Comments on: Report from Gaza: ‘We are a human experiment’

By: Shirin

Shirin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:23:53 +0000

I'm not convinced that Richard Witty is lying. I think he just doesn't know. Sometimes we avoid finding out things we would rather not know.

By: Shirin

Shirin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:22:31 +0000

Richard Witty, Israel's use of provocation and "strategic escalation" has been very well documented by both Israelis and others since the first years of its existence. And yes, Dayan did explicitly admit in writing that Israel intentionally provoked incidents with the Syrians for years. Further, what Dayan described came as no surprise to those of us who had read and heard accounts from third party observers around the DMZ. In fact, most of the firing from the Golan that Israel used as an excuse for various attacks was intentionally provoked by Israel.

By: lovelyisraelis

lovelyisraelis — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 21:41:49 +0000

Dayan said "at LEAST 80%" of the incidents with the syrians leading up to the war were provoked by israel. Menachem Begin admitted Egypt had no intent to attack "We must be honest," he said. "WE attacked THEM.' Dayan talks about creeping a little further and a little further into the DMZ until there was an Arab response at which point, Israel called in an airstrike and annexed the land. This was official Israeli policy, referred to by Dayan approvingly as "creeping annexation." Israel has been at this game since the very beginning. Dayan again: On Israeli settlements on the Golan Heights and in Hebron, in a 1976 interview with Rami Tal, as quoted in Associated Press reports (11 May 1997) Along the Syria border there were no farms and no refugee camps — there was only the Syrian army... The kibbutzim saw the good agricultural land ... and they dreamed about it... They didn't even try to hide their greed for the land... We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance further, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was...The Syrians, on the fourth day of the war, were not a threat to us. On the taking of the Golan Heights in 1967, indicating many of the firefights with the Syrians were deliberately provoked by Israel, and that many who pressed the government to take the Golan Heights did so less for security than for farmland; in a 1976 interview with Rami Tal, as quoted in The New York Times and Associated Press reports (11 May 1997) and so on and so forth " target="_blank">http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cache:TJw8-jkk2QQJ... Stop lying, witty Stop lying, witty stop lying, witty

By: Marion

Marion — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:16:00 +0000

If only they could be shown how the Zionist ideology cult that has largely consisted of lies and fabrications, that has been using the Holocaust narrative to keep Jews in line, has been brainwashing them, reform from within can be made possible… …

By: Marion

Marion — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:07:58 +0000

"…results in the DISENFRACHISEMENT of the 5.4 million Zionists in the region.." And Phil came to the conclusion that to be a humanist Jew he needs to reject Zionism while you came to the conclusion that you must forever embrace Zionist ideology as being necessary to the Jewish identity….

By: Jeff Loewenstein

Jeff Loewenstein — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:51:00 +0000

Is it possible for any decent, right-thinking Jew not come away from reading this post with utter shame about what Israel is doing to the people [human beings] of Gaza. This posting from Gaza ought to be compulsory reading for all the dead-headed one-eyed supporters of Israel be they members of AIPAC, Congress or the wider Jewish community. Phil, you need to be saluted for what you have done in going to Gaza, exposing to the light of day what is being wrought there and reporting so movingly and thoughtfully about what you saw and experienced. In the fullness of time the naysayers and throwers of brickbats will hang their collective heads……

By: Richard WittyI

Richard WittyI — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:42:11 +0000

Where did they do that? Specifically. I read widely and critically during that period, and didn't see that.

By: Richard WittyI

Richard WittyI — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:39:15 +0000

Phil and I are family friends. My aunt and Phil's mother were best friends. Our families have intermingled since. Phil and I spent parts of summers together as somewhat radical teenagers from 14 to 17. We've attended seders together when held at my aunt's house. We see each other at family events, weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs. I think of Phil as a close friend, in that I care about him as a person in my life, even as we argue and chafe.

By: Mj S

Mj S — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:08:58 +0000

and whoever said that jews are over their hatred of the nazis? in every moive, book, and documentary we are reminded of the concentration camps. the holocaust must be one of the most recurring words in the english language! and for what the Nazis did to the jews, a world war came out as a result. last time i checked, a world war didnt come up to defend the gazans from the last atrocious invasion. it just happened this year u know. and people have already forgotten it. perscution for the mere sport of it is the greatest war crime. and of that, Israel is guilty

By: lls

lls — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:13:35 +0000

Phil, thank you for this forum and for your insightful commentary, and thank you for sharing your personal evolution with us. You have a good heart and intellectual integrity, and I hope you will influence many! For those of your readers who might be interested in helping some of the people of Gaza in a very personal way, I recommend Eva Bartlett's site In Gaza. The link is at " target="_blank">http://ingaza.wordpress.com/ . In addition to working with the International Solidarity Movement, protecting farmers trying to harvest their crops, she works with a Scottish group called Ground Force Gaza, link at " target="_blank">http://groundforcegaza.co.uk/About.aspx . They are a group of volunteers who just want to make a small difference in individual Gazan's lives. Eva is their on the ground contact. Her site in very moving, and she collects contributions via Western Union and distributes them personally to the families whose stories she eloquently tells.