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Total number of comments: 270 (since 2009-08-24 01:14:18)

Michael W.

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  • Backer of NY ads exposing Palestinian land-loss says response has been 'astounding' and news 'coverage is pouring in'
    • Michael W. July 14, 2012 at 2:10 pm

      I should have mentioned that I just used his figures, not his conclusions. However, I think his compensation value is a good estimate.

      I don't have time to respond fully right now, but you can't automatically say that any land in Mandate Palestine that wasn't owned by Jews is automatically Palestinian Arab. How much is "state" land? How much land was owned by foreigners? What land is privately owned by Israeli Arabs (and are they internally displaced)?

    • Michael W. July 13, 2012 at 5:30 pm with 3 replies

      Using Berncastle’s (look him up) figures, one can asses the accuracy of those maps. According to Berncastle, Israel confiscated 16,329,707 dunams (75%). Of that land, 10303110 dunams are uncultivable Negev land. That leaves you with 6,026,597 dunams from northern and central Israel (including uncultivable land), Jerusalem, and the cultivable land of Beersheba District/Negev. That is 28% of the 21,670,431 dunams that constitutes Israel.

  • NY ads depicting Palestinian dispossession are termed anti-Semitic by 'Jewish community'
    • Michael W. July 17, 2012 at 2:37 pm

      I said before that I was using Berncastle's figures, I mean numbers here, but not his conclusions.

      As for the Negev land, how can one establish what a parcel is and if they used any fraction of it for grazing and for how long? The Negev is more barren than the West Bank.

    • Michael W. July 16, 2012 at 12:57 pm

      Page 121 for the figures. See Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

      See page 129 for the conversation with Weitz.

      Link:
      link to books.google.com

    • Michael W. July 16, 2012 at 12:16 pm

      I should clarify that they didn't levy taxes till 1944. The source for my figures is Berncastle who cites the "Village Statistics" taken in 1945 by the Brits.

    • Michael W. July 16, 2012 at 11:36 am

      In the book, Records of Dispossession: Palestinian Refugee Property and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, it recounts a conversation Weitz (the appointee for the Israeli commission/study) and Berncastle about why they differ on the uncultivable Negev land. The reason mentioned is that in the "Village Statistics" listed said land as Palestinian because it wasn't registered by Jews or the government. Since the Palestinians haven't registered it either, it should be listed as government land. As proof, Weitz cited the fact that the government didn't levy any taxes on this land. It should also be mentioned that many Negev Bedouins stayed and got title to the land - but not all as can be seen by recent events.

      It should also be mentioned that Palestinians didn't control the West Bank and Gaza between 1948 and 1967 - as misrepresented in the 3rd map.

      Additionally, the change in definition of the colors between the first map and the rest is disingenuous. Not all Israelis are Jews. 20 plus percent are Arab, aka, Palestinian. And aren't Jews who held Palestinian passports during the British mandate also Palestinian? Was Ben-Gurion a Palestinian?

    • Michael W. July 15, 2012 at 10:33 am

      ColinWright,

      I didn't calculate the amount of Jewish owned land. I calculated the amount of land Palestinian refugees from 1948 have the right to compensation for.

    • Michael W. July 14, 2012 at 2:12 pm with 14 replies

      I removed the uncultivable Negev land because it mostly likely, in my opinion, not privately owned. Berncastle included it.

    • Michael W. July 13, 2012 at 1:15 pm with 44 replies

      Using Berncastle's (look him up) figures, one can asses the accuracy of those maps. According to Berncastle, Israel confiscated 16,329,707 dunams (75%). Of that land, 10303110 dunams are uncultivable Negev land. That leaves you with 6,026,597 dunams from northern and central Israel (including uncultivable land), Jerusalem, and the cultivable land of Beersheba District/Negev. That is 28% of the 21,670,431 dunams that constitutes Israel.

  • Why I am using 'Israel firster' again
  • On Syria, Clinton spins a fast one
  • One state, two states and the art of the possible
    • Michael W. June 18, 2012 at 11:17 pm

      Hostage,

      Where does the Sunni-Shia bloodbath in Iraq come in here? Why would a Sunni strap himself with a bomb and blow himself up in the middle of a Shia pilgrimage? I don't think it is particularly Islamic, just mad. Yea, I know - the Americans occupied Iraq. But how does that make Iraqis blow up other Iraqis?

    • Michael W. June 17, 2012 at 5:18 pm

      Taxi,

      Nasser said the same thing you are saying now in May of 1967. Do you still want to beat the drums of war?

    • Michael W. June 17, 2012 at 9:27 am

      Taxi,

      Don't you think the Arabs are too divided to mount a coalition against Israel? It has been a long time since Nasser and that ended up in a disaster. And it's not just pro-Israel regimes that are being shaken. Assad is being shaken as well. Gaddafi was removed (Palestinian Israeli MKs visited him not that long before the Libyan revolution started).

      Another point - Hezbollah did empty the north for about a month, but for how long? And if Hezbollah blankets Israel with rockets all the way to Tel-Aviv, wouldn't that make the Israelis even more ballistic than they were in 2006?

      In short, I don't see the whole Arab vs. Israel battle coming any time soon (though who ever saw the Tunisian revolution and the Egyptian military junta coup?), nor they emptying Israel with any force they can muster.

  • VP's daughter ties knot with a Jewish guy
    • Michael W. June 13, 2012 at 2:34 pm

      My dad was a few months away from getting drafted into Vietnam. Luckily for him, they ended the draft shortly before getting drafted. He never wanted to join the army - most Americans don't, especially for a war such as Vietnam.

      He joined the IDF because that's what every Israeli Jew (with some exceptions) had to do. BTW, when he was NCO during the reserves, his favorite soldier was the lone Arab in his unit. He swears they put all the Jewish delinquents in his unit.

      As for the Fidlers, they do a lot of great at The Associated (Baltimore Umbrella group for the Jewish community) and Johns Hopkins. I'm pretty sure both of these organizations do a lot of Baltimore and Maryland.

    • Michael W. June 12, 2012 at 3:24 pm with 2 replies

      Which is why I like them. My dad went to school with one of them, moved to Israel, served in the army and reserves till he was 45, then came back to Baltimore across the street from the Fidlers, to the same house he grew up in.

    • Michael W. June 12, 2012 at 2:35 pm with 4 replies

      Obama was literally across the street from my house. I didn't know they were big donors (and apparently my dad went to school with one of the hosts). SO many policemen! I couldn't even park at my driveway. I don't think this neighborhood ever had so much excitement.

      link to baltimoresun.com

  • Oren's defensive piece on 'sinister' delegitimization movement shows boycott is working
    • Michael W. May 16, 2012 at 11:14 am

      "The good news is that, despite the worsening crisis in Europe, exports of goods and services rose by an annualized 14.2% in the first quarter, after falling by 0.2% in the preceding quarter. Exports of services rose by an annualized 45% in the first quarter (9.7% on a quarterly basis), and industrial exports, excluding diamonds, rose by 4.8%. Agricultural exports rose by an annualized 18.9% in the first quarter."

      link to globes.co.il

  • Orlando Fox affiliate calls neo-Nazis a 'civil rights group'
  • The liberal Zionist predicament
    • Michael W. April 5, 2012 at 12:04 am with 3 replies

      What if we think of it in these terms - Israel can attempt to be
      1. as Zionist (or Jewish) as democracy allows?
      or
      2. as democratic as Jewish nationalism (or Zionism) allows?

      For liberal Zionists, they think in terms of the first question. Conservative Zionists think in terms of the second question.

      So, can a state be "Jewish and democratic"? Why can't a state have elements of both? Not all western democracies have the same laws and some even have laws that resemble the nationalist laws of Israel.

      So what do you guys think? Are the terms mutually exclusive? I think not since "Jewish" is not a system of government.

  • More on the Barghouti attack at Qalandiya on Friday
    • Michael W. April 2, 2012 at 9:07 am with 1 replies

      I don't this this post added anything new. Why did other Palestinians (your sources?) say that Palestinians attacked him? Even +972mag said that other Palestinians attacked him.

      This post didn't clarify the initial confusion.

  • UPDATE: Mustafa Barghouti stable after being struck in head at Qalandiya; Palestinian protester reports Barghouti attacked by fellow protesters
  • Double standard for the neighbor--'Washington Post' and Egypt
    • Michael W. February 2, 2012 at 12:31 pm

      The problem is that Americans are very sympathetic to Israel. Some would say that America likes Israel.

  • Israel building walls on its borders with Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon
  • David Remnick erases Norman Finkelstein
    • Michael W. December 18, 2011 at 11:26 pm

      Hostage, I read your link about the Pittsburgh Platform (1885), and it doesn't reject "Herzel's proposals" since they couldn't possibly know what they were going to be. Der Judenstaat (1896) hasn't been published yet. The Dreyfus Affair (1895) hasn't even occurred yet.

      I don't know which comment by Witty you were responding to so I don't see the relevance of the Platform for today's problems. But a good educational link none the less.

  • BDS update: Rage in Israel as BNP Paribas is pressured to pull out
    • Michael W. November 27, 2011 at 12:16 am

      Seafoid, that's like pointing out the significance of two people defending black people on a white supremacist forum. You are right. eee and Witty are so deluded to even bother.

  • Jewish National Fund uses 9/11 to say Israel and US are joined at the hip
  • 'J St' comes out against Palestinian statehood initiative
  • Arrests of 100+ 'Hamas agents' in West Bank seem to be Israel's latest effort to thwart Palestinian reconciliation
    • Michael W. September 9, 2011 at 1:27 am

      The Hamas operatives actually got a warning ahead of time of when the IDF raids would happen, but because they had their clocks set to Gaza time instead of Ramallah time, the IDF came one hour earlier than they anticipated.

  • 'Hands at your side like a soldier,' first-graders belt out 'Hatikvah' --at NY school with public funding
    • Michael W. September 7, 2011 at 7:33 pm

      However, I did get a recruitment letter from the French Army when I was 17 (I am technically a French citizen). I never got a letter from the IDF (I am an Israeli too). I didn't get a recruitment letter from the Tunisian army either (guess what, I'm Tunisian as well!). Of course, I saw lots of US military brochures (Yes, I am 'merican).

    • Michael W. September 7, 2011 at 7:29 pm with 2 replies

      At French class in my Jewish high school in America, we sang and learned the French national anthem. I don't know what the Spanish and Latin classes did. I think we heard the Canadian anthem as well, we had a few Canadians in class too. I think learning the national anthem is one aspect of learning the culture where the language originated from. It doesn't serve as a recruitment device for a nationalist cause.

  • 8th-inning thought experiments
  • Meanwhile, in Israel . . .
    • Michael W. August 31, 2011 at 4:07 pm

      Kraft Stadium? Kraft, as in the owner of the New England Patriots? I guess no one here is a Pats fan anymore.

  • Wikileaks: In '06, Lieberman told US ambassador of need to transfer Palestinians from Israel-- and US says nothing
  • 'Olive Revolution' plans to march on Jerusalem from four directions this Friday
    • Michael W. August 24, 2011 at 1:18 pm

      Israel doesn't have a constitution (i.e. one document plus amendments), but it does have a body of legal precedents and the Basic Law that make up Israel's "constitutional law". It is what they call an uncodified constitution.

  • Israeli Ministers promote racist vision for Israel (and Judaism)
    • Michael W. August 15, 2011 at 11:44 pm with 3 replies

      Hostage, you wrote "Shertok testified that a Christian convert could no longer be considered a Jew. The Chief Rabbi disagreed ..."

      But earlier your wrote, "the Chief Rabbi of Palestine, Moshe Shertok ..."

      Who was for what?

      BTW, which Chief Rabbi of Palestine was he? Did they have two back then as well?

  • Slouching toward theocracy: Tehran and Tel Aviv may have something in common
  • Be careful when you play that Jewish card
    • Michael W. August 11, 2011 at 5:53 pm

      Woody, when someone converts to Judaism and adopts a Hebrew name, it is always [insert first name] ben Avraham or bat Sarah. They are not simply joining a religion, they are joining a people.

      I think you have to let go of your preconceptions about God and religion because they are Christian conceptions, and not Jewish ones that you wish to understand. In Christianity, God has a relationship with individuals. In Judaism, I think it is more nation/people orientated.

      In Ruth, she says "thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." Notice how she mentions people first, God second?

    • Michael W. August 11, 2011 at 5:29 pm

      Lacking a belief in Hashem does not reject many of our customs. An atheist Jew can still pass down the customs to the next generation. If a Jew starts believe in Yeshua as meshiach, you can no longer pass down the customs to the next generation because they will be the wrong customs fortifying the wrong identity.

      I'm not describing the tribe as religious. I'm describing the religion in a way that resemble certain aspects of tribe culture, as in the customs of a tribe. When you believe in Yeshua, you are adopting the custom of a non-Jewish tribe. By non-Jewish, I really mean it. It is inconceivable in Judaism for God to have a Son and so on and so forth. As for Judaism, if you believe in no god, you are just not observing your own tribe's custom.

      I said that it is not your concern because it is so hard for gentiles to understand. If you haven't gotten it already, you never will.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 8:29 pm

      nmi, Tanakh. The T is for Torah, N is for Nevi'im (Prophets), and the KH is for K'tuvim (Writings). It is the full Hebrew bible.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 6:25 pm with 1 replies

      The easiest way of becoming not Jewish is converting to another religion. I hear Islam is popular now days. There's one catch, they'll have to cut your ... okay, I won't go there. You just made it too easy.

      Haven't you received any formal Jewish education? I grew up on an extremely secular kibbutz and I know a lot of this stuff.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 6:19 pm

      nmi, ever studied Tanakh?

      By "good", I didn't mean righteous. I meant observant. I'll try to be clearer next time.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 6:17 pm

      Mooser, please don't make it so easy.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 5:34 pm

      A tribe in the religious sense, not the political sense.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 5:31 pm

      nmi,

      A Jew has a covenant with God even if he does not acknowledge it.

      They don't have to read Tanakh, or pray, or even have a mezuzah. If they don't have any of those, it just means that they are ignorant of Jewish texts, unobservant, and assimilated. They can still be good people, they just won't be very good Jews.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 4:30 pm with 10 replies

      Things all Jews have in common:
      1. A covenant with God ... bla bla bla ... you know the story.
      2. The biblical heritage and our responsibility to pass those stories to the next generation.
      3. Fundamental Hebrew prayers.
      4. Some customs such as the mezuzah.

      In conclusion, Jews have responsibilities (mitzvot) established by God (but in reality it was just some old people from way back) and our interpretations of the Law. Since we all have free choice, we can choose to follow them or not.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 4:21 pm with 11 replies

      Breaking one custom of the tribe does not change his identity as a member of the tribe. I can break kashrut a zillion times and still be considered a member of the tribe. I don't really view atheists as a tribe. They are just people who don't follow tradition, which is perfectly fine.

      Are you Jewish? If not, whether Jews consider atheist Jews as members of the tribe is not your concern.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 2:24 pm

      Yes, that is funny. Baruch Hashem.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 2:23 pm with 2 replies

      Consensus and tradition. There is liberty for evolution hence the rise of rabbinical Judaism and different denominations.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 2:17 pm with 26 replies

      For all of those who are having a hard time with my first comment, I'll give you another another way of looking at Jewish identity.

      Let say there is a tribe. This tribe has ancient customs. These customs have religious tones. Tribe members are free to not follow the customs, but they are still considered members of the tribe. If a member of the tribe decides to follow another tribe's customs and adopts that tribes beliefs that are religious in nature, that member is no longer part of the original tribe. If a member of another tribe wants to join the original tribe mentioned, he has to follow the customs of his adopted tribe, study the tribe's traditions, and go through a ceremony to satisfy the tribe.

      Don't bother asking me about if only one parent is of this tribe because I don't care.

    • Michael W. August 10, 2011 at 1:21 pm with 9 replies

      Even if you are the descendant of Moses, if your family has been Christian for several generations, you still have to convert to Judaism under even the most liberal interpretation by any of the major denominations.

      He knows he's not Jewish. He just wanted people to think he was.

  • Does your Congressperson represent you - or Israel?
  • Dreams of a multi-ethnic democracy-- Tent protesters cheer Palestinian demands
  • DC Jewish Community Center axes Theater J's 'peace cafe' collaboration with Muslim
    • Michael W. August 8, 2011 at 6:48 pm with 1 replies

      I don't know much about Theater J (so I don't know if I support it), but maybe we should lobby for some other center to pick it up? Perhaps Washington has a Muslim community center like the (planned?) controversial one in NYC, which was modeled after the JCC. Anyone know of such a center?

  • Tent 1948
    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 12:13 pm

      Shingo, have I ever called you any names? Have I shown you disrespect? If you treat all your political opponents like this, it is immature. You are only hurting your case by using names.

      BTW, how many Jews are there in the Palestinian parliament? And please, Jewish converts to Islam don't count. How many Jews vote in Palestinian elections? If the Palestinians wanted to gain legitimacy for the one state solution, they should allow Israelis, Jew and Arab, to vote in the Palestinian territory for the general Palestinian elections. If they get a good turnout, it would delegitimize the Israeli government and then you'll convince me that the one state solution has merit.

    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 12:49 am

      There is no need to talk about ideology. Just look at history. If Zionism is racism and colonialism, so is Palestinian nationalism. They are in a struggle for power on the same land. Both can exist peacefully, but not at the current circumstances.

      Shingo, how about talking/writing like an adult?

      Just out of curiosity, are you Palestinian? Muslim? Israeli? If not, how many Palestinians and Muslims are you friends with?

    • Michael W. August 6, 2011 at 7:04 pm

      Pamela, Darwish was a symbol of Palestinian nationalism, in direct conflict with Zionism.

    • Michael W. August 6, 2011 at 2:16 pm with 12 replies

      I like some of Mahmoud Darwish's poems even though I'm Israeli. He can say a lot with very few words.

  • Bahour says Palestinians will call for secular democracy after statehood initiative fails
    • Michael W. August 8, 2011 at 4:10 pm

      Technically, Israel did control a sliver of Jordan east of the river which it gave back to Jordan. Actually, my kibbutz now leases land (i.e. it pays the Jordanian government) from Jordan.

    • Michael W. August 8, 2011 at 3:22 pm

      Recognized the State of Palestine in 1932? I'm sorry, but can you please cite me to an article or something. I tried google for a minute and only found out that two things were founded in 1932.

      1. The Palestine Post, later renamed the Jerusalem Post

      and 2. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

      Please provide detail to your claim.

    • Michael W. August 8, 2011 at 3:16 pm

      Fascist? If I'm fascist, Israel is 80+% fascist. Amazing how it still has a functioning parliamentary democracy. You guys use that word willy nilly. It stopped having many in these forums.

    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 9:54 pm

      So why haven't you given all those undocumented Latinos citizenship?

    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 4:45 pm

      Chaos, no, I don't believe they can be unilaterally annexed.

    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 4:43 pm

      Citizen, my statement about Palestinian nationalism is meant to serve as a support to the point that it wasn't simply a reactionary movement to Zionism, but a movement that rose because of a real Palestinian Arab identity like the real national identities found in many states across the globe.

    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 4:40 pm with 5 replies

      Chaos, then why haven't the US given citizenship to all those Latinos yet?

    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 4:38 pm

      Citizen, I'm not worried at all. I'm actually quite happy with the Arab Spring.

      "Eh?" Is that Canadian?

    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 12:03 pm

      Israel made peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan prior to the withdrawal of troops. That's the only way it is going to happen with the Palestinians too.

    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 12:00 pm

      Chaos, when have I ever been against withdrawing settlements? That's a major part of the two state solution which I have been arguing for. I'm not PM Bibi, which I have never liked. I only have one vote, and Abbas refuses to sit with Bibi. Welcome to the real world.

    • Michael W. August 7, 2011 at 11:57 am

      Palestinian isn't a state. Palestinian right to a state is a legitimate cause recognized by international consensus. Israel never declared war on the State of Palestine. Regardless, it has been at war with countless Palestinian militias.

      The Palestinians aren't being exterminated. In Israel proper and in the territories, their populations keep growing. If Israel is committing genocide, they are the worst at it in the history of the world.

      Chaos, people think your perspective is illogical and contradictory. It only seems so black and white to you because you read Mondoweiss all day where you reinforce you perspective. If you were at any real debate setting with random people, your fanatical view of the issue would be rebutted at every turn.

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