The diplomatic scandal that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman stirred over the article in the Swedish daily Aftonbladet is wrong since the government of a state that respects the freedom of the press is not responsible for what newspapers publish. That there was a demand for the Swedish government to “condemn” the article in question suggests Lieberman must still be thinking in Soviet terms.

For full article, visit http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1109429.html

1. Catholics around the world were re-energized and emboldened to speak out on issues ranging from abortion to human rights in the wake of Pope Benedict XVI’s speech at the Yad Vashem Memorial in Jerusalem on May 11, 2009.

Irish Cathlolic O’reilly O’really had this to say: “The fact that the Pope did not get down on his knees in tears begging the Israelis for forgiveness for his having been born in Germany and didn’t give Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau a blow job has really lifted up our spirits here in Dublin” he said as he swizzled down another beer at Murphy’s pub.

Catholics in places as far away as Argentina echoed O’really’s sentiments. Juan Valdez, an unemployed laborer spoke with reporters at his home surrounded by his 15 children. “The fact that he stood up to international Zionism by refusing to kiss Knesset speaker Reuvin Rivlin’s ass on Israeli television has made me proud to be a Catholic again. I might even start going to a Catholic church. Maybe. I don’t know.”

Not surprisingly, many Israelis did not share this kind of enthusiasm concerning the Pope’s visit to Israel. In fact they were outraged at the following comments the Pope actually did make.

He said that the suffering of the Jews killed in World War II must “never be denied, belittled or forgotten.” He added

“They lost their lives, but they will never lose their names,” the Roman Catholic leader said in a quivering voice before clasping the hands of six Holocaust survivors at a haunting ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance. “These are indelibly etched in the hearts of their loved ones, their surviving fellow prisoners, and all those determined never to allow such an atrocity to disgrace mankind again.”

He went on to say:

“As we stand here in silence, their cry still echoes in our hearts,”

Wow. The tuyuur here in Mantiq al-Tayr were so inspired by this slap in the face to the racist Zionist Israeli government that we all went out and bought rosary beads and learned to say Hail Marys.  Unfortunately, you need opposable thumbs to use rosary beads properly, so we ended up making necklaces out of them and gave them to a home for stray cats. But again, I digress.

Not surprisingly, Israeli Jews were outraged at the Pope’s uppity behavior. Their anger was not even assuaged by the fact that a “haunting” ceremony right there at Yad Vashem as part of the Pope’s visit was held in which the Pope clasped the hands of six holocaust survivors and played rock-paper-scissors with them.  The Pope won and as a result was given the opportunity to continue giving boring speeches in Israel and the West Bank, which of course, is exactly what he then did.

Okay, I’m just kidding about the rock-paper-scissors thing. But he did get into the hand holding with the six holocaust survivors, each one symbolizing one million holocaust victims. You can read one version of that story here.  Of course, that version leaves out something. Not only did the Pope meet with the six survivors and with a “righteous gentile” (I think we are going to start referring to Alfred Lillianthal here as a “righteous Jew”) and hold hands and everything, but one of the six is indicted on corruption charges in the United States and had to turn in his US passport but was allowed out of the US for this special occasion. We hope he asked the Pope for forgiveness for this swindling of people in the United Sates and had to do some penance – maybe saying 1000 Hail Mary’s. We’ve still got some rosary beads left over if he needs them. His wife and children were allowed to go with him.  Did you even have to ask?

His name is Edward Mosberg.  According to this article he is only thought to have been engaged in bribery and fraud for TWENTY years and three others have already been convicted in the scheme.

This quote is from an absolute must read article about Mosberg.  “Mosberg remained overseas on Tuesday and was expected to return to the United States in about a week, his lawyer said.”

But once again, I digress.

Anyway, the Pope’s speech was not adequately suck-upy enough for the Israelis and he was pretty harshly criticized. Some of the comments made about the speech were pretty revealing. Howard Schneider, an obvious Islamofacist, wrote a negative article that appeared in the Jerusalem Washington New York Times Post and many other papers.

“The identity of the murderers went completely unmentioned,” Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, who heads the Yad Vashem Council, said in the daily Maariv.

“With all due respect to the Holy See, we cannot ignore the burden he bears,” Israeli parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin said on Israel Radio. He added that Benedict spoke “as if he were a historian, someone looking in from the sidelines.”

Israeli critics said the German-born pope missed an opportunity to express regret for his country’s central role in the extermination of 6 million Jews.

“You were not asked to do something unprecedented or heroic. All that was required from you was a brief, authoritative and touching sentence. All you had to do was to express regret. That’s all we wanted to hear,” wrote Hanoch Daum, a columnist for the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

Not surprisingly, that great Israeli humanist Tom Segev, the one who advocates war crimes against the people of Gaza, just had to put in his two shekels worth.

He attempts to smear the entire leadership of the entire Catholic Church because the Pope didn’t grovel enough to his satisfaction. Red highlights are mine.

There is nothing easier than expressing real horror when talking about the Holocaust, than identifying with its suffering, pain and grief. If that is not done, it is a sign that there was a deliberate decision not to do so.

Segev even hints to the reader that his own criticism of the Pope is bogus when he writes:

Benedict is aware of the historical responsibility that rests on his shoulders as both a German and a Christian. He supports annulling the statute of limitations on prosecuting Nazi criminals in Germany and has visited Yad Vashem once before. On more than one occasion, he has expressed empathy for Jews and for Israel.

But since the demand for total submission to the demands of the holocaust has become so ingrained in the Israeli body politic, Segev goes on to bitch and moan as if he just can’t help it.

But the word the pope used is significant because someone in the Holy See decided to write “were killed” instead of “murdered” or “destroyed.” The impression is that the cardinals argued among themselves over whether Israelis “deserve” for the pope to say “were murdered” and decided they only deserve “were killed.” It sounded petty. Even the recurring use of the term “tragedy” seemed like an attempt to avoid saying the real thing.

The verbal stinginess Benedict displayed last night also diminishes the impact of anything he might say about Palestinian suffering. Had he said what he needed to on the Holocaust, he could have said more to condemn Israel’s systematic violation of the human rights of residents of the West Bank and Gaza.

The paragraph above is the real key. The holocaust, or rather slavish devotion to it at the expense of one’s dignity, is being used once again to ward off any criticism of the horrible crimes that continue to be committed by Israelis against the Palestinian people.  Unless you worship at the holocaust alter, you can’t say a word about the evil that is being perpetrated upon the Palestinians by the likes of guys like Segev – who no doubt sees himself as a good guy.

All this coming from a country that has an elected leader who advocates getting rid of the Palestinians and a foreign minister who is arguably even worse.

What’s a Pope to do?

2. The fact is that nothing can ever satisfy Israel’s lust for Holocaust worship so it wouldn’t have mattered what the Pope said; in the end the Tom Segevs of this world and the many who are far worse than he would still never be satiated and would continue to reject calls for true justice for the Palestinians. So there is no need for spiritual leaders, or anyone else, to grovel before the Holocaust in order to then be able to beg Israel to stop murdering Palestinians.  Sadly, there are few true spiritual leaders in this world and the Pope’s performances this past week highlight this fact in bold.

Therefore we here at Mantiq al-Tayr humbly offer the readers of this blog a text that the Pope might have read.

We are gathered today on this solemn occasion at Yad Vesham, a vital institution now four times its original size, in honor of those so brutally murdered and the millions more whose suffering can never be calculated but who managed to survive this terrible event, the Shoah, the Holocaust. All Catholics and no doubt all Christians around the world will never forget anything that they did or did not do that led to this horror.

We are also gathered here today to mourn the fact that out of the ashes of Europe at the end of World War II, the most horrible war ever fought on the face of the earth, the Holocaust emerged as a tool that for decades has been used to justify the very sorts of acts that we are gathered here today to condemn. The unspeakable horrors committed against European Jewry have given birth to further horrors in their own image. Unless we Christians and you Jews all acknowledge that we are fallen, that we are capable of and have committed and continue to commit horrible crimes against our fellow human beings, we are condemned to keep doing so forever more.

In that spirit, I call upon the people of Israel to cease their crimes against the Palestinian people, to withdraw from the lands they occupy and to live in peace with their Christian and Muslim neighbors, and to allow those displaced from their homes to return to them. I know this is hard, but it is time for us all to acknowledge that the Palestinians are as much a victim of the Holocaust as the Jews, for it is the Palestinians who have had to pay the price for generation upon generation of European anti-Semitism and imperialism. I call upon the entire world to participate in restoring the people of Palestine to health, we owe them more than we can ever repay and we owe it in the name of the Holocaust. The Catholic Church is prepared to do its part and I have ordered that it begin doing so immediately.

It is time for us all to come out of the shadows of hypocrisy, lying and deceit. Throughout the history of mankind we have only seen ourselves through a glass darkly, but now we must, as God is my witness, we must see one another face to face. I pledge to the rank and file of the Catholic Church and to the rest of mankind that this temporary custodian of the shoes of St. Peter will henceforth show you a more excellent way.

Ya Baba

i’m so wiped out from grading this past week, but i finally finished. on my drama exam one of my students answered a question about the various dreams of the characters in lorraine hansberry’s raisin in the sun. in her answer she offered up her own dream, which i found rather disheartening. rather than talking about dreams of liberating palestine, her dream has become smaller: her dream was just to remove all the checkpoints. in some ways this is similar to hansberry’s play in the sense that the characters’ dreams are all related to their own lives: the right to live where one wants to live, the right to get an education, opening a business to have a means of supporting one’s family. their dreams are not of eradicating racism. so in some ways it is on par with what she saw in the play. but it says a lot about where many palestinians are in their thoughts: with the immediate obstacles of the israeli colonial project in the west bank.

unfortunately, exam week coincided with israeli apartheid week so most of our activities were centered around handing out leaflets. we were supposed to hold a talk in the auditorium (there is only one), but apparently all the dates we tried to book have been reserved. although our talk is approved, and hopefully will eventually take place on land day, which is the global boycott, divestment, and sanctions day, it was rather maddening to see who did speak on campus this week. today saeb erekat, palestinian collaborator who spends his time selling palestinian refugees’ rights down the river, spoke on campus. about what i do not know. nor do i really care. on monday it was some nimrod from the u.s. consulate who seemed to think that he could come here and lecture palestinians about president abraham lincoln as some great man who freed the slaves. of course this is a serious distortion of the history. it is the slaves themselves who resisted, the abolitionists who created the pressure needed for a law to be signed. but just because lincoln signed a paper does not make him a great man. especially when we know that slavery never really did end. for one thing, the end of slavery coincided with the u.s. building prisons in which to lock up african americans who would then continue slave labor from inside the prisons. this continues until now.

it seems the zionist state likes the worst parts of american history so much it is constantly trying to emulate those elements as with its current forms of slavery that have just been uncovered (thanks rania) :

The largest ever people-trafficking ring in Israel has been uncovered: Twelve members of the gang (all women) were arrested by police in Tel Aviv on 8 March following a two-year undercover operation.

The suspected traffickers are accused of smuggling hundreds of women from the former Soviet Union into Israel to work in the sex industry.

but back to the u.s. for a minute. of course i didn’t step foot in the auditorium where the u.s. consulate person gave his propagandistic talk. but i suspect that he is one of the many that was using this mythological narrative (yes, i heard reports of what was said) to suggest things about american democracy and freedom and a bunch of other khara. glen ford has a great essay this week–with a fabulous title: ‘left’ obamites prefer kool-aid to struggle–in dissident voice on the left and obama. here is what ford says about obama and foreign policy for those of you koolaid drinkers:

On the international scene (i.e., The Empire), Obama’s job — as Burnham says should be clear to “us” — is “to salvage the reputation of the U.S. in the world; repair the international ties shredded by eight years of cowboy unilateralism; and adjust U.S. positioning on the world stage [so far, so good, but here Burnham slips down the proverbial slope] on the basis of a rational assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the changed and changing centers of global political, economic and military power – rather than on the basis of a simple-minded ideological commitment to unchallenged world dominance.”

Obama’s military budget, bigger than Bush’s, his escalation in Afghanistan/Pakistan, the unraveling of his Iraq “withdrawal” promises, and his provocations in Africa all signal that this president has no intention of relinquishing the goal of global U.S. hegemony. To paraphrase his famous statement on war, “I’m not opposed to imperialism, just dumb imperialism.”

there are others who drink the koolaid. interestingly, alice walker admitted today that she had been duped by leon uris’ zionist propaganda extravaganza, also known as exodus as karen laub reports:

Walker said she believes Americans have mostly been exposed to the Israeli narrative since the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948 and know little about the plight of the Palestinians. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled or were expelled their homes at the time.

“We were indoctrinated to the song in that film Exodus, you know, `This land belongs to us, this land is our land,’ meaning the Israelis, the Jews, and for so long, we were told that nobody lived here, that it was a land without people, for a people without land,” she said.

a couple of years ago in the nation philip weiss wrote about the israel lobby author john mearsheimer in which he admitted that he, too, had been blinded by exodus:

Mearsheimer was hawkish about Israel until the 1990s, when he began to read Israel’s “New Historians,” a group of Israeli scholars and journalists (among them Benny Morris, Avi Shlaim and Tom Segev) who showed that Israel’s founders had been at times ruthless toward Palestinians. Mearsheimer’s former student Michael Desch, a professor at Texas A&M, recalls the epiphany: “For a lot of us, who didn’t know a lot about the Israel/Palestine conflict beyond the conventional wisdom and Leon Uris’s Exodus, we saw a cold war ally; and the moral issue and the common democracy reinforced a strong pro-Israel bent.”

that was in 2006. since then the pressure of the israel lobby in the united states has been exposed again and again. this week it seems that the israel lobby has been reassured that it continues to enjoy having special friends in the white house as the co-author of the israel lobby, stephen walt, explains:

Fourth, the worst aspect of the Freeman affair is the likelihood of a chilling effect on discourse in Washington, at precisely the time when we badly need a more open and wide-ranging discussion of our Middle East policy. As I noted earlier, this was one of the main reasons why the lobby went after Freeman so vehemently; in an era where more and more people are questioning Israel’s behavior and questioning the merits of unconditional U.S. support, its hardline defenders felt they simply had to reinforce the de facto ban on honest discourse inside the Beltway. After forty-plus years of occupation, two wars in Lebanon, and the latest pummeling of Gaza, (not to mention Ehud Olmert’s own comparison of Israel with South Africa), defenders of the “special relationship” can’t win on facts and logic anymore. So they have to rely on raw political muscle and the silencing or marginalization of those with whom they disagree. In the short term, Freeman’s fate is intended to send the message that if you want to move up in Washington, you had better make damn sure that nobody even suspects you might be an independent thinker on these issues.

here is a report by shihab rattansi on al jazeera for some context:

charles freeman published his own statement in the wall street journal about the israel lobby’s libelous attack on him that led his name to be withdrawn:

The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East. The tactics of the Israel Lobby plumb the depths of dishonor and indecency and include character assassination, selective misquotation, the willful distortion of the record, the fabrication of falsehoods, and an utter disregard for the truth. The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views, the substitution of political correctness for analysis, and the exclusion of any and all options for decision by Americans and our government other than those that it favors.

There is a special irony in having been accused of improper regard for the opinions of foreign governments and societies by a group so clearly intent on enforcing adherence to the policies of a foreign government – in this case, the government of Israel. I believe that the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for US policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics has allowed that faction to adopt and sustain policies that ultimately threaten the existence of the state of Israel. It is not permitted for anyone in the United States to say so. This is not just a tragedy for Israelis and their neighbors in the Middle East; it is doing widening damage to the national security of the United States.

The outrageous agitation that followed the leak of my pending appointment will be seen by many to raise serious questions about whether the Obama administration will be able to make its own decisions about the Middle East and related issues. I regret that my willingness to serve the new administration has ended by casting doubt on its ability to consider, let alone decide what policies might best serve the interests of the United States rather than those of a Lobby intent on enforcing the will and interests of a foreign government.

in response the los angeles times editorial today stated they want a more normal debate on the zionist entity, though, problematically they still believe they have a right to exist:

Our opinion is this: Israel is America’s friend and ally. It deserves to exist safely within secure borders. We hope it will continue to prosper as a refuge for Jews and a vibrant democracy in the region (alongside an equally democratic Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza). But we do not believe that Israel should be immune from criticism or that there is room for only one point of view in our government.

U.S. policy has been extremely supportive of Israel over the years, as have many of our policymakers. That’s fine. But theirs should not be the only voices allowed in the room.

interestingly, this week, there was another israel lobby effort in congress, though it did not receive as much media attention as the charles freemen debacle. this was senate bill 629 from arizona senator jon kyl who wanted to include a line in an appropriations bill about palestinian refugees from gaza being barred from seeking refuge in the u.s. here is what laura flanders said about it on grit tv:

what does all this have to do with koolaid? yes, it is true that most of these people in power in the u.s. bow down to the israel lobby because they think they cannot get elected without their support. but i don’t think it is only that. i think that the cultural texts like exodus, which ingrain a sympathy for zionism through a completely distorted, fabricated view of how jews came to colonize palestine, plays a role here. it’s the koolaid that enables the lobby to work so effectively. the specter of it keeps rearing its head even 40 years after the book and film were produced.

yesterday afternoon, after classes finished, i headed to the al yasmeen hotel for a talk that our boycott group was sponsoring. the talk, however, was not about boycott; it was about barack obama. naively, i had suspected that the speakers would be critical of obama. i expected the speakers to speak from a radical, or even a progressive point of view. instead i found liberal rhetoric from people who under bush might have been thought of as radicals. instead, what i found was optimism. i know that after george bush having a different president is a relief. a huge relief, to be sure. but to pretend like things will change for the better for palestinians, afghans, iraqis, pakistanis is to continue to drink the koolaid. for sure i want hope and change, too. that is why i voted for cynthia mckinney. but i am also realistic about what change is possible with any american president regardless of their race. what concerns me is their politics. and the change i want is radical. i will not throw a party because i am thrown a bone.

my choice for president, cynthia mckinney, has this to say to those who see hope and change in obama:

One of the first under-reported acts of President Obama was to sign an order continuing the drone airstrikes, resulting in at least 22 killed so far. For the dead children of Afghanistan or Pakistan or Gaza, it doesn’t matter to their parents if the bomb was dropped by Bush or Obama or the client state they support. And President Obama has made it clear that the bombs will continue to drop; it is up to us–the people of the United States–to stop them. That’s why it was on my birthday, in front of the Pentagon in 2007, that I declared my independence from every bomb dropped, every child killed, every veteran maimed in the name of U.S. wars. I said it, and I meant it, and I knew I was going to have to do something I’d never done before if I was ever going to have something I’d never had before. So I left the Democratic Party.

I don’t regret my decision one minute. I draw my strength from Dr. King, who in his own way, did the same thing when he refused to segregate his moral concerns.

My neighborhood in Los Angeles, Watts and South Central, is already a police state. Tonight, 25 to 30 young black men, standing handcuffed, outside the barber shop. Every night, routine dehumanization is carried out in black and brown neighborhoods by LAPD. I see it. I never miss it. It’s all around me.

Oscar Grant murdered in cold blood by law enforcement. Robert Tolan, murdered in cold blood by law enforcement, for driving his father’s car, mistaken for stolen.

Filiberto Ojeda Rios assassinated by the U.S. government; I met his wife and heard the entire story of what happened as he was shot by the FBI and then bled to death.

Innocent black and brown and poor white men on death row. How many Troy Davises and Mumia Abu Jamals will we allow to exist in our country?

Native Americans trying to survive despite genocide and ethnic cleansing, struggle against drug and alcohol abuse and poverty, and try to keep their culture alive.

And yet the likes of Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, Nancy Pelosi, and now Barack Obama say nothing about the pain I see on the mean streets and reservations across our country, and the miscarriages of justice that are its regular feature, but they allow Bush and company to get away with the highest of crimes, involving millions of deaths.

do you see what i mean? mckinney has a vision for change, the kind of change that i hope for. the kind that involves justice. the kind that challenges the relationship between the rulers and the ruled.

but where is the change when the u.s. is asking the war criminals to investigate their war crimes in gaza?:

Israel must investigate allegations that its army violated international law during its three-week war against Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip, the new U.S. envoy to the United Nations said on Thursday.

“We expect Israel will meet its international obligations to investigate and we also call upon all members of the international community to refrain from politicizing these important issues,” Ambassador Susan Rice said in her debut speech before the UN Security Council.

Rice said that Hamas had been guilty of violating international law “through its rocket attacks against Israeli civilians in southern Israel and the use of civilian facilities to provide protection for its terrorist attacks.”

“There have also been numerous allegations made against Israel some of which are deliberately designed to inflame,” she told the council during a meeting on international humanitarian law.

where is the change when george mitchell tells us that obama is committed to george bush’s vision for carving up the land AND denying palestinian refugees the right of return under un resolution 194?:

Mitchell told Israeli officials that the new administration was committed to Israel’s security, to the road map, and to the 2004 letter by president George W. Bush stating Palestinian refugees would not return to Israel and the border between Israel and the Palestinian Authority would take into consideration facts on the ground, meaning large settlement blocs would remain in Israeli hands.

where is the change when israeli colonists/terrorists continue to build colonies without anyone challenging them?

The report, released Wednesday by the group Peace Now, found that settlement construction in 2008 increased by almost 60 percent, including new construction both inside and outside of the security barrier and within illegal settlement outposts.

real change would mean: sanctions to stop using u.s. taxpayer money to fund their colonial terror project for one thing.

where is the change when the changes that obama himself promised are already being violated in less than a week (thanks tam tam) :

Unfortunately, we are again asking the president to explain why exactly he announced, with great fanfare, new ethics rules if he had no intention of abiding by them.

The Obama administration is yet again asking for a waiver to its very own rules about hiring lobbyists.

This time, it is the new treasury secretary, Tim Geithner. He wants a former lobbyist for Goldman Sachs to be his top aide at the Treasury Department.

for those who need to be reminded of why obama is more of the same bush policies you should read what as’ad abukhalil says about the reality of the so-called “change” coming from obama:

The inauguration speech included an insinuation towards the Islamic world, but it was met with exaggeration and reverence in Arab media. The series of wars and humiliation by the Bush administration has made Arabs easy victims of pretty talk, only comparatively.

However, Obama’s “reference” towards the Islamic world came in the context of his speech about terrorism and his pursuit of terrorists. In other words, he made no methodical shift from Bush’s administration’s perspective (or that of Zionists), which links the Muslim to the terrorist.

He offered no meaningful initiative to causes which concern the Arab and Islamic worlds, such as American wars and traditional western orientalist hostility, the United Sates’ support for tyrannical regimes in the Middle East, and Israel and its incessant wars and aggression.

Obama called on some regimes which “repress” their people, but everyone knows that those include only regimes which object to the American will. This means that Obama’s politics won’t be different from Bush’s politics with regard to democracy. Violation of Arabs and Muslims rights are allowed and praised if the oppressor is supportive of US wars. The proximity of Obama’s politics to those of Bush surface on more than one front, as he postponed his decision to shut down Guantanamo Camp, or he decided to shut it down within a year, after he had spoken about immediate closure. Torture may remain secretive, as the appointed Attorney General indicated.

The issue of withdrawal from Iraq has also changed. Today he speaks very vaguely about a “responsible withdrawal” from Iraq, after he used to promise complete withdrawal within a six-month period at the beginning of his electoral campaign.

As for Afghanistan, he promised to escalate the war there and increase the number of occupying troops. This means that Obama considers a policy of “surge” in Afghanistan in return for Bush’s “surge” in Iraq.

Hence, the difference between the two men, Bush and Obama, is only with regard to the location of downpour of bombs and rockets, not about ceasing them altogether. Obama surpassed Bush by calling for violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty under the rubric of “pursuit” of terrorists. And a number of Pakistani citizens were in fact killed on the first days of Obama’s administration. This was termed “inauguration bombardment.”

here is one of the first signs of more of the same in afghanistan, bombs dropped on afghan civilians and we know from obama that he promises more where this came from:

cindy sheehan gets it, too, in her critique of obama as the new emperor of the united states:

There are already indications of The Empire® beginning to fray around the edges. The latest being the US/Israeli assault on Gaza, that although very destructive, was not able to fully suppress Hamas and achieve its aims. In Iraq, the MIC has not been victorious in subduing that population and there are indications that what might rise out of the ashes will be a more religious and anti-American regime: (once the Iraqi people vanquish the US pro-consul, Maliki) no matter how many bases or how large the embassy we leave in Iraq.

Many people looked at Obama as a “peace candidate” where he is no such thing. In the first week of office, he demonstrated that the Bush regime’s illegal CIA drone bombings in the tribal regions of Pakistan would continue. Recently the US military took $40,000.00 to a village where 15 civilians were killed (less than three grand per person) with the imperialistic hubris that a few thousand lousy American dollars will pay for the life of a loved one. The Pakistani government is getting quite a bit of pressure from the civil society there about the illegal US strikes against its sovereign territories, but like all empires, the US could not care less about the people its killing, or protests against its policies.

as’ad also gets it when he critiques obama’s appearance on al arabiya this week (note: bushama is as’ad’s new name for obama):

Thirdly, there is nothing that Bushama said that was not said by Bush. The CNN guest, Aslan something who always impresses me with his lack of knowledge on the Middle East when he speaks on the Middle East, kept saying in awe that the president spoke respectfully about respect in his address to Muslims and Arabs. But so did Bush, and Bush went to a mosque in Washington, DC–in order to prepare for the bombs and missiles to fall on Muslim and Arab heads. Fourthly, Obama in talking about the Middle East–the Palestine question and beyond–suffers from an acute case of “economism” or economic reductionism. He has the tendency to reduce all Arab and Muslim issues to job and medical care. It is NOT only the economy–stupid. It is also about pride and dignity and Palestine AND about freedom from the severe oppression that people suffer under governments that are coddled and armed by the very same US of A. So the words fall hollow here. Fifthly, Obama as a representative of the White Man (and he can also be referred to as the White Man, analytically speaking just as Margaret Thatcher was a representative of the White Man) did not deviate from the deep racism that characterizes US foreign policy to the Arab-Israeli conflict. I mean when he refers to Israel’s security as “paramount” he is basically saying (like previous US president) that the security of the Palestinians is inferior because they are seen as inferior people. There is no question about that. It means that and the racism is reflected clearly in the disregard of Israeli WMDs. It never comes up in any interview with US officials on Al-Arabiyya (it is featured regularly in Al Jazeera as yesterday’s interview with Brent Scowcroft showed). Karl Marx wrote somewhere about the danger of covering up the chain with flowers. Obama is no different than Bush but American bombs and missiles under his administration will be decorated and covered with flowers. If that is a reason to celebrate, please open the champagne bottles NOW.

one thing as’ad left out of his commentary was obama’s big blunder of an historical statement about the nature of the united states:

He added that “we sometimes make mistakes,” but said that America was not born as a colonial power and that he hoped for a restoration of “the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago.”

um…try telling that to leonard peltier! (see lower down in this post for a petition to sign regarding peltier).

there are others who can see through the obama rhetoric directed at the arab world such as m. junaid levesque-alam who wrote “a muslim’s memo to obama”:

Obama’s decision to emphasize the absurd instead of the obvious was very revealing. It was a message that Muslim life is expendable. It was a message that Muslims can be killed en masse. And it was a message the Muslim world heard loudly.

If one hundred Palestinian corpses are placed next to one Israeli corpse, the “new” White House informed Muslims through Obama’s messaging, its scales of sympathy will still not tip in their favor. They will be addressed tersely only to demand that they recognize their oppressor’s right to exist.

This is akin to yelling into the ear of a rape victim during an assault that she must recognize the rights of her rapist. It is an insult with few parallels–but many echoes.

another sign of the lack of hope and change emanating from the failure of so-called leftists–also pointed out by as’ad:

If the standards that some leftists now want to impose on the Palestinian resistance were imposed on French resistance to Nazi occupation, there would have been no resistance whatsoever in France and all the fighters of the resistance would have joined Jean Cocteau in the cafes of Paris and would have chanted with him: “Love live this shameful peace.”

and as’ad has an important historical reminder about the cold, calculated, forgetful memory about the rationale israeli terrorists used to start the june 1967 war (which of course should be read ironically given their “reason” for assaulting gaza):

“What Israeli PM Abba Eban said about blockades during the 1967 war: “To blockade, after all, is to attempt strangulation–and sovereign states are entitled not to have their State strangled. The blockade is by definition an act of war, imposed and enforced through violence. Never in history have a blockade and peace existed side by side.” From “The Israel/Arab Reader” Second ed. Ed. Walter Laqueur (1971ed.) pp. 219.

the above quote, of course, should not be forgotten, especially the part i bolded, given that the siege on gaza continues through israeli terrorists’ continued blockade by air, land, and sea. the sort of damage that the wreaked not only on human beings, but also on their livelihood. just look at al jazeera’s report on the israeli terrorist damage done to palestinian farmers in gaza:

or watch al jazeera’s report on the psychological damage the israeli terrorist aggression on gaza has created:

when i asked rami yesterday for some grounding away from the insanity of people putting their hope in obama he reminded me of many things, most importantly:

We also know that we-i mean our class- are irrelevant, and that the real struggle is between the rulers and the ruled

yes. this is it. this is where the revolution is. it is about the farmers. it is about the workers. it is about changing the system not the ruler. reggie sent me this article from the american communist party, which poses this challenge to us who are interested in real change:

Left to itself, tomorrow’s disappointment of today’s raised expectations will not automatically show people a way out of this madness. Disillusionment with Obama, when and if that comes, can lead to cynical passivity or to people giving up their original better ideals as being “naïve” and “foolish”…and becoming active supporters of the very crimes they once opposed.

But that too is where the revolutionaries come into the picture. As big questions are being discussed on street corners, classrooms, and offices, there are openings for answers that speak to the reality of the situation. Even as we are continuing to unite with people and lead forward resistance, we have to be actively and eagerly jumping into struggle with all of those caught up in this Obama-mania over the real nature of this system and what it will REALLY take to change it. We have to show them, in a living way, what it means to say that this is a SYSTEM. And we have to engage them, again in a living way, with what is meant by REVOLUTION—real revolution—and what their role in all that is and must be.

In a strategic sense, it is good that we are presented with this challenge. How could anyone imagine a revolution in the U.S.A. that did not have to go up against a lot of deeply embedded myths, values, and accepted lies? Let’s take this on and take this up with a materialist understanding of what this system must do to people and how utterly unnecessary is the suffering it imposes on people. Let’s jump into the fray—both the struggle to fight the power, and the struggle to transform the people, FOR revolution—with creativity and confidence borne of our dialectical understanding that the world is constantly changing, and that people’s conscious actions have a profound effect on that. And let’s get in there with the verve that comes from our grasp of the kind of society we are trying to bring into being, and the potential attractive power of that vision.

And there is an opening to do that now. In the current mix, and all the way through the process people go through confronting the reality of what Obama represents, we can and must reach out boldly and broadly to build a revolutionary movement that can bring about the real change the world needs.

To restate the crucial question we opened with: What will all these people do as it becomes more and more clear that Obama is dashing their hopes and shattering their illusions that he will act to bring about change that so many people long for—change that will really be in the interests of the great majority of people, here and around the world?

The answer to that—the potentially world-changing, world-historic answer—depends on you.

no i don’t want hope and change from obama. i see no reason to be hopeful. and i am not interested in the sort of minimalist change he is offering. i want the sort of change evo morales brings to bolivia:

He shook his fist in the air, the applause died down. “And I want you to know something, the colonial state ends here. Internal colonialism and external colonialism ends here. Sisters and brothers, neoliberalism ends here too.”

i want the kind of change that releases leonard peltier from prison immediately (and on that note please sign the petition linked below):

Please Let President Barack Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Penitentiary-Canaan Warden Ronnie R. Holt, Federal Bureau of Prisons Northeast Regional Director D. Scott Dodrill, U.S. Prisons Director Harley G. Lappin, the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Leaders, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the American Civil Liberties Union and members of the national media know you HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE FOR THE SAFETY AND WELLBEING OF LEONARD PELTIER!

i want the kind of change that prosecutes israeli war criminals and feeds them the justice they deserve (not just for gaza but for 61+ years of war crimes):

Public asked for information on travel plans and whereabouts of top Israeli leaders

By Redress Information & Analysis

26 January 2009

An international human rights organization has submitted evidence to the International Criminal Court for the arrest of top Israeli leaders for war crimes in Gaza and has called for information about the travel plans and whereabouts outside Israel of the suspects.

A human rights organization has called for the arrest of a number of senior Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The International Coalition against Impunity (HOKOK), a non-governmental organization registered with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, has submitted a “Letter of Notification and Referral” to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court outlining the case for the arrest of 15 Israeli political and military leaders for crimes committed in Gaza in violation of the Rome Statute and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

It has also issued an international appeal for information about the undermentioned war crimes suspects. Members of the public in Israel and throughout the world who have information about the travel plans or whereabouts of the undermentioned suspects when they are outside Israel should report this immediately to:

The Prosecutor

P.O. Box 19519

2500 Hague

Netherlands

Fax +31 70 515 8 555

otp.informationdesk [at] icc-cpi.int

The Israeli war crimes suspects are:

1. Ehud Barak
2. Amir Peretz
3. Binyamin Ben Eliezer
4. Avi Dichter
5. Carmi Gillon
6. Dan Halutz
7. Doron Almog
8. Ehud Olmert
9. Eliezer Shkedy
10. Gabi Ashkenazi
11. Giora Eiland
12. Matan Vilnai
13. Moshie Bogie Yaalon
14. Shaul Mofaz
15. Tzipi Livni

here is a report form al jazeera’s zeina awad on the war crimes investigations in gaza:

and this war crimes case as well:

National Infrastructure Minister and former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and former IAF and IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz may face criminal charges in Spain for killing Palestinian civilians seven years ago.

A Spanish court granted a petition by the Palestinian Center for Human Rights on Thursday, asking the two be investigated for alleged “crimes against humanity” for their involvement in the 2002 assassination of Hamas operative Salah Shehade. Fourteen civilians were killed in the incident and about 100 more were injured.

i want the kind of change that shows israeli terrorism in all its true colors, so people understand that their racism is widespread and that all are complicit in the thinking and actions among the civilian AND military (which overlap completely since military service is compulsory):

“Fire on anything that moves in Zeitoun” – that was the order handed down to Israeli troops in the Givati Shaked battalion, who reduced the eastern Gaza City suburb to little more than rubble in a matter of days.

According to Israeli soldiers who took part in the three-week offensive, the destruction of the area, a known Hamas stronghold, was designed to send a wider message to Gazans. “We pounded Zeitoun into the ground,” an Israeli soldier who was deployed in the area, told The Times.

“We knew everything was booby-trapped, we knew that they would try to kidnap us and if they did that was the end, we were finished . . . so we took no chances. We pounded them with fire; they never had a chance.”

i want the kind of change that does not include palestinian resistance making concessions to the zionist colonists who stole their land by recognizing the zionist entity or by making any concession that does not include the complete and total liberation of palestine:

“We accept a state in the ‘67 borders,” said [Ghazi] Hamad. “We are not talking about the destruction of Israel.”

One hardline Hamas politician, Yehiel El Abadsa, said his group should not reconcile with Fatah and that Hamas “will be the ones to rebuild Gaza.

the kind of change i hope for is one that shows iraqis, pakistanis, and afghans as resisting and kicking out all u.s. installations, not just the abomination that is blackwater:

Blackwater, a US private security firm, has been barred from providing security for US diplomats in Iraq for its alleged involvement in the deaths of at least 17 civilians in 2007.

The Iraqi interior ministry on Thursday said the measure followed the firm’s “improper conduct and excessive use of force”.

Five former Blackwater guards are awaiting trial in the US for the incident that took place in September 2007.

one thing that we can all do, that we can all practice, live by is boycott. it works. and it is working more very single day. just look at the beautiful damage jordanian farmers are causing israeli terrorist farmers who farm stolen palestinian land:

Fruit growers in Israel have reported delays and reductions in orders from abroad since the military operation in Gaza was launched, due to various boycotts against Israeli produce.

Farmers say much of their produce is being held in warehouses due to canceled orders, and fear a sharp decrease in fruit exports to countries such as Jordan, Britain, and the Scandinavian countries.

“We export persimmons, and because of the fighting a number of countries and distributors are canceling orders,” Giora Almagor, of the southern town of Bitzaron, told Ynet. He said some of the produce had already been shipped while some was awaiting shipment in warehouses.

Almagor said a large number of cancellations came from Jordan. “The produce stays packed in warehouses, and this is causing us massive losses,” he said.

and while we may not be able to attribute the pro-palestinian boycott of starbucks to the company’s financial problems (because indeed there are hundreds of other reasons to boycott starbucks), it is a welcome sign to see them hit by the economic downturn as well:

Thousands of baristas are to lose their jobs as Starbucks shuts stores to cope with dwindling sales of lattes, cappuccinos and frappuccinos as cash-strapped consumers lose their thirst for coffee.

The Seattle-based chain tonight revealed a 70% slump in quarterly profits to $64.3m and announced that it intends to shed 6,700 employees this year. It is closing 300 stores, two thirds of which will be in the US, on top of 660 shutdowns last year.

As the global economy turns sour, appetite for Starbucks’ premium-priced drinks appears to be waning. Like-for-like sales fell by 10% at American stores and dropped by 3% elsewhere in the world – including a decline in the UK during the three months to December.

Starbucks’ chief executive, Howard Schultz, is joining in the belt-tightening by asking the company’s board to cut his basic salary from $1.2m to $10,000. Schultz, 55, dropped off Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires last year as the value of his stake in Starbucks plunged.

and the u.s. academic and cultural boycott of israel is gaining exposure, even in the israeli terrorist press:

While Israeli academics have grown used to such news from Great Britain, where anti-Israel groups several times attempted to establish academic boycotts, the formation of the United States movement marks the first time that a national academic boycott movement has come out of America. Israeli professors are not sure yet how big of an impact the one-week-old movement will have, but started discussing the significance of and possible counteractions against the campaign.

and now there is an australian boycott of israeli academic and cultural institutions as well:

Australian Academic Boycott of Israel Responding to the CALL of Palestinian civil society to join the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, we are an Australian campaign focused specifically on a boycott of Israeli academic and cultural institutions, as delineated by PACBI (Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel).

this is especially important as we recall what israeli terrorists did to the islamic university of gaza, which recently came out with a statement asking us to work in solidarity to support them as they work to rebuild their university:

We firmly believe that the illegal Israeli occupation have deliberately and continuously targeted the Palestinian academic institutions, including IUG, in an attempt to keep the Palestinians ignorant and insecure so the oppressive Israeli occupation could last longer.

By destroying the university buildings, IUG is facing major disarray and delay in completing the second semester, entailing the inability of hundreds of students to graduate. Such bombardment is a flagrant violation of international law including the Fourth Geneva Convention. This violation shows a total disregard for Palestinian rights to education and for the legitimacy of the international community and international law, declarations and resolutions.
We therefore call upon all academics, students, concerned bodies and the international community to show their support and solidarity to the right of the Palestinians to education:

1. Boycotting Israeli academic institutions and refraining from participation in any form of academic and cultural cooperation.

2. Lobbying (emails, letter, fax, etc) your MP and government to pressure the government of Israel to adhere to its legal obligations to end occupation and stop attacking Palestinian educational institutions.

3. Preparing and signing petitions calling on trade unions, education institutions, organizations, social and political movements and concerned individuals around the world to support the right to education in Palestine.

4. Organizing exchange visit to and from IUG to students and faculty members to come on a speaking tour to universities and organizations in your country.

5. Sponsoring students at IUG to enable them to continue their education.

6. Initiating active academic relations with IUG through departmental links; student and faculty exchange; joint research projects; and inclusion at international academic conferences.

7. Making a donation to reconstruct the IUG buildings and facilities.

8. Establishing connections with Palestinian universities, students and faculty, through solidarity links or academic exchange.

9. Support the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s call for “a full investigation and to make those responsible people accountable.”

the academic boycott is also crucial given the ways which israeli terrorist universities not only

And that brings us to [Shlomo] Zand’s second assertion. He argues that the story of the Jewish nation — the transformation of the Jewish people from a group with a shared cultural identity and religious faith into a vanquished “people” — was a relatively recent invention, hatched in the 19th century by Zionist scholars and advanced by the Israeli academic establishment. It was, argues Zand, an intellectual conspiracy of sorts. [Tom] Segev says, “It’s all fiction and myth that served as an excuse for the establishment of the State of Israel.”

thus, a renewed call came out from palestinian civil society seeking further support for the boycott:

However, Israel’s hidden goals were to deepen the rift already existing between Hamas in Gaza and Fatah in the West Bank, in order to further divide Palestinian people both politically and geographically.

We call for immediate action to be taken to achieve the following:

* An immediate end to the internal conflict, a revival of national unity as to avoid polarization on a regional and international level, which does not serve common Palestinian goals, and formation of a National Unity Government to lead the Palestinian people through these critical times.

* Immediate commencement of reconstruction work in Gaza with a priority of finding homes for those without. The reconstruction of Gaza should be handled by Palestinians as their knowledge of the affected areas is second to none. Although Israel should take full responsibility for rebuilding all destroyed civilian infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, if reconstruction is to be bankrolled by the international community, reconstruction funds should be handled exclusively by a Palestinian team, which should be selected on the basis of transparency, accountability and professionalism, and should consist of members from civil society, the private sector and the government. This team should utilize their collective experience on a local, regional and international level and apply it as specified by the needs of the team.

* Cooperation with civil and popular initiatives in order to allow them the possibility to assist the victims of this war. In addition, the role and independence of civil society should also be respected.

* We, Palestinian non-governmental organizations declare our complete rejection of any aid coming from USAID due to the United States’ constant military and financial support to Israel, or from any other parties whose support to Israel facilitated Israel’s military aggression in the Gaza Strip.

* An end of the siege on Gaza and opening of the borders and crossings. In addition, a safe and free passage that links the West Bank to Gaza should be created, while avoiding anything that deepens the already existing division between the West Bank and Gaza.

* Preservation of the freedom of expression and right to criticize the performance of any authorities involved in the war, and let them be answerable for their respective roles. We call for the release of all political prisoners and the immediate cessation of arrests, while allowing media impartiality and freedom from external influence.

* Conducting a comprehensive revision of Palestinian negotiating policy to ensure an immediate cessation of the construction of Israeli settlements, the end of the siege on Gaza, the end of Israel’s policy to isolate Jerusalem and to end all Israeli aggression. This policy should be linked with existing UN treaties, resolutions and standards of international law and should help develop Palestinian political discourse and its mechanisms. The reference of negotiation should be based on the Palestinian Political Prisoners Initiative with an emphasis on the right to resist.

* The intervention of the international community in providing protection for the people of Gaza and the West Bank, ending the occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel and guaranteeing Palestinians’ right to self-determination, through application of international conventions and resolutions. It is not acceptable to place the Palestinians on the same level as the Israelis; it is now clearer than ever who the oppressor is and who is being oppressed.

* Bringing the Israeli authorities before a war tribunal to hold them to account for the damage and destruction they have caused in Gaza, and to ensure the appropriate reparations are made. We propose to form a national committee to work on this front.

* Upholding the current global boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign to boycott Israeli goods, support of divestment initiatives and encourage sanctions against Israel, to re-enforce its aims in light of Israel’s recent war crimes in Gaza.

and one more thing about boycotts. i realize that it is difficult to call for anti-normalization with israeli people as well as institutions, but in practice i think this is necessary. this is, unfortunately, one of the problems with organizing, especially with americans who worry more about freedom of speech than palestinian people’s lives. also, it is important to remember that palestinians have a right to resist colonialism with armed resistance. while i support these boycott measures they cannot be adequately used to dismantle israeli terrorism, colonialism, and apartheid alone. just as south africa was not liberated through boycott, divestment and sanctions alone–it took a long armed resistance struggle as well–so too will be the case with palestine. both are needed. and both need to be supported.

and one final note: i highlighted the usaid boycott above in this most recent call from palestinian civil society. this is essential. there are so many ways in which usaid is a huge part of the problem. i was just invited to participate in a palestinian faculty development program from amideast, but declined because of its usaid funding. this usaid funding, for instance, makes it such that faculty from the islamic university of gaza are ineligible to participate regardless of which–if any–political party they belong to. rami has an amazing analysis of usaid that i think everyone should read. this is when i first met him–when he first gave this talk in beirut–and what instantly made me want to get to know him. i’ve been grateful ever since as he is one of the most committed revolutionary thinkers i know and one of the most devoted friends i have:

Development aid is the profession of donor organizations. They see development as a set of rational managerial prescriptions. For many beneficiaries in Lebanon, development is a direct transference of Western values, synonymous with “modernization”. Many recipients are trained to think this way: this is part of the package deal. The World Bank, the USAID, the EU and even the UNDP have been known to impose expertise and authority. They have also been accused of silencing alternative voices, promoting a dependent path to development, and keeping their eyes closed to the power imbalance they create. The job needs to be done, and often, these power imbalances are part of the job, and not just an externality.

Donors operate according to a semi-declared agenda related chiefly to politics (USAID) or politics and trade (EU). They impose strict conditions on the employment of consultants (international becomes a euphemism for “from donor country”). They recycle the funds in purchases and employment, and use aid to dump excess food production and distort local markets, with total disregard to citizen’s preference and health.

Tom Segev, Israeli jouranlist (and author of the actually good book on the 67 War) with an insightful if nearly totally depressing op-ed in the Washington Post.

Segev:

I belong to a generation of Israelis who grew up believing in peace. At the end of the Six-Day War of 1967, I was 23, and I had no doubt that 40 years later, the Israeli-Arab war would be over. Today, my son, who is 28, no longer believes in peace. Most Israelis don’t. They know that Israel may not survive without peace, but from war to war, they have lost their optimism. So have I.

Because:

Apart from the conflict’s cruelty — particularly toward civilians, including numerous children — the present eruption is most likely to be remembered as yet another step in a long march of folly that began in 1967.

Following the Six-Day War, the Israeli government contemplated moving hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and resettling them in the West Bank. That could have made the present situation infinitely less convoluted. But the plans remained on paper because some of the most powerful members of the Israeli government, including the right-wing leader Menachem Begin and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, believed that the West Bank should be reserved exclusively for Jewish settlement.

This was probably the worst mistake in Israel’s history. With nearly 300,000 Israelis living in the West Bank today and an additional 200,000 living in the formerly Arab part of Jerusalem, it is almost impossible to draw sensible borders and achieve peace.

Undoubtedly the post 67 euphoria (partly nationalist, partly religious, which are always mixed in Israeli-Zionist history…even the secular there has a kind of religious fervor), the decision to settle into the West Bank (which as Gorenberg pointed out was really accidental and certainly not thought through) has sealed the region into a forever stalemate.  There is no Palestinian state I’m sad to say anywhere on the horizon.  I think frankly one should just be created on paper, since it is never going to happen otherwise in real life, and then possibly the fact that it exists will make it come to exist.

But this sadly seems to me to the truth all around:

This conflict is not merely about land and water and mutual recognition. It is about national identity. Both the Israelis and the Palestinians define themselves by the Holy Land — all of it. Any territorial compromise would compel both sides to relinquish part of their identity.

Segev says Israel should return to what it was created for, being a Jewish democracy (not as in Gorenberg an Accidental Empire).  It would require a complete withdraw from The West Bank but I just can’t see that happening.  They are too enmeshed, too embedded, the occupation as a cancer on the Israeli political body strikes me as too deep.  Such a radical operation and political chemotheraphy seems beyond any politician in a fractured electoral environment.

The result of which:

I no longer believe in solving the conflict. What I do believe in is better conflict management — including talks with Hamas, which is a taboo that must be broken. The need for U.S. engagement has led me, along with many other Israelis, to harbor high hopes for the administration of Barack Obama. The Bush administration was mainly concerned with keeping alive a diplomatic fiction called “The Peace Process.” But there really was no such “process.” Instead, the oppression of the Palestinians continued and intensified, even after Israel had evacuated several thousand settlers from Gaza in 2005. More settlements were put up in the West Bank.

Agreed.  Again either declare the state or don’t and manage the conflict (or maybe do both).  Don’t have a process towards a Palestinian state because that is all it will ever be–a process towards some unachievable goal.  To change Lennon:  Don’t Give Peace a Chance.  Here Yoda holds true: Do or Do not, there is no try.

]]> http://redtory.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/plus-ca-change%e2%80%a6-2/ Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:11:59 +0000 redtory http://redtory.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/plus-ca-change%e2%80%a6-2/

“Israel has… always believed that causing suffering to Palestinian civilians would make them rebel against their national leaders. This assumption has proven wrong over and over,” wrote Israeli historian Tom Segev in yesterday’s Ha’aretz newspaper. “Since the dawn of the Zionist presence in the Land of Israel, no military operation has ever advanced dialogue with the Palestinians.”

Just to force home the point a bit, here’s a brief look back to a documentary Robert Fisk made in the early 1990’s about the causes of increasing “anti-Western” sentiment in the Middle East at that time.

J’ai appris que l’Autorité palestinienne, qui à Gaza est contrôlée par le Hamas, a décidé d’expulser de Gaza Amira Hass:

Haaretz Last update – 23:09 01/12/2008
Hamas tells Haaretz journalist Amira Hass to leave Gaza
By Tomer Zarchin, Haaretz Correspondent and The Associated Press
Veteran Haaretz journalist Amira Hass, who traveled by boat to Hamas-ruled Gaza last month in defiance of Israel’s blockade of the territory, was detained in Sderot on Monday after Hamas instructed her to leave the Strip.

The award-winning reporter said Hamas cited security concerns as the reason for her expulsion, but added that Hamas officials did not provide details about the alleged dangers to her safety.

She was apprehended at the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel, where soldiers said she did not have the proper documents to permit her initial entry into the Hamas-ruled territory.
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Hass defied Israel’s ban on its citizens entering Gaza, in place since the outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian fighting in 2000, when she entered the Strip by boat on November 8.

The danger to Israelis was highlighted after Palestinian militants, including those from Hamas, captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross-border raid in 2006. Shalit remains in captivity, presumably held by Hamas.

Israel also maintains a blockade on Gaza, imposed after Hamas seized power there last year.

An Israeli injunction issued by the Israel Defense Forces also prohibits foreign journalists from entering the Gaza Strip.

Chief Superintendent Shimon Nahmani, the commander of the Sderot police department, said that Hass had arrived at the border crossing on her way back into Israel from Gaza, where she was taken into police custody and escorted to the Sderot police station for questioning.

“We questioned her and she said that she entered Gaza for work purposes and that no one tried to prevent her from entering,” he said, adding that she had been released and that the case will be handed over to the courts during the coming week.

Hass arrived in Gaza on a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists who were trying to draw attention to hardship in Gaza as a result of the border closures. Israel let the boats through, but on Monday turned back a Libyan freighter that was to deliver 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Hass said she had hoped to stay in Gaza until January.

Shadowy Gaza groups have kidnapped reporters in the past. However, no journalists have been kidnapped since Hamas seized power.

Security officials from Hamas accompanied Hass while she was in Gaza. Hass said she did not request Hamas escorts.

Hamas spokesmen were not available for comment on Monday.

Hass, known for her sympathetic coverage of the Palestinians, is well known in the Gaza Strip. She wrote a book about Gaza and lived in the territory for several years. She currently lives in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Hass is the recipient of several awards for her reporting, including a United Nations award in 2003.

Pour ceux qui ne la connaîtraient pas, cette journaliste israëlienne est, avec d’autres journalistes du même quotidien (Haaretz) tels que Gideon Levy et Tom Segev, une des critiques les plus conséquentes et assidues de la politique de colonisation d’Israël en Palestine. Leur ethnicité leur permet sans doute de tenir des propos d’une dureté qui vaudraient sans doute licenciement et poursuites pénales à votre serviteur.

La situation en Palestine est d’une confusion détestable: entre les collabos autour d’Abou Mazen et de Mohamed Dahlan et les pestiférés du Hamas, l’embryon de guerre civile inter-palestinienne obscurcit les crimes continus du gouvernement israëlien, qui colonise, discrimine et tue sans discontinuer. D’une clarté autrefois limpide, la question palestinienne prend désormais l’allure d’une vendetta entre clans siciliens ou albanais. En interdisant à Amira Hass l’accès à Gaza, le Hamas fait taire une voix qui rappelait inlassablement la réalité de la colonisation.

Il faut défendre les Palestiniens en dépit de leurs “représentants”…

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN 2008 WATCH:HNN, July 21, 2008

The week that was….

• July 20, 2008: Barack Obama is visiting Afganistan; he had breakfast with US troops there, and then met with President Hamid Karzai where he pledged continual aid to the country. This is the second day of Obama’s international tour which is meant to boost his foreign policy credentials.
• July 19, 2008: Obama landed in Kabul, Afganistan, the first stop on his tour of war zones, which will also include a visit to Iraq. Officially Obama is visiting the regions as part of Congressional delegation, but it also a campaign tour and a response to Republican criticism, which claimed Obama has not visited the area in 900 days.
  The contraversay surrounding Texas Sen. Phil Gramm’s comments has ended; Gramm, who was McCain’s campaign co-chairman resigned from his position. Last week Gramm was criticized for calling “the United States had become a “nation of whiners” whose constant complaints about the U.S. economy show they are in a “mental recession.””
• July 18, 2008: McCain launched a new TV ad that claimed that Obama changed his positions on Iraq to be elected President. The ad which is the most critical of Obama’s positions on Iraq comes just as he is embarking on a trip to Afganistan and Iraq. The 30-second ad starts by saying: “Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan. He hasn’t been to Iraq in years. He voted against funding our troops. Positions that helped him win his nomination. Now Obama is changing to help himself become president.”
  A new AP-Yahoo News poll claims that Obama supporters are much excited than McCain’s; 38 percent to 9 percent.
  McCain pledged to help revive the auto industry that has been hit hard by the country’s economic woes.
  Obama will meet with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel on July 24, 2008.
• July 17, 2008: Obama’s upcoming trip to Europe and the Middle East marks his his first “high profile” trip abroad Obama will visit Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England, and possibly Iraq and Afghanistan in attempt to curb criticism that he does not have enough foreign policy credentials. Obama will give speeches in historic settings usually reserved to past presidents and will meet with foreign leaders.
  Christian Evangelicals according to a new AP-Yahoo News poll are less excited than they were for George W.Bush in 2004. Bush garned 78 percent of Evangelical support, while McCain only has 68 percent.
  In a new interview with Glamour magazine, Obama claimed that what angers him the most is when his wife Michelle is criticized. He called the attcks “infuriating,” adding “If they have a difference with me on policy, they should debate me. Not her.”
• July 16, 2008: John McCain announces at the NAACP national convention that he supports vouchers for private schools
• July 15, 2008: Obama announced that he does not believe that the war in Iraq is the best route for protecting the country, and and one of his top priorities would be ending the war “responsibly.”
• July 14, 2008: In a New York Time Op-ed, Barack Obama outlined that he would consider sending 7,000 more troops/ two more brigades to Afghanistan to curb the resurgent Al-Quaida, while at the same time he would end the war in Iraq. The New Yorker debuts a contraversial caricature cover with Obama dressed as a Muslim, and his wife, Michelle dressed as an armed terrorist.

The Stats

• July 17, 2008: According to a AP-Yahoo News poll, 30 percent view Michelle Obama favorably as opposed to 35 percent unfavorably. Although Cindy McCain garned a lower favorability rating, her unfavorable rating was also lower than Michelle Obama’s.
• July 16, 2008: According to Evans and Novak the Electoral College results will be Obama 273, McCain 265 – Human Events
• July 16, 2008: Obama still faces a racial gap according to a new New York Times/CBS News poll. 83 percent of black respondents had a favorable view of Obama, while only 31 percent of whites view Obama favorably.

Historians Comment

• Tom Segev, Israel: Let’s Make a Deal:
  The senator may be surprised to discover how Americanized Israelis have become in recent decades: the American Dream is now a central element of their identity. Most Israelis feel deeply dependent on America and will not risk major policy differences with the United States. That means Obama may find them open to a new, more rational approach to the Middle East’s conflicts.
  Obama has declared his support for Israel, and most Israelis believe him: they assume that no one can get elected president of the United States today unless he or she is willing to put Israel’s security near the top of Washington’s list of priorities. For many years, however, U.S. politicians have confused “support for Israel” with support for the Israeli government. There’s a difference, and Obama may be surprised to discover that Israelis are actually much more reasonable than the hawkish parties who keep their coalition government in office—or than the inflexible pro-Israel lobby in Washington…. – Newsweek, 7-28-08
• Timothy Garton Ash: U.K.: Help Unite Our States:
  First the good news: we are all Obamamaniacs now. In a recent Guardian/ICM poll, 53 percent of British respondents said Barack Obama would make the best U.S. president, compared with just 11 percent for John McCain. That means Obama is now the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat candidate for president. Then there’s the bad news: even in Britain, America’s linguistic motherland and staunchest ally, nearly eight years of George W. Bush have done huge damage to the United States’ reputation and authority. This distrust has reinforced a deeper historical trend. The old transatlantic West of the cold-war period is no longer cemented together by such an obvious common enemy as the Red Army in the heart of Europe. So enthusiasm for Obama personally is equaled by skepticism about his country. That means there’s a lot of ground for him to make up….
  If Obama truly wants a stronger Europe to forge a renewed strategic partnership with the United States in a world of rising giants like China and India, he will need to start getting that message across to the man who will likely be Britain’s next prime minister. If such a message comes from Obama, he might even listen. Only a charismatic American could persuade conservative Brits to become more European. – Newsweek, 7-28-08
• Haider al-Mousawi, a history professor in the city of the holy city of Najaf on “What Iraqis Think of Barack”:
  “What is interesting is that a man who is not white is trying to be president. This is interesting because it is so unique,” says Haider al-Mousawi, a history professor in the city of the holy city of Najaf. “His second name, Hussein, is Arabic but that will make no difference because his father refused his religion and his name to get what he wanted. This is the height of pragmatism and is standard in the United States. The person’s interests are above all other things.” He continues: “Anyway, whether Obama or [Sen. John] McCain wins, the president is just the figure who works on strategies run by the institutions that run America. The president is like a middleman.” – Newsweek, 7-20-08
• Mary Frances Berry, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania: McCain Challenges Obama’s Military Wisdom – NPR, 7-16-08
• Julian Zelizer on “Romney’s stock rising as possible McCain VP”:
  “They are two very different kinds of people. There is clearly a lot of tension between the two. But that never stops anyone from joining into an alliance if they can win. And given the odds Republicans face and given the challenges that McCain faces in winning, if Romney brings him that one asset that changes his odds, I think McCain would be more than willing to enter into that alliance.” – Reuters, 7-15-08
• Gil Troy on “The first lady tightrope walk Unlike earlier presidential spouses, Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain must emphasise both career and family to avoid criticism”:
  “Unfortunately for first ladies, the game is often more about un-favourability than favourability,” Gil Troy, a historian at McGill University and the author of Leading from the Centre: Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents, told me. “They rarely deliver votes, but they have much more of a track record of alienating voters or losing voters. So the first lady’s mission is to follow the political version of the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm.” – The Guardian, 7-15-08

On the Campaign Trail….

• Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, John McCain’s campaign co-chairman upon to the Washington Times commenting about his resignation:
  “It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country,” Gramm said. “That kind of distraction hurts not only Senator McCain’s ability to present concrete programs to deal with the country’s problems, it hurts the country. To end this distraction and get on with the real debate, I hereby step down as co-chair of the McCain campaign and join the growing number of rank- and-file McCain supporters.” -
• John McCain, July 18, 2008:
  “I believe that we can modify Iranian behavior. We need to exhaust every possible option before we can ever consider a military option. Americans have made great sacrifices and it has grieved us all.”
• John McCain, Remarks to the 99th Annual NAACP Convention, July 16, 2008: “Democrats in Congress, including my opponent, oppose the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. In remarks to the American Federation of Teachers last weekend, Senator Obama dismissed public support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans as, “tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice.” All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?Over the years, Americans have heard a lot of “tired rhetoric” about education. We’ve heard it in the endless excuses of people who seem more concerned about their own position than about our children. We’ve heard it from politicians who accept the status quo rather than stand up for real change in our public schools. Parents ask only for schools that are safe, teachers who are competent, and diplomas that open doors of opportunity. When a public system fails, repeatedly, to meet these minimal objectives, parents ask only for a choice in the education of their children. Some parents may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private school. Many will choose a charter school. No entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity….Under my reforms, moreover, parents will exercise freedom of choice in obtaining extra help for children who are falling behind. As it is, federal aid to parents for tutoring for their children has to go through another bureaucracy. They can’t purchase the tutoring directly, without having to deal with the same education establishment that failed their children in the first place. These needless restrictions will be removed, under my reforms. If a student needs extra help, parents will be able to sign them up to get it, with direct public support….

  As much as any other group in America, the NAACP has been at the center of that great and honorable cause. I’m here today as an admirer and a fellow American, an association that means more to me than any other. I am a candidate for president who seeks your vote and hopes to earn it. But whether or not I win your support, I need your goodwill and counsel. And should I succeed, I’ll need it all the more. I have always believed in this country, in a good America, a great America. But I have always known we can build a better America, where no place or person is left without hope or opportunity by the sins of injustice or indifference. It would be among the great privileges of my life to work with you in that cause.

• Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 99th Annual Convention of the NAACP, July 14, 2008: And if I have the privilege of serving as your next President, I will stand up for you the same way that earlier generations of Americans stood up for me – by fighting to ensure that every single one of us has the chance to make it if we try. That means removing the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding that still exist in America. It means fighting to eliminate discrimination from every corner of our country. It means changing hearts, and changing minds, and making sure that every American is treated equally under the law….That’s how we’ll truly honor those who came before us. Because I know that Thurgood Marshall did not argue Brown versus Board of Education so that some of us could stop doing our jobs as parents. And I know that nine little children did not walk through a schoolhouse door in Little Rock so that we could stand by and let our children drop out of school and turn to gangs for the support they are not getting elsewhere. That’s not the freedom they fought so hard to achieve. That’s not the America they gave so much to build. That’s not the dream they had for our children.That’s why if we’re serious about reclaiming that dream, we have to do more in our own lives, our own families, and our own communities. That starts with providing the guidance our children need, turning off the TV, and putting away the video games; attending those parent-teacher conferences, helping our children with their homework, and setting a good example. It starts with teaching our daughters to never allow images on television to tell them what they are worth; and teaching our sons to treat women with respect, and to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; that what makes them men is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one. It starts by being good neighbors and good citizens who are willing to volunteer in our communities – and to help our synagogues and churches and community centers feed the hungry and care for the elderly. We all have to do our part to lift up this country.That’s where change begins. And that, after all, is the true genius of America – not that America is, but that America will be; not that we are perfect, but that we can make ourselves more perfect; that brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand, people who love this country can change it. And that’s our most enduring responsibility – the responsibility to future generations. We have to change this country for them. We have to leave them a planet that’s cleaner, a nation that’s safer, and a world that’s more equal and more just.

  So I’m grateful to you for all you’ve done for this campaign, but we’ve got work to do and we cannot rest. And I know that if you put your shoulders to the wheel of history and take up the cause of perfecting our union just as earlier generations of Americans did before you; if you take up the fight for opportunity and equality and prosperity for all; if you march with me and fight with me, and get your friends registered to vote, and if you stand with me this fall – then not only will we help close the responsibility deficit in this country, and not only will we help achieve social justice and economic justice for all, but I will come back here next year on the 100th anniversary of the NAACP, and I will stand before you as the President of the United States of America.

• Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: Summit on Confronting New Threats, July 16, 2008:
  We cannot wait any longer to protect the American people. I’ve made this a priority in the Senate, where I’ve worked with Indiana’s own Republican Senator Dick Lugar to pass a law accelerating our pursuit of loose nuclear materials. And I’ll lead a global effort to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world during my first term as President….To protect our national security, I’ll bring together government, industry, and academia to determine the best ways to guard the infrastructure that supports our power. Fortunately, right here at Purdue we have one of the country’s leading cyber programs. We need to prevent terrorists or spies from hacking into our national security networks. We need to build the capacity to identify, isolate, and respond to any cyber-attack. And we need to develop new standards for the cyber security that protects our most important infrastructure – from electrical grids to sewage systems; from air traffic control to our markets….

  That is the task that lies before us. We must never let down our guard, nor suffer another failure of imagination. It’s time for sustained and aggressive action – to take the offense against new dangers abroad, while shoring up our defenses at home. As President, I will call on the excellence and expertise of men and women like the people here today. And I will speak clearly and candidly with the American people about what can be done – what must be done – to protect our country and our communities.

• Barack Obama in the New York Times Op-ed “My Plan for Iraq,” July 14, 2008
  The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban by invading a country that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown.

  …But this is not a strategy for success — it is a strategy for staying that runs contrary to the will of the Iraqi people, the American people and the security interests of the United States. That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.

  …Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been. As Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq…

PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN 2008 WATCH:HNN, July 21, 2008

The week that was….

• July 20, 2008: Barack Obama is visiting Afganistan; he had breakfast with US troops there, and then met with President Hamid Karzai where he pledged continual aid to the country. This is the second day of Obama’s international tour which is meant to boost his foreign policy credentials.
• July 19, 2008: Obama landed in Kabul, Afganistan, the first stop on his tour of war zones, which will also include a visit to Iraq. Officially Obama is visiting the regions as part of Congressional delegation, but it also a campaign tour and a response to Republican criticism, which claimed Obama has not visited the area in 900 days.
  The contraversay surrounding Texas Sen. Phil Gramm’s comments has ended; Gramm, who was McCain’s campaign co-chairman resigned from his position. Last week Gramm was criticized for calling “the United States had become a “nation of whiners” whose constant complaints about the U.S. economy show they are in a “mental recession.”"
• July 18, 2008: McCain launched a new TV ad that claimed that Obama changed his positions on Iraq to be elected President. The ad which is the most critical of Obama’s positions on Iraq comes just as he is embarking on a trip to Afganistan and Iraq. The 30-second ad starts by saying: “Barack Obama never held a single Senate hearing on Afghanistan. He hasn’t been to Iraq in years. He voted against funding our troops. Positions that helped him win his nomination. Now Obama is changing to help himself become president.”
  A new AP-Yahoo News poll claims that Obama supporters are much excited than McCain’s; 38 percent to 9 percent.
  McCain pledged to help revive the auto industry that has been hit hard by the country’s economic woes.
  Obama will meet with Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel on July 24, 2008.
• July 17, 2008: Obama’s upcoming trip to Europe and the Middle East marks his his first “high profile” trip abroad Obama will visit Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and England, and possibly Iraq and Afghanistan in attempt to curb criticism that he does not have enough foreign policy credentials. Obama will give speeches in historic settings usually reserved to past presidents and will meet with foreign leaders.
  Christian Evangelicals according to a new AP-Yahoo News poll are less excited than they were for George W.Bush in 2004. Bush garned 78 percent of Evangelical support, while McCain only has 68 percent.
  In a new interview with Glamour magazine, Obama claimed that what angers him the most is when his wife Michelle is criticized. He called the attcks “infuriating,” adding “If they have a difference with me on policy, they should debate me. Not her.”
• July 16, 2008: John McCain announces at the NAACP national convention that he supports vouchers for private schools
• July 15, 2008: Obama announced that he does not believe that the war in Iraq is the best route for protecting the country, and and one of his top priorities would be ending the war “responsibly.”
• July 14, 2008: In a New York Time Op-ed, Barack Obama outlined that he would consider sending 7,000 more troops/ two more brigades to Afghanistan to curb the resurgent Al-Quaida, while at the same time he would end the war in Iraq. The New Yorker debuts a contraversial caricature cover with Obama dressed as a Muslim, and his wife, Michelle dressed as an armed terrorist.

The Stats

• July 17, 2008: According to a AP-Yahoo News poll, 30 percent view Michelle Obama favorably as opposed to 35 percent unfavorably. Although Cindy McCain garned a lower favorability rating, her unfavorable rating was also lower than Michelle Obama’s.
• July 16, 2008: According to Evans and Novak the Electoral College results will be Obama 273, McCain 265 – Human Events
• July 16, 2008: Obama still faces a racial gap according to a new New York Times/CBS News poll. 83 percent of black respondents had a favorable view of Obama, while only 31 percent of whites view Obama favorably.

Historians Comment

• Tom Segev, Israel: Let’s Make a Deal:
  The senator may be surprised to discover how Americanized Israelis have become in recent decades: the American Dream is now a central element of their identity. Most Israelis feel deeply dependent on America and will not risk major policy differences with the United States. That means Obama may find them open to a new, more rational approach to the Middle East’s conflicts.
  Obama has declared his support for Israel, and most Israelis believe him: they assume that no one can get elected president of the United States today unless he or she is willing to put Israel’s security near the top of Washington’s list of priorities. For many years, however, U.S. politicians have confused “support for Israel” with support for the Israeli government. There’s a difference, and Obama may be surprised to discover that Israelis are actually much more reasonable than the hawkish parties who keep their coalition government in office—or than the inflexible pro-Israel lobby in Washington…. – Newsweek, 7-28-08
• Timothy Garton Ash: U.K.: Help Unite Our States:
  First the good news: we are all Obamamaniacs now. In a recent Guardian/ICM poll, 53 percent of British respondents said Barack Obama would make the best U.S. president, compared with just 11 percent for John McCain. That means Obama is now the Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat candidate for president. Then there’s the bad news: even in Britain, America’s linguistic motherland and staunchest ally, nearly eight years of George W. Bush have done huge damage to the United States’ reputation and authority. This distrust has reinforced a deeper historical trend. The old transatlantic West of the cold-war period is no longer cemented together by such an obvious common enemy as the Red Army in the heart of Europe. So enthusiasm for Obama personally is equaled by skepticism about his country. That means there’s a lot of ground for him to make up….
  If Obama truly wants a stronger Europe to forge a renewed strategic partnership with the United States in a world of rising giants like China and India, he will need to start getting that message across to the man who will likely be Britain’s next prime minister. If such a message comes from Obama, he might even listen. Only a charismatic American could persuade conservative Brits to become more European. – Newsweek, 7-28-08
• Haider al-Mousawi, a history professor in the city of the holy city of Najaf on “What Iraqis Think of Barack”:
  “What is interesting is that a man who is not white is trying to be president. This is interesting because it is so unique,” says Haider al-Mousawi, a history professor in the city of the holy city of Najaf. “His second name, Hussein, is Arabic but that will make no difference because his father refused his religion and his name to get what he wanted. This is the height of pragmatism and is standard in the United States. The person’s interests are above all other things.” He continues: “Anyway, whether Obama or [Sen. John] McCain wins, the president is just the figure who works on strategies run by the institutions that run America. The president is like a middleman.” – Newsweek, 7-20-08
• Mary Frances Berry, professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania: McCain Challenges Obama’s Military Wisdom – NPR, 7-16-08
• Julian Zelizer on “Romney’s stock rising as possible McCain VP”:
  “They are two very different kinds of people. There is clearly a lot of tension between the two. But that never stops anyone from joining into an alliance if they can win. And given the odds Republicans face and given the challenges that McCain faces in winning, if Romney brings him that one asset that changes his odds, I think McCain would be more than willing to enter into that alliance.” – Reuters, 7-15-08
• Gil Troy on “The first lady tightrope walk Unlike earlier presidential spouses, Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain must emphasise both career and family to avoid criticism”:
  “Unfortunately for first ladies, the game is often more about un-favourability than favourability,” Gil Troy, a historian at McGill University and the author of Leading from the Centre: Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents, told me. “They rarely deliver votes, but they have much more of a track record of alienating voters or losing voters. So the first lady’s mission is to follow the political version of the Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm.” – The Guardian, 7-15-08

On the Campaign Trail….

• Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, John McCain’s campaign co-chairman upon to the Washington Times commenting about his resignation:
  “It is clear to me that Democrats want to attack me rather than debate Senator McCain on important economic issues facing the country,” Gramm said. “That kind of distraction hurts not only Senator McCain’s ability to present concrete programs to deal with the country’s problems, it hurts the country. To end this distraction and get on with the real debate, I hereby step down as co-chair of the McCain campaign and join the growing number of rank- and-file McCain supporters.” -
• John McCain, July 18, 2008:
  “I believe that we can modify Iranian behavior. We need to exhaust every possible option before we can ever consider a military option. Americans have made great sacrifices and it has grieved us all.”
• John McCain, Remarks to the 99th Annual NAACP Convention, July 16, 2008: “Democrats in Congress, including my opponent, oppose the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship program. In remarks to the American Federation of Teachers last weekend, Senator Obama dismissed public support for private school vouchers for low-income Americans as, “tired rhetoric about vouchers and school choice.” All of that went over well with the teachers union, but where does it leave families and their children who are stuck in failing schools?Over the years, Americans have heard a lot of “tired rhetoric” about education. We’ve heard it in the endless excuses of people who seem more concerned about their own position than about our children. We’ve heard it from politicians who accept the status quo rather than stand up for real change in our public schools. Parents ask only for schools that are safe, teachers who are competent, and diplomas that open doors of opportunity. When a public system fails, repeatedly, to meet these minimal objectives, parents ask only for a choice in the education of their children. Some parents may choose a better public school. Some may choose a private school. Many will choose a charter school. No entrenched bureaucracy or union should deny parents that choice and children that opportunity….Under my reforms, moreover, parents will exercise freedom of choice in obtaining extra help for children who are falling behind. As it is, federal aid to parents for tutoring for their children has to go through another bureaucracy. They can’t purchase the tutoring directly, without having to deal with the same education establishment that failed their children in the first place. These needless restrictions will be removed, under my reforms. If a student needs extra help, parents will be able to sign them up to get it, with direct public support….

  As much as any other group in America, the NAACP has been at the center of that great and honorable cause. I’m here today as an admirer and a fellow American, an association that means more to me than any other. I am a candidate for president who seeks your vote and hopes to earn it. But whether or not I win your support, I need your goodwill and counsel. And should I succeed, I’ll need it all the more. I have always believed in this country, in a good America, a great America. But I have always known we can build a better America, where no place or person is left without hope or opportunity by the sins of injustice or indifference. It would be among the great privileges of my life to work with you in that cause.

• Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: 99th Annual Convention of the NAACP, July 14, 2008: And if I have the privilege of serving as your next President, I will stand up for you the same way that earlier generations of Americans stood up for me – by fighting to ensure that every single one of us has the chance to make it if we try. That means removing the barriers of prejudice and misunderstanding that still exist in America. It means fighting to eliminate discrimination from every corner of our country. It means changing hearts, and changing minds, and making sure that every American is treated equally under the law….That’s how we’ll truly honor those who came before us. Because I know that Thurgood Marshall did not argue Brown versus Board of Education so that some of us could stop doing our jobs as parents. And I know that nine little children did not walk through a schoolhouse door in Little Rock so that we could stand by and let our children drop out of school and turn to gangs for the support they are not getting elsewhere. That’s not the freedom they fought so hard to achieve. That’s not the America they gave so much to build. That’s not the dream they had for our children.That’s why if we’re serious about reclaiming that dream, we have to do more in our own lives, our own families, and our own communities. That starts with providing the guidance our children need, turning off the TV, and putting away the video games; attending those parent-teacher conferences, helping our children with their homework, and setting a good example. It starts with teaching our daughters to never allow images on television to tell them what they are worth; and teaching our sons to treat women with respect, and to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; that what makes them men is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one. It starts by being good neighbors and good citizens who are willing to volunteer in our communities – and to help our synagogues and churches and community centers feed the hungry and care for the elderly. We all have to do our part to lift up this country.That’s where change begins. And that, after all, is the true genius of America – not that America is, but that America will be; not that we are perfect, but that we can make ourselves more perfect; that brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand, people who love this country can change it. And that’s our most enduring responsibility – the responsibility to future generations. We have to change this country for them. We have to leave them a planet that’s cleaner, a nation that’s safer, and a world that’s more equal and more just.

  So I’m grateful to you for all you’ve done for this campaign, but we’ve got work to do and we cannot rest. And I know that if you put your shoulders to the wheel of history and take up the cause of perfecting our union just as earlier generations of Americans did before you; if you take up the fight for opportunity and equality and prosperity for all; if you march with me and fight with me, and get your friends registered to vote, and if you stand with me this fall – then not only will we help close the responsibility deficit in this country, and not only will we help achieve social justice and economic justice for all, but I will come back here next year on the 100th anniversary of the NAACP, and I will stand before you as the President of the United States of America.

• Remarks of Senator Barack Obama: Summit on Confronting New Threats, July 16, 2008:
  We cannot wait any longer to protect the American people. I’ve made this a priority in the Senate, where I’ve worked with Indiana’s own Republican Senator Dick Lugar to pass a law accelerating our pursuit of loose nuclear materials. And I’ll lead a global effort to secure all loose nuclear materials around the world during my first term as President….

  To protect our national security, I’ll bring together government, industry, and academia to determine the best ways to guard the infrastructure that supports our power. Fortunately, right here at Purdue we have one of the country’s leading cyber programs. We need to prevent terrorists or spies from hacking into our national security networks. We need to build the capacity to identify, isolate, and respond to any cyber-attack. And we need to develop new standards for the cyber security that protects our most important infrastructure – from electrical grids to sewage systems; from air traffic control to our markets….

  That is the task that lies before us. We must never let down our guard, nor suffer another failure of imagination. It’s time for sustained and aggressive action – to take the offense against new dangers abroad, while shoring up our defenses at home. As President, I will call on the excellence and expertise of men and women like the people here today. And I will speak clearly and candidly with the American people about what can be done – what must be done – to protect our country and our communities.

• Barack Obama in the New York Times Op-ed “My Plan for Iraq,” July 14, 2008
  The call by Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki for a timetable for the removal of American troops from Iraq presents an enormous opportunity. We should seize this moment to begin the phased redeployment of combat troops that I have long advocated, and that is needed for long-term success in Iraq and the security interests of the United States.

  The differences on Iraq in this campaign are deep. Unlike Senator John McCain, I opposed the war in Iraq before it began, and would end it as president. I believed it was a grave mistake to allow ourselves to be distracted from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban by invading a country that posed no imminent threat and had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks. Since then, more than 4,000 Americans have died and we have spent nearly $1 trillion. Our military is overstretched. Nearly every threat we face — from Afghanistan to Al Qaeda to Iran — has grown.

  …But this is not a strategy for success — it is a strategy for staying that runs contrary to the will of the Iraqi people, the American people and the security interests of the United States. That is why, on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war.

  …Ending the war is essential to meeting our broader strategic goals, starting in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the Taliban is resurgent and Al Qaeda has a safe haven. Iraq is not the central front in the war on terrorism, and it never has been. As Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently pointed out, we won’t have sufficient resources to finish the job in Afghanistan until we reduce our commitment to Iraq…

Tom Segevs 1986 erschienenes Buch “Die ersten Israelis – Die Anfänge des jüdischen Staates” ist erstmals in deutscher Sprache erschienen. Arno Widmann scheint sich speziell an einigen aus dem Zusammenhang gerissenen Zitaten zu erfreuen – und sieht sich endlich bestätigt.

“Und so rissen sich Zehntausende von Israelis – Soldaten wie Zivilisten – Kriegsbeute unter den Nagel. Der eine nahm sich einen Lehnstuhl, der andere einen Teppich, der dritte eine Nähmaschine und der vierte einen ganzen Konzern.
Einer nahm sich eine Wohnung und ein anderer einen Weinberg. Ganz schnell und leicht bildete sich eine ganze, wenn auch kleine Klasse von Neureichen: Kaufleute, Spekulanten, Lieferanten, Beauftragte aller Sorten, Industrielle und Bauern. Einige stahlen, was sie konnten, andere bekamen die Kriegsbeute legal zugeteilt. Ein Gutteil der Transaktionen fiel in den Graubereich zwischen legal und illegal, zwischen eindeutigem Raum und offizieller Enteignung.”

Shlomo Sand oder Zand wurde knapp nach Ende des 2. Weltkriegs in Linz in Oesterreich geboren.

Und schon beginnt meine Phantasie zu arbeiten: Die Eltern haben irgendwie den Holocaust ueberstanden, ihre Traumata koennen wir nicht einmal im Ansatz ermessen. Sie entscheiden sich, dem millionenfachen Mord ihre Affirmation des Lebens entgegenzusetzen, heiraten, bekommen ein Kind und nutzen sehr schnell die Moeglichkeit, das Massengrab Europas zu verlassen, um im zu gruendenden oder gerade gegruendeten Judenstaat ihre Heimat zu finden.

Der abrupte Schlusstrich und Neuanfang, den die Eltern vollzogen haben, hat Auswirkungen auf den Sohn. Shlomo Sand hat nach meinem Empfinden noch mehr Anspruch auf “mildernde Umstaende” als andere Alibijuden.

In der Auseinandersetzung mit den eigenen Beschaedigungen gelangt Shlomo Sand zu einem Ansatz, der weder besonders neu noch originell ist. Arthur Koestler hat schon 1976 versucht, Antisemitismus als pures Missverstaendnis “aufzuklaeren”. (Ich habe das Buch gerade zu Hause, aus der AACI Bibiliothek mitgenommen, finde es aber unlesbar, weil voellig veraltet.)

Wie Tom Segev voellig richtig (und zustimmend) in seiner Besprechung zu Sands neuem Buch schreibt, geht es um Sands politische Agenda.

His book, “When and How Was the Jewish People Invented?” (published by Resling in Hebrew), is intended to promote the idea that Israel should be a “state of all its citizens” – Jews, Arabs and others – in contrast to its declared identity as a “Jewish and democratic” state.

Ami Isseroff schreibt alles, was sich zu der These sagen laesst. (Hattip SimplyJews)

Witzigerweise sind es oft die gleichen “talking heads”, die aus der sehr jungen Selbstdefinition des pal. Volkes weitreichende politische Rechte ableiten und Juden nicht als Volk gelten lassen wollen. Sobald wir davon ausgehen, dass es sich nicht um rationales Denken handelt, sondern um irrationalen Judenhass (oder Selbsthass), wird der augenscheinliche, logische Widerspruch aufgeloest.

crossposted bei Freunden der Offenen Gesellschaft

G-

Ghetto, Gestapo, Gas, Goering, Goebbels, Galicia hmm… Germany?

One fine night, just before I was to fly to Munich and meet my German boyfriend, a selected group was sitting at a smoky bar: my trusted sister, some good friends and two Germans I met in Ramallah during a demonstration some two days earlier. According to the tradition we started playing our favorite game: The Holocaust-Alpha-Bet. The idea is to choose a letter and find as many Holocaust-related words starting with that letter. Urs and Hans, who were not yet familiar with the game, drank their Israeli beers politely and sent disturbed looks at one another. A few letters later, we found ourselves very disturbed when the two young Germans started to cooperate efficiently and even had an astounding array of associations which even we, so well trained, couldn’t come up with.

Admittedly, Holocaust-Alpha-Bet is a twisted invention. The intention of the game is not to mock the survivors or the Holocaust. The truth is that this darker than dark humor is a form of protection for us – the Third Generation. It’s a way for those of us who as children grew up immersed in tales we couldn’t ever really comprehend, to deal and cope with life, death and the Holocaust in particular.

And what makes one a ‘Third Generation’? My case is a simple one: My Mother was born in Poland, and immigrated to Israel in 56’. Her parents (who fled Poland just in time, but left family, friends and loved ones behind, later to come back and discover they were murdered) force-fed her mashed potatoes and gefilte fish in order to be strong so she’d be able to escape the Nazis. One time she managed to visit Bochum for a work related trip. She spent her time at an art exhibition in a Gasometer. That was quite enough for her and she decided never to return. My Grandmother on my Father’s side had survived many camps and was not shy about showing her numbered arm. I am not sure if my fixation is really because of my family’s personal past or my attraction to all things morbid. But maybe it will help explain why going to Germany in the first place was a difficult task to take on.

–

So there I was, after a wild night, in which we went through most letters (and didn’t neglect a single holocaust joke, as well as talk about the Israeli occupation, which, as usual, got nowhere), I finally felt myself able to separate between Nazi Germany and Germany of the third millennium and that I was truly prepared to visit the cold land of monuments, where rusty railways send shivers down my spine; that the protective wall in my heart was fully built. But arriving in Munich, I chose to sit silently in the basement (where my boyfriend and I stayed at his parents’ house), and to read ‘The Seventh Million – Jews after the Holocaust’ a book by the Israeli writer and journalist Tom Segev. As I read through adventures from Auschwitz, I realized just how I was trapped in feelings of hate for a whole nation: in their straight and punctual way, so successful, cold & harsh; Hate for that sexy language that attracts me so and yet makes me quiver. For that beautiful, clean countryside, and that tasty beer which felt sour in my Jewish mouth, which sought revenge.

Hiding in the cold basement, alone, I couldn’t even find comfort in my boyfriend: a German version of Nilse Olgerson, who didn’t imagine for a minute that our retreat would become a Holocaust debate-room, and most certainly did no find it amusing when I announced dramatically that I am on my way to the shower and look forward to making it out alive. We had long and exhausting holocaust conversations, especially together with his father (who speaks no English) who said he does feel somehow guilty, although he knows it’s really without a just cause. A few wine glasses later, while discussing the (then new) Berlin monument, he was outraged that the monument was making the Germans feel guilty, and said it was enough already with the holocaust memorabilia. Nilse argued that it is very important to remind people of their history, and the two of them quarreled until morning.

Behind enemy lines, listening to two Germans debating in, well, German, about this most tender of subjects, and what felt for some reason so personal, like it’s my own private pain and how could they discuss it so callously, my already fragile spirit broke completely and Munich seemed colder and meaner than any other European city I ever visited before. Nilse, miserably trying to salvage things took me around green Bavaria, where the flowers bloomed and painted the fields with color on that perfect spring day… But all that pastoral ambiance depressed me even more and reminded me of my small country back home, which we were driven off to so many years ago. I felt that it wasn’t fair for the Germans to have all this beauty. Later he took me to his former elementary school, with its well-groomed gardens, manicured grass, sparkling clean classrooms and Jesus firmly nailed into a wall. And as I stood and listened to that stillness, a stillness that could never be found back Home, I knew this was no place for a Tel-Aviv girl like myself. Even when my sweet gentleman dragged me to the magical Neuschwanstein, my sarcastic tongue lashed out at him mercilessly.

Entangled In Denial:

When we met, two years ago, Nilse and I would walk around Berlin and have long conversations about the world. He then asked me if I had already visited the Jewish museum or gone to see one monument or another. I simply answered, in simulated nonchalance, that these things don’t interest me at all. He just stared at me with his blue eyes and kept his polite silence. He did not (and could not) realize that my way of dealing with things was to deny them. That I was feeling especially uncomfortable discussing it with him. Only while visiting Israel he realized how entangled I am with the Holocaust, which is a part of me, of the family, of the Israeli world.

When I first came to Germany I wished to ignore “that part” of the country’s history, to rise above it and certainly not to discuss it with the locals. To try not to make them feel as if I am reminding them of their history which they would rather forget, not to make them think that I am judging them, or even worse: blaming. But denial can’t work in Berlin. Everything pressed the Jewish-Past-Button: Taking the train-line, final destination: Wansee or Oraniunburger, or even getting on a train. Some of those old stations, with the old German font, someone yelling ‘Raus’, or of course - ‘Achtung’.

And even while indulging myself on a visit to the KADEWE: leaving the place cheery and delighted, holding on to my recent purchases, almost forgetting to remember. As I was making my way to the U-Bahn in the wicked cold of May, I lifted my eyes off the sidewalk just like some foolish tourist. And there it was: a monstrous sign reminding me – a betrayer to my grandparents, and the whole Jewish nation, walking in the street of the Diaspora, purchasing from these Goys, and worst of all, enjoying myself (!) – never to forget those who were taken to the concentration camps. Indeed, Berlin is a strict teacher who will not allow me to simply ignore my history lesson.

Nilse in Palestine:

Nilse is 30. He told me how he always wanted to visit Israel. The first time he actually visited Israel was March 2006.

‘But why did you want to visit Israel,’ I tested him, ‘because of the German history?’

‘Because of the connection between Germany’s past and the situation in the Middle East today.’ he answered bluntly.

On his first day in the divided city of Jerusalem he insisted on going to Yad-Vashem (the Israeli holocaust museum), while I decided to take advantage of the time to walk around the beautiful German colony.

I remember being mad with him. I wanted him to feel guilty, to take some of the pain which I have. He came back and didn’t say much for a while. Finally he concluded that the Yad-Vashem experience was so overwhelming it has left him stunned.

The cynical jokes and the perverse associations, which simple words bring up, surprised and shocked him. On his last day of his first visit, while standing on the bus line, we overheard a young guy saying something like: ‘Oh man, it’s just like Treblinka here’. Nilse did not understand the Hebrew, but after two intensive weeks with me and after long conversations with my mother (who feels much more anger and has better Holocaust anecdotes), understood perfectly well the connection of the packed line of people along with the word ‘Treblinka’, and sighed wearily.

During the two years we’ve known each other, my German man has withstood much Jewish sarcasm and plain mean observations. A couple of months ago I was truly determined to try and put an end to my bad manners, seeing as I was really creating an unpleasant atmosphere. But sometimes I just find myself in the most irresistible situations, like the time he asked me what to bring for my mother from Germany and I instantly replied: ‘Her family back’. He ignored this fine comment and I had turned from a victim to a victimizer.

So though there is such an immense gap between the past and the present and us Third Generation Germans and Jews (and especially Israelis), could a relationship between us work? A different German would probably not endure or put up with my behavior.

The truth is that our characters and genetic codes do play a primary role: Those who live in the shadow of the past and those who don’t. Although the DNA argument is not particularly a healthy one in a place where people were murdered over it, I can’t help but to examine my own gene pool: My mother, who will not visit me in Berlin and my sister, who does not carry this Judenschmerz on her shoulders: ‘When I was in Japan,’ she conveys to me in hope to put a stop to my suffering, ‘I met this hot German guy, who immediately began to apologize once I told him I’m Israeli. He asked if I could ever forgive him… I just stared at his lips – moving in such sexy perfection – and at his strong, tattooed arms; but he continued! Just Holocaust talks until I finally said “it’s not really a turn-on for me, so you better stop it!” your German man,’ she continued, ‘is interested politically and historically while you just like to torture yourself.’

Is that the genuine reason I chose to conspire with him? Or is it the other way around: even though he is German I still chose to be with him? And how can a future be build with someone who’s not quite sure where his grandfather was in 39’? Why do I have such a strong attraction to this culture and language, this stubbornness to study in order to read books and poetry, to understand films and music? And Berlin, am I in love with this incredible city because of its past or is it its promising future?

As I walk down the broad streets of Berlin, in an attempt to feel a bit at home maybe, I am haunted by Fania Oz-Zelzberger’s lines from her book ‘Israelis, Berlin’: ‘The riddle, in my mind,’ she writes, ‘is the ability to be an Israeli in Berlin without always hearing, at each and every moment, the joint cry of hundreds of mothers at the Flossenbürg concentration camp, who just realized the children transport is leaving for Auschwitz; Without hearing, past all the sounds of Berlin, the silence around the dead baby at the Majdanek station.’

Zelzberger’s words do not only haunt me, they reproach me. And to me there is no riddle: I can’t. But maybe by studying others, as well as myself, and by trying to actually live here, I will find a way to juggle between the two worlds. Never to forget the past but perhaps to see a brighter future.

First written Spring 2006, partly in Hebrew and then translated and sewn together, piece by piece. 

-Ikey Green