It's breakfast. Our group of 13 is getting ready to go to the US Embassy in Cairo to "waive our consular rights" while we're in Gaza. If we get in. I don't know if it's possible to alienate your consular rights (was Rachel Corrie accorded them in any case?), but we're going to do it.
Rumor is that there are some doctors camped at the border having a hunger strike, denied access to Gaza by the Egyptians. And in a day or so 60 or 60 students are going in, trying. I hung out with four of their leaders yesterday, at the Press Syndicate building, where they intended to have a press conference. All of them are young American women, studying in Cairo. Impressive. With Palestine wristbands, and a little Arabic, they have been fired by Gaza. "Why are there so few men around?" I said to one, and another called out to me, "What do you mean by that– women don't start wars." Everywhere I go people talk about the threat from Israel, and how the Israeli presence has helped to transform this city, and the region, from what it was in the '40s and '50s. "The flag of Israel has the two blue stripes, and one stripe is the Efrat (Euphrates) and the other stripe is the Nile," an Egyptian journalist explained to me. Mearsheimer and Walt's ideas are also very tame in this capital. People here study the Israel lobby as people in New York studied the Bush administration.
I wonder if the female presence, in all the groups, isn't a reflection of the fact that where I'm going is so full of pain and humiliation, and women are better prepared emotionally to deal with these facts. Women have less pride, one of the American students said to me.
I'm fearful of the emotional consequences of going. Before I left Jack Ross told me that he wouldn't go because he fears it would radicalize him, and I understand that. Last night I had a horrifying dream of being in a Jewish place and going outside and a camel had been slaughtered there but its head and neck were still alive, hanging on a bench, twisting around longing to go home. And a second bloody portion of its neck too, was alive and hopping along in the grass, near my feet as I walked, trying to get home. I woke up in a fright, and understood it as a metaphor for the West Bank and Gaza. We're walking with Gaza here…
-
-
- ‘NYT’ carries water on ‘Israeli offer’ (but there’s a hole … 15
- The courage to refuse: the 10-year anniversary of the … 1
- Rains white phosphorus here 2
- Israeli soldiers drive tractor over worker’s legs to stop Palestinians … 20
- Isikoff expose of Gingrich backer — ‘All we care about … 50
- LGBTIQ activists: ‘What we witnessed was devastating and created a … 9
- Dennis Ross: Still present, but not accounted for 22
- Almost 1,100 Palestinians were displaced by West Bank home demolitions … 3
-
- Breaking: Israeli bulldozer, soldiers destroy entire Bedouin community near Anata … 760
- Publisher of the ‘Atlanta Jewish Times’ suggests Mossad should assassinate … 413
- Report: Israel to give US only 12-hour warning before attacking … 398
- EU diplomats propose boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israeli colonialism 280
- In the last 24 hours an orgy of land theft … 239
- Why Christian Zionism is nothing short of outright heresy 167
- Adelson’s millions come tipped with missiles aimed at Iran 159
- New book Palestinians in Israel explores the contradiction of the … 147
-
- Publisher of the ‘Atlanta Jewish Times’ suggests Mossad should assassinate … 388
- New additions to the Mondoweiss comments policy 314
- Israel is at the heart of Jewish identity, Gorenberg says 136
- Report: Israel to give US only 12-hour warning before attacking … 134
- ‘Israel Firster’ gets at an inconvenient truth 120
- Video: Atlanta Jewish Times publisher’s tearful anti-apology 98
- Obama begins push for Jewish support in 2012 by touting … 91
- The antiwar movement must rise again. Now 87
-
Recent Comments
click link to see last 100 comments- Isikoff expose of Gingrich backer — ‘All we care about is being good citizens of Israel’ — puts ‘Israel firster’ issue in mainstream (50)
- Annie Robbins: what word? israel? i do not think it is a religiously loaded word. it’s the name of a state.
- peeesss: Could it be Caulfield, or something similar. I think she just got an assignment on A US cable network.
- piotr: I have a big grudge against American because he made me curious about the most recent opus of Caroline Glick,...
- ‘NYT’ carries water on ‘Israeli offer’ (but there’s a hole in the bucket dear Ethan dear Ethan) (15)
- Annie Robbins: thanks carl. i agree. especially: the Palestinians must be willing to go through with this to expose...
- Annie Robbins: ahh! here, i just found this in the latimes http://latimesblogs.latimes.co m/world_now/2012/01/pales...
- Carllarc: The Quartet sponsored I/P negotiation of course won’t produce anything like a path towards a settlement for...
- Israel’s nightmare: Jew against Jew (131)
- Duscany: I’ve had two Jewish girlfriends and one Jewish wife. My sons attended Jewish supper camps.
- ‘Tablet’ says writers who talk about Israel Firsters are channeling Hitler (58)
- Jabberwocky: There are some interesting articles regarding Palestine on Wide Asleep in America. The Ben Hur...
- Israeli soldiers drive tractor over worker’s legs to stop Palestinians from building a house on their (occupied) lands (20)
- Isikoff expose of Gingrich backer — ‘All we care about is being good citizens of Israel’ — puts ‘Israel firster’ issue in mainstream (50)
Our Writers
- Philip Weiss
- Adam Horowitz
- Bruce Wolman
- Felson
- Susie Kneedler
- Jeffrey Blankfort
- Mohammad of Vancouver
- Anees of Jerusalem
Blogroll
the void is not empty it's filled with light of this i am sure of with all of my might the world is troubled as i rest tonight half in darkness something’s not right the day will break the sun will rise and i'll see things through different eyes i hope that my visions not clouded by doubt peace among all of us is the only way out
RE: "Last night I had a horrifying dream….I woke up in a fright" MY COMMENT: Phil, you're really scaring me. You know, you don't have to do this. Why not go to the 'Greek Isles' for a little R & R?
God speed Phil! Please stay in one piece!
FPF What a low life comment mentioning Phil's wife. You are lower than a snake's duodenum.
Radicalisation can be good – though it can be a somewhat wrenching experience. Try to stay in one piece; it seems the strategy du jour is to film everything at all times… (And my best wishes to the people of Gaza – everyone in Norway remembers the gruesome scenes reported by Drs. Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse.)
The Euphrates and Nile interpretation of the blue stripes (rather than tallit – prayer shawl) is not just Arabic "paranoia". I have come accross it in Poland, England, France, Belgium and Russia.
That was Herzl's plan, as he wrote in his diary.
Very prophetic dream, Phil. Stay safe.
Please be careful, Mr. Weiss. Max Blumenthal's most recent material from the West Bank shows he is maturing as a young journalist, being more objective, less Michael Moore-like. I think part of it comes from his realization of the shocking depths of the stark contrasts between the cultures of the camps and the settlements. I imagine one can only fully realize them by being able to go to the camps and to the settlement spas, all within a few minutes of each other – at least for somebody with Max's mobility there. You're already a mature journalist, but this experience will most likely be a major crucible. Again, please be careful. Your work is very important.
It could radicalize you, or it could de-radicalize you, liberalize you. Still keeping your commitment to goodness, but rejecting the either/or approach that you flirt with in your dancing with "divides".
Very affecting post, Phil. Thank you. Your remarks about gender are very insightful, and I think you are right. Actually, you strike me as having some feminine empathic qualities, which I think aid you in your work. You are interested in the perspectives of real people, and you want to talk and write about it. You also have a more feiminine emotional toughness that lets you look at pain and humiliation without becoming overwhelmed with anger. I could never report on these issues because the anger that they generate is so great, and so exhausting to keep in check. I cannot express my feelings about them so I simply become depressed.
Two blue stripes = Nile and Euphrates? That is a very old Arab paranoid dream, like many of the others in Arabic culture. And an Egyptian "journalist" told you that??? Ha! Egyptian journalists are not allowed to say anything other than what Mubarak's government allows them to.
If you get into Gaza, give them my best regards. I lived next to Gaza City in the 1960's, right after the Six Day War, and remember well the Arabs there coming out from Egyptian rule. (They hadn't started calling themselves Balestineans yet.) They had no water, sewage treatment, electricity, telephones, schools, or even shoes. I'm not making this up. The infant mortality rate under Egyptian rule was horrifying. Cholera plagues would wipe Gazan Arabs out like camel-flies. Israel actually gave them all the modern conveniences that allowed their population to mushroom. Now that you've been to Egypt and you know that the Egyptians have never been kind to the Gazans, you probably have an idea of how awful life was for Gazan Arabs under Egyptian rule. This is why Gazans want to remain connected (economically and in infrastructure) to Israel and not to mother-Egypt. I'm sure this trip will be an eye-opener for you. The question is: can you keep an open eye and open mind?
If you get into Gaza, give them my best regards. I lived next to Gaza City in the 1960's, right after the Six Day War, and remember well the Arabs there coming out from Egyptian rule. (They hadn't started calling themselves Balestineans yet.) They had no water, sewage treatment, electricity, telephones, schools, or even shoes. I'm not making this up. The infant mortality rate under Egyptian rule was horrifying. Cholera plagues would wipe Gazan Arabs out like camel-flies. Israel actually gave them all the modern conveniences that allowed their population to mushroom. Now that you've been to Egypt and you know that the Egyptians have never been kind to the Gazans, you probably have an idea of how awful life was for Gazan Arabs under Egyptian rule. This is why Gazans want to remain connected (economically and in infrastructure) to Israel and not to mother-Egypt. I'm sure this trip will be an eye-opener for you. The question is: can you keep an open eye and open mind?
Jonathan Cook wrote about the Israeli system for reporting on Gaza in 2006 http://www.jkcook.net/Articles2/0256.htm . It mentions a waiver (exonerating Israel of all responsibility if they are injured while in the Gaza Strip) that appears to be unrelated to the waiver of consular rights mentioned here.
Zionism should be to Jewish identity as German Nazism was to German identity.
Borders of Destiny
Does your brain ever become involved when you speak? Borders of Destiny
While you twit sit in your cushy armchair dreaming of a shiksa, protected by her cousins, Phil courageously enters the fray, blessed by her, and by all responsible USA Americans.
So now you switch to this alternate handle, yet still dream of yet another shiksa. How old are you, ten?
So, now we get your third alternate handle so far on this thread. At least you are not projecting your juvenile shiksa dreams this time. And, American journalists (and congress people) are not allowed to say anything other than what AIPAC allows them to…
Accordingly, the adopted state flag of Israel was originally the Zionist flag.
Phil, God be with you and your wife. You don't understand how profound what you are doing is, when so many of us Arabs CANNOT do the same.
Scratch a Zionist-supporter, and you'll find a gentlmen, every time! Zionism-support seems to give people the wierdest "permissions". All kinds of things, including violent sexual threats, which are impermissible normally, are suddenly permissible, when Zionism comes into play. That's what I call "ziocaine", because it very closely mimics the psuchological consequences of cocaine abuse- ie, alternating or even mixed states of grandiosity and paranoia, and a steady erosion of empathy and ethics. What it does for them, I'll never know.
Holy Mackeral, did Phil's noting that women predominated in his trip scare the hell out of the Zionist supporters!
If you are referring to me, Joachim, then I ALWAYS think before I speak. I only use facts and logic. This is why I win all the time. :-) Say what happened to your self-hating Arab stance that you held a long way back? Have you returned to your antisemitic tribal roots? What a shame…
What's profound? he will go into Egypt, never mention the abuse of the Coptic Christians. Overlook the total lack of freedom in the Arab world. Totally ignore that Arabs control 99.5% of the region, but constantly complain of how Israel is taking over everything. Finally, if he gets into Gaza, it will be the same Palaprop he always spouts. Just that this time you suckers paid for his vacation.
Phil, did you bother to correct the Egyptian "journalist" on the lie that the Israeli flag refers to the Nile and Euphrates? Did you try to determine if he was just misinformed by his country's racist propaganda or if he was malevolently spreading a lie? No journalist worthy of the name would allow this comment to pass by without at least trying to probe into why such racist drivel still has currency in the arab world.
Sorry Richard, the Palestinians are his religion, he is not going to change.
When you get to Gaza, make sure to look up a friend of mine, Gilad Shalit. He was kidnapped three years ago and has been held captive in Gaza by Palestinean terrorists in violation of Geneva Conventions and common human rights understandings and deprived of ICRCRC (International Commitee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent) visits. I am sure that the various "human rights" activists you hang out with are all working diligently to ensure humane treatment for Gilad and for his speedy and safe release. You ARE doing this for Human Rights, aren't you?
When you start making comments which are deleted by Mondoweiess, you have entered the tertiary stage of ziocaine addiction. At this point the Rabbi will arrange an intervention, and off you go to "Zionon" for rehab into a human being. Cause you gotta remember, ziocaine induces a sort of Tourettes syndrome. From the nerve damage.
Zionon, the rehab place for insane Zionist-supporters, isn't so bad. People usually stay 30-90 days before release. The food is like poison, but the portions are so small!
Gilbert and Fosse are proud propagandists and not considered reliable or honest. They are supporters of the Hamas terrorist organization and are long-time supporters of the Palestinean "resistance" against Israel, which until just a few years ago was exclusively aimed at civilians. http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=3&x...
Phil, If you can learn to deal with your emotions, it will help make you a stronger man…I agree that women are much stronger than men when it comes to dealing with emotional issues and this is something all men could learn to appreciate from women… I admit that I have been radicalized(in a vocal, not physical sense) from what I have personally witnessed in Lebanon from Israel, what I have been made aware of in regards to the Palestinian plight, and from the actions of the Zionists here in the U.S. who are always trying to assert control over our foreign policy and our media to the detriment of the Palestinian and Arab side of the story ..Unlike my Zionist counterparts, I temper my radicalization by still trying to see Zionists as fellow humans(even though I see them as being pitifully misguided and even kind of mentally deranged ) and by dealing with my emotions rather than trying to hide them or run away from them…
Yes, Phil, if you decide to follow Jake in Jerusalem's hasbara, make certain to say a prayer on behalf of all of us at Mondoweiss for the 1,400 Palestinians who were massacred in Operation Kill Kids using my US taxpayer dollars. Note to JiJ: Shalit is a prisoner of war, not a kidnap victim. There are thousands of prisoners of war held in Israel's Gitmo, but we all now understand that one Zionist life is worth a thousand Palestinians. At least that's the canard promoted by Jake and his racist ilk.
Phil, godspeed to you on this important journey. You're at the front lines of the most contentious and important issue of our times, with enormous repercussions to the US. Be safe, be well, and come back soon to tell us what you've witnessed.
Witty raises a good point. Is an American's support for Israel liberal or right wing? From Witty's Jewish American liberal perspective, it is consistent with his liberalism because Israel is liberal relative to surrounding Islam. But Israel's intolerant treatment of the Palestinian minority is extremely right-wing relative to America's embrace of its minorities. The answer is: there is no answer; it all depends on the eye of the beholder. Therefore, all American aid should be suspended to both Israelis and the Arab states and only released conditionally upon their meeting specific line items of human rights and civil rights standards for all of their citizens and subject peoples. All funding should be conditional, and immediately revocable upon violations Of course, American liberals demand everyone at home and abroad is entitled to welfare regardless of their behavior, no matter how dysfunctional or inconsistent with the American ethic. Gee, I wonder who advanced this concept to the point that it is now left-liberal status-quo? Could it have been liberal Jewish American Zionists like Witty?
Yes, the arabs hold the pipsqueak pimply IDF soldier Shalit, while Israel holds over 11,000 Palestinian civilians with an open-ended confinement, and subject to torture. Fair enough, else what would be the purpose of the USA taxpayers' support of Israel at the tune of over $23,000 per Israeli (as of 2006)–actually, since the US funds are distributed mostly to Israeli Jews in keeping with the second class citizenship of Israeli Arabs, that's more like each Israeli Jew getting a $30,000 welfare check, courtesy of the bankrupt USA average citizen. Why bother to become the 51st USA state when you get all the bennies sans the duties?
No, stop all aid to Middle East now, including Isreal. Let the ones with the oil get together and let them uplift themselves instead of passing down oil fields as family wealth, instead of national wealth. We need to be developing Africa. Humanity is looted far too much from Africa and exploited its resources. Time to give back to Africa.
Gilad is dead. You can go mourn now.
Marion, an ideology like Zionism makes victimes out of all but a few. While the Palestinians are, in the last words, the primary victims, when the story is finally told and an accounting is made, it will be seen that Jews have been victimised by Zionism, too. Zionism is a colonial scheme whic hung its hat on the Jews, but it is no different than hundreds of other colonial-settlement schemes which victimised it's colonialists as it victimsed the indigenous people. Good lord, what kind of ideology allows the settlers to put themselves in that position, or raise their kids like that?
Oil is an artifiicial basis of power, even as national wealth. It is NOT EARNED is the point. Why would you consider oil as a rational basis of dominance.
Agreed Mooser.
lol, Jake in Jerusalem is funny.
Guess South Africa didn't earn that diamond economy, either.
RE: "What it does for them, I'll never know." FROM WIKIPEDIA: Cult (excerpt)…Psychological definition [of a cult] Studies of the psychological aspects of cults focus on the individual person, and factors relating to the choice to become involved as well as the subsequent effects on individuals. Under one view, an important factor is coercive persuasion which suppresses the ability of people to reason, think critically, and make choices in their own best interest. Studies of religious, political, and other cults have identified a number of key steps in this type of coercive persuasion:[26][27] People are put in physically or emotionally distressing situations; Their problems are reduced to one simple explanation, which is repeatedly emphasized; They receive unconditional love, acceptance, and attention from a charismatic leader; They get a new identity based on the group; They are subject to entrapment (isolation from friends, relatives, and the mainstream culture) and their access to information is severely controlled.[28]… SOURCE – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult
Monsieur Dhimmi, It is precisely because there is no freedom that I cannot do what he does. And PUHLEASE, this total lack of freedom as you put it is fully supported and endorsed by lovely countries like the US of A et al. Let's see, Mubarak, Al Saud, hmmmm…. Go read a book.
Oh, yes, drag out all the old canards. Long live CAMERA;) I like the passive of 'not considered reliable or honest'. By whom? Yes, the Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet, certainly 'not considered reliable or honest' by many as concerns its usual front page 'scandals', managed to make out Prof. Gilbert as a supporter of the attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001. Nothing could be further from the truth, as everyone but the occasional propagandist has acknowledged. I guess its good for CAMERA that most of its readers can't read Norwegian. As for the supposed iniquity of his contention that most medicine is inseparable from politics: talk to some people involved in public health, and I think you would find that most would be in agreement. Rødt (Red) certainly is a party of the left, both in the Norwegian and the American context, but they are hardly armed communist revolutionaries. If you were able to read any of CAMERA's links you might have noticed that Gilbert is explicitly pro-democracy, and that he left the Norwegian Workers' Communist Party when he felt they became anti-democratic. For that matter, the most contentious local cause he has fronted in Tromsø was the opposition to applying for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Dangerous revolutionary indeed.
Incidentally, I just noticed that Rødt is supporting a demonstration against David Irving, who will be speaking in Lillehammer on May 15: http://bit.ly/17rtyF ETA: May 28, that is. The Lillehammer Festival of Literature seems to have this strange tradition of inviting Irving and then dis-inviting him. This year he'll show up anyway. Norway's having a terribly meaningless 'free speech' debate at the moment, so I expect some pundits' heads will explode soon as they attempt squaring their high-handed 'Voltairean' rhetoric with their desire to ban Irving. He's quite fortunate in his timing, really, since now some of the usual suspects will have to support his right to speak. Cue contrived scandal.
I agree as well, many Jews are victims who have been used by the Zionist colonial ideology that turned them into oppressors, and they very well could become the final victims of this misguided victimizing ideology if they do not wake up….
@ Witty, American welfare is an artificial basis of power, even as diaspora Jewish nationalist lobby "attained" (at American taxpayer expense) "wealth." It is NOT EARNED is the point. Why would you as a Zionist consider American welfare as a rational basis of dominance?
@ Mooser: "Jews have been victimized by Zionism" Some Jews have, most Jews haven't. In fact, the overwhelming majority of Jews have embraced it wholeheartedly and continue to endorse it, and many of those have profited handsomely off of it. Next, Mooser will be blaming Zionism on the Christians — just like the Jewish Zionists used to. Jewry really need to work on changing their culture of denial of accountability. Those unwilling to take responsibility for the consequences of their own volitional behavior and misdeeds are clearly suffering from a culture of arrested development that flows from personal narcissism. Forever the self-proclaimed victim looking for exploitable sympathy, eh Mooser?
your own? very nice.
You know he's never going to answer that one.
Says the guy who thinks the Zionists made us invade Iraq.
Islam does not, in my opinion, possess a highly developed system of political morality; it tends to take things like 'nations' and 'states' more or less for granted. But it does say very explicitly that Allah has permitted trade, but forbidden usury. Whatever our various theories of economics may be, we should all be able to agree that western banking, and thus international banking, and the international pecking order that has been financed by it, are usurious.
i have done a little digest of Stephen Lendman's latest article on the human rights situation in Gaza, here: http://niqnaq.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/stephen-le... I have also included the link to the original, which is at Global Research.
But Phil is not a journalist. he is a propagandist. An unemployed propagandist.
Are these the same good people of Gaza who freely elected the murderous terrorist group Hamas to lead them?? Are these the same peaceful Gazan people who have been supporting rocket fire into Southern Israeli cities for several years now?? Why do you misguided liberal loones demonize Egypt and Israel when it is the Gazan people who have brought this blockade on themselves with their own violent actions?? Do the Gazan people bear any personal responsibility for this situition in your eyes??
Here…Here Jake! Thanks for speaking the truth. Israel has provided the Palestinians with so much humanitarian aid (food, medicine, water, elctricity, fuel, etc.), and what do they get inreturn for their good will……………always a violent kick in the teeth!! This is not a black and white, one-sided conflict here. Israel has always been unfairly demonized by much of the world community. Does anyone here talk about how Hamas violently seized the Gaza Strip from Fatah?? They violently tortured and murdered Fatah members all throughout Gaza. These are a people who murder their own bretheren, and use their women and children as "human shields" for propaganda purposes. There are no human rights in Gaza, just Islamic religious fanaticism. Their only goal is the destruction of Israel and the murder of every Jew! Don't take my word for it……………………………look up their charter online. It has never changed. Israel has given so much to the world with advances in technology and medicine. What have the Palestinians given the world accept violence, mayhem, and terrorism?? These people need to moderate their harsh position or face more eventual death and destruction.
This statement is completely baseless and false! Zionism is merely the love for their Jewish ancestoral homeland in Israel. How dare you compare Nazism to Zionism. Nazis committed genocide, Zionist Jews did not! If Zionists were Nazis, why does Israel have such a large Israeli-Arab population today?? Explain that one Mr. Anti-Semite??Why don't you just admit that you despise Israel and Jewish nationalism??
Thank you Jake! Once again you've shown the light of truth and reality upon all this anti-Semitic nonsense crap that Phil and his Israel-hating supporters have unfairly spewed here. To Hamas, he is just merely another "useful idiot" like Rachel Corey was. I don't wish him any ill will over there, but he is willfully putting himself in a dangerous situation. If something bad happens to him over there, it will be his own damn fault! Of couse, as with Rachel Corey, all of his mindless supporters would just blame Israel. Thanks for bringing Gilad Shalit up here! Phil and his fellow Jew-haters (self-hating Jews in some cases) don't give a damn about the plight of Gilad Shalit. They are all a bunch of damn mean-spirited hypocrites.
Well, Gilad Shalit, is just another Israeli murderer (not an innocent dove, he carried guns and hand-grenades) who happened to be captured by The Resistance. He was not kidnapped. He is not a civilian. He's a soldier. He came to Palestine from France to massacre blameless natives. So what's the big deal about him? His imprisonment is the result of the wrong course taken by a fanatic delusion (God Himself gave him the right to the land, the right to decide upon somebody's else life) He has rights of course. Lucky of him. Something the 1300 palestinians murdered by Israeli troops in the recent gaza genocide won't have.
Anti-Zionist and Pro-American activists must emphasize that Zionist invaders, interlopers, and thieves are legitimate targets anywhere in Stolen or Occupied Palestine under Nuremberg Law, which is an major component of International Law, because the State of Israel itself is an act of aggression comparable to the invasion of Poland by Germany at the start of WW2. The legality of the Zionist colony under LoN or UN resolutions is irrelevant in this case just as the international legitimacy of the German annexation of parts of Czechoslovakia was in judging the reaction of German troops to acts of resistance in those territories.