All you need to know about the history of Israel/Palestine

by on January 25, 2009 12

Reuters:

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has no jurisdiction to investigate in the Gaza Strip, as it is not a state.

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine

{ 12 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. Me says:
    January 25, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    So that's the new excuse?

  3. MRW. says:
    January 25, 2009 at 12:50 pm

    Neither is Israel. It has no constitution. It has no defined borders.

  4. ahmed says:
    January 25, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    Brillliant! Maybe Israel should be asked to leave the UN then

  5. Rowan Berkeley says:
    January 25, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    There are a number of articles, most notably this one by Francis Boyle, saying exactly the opposite:

  6. Dan Kelly says:
    January 25, 2009 at 3:06 pm

    As has been mentioned, Israel should in no way be considered a "state" either, at least not by any rational definition. No defined borders, violates conditions for being a UN member, refuses to abide by international law, etc.

  7. MM says:
    January 25, 2009 at 3:07 pm

    Re: "Everything you need to know",

    Eliot Weinberger

    1. Who remembers the original dream of Israel? A place where the observant could practice their religion in peace and the secular would be invisible as Jews – where being Jewish only mattered if you wanted it to matter. That dream was realised, not in Israel, but in New York City.

    2. The second dream of Israel was of a place where socialist collectives could flourish in a secular nation with democratic freedoms. Who remembers that now?

    3. ‘Never again’ should international Jews invoke the Holocaust as justification for Israeli acts of barbarism.

    4. As in India-Pakistan, blaming the Brits is true enough, but useless.

    5. A few days ago, to illustrate the Gaza invasion, the front page of the New York Times had a large pastoral photograph of handsome Israeli soldiers lounging on a hill above verdant fields. Unquestioning faith in the ‘milk and honey’ Utopia of Israel is the bedrock of American Judaism, and reality does not intrude on faith.

    6. Any hope for some sort of peace will not come from the US, even without Bush. It must come from within an Israel where the same petrified leaders are elected time and again, where masses of the rational have emigrated to saner shores and have been replaced by Russians and the American cultists who become settlers. It is hard to believe that this will be anytime soon.

    7. It is hard to believe that two states will ever be possible. So why not a new dream of Israel? A single nation, a single citizenry with equal rights, three languages– English as a neutral third– and three religions, separate from the state. Give it a new name– say, Semitia, land of the Semites.

  8. Rowan Berkeley says:
    January 25, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    handsome Israeli soldiers? oh, come on: they mostly look like rodents.

  9. LanceThruster says:
    January 25, 2009 at 7:06 pm

    Great lecture on C-Span2 BookTV available to watch here:

    Palestine Inside and Out: An Everyday Occupation by Saree Makdisi

    He talks about all the red tape hurdles a typical Palestinian goes through (and these are the peaceful ones Israel says don't exist) and how it is used for further land theft.

    Ex. You have to get endless permits to farm the land, individual permits for each worker, each tractor, each mule, and endless barriers trying to go through the process to even get to the govt office to get the permits (often denied for no reason, or told to come back later via checkpoints that are permanently closed to you out of spite), and the policy of taking the land if it is not 'worked' (gee, maybe someone spends all his time trying to get the proper permits?), or taken away if it is worked anyway w/o said permits (they do the same thing with building permits).

    This show really ticked me off because I am a mess with the regular permit and paperwork process. I'd be catatonic if I had to go through this at all, let alone on a continuous basis.
    ~

  10. Kathy Podgers says:
    January 25, 2009 at 7:09 pm

    @MM, thanks for posting that.

    http://shoe08.blogspot.com

    I posted on the third faith, today, and the need for forgiveness. That takes real courage and strength.

    Thanks again, for your post, it did south my battered soul,

    take care, Kathy

  11. Jim Haygood says:
    January 25, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    'So why not a new dream of Israel? A single nation, a single citizenry with equal rights, three languages– English as a neutral third– and three religions, separate from the state. Give it a new name– say, Semitia, land of the Semites.' — Eliot Weinberger, via Dr. MM

    Craved by three nutcase Abrahamic religions, the region practically demands the label 'Messiahlonia,' with polytheism as its official religion.

    My deity can whip your deity …

  12. citizen says:
    January 26, 2009 at 11:15 am

    Hatfields and McCoys?

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