Comments on: Few Americans have any idea what is going on in the Palestinian mind

By: Shingo

Shingo — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:59:55 +0000

What is so naively dangerous about Naomi Klein’s comments? They are the exact same comments that Tzipi Livni made during the last election, and Olmert made many times.

The settlements have to go. End of story.

By: Seham

Seham — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:37:19 +0000

Best post you wrote that I ever read!

By: slowereastside

slowereastside — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:06:36 +0000

The comment about British activism is an important one. Mostly because of the language but also because of the candor of the debate there, I think the Brits will start to influence things here.

For example, the Brits are already investigating the causes behind Iraq, have begun a partial Israeli arms embargo and are considering opening a dialogue with Hamas. All of this stuff is not only off the table in the US, it’s outside of the house. And if it came from France or Germany, it could easily be dismissed as typical Euro extremism, but coming from our British cousins with whom we have that age old ‘special relationship’…I think it’ll at least arouse the curiosity of a lot of Americans who are still indifferent to the issue.

By: Citizen

Citizen — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:33:53 +0000

I agree with Naomi Klein. The united Arab regimes offered Israel official recognition as a state confined to the 1967 borders. Israel has ignored it except to say we will talk about peace without agreeing to anything up front (–and keep up grabbing more more land).

Zionist AND democratic = in FACT a democracy for Jews only. Very much a reality of OR.

By: Richard Witty

Richard Witty — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:57:17 +0000

Naomi Klein’s comments are naively dangerous ones, for their potential to destroy a deal, a peace, a stability, when the only beneficiaries of chaos are parasites.

By: Richard Witty

Richard Witty — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:55:31 +0000

It was a good post.

It is a certainty that most Americans don’t know in the slightest what is happening in Palestine, or what different Palestinians actually think.

I’ve had some recent dialogues with some self-defined liberal Jewish activists. One key issue was Netanyahu’s and Kadima’s insistence that any negotiation include the overtly stated recognition of Israel as “the Jewish state”, as a precondition to negotiation.

I stated that that was absurd and unnecessary, and most likely a strategem to delay negotiation, even it is sincere on their part. I stated that its enough for Israelis themselves to define the principles that they govern by, which they have (Zionist AND democratic). Its a self-definition. An “AND” statement, not an “OR”.

By: US_Objector

US_Objector — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 15:59:41 +0000

Great post, Phil.