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Total number of comments: 18 (since 2009-09-15 18:34:04)

Peter H

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  • Boycott measure goes down, 60-40, at Park Slope Food Co-op
  • What’s queer about the anti-occupation movement?
    • Peter H March 6, 2012 at 3:47 pm

      Nice that Hophmi still won't acknowledge that the settlements in Hebron are illegal.

    • Peter H March 6, 2012 at 12:45 pm with 3 replies

      "Is it queer that a few hundred need protection because without it, they wouldn’t survive amongst the Palestinian population for five minutes?"

      Even if this is true, so what? Settelements are illegal, period. It is completely unjust (& a violation of international law) to restrict the human rights of Palestinians to protect a bunch of illegal settlers.

  • Gingrich says Palestinians are an 'invented people'
    • Peter H December 10, 2011 at 3:25 pm

      The Palestinians recently self determined themselves as a nation. Before 1948 most viewed themselves as part of greater Syria. However, the self determination of the Palestinians must be respected. If they say they are a nation, they are a nation.

      This is just not true. Read Baruch Kimmerling & Joel's Migdal "The Palestinian People: A History" or Rashid Khalidi's "Palestinian Identity".

  • Obama's impossible dilemma--and ours
    • Peter H September 26, 2011 at 4:03 pm

      Well, Israel has security interests. Would you recommend Israel’s leader not promoting Israel’s security interests? Is it Israel’s fault the Arab world is filled with people who hate the idea of Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East?

      It's ridiculous for supporters of Israel like Hophmi to claim, on the one hand, that the majority of Israelis want a 2-state solution, and on the other hand, defend the democratically elected leader of Israel when he calls for a Palestinian "state" without control over its own airspace, borders, diplomatic relations, or its own military. Sorry, but as I said, above, that's not a 2-state solution. Rather, as I said above, it's a neo-colonial relationship where one “state” (Palestine) functions as an subordinate of Israel.

    • Peter H September 26, 2011 at 2:36 pm

      In the last few months, there have been massive social protests. Labor is experiencing a resurgence.

      The J14 protests were entirely about domestic economic & social issues in Israel. They had nothing whatsoever to do with the "peace process", let alone ending the occupation. In fact, settlers from the Golan Heights and deep in the West Bank participated in J14.

      Israelis support the two-state solution, as do American Jews.
      Are they willing to remove all the illegal settlements in the West Bank & East Jerusalem? Are they willing to support a true Palestinian sovereign state, with full control over its own airspace, borders, diplomatic relations, and its own military? (It's clear Netanyahu doesn't). If not, what Israelis & American Jews support is not a true two-state solution but rather a neo-colonial relationship where one "state" (Palestine) functions as an subordinate of Israel.

      At the core of the “Palestinian-led” but Western-controlled BDS movement is an overwhelming hatred that mimics the antisemitic hatred that prevails in the Arab world. BDS is paternalistic neo-colonialism, yet another manifestation of Western activists doing for the Palestinians what they cannot or will not do for themselves. The idea that BDS is “Palestinian-led”, as if it wouldn’t exist if the Palestinians hadn’t asked for it, is uber-silly. BDS is a one-state solution show, an attempt by Western activists to impose an unpopular utopian solution on a faraway land.

      I don’t get it - are you saying that Omar Bharghouti is some kind of puppet of the European left? It’s true that Palestinian political leaders haven’t done anything to push BDS (probably because they’re too dependent on Israel & the USA for support), but all of Palestinian civil society supports BDS.

      The domestic political constraints faced by Obama are the result of Palestinian irredentism. The US Congress would not work against a solution if the parties were talking.

      Now you’re just talking out your ass. The US Congress has *always* supported the most hardline Israel positions, regardless of whether the parties or negotiating or not. Go back to the late 1990’s, when Congress was regularly siding with Netanyahu over Clinton, and that was when Arafat was talking to Netanyahu. One need not agree with all of Walt-Mearsheimer’s thesis to recognize the influence of AIPAC.

      One side has repeatedly agreed to talks in the last two years. That side is the Israeli side. The Palestinian side has insisted on new concessions that were never part of Oslo, and have little to do with real final status issues.

      Willingness to enter negotiations tells us nothing about whether a party is committed to peace or not, especially, (as in the case of Israel-Palestine), where one party holds all the power. It’s clear that, at the current time, negotiations would only legitimize Netanyahu’s expansionist agenda and do nothing to achieve Palestinian liberation.

  • Silverstein says he was banned at Daily Kos
  • The Egyptian intifada and what it may mean for Israel/Palestine
    • Peter H January 27, 2011 at 5:55 pm

      That's nonsense, Hophmi. If you actually bothered to read what's ElBaradei said, he's repeatedly criticized the Mubarak government for its accommodating approach towards Israel, especially its role in maintaining the blockade of Gaza.

  • Why does Israel ban Gazans from recycling?
    • Peter H January 6, 2011 at 4:04 pm

      "Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza in 2006."

      Israel is still in effective control of Gaza when it controls Gaza's airspace & waters, controls what goes into & out of Gaza, controls and who can enter & exit Gaza.

    • Peter H January 6, 2011 at 4:01 pm

      "The allies in WWII bombed the hell out of German and Japanese industry because they help sustain the war effort. It is an accepted act of war."

      No, it's not. What the Allies did in WWII would be completely illegal under the current rules of international law.

  • More on Helen Thomas's purdah
    • Peter H January 6, 2011 at 3:58 pm

      "That’s right, and none of them have a seat in the White House Press Room."

      Dick Armey, who called for the expulsion of Palestinians in 2002, remained Majority Leader of the House without any fuss and currently is a regular on TV talk shows. Mike Huckabee is considered a serious presidential candidate and still has a talk show on Fox. Of course, they don't have a seat in the White House Press Room, but they are still considered prestigious, respectable figures, while Helen Thomas has become an outcast.

      Like I said to eee, you're living in Zionist la-la land if you don't think there's a double standard here.

    • Peter H January 6, 2011 at 3:50 pm

      "You got the causality completely the wrong way around. No one protested to what Huckabie was saying because no one understood that he meant transfer. If they would have thought so, it would have made waves."

      The notion that Palestinians can create a homeland "elsewhere" necessary implies a massive transfer of Palestinians to another Arab state. How could a Palestistinian homeland be created outside Israel-Palestine unless most Palestinians were to move.

      And what about Dick Armey? Where was the outrage when he explictily called for expelling Palestinians out of the West Bank?

      You're kidding yourself if you don't think there's a double standard about Palestinians and Israeli Jews.

  • For Thomas it was time to go, but for Peretz it's a free ride
  • Jews are fleeing a Swedish city-- why?
    • Peter H July 14, 2010 at 9:26 pm with 11 replies

      "How about in Darfur, where Muslims fight with (and enslave and ethnically cleanse) Christians?"

      Actually, the vast majority of victims in Darfur are Muslim. But, thanks for demonstrating your "knowledge", Hophmi.

  • Yglesias and Goldberg sittin around talking
    • Peter H March 19, 2010 at 7:58 pm with 1 replies

      From this source:

      link to pi.library.yorku.ca

      "Nor did the minority report have a chance either. Since it clearly rejected the idea of a Jewish homeland and provided for no resolution of the Jewish refugee problem, neither the Jews nor the United States could be expected to live with that solution. Further, before the United Nations, the Arabs had consistently and publicly demanded a unitary state and opposed a federal solution"

    • Peter H March 19, 2010 at 7:15 pm with 3 replies

      I don't think that's quite correct, Shmuel. I'm fairly certain that the Arab Palestinian leadership rejected the UNSCOP Minority Report as well as the Majority Report. And Magnes' vision of a binational state had no serious support among Arabs.

  • Inside the Lawfare Project: Netanyahu's attack on human rights NGO's comes to the US
    • Peter H March 13, 2010 at 4:23 pm with 1 replies

      >Forcing NGO’s and other political activists to simply disclose foreign donors seems only fair. Most countries do that. Many countries forbid foreign donations totally. Truth-in-packaging seems like a good idea all around.

      You should be aware of what the bill NGO Monitor is pushing in the Israeli Knesset actually does. From Jeremiah Haber of the Magnes Zionist:

      "That seems to be the thinking behind the Israeli government's endorsement of legislation that will require human rights NGOs in Israel (e.g., B'Tselem, Machsomwatch, Breaking the Silence, Adalah, etc.) to publicize contributions from foreign governments, not only in an annual report (they all do that anyway), but every single time they host an event, have a meeting, publish a report, issue a news release, whether they have received outside funding for that particular occasion or not.

      And what's particularly odious about the proposed legislation is that if these groups receive such funding, they groups will lose their tax status as public institutions, but will be defined as "political entities" that have to register and report to the Registrar of Political Parties. "

      link to themagneszionist.blogspot.com

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