Diane Shammas is a recently-minted doctorate from USC who was on the Code Pink delegation to Gaza earlier this month. She sent this report from her trip:
Two nights before my departure from Gaza, early in the morning around 2 AM I was awake at my home-stay in Gaza City when all the lights shut off in the neighborhood. In the yard of the next building over, the rooster “deek” (in Arabic) was going nuts and crowing in a more frantic manner than usual—animals always sense an abrupt change in their immediate environment before humans do.
I turned to Abir, one of the sisters in the household with whom I shared a room, and asked "what is going on" in Arabic. Abir called her brother into our room, and both said, "do not worry it is the Israelis," they do this at least once a week—like business as usual. I tried not to act frightened as this is not your occasional brownout in California, but a frequent occurrence in Gaza. Fortunately, the electricity shutoff occurred during the sleeping hours so as not to disturb the ebb and flow of one's day work.
As I expressed to our delegation at one of Code Pink’s round up meetings, None of us from the States, Canada, or Australia can even fathom an existence without the basic necessities of life: food, electricity, security, etc.
Oh, beaches and sunset… On the second day of my visit in Gaza, Mohammed, my host's son, and the shebab took me to the beach, a couple blocks down from the Commodore Hotel. We spent five hours there meeting up with a delegation from the American University of Cairo. Mohammed's friend, Mahmoud, commented, This is what keeps us going, we love to sit near the beach, smoke the hubble bubble (nargileh) and we forget what is happening.
The fishing boats were all positioned in line for their catch of the night within Israel’s enforced 3- mile limit. To the right side of the horizon, the Israeli navy boat was present, distinguished by its flashing yellow light "dow" (in Arabic). The shebab (the young) always seemed the happiest at the beach so on two occasions after I finished our day program I suggested that we go there.
One night, everything was fine and dandy, we were sipping on mango drinks and watching the horses lope along the beach, till we saw an Israeli F16 soaring in the air. This should not be considered a normal occurrence; yet for Gazans this is what they endure in their day to day existence.
With respect to the Gazans' narratives of Israel’s massacre, I will relate the following. During dinner, Mohammed's other sister, Nareene, pointed at the black smudgy line and a deep crack in the wall, caused by the force of the bombings. She recounted that "Lianne”, the three-year old child, known by the affectionate diminutive "Lulu" (here is a picture of me and Lulu) , was so frightened from the bombs that she hid for hours under the nearest table in the den. Yet, within the course of the five nights that I spent with this family, surprisingly I did not observe any symptoms of post traumatic stress. If there was crying in the house it was usually associated with sibling rivalry, as in Lulu grabbing the spoon away from her year and a half old brother, Osama “Susu”. These are the kind of childhood experiences that most of us would consider "normal,” not the kind of "oppressive normalcy " that Israel imposes upon Gazans.
The Gazans are proud of their material culture. The shebab took me into the old city. We went to the Pasha Museum that houses on the first floor Hamas martyr paraphernalia from the recent War on Gaza as well as, on the second floor, Canaanite relics and remnants from the Ottoman period. The docent, Abir, commenting on the few cases of antiquities donated to the Museum: " They [referring to Israel] think we have no high culture." The museum had recently opened and I suggested they secure the display cases in the event of another bombing or natural accident.
Abir neither supported Hamas nor Fatah, she was clearly disenchanted with Gaza and politics. She desperately wanted to leave Gaza in order to enter a graduate program in Spain. She explained that as a woman (and presumably without a visa), she could not exit Gaza, and she was clearly in despair and sought anyone who could relieve her from this cesspool of an existence. She yearned for the secularism of Arafat. Throughout our tour, her eyes were welling up, it was a very distressing experience for me, as I felt absolutely powerless in transforming such a wretched existence. We then continued to the open market where there was a variety of vegetables, fruits, and nuts which indeed are able to grow plentifully in the "mazaras" (farms) if not destroyed by Israel’s bombing!
My shebab group loved classical Arabic music, Oum Khalsoulm, Wadia Safi, Fairooz, etc. Mahmoud and the other young men, all graduates in engineering, started a company that taught computer skills, "Access to your Aims". They were very interested in my opinion of their company’s logo and asked me numerous financial questions on how they should proceed further with this fledgling business of two months. They employed one woman, Ominiyya, an ambitious and serious female student enrolled in the Commerce (business) school at the Islamic University.
As others have indicated of their interactions with Gazans, I found that Yaasir and his wife harbored hatred towards Israelis. Yet, Abir, Mohammed's sister, bought an Israeli brand of shampoo. I asked why. She said in Arabic, it was much nicer “kwayis” quality than the Egyptian one.
The head of Mohammed's household, Yaasir, posed a poignant question to me: "Why do Israelis do this to us?"
The explanation that I furnished him is perhaps simplistic based on that the family spoke no English and my limited vocabulary in Arabic. I relied upon Mohammed for occasional translation. His familiarity with English has been acquired mainly through reading his engineering textbooks, one of the many consequences of being brutally-severed from contact with Anglophones—the English speaking world. Drawing upon the social-psychological theories, concerning learned aggression (e.g. Alfred Bandura), I explained first on a micro level: aggression is learned within families. If someone is subjected to violence within their family of origin, such aggressive patterns often are emulated and directed towards this person's spouse and children. I was careful to point out that this aggression is not always transmitted to later generations; I gave them an example of my own father, a U.S.-born son of Lebanese immigrants whose father abandoned them, lived in boarding houses until my grandmother remarried a physically-abusive, Lebanese physician from Buffalo. But my father never laid a hand on me, my sister, or my mother.
I then moved on to the macro level, regarding Israelis aggression towards Palestinians, a topic that Norman Finkelstein could address better than I. That Jews and Israelis alike live with the constant reminder of the Holocaust, which has been used to invalidate any sharp criticism of Israel’s policies–this in turn has rendered some completely impervious to the pain, suffering, and homelessness of the Palestinians. For in this way of thinking, the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians (and even Lebanese I might add) is rationalized by the propagandized notion of defending the security of the state of Israel.
The last but not least of the points I'd make is Gazan university students' access to
American and European research journals. I spent an entire day at the Islamic University and Al Azhar University visiting their libraries and various departments, including engineering, medicine, commerce, and social sciences. Specifically, with two professors in social sciences, psychology and educational psychology, I discussed their university's access to first tier, peer-reviewed journals, which among the best are publications from the U.S.
Due to the lack of funds, the universities in Gaza cannot provide their students or faculty with free access to e-libraries. The dearth of educational resources has prompted the Free Gaza group to head up a "Right to read campaign" in which they are soliciting donors for textbooks and educational supplies to Gaza universities. According to an email correspondence with Huwaida Arraf, access to e-libraries is among one of the main requests by the universities. Dr. Haidar Eid from Al Aqsa has emailed me to check into any reciprocal arrangements with U.S. universities that would extend to Gaza students and faculty articles and books online. I am starting from the bottom in asking our research librarian at USC if she might be able to put me into contact with the university purchasers of such databases. If anyone, who regularly reads this blog, is knowledgeable in this area, your expertise is welcomed.
Related posts:
- The June 9 Gaza Beach Explosion: Charge and Countercharge
- Bubble, Bubble: Journalists Grow More Direct About ‘Israel-Firsters’ and Iran
- My Mother-in-Law Says Bikinis Were ‘Imposed’ on Beach Volleyball Players
- Report from Gaza: One student’s question to the world – ‘Why the Palestinians? Why are we the only ones suffering?’
- Rabbi Saperstein, if you have nothing to say on Gaza, why should the world pay you any mind on Darfur?
{ 52 comments }
I wish Diane Shammas all the best in her quest. Choking Gazans from access to the outside world is cruel beyond belief. If she finds some of the educational institutions in the west reluctant to open up their databases, maybe she could ask the student unions to do some of the heavy lifting.
RE: " On a Gaza beach, they smoke the hubble-bubble and yearn for a connection to the world" *** Rachel Corrie Soccer Tournament Fundraiser *** What: A community soccer tournament in the Yebna neighborhood of Rafah, Gaza. Why: Cut off from the world by a brutal siege, the people of the Gaza strip live with hunger, massive unemployment, and frequent attacks by the Israeli army. Stress and anger lead to hopelessness and rage, with the youth being particularly vulnerable. This innovative, community-developed soccer tournament gives neighbors a chance to strengthen bonds and relieve the stress caused by the dire situation. When: The month of Ramadan, August 21st – September 14th. Funds Needed: $10,500 U.S. Fundraiser Ends: August 3oth MORE INFO – http://www.palestinereview.org/Rachel_Corrie_Socc...
Love the picture of Dianne and Lulu in matching pink.
ROFL. After 9/11 they name their kid “Osama” and then wonder why the Israelis aren’t all hugs and puppies with them. OK it was a pretty common name in the Arab countries, but way to make friends and influence people. Here’s a hint. If you want Israel to make nice with you, don’t elect people whose charter calls for the destruction of Israel and the worldwide extermination of the Jews. Don’t elect people who think firing rockets and mortars at Israel is a good idea. Do repudiate terrorism. Do pick a name for your kid other than the name of the biggest terrorist in the world.
Thom, you write like the Jews did not steal native land. Are we suppose to just forget this macro and fasten on only your derivative micros? What did the Palestinians have to do with Auschwitz? What did the Americans have to do with it? What if another pressed people commenced stealing land Israelis have come to think of as theirs? Should we support such people? If not, why not?
Shut the fuck up Thom. Israel carries out far more terrorism and on a much greater scale. You are a fucking sadist.
No, I'm a masochist. Why else would I keep reading the nasty comments you anti-Semites post here.
No one here is an anti-Semite. You're just so deluded and shallow that everyone who is disgusted with Israel is – by your definition – an anti-Semite. And who are you to judge the commentary here as nasty? Read your own posts you scumbag.
The Jews didn't steal native land. They took back land that the Arabs took from the Jews and the people who took it from the Jews. Unless you are going all the way back to the Canaanites, the Jews are the native people of Israel. And in fact, biblical mythology notwithstanding, archaeological evidence suggests that the Jews and Canaanites more or less merged rather than the Jews wiping them out. Although it doesn't matter whether the land was stolen. Go back far enough and all habitable land was taken from someone else. The question is "what now". The Native Americans have just as much (more actually) moral grounds to attack America as the Palestinians do to attack Israel. That doesn't make it a good idea. I didn't say anything about Auschwitz. I was talking about the Hamas charter, which still calls for the destruction of Israel and the worldwide extermination of the Jews. You anti-Semites can say "oh they don't really mean it" (same thing people said about Mein Kampf, and look how that turned out). Well, if they don't mean it, then what's the harm in taking out a piece of their Charter that they don't mean anyway. If the Palestinians successfully take the land of Israel and the Jews are left with the choices of "get on with your lives" or "futile terrorism against people you can't defeat" I would advocate getting on with their lives. Fortunately, it's something Jews have a long history of.
It is your focus on the Jews and your hypocrisy on Israel that marks you as an anti-Semite. Just as the UN "human rights" council (or whatever they are calling themselves these days) reveals their Antisemitism by spending more time condemning the 6 million people of Israel than they do on the other 7 billion people in the world. Including countries where actual genocide is taking place. Actual genocide as in the deliberate murders of millions of people, not the blockading of a region and under 2000 deaths in a military operation against dug-in terrorists. It isn't that you hate Israel, it is that you hate Israel for things that you give every other people and country on earth a pass on.
Canaanites? Why stop there? I have repeatedly demanded that all humans are removed from the area, which will be turned into a homeland for birds, an often-persecuted, often-slaughtered-and-consumed-with-yummy-sauces species who are the direct descendants of the dinosaurs who once roamed that land. As for the Native Americans, do you happen to know what they have? All of them? That's right: US citizens. So, if you are shooting for equivalency here: Not a problem at all. Heck, if you give all WB Palestinians Israeli citizenship, including, among many other things, the right to vote, their "homelands" can be an exact copy of the US reservations for all I care (which is functionally exactly what Netanyahu proposed by the way… of course sans Citizenship.)
Thanks for posting this, Phil, it was a really fascinating read. Tell Diane we appreciated her writing very much, and her efforts with CODEPINK even moreso. One thing: I'll try to bring her requests up within the Palestine solidarity movement I work in, but I'm a little unclear on what exactly the Islamic University and Al Azhar are asking for… is it access to similar e-databases like CQ researcher and Academic OneFile, etc. that many (if not most) U.S. college campuses have? Or is it archived e-books, or what? More information so that I know exactly what to bring up to the various contacts I have would help me. Thanks to whoever can answer.
Canaanites? Why stop there? that's what puzzles me for quite some time now. It's such an obvious question. The repetition of these tale seem to block quite a few axons and synapse in the brain after a while. Maybe that's the result of the rigidity of the system. But what do I know.
<2000? That's OK, then. Drop in the bucket, eh Thom?
Strahl, don't do them the favor and get mad. That seems a large part of the intention. The moment I see certain names, I move on. I only check the replies. And then really very, very rarely the original.
Most of them were terrorists. The rest were killed because urban warfare against terrorists is a chaotic business. And again we are back to "condemn Israel for things you give every other nation on Earth a pass on". There were about 1.7 million German civilian casualties in WWII. Think that makes the Nazis the good guys? Oh, wait, I forgot where I was, you probably do think that the Nazis were the good guys. If the terrorists would care to separate themselves from the general Palestinian population, then Israel would be happy to fight them without any Palestinian civilian casualties at all. As it is, Israel was left with a choice, let the terrorists keep firing rockets and mortars at Israelis or fight back, even though the terrorists would make sure that the Israelis couldn't kill them without killing some civilians as well.
Here's a hint. If you want Palestinians to make nice with you, don't elect people whose charter calls for the creation of an Israeli state on more than 100% of Palestinian land. Don't elect people who think besieging, bombing, destroying Palestinian houses, olive trees, and agricultural land, holding Palestinian prisoners with no trial, evidence, or charge (and calling it something Orwellian like "administrative detention"), performing extrajudicial assassinations, building settlements on expropriated land, beating up children at checkpoints, demolishing cisterns and wells, throwing tear gas canisters into houses with small children, and using live ammunition on unarmed protesters is a good idea. I am glad that you are rolling on the floor laughing about the trauma these kids experience. It really gives you the sort of strong moral standing you want to make your arguments. And thanks for the totally racist canard of assuming that people named Osama are named for bin Ladin. Genius.
P.S.–That's Likud's charter that I was referring to. And they're the most progressive of the current ruling coalition. Brilliant.
I would never consider naming my child "George W. Bush." I oppose terrorism.
You might want to consider reading Shlomo Sand's new book about the invention of the Jewish people. The people who lived in ancient Israel are most certainly not the ancestors of modern Jews. Most Jews were later converts, which means they have as much a blood tie to Palestine as I do to Rome because I'm Roman Catholic. None of you are direct descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Stop pretending that you are.
Calling someone who disagrees with Israel's crimes an "anti-Semite" is like calling someone "anti-Catholic" because he opposes child abuse by the clergy. Get a new song.
Sounds like you're a copy editor at Fox News.
"Most of them were terrorists. The rest were killed because urban warfare against terrorists is a chaotic business." Sounds like a quote from a member of the Einsatzgruppen. "If the terrorists would care to separate themselves from the general Palestinian population, then Israel would be happy to fight them without any Palestinian civilian casualties at all." I'm sure that's why the IDF's Givati Brigade sharpshooters printed those T-shirts with a bulls-eye imprinted on a pregnant Palestinian woman's belly and the slogan, "One shot-Two kills". If that "terrorist " fetus had only separated him or herself from his pregnant mother, that woman wouldn't have been killed, right? Or is she not a civilian either, producing those "terrorist fetuses" as she does? Einsazgruppen talk, Thom.
Let's go over the Wingnut checklist: 1. Justifyies the killing of hundreds of children because "most of them were terrorists." Check. 2. Blame the victim. Check. 3. Compare Israel's war of choice to WWII. Check. 4 Claim the Palestinians use their own people as "human shields." Check. You would have thought that Israel buried 1,400 people in January, instead of the Palestinians.
The picture of Lulu is just touching! I can't imagine how could anybody use little children like her for their political games!!! It is intolerable!!!! Adults should learn to use their brains and words, and make equal sacrifices to pursue peace with peaceful means as they are now willing to make for waging wars and committing massacres of innocent lives! And no, I will not hear any of your 'buts' Thom! This craziness has to stop.
Uh, no. The Einsazgruppen had the specific intent to kill Jewish and Gypsy civilians. They killed millions, and under circumstances that had nothing to do with fighting any military force. You should be ashamed of yourself for comparing Jews fighting terrorists to Nazis murdering civilians in cold blood. You have shown yourself to be beyond any semblance of rationality. You call yourself tree, but frankly, most trees are smarter than you. As for the sharpshooters, their humor is inappropriate but not reflective of the practices of the IDF. Though it is reflective of the practices of the Palestinian terrorists.
You can see the wishlist of (physical) books from Gaza here: http://bit.ly/YoIaD As regards databases, I suspect the basics such as JSTOR (which, incidentally, is non-profit and operates two special 'Access Initiatives'. In my estimation, Gaza should be eligible for the Developing Nations Access Initiative (the West Bank is listed as being in the 50% international fee category, which seems steep to me) – I'd happily join any campaign to have Gaza receive free access). Indeed, the non-profit databases may be where it's most easy to find a solution – many of the commercial databases are ludicrously expensive (you don't even want to know what up-to-date subscriptions to the most famous scientific journals cost)). It seems the point I'm working my way to regarding electronic databases is this: someone should coordinate with the relevant Gazan institutions to construct a prioritised list, and then we should all go shamelessly begging;) – even the big commercial publishers are feeling the pressure these days as regards discounted/free access for needy institutions (I know people who have worked on this in connection with African universities).
1. There were 89 non-combatants under the age of 16 killed. Along with 709 members of terrorist organizations, not counting the terrorist fraction of the 162 men not identified as to whether they were terrorists or civilians. 2. Blame Hamas. Some of the casualties were not terrorists, but every war in history has civilian casualties. And we're back to "showing your anti-Semitism by attacking Israel for something you give every non-Jewish nation a pass on". 3. Hey, by your standard WWII was a war of choice to America and the rest of the Allies. We could just have let the Axis powers keep attacking us without fighting back. 4. As I said, if the Palestinian terrorists want to avoid Palestinian civilian casualties there is a 100% effective way for them to do it. They could choose to separate themselves from the civilian population. Their attacks from within their civilian population are a war crime actually. Funny I don't see the Palestinian whining squads here complaining about that.
No buts. I agree. The Palestinian's crazy firing of missiles from within a few feet in front of schools (there's footage of that) in the hope that Israeli counterattacks would kill Palestinian children has to stop. Was that what you meant by using children like her for their political purposes? The Palestinian's crazy use of their children as human shields has to stop. The Palestinian's crazy indoctrination of their children to be and support terrorists has to stop. It's really not that complicated. If the Palestinians want their children to be safe, they can either relocate their terrorists to somewhere where there are no children, or better yet, stop the terrorism. Peace will come if the Palestinians start to put the wellbeing of their children ahead of their desire to kill Israelis.
As Senhal was saying, I would think databases like JSTOR (contains journal articles 5 years or over)–many social science articles want more recent than 5 years, ERIC (education), Social Science Abstract, Proquest, Psychinfo, Lexis Nexus (articles in newspapers, court and legislative reports). Also, there were a lot of engineering students among the young group I hung out with. So Senhal is correct in getting a list from the universities. The Dean from Al Aqsa was not clear what databases he was needing. And the profs from Psychology and Educational Psychology at Al Azhar did not give me any indication. I will try to email them to nail them down. I will see if I have an email contact for the engineering depts at Islamic University or better yet ask my host's brother-in-law who took me around as he and his buddies are engineering students there.
I am copying you on this one to Nth Republic if you can help me out. As Senhal was saying, I would think databases like JSTOR (contains journal articles 5 years or over)–many social science articles want more recent than 5 years, ERIC (education), Social Science Abstract, Proquest, Psychinfo, Lexis Nexus (articles in newspapers, court and legislative reports). Also, there were a lot of engineering students among the young group I hung out with. So Senhal is correct in getting a list from the universities. The Dean from Al Aqsa was not clear what databases he was needing. And the profs from Psychology and Educational Psychology at Al Azhar did not give me any indication. I will try to email them to nail them down. I will see if I have an email contact for the engineering depts at Islamic University or better yet ask my host's brother-in-law who took me around as he and his buddies are engineering students there. My email acct. is : dshammas@usc.edu or dianeshammas@yahoo.com
Shlomo Sand is a certifiable kook. He claims that the Jewish people were invented about 200 years ago but never existed beforehand. He seems not to have noticed things like the Spanish Inquisition which targeted the Jews (who he claims didn't exist), the persecution of Jews in Europe over centuries, the massacres of Jews by Mohammed and his followers, the Roman empire's conquest of the Jewish State in the Land of Israel and more. Please buy his book. He's a fruitcake and he really needs your money!
Pals dont' want Israeli citizenship because they don't recognize the existence of the State of Israel. This is why, among other things, they don't get driver's licenses (and are the WORST drivers), don't get building permits (they really DO steal land), don't bother with environmental protection (that's the way they live – check out ANY Arab country). I'm all for giving Palestineans rights in Palestine. The problem is that the country of Jordan, which occupies 3/4 of historic Palestine, doesn't trust the Pals, fearing they might want their land back. Thus Pals, who are 2/3 of the population of Jordan, have very limited rights there. The Jordanian army only allows Bedouin to officer rank; there have been numerous assasination attempts against the King by Pals in Jordan. Hear Hear for citizenship – in Palestine-Jordan! Why is it that the complete lack of human and civil rights in Arab states never bother MondLiars at all?
1) There were no "hundreds of children". These kinds of lies are the mark of the antisemite. 2) Can you blame the truly guilty? Hamas has been holding Gaza hostage as surely as the Arab world has been persecuting the imaginary "Palestineans", merely to score points against the Zionist Devil and the American Dog. 3) War of choice? How many thousands of missiles into YOUR hometown are needed before you fire back? War of choice???? 4) Pals are human shields. Hiding behind women and children is part of a long Islamic tradition. How many American soldiers were actually killed on 9/11 by Jihadis? How many American citizens? QED.
"Pals dont' want Israeli citizenship" If your pals don't want it, why do they have it? Were they born in Israel? I could have sworn most of your pals were Americans. And why do you capitalize "pal"? As for the *Palestinians*, we can easily check if the want Israeli citizenship – give it to all of them, with the option to give it back if they don't want it (left to every individual, of course, since we all believe in individual rights.) If you insist, we can also ask every Palestinian if he wants Israeli citizenship, and grant it to all those who say yes. No Problem with you, right? I eagerly await the new heights of absurdity you are going to climb in response to these suggestions. But admittedly, you set yourself a high benchmark with your latest "Collective mindreading&racism as common sense" effort. P.S.: Palestinians in Jordan have infinitely more civil and democratic rights than Palestinians under Israeli occupation. Literally. P.P.S.: I feel it necessary to make a stand against your particularly vile suggestion that Palestinians are the WORST drivers. East asians are the worst drivers. Everybody knows that.
Which country are you posting from? Why not have YOUR country give free citizenship to the Balestineans? Balestineans living in Arab countries (e.g. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, which American soldiers really DO die to protect) had Balestineans for several GENERATIONS but DENIED THEM CITIZENSHIP. (This made them easy to kick out, en masse, after the Balestineans joined forces with Saddam's invading army.) That Balestineans are permanent refugees, after GENERATIONS is an artificial problem perpetuated by the Arab world. Don't blame Israel (which is largely populated by refugees who have grown out of that status, like millions of refugees in other parts of the world.)
Balestineans have more rights in Jordan than in Israel? How about the right of dissent? King Hussein killed nearly 10,000 Balestineans in the single month of September, 1970 (which came to be called Black September) when Arafat led his first Intifada (which ended real quick). Israel doesn't act that way. How about freedoms of sexual choice, press, speech, movement, religious choice… all of which Arabs in Israel enjoy VASTLY MORE THAN IN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN THE MIDDLE EAST. Even Jordan. If you really think that Balestineans (or anyone!) have "democratic rights" (sic!!!) in Jordan, then I bet you can't define 'democracy'.
So, Goering was right about the Nuremberg Trials? Thanks, good to know. Love that German thinking.
I have already noted that and is a certified kook. Please buy his book. He needs the money.
Typo corrected: I have already noted that SAND is a certified kook. Please buy his book. He needs the money.
What's a charter when we have had such a great progression of facts on the ground? The creed is in the deed.
I have already replied to this and debunked it completely. Is MondoLies removing my postings?
Similarly, the use of settlements as human shields and swords is wonderful too–especially those with so many dual citizen Americans. It does not get much better than that. All we need is some powerful nation giving a blank check to arm the Pals with sophisticated military tools; you know, support the resistance fighters, rather than the colonials? Take the high ground, in exchange for proxy hegemony in such a key geo-strategic area?
This particular child is not used as a human shield. In fact, the family represents Fatah that our government and Israel recognizes as the sole representative of the Palestinians.
Why was it then that with decades of peace and quiet from the Palestinians in the occupied Territories, the Israeli response was not an end to the occupation and the encouragement and support of Palestinian independence? Instead the Israelis responded with more and more settlements and land theft and tighter and tighter restrictions on the Palestinians. Here's a clue for you on how life works. If you treat a people with cruelty and injustice and act as if you consider their needs and desires as inferior to your own wishes, they aren't going to like you and they aren't going to pretend that they think you have their best wishes at heart. The worst indoctrinators of hate in the occupied territories are the IDF and the settlers. "New widower Shukri al-Makadama lies on the floor of his brother's house, lighting cigarette after cigarette. His neck is encased in plaster, due to a possible fractured vertebra caused by a wall falling on top of him. He mourns his dead wife and moans in pain. Staring at the ceiling, he quietly describes – in fluent Hebrew, from all the years he worked in Tel Aviv – the events of that terrible night when the Israel Defense Forces destroyed his house and his world, and killed his wife – Noha al-Makadama, a mother of 10, who was in her ninth month of pregnancy. Late one night last week, the army came to demolish the house of the family of teenage terrorist Sami Abdel Salam, who was shot dead on February 9 after he and several others started shooting at IDF soldiers in the El Bureij refugee camp in Gaza. In the process, they also demolished the homes of seven other families – without warning and while the residents were inside. Before she lost consciousness, Noha, who was due to give birth any day, managed to shout to her husband to protect the children and to hand him the small purse that held the money she was saving for a washing machine. He shows us the blue purse, still full of coins. Noha was buried alive under the rubble of her house last Monday, and her unborn child died with her. Brigadier General Gadi Shemani, the Gaza division commander, said the next day that the IDF has "no evidence" of the woman's death and thereby exempted himself and his soldiers from any responsibility for the despicable killing. Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said something similar and just as outrageous at the cabinet meeting. So, as a service to the defense minister and the division commander, the full story of the killing of Noha al-Makadama and her unborn child, crushed to death when their home was demolished by the IDF, is hereby presented…" — 'Save the children, Shukri!', by Gideon Levy; Ha'aretz, 12 Mar 2003. The soldiers who killed Noha-Al Makadama were not firing at a terrorist. They were executing a punitive collective punishment, after the fact, by destroying the home of a Palestinian who had already died at another place and time while attacking IDF soldiers(note: not civilians). And in executing that collective punishment they destroyed the home of several other unrelated families, without even a warning or a notice. How can any Palestinian successfully teach their children not to hate the IDF when the IDF itself is so successfully teaching hate day in and day out in the occupied territories?
Oh, come on. The old "Why don't YOU take them if you love them so much" is really stale compared to your previous efforts. Barely registers on the nuts-o-meter. Answer btw: Because they don't live under our control, but under yours. And anti-Muslim tu quoque fallacies? Now you're not even trying.
Hmm, simple ignorance of the suggestions. An underperformance. Pretty much a standard maneuver, nothing fancy. 2 out of 5. As for your unrelated new rantings: Yes. Infinitely as much, as I said. Because even "very little" would be infinitely as much as "zero". Individual democratic rights, btw, can be defined as the rights one has to influence and change the authorities which govern them. How much of this ability does a Palestinian in Jordan have? A little. By middle east standards, quite a lot, actually. How much of this ability does a Palestinian does a Palestinian under Israeli occupation have? Zero. None. Nada. Zip. (And by the way: This is not about "Arabs in Israel". Those are citizens. Give all the Palestinians on the West Bank the same rights, and nobody has a problem with that.) P.S.: Do you have to swear some kind of oath at whatever institution educated you never to say or spell "Palestinian"? Even if the only resort is using faux-native spellings? Is there also a rule on a minimum number of capital letters?
ROFL. As I said before "Tree" most trees are smarter than you. Which "decades of peace" would these be? The decade from 1967 to 1976? With its over 380 dead victims of Palestinian terrorism (not counting Palestinians murdered on suspicion of "collaborating" with Israel? The decade from 1977 to 1987 with over 180 dead victims of Palestinian terrorism? Since Israel's founding, there has not been a single year in which Palestinian (or whatever they called themselves at the time) terrorist attacks didn't kill Israelis. Is one of the things being kept out by the blockade condoms? These stories all seem to have "Mother of 8, 9, 10, etc." Gee, maybe the Gaza wouldn't be so crowded and unpleasant it the Palestinians didn't all have 10 kids. Seriously, have as many kids as you want, but if you are going to have more than you can afford, quit complaining about being poor. Actually, we have no idea whether the soldiers who accidentally killed Noha-Al Makadam were firing at a terrorist or not. The Palestinians and their supporters have a tendency to lie about the circumstances of deaths. See Barbara Lubin who confessed to lying about an atrocity that never happened. The Palestinians often fire at Israelis who come to demolish the houses of terrorists, that's why the bulldozers are armored. Sounds as though there was a battle and the wall was knocked down in the course of it. For all we know a grenade or an anti-tank missile fired by Hamas hit it.
Oops, most of my reply was posted as a separate comment. BTW, knocking down the home of a terrorist or a war criminal is not collective punishment, it is individual punishment. The only kind that can be meted out to suicide terrorists or non-terrorist war criminals like Sami Abdel Salam (fighting while disguised as a civilian is a war crime). I shouldn't make that assumption. He wasn't killed in an act of terrorism (according to this story anyway), but we don't know whether he committed acts of terrorism before his fatal attack. How else do you punish an individual who believes that he can get 72 virgins in heaven by dying while murdering as many of your people as possible (including children)?
That's odd, I posted a response to this, now it's missing. As is the response of someone else who posted a response to this. I guess the anti-Semites who post here don't think their own posts will stand up in the face of opposing viewpoints. Censorship of posts that don't attack Israel? Priceless.
OK, thanks for replying Diane and Senhal, sorry it took me a bit to respond, I got lost in the fray ;) I'll be pushing this on, and I've copied all this down including your contact info… might be a while before we coordinate out here and contact you, but rest assured we won't forget and we'll do everything we can.
Ms. Shammas is doing a marvelous job putting a wonderfully human face on the victims of Israeli aggression. Thanks for this firsthand account.
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