The drama of Israel is – it cannot just give back the homes and land that belonged to Palestinians (Moslems and Christians).

It could offer some compensation, however.

After all, Jews were given compensation from Germany, Poland etc. for homes that the natives took over from Jews, in a Jewish version of Nakba.

But of course, this Nakba is obviously very different from the Jews' own suffering and expulsions…

SNARK!

"People are the same no matter what they're called," says Eva Marie Saint (100% Shiksa in appearance) in the strongest and factual straight propaganda movie of all time, Exodus.

"Don't believe it," replies Paul Newman (Now there's a guy who doesn't look like the real ugly German Jew who slumped to his downfall–damn near the comic book Superman).

The Jewish hero battles not for the cause of democracy, nor for some cosmopolitan ideal of brotherhood, but as an unabashed Jewish nationalist.

"All my life I've heard I'm supposed to be a coward because I'm a Jew," the American Jewish captain of the ship, the Exodus, tells a shiksa nurse in the novel, "Let me tell you, kid. Every time the Palmach [a Jewish military branch in Palestine] blows up a British depot or knocks the hell out of some Arabs he's winning respect for me. He's making a liar out of everyone who tells me Jews are yellow. The guys over there are fighting my battle for respect … understand that?"

The real-life Israeli captain, Yeheil Aranowicz, of the blockade-running ship, the Exodus, upon which the novel is based, was subsequently quoted as saying that "the type [of characters in the novel] never existed in Israel. The novel is neither history or literature."

Informed of Captain Aranowicz's authoritative judgements, Uris responded, "Captain who? And that's all I have to say. I'm not going to pick on a light weight. Just look at my sales figures."

It's Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel. From the JPost:

————

"Any who deny the Holocaust wish to deny Israel's right to exist," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Wednesday evening during the opening ceremony for Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. "Even 60 years later, who would believe that the ugly head of Jew hatred and Israel [hatred] is rearing all over the world."

"You who deny truths documented in millions of documents; you who deny the railroad tracks leading to the crematoriums and the extermination camps that remain a mute monument; you who deny the eyewitness accounts of millions of people are not interested in historical accuracy – you wish to deny Israel's right to exist and mistakenly think that the Jewish State was established because of the Holocaust. If you will – cancel the Holocaust and the Israel's raison d'etre will also be canceled."

http://tinyurl.com/3fb4rk

————

The Holocaust is often advanced as proof that a Jewish state needs to exist. But Olmert's reverse proposition — that Holocaust denial seeks to delegitimize Israel — is remarkable.

Everyone agrees that the early preparations for the Israeli state — from the Zionist conferences a hundred years ago, to the Balfour memo, to early Jewish immigration into Palestine — occurred before the Holocaust. The question of Israel's "raison d'etre" — the notion that Jews needed their own nation-state — obviously predated WW II and the Holocaust.

"You mistakenly think that the Jewish state was established because of the Holocaust," says Olmert. Yet the Holocaust is often advanced by Israel's own partisans as a justification for its existence. Careful, Ehud — that shotgun you're firing has a wide pellet dispersion pattern. In any event, I definitely understand that you're equating antizionism with antisemitism. Play that Shoah card you just stepped on — it's still good!

Curiously, the article doesn't mention the reason why this day was chosen as Holocaust Remembrance Day. Tonight is Walpurgisnacht — witches' night — the night Hitler and Goebbels committed suicide. Some say they were committing their souls to Satan. I could buy that.

Doubtless Adolf and Joseph are preparing a warm welcome for three of their above-ground confreres; Bush, Cheney and Sharon. Reminds me of a song by a talented folk singer, the late Dave Carter (no relation to Jimmy):

down come a shipment of used car salesmen smilin' like rattlesnakes
every politician in the whole blame country, claimin' there was some mistake
lawyers and thieves and state police; gentlemen of the press
cons and flunkies, slackers, junkies; agents of the IRS

welcome to texas underground
we got a barbeque all year round
plenty of country singers around
bound to have ourselves a ball

so pull up a chair, you can chew on the fat
gets a might dry, but we like it like that
dance with the devil in a stetson hat
welcome to texas, y'all

http://www.daveandtracy.com/lyrics.php?uid=606

BTW these books may not get reviewed but it's possible they get on the curriculum, especially since Abu-Lughod's other books are part of the accepted syllabus in Arab studies, Women's Studies, and Anthropology. I can see that Nakba might have a place in all kinds of courses. Academia keeps many books alive that would otherwise be totally lost in the static of the mainstream.