Comments on: Stories from Gaza

By: Knowlogy Community Server

Knowlogy Community Server — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:38:12 +0000

[...] Click here to read the article he wrote to accompany the video. [...]

By: Gaza in conflict | Antony Loewenstein

Gaza in conflict | Antony Loewenstein — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 06:30:52 +0000

[...] But this is only one picture of Gaza, a territory under siege for years by Israel and the Western powers. I was expecting a threatening place, not least because I’m Jewish; instead, I found humility, generosity and desperation (photos of my visit are here, and a mini-documentary is here). [...]

By: The view From Gaza | Antony Loewenstein

The view From Gaza | Antony Loewenstein — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:44:05 +0000

[...] The drive from the checkpoint into Gaza City, a relatively short distance, quickly reminded me that I was in Hamas-controlled territory. The group’s flags flapped in the wind. Buildings had Arabic writings spray-painted across their fronts. The rubble-strewn roads were littered with rubbish and broken up by speed humps. The place looked old and broken (photos of my visit are here, and a mini-documentary is here). [...]

By: syvanen

syvanen — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 00:29:16 +0000

Pinewood More power to you. I became aware of these Palestinian students during a city wide hearing on Jan 20 of this year in a debate over the question whether or not our city (which is home to a large state universtiy) should endorse a resolution calling on Israel to stop its assault on Gaza. There were about 50 people who argued this issue, each given 2 minutes. The local temple mobilized its supporters (the J street types in that temple didn’t show). It was an amazing show. About 15 Moslem students, another 10 or so peace activists and 25 proIsraeli advocates made presentations. I was really impressed with the Palestian students presentations. Impassioned, well argued and completely reasonable. All of them under the age of 30. The proIsraeli arguments were the predictable arguments about poor Israel under consistant attack from antisemitic forces, and so on, some more sophisticated than others. None of them under the age of 45. The local peace activists that argued that night were mostly senior, but they were former professionals that were now retired or tenured and felt they could be public without jepordizing their careers.

What really struck me was that time is not on Israel’s side (at least amoung the people in this one small town).

By: pineywoodslim

pineywoodslim — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:33:38 +0000

You gave me an excellent idea–it’s the obvious staring me in the face.

I’m an instructor at a small midwestern public community college which recruits international students. I have had Australian, Kenyan, German, British, Irish, and Israeli students, yet no Palestinians.

Something I should get to work on.

By: syvanen

syvanen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:13:53 +0000

an overwhelmingly advantage in PR

Still true today but not as bad as before. Remember Abba Eban with his beautiful Oxford accent compared to Arafat with his fractured English that grated on the nerve endings. Netanyahu’s English is also pleasing to an American’s ear.

One thing I have noticed in recent years is large number of young Palestinians studying in this country that speak English well and can debate effectively with Israelis. I think this might be one of the reasons that Israel is restricting Palestinian students from studying abroad.

By: pineywoodslim

pineywoodslim — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:03:51 +0000

In direct response to the video–I should have added that for me the singing and poetry were beautiful and, if I had the time, could write a little bit more about the juxtaposition of the Palestinian music with that of the recent Jerusalem street scene with American-Israelis doing their sad knock-off of American blues.

There’s an essay in there somewhere.

By: pineywoodslim

pineywoodslim — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:00:43 +0000

I’m not sure how many American jews are dyed in the wool zionists. Maybe because I grew up in the south–where most jews had long American roots, probably going back to the 1850′s or so. There just wasn’t the eastern european 1900-era Yiddish immigration down there, and by far most jews were either reform or relentlessly secular.

Most jews I know were just part of the larger culture–they were pro-Israel and unaware of Palestinian suffering, but only in the sense that most Americans are, viewing the situation through the lens of the mass media.

By: Citizen

Citizen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:34:13 +0000

What is most striking is that the Zionist Jews have, thanks to their Diaspora and long
integration (a people alone but using the goy culture and words), an overwhelmingly
advantage in PR. If I sent this video clip to everybody I have contact with, starting with my own family, it would not register. The language alone would be off-putting. I see from this, a depiction of rubble, and foreign singing, that Rachel Corrie is real dynamite, as the Zionists know. No wonder she has been buried both literally and figuratively.

By: James

James — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:20:03 +0000

thanks for this post… i really enjoyed the musical components with the man singing at the start and the rapper group later on in the video.. the destruction of buildings in pretty appalling, but the damage at the hospital is every more disturbing… it is strange to see a 7 minute video of a different country which shows many people moving around, but only once at about 6:10 into the video does on see a ‘women’.. it would tend to support the quote from your post “Journalist Fares Akram told me that he worried many Gazans were too pre-occupied with their own problems that they wouldn’t complain that Hamas was demanding female mannequins be removed from shop windows. It is a slow but deliberate implementation of sharia.” i probably find this the most disturbing feature of the video… not sure what can be said about this other then that they need to be brought into the world community as opposed to being treated inhumanly and being cut off… thanks again for the post…