Moreover, if the links have been distant from each other and if obstacles, placed by those who are the lackeys of Zionism in the way of the fighters obstructed the continuation of the struggle, the Islamic Resistance Movement aspires to the realisation of Allah's promise, no matter how long that should take. The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him salvation, has said:

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Moslems, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, (evidently a certain kind of tree) would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews." (related by al-Bukhari and Moslem).

Like South Africa: some settlers leave, others disarmed and deprivileged, under the political influence of the native arab population.

I emphasize that I personally don't necessarily want to live, own property or move freely in Palestine. I want the RIGHT to do those things. Once Palestinians have the right to do this, that's really all I care about, and where I live becomes a mundane personal question where Palestine, NY, London and Rio are assessed on their mundane virtues.

For me, the issue of property, return and free movement in Palestine is not important for these goals themselves, but for the vital importance of getting rid of the hateful evil ideology that denies those things. Similarly, the strugglt in the American South was not specifically about access to bathrooms and bus seats, but about fighting the hateful evil ideology that denies those things.

This is the fundamental racist stupidity at the heart of the Zionist argument for Palestinians to 'compromise'. You can not compromise into accepting that you are a lesser human. The only possible compromises can happen after we've gotten rid of the racist laws that deny people their basic rights because of religion.

Richard, are you familiar with Dennis Fox's weblog?

http://blog.dennisfox.net

I ask because in his youth he seems to have been an earnest, left/humanist zionist not unlike yourself, and then he went to live in Israel and apparently his ideas changed.

He paraphrases Joel Kovel's take on zionism: "Zionism’s logic could only lead to a state built on inequality and expulsion."

On the one hand, Richard, you seem to have signed a vow that you would never allow any information or facts to affirm such a view in yourself.

What Phil calls "bearing witness" you often try to impugn as "propaganda" originating in the Palestinian side. Dershowitz would no doubt agree with you….

(Actually the source of the rhetoric is almost entirely humanism and justice. Regarding the attitude of Hamas etc., one day you are going to perceive that the Nakba itself inculcated the most extreme passions of the Palestinian militants and over time, probably served to confirm any anti-Jewish rumors about treatment of "the goyim".)

Certainly no matter what optimistic progressive vision of zionism you hold, you can admit that the zionist reality in the Middle East has been one of brutal military triumphs, a colossal loss of life and livelihood surpassing even the crusades, and is essentially aggressive and hostile to any opposing it?

(That trimphalist characteristic even colors your rhetoric about "no zionist endgame in sight".)

This is strikingly different tone than the one which tries to refute the Joel Kovel argument above.

So, are you proud that zionism hasn't let human lives interfere with its eventual glory? Do you not consider yourself a little bit imperialist?

These are also some good questions, worth answering, not to us here, just silently, to yourself, first.

The Palestinians are not antisemites in any classical sense. They are merely "anti-squatter". If all the Zionists would move to say, Skokie Illinois, they would never hear another word from the Palestinians except, "shalom"… in both its meanings.

There is an immense effort of disinformation and propaganda whose objective is to cloud the perception of this very, very, simple fact.

Posted by: Richard Witty | April 29, 2008 at 09:09 AM

Oh!! Richard. I can't believe my eyes.

So if we do not like to read your long meandering notes, we have to admonish Phil to head your advise?