Israel Palestine Blogs

An open thread for discussion of Lebanon at the crossroads . . . again. And who'd have guessed Nasrallah would provide the fireworks for Israel's 60th anniversary? Followup full posts from our expert team are welcome and encouraged, with removing the horrid tasteless lyrics allusion-pun above from its lead position as added incentive.

I keep saying that following politics on the internet is bad for my liver. I keep saying I'm going to swear off the internet, blog less, and focus on healing. The events of the last two days in Lebanon convince...

Israeli settlers marching toward a hill near the settlement of Efrat in the occupied West Bank, attempting to set up a permanent outpost. Hebron and the Southern of West Bank- On 15 March, settlers from the Carmiel settlement in the southern hills of Hebron, in cooperation with Israeli soldiers, prevented farmers from the Palestinian villages on the area to reach their land to work it. Jaber Humidat, the Mayor of the Palestinian village of Saffa, reports: in the last days we have begun to face more serious and intensive attacks from the settlers. They want us to leave our land next to their settlements, especially around Carmiel. We have approximately 500 dunam of land planted with wheat, and this is the harvest time for us, but the settlers, in cooperation with the soldiers, daily run after us and shoot in the air, in order to scare us and force us to leave. The settlers used to claim that this land is part of their settlements. When we went to the police station there and denounced the settlers' attacks, the policemen advised us to leave the situation like this for a while, to not go to our land and to wait for some positive changes. Months passed by, but attacks are still continuing. It means we are going to lose the wheat crops of this year, the most important source of income for our farmers. - On 21 March, tens of settlers engaged in a march all along the streets of downtown Hebron, beginning to throw stones at the Palestinian residents, and thus forcing many people to close their shops in Wadi Husain, al-Ras, Wadi al-Nasara and other streets in the old city. The attacks happened during the celebration of a Jewish feast. Bassam Ja'bari, one of the victims, reported that the settlers forced him and many others to close their shops in al-Ras, located to the west of the Kiryat Arba settlement. Other shops targeted belong to the Mahdi Ja'bari, Awni Da'na and Jamal Ja'bari families. According to Bassam, such attacks took place in front of the soldiers' eyes. However they didn't do anything to stop the settler violence. Many settlers from several outposts around the city gathered near the Abraham Mosque for a big celebration and began running after the people in order to prevent them from moving or walking in the area around the Mosque. During their gathering, they insulted the residents shouting bad words at them, such as “Death to Arabs...”

Israeli settlers marching toward a hill near the settlement of Efrat in the occupied West Bank, attempting to set up a permanent outpost. Hebron and the Southern of West Bank- On 15 March, settlers from the Carmiel settlement in the southern hills of Hebron, in cooperation with Israeli soldiers, prevented farmers from the Palestinian villages on the area to reach their land to work it. Jaber Humidat, the Mayor of the Palestinian village of Saffa, reports: in the last days we have begun to face more serious and intensive attacks from the settlers. They want us to leave our land next to their settlements, especially around Carmiel. We have approximately 500 dunam of land planted with wheat, and this is the harvest time for us, but the settlers, in cooperation with the soldiers, daily run after us and shoot in the air, in order to scare us and force us to leave. The settlers used to claim that this land is part of their settlements. When we went to the police station there and denounced the settlers' attacks, the policemen advised us to leave the situation like this for a while, to not go to our land and to wait for some positive changes. Months passed by, but attacks are still continuing. It means we are going to lose the wheat crops of this year, the most important source of income for our farmers. - On 21 March, tens of settlers engaged in a march all along the streets of downtown Hebron, beginning to throw stones at the Palestinian residents, and thus forcing many people to close their shops in Wadi Husain, al-Ras, Wadi al-Nasara and other streets in the old city. The attacks happened during the celebration of a Jewish feast. Bassam Ja'bari, one of the victims, reported that the settlers forced him and many others to close their shops in al-Ras, located to the west of the Kiryat Arba settlement. Other shops targeted belong to the Mahdi Ja'bari, Awni Da'na and Jamal Ja'bari families. According to Bassam, such attacks took place in front of the soldiers' eyes. However they didn't do anything to stop the settler violence. Many settlers from several outposts around the city gathered near the Abraham Mosque for a big celebration and began running after the people in order to prevent them from moving or walking in the area around the Mosque. During their gathering, they insulted the residents shouting bad words at them, such as “Death to Arabs...”

If you follow MENA news (and indeed news generally) rising food prices, coupled with rising petrol prices, have provoked for the first time in years serious concerns about food availability to the poorer segments of the population. And demos and riots. And when mass demos occur in the Middle East and North Africa, fear of regime stability gets in the air. Serious challenges for a region where the emerging free(er) markets are yet fragile. Nevertheless, the FT's arty today Mideast reels as hunger outgrows oil earnings is bothersome.

Perhaps the lead is what is the most irritating

For years, food policy in the Middle East and North Africa was very simple: hydrocarbon exports paid for carbohydrate imports.

A quote that then segues into issues of the non-oil exporters. My irritation is always raised when all MENA is written about as if it were the Gulf. This is not merely sloppy, it leads people, even Sr. persons, to dangerously misconstrue developments.

Create business profits for poor people, feed the city, and reduce carbon emissions, too: City Farmers’ Crops Go From Vacant Lot to Market - New York Times. more and more New Yorkers like the Wilkses are raising fruits and vegetables,...

I remember when New York City began mandatory recycling of paper and cans. Nobody thought New Yorkers would ever cooperate, but within a few months everybody was bagging or tying up newspapers and setting them at the curb. Those of...

While I work on a rather longer piece that tries to deal with the post-Zionist position put forward with real passion last evening at a conference of Jewish social justice activists – and with the discomfort of many in the gathering with any talk at all of Israel – a quick question.

Here we sit as Ehud Olmert apparently faces indictment on charges of corruption. By now, indictments of senior Israeli officials have lost their shock value. Shlomo Benizri, a member of Knesset (Shas) who was once Minister of Health and then Minister of Labor and Social Welfare (and once attributed two earthquakes to Israel’s tolerant attitude towards homosexuality) has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for receiving bribes, breach of faith, conspiracy to commit a crime and obstruction of justice and moral turpitude. Tzachi Hanegbi (Kadima), currently chair of the Knesset Committee on Security and Foreign Affairs and formerly Minister of Health, of Justice, of Environment and of Public Security, is under indictment for having made 69 political appointments to the Environment Ministry, at least 51 of which were members or relatives of members of Likud’s central committee. He’s accused of fraud and breach of trust and, separately, of election fraud, giving false testimony, taking a false oath and attempting to exert unlawful influence on a voter. (The 33-page indictment includes a list of 321 witnesses for the prosecution.) Former President Katsav has chosen to reject the plea bargain he reached with the A.G. months ago, in which he confessed to sexual harassment, forcible indecent assault and harassing a witness; now it appears that the original charge of rape will be reinstated. Avraham Hirchsohn, former Minister of Treasury (and also of Tourism), will stand trial for fraud, theft, falsifying corporate documents, breach of trust and money laundering, in connection with his alleged theft of some four million shekels from the labor union he headed.

And all those are merely the tip of a very large and very dirty iceberg.

Now, on the one hand, Israel ranks 30th from the top of a list of 179 countries on a scale of corruption – a scale that goes from least corrupt (the very top) to most corrupt. It scores 6.1 on a 10 point scale, and 5.0 is regarded as the cut-off point between “acceptable” levels of corruption and unacceptable levels. By that accounting, things are not as bad as they seem.

But quite plainly, they are not very good.

I wonder whether there is, perhaps, a Jewish propensity for “beating the system.” For a very long time, we were essentially required to beat the system in order to stay alive. We had to cut corners, cheat, lie, get away with things. The systems where we lived were oppressive, and we developed the wits to endure. Might there not have been a near-genetic selection for the live-enhancing ability to make it in spite of the oppression?

Has anyone done anything like systematic work on this question? Is the question simply absurd, meaning there is no such distinctive propensity?

Your thoughts?

Beginning in May 1949, tens of thousands of Yemenite Jews were brought to Israel on transport planes during Operation Magic Carpet. The Zionist movement, with the assistance of European colonialism, planted a western warship in the very heart of the Arab and Muslim world. This warship is guided by leaders with numerous skills and extensive experience in oppressing and humiliating which they learned in their own countries in Europe. This diseased group took over this area and during 120 years of oppression, we are witness to the Zionist expansion in the region. The Zionist movement in this region was founded on American and European support, and is equipped with the most advanced weaponry in the world, including nuclear weapons. Sixty years ago, following the deportation of the Palestinians from their land, Jews from Arab and Muslim countries were brought to Palestine with the full cooperation of Zionists and leaders from North America and Europe. The Jews from Arab and Muslim countries were slated to act as spare parts in place of the Palestinian deportees following the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs. This was in order to substantiate the demographics and militarism of the Zionists. These “spare parts” have now arrived at a situation of advanced decay and deep depression following years of humiliation, disinheritance and ethnic discrimination, as the European Jewish Zionists always viewed the Jews from Arab and Muslim countries as potential enemies, due to their proximity to Arab and Muslim culture.

Beginning in May 1949, tens of thousands of Yemenite Jews were brought to Israel on transport planes during Operation Magic Carpet. The Zionist movement, with the assistance of European colonialism, planted a western warship in the very heart of the Arab and Muslim world. This warship is guided by leaders with numerous skills and extensive experience in oppressing and humiliating which they learned in their own countries in Europe. This diseased group took over this area and during 120 years of oppression, we are witness to the Zionist expansion in the region. The Zionist movement in this region was founded on American and European support, and is equipped with the most advanced weaponry in the world, including nuclear weapons. Sixty years ago, following the deportation of the Palestinians from their land, Jews from Arab and Muslim countries were brought to Palestine with the full cooperation of Zionists and leaders from North America and Europe. The Jews from Arab and Muslim countries were slated to act as spare parts in place of the Palestinian deportees following the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian Arabs. This was in order to substantiate the demographics and militarism of the Zionists. These “spare parts” have now arrived at a situation of advanced decay and deep depression following years of humiliation, disinheritance and ethnic discrimination, as the European Jewish Zionists always viewed the Jews from Arab and Muslim countries as potential enemies, due to their proximity to Arab and Muslim culture.

Is it elitist of me to suggest that if you're going to publicly wave a placard demanding that everybody speak English, you should first make sure that you know how to speak it yourself? Or at least spell it... Becky...

Medical supplies convoy to Gaza - the alternative to siege and bloodshed - Gush Shalom - Israeli Peace Bloc. Via my husband's cousin, Art Lipow. Tomorrow morning (Sunday, May 4) there will be transferred to the Gaza Strip, after many...

Desperately performing CPR on an Aqoul, pre-Aqoul, and an Aqoul personal journal tradition, an open belated new month thread for general comments, etc. Given that the Site Goddess and Demon respectively are in professional life heavy hyper-activity, I'll set it up. All may have at it below, with no guarantee of reply or response, and hopefully our other posters will actually add new main entries to follow, to alleviate their torpor.

"Anti-Zionist Jews are not and do not claim to be any more authentic or representative than any other Jews, nor is their protest against Israel any more valid than a non-Jew's. But "If I am not for myself", then the...

An Israeli journalist and IDF veteran writes: Our Defense Forces, our war crimes, our terrorism - Haaretz - Israel News. I want to apologize for the unforgivable. It is time for us to stop "understanding" why we kill so many...

Why didn't my local paper cover May Day in my hometown? Oakland Teach-In Looks at Budget Cuts and the War - New York Times. a daylong act of educational disobedience undertaken on Thursday by about two dozen teachers across Oakland,...

Regarding Israel's 60th anniversary and the Palestinian Nakba, British Jews and others write: Letters: We're not celebrating Israel's anniversary | The Guardian. Hat tip to Philip Weiss, who is running a Nakba watch at his blog. He celebrates Lila Abu-Lughod...

Here’s a nasty story of Wikipedia entry manipulation for political gain - something CJ himself has been a victim of in the past! How did Charles miss it? Could it be that he doesn’t think it’s worth mentioning because one of his arch-enemies is the victim, and his political allies the perpetrators?

Interesting to note that once again all reference to LGF Watch has disappeared from LGF’s Wikipedia entry. We’re not whining, just a little bit surprised at the tenacity with which the lizards try to airbrush us off the Web. Then again, what else have those pimply wingnuts got to do with their time….?

Here's a nasty story of Wikipedia entry manipulation for political gain - something CJ himself has been a victim of in the past! How did Charles miss it? Could it be that he doesn't think it's worth mentioning because one of his arch-enemies is the victim, and his political allies the perpetrators?

Interesting to note that once again all reference to LGF Watch has disappeared from LGF's Wikipedia entry. We're not whining, just a little bit surprised at the tenacity with which the lizards try to airbrush us off the Web. Then again, what else have those pimply wingnuts got to do with their time....?

Bahrain's possible new ambassador to the US has interesting demographics. Not all that amazing if one is familiar with the region outside of stereotypes and post-1948 tensions. Still the background of the former legislator(-tress?), if legislating is what the Shura Council does, might cause some to be unduly surprised.

MANAMA, Bahrain - The only Jewish woman lawmaker in Bahrain is a candidate to become this Persian Gulf kingdom's ambassador to Washington. . . . Huda Nono, a legislator in the Shura Council, said she was among people being considered for the post and referred further queries to the foreign ministry. . . .If Nono was appointed, Bahrain would be the first Arab country to send a high-level Jewish diplomat to Washington. . . . Nono is the first Jewish woman in the Shura Council, a 40-seat body appointed by the king that also has a Christian among its 11 female legislators. . . . Nono replaced her cousin Ibrahim Nono, who held the Shura Council seat for four years.

On 21 April in Jerusalem, former US President Jimmy Carter delivers a speech during a meeting held by the Israeli Council of Foreign Relations. News from Within Podcast: A Palestinian Perspective on Carter's Visit and the Prospects of an Israeli/Palestinian Ceasefire On Monday the 28th of April, 2008, I spoke with Nassar Ibrahim in the offices of the Alternative Information Center in Beit Sahour. Nassar, a longtime Palestinian writer, journalist and activist, is Policy Director of the AIC. We discussed the implications of the recent visit of former US President Jimmy Carter to the Middle East, the possibility of a long-term ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the context of recent US and Israeli diplomatic maneuvers in the region, and Palestinian plans for events to commemorate 60 years since the Nakba.

From The Hindu News Update Service. all the Palestinian militant factions have agreed to an Egypt-mediated ceasefire with Israel, "starting in the Gaza strip". "All the Palestinian factions have agreed to the Egyptian proposal on a truce with Israel," Egyptian...

Audience on 29 April, at the exhibition opening night (photos below also from the opening night). Artists and cultural activists play crucial roles within their own societies, generating public discussions and discourses on a variety of topics through the use of their innovative cultural mediums. Although no one doubts the pivotal roles of artists, actors, musicians and cultural creators in fostering social change, these groups have not hitherto been systematically involved in civil society engagement with the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Their involvement, within and amongst Palestinian, Israeli and international civil societies, can make a potentially strong contribution to the building of a culture of resistance and ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict while preparing for a future of joint living for Palestinians and Israelis. To commemorate 60 years to the Naqba and within the framework of its Culture of Resistance activities, the Alternative Information Center (AIC) most cordially invites you to an art exhibition that it is holding together with Arabita: The League of the Arabs of Jaffa and the Alon Association. Entitled Good Morning Jaffa, the exhibition explores the connections between exile, culture and right to come home. The exhibition opens on Tuesday night, 29 April, from 7.30 p.m. in the Center of the League of the Arabs of Jaffa, 73 Yefet Street, Jaffa. The opening night will be accompanied by a musical performance - and dare we hope that the artist, Yousef Katalo from Hebron, receives permission to enter Israel and attend? The exhibition runs through 1 May, and is open from 10am to 9pm. Everyone is most invited to attend.

Regarding the alleged perfidies of Reverend Wright, Obama's former pastor, Balloon Juice says: If you have a memo from Jeremiah Wright to John Yoo showing how we should become a rogue nation, let me know. If you have pictures of...

A Palestinian loading fuel for Gaza near the Nahal Oz crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip Al-Haq l Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights l Al Dameer Association for Human Rights – Gaza l Gaza Community Mental Health Programme l Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movementl Hamoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual l Physicians for Human Rights-Israel l The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel l Yesh Din: Volunteers for Human Rights Palestinian and Israeli human rights groups today issued an urgent call to cease restrictions on Gaza's fuel supply and stop the unprecedented harm to Gaza's humanitarian needs. The above-listed rights groups warned: We express concern and outrage at the systematic dismantling of the Gaza Strip's vital systems by preventing the residents of Gaza, a territory under Israel's occupation, from obtaining the fuel they need to generate electricity, power hospitals, run transportation, pump water and sewage, and provide for basic social and economic needs. We call upon Israel, the occupying power in Gaza, immediately to end the six-month long restrictions on fuel supply that have paralyzed Gaza's infrastructure and endangered the health and well-being of Gaza's 1.5 million residents. We call on armed groups in Gaza to refrain from attacking civilians, including at the crossings that channel fuel, food, and other goods into the Gaza Strip.