank you to the Daily Show. I’m sure they will likely be affected by numbers rather than length, so it’s OK to make it short, but spread the word to others! Be sure to put “Thank you” in the subject, and maybe Dr. Barghouti & my names. Fill out the form here:  http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml (make sure to choose The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as your topic).

I believe the interview wouldn’t have happened 3 years ago. Times are changing. Keep on keepin’ on…

Anna

23 October 2008 — The Palestine quagmire began at the United Nations more than 60 years ago.

That’s when under considerable American pressure the U.N. General Assembly voted to “partition” Palestine between a Jewish State and a Palestinian Arab State.

The entire Arab world voted against it. It was an immensely contentious decision. Secretary of State George Marshall himself personally threatened to resign if Truman approved this plan.

In the end, Marshall gave in and stayed in office, but he warned — and how right he proved to be — that this decision was likely to have very troubling impact on U.S. foreign policies for years to come.

Today at the United Nations in New York, Professor Richard Falk, the newly appointed Special Rapporteur on Israeli Actions in the Palestinian Territories, presents his first report to the U.N. General Assembly Third Committee.

Overall Falk’s conclusions mirror my own. Click here to read Falk’s complete report; and pay special attention to his “Recommendations” on the last page.

The biggest difference is I’m free to state things rather more bluntly, and Falk is constrained by both his U.N. mandate and the legalistic style of these things.

Indeed I do take off the gloves and call it straight in my upcoming publication, SAVING ISRAEL FROM ITSELF and SAVING AMERICA FROM ISRAEL.

This publication contains what I feel the imperative to explain and to advocate. It is the result of my own investigation into the situation a few months ago when I visited Israel and Occupied Palestine with stops in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bir Zeit University, Bethlehem, Hebron, Beit Jalla, Nazareth, Tiberias, Jericho, as well as an Israeli settlement and a Palestinian Refugee Camp, before brief visits to Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.

Furthermore, Falk isn’t in a position as I am to speak up forcefully about the powerful Israel and Jewish Lobby in our own country that has caused so much harm and whose former top officials are now on trial as spies.

Professor Richard Falk

Richard Falk, himself Jewish, is one of our country’s most distinguished scholars and authors. We have featured his excellent writings and statements about Israel and Palestine in the past, and those too I greatly encourage you to read.

His overall conclusion: “Palestinians have been betrayed by the international community.”

And get this: Because Falk has spoken up against their policies and because he has been appointed by the U.N. to this new role, the Israelis have not only barred him from coming to Israel, they refuse to let him go to Jerusalem or to the Palestinian West Bank or Gaza! So much for Israeli Democracy! How outrageous!

I share Falk’s conclusion. But I think it needs an addition.

We Americans have been betrayed as well by many of our own leaders in Washington. It’s time our American democracy policies change to what is right, to what is just, and to what is in keeping with our own American principles and values.

These are indeed my primary concerns and they lie at the heart of SAVING ISRAEL FROM ITSELF and SAVING AMERICA FROM ISRAEL which we are working strenuously to complete.

“Gaza is a prison and Israel seems to have thrown away the key.”

John Dugard, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights

• Listen to Spokesperson in Cyprus below
• Listen to Palestinian Fulbright Scholar in Gaza below

15 August 2008

The SS FREE GAZA - One of two boats being used by a group of more than 40 human rights activists from 17 countries attempting to break the seige of Gaza from the sea.

Two boats, Free Gaza and Liberty, have set sail today for Gaza.  On board are are 44 peace activists from many countries including Israel.  Among them is Tony Blair’s sister-in-law, Lauren Booth.

Tony Blair of course is the former Prime Minister of Great Britain who today serves as “The Quartet Representative”, headquartered in Jerusalem.  He himself has said it is too dangerous for him to go to Gaza.   I met briefly with his spokesperson, Ruti Winterstein, when I was in Jerusalem in May, as Blair himself, the floor above me at the American Colony Hotel, was not in the area and not doing his job!

The voyage of the Free Gaza and the Liberty is aimed at “breaking the siege of Gaza,” Greta Berlin, one of the spokespersons said in a report published yesterday in The Jerusalem Post.

Berlin added that the activists “do not intend to turn around” if they are confronted by the Israeli Navy. “Why should we turn around? Israel doesn’t own that property. We have been invited by the people of Gaza,” Berlin said, speaking from Cyprus, where the boats will dock en route to Gaza. “We will certainly talk to them [the Israeli Navy], but our intent is to break the siege of Gaza. We want to get all the way to Gaza,” Berlin said.

The second ship is named SS Liberty and commemorates the USS Liberty that was attacked and sunk by Israel during the 1967 War. The banner is from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Free Gaza Movement people also plan to lay 34 roses in the sea “in memory of the sailors of the USS Liberty,” according to Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, who holds dual Israeli and British citizenship.   The USS Liberty, for those who may not remember, is the American intelligence ship attacked by Israeli in the 1967 war killing 34 Americans.

Preparations for this unusual voyage to dramatize the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza have been going on for many months.

We interviewed, Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, the spokeperson for the Free Gaza Movement, earlier this month by phone in Cyprus.

LISTEN BELOW TO THE INTERVIEW with FREE GAZA Spokesperson

We were told during the interview that there will be live satellite video broadcast that will be available of this attempt to symbolically bring relief supplies to the people of Gaza.  We will provide a link to this here at our website as soon as it is available.

We were also told that if the boats succeed in reaching Gaza they will attempt to bring out the Palestinian students who have received Fulbright Scholarships to Universities in the United States but whom the Israelis refuse to let leave Gaza.  We have since learned however that not only are three of the Palestinian Fulbright Scholars trapped in Gaza but that the Israelis have also pressured the U.S. to cancel the Visas they had received!  How shameful!

LISTEN BELOW TO ONE OF THE FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS IN GAZA