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Mustafa passed away this morning.
She's only a little bit racist and ignorant
What a great civilization produces
This isn't a good move-what's the point of recognizing a state that doesn't exist? Under international law and as stated in countless UN resolutions, the West Bank and Gaza are illegally occupied. That hasn't stopped Israel from colonizing them, nor has it driven the UN to end these blatant violations.
The West Bank and Gaza will remain a state in name only, with total sovereignty exercised completely by Israel.
The only reason the PA are taking this path is because it makes for good headlines for them. They are intellectually bankrupt and can offer nothing in the way of a real path forward. They are also hoping this will bolster their diminished legitimacy to govern the Palestinian people.
It's a last, pathetic attempt to save the two state solution with all the destructiveness it entails.
ouch. jon s?
Nothing more needs to be said.
Chaos should have his own running timeline of these on the front page:)
Before the Israeli response, there's the Palestinian response. Neither 'government' in Gaza or the West Bank are very open to anybody taking to the streets unless they direct them, as we saw with both Hamas and the PA violently suppressing protests in support of the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions.
Amanpour epitomizes the trashy, narcissistic, shallow entertainment that passes for mainstream journalism in the US. Apart from her bias and ignorance, her interviews with Hosni Mubarak, Omar Suleiman and the Gaddaffis has showcased her grotesque pandering-all in the name of boosting her own brand. It depresses me that anyone would look up to her or call her an authority on anything.
Kabobfest recently had a good takedown: Amanpour, the dictators pet link to kabobfest.com
As Ali Abunimah just said, looks like even Le Pen is on the left of the Israeli mainstream.
;) Cheers Chaos. Yonira, I'm all in favor of a cooling off period. Let's start now, by ending the occupation, assassinations, siege, arbitrary arrests, mass punishment, restrictions on freedom of movement, speech and assembly, colonization, land theft, etc. Do that now, and I promise you Palestinians will start to cool off immediately.
Glad to see this clarification. Kalithea is right in that the original manifesto was completely counterproductive. I know many are happy to see some youth in Gaza come out like this, but the original document was terribly worded (blame the translation if you want, but it had their name on it and it went viral).
I'm very happy to see this statement clearly defining the enemy and the problem while acknowledging that there is no equivalence between Zionism and whatever Hamas and Fatah's ills are. And I really hope these guys channel the international support they're attracting into dialogue and coordination with other youth in Gaza, even those affiliated with the traditional parties. I know how difficult it is in Palestinian society for independent voices to be heard.
Here's an edited version, those students did a brilliant job and I hope this video inspires campuses across the country:
link to youtube.com
I was thinking the same thing. I remember reading somewhere that a very large number of Chile's MP's are of Palestinian descent, and that support in Chile's parliament for the cause spans all political parties.
Most Chileans of Palestinian descent emigrated there from the Bethlehem area, from the late 19th up to the mid 20th century. Most have intermarried and assimilated.
Brilliant, Witty.
There is no amount of violence that will get Israelis to give up Israel.
Funny you say that on a post describing the brutal violence meted on nonviolent Palestinians protesting the theft of their land.
sorry, here's the link:
link to maannews.net
I wonder what Jared thinks about Maan's chief editor, Nasser Lahham, who published this nauseating paean to Abbas one day after he buried the Goldstone report for a second time a week or so ago:
I never thought of it that way. It's plausible. It's become obvious that Hamas wants to promote businesses closely linked to it and solving the cash flow problem seems like a reasonable motivation. Hamas' leadership haven't moved out of their homes in affluent villas with this money-Ismail Haniyeh still lives in his old home in the Shati' (Beach) refugee camp, one of the most squalid places i've ever seen anywhere.
What's not reasonable, and isn't acceptable at all, is that this should come at the expense of legitimate businesses and institutions. And the crackdown on cultural nights etc is reprehensible. Thanks for this Hani.
wow, these people are so vapid
What an inspiration, a true hero. Atta Jaber has moved me, his lonely struggle against fanatics supported, financed and bolstered by powerful forces across the world has broken my heart. His slender frame and old face belie his age (he's only in his 40s? He looks at least 65), but in this man we see the strongest spirit of human perseverance and dignified resistance. Atta Jaber's name deserves to praised across the world, amongst all people of conscience.
Such a concise statement.
Kathleen, all Palestinians in the West Bank have white license plates. Yellow plates are for cars registered in Israel and East Jerusalem. Gaza also uses white license plates but being cut off completely from the rest of the land makes this less of an issue than in the West Bank, where the color of the plates regulates who passes the checkpoints, who gets delayed, and gets access to the roads and the land, etc.
Phil, your reporting from the ground has been invaluable, hard hitting and articulate. It's hard to find a report on life in Palestine that accurately reflects what we Palestinians feel on a daily basis, a feeling so ingrained by decades of dispossession that it becomes hard to articulate because its such a fundamental part of our reality. Thank you, and please stay there longer if you can.
Wow, the numbers are impressive. I had no idea Mondoweiss was getting that many visitors, and I'm so happy it is. I'll make sure I and those I know contribute what we can.
As a Palestinian, this is one of the most important forms of resistance we can partake in. It's an honor to do it with such a committed and principled community.
This is such a powerful report Phil, it really hit me hard, and I empathize with the rage coming through your words. I lived in Ramallah for so long, I could see Jerusalem, it was only a ten minute drive away-yet I, and almost all Palestinians in the West Bank (and of course Gaza) are barred from ever entering the city.
ignore him
Enough was enough a long long long time ago Witty. When are you going to get enough of exonerating the apartheid state for its continued dispossession, discrimination, deaths, detentions and demolitions?
I expect our local Zionists to be wringing their hands right now about the morality of 'executing' helpless 90 year olds in their arbitrarily defined prison for surplus non-Zionists. Witty, hophmi, Schwartzman, et al?
This was weird:
"What, did you kill him?" a soldier asked after Corrie disappeared beneath the blade of a D9R Caterpillar, wreathed in armor for use by the Israel Defense Forces. "May God have mercy on him," came the reply. The striking exchange, between Israeli soldiers speaking in Arabic, was not included in the report's transcript of radio transmissions, the former investigator acknowledged on the stand. He said he didn't think it was important. (See pictures of life under Hamas in Gaza.)
What was that link doing at the end of the paragraph? What on earth does 'Gaza under Hamas' have to do with it? And the pictures are odd-they're dated by month, but not by year. Many of them depict the Hamas 'Executive Force', which doesn't exist anymore. The second picture is of the funeral of a Fatah member killed by Hamas-that's definitely not recent.
What a weird, sinister placement of something completely unrelated to the article. Coverage of the Corrie's plight at the hands of Israel have to be quantified with 'HAMAS IS EVIL'.
Slightly off topic, but Aljazeera can now be streamed live from it's website www.aljazeera.net/english
Thought I might spread the word:) Oh and the host is Azmi Bishara's brother. Back to your comments...
Hey Ginger, it was in Gaza:
link to news.bbc.co.uk
David Samel, I commend you on an excellent piece, although I can't say I completely agree with you, for various reasons, all of which have been articulated by various commenters above.
I find such intense debate slightly anti-climatic, given that the story seems to have died down. That is not a comment on the need for such discussion; more of it is needed, especially in the civil vein conducted here. I also disagree with Ahmed Moor's assertion that the time of armed struggle is over, however both he, David and others such as Abunimah raise some valid points in opposing such attacks which are conducive to the continued evolvement of the Palestinian cause's new strategies (if I understand correctly, all three have not denied the right to violent resistance).
Jeffrey, that incident has also stood out in my mind for many years. While I was living in the West Bank, I heard that the man behind it had been arrested by the Israelis and is currently in prison, but I couldn't tell you for sure.
However, I don't think Israeli threats against Palestinian leaders has anything to do with that tactic not being emulated, since he acted alone and independent of any faction. I would assume it has more to do with the fact that others probably do not have access to the necessary type of weapon.
Its literally up to the populace to determine their governance, not external movements.
Witty! Are you recommending a stop to the imposition of unpopular figures to lead the Palestinian Authority instead of the ones elected by, you know, the Palestinian populace?
What keeps things stalled, Witty, is incessant Israeli land theft, settlement, siege, denial of freedom of movement and apartheid. Whatever overtures the Palestinians have made towards their oppressors, including at one point renouncing their right to 78% of their own homeland, has been met with contempt and further colonization by Israel. We most certainly are not in agreement.
Keith, I appreciate that clarification. However, what I was referring to specifically is Meshal's view on the realization of the right of return-it seems like Hamas is steadily following the Fatah path of statehood first, rights later. Hope I'm wrong.
Meshal is always solid on why the peace process is useless. wish he could explain what on earth he means by state in 67 borders but not two states. this ambiguity by hamas regarding what their political aim is has gotten very frustrating.
Wonderful piece, thank you for this David. This doesn't surprise me in the least, but its a wonderful contrast to current fervor and discourse in the US.
Mr Witty, you seem to have strong passions and a keen interest in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict. I therefore trust that you are aware that the root cause is not some simple property dispute.
If you were a citizen of the United States and were forced out of your homeland by foreign forces, would your right to return to said homeland be predicated upon your ownership of property? Didn't think so.
Put it this way: half of Gaza's population is under 15. Gaza has been closed off from the West Bank for 19 years. Do the math.
Abbas doesn't exactly love Hamas, but he has his own party's interest to think about, and that doesn't involve an all-out war against Hamas. Fayyad has no such hindrance. For example, it was he who personally oversaw the killing of six of Hamas' most wanted (by Israel) in Qalqilia last April, visiting the town as the killings were going on and giving a press conference defending them.
I appreciate where you're coming from, and if I understood correctly then you are in no way expressing any support for Fayyad, but willing to see if, while he is in a position of power, he may effect some positive development.
However, it is an exaggeration to even attribute the PA's calls for BDS to Fayyad-he's a master of taking credit for the work of others and presenting himself as the face of it. I must reiterate that his singular desire to unilaterally declare a Palestinian state isn't a testimony to his goal of getting something done, but rather a measure of his subservience to Israeli interests; despite all of its faults, the PA has always resisted giving Israel final victory by declaring statehood in a bantustan. In the unprecedented crackdown on freedom of expression I witnessed in the West Bank after Fayyad came to power, in his bloody campaign against Hamas, in his deployment of security services to beat up and throttle peaceful protests and in his shameless interaction with some of the most despicable faces of Zionism, Fayyad is Israel's best friend in its war against the Palestinians.
Nobody should ever take seriously the BDS show put on by a man who at the same time is a guest speaker at the Herziliya conference.
sorry, this is kinda embarrassing. Here is the link-please copy and paste it into your browser:)
link to bit.ly
ah shoot im so bad with html...the hyperlinked paragraph is my own, but it leads to Abunimah's post.
Abunimah has a pretty good response to this:
Chomsky the great critic of US efforts to undermine democracy and impose its clients around the world is now effusively endorsing what is in effect a US-backed puppet regime? Don't take my word for it. Here's what Chomsky said about precisely the same Ramallah Palestinian Authority whose "prime minister" he now finds so "sensible" during a lecture in Boston on 21 January 2009.
Check here for the full post:
I'm surprised at some of the posters above who have expressed tentative approval for Fayyad's recent policies. His boycott of only settlement (not Israeli) goods is just a ploy to shore up support amongst Palestinians in the West Bank. Quite simply, he is imposed by the US and Israel on the Palestinian people, who don't want him. He's definitely not working for the Palestinians.
Judy, thank you so much for wirting that. It almost felt like reading my own story at times, further proof that this is an instituionalized policy to split up families on the micro level and the entire population on the macro level.
If you're talking about Ahmed Moore, I believe he grew up in Rafah and only left as an adult. Either way, I don't see how where either of us lived in the West would undermine the experiences we've had at Israel's hands.
Hey Pamela,
Fallujah is the village my grandparents were ethnically cleansed from in Palestine. It's located almost directly in the center between Gaza, Hebron and al-Majdal (Asqalan).
Interestingly, it was ethnically cleansed in 1949, a year after the 'war' was over.
Thank you for writing this Ahmed. For those of us born in the last 20, 25 years, the PLO and Fatah have been nothing but uninspiring, illogical and out of touch with us and with the reality we endure. I hope you're right about there still being a chance for redemption, but I fear something else: as even that old guard becomes increasingly irrelevant, they're being replaced by a character-Salam Fayyad- even more seperated from the reality of those yearning for freedom.
So Ackerman justifies Israeli massacres by saying his own country is worse. Just how ingrained is Zionism in US politics? This is breathtaking.
Exactly what I was thinking.
After living in the West Bank for the better part of the last five years, this improved global awareness and increasingly visible activism both heartens and saddens me-saddens me because I feel like Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank will be the last to catch on while the Palestinian Authority stands in direct opposition to any freedom movement.
Which, ironically, is built on the ruins of the ethnically cleansed village of Ein Karem.
I don't know why you're all wasting so much time explaining rudimentary basics to this idiot. He or she has been making every far-fethced excuse (from claiming the Egyptian government knows better than everyone else what is good and what isn't), to justifying collective punishment because it has happened in the past. At no point has zamaaz ever expressed sympathy for Gaza or its people, instead continuosly repeating Zionist hasbara.
What on earth is wrong with you?
It should not get involved in its neighbors quarrel.
I think strictly imposing the siege on Gaza because Israel wants it to is definitely getting involved in its neighbors 'quarrel'.
Just like what a normal citizen would do appropriately; refer this to ‘higher authorities’.
Who are the Egyptian government's 'higher authorities'?
The only thing more pathetic than Zionist hasbara is Mubarak hasbara.
Yonira, I thank you for your empathy, but this is not just about ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Like I wrote above, my family's story didn't start in 2004, or in 1967-it started in 1948. My grandparents were expelled from their village and have spent the last 60-odd years in despicible conditions in a refugee camp, unable to go home, unable to travel, unable to escape the continued torment of decades of military oppression.
Ending the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza may improve the lives of those there, but it won't solve the problems they face, nor the problems faces by Palestinian refugees in refugee camps abroad.
Thank you for your support-I'm hoping that even if going public with this story doesn't help me and my family, that maybe it will move people with illusions about the true nature of Israel and it policies towards Palestinians.