"This is not terrorism but destruction," Lieberman

DEARBORN, Michigan, October 18 (IslamOnline.net) - Democratic Presidential hopeful Joseph Lieberman received Friday, October 17, a rowdy response from Arab Americans after defending the demolition of Palestinian houses by Israeli forces as "not terrorism but destruction" and the ongoing construction of the West Bank separating wall.

Speaking to several hundred delegates at the Arab American Institute's National Leadership Conference in Dearborn, Michigan, Lieberman started his 2004 Presidential campaign to Arab Americans as claiming that the wall came in response to what he termed Palestinian "terrorism," the New York Times reported Saturday, October 18.

Lieberman, an orthodox Jew who does not campaign on Saturdays, further supported as "temporary" the construction of the (controversial) wall, which annexes vast swathes of Palestinian territories in the West Bank.

"This wall is temporary. It can come down as soon as there is an agreement," the daily quoted the U.S. senator from Connecticut as saying.

His statements came hared on the heels of the U.S. veto on a Syrian-proposed U.N. Security Council resolution, condemning the wall.

But a myriad of those attending the conference interrupted him, arguing that the wall was designed to usurp more Palestinian land.

"It has nothing to do with security. It has to do with stealing from the Palestinians," shouted Greta Berlin, a Los Angeles resident who had just returned from the West Bank, where she was working with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM).

Lieberman retorted, "The best way to do that is to get a Palestinian leadership that will stop the terrorism or at least make a 100 percent effort to do that."

The 600km-long wall will cut occupied Jerusalem off from the rest of the West Bank.

It will eventually snake some 900 kilometers (540 miles) along the West Bank and leave even larger swathes of its territory on the Israeli side and could cost up to $2.2 million a kilometer or a total of $1.8 billion, even though the Israeli economy is in dire straits.

Wooing Arabs

Zogby (R) asks the audiance not to yell out angry comments to Lieberman

As the atmosphere started getting hostile, James Zogby, the head of the institute, asked the crowd to be respectful and drew some applause to Lieberman, who would become the first Jewish President if his campaign is successful.

The Presidential candidate tried to tone down his pro-Israel line by regretting that Palestinian land had been taken in building the wall and criticizing the roundups of Arabs and Muslims after the 9/11 attacks on the United States and supporting inter-faith solidarity.

In one of his rare eloquent phrases, he urged his audience to reconsider the hyphens in terms like Jewish-American and Arab-American.

"In some parts of the world, those hyphens are dividing lines. In this country, those hyphens are stitches at the seam of the American garment," the Times quoted him as saying.

Lieberman was the first of eight Democratic Presidential candidates scheduled to address the conference Friday and Saturday.

Representatives Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina - received mostly warm responses, particularly when criticizing President Bush over issues related to the war on terrorism.

Lieberman was Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 election, but has so far failed to establish himself as a frontrunner in the campaign for his party's nomination.

Although polls show he enjoys name recognition, former NATO chief Wesley Clark and former Vermont governor Howard Dean have led the crowded pack of Democratic contenders in key states.

Lieberman has always been a strong advocate for Israel as an "integral to U.S. national security interests."

Lieberman had also stated that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat "is no longer a credible partner for peace,” and had called for "Arafat's removal and his replacement."

He also "led the fight" to move America's Embassy in Israel to Al-Quds (occupied Jerusalem).