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TechnoratiSome Israelis Cry Out for Peace
TEL AVIV - Another peace rally Saturday night brought together about a couple of thousand Israelis to demand an immediate end to the ongoing assault in Gaza. The demonstration was held in front of the Hakirya, the central command of the Israeli Defence Forces and the Ministry of Defence in the heart of Tel Aviv.
![[Leftwing Israeli activists take part in a protest in Tel Aviv against Israel's offensive in Gaza January 10, 2009. Peace Now was joined by Israeli peace movement Gush Shalom, after the joint Palestinian-Israeli non-governmental organisation Alternative Information Centre made an appeal to make Jan. 10 "a huge global day of mobilisation against the Israeli war in Gaza." (REUTERS/Eric Gaillard)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/peacenow_0111.jpg "peacenow_0111.jpg")
This was the third peace rally in three weeks. The
first was held directly after the first air bombing of Gaza. It was
attended by a few hundred protesters. At the second, more than 2,000
people came out on the streets.
"We have a humanistic and political message," says Yosef Douek of the movement Peace Now which organised the demonstration. 'Children in Gaza and Sderot want to live in peace and security. There is no use whatsoever to a continuation of these military actions."
Peace Now was joined by Israeli peace movement Gush Shalom, after the joint Palestinian-Israeli non-governmental organisation Alternative Information Centre made an appeal to make Jan. 10 "a huge global day of mobilisation against the Israeli war in Gaza."
"We are doing what we can to influence public opinion although I believe the effect of our actions is very limited," says Yosef Douek. "Because we live in a country where media aren't interested in breaking the political consensus. At the same time, the political approach to our message is non-existent. Everybody feels a patriotic urge to support the war, at least at this stage. I strongly believe this will change very soon. Public support will collapse, just as it did in previous wars."
"This war started with a clear feeling of triumph," says Ido Gideon, member of Meretz, a Jewish leftist party that supported the Israel Defensive Forces operation when it first began. "People in Israel thought that it would be a clean and fast operation to prevent Hamas from firing any more rockets at us. There was a clear feeling of vengeance amongst Israelis for what had happened that needed a response. Now things are getting out of hand, and vengeance has made place for disillusionment."
But the group is finding it difficult to gain support both within Israel and internationally. "Whenever there is an Israeli military action, all leftists around the globe become anti-Israeli," says Gideon. "All anti-war protests around the world are mingled with an anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish sentiment that is clearly aimed at the Jews' right to live in this country. That makes it hard to be a leftist in Israel. Because in the first place, it isolates the whole of Israel, in the second place, it isolates the forces that are trying to change it.
"I am making the same battle as them," Ido adds, "with one big difference: I'm making the battle inside of Israel. And whenever I go outside of Israel, I have to make another battle: the one of defending my right to be a Jew and live in this country."
"The difference now with previous wars is the disproportionate use of violence, which has led to enormous anger in the rest of the world," says Ronen Eidelman, an internationally known Jewish artist, writer and activist. He is engaged with linking art, culture and grassroots politics as editor of the online art and culture magazine Maarav, and is setting up several initiatives against the war in Gaza. "Last week we published a booklet with works of poets and artists against the war, which we distributed at the demonstrations. For some people, poetry is something they connect more to than an article in the newspaper."
Last Tuesday, as President Shimon Peres attended the dedication of Israel's national poet Bialik's house in Tel Aviv, a group of poets recited Bialik's poem 'On the Slaughter', and asked the attendees how they are able to "sip champagne while hundreds are being murdered in Gaza."
"These initiatives are part of a much broader anti-war movement," says Ronen Eidelman. "The cultural initiatives are only one thing out of a huge Israeli peace movement which is much larger than newspapers tend to say."
"It is time Israelis and Palestinians start talking about pain instead of guilt," says Ido Gideon. "Both sides have to realise that the holocaust is as much a part of the Israeli national psyche as is the Nakba for the Palestinians." Nakba refers to the mass deportation of a million Palestinians from their cities and villages, massacres of civilians, and the razing to the ground of hundreds of Palestinian villages when the state of Israel was founded in 1948.
"We have to find a way to make both stories live together in the same land, whether or not you hold one of both to be more true than the other," says Gideon.
55 Comments so far
Show Allwhy should ethnic cleansing be rewarded? the palestinians did not leave voluntarily the territory of today's israel when the state was "created" by western powers in 1948. below is what one of the leading israel-based israeli historians of the creation of modern israel, benny morris, said during a famous interview he gave to haaretz (link further below).
[...]
"Remember another thing: the Arab people gained a large slice of the planet. Not thanks to its skills or its great virtues, but because it conquered and murdered and forced those it conquered to convert during many generations. But in the end the Arabs have 22 states. The Jewish people did not have even one state. There was no reason in the world why it should not have one state. Therefore, from my point of view, the need to establish this state in this place *o v e r c a m e t h e i n j u s t i c e* that was done to the Palestinians by uprooting them."
he explains what "uprooting" means elsewhere in the interview: orchestrated mass rapes, massacres, and harassments by jewish armed bands.
hence creating the jewish state was such a noble goal that it was ok for the jews to rob, rape, and massacre the palestinians "like the arabs did".
that's why the palestinians "left voluntarily" the Young Besieged State Of IsraelTM (the only democratic one!).
http://www.counterpunch.org/shavit01162004.html
how long will decent people keep tiptoeing around this monstrosity and keep asking the palestinians to make "concessions"!? it's time to expand israel to the west bank and gaza and transform it into a non-confessional democratic state for everybody with no special rights for anybody (btw, apartheid south africa was "democratic" too).
Announcement
In celebration of joe hope asking me if I am a fundamentalist (Jew, I presume), after
telling me elsewhere (look under the "atheist bus" article)that I could not be an atheist Jew
and calling me "elite",
I shall no longer question his statement that he is a Jew.
Also, note that I disagree with him 99.99% of the time, and shall ignore him.
Good move.
The Other Joe
Now the electoral arena in Israel proper has been summarily closed to two parties that speak up for Palestinian rights. That is a final blow to any pretense of democratic process. When people are pushed into a corner, they will resist. Why is it painted as heroic in one case and cowardly in another?
Please see part of an article from the NYT about resistance in Gaza. It is followed by part of a 2002 write up about the Warsaw resistance. Who will stop this? We need a CEASE FIRE, END TO THE BOMBING, END TO THE BLOCKADE, TALKS. THE WORLD HAS TO GET INVOLVED.
================================================================
A Gaza War Full of Traps and Trickery
By STEVEN ERLANGER
Published: January 10, 2009 , New York Times
JERUSALEM — The grinding urban battle unfolding in the densely populated Gaza Strip is a war of new tactics, quick adaptation and lethal tricks. Hamas, with training from Iran and Hezbollah, has used the last two years to turn Gaza into a deadly maze of tunnels, booby traps and sophisticated roadside bombs. Weapons are hidden in mosques, schoolyards and civilian houses, and the leadership’s war room is a bunker beneath Gaza’s largest hospital, Israeli intelligence officials say.
Unwilling to take Israel’s bait and come into the open, Hamas militants are fighting in civilian clothes; even the police have been ordered to take off their uniforms. The militants emerge from tunnels to shoot automatic weapons or antitank missiles, then disappear back inside, hoping to lure the Israeli soldiers with their fire.
In one apartment building in Zeitoun, in northern Gaza, Hamas set an inventive, deadly trap. According to an Israeli journalist embedded with Israeli troops, the militants placed a mannequin in a hallway off the building’s main entrance. They hoped to draw fire from Israeli soldiers who might, through the blur of night vision goggles and split-second decisions, mistake the figure for a fighter. The mannequin was rigged to explode and bring down the building.
============================================================
The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising: Although they were ultimately overwhelmed, the Jews involved in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising fought valiantly to regain their freedom and escape Nazi oppression. (In Light of the Past).
Publication: The New American
Publication Date: 14-JAN-02
Author: Bell, Y.E. , COPYRIGHT 2002 American Opinion Publishing, Inc.
...[Once they were convinced that they were to be exterminated - my words, jclientelle]....
The Jews went underground. They feverishly constructed bunkers and hideouts in anticipation of the final liquidation. The configuration was ingenious. Camouflaged entrances led to bunkers, secret rooms, attics, and basements that were inter-connected by newly constructed passageways. Through a maze of underground tunnels and sewers, the ZZW connected the Ghetto with "Aryan" Warsaw. Electricity was adroitly diverted from the Warsaw power grids. The resisters set up illegal radios to communicate with the various underground units. Food and supplies acquired from warehouses were cleverly stored. An extraordinary subterranean defense was erected in days.
Guns, however, remained the most important life and death priority. The Jewish underground did not get much help from the Polish Home Army. "As a trial I gave them a few pistols," Commander in Chief Stefan Rowecki radioed his superiors in London in January 1943, "I am not sure they will use the weapons altogether. More weapons I will not give." Weapons purchased at extravagant costs were smuggled in by couriers, oftentimes by children. And after exhaustive meetings with the Polish Home Army, the underground negotiated for some 60 revolvers, dozens of hand grenades and various explosives.
=====================================================================
Joe
Please note the following words taken out of the above writeups about Gaza and Warsaw. Can you place the words that are used to describe each situation?
adroitly
bait
cleverly
deadly
extraordinary
feverishly constructed
ingenious
inventive
lethal tricks
lure
rigged
smuggled
sophisticated
traps
trickery
uprising
urban battle
valiantly
Joe
By a margin of 26-3, the Israeli Central Elections Committee decided to ban the Balad Party from running in next month’s election. By a margin of 21-8, they also banned the United Arab List-Ta’al (UAL-T). The two bans will prevent more than half of the current Arab members of Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, from running for reelection.
The mask is off! Israel is no longer a sort of Democracy but has become a parliamentary dictatorship.
The reason for the bans is that these parties opposed the war in Gaza. I understand that many non-Arabs are opposed also.
The Israelis are so uncouth. They ban independent parties directly by edict, while we do so indirectly with money and media.
This is very raw. It removes one of the few peaceful tools left in the Palestinian arsenal. I believe it is meant to provoke violent responses by the Palestinians or agents posing as Palestinians. Any escalation of violence, death or battles serves as male enhancement for the Israeli candidates (even females).
Balad chairman Zahalka said: "Balad is a democratic and progressive party and we believe in the basic principle of equality for all people. We would never accept, politically or emotionally, claims that someone else is superior to us just because we're Arabs. All we demand is democracy! What are you afraid of when we ask for equality? We are the sons of this country, we were born here and we are willing to treat you with equality, so why don't you? We offer to live together."
You better ban rhetoric like that. Sounds dangerous to the "only democracy in the Middle East". The only good thing about this move is that it strips off the last shreds of Israel's mask. But the price will be how many children dead?
Joe
In 1967 saber rattling turned to war, and with Proxy U.S. backing Israel won in 6 day and went on to claim the land as theirs.
Sound a little funny to everyone?
Return to the 1967 borders and release the prisoners. What's it been? 41 years with no freedom.
Now it's like shooting fish in a fish bowl.
I don't have a problem with Jewish people or their religion, I have a problem with Zionist thinking.
-----
MSM/Corporate Media, is alive and doing quite Well!
"WHO WILL SAVE ISRAEL FROM ITSELF" by Mark LaVine is a pretty revelatory, 'must read' article on Israel's unholy intentions in Gaza.
It is unfortunate that anti-Semitism gets mixed up with anti-Zionism but the occupation of Palestine is a real problem. Do Israeli's have the "right" to live in all the area Israel claims to the exclusion of Palestinians? Does that include beyond the 1967 boundaries or for that matter, beyond the 1948 boundaries set by the Balfour agreement on which the Israeli state was founded? Israels aggression and oppression of Palestinians fosters anti-Israel feeling and anti-Jewish sentiment as well. Prior to 1948, Anti-Semitism was a Christian phenomenon. Israel has spread it around the world and it's policies cause it to grow daily.
The Jaded Prole
Key word in the article and the struggle in general "vengeance".
If vengeance has to be done by both sides there will never be an end.
Civilized society follow laws, and those that enforce it don't commit vengeance. Until the world and especially this part of the world realizes this, the cycle will continue indefinitely.
As other posters have noted, I too find it very telling that a leftist would use the term "vengeance" remorselessly and with no shame.
_____________________________
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies. " Groucho Marx
"Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
H. L. Mencken
"Humbaba January 11th, 2009 3:09 pm
...
Un-Spinning the Spin: 26 Things To Do to Bring Peace with Justice in Gaza
1) First get the facts and then disseminate them. Here is some basic background information: http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4933.shtml
The true story behind this war: http://www.mepeace.org/forum/topics/the-true-story-behind-this-war"
I DO NOT know what btselem.org, electronicintifada.net, and mepeace.org articles say, not having read these yet; but the following may explain much about the or some of the key motives behind this current Israeli war of aggression on Gaza and Hamas.
"War and Natural Gas: The Israeli Invasion and Gaza's Offshore Gas Fields",
by Michel Chossudovsky, Jan 8 2009,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=11680
Yeah! All my respect to every soul of conscience who stands up in Israel and demonstrates. To every Jew around the world who speaks out. Yours/these are by far the most powerful voices for potentially affecting Israel's policies.
azjoe:before I go to hear Dem.Now, I see that you are still on that "Jews can do it best" "dime". www.jamescarroll.net/Constantine.html is a possible source in history for that idea. It's not the same as Americans are the best hope for changing US policy. Jews worldwide will have no more affect on Israel's policies than.....Just plain off, Joe. If we Americans, all, can get our government to say to Israel "Stop! Now!", it's got a fast track.
Edit add:I just listened to DemocracyNow on WBAI (www.wbai.org). The last segment of today's show will help you to refine your point because while you are on the right track, in a way, this will get you "there". www.democracynow.org transcript will be online soon, available free; show will be online also on video. Your heart is in the right place, which is why I am spending stamina answering your comment. And Kucinich is the next to last segment and wonderful.
George C. Brown - The significant information ia that there are more than a few thousand Israeli citizens who want "Peace Now". The Israeli government is source of the "planned attrition" of Palestinians in "The Land", whether it is in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip or wherever they choose to claim that was "given" or "promised" to them by The Lord. Part of the problem over here in the U.S. is that AIPAC and other special interest groups have almost a stranglehold on the kind of news we in this country receive about conditions in the areas of Palestine and Judea. When will people learn that it is much more productive to talk instead of resorting to force of arms - - whether they be Israeli, Hamas, Hezbollah, Iraqi. Irananian, Taliban or U.S.?
It seems as though the situation has reverted to the old days of, "you kill my cat, I'll kill your dog; you kill my sheep, I'll kill your cow". It seems to me there was a time when somebody in B.C.E. era took a step forward bysaying that it should be no more than "an eye for and eye, and a tooth for a tooth"!
Oh, and by the way, wasn't there someone else who advocated that we should do something like "turning the other cheek"? And, oh yes, "If someone askes you to go one mile with them, go two"? Or if you are asked to give one your coat, give that person your cloak, also"? - - - Good gracious, we've got a long way to go!
The US should give Nevada to the Israelis and move em all over here! We could then have peace in Palestine and also it would be much easier to send them arms shipments! They might just buy more of our bombs if the shipping charges were lower! A win win situation!
But you know it could turn into this whole Nevada vs. Utah war with the Mormons and all. Why not give them NYC?
Thumper--that was funny, i must say...thanks for a laugh.
A couple thousand peaceful Israelis sounds like an awfully small minority to me.
De-countrify Israel now!
Maybe some of us don't show up because we are afraid of getting beaten up by a gang of neo-Nazis? Ever consider that? We have more to risk than you Israel-haters.
Antisemitism, ever hear of it?
It's when someone breaks a bottle over your head because you support Israel.
Well, Joe,
If the truth were known,
I would probably break a bottle over your head
for supporting Israel,
And feel bad about it later....
MUCH later.
JoeHope, with all the US media and the US government on you and Israel's side; why do you whine (would you like some cheese with that?) when a internet publication like Common Dreams dares to present another view on the conflict. It's bad enough that the US media is dominated by the pro-Israeli point of view, then you come along and call people like myself anti-Semites, Nazis and all that other garbage. You boast about your Jewish roots and I would think a person secure with ttheir faith and heritage doesn't need to shut down the opinions of the otherside. Stop whining and grow up. You are a very insecure person.
winning ticket:his Jewish roots are about one week old. It's a game of some kind. It grew out of my explaining, but giving up because he's circular, endless, that I am an atheist Jew. He then exclaimed something like anyone then can be a Jew and a few weeks later, he's a Jew. Claimed to be Christian on the atheist bus article some weeks back, which is where the aforementioned dialog took place.
Good memory - NYCartist. :)
Joe
jclientelle:Joe, as our great President said, "fool me once,....." (I can't remember.)
I have been thinking thoughts like "I don't think certain person's roots starting from a cutting.".
I heard DemocracyNow this morning,on WBAI 99.5FM www.wbai.org my favorite radio station, (since you're a New Yorker, I mention it),shows are archived and live streamed for folks away, and a good group had a demo yesterday: Jews Against the Occupation www.jatonyc.org You probably have already heard Dem.Now or probably are a regular listener/viewer/reader www.democracynow.org All the best to you.
I also sent thank you's to Dennis Kucinich and Maxine Waters for their "NO" votes in the House, vote of last Fri. resolution in support of Israel instead of "Stop!".
Good idea - the thank you letters.
Joe
I am GLAD that there is a peace movement (no matter what size) made up of Israelis. They can find common ground with peace movements made up of Palestinians. Only peace movements made up of dedicated people can save lives and bring peace. I am surprised that so many CD posters want to disparage them and call for more bloody actions - whether by the Israeli army or Hamas. Don't you want peace? What if other countries looked at our peace movements here in the US and said, "you guys aren't doing any good because you are just like the oppressors and anyway you are the minority." I repeat, peace movements are the only group that end wars.
And where are all the usual CD posters? Watching the football playoffs? The world is burning up, for chrissakes!
The world is burning up! It's not my fault!
No I'm just reading through... Thinking-Not Writing!
Looking for solutions and skipping over emotional writing that really has no value.
I think about the congressional approval of all this and wonder how we trusted anybody connected to the Democratic Party.
Nothing has changed, Obama can't change things when he is all alone in his words.
A grand plan is brewing but it's still a while in coming. It's people like us, getting the other opinion out; the truth out, that is important.
Just writing "stuff" doesn't change things so I don't. !!!
Sorry, but Obama pretty much summed up how I feel about the situation.
http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/Economy/Story?id=6618199&page=2
"We have a situation in which not only is Iran exporting terrorism through Hamas, through Hezbollah, but they are pursuing a nuclear weapon that could potentially trigger a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."
- Obama
Bunk, Joe.
Just plain bunk.
Iran is the current Bogey Man since Libya was pulled back into the gang bang.
No doubt Iran wants to get a nuclear weapon, Israel already has 300-400 and the F-16's to deliver them!!! Saudi Arabia... possibly packing in the near future (courtesy Uncle Scram). Pakistan is packing. And India, well I think we just signed some papers saying we got them covered above what they already have. And we must have some parked in green zone, ready to roll.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1963 & 1968- Dallas and Los Angeles Coup d'État by the US Military Industrial Junta completed
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.", Albert Einstein. (Ed note: WHITE PHOSPHOROUS, DENSE METAL SUPER WEAPONS, NUCLEAR STICK UP, MISSILE DEFENSE, AND PROPAGANDA!!!!!)
You are right - we here live too much in a voyeuristic dreamworld, including lots of people I love. I would like it better if people were at least outside throwing a ball with friends and their kids instead of being spoon-fed an advertising delivery product and letting their arteries clog.
Here is where I part ways with your view - posting on CD can also become an escapist addiction. I learn a lot here, but it is no substitute for doing things.
I was at two rallies today - one to stop a monstrous development which would obscure the iconic and beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge. (Who needs terrorists to trash New York? We have real estate developers working with billionaire Bloomberg. Perhaps this depression will curb the bloated ugly building bubble.) This rally and the accompanying activities may result in the building having a lower profile.
The other rally we attended was for ending the bombing and blockade and occupation of Palestine. We are so angry and distraught about what is being done to the Palestinians, it pervades every hour of every day. Help me here, because I don't know what is right. The rally was of maybe 2000 people, about half or more being Middle Eastern immigrants.
There were calls from the podium for driving Israel out of the middle east. What does that mean in practical terms? Where does that demand lead? We are also in a dialogue with the Israeli branch of our family who do not care at all what happens to Palestinians. The dialogue with them threatens to become terminal. Don't get me wrong - I do not see an equality of responsibility here. Israel is the chief architect of this ghastly situation and the party that must make the most changes to solve it.
But where are the voices for peace and reason? I empathize with the anger of the people in Palestine, but many of us here in the US are comfortable eating food and living in safe homes to a greater extent than the Palestinians. Shouldn't we use our safety to educate and build support rather than to wallow in our frustration? If we want to shock, should we not show what is happening to Gaza? Shouldn't our role be to expose what has been happening on a human level in Palestine and to build support for ending the sieges, blockades, bombings, massive murder of civilians? Shouldn't we be talking about the way such injustice and murder right in front of their eyes will scar young Gazans with hatred for the rest of their lives and contribute to a mad and unsafe world for all of us? Shouldn't we be talking about sitting down with Hamas? And about getting rid of nukes in Israel, Pakistan, India, Russia, here and everywhere?
I am disturbed that we are ineffective. I am a quiet person by nature, not theatrical. I don't enjoy flag waving, looking ethnic in a kafiyah and yelling in the street. I go to rallies because there is so little else going on. Most of the people I know who agree with me on issues such as Gaza and Iraq will not go to rallies because they are a waste of time, in their opinion.
I implore people to aim for convincing one other person to do something. That can be a test of whether any activity counts. And now I feel like a heel for criticizing people both for not acting and also for acting. What should we do?
Good night. Tomorrow's going to be another working day and I've got to get some rest.
Joe
I have seen a report that 15,000 attended the rally. We came early and left before the end because of the bitter cold. So it is possible that the numbers increased in the late afternoon. My figure of 2,000 is not definitive.
Joe
jclientelle:Joe, Bravo. My marching days seems limited to none, at this time. I did get to a peace vigil in Times Square in March, 2007. Used the photos I took in art.
I like both demos you attended. I said to spouse, maybe the downtown Brooklyn project will be stopped, but, it's bad all over NYC:real estate rules. I've got to get Bloomberg's stupid comment said in Israel, off Dem.Now's website, played in the Allan Nairn segment on Blair, I think,last week. Howard Zinn wrote some good articles at the end of 200l on how to build a safer world by eliminated poverty, and other things around the world. They might be on www.howardzinn.org or his columns in the Progressive Magazine's archives online. I got one from my mother who saw it in a West Coast newspaper op ed page!
I have to say, that my mother's opinion evolved enormously in the last decade of her life, on the subject of Israel and Palestine, and resisting US government policies. She took me seriously. A younger sibling received my recent protest art in protest of Israeli policy in Gaza, and reminding of US policy in Fallujah, and said, "you ruined a good photograph". (I used one of my photos.) Somebody else emailed me they liked it. We do as can. The pain and frustration as an American, and a Jew watching horrific government policies, is huge..........
NYCArtist --- you are AMAZING.
surely you are pained as a jew , and torn, by these things, seeing israel become something jews and the world should "never forget" as indeed should be the case....the perpetrator of barbaric practices of dominance against another people...yet, surely you would also feel pain at ANY jew dying or suffering if israel is also attacked .. whatever the motivations are from arabs and others ...and yet MORE than your being jewish -- comes through....through what must be your own pain at all this
your HUMANITY.
teddy:ah, what a sweetie you are. (My word skills are not as good as yours or I'd say thank you better.) I can empathize with all persons being oppressed, I hope. That's my Bubbie's gift to me, my Orthodox Jewish grandmother. It goes in all kinds of directions, from foreign policy, which I didn't pay attention to until the Vietnam War (although at 12 or so, I told my career Army uncle that it would be terrible to drop a nuke on China during the Korean war)- to domestic American and local policy. My own loss of having a father due to WWII helped make me a peacenik. Empathy works well, but needs to be used often. Being ill definitely adds to it. It was said that FDR was compassionate due to being a polio survivor. Who knows. What's your background? I'm curious.
One thing I noticed, that never gets mention: Orthodox Jews and Muslims have similarities, such as burial within 24 hours in plain white shroud and plain pine (at the time of my dad's burial)coffin. Similar food laws:halal and kosher. I learned of it when Amadou Diallo was sent back home for burial after being murdered by NYPD officers in 1999. All things seem to be connected.
Thank you. We keep trying, each in whatever way we can. Do you have a website where you can post your art? You don't have to be a teenager to open a myspace page!!
Joe
jclientelle:Joe, I have kept myself anonymous in the political blogs. Someone asked me to go on her myface page or whatever it's called, and I signed but had to start my own;changed my mind and couldn't reenter the site! I'm not tech savvy. Yes, I do have a professional artists group website where my art is posted. It's similar and different from my ongoing mail art.
Edit add:please tell every woman artist you know that it is easy to set up a file in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC: www.nmwa.org It's important. Please let women artists know.
clovis: What do you mean? And hello. Edit add:I think I understand after reading jclientelle's comment. I left you a comment, (I put much thought into it),in reply to yours to me on the Naomi Klein article "thread".
The truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/commentaries/3737
Always like Pilger's stuff. Thank you for that!
Some Israelis is not enough. The fanatics hold sway. The theocrats hold sway. The imperialists hold sway. The militarists hold sway.
I have written a tribute to the brave HAMAS FREEDOM FIGHTERS on my blog. Check it out!
www.dangerouscreation.com
Strategically speaking this whole sad GENOCIDE of a largely unarmed people in GAZA will prove to be a disaster for the long-term survival of the Zionist entity in the region. The 21st century US supplied weaponry of the Zionist forces was unable to subdue the resistance of 1.5 million, isolated, surrounded and defence-less civilians. In 3 weeks, the Zionist airforce has dropped more ordinance on civilians than in any of its previous wars against the Arabs, however, HAMAS and the resistance forces have not buckled. In the longer term, this does not auger well for Zionist survival in the region as they face a DEMOGRAPHIC and STRATEGIC CHALLENGE at a time when their primary bankers in the US are going broke and the American economy faces continued and irreversible decline.
The US economy is imploding and will only get worse as the years go by. In 2009, the US will shed over 3 million jobs and foreigners will DUMP the worthless and hollow US dollar in record numbers. US manufacturing will cease to exist and China has already indicated that it will no longer subsidize US treasury bonds. Chinese cars will be coming soon to Mexico and then across the border. US auto and manufacturing sector will cease to exist. All this does not auger well for 5 million cruel imported Zionists living in the heart of Arab world which is seething in anger and hostility. The population of Gaza is mostly under the age of 15 and all this Zionist cruelty has done is to ensure future generations of HAMAS and liberation fighters.
The ineptitude and cruelty of Zionism is also not lost of others in the region like Iran, Syria, Hizbollah and the Arab Street, where perceptions matters. I believe this was a folly of the highest order and will eventually prove fatal.
Well said.
Hallelujah.
Well now, on the firing rockets into Israel, who benefits? I contend that the Israeli government (and US which I will get to later) has truly benefited. Rocket attacks have kept the entire Israeli populous in fear. It provided the government with Carte Blanche even from the anti-war Jewish left.
"This war started with a clear feeling of triumph," says Ido Gideon, member of Meretz, a Jewish leftist party that supported the Israel Defensive Forces operation when it first began. "People in Israel thought that it would be a clean and fast operation to prevent Hamas from firing any more rockets at us. There was a clear feeling of vengeance amongst Israelis for what had happened that needed a response."
Where have we seen that dynamic before? Hmmmm... anyone care to fill in the blank?
Now onto the US's role in this. The timing of these events, the Carnage of Gaza aka "Operation Cast Lead", directly preceding the Inauguration of Obama really supports this conclusion: The US is putting on a "Super Weapons Side Show", followed by the after party "We have Chemical Weapons and We're Not Afraid to Use Them". Why? It's a warning shot directed at Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea. The Super Weapon Side Show is performed on Bush's time. It will stop when Obama officially steps in. The implication is that Obama still has these capabilities in his back pocket, but no one will know if and when he is going to use them. That's the writing on the wall folks.
"Mads Gilbert, a Norwegian war surgery specialist working in Gaza, told The Times that he had seen injuries believed to have resulted from Israel's use of a new "dense inert metal explosive" that caused "extreme explosions". He said: "Those inside the perimeter of this weapon's power zone will be torn completely apart." the Times Online/UK
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1963 & 1968- Dallas and Los Angeles Coup d'État by the US Military Industrial Junta completed according to modern examination of old evidence
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.", Albert Einstein. (Ed note: WHITE PHOSPHOROUS, DENSE METAL SUPER WEAPONS, NUCLEAR STICK UP, MISSILE DEFENSE, AND PROPAGANDA!!!!!)
faked democracy, good points..But i think this article is not the best representation of the israeli left. If you read uri avnery founder of gush-shalom and many others, they have been against the occupation all along and working tirelessly against it. People like him and his ilke did not support this invasion in the first place.
Well, i don't think the u.s. invasion of iraq was any different, as you point out. So, things are looking pretty dark these days. But then, when the sun is the brightest, the shadow is the darkest. (i just made that up but i think it is true).
Thank you for that clarification. I wonder just how trumped up the "90% of Isrealis" support the war number is?
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1963 & 1968- Dallas and Los Angeles Coup d'État by the US Military Industrial Junta completed according to modern examination of old evidence
"I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.", Albert Einstein. (Ed note: WHITE PHOSPHOROUS, DENSE METAL SUPER WEAPONS, NUCLEAR STICK UP, MISSILE DEFENSE, AND PROPAGANDA!!!!!)
Even the anti-war crowd in Israel repeats the lies of the zionists.
"People in Israel thought that it would be a clean and fast operation to prevent Hamas from firing any more rockets at us", what a crock of horseshit.
The fact is there had not been any rockets fired until after Israel broke the truce. A truce by the way that Israel negotiated in bad faith.
It is now publicly acknowledged that the clearances of the zionist settlers in the Gaza Strip two years ago was to make way for this particular operation "Cast Lead".
""It is time Israelis and Palestinians start talking about pain instead of guilt," says Ido Gideon", No Gideon, it is time to get the hell off Palestinian land and give back all that was stolen, and learn to live with your neighbors. Down with zionism.
Sophie Scholl-The Final Days
Hey, it is a move in the right direction when one can no longer believe the horse shit. However, even when one stops believing the horse shit, there is some crap that doesn't get dispelled.
Even when you read American criticism of Bush, they never question whether the past leaders of 150-200 years ago were perfect.
The author may wrongly believe that Hamas broke the truce or that Israel was right to go in there - but, even a person who swallowed all that shit to begin with, is starting to cough it up and refuses to dine on any more. In other words, the Israeli Military is losing its recent supporters because their actions in Gaza are just too bad to justify.
You may have been smart enough to have never ate of this particular brand of shit, but, to make things better for the people of Gaza, we need to embrace the former shit-eaters.
Cry Out for Peace! I saw this on Greenertimes
http://greenertimes.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/countering-us-israel-propaganda-regarding-gaza/
Un-Spinning the Spin: 26 Things To Do to Bring Peace with Justice in Gaza
1) First get the facts and then disseminate them. Here is some basic background information: http://www.btselem.org/english/Gaza_Strip http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4933.shtml
The true story behind this war: http://www.mepeace.org/forum/topics/the-true-story-behind-this-war
If Gaza Falls:http://www.unitedforpeace.org/downloads/If%20Gaza%20falls.pdf
Gaza massacres must spur us to action: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml
2) Contact local media. Write letters to editors (usually 100-150 words) and longer op-eds (usually 600-800 words) for local newspapers. But also write to news departments in both print, audio, and visual media about their coverage. In the US: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/dbq/media/. You can find media listings in your country using search engines like google.
3) Contact elected and other political leaders in your country to urge them to apply pressure to end the attacks. In the US, Contact the State Department at 202-647-5291, the White House 202-456-1111, the Egyptian Embassy 202-895-5400, Email (embassy@egyptembassy.net) and the Obama Transition Team 202-540-3000 (then press 2 to speak with a staff member).
4) Organize and join demonstrations in front of Israeli and Egyptian embassies or when not doable in front of your parliament, office of elected officials, and any other visible place (and do media work for it).
5) Hold a teach-in, seminar, public dialog, documentary, film viewing, etc. this is straightforward: you need to decide venue, nature, if any speakers, and do some publicity (the internet helps).
6) Pass out fliers with facts and figures about Palestine and Gaza in your community (make sure also to mention its relevance to the audience: e.g, US taxpayers paying for the carnage, increase in world instability and economic uncertainty)
7) Put a Palestinian flag at your window.
8) Wear a Palestinian head scarf (Koufiya)
9) Wear Black arm bands (this helps start conversations with people)
10) Send direct aid to Gaza through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). http://www.un.org/unrwa/
11) Initiate boycotts, divestments and sanctions at all levels and including asking leaders to expel the Israeli ambassadors (an ambassador of an apartheid and rogue state). See Palestinian call at http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10056.shtml.
12) Work towards bringing Israeli leaders before war crime courts (actions along those lines in courts have stopped Israeli leaders from traveling abroad to some countries like Britain where they may face charges)
13) Calling upon all Israelis to demonstrate in front of their war ministry and to more directly challenge their government
14) Do outreach: to neighbors and friends directly. Via Internet to a lot of others (you can join and post information to various listservs/groups).
15) Start your own activist group or join other local groups (simple search in your city with the word Palestine could identify candidate groups that have previously worked on issues of Palestine). Many have also been successful in at bringing coalitions from different constituencies in their local areas to work together (human rights group, social and civil activists, religious activists, etc).
16) Develop a campaign of sit-ins at government offices or other places where decision makers aggregate
17) Do a group fast for peace one day and hold it in a public place
18) Visit Palestine (e.g. with http://www.sirajcenter.org)
19) Support human rights and other groups working on the ground in Palestine
20) Make large signs and display them at street corners and where ever people congregate.
21) Contact local churches, mosques, synagogues, and other houses of worship and ask them to take a moral stand and act. Call on your mosque to dedicate this Friday for Gaza actions.
22) Sign petitions for Gaza, e.g. http://www.avaaz.org/en/gaza_time_for_peace/98.php?cl_tf_sign=1
23) Write and call people in Gaza, they need to hear from the outside world
24) Work with other groups that do not share your political views (factionalism and excessive divisions within activist communities allowed those who advocate war to succeed).
25) Dedicate a certain time for activism for peace every day (1 hour) and think of more actions than what are listed above.
26) Urge your local radio talk shows and news editors to call any of us here in Palestine to report live what is happening on the ground.
For support and contacts of people in Gaza or to volunteer, please contact the Palestinian Center for Rapprochement Between People, via gaza@imemc.org, or call +1-989-607-9480 (from the US and Canada) or +972-2-277-2018 (from other places).
Humbaba:I appreciate your list. Very thoughtful. If I may, I'd like to add DemocracyNow as a good source www.democracynow.org and the group, NYC, Jews Against the Occupation of Palestine www.jatonyc.org And I think thanking members of Congress, such as Dennis Kucinich for his work for peace in Gaza/Palestine.
Humbaba,
Take a deep breath. Calm down.
Does this kind of stuff ever actually work?
No. No, it doesn't.
Give it a rest.
It does inded work.
Say that a thousand times, Joe . . . see if the opposite comes true.
I for one appreciate Humbaba's ideas of activism.