By Mordecai Briemberg

It's 53 years since Israel drove 750,000 Palestinians from their homes, villages and towns. Israel then destroyed completely nearly 400 villages, erasing them from the map. And these Palestinian refugees, their children, and their children's children have lived, for the most part, in refugee camps ever since.

Yet the Israeli government still refuses to acknowledge the right of Palestinian refugees to return, as required by United Nations resolution 194 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It's 34 years since Israel invaded and militarily occupied the remaining 22% of Palestine. The longest illegal military occupation in the 20th century is Israel's occupation of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

Yet the Israeli government still refuses to end this occupation as required by United Nations resolution 242 and international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention. Israel is the only country in the world that has never declared any boundaries for itself. It didn't even accept the boundaries established by the United Nations in 1947 when the U.N. created the "Jewish state". Instead, war after war, Israel has kept expanding its boundaries.

Israel swallows more and more land. At the same time Israel wants you and me to swallow the bait that it is always under attack, that it is always "defending" itself, that Israel always is "poor" Israel.

A "victim" that is always the victor. How strange. How unbelievable. Since the Israeli army massacre of Palestinians a year ago (September 28) at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the Palestinian population of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem has been in open rebellion. It is called the Al Aqsa intifada.

In this rebellion, the overwhelming number of killed have been Palestinians. The overwhelming number of injured, over 20,000, are Palestinians. The only homes that have been demolished are Palestinian homes. The only olive trees and farmland that have been destroyed are Palestinian trees and farmland.

The only taxis that have been pulverized by missiles from helicopter gunships are taxis carrying Palestinians. The only people seeking medical care who have been prevented from reaching a hospital and have died because they were refused passage through Israeli military checkpoints are Palestinians. The only ambulances that have been shelled, the only ambulance workers who have been shot and killed while trying to administer medical aid, are Palestinian ambulances and Palestinian paramedics.

This is not a war. This is a massacre of the utterly desperate Palestinians carried out by the Israeli army and government. The U.S. has provided this army with the most advanced weapons. The Israeli government would collapse without the vast financial subsidies the U.S. provides, the greatest per capita on the globe.

The crushing pain and humiliation Israel has imposed on Palestinians is not at all conveyed in our media. But it is intimately known and felt in the Arab and Moslem world as the human horror it really is. Hence the widespread, deep anger against countries who support Israel diplomatically, financially and militarily. And our government is one of these.

So what has happened to Palestinians since September 11?

When the Israeli government first heard of the terrorist crime of September 11, they made statements like: "Now the Americans know what it's like!" Israelis soon realized however how indecent their smug gleefulness was, when most Americans were grieving their dead.

Yet Prime Minister Sharon believed that under the cover of the U.S. war against Afghanistan Israel would have a free hand: to completely destroy any Palestinian partner for negotiation; to re-enter and re-occupy the few Palestinian towns from which the Israeli military withdrew as part of the "Oslo" agreement with Yasser Arafat; and to terrorize still more Palestinians into fleeing the remaining 22% of their homeland, so Israel would have it all.

However, the U.S. government, in its new global and unlimited war, is desperate to construct and sustain a coalition of countries, including Arab governments in the Middle East. Recognizing popular anger throughout the Arab world because of the horrors inflicted on the Palestinian people, Bush needs to pretend he recognizes the Palestinians have some rights.

So there has been a tug-of-war with the government of Israel. There even are moments of anger between them. Since September 11, the Israeli military has increased the rate it murders Palestinians. And the U.S. verbally complains. The Israeli military has invaded and bombarded several Palestinian towns. The U.S. asks them to withdraw. Israel temporarily leaves two.

But so far there is no indication the U.S. wants to do more than return to the horror show pre-September 11. The U.S. has not even hinted it is serious enough about peace to twist Israel's arm gently by reducing just a little the billions it annually throws Israel's way. The Palestinian leadership made an enormous concession, giving up their legitimate claim to 78% of their homeland. Until Israel and the U.S. - and Canada - respond to this with the modest concession of withdrawing the Israeli military and settlers from the remaining 22% of Palestine (West Bank, Gaza, East Jerusalem), and recognize the right of Palestinian refugees to return, there will be no peace.

No peace in that small corner of the Middle East. No peace throughout the whole region. Indeed no peace and security globally. That's what September 11 showed us.