Kathleen Christison is a former CIA political analyst and has worked on Middle East issues for 30 years. She is the author of “Perceptions of Palestine” and “The Wound of Dispossession”. Bill Christison was a senior official of the CIA. He served as a National Intelligence Officer and as Director of the CIA’s Office of Regional and Political Analysis. They spent October 2006 in Palestine and on a speaking tour of Ireland sponsored by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (see: http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/11/27/genocide-or-erasure-of-palestinians/ ). .
Kathleen and Bill Christison on the genocide or erasure of Palestinians (2006): “You can argue over terminology, but the truth is evident everywhere on the ground where Israel has extended its writ: Palestinians are unworthy, inferior to Jews, and in the name of the Jewish people, Israel has given itself the right to erase the Palestinian presence in Palestine — in other words, to commit genocide by destroying "in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group." As we debate about and analyze the Palestinian psyche, trying to determine if they have had enough and will surrender or will survive by resisting, it is important to remember that the Jewish people, despite unspeakable tragedy, emerged from the holocaust ultimately triumphant. Israel and its supporters should keep this in mind: empires never last, as Ahmad said, and gross injustice such as the Nazis and Israel have inflicted on innocent people cannot prevail for long.” [1, 2].
[1]. Kathleen and Bill Christison, “Does it matter what you call it? Genocide or erasure of Palestinians”, Counterpunch, 27 November 2006: http://www.counterpunch.org/2006/11/27/genocide-or-erasure-of-palestinians/ .
[2]. Kathleen and Bill Christison, “Does it matter what you call it?”, republished as Chapter 16 in “The Plight of the Palestinians. A long history of destruction”, edited by William Cook, Palgrave Macmillan, London 2010: http://mwcnews.net/focus/analysis/4047-the-plight-of-the-palestinians.html .