What kind of relationship can there be between a dissident
and his government in the aftermath of an attempted invasion that the country
was able to push back? What if the country continues to live under the threat
of being invaded yet again, and the threat of being sabotaged by internal
traitors posing as legitimate dissidents?
How does this situation compare against the relationship
that may exist between an oppressed citizenry and the military setup that invaded
the country … and continues to occupy it several generations later?
To put it in practical terms, how does the treatment of
dissidents in Cuba compare with the treatment that's inflicted on a Palestinian
population, born under Jewish occupation and living in total humiliation as
well as abject privation ever since?
Bret Stephens of the Wall Street Journal wrote a column to
tell America about a Cuban dissident who was sent to jail, came out of jail,
refused to go into exile, and is now corresponding with Stephens and other
people around the globe from his home in Cuba. The column came under the title:
“Fidel's Legacy – A Dissident's View” and the subtitle: “A survivor of Cuba 's own
Gitmo has a word for those mourning the late dictator.” It was published on
November 29, 2016 in the Journal.
Here is what the Cuban said to Stephens: “Wardens in
lower-security prisons use inmates as laborers in agriculture or construction.
Inmates in maximum-security prisons are stuffed into tiny cells and allowed an
hour of sunlight a day. Political prisoners 'face constant terror. A prisoner
has a bad molar. He complains. He gets beaten up. No medical attention'”.
What a relief to learn that in Cuba , wardens and interrogators do
not behave in the manner of “Abu-Ghraib” where the Iraqi inmates were forced to
stage homosexual group rape on each other while their American jailers were
celebrating. These characters were so jovial, in fact, they took photographs of
several scenes to communicate their delight at what they considered to be the
glorious achievements of Dick Cheney's new and improved American military now
under Jewish management and tutelage.
Let's leave that and review what is happening on a daily
basis in occupied Palestine .
The stationing of the Israeli military in the West Bank ,
complete with checkpoints and observation posts, turns the place into a war
zone. That is, for half a century, Israel
has been conducting an ongoing military operation against the people of Palestine who have lived
on that piece of real estate since the beginning of time.
In criminal violation of the Geneva Convention, of
international laws and of several Security Council resolutions, Israel imports
mostly American losers who couldn't make it where they were born and raised,
and places them where they can ethnically cleanse the occupied territories. It
arms these murderous hooligans, trains them, finances them and lets them settle
the land they cleanse of its indigenous population. Israel instructs the hooligans to
acquire, by hook and by crook, the properties of the unarmed Palestinian
farmers who have nothing with which to protect themselves or their families or
their properties.
Palestinian kids who were born and raised on the soil of
their patrimony – now turned into a Jewish hell – live under so much pressure,
they snap occasionally and attack the Jewish settlers and the Israeli soldiers
accompanying them. But the balance of armament between the two antagonists is
so tilted in favor of the Jews; it happens that for every Jew that gets hurt or
killed, dozens of Palestinians get murdered. This is the price that people who
live under hellish conditions are forced to pay when they reach the boiling
point of absolute despair.
The promise is that there will be more of the same because
there exist properties, underground water and other riches that the Jews covet
and plan to grab from their Palestinian owners. To speed up the process, the
settlers provoke the Palestinians who respond by throwing stones at Jewish
tanks and armored vehicles. This gives the Israeli army the excuse to demolish
the homes of Palestinians, a first step in the cycle that ends with the
property being taken and permanently occupied by Jewish newcomers.
That is the difference between the Cuban status quo and the
Palestinian status quo. Now the question: What are the choices available to the
Cuban dissidents, and what are the choices available to the Palestinian people?
The Cuban dissidents are told this is their country where
the majority of the people obey the law of the land and live normal lives. They
too can adapt and become a part of that society, or they can leave.
As to the Palestinians, they are told they will never get
back their properties. They can continue to protest and most certainly die
sooner or later, or they can hand their properties to the Jews, thus help
cleanse the place by withdrawing themselves from it.