At least, I think it's not. I wonder, though, because so far I've only found it here. (Update: I wonder no more. It's now up on their website.)
From: Americans for Peace Now apndc@peacenow.org
To: [----]
Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 4:56 PM
Subject: Peace Now Settlement Monitors Need Your Protection
Dror Etkes.
Age 34 . . . Married . . . Father of two.
Risks his life daily to monitor settlement expansion.
You can provide an armored car to make it safer for him to work.
Now why would Mr. Etkes need an armored car to "monitor settlement expansion"? Let me see.
Americans for Peace Now is launching a six-week campaign to raise $100,000 to provide an armored vehicle for Peace Now's Settlements Watch Team, and its head Dror Etkes, to use as they go about their important, but dangerous, mission.
Click here to help provide Dror and the Settlements Watch Team access to an armored car.
Um, I still don't understand. It's an "important mission" because . . . ? And it's a "dangerous mission" because . . . ? An explanation must be coming up any minute here.
Despite the ongoing attacks against Israelis by Palestinians and despite threats against him from militant settlers, Dror leaves the safety of his home each day and ventures into the West Bank with just a bulletproof vest, which provides only partial protection.
Ok, so here's why it's dangerous. Mr. Etkes needs an armoured tank to protect him against the obviously equal threats of lethal attack by "Palestinians," who have murdered 775 Israelis during the past 21 months, and "militant settlers, who have murdered 0 Israelis during that same time period. Got it.
Once there, he conducts vital on-the-ground research, identifying new outposts and documenting the expansion of existing settlements.
Without the ongoing efforts of Dror and the Settlements Watch Team, very few people would be aware of the explosion of settlement building that's taken place since Ariel Sharon first became prime minister.
Absolutely. Because neither the Arab press, nor Ha'aretz, nor the Zionist-controlled Western Media™ bother to mention this "explosion" more than a few dozen times every day.
The Israeli public relies on Peace Now to find out if Sharon is really taking down the outposts. And Peace Now relies on Dror to travel to parts of the West Bank where settlers have already been slain in ambushes and drive-by shootings by Palestinians, where far right-wing settlers have threatened him, where most Israelis would never dream of going without the protection of a tank.
Just in case you missed it the first time, let's hammer home the point that Mr. Etkes needs an armoured vehicle to protect him from the equal and equivalent dangers of both "ambushes and drive-by shootings by Palestinians" and "threats" by "far right-wing settlers."
And despite the risks, he reports back to Peace Now and the world about what is taking place.
Again, because no one else will tell them. No one.
We think that he shouldn't have to place his life in danger in order to find out what is happening in the territories.
Well, he could try reading the papers or watching the news. That's not usually considered life-threatening.
That's where you come in. Your contribution of . . .
Well, I think I'll just skip the begging part. You get the idea. Peace Now needs $100,000 to buy an armoured car to protect its "monitors" from the palestinians it's so valiantly trying to rescue from Israeli oppression.
Tell you what. How about clicking here or here or here and pledging to support Meryl or Laurence or Michele in their Blogathon drive to buy an armoured ambulence for Magen David Adom, the Israeli version of the Red Cross. I think "the Israeli public relies" a bit more heavily on MDA than it does on Peace Now's little propaganda excursions. Don't you?
