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Originally posted by CMOT Dibbler:
So where is the cease-fire?
Will Hamas and Islamic Jihad torpedo the withdrawal from Gaza?
What is happening to Mahmoud Abbas?

Generally, a cease-fire is declared in one of three cases:
- When one side beats the other into submission,
- When a third party imposes it on the two belligerents,
- When both sides are exhausted.
"Silence is Filth"

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For some weeks now, a red light has been flickering in my mind, illuminating a word in large Gothic letters: Weimar.

As a 9-year old I saw with my own eyes the collapse of the German republic that came into being after World War I. It was generally referred to as the Weimar Republic, because its constitution was written in the town of the two towering figures of German Kultur, Goethe and Schiller. Some months after its breakdown, we fled Germany and thus our lives were saved.

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At this moment, Israel resembles a patient before an operation. Like every major operation, it is dangerous. The patient hopes that everything will go well, but knows that there is no guarantee.

In 16 days, the evacuation of 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four in the north of the West Bank is due to begin. It is supposed to take three weeks.

What will the State of Israel look like on the 7th of September? Almost nobody speaks or even thinks about that. The collective mind refuses to deal with it, as if it were five decades away, and not just five weeks. The main thing is to get through the operation safely. Who cares what will happen afterwards?

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The PM's closest advisor has openly admited that the purpose of the enterprise is to defuse pressure for a real Palestinian state.

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Judaism exists, and it will win

By Haaretz Editorial

The program of lectures, sessions and panel discussions of the 14th World Congress of Jewish Studies, which opened yesterday in Jerusalem, arouses curiosity and wonder. Some 1,200 speakers will, in just a few days, cover an almost infinite number of topics relating to Jewish studies and the Jewish people, from virtually every conceivable angle. This is a festival for lovers of culture in general, and for lovers of Jewish culture in particular.

The heart of this festival is the broad range of material available to those who attend it. Judaism, as depicted in the thick booklet that details the conference's schedule, would not recognize itself in the narrow mirror created for it by various groups that claim ownership of it in the name of the nation of Israel. The congress deals with the Jewish people in all its myriad dispersions, including historical details and information about daily life; the complex semiotics of various communities; the Hebrew language as well as two other Jewish tongues, Yiddish and Ladino; the plastic arts; music; high-brow and popular literature; theater; folklore and storytelling; the communal and personal status of Jews in various Diaspora communities; Jewish law and its development; the status of women and women's changing role in Jewish life; the origins of Jewish names and family trees; and on and on.

Congress participants will discuss all these topics, and will also not refrain from tackling the origins and development of halakha (Jewish law). Both inside and outside the conference rooms, an invigorating investigation into halakha and tradition will be open to both Jewish and non-Jewish scholars from around the world. Rabbinic literature, Jewish philosophy, Bible studies - all will merit in-depth discussion and investigation.

This festival has been darkened by the shortsightedness of the government, which, in the course of its cutbacks to higher education in general, has mortally wounded the study of Judaism in the universities. That is not the only reason why Jewish studies have flourished abroad while languishing here. The overseas boom is also connected to the need of young Jews in a multicultural society to connect to their identity. Hebrew-speaking Israelis feel this need less - or at least, during their school years. They also, for financial reasons, prefer studies with a practical orientation. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the damages caused by the assault on Israel's higher education system are already visible in a comparison of universities here to those abroad. One can only hope that the congress strengthens its hosts both in their own eyes and those of the state.

But the most important achievement of the 14th congress relates to current events: the struggle that is gradually emerging as a religious nationalist war against the state. Juxtaposed against the cries of schism by settlement rabbis, who speak in the name of a zealous, claustrophobic, one-dimensional Judaism laden with arrogance, hatred and false messianism, and against the fanatic youth, who have turned their backs on the state of the Jews in the name of "faith," "Torah" and "halakha" - this international gathering offers a broad-minded stance open to every positive development. Indeed, Judaism exists, and it is girding its loins. From the lofty vantage point of the congress, it seems doubtful that the orange ribbon will represent even so much as a blip in Jewish history.

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Anyway, here is the latest column from Avnery. It's really quite interesting. I had no idea there were three kinds of extremist moron in Isreal.

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It was all expected: both the massacre and the questions it raised. But behind the easy questions that practically posed themselves, much more difficult and unasked questions are hidden.

The General Security Service (Shabak, a.k.a. Shin Bet) has been warning for a long time that the "disengagement" from Gaza could lead to an outbreak of Jewish terrorism, aiming at preventing the evacuation of the settlements. It also outlined three possible scenarios: the murder of the Prime Minister, an outrage against the holy mosques on the Temple Mount and a massacre of Arabs.

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After a hundred and twenty years of Zionism, the "Jewish state" is still nowhere Jewish enough for the Zionist movement's comfort. And the conflict between ideology and reality will get worse. 30% of Israelis getting married today are Palestinians.

[ 07 August 2005: Message edited by: rsfarrell ]

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Originally posted by rsfarrell:
You might remember that I argued on a thread a while back that even a Geneva-accord type peace, if it could be agreed upon and if it stuck, would not so much end the intifada as move it to a different front, the Negev and the Gailee (where this latest shooting took place). The Gailee is 52% Palestinian and in some ways has more long-term potential for conflict than Gaza.

After a hundred and twenty years of Zionism, the "Jewish state" is still nowhere Jewish enough for their comfort. And the conflict between ideology and reality will get worse. 30% of Israelis getting married today are Palestinians.

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Do you ever get tired of harping on and on about the "zionism is dead" topic, Mr. "I would give the Palestinians all of Isreal except Tel Aviv"? Dear god.
You say "their" like every Isreali Jew thinks and acts the same way. that IS NOT true, and even although I refered to Isreal as a backward, socially bankrupt and incredibly sick little country, verbally eviserated the Isreali Risistance and insisted that the "holy land" was a humanist free zone, but after thinking a spell, I have decided that I am wrong. I wouldn't stand for it if Mac made those kinds of generalizations about an arab country so why should I be able to get away with stereotyping Isrealis?

Dude, their are four million Jewish Isrealis, and I refuse to believe that the only Isreali Jew who really cares about the Palestinians is a single middle aged, pot bellied sociology professior from Haifa.

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Originally posted by CMOT Dibbler:
Mr. "I would give the Palestinians all of Isreal except Tel Aviv"?

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Originally posted by CMOT Dibbler:
[QB]

Do you ever get tired of harping on and on about the "zionism is dead" topic, Mr. "I would give the Palestinians all of Isreal except Tel Aviv"? Dear god.

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Zionism is very much alive, more's the pity. I thought you understood me better than that. I want every single human being to get their basic human rights met and have a chance to grow up in a peaceful place where they can be anything they want to be -- because they are a part of the country and not a "problem" that the country is trying to solve. Now for the controvesial part: I don't believe that can ever happen in a Zionist state. That's what I think. You are welcome to disagree. But you know that I've thought about this, that I'm not just shooting my mouth off. I hope you know that I would like to see Israeli Jews become Palestinians, not be destroyed or expelled by Palestinians.

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You say "their" like every Isreali Jew thinks and acts the same way. that IS NOT true, and even although I refered to Isreal as a backward, socially bankrupt and incredibly sick little country, verbally eviserated the Isreali Risistance and insisted that the "holy land" was a humanist free zone, but after thinking a spell, I have decided that I am wrong. I wouldn't stand for it if Mac made those kinds of generalizations about an arab country so why should I be able to get away with stereotyping Isrealis?

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I don't think I am. There is a Zionist movement. It has certain goals. There are people who consider themselves a part of it who dissent from it. But we have to talk about what the Zionist movement is, what its methods and its goals are, because it is the single most powerful force in the middle east, and there is no solution without dealing with them.

Societies do things that some of its members don't like. I am an American, but when someone wants to talk about American imperialism, I am not offended and I don't think that I have been called an imperialist. My county as a whole is pursuing a certain line in the world, and that line has to be assessed and dealt with, and the fact that American opinion is not monolithic is neither here nor there.

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Dude, their are four million Jewish Isrealis, and I refuse to believe that the only Isreali Jew who really cares about the Palestinians is a single middle aged, pot bellied sociology professior from Haifa.

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Don't forget the middle-aged, severe-looking woman in Gaza and the black-hatted guys who, funnily enough, think that their religion tells them to care. And there are more, and more after that. But not enough, not yet.

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I am an anti Zionist, but I also believe that talking about the death of Zionism, particularly in this thread, is downright unseemly. We should be fighting alongside our Jewish Comrades in Isreal or not at all.

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I don't understand. You support ending Zionism, but it is unseemly to talk about it? You support the rights of the Palestinians, but being by their side is not enough? What about the side of justice? What about getting to a peace that will last? How can you let the primary benificiaries of the current situition determine for your goals in fighting the fight?

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You say "their" like every Isreali Jew thinks and acts the same way. that IS NOT true,

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This is funny. Alert readers will note that the word "their" does not appear in my post.

It did appear, for maybe five minutes: I originally posted something like "After a hundred and twenty years of Zionism, the "Jewish state" is still nowhere Jewish enough for their comfort."

And then, after a few minutes, I thought: "What if someone reads "their" as meaning "Jewish [people]" rather than the Zionist movement? They could think you were generalizing."

Then: "No, Robert, you worry too much. "Their" clearly doesn't mean 'all Jews.'"

Then: "You've been here before, man: just change it and make it completely unambigious." So I did, and wrote: "After a hundred and twenty years of Zionism, the "Jewish state" is still nowhere Jewish enough for the Zionist movement's comfort." This is how it reads now.

Clearly I caught the ambiguity a few minutes too late. Sorry for the poor grammar, CMOT.

[ 07 August 2005: Message edited by: rsfarrell ]

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Originally posted by Michelle:

I think you know what I'm going to say, CMOT. Friendly reminder - please don't make it personal in this forum.

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Originally posted by Cueball:
It's kind of traditional with CMOT's "All hail the Isreali resistance!" to be archival in nature, unlike all the other threads were we get the back an forth. I think its a good tradition, and useful too.

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A picture engraved in memory: Ariel Sharon in the Knesset. Around him the storm is raging. The Members rush about, shouts ring out from all sides. The Member on the podium waves his arms, denounces and curses him. Sharon sitting at the government table. Alone. Immovable. Massive and passive. No muscle in his face is moving. Not even the nervous tic of his nose, that was once his trade-mark (and that many people considered a kind of lie-detector). A rock in the raging sea.

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by Gideon Levy

The struggle against incitement is the refuge of cowards, who are afraid to attack the inciters for their genuine acts of injustice. The battle by Attorney General Menachem Mazuz against turning incitement into a wholesale offense is an important fight to preserve freedom of expression in Israel.

However, the right's evil deeds and violence are hardly ever prosecuted in Israel, terrified as it is of the settlers. Many more people demand that some rabbi be put on trial for saying harsh things against the prime minister than a settler who has shot a child.

In general, incitement cannot by itself lead to murder. When people on the left called Ariel Sharon a murderer after the Lebanon War, nobody imagined harming him because of it.

The truth is, we ought to lament the fact that only the right commits incitement nowadays. It would be good if the left were to awaken from the long hibernation that has seized it and also use the weapon of incitement.

It's a shame nobody here incites against the Immigration Police, an army of thugs that torments the weak; too bad the left does not incite against the liquidation units in the territories, against soldiers who harass Palestinians at checkpoints, against Border Policemen who shoot children and unarmed and nonviolent protesters, against Shin Bet agents who torture detainees, against soldiers who demolish homes. Too bad there isn't more incitement against the settlers, the olive grove plunderers, vineyard uprooters, land grabbers. Too bad a real fomenting campaign does not take place here against everyone tainted by the crimes of war and occupation.

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August 18th, 2005 - a milestone in the history of the State of Israel.

This was the day on which the settlement enterprise in this country went into reverse for the first time.

True, the settlement activity in the West Bank continues at full speed. Ariel Sharon intends to give up the small settlements in the Gaza Strip in order to secure the big settlement blocs in the West Bank.

But this does not diminish the significance of what has happened: it has been proven that settlements can be dismantled and must be dismantled. And important settlements have indeed been dismantled.

The settlement enterprise, that had always gone forwards, only forwards, in a hundred overt and covert ways, has been turned back. For the first time. (Yamit and its settlements were not in Eretz Israel, and therefore their evacuation in 1982 did not constitute an ideological break. But this time it happened in "the Land of our Fathers".)

A historic event. A message for the future.

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The remaining 99.5 percent

By Amira Hass

. . .

"Is it possible," he continued with his question, "that the Israelis, who are so nice and good - after all, I have family here - are unaware of the injustice they have caused here?" The images of destruction left behind by Israel in Palestinian Gaza and witnessed by him in the past few days have left a look of shock in his eyes. "I am a Jew, and my father is a Holocaust survivor, and I grew up on totally different values of Judaism - social justice, equality and concern for one's fellow man."

As naive as it may have been, the question was like a breath of fresh air. Here was a Jew who was voicing his opinion on the fate of 1,300,000 people, while the entire world appeared to be focused on every one of the 8,000 Jews who are moving house. Here was a Jew who was moved by what have become dry numbers - 1,719 Palestinians have been killed in the Gaza Strip from the end of September 2000 until today; and according to various estimates, some two-thirds of them were unarmed and were not killed in battles or during the course of attempts to attack a military position or a settlement.

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Dear Settlers --

"Dear" in the most literal sense.

At long last it must be spelled out, without hypocritical pity, without "if" and "but".

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"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: / A time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted; / A time to break down and a time to build up…" The book of Ecclesiastes has no truer follower than Ariel Sharon.

Witness, Sharon himself set up the settlements in the Gaza Strip, and now he has destroyed them with his own hands. He created the Likud, and now - hopefully - he is burying it.

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[ 07 September 2005: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

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The day before yesterday the Haaretz headline screamed: "Doctors: Arafat died of Aids or poisoning". Aids appeared in first place.

For dozens of years, the Israeli media has conducted, with government inspiration, a concentrated campaign against the Palestinian leader (with the sole exception of Haolam Hazeh, the news magazine I edited). Millions of words of hatred and demonization were poured on him, more than on any other person of his generation. If somebody thought that this would end after his death, he was mistaken. This article, signed by Avi Isasharof and Amos Harel, is a direct continuation of this smear campaign.

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One day Joha, the hero of popular Arab humor, sold his home. The price he demanded was ridiculously low and he had only one condition: "on one of the walls there is a nail that I am much attached to. I don't want to sell it." The buyer readily agreed. Who cares about a nail?

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posted by CMOT Dibbler: Joha's Nail[/QB]

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In "The Second Coming", the Irish poet W. B. Yeats described chaos thus: "Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer; / Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; / Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, / The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere / The ceremony of innocence is drowned; / The best lack all conviction, while the worst / are full of passionate intensity."

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The contest between Binyamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon in the Likud Central Committee resembled a duel between two gladiators in the Roman arena. The more so since many of the Committee members behaved like the Roman rabble who screamed, rioted and demanded blood.

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He is a familiar hero in literature: the compulsive gambler who hits a lucky streak. With every turn of the roulette wheel, the heap of jetons in front of him grows bigger. He could leave the table, exchange the jetons for money and live on it happily ever after.

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A few days ago, at a conference in Europe, I met a charming young lady. Intelligent, well educated, versed in several languages, and, well, very attractive. After a few hours of shopping, she was as elegant as a model, dressed in the very latest fashion. She happens to be a Shiite from Baghdad, where she has now returned. Let's call her Samira.

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Some years ago I talked with a young Israeli writer. I was struck by the fact that in spite of being very successful and acclaimed by the critics, and that at a relatively early age, she somehow exuded an air of insecurity.

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A twenty-minute drive is all that separates the Israeli Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem from that of the Palestinian President in Ramallah. But for all practical purposes, the Muqata'ah in Ramallah might as well be on the moon.

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Two intrepid occunaughts search Ramallah Crater for signs of life -- Is there really something called the Palestinian people, Israeli schollars ask, or is it myth?

[ 31 October 2005: Message edited by: Cueball ]

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"Thus saith the Lord: For three transgressions of the Labor Party, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof…" If the prophet Amos were living today, one of the chapters of his book would probably have begun with these words

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NORTH AFRICAN immigrants on the periphery of French cities are torching them. North African immigrants on the periphery of Israel this week carried out a democratic revolution in our country.

In the Labor Party primaries, the members of "Eastern" descent voted massively for Amir Peretz and defeated Shimon Peres, who enjoyed the support of the upper class, mostly Ashkenazi, party members.

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LIKE A MAIDEN plucking the petals of a daisy and murmuring "he will…he will not…he will…he will not…" many of our Leftists are trying to divine what their present idol is going to do.

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A POLITICAL earthquake is itself a rare event. When two major political earthquakes follow each other in quick succession, this is almost unheard of.

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A GERMAN poem tells of the giant's daughter, who found a peasant plowing his field and brought him home in her handkerchief to show to her father. But the father said gravely: "The peasant is no toy!" and told her to put him gently back where she had found him.

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THIS WEEK I was strolling through the streets of Athens, at the foot of the Acropolis, when my eye was caught by a sign bearing one single word in Greek letters: Sisyphus. It was the name of a taverna.

Perhaps the gods wanted to remind me of an article I wrote 14 years ago, entitled "The Revenge of the Gods". Its tragic hero was the man I called "Shimon Sisyphus".

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SOME 721 YEARS ago, the town of Hamelin in Germany was suffering from a plague of rats. A citizen called Bunting offered to get rid of them for an agreed fee. When he played on his flute, the entranced rats came out of their holes and followed him to the river where they drowned. But when the piper presented his bill to the town fathers, they wouldn't pay him.

The piper wrought a terrible revenge. He played his pipe once again, and this time all the children of the town came out and followed him. He led them to a cave in a mountain, and none of them was ever seen again.

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SOMETHING BAD is happening to the election campaign of Amir Peretz. It is just shuffling around.

The surge that started with his election as leader of Labor has petered out. Events in the country are chasing each other: the "big bang" of the new Kadima party, the acts of prostitution of Shimon Peres and Shaul Mofaz, Ariel Sharon's minor stroke, the Likud primaries, the Qassam rocket hitting Ashkelon. Peretz has been pushed to the margins.

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A drunkard blacks out. His companions pour cold water on him. The drunk opens one eye, licks the water and says: "I don't know what that is, but it won't sell!"

I was reminded of this when I read the draft of the Labor Party's political program, which has just been presented by a committee of experts.

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Israeli politics is boiling. People rejoice: finally, it seems, the deadlock is collapsing. Amir Peretz, a young, Eastern, social-democratically oriented leader took over the petrified Labor Party from the opportunistic Shimon Peres – the Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East, and later kidnapped the Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu. Just days after these surprising primaries, and following Peretz's pullout from his coalition, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon left his ruling Likud Party, taking with him a third of the party's Knesset fraction and, according to polls, most of its voters. The old bulldozer is now reshaping the Israeli political map: the present parliament suffered, as usual, an early death; Sharon created his new, private party, Kadima, and since Israeli mainstream politicians usually adapt their views to their party affiliation rather than vice-versa, numerous dizzy politicians – but also quite a few academics, journalists, and other newcomers – are now choosing a new party and worldview that will hopefully assure them the benefits of power after the coming election in March 2006.

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From early youth, he was totally convinced that he was the only person in the world who could save the State of Israel. That was an absolute certainty, free of any doubt. He just knew that he must achieve supreme power, in order to fulfill the mission that fate had entrusted him with.

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A political earthquake before an election is an unusual event, but not unknown. A second earthquake in such a period is already rare. But a third earthquake before an election, a short time after the first two - now, that is really scary.

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Uri Avnery

With Friends like these…
14.1.06

JUDAS ISCARIOT is headed for a makeover. According to news reports, cardinals close to the new pope recommend a change in the Catholic Church's attitude towards him: exit the treacherous Jew who turns the messiah over to the cohorts of the evil High Priest - enter the apostle who simply fulfilled his role in the divine design. After all, it was God who decided that his son should die on the cross.

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With friends like these...

[ 15 January 2006: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

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IT WAS a colorful day in Bil'in. Political lags of many colors were fluttering in the brisk breeze, the vivid election posters and the colorful graffiti on the walls adding their bit. It was the biggest demonstration in the beleaguered village for a long time. This week, the protest against the Fence was interwoven with Palestinian electioneering.

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Hebron is again in the headlines. More than almost any other place, this divided city represents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in a nutshell. Occupied by Israel in 1967, the Palestinian town saw its very heart taken over by Israeli settlers, whose presence there is illegal according to international law but supported by all Israeli governments. For the sake of 500 Israeli settlers, surrounded by 130,000 Palestinians, the Hebron Agreement of 1997 divided the city, with 80 percent of its area given to Palestinian policing, while the rest – in fact, the city center – remained in Israeli hands. The 30,000 Palestinian inhabitants of the center have been harassed on a daily basis by the settlers, backed by the Israeli army, which spread no less than 101 physical obstacles and 18 manned checkpoints around the Israeli-controlled area. In a clear process of ethnic cleansing, only a few thousand Palestinians still live in this part of the city (Miron Rapoport, Ha’aretz, Nov. 17, 2005).

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IF ARIEL Sharon had not been in a deep coma, he would have jumped out of his bed for joy.

The Hamas victory fulfils his most ardent hopes.

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LIKE TWO very tired wrestlers who clasp each other, unable to separate, the Israeli and Palestinian societies are glued to each other.

The Palestinian elections this week took place in the shadow of the Israeli elections. Who is Ehud Olmert? Has the Labor Party really changed? Will the next Israeli government really be prepared to negotiate? Which Palestinian leadership stands a better chance of liberating us from the occupation?

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IF ONE wants to understand what the Palestinians did on election day, one has to see the film "Paradise Now", which has been nominated for an Oscar for the best foreign film, after collecting several prestigious international prizes. It explains better than a million words.

Its makers - the screen-writer-cum-director, Hani Abu-As'ad from Nazareth, and the actors, are Palestinians. (Amir Harel, one of the producers, is a Jewish Israeli.)

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In October 1969 hundreds of young people, clad in football helmets and wielding lead pipes, marched through an upscale Chicago shopping district, pummeling parked cars and smashing shop windows in their path.

This was the first demonstration of the Weather Underground's "Days of Rage." Outraged by the Vietnam War and racism in America, the organization waged a low-level war against the U.S. government through much of the 1970s, bombing the Capitol building, breaking Timothy Leary out of prison, and evading one of the largest FBI manhunts in history.

The Weather Underground is a feature-length documentary that explores the rise and fall of this radical movement, as former members speak candidly about the idealistic passion that drove them to "bring the war home" and the trajectory that placed them on the FBI's most wanted list.

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History of the Weather underground

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Members like Brian Flanagan have expressed regret. Still others, such as Mark Rudd, believe the group's original motivation, particularly its position regarding U.S. imperialism, was justified, but its resultant actions were clearly wrong.

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[ 05 February 2006: Message edited by: Peech ]

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Originally posted by CMOT Dibbler:
What does the article have to do with Isreali peacenicks?

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Originally posted by Peech:

It has to do with refuting the justification of terrorism (Hamas) which your post seeks to do by implication. In other words it has EVERYTHING to do with peaceful resolution which is exactly the opposite of your post.

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This is a thread dedicated to the Isreali Resistance, not the American Resistance. Could you please post your article somewhere else?

[ 05 February 2006: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

[ 05 February 2006: Message edited by: Peech ]

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Read it (see it) or don't. But (with the greatest respect) please don't tell me what to do.

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Originally posted by Peech:

It has to do with refuting the justification of terrorism (Hamas) which your post seeks to do by implication. In other words it has EVERYTHING to do with peaceful resolution which is exactly the opposite of your post.

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You don't know what you're talking about.

Go see the movie, then come back and try to say it is trying to justify terrorism.

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Thanks for that post, Dibbler. After watching the movie, I left the cinema feeling numb with horror and despair.

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Originally posted by al-Qa'bong:

You don't know what you're talking about.
Go see the movie, then come back and try to say it is trying to justify terrorism.

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Apparently other reviewers felt the same way:

Film Review from San Diego

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Paradise Now': An Arab view of suicide bombers

To die for a "holy" cause tends to make death a religion. The martyr tradition in Islam, sadly flourishing again, gets personal but also oddly abstract in Hany Abu-Assad's "Paradise Now."

Two young, bright mechanics are chosen by a radical Palestinian group as suicide bombers. After ritual prep including a last supper, much goes wrong. Said (Kais Nashef) and Khaled (Ali Suliman) stumble through a crisis of zeal, facing questions they might better have asked before.

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http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117926211?categoryid=31&cs=1

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Anyone expecting a gritty, impassioned insight into the psychology of suicide bombers will come away disappointed; general auds may be better pleased.

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Like An Ode to Terrorism

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"In the name of God the Merciful," a terrorist named Khaled (Ali Suliman) begins his official martyrdom video. Although his God might be merciful, Khaled certainly isn't going to be since he and his friend Said (Kais Nashef), two lanky young men, are off to murder innocent men, women and children in Israel...

Too often PARADISE NOW feels too much like an ode to terrorism than it does a serious examination of the subject, even if a few twists try to convince us otherwise.... One twist seems concocted for the sole purpose of deceiving the audience into taking a more sympathetic view of terrorists. Undoubtedly, there will be a film sometime in the future which will attempt to demonstrate how the 9-11 killers really had good hearts and fine intentions. ......."

Death is better than inferiority," Jamal lectures his young charges. And, when Khaled asks what happens afterwards, one of the other handlers assures him that two angels will immediately take them to paradise.

Needless to say, the terrorists don't ask about the afterlife of those whom they are about to slaughter.

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[ 07 February 2006: Message edited by: Peech ]

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Paradise Now': An Arab view of suicide bombers
To die for a "holy" cause tends to make death a religion. The martyr tradition in Islam, sadly flourishing again, gets personal but also oddly abstract in Hany Abu-Assad's "Paradise Now."

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Anyone who has seen this movie ought to be able to see that Islam had nothing to do with the bombers' motivations.

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"In the name of God the Merciful," a terrorist named Khaled (Ali Suliman) begins his official martyrdom video.

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You should see that scene. The pronouncement was treated as a pathetic farce. The camera didn't work, the organizers of the operation (not at all sympathetic characters - they were portrayed as parasites) banally ate lunch during the filming.

The "terrorist" ended up sending a message to his mother to pick up some shopping.

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ONLY AN earthquake can still prevent an overwhelming victory for Kadima in the coming elections.

But don't rule it out. In this election campaign, four earthquakes have already struck. First: the Labor Party elected a Morocco-born left-wing leader. Second: Ariel Sharon split the Likud and created the Kadima party. Third: Sharon was felled by a massive stroke and left the political stage. Fourth: Hamas won a decisive victory in the Palestinian elections.

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Diplomats and Jewish groups are lobbying organisers of next month's Academy Awards not to present a nominated film about Palestinian bombers as coming from Palestine, an Israeli newspaper reports.

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This is yet another example of the never-ending efforts of Israelis trying to muzzle Palestinian voices internationally.

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Many Israelis were irked when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in publishing the nomination, said Paradise Now came from Palestine.

While the tag remains on the academy's website, an Israeli diplomat said he expected the film to be described as coming
from the Palestinian Authority during the awards ceremony.

"Both the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles and several concerned Jewish groups pointed out that no one, not even the Palestinians themselves, have declared the formal creation of Palestine yet, and thus the label would be inaccurate," the
diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

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Yeah, we got the memo; there is no such thing as Palestinians.

[ 14 February 2006: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]

I am being intentionally thick, because I like to tell that story everytime I hear the "no Palestine" line.

Interestingly, this reminds me of the controversy about Devine Interevention, which was actually banned from being a nominee for best Foreign Film, despite the fact that it won Crtics Prize at Cannes, because there was no Palestine.

[ 14 February 2006: Message edited by: Cueball ]

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Actually that is not true, Al Q...

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Tell it to Golda Meir, and O'hara.

[ed.] There have been others on babble, such as Stockholm, who say that "Palestinian" refers to Jews who settled in Palestine before the creation of Israel.

Anything to deny, deny, deny the existence of the indigenous Arab population.

[ 14 February 2006: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]

“I someone wants to assert that our values trump someone elses values by saying something like, its ok to make fun of Mohammed because we in the west use jesus as the centerpiece of art and make fun of catholics, by ignoring the fact that making fun of Mohammed is an invasion of the private space of of Muslim people, and by publishing it and forcing them to see it, then why not tatoo numbers on Jews since that is also an invasion of their personal space, and justify that by saying well its quite normal for people to get tatoos these days, so what the fuck.

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“I someone wants to assert that our values trump someone elses values by saying something like, its ok to make fun of Mohammed because we in the west use jesus as the centerpiece of art and make fun of catholics, by ignoring the fact that making fun of Mohammed is an invasion of the private space of of Muslim people, and by publishing it and forcing them to see it, then why not tatoo numbers on Jews since that is also an invasion of their personal space, and justify that by saying well its quite normal for people to get tatoos these days, so what the fuck.

To me its the same kind of justification.”

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WTF!?

[ 15 February 2006: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

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ONE OF our former Chiefs-of-Staff, the late Rafael ("Raful") Eytan, who was not the brightest, once asked a foreign guest: "Are you Jewish or Christian?"

"I am an atheist!" the man replied.

"Okay, Okay," Raful demanded impatiently, "but a Jewish atheist or a Christian atheist?"

Well, I myself am a 100% atheist. And I am increasingly worried that the Israeli-Palestinian struggle, which dominates our entire life, is assuming a more and more religious character

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Originally posted by al-Qa'bong:

Anything to deny, deny, deny the existence of the indigenous Arab population.

[ 14 February 2006: Message edited by: al-Qa'bong ]

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A FINAL score of 1:1 may not be the most impressive, but for the youngsters of Bil'in it was a glorious achievement. For them, it was not the result that was important, nor even the match itself (against a team from the nearby town of Betunya). What was important was where it took place: on an improvised football field that was hastily leveled on the land that was stolen from the village by the Separation Wall.

The match was a part of a unique event. In the poor, little village, with its 1500 inhabitants, which few had ever heard of before the start of its heroic battle against the Wall, an "International Conference on the Joint, Non-violent struggle Against the Wall" took place. In the framework of this event, which lasted for two days, a range of activities was organized: reports and debates about the struggle, the award of honor shields to the families of the nine people who lost their lives in the fight against the Wall, the planting of olive saplings on the stolen land, the inauguration of the football field and the match itself.

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Twenty years ago, when we called for negotiations with the Palestinian Liberation Organization, we were a small band. We were told that Arafat was a murderer, that the PLO was a terrorist organization, that the Palestinian Charter called for the destruction of Israel - exactly the same phrases which are now being used about Hamas. But a few years later, the State of Israel recognized the PLO, negotiated with it and signed an agreement with it. That was a victory for the tenacious Palestinian struggle, but also a victory for the Israeli peace movement.

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Originally posted by nycndp:

How would you "not deny" it? Wipe out Israel?

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IF YOU want to understand the policy of a country, look at the map!" advised Napoleon. What he meant was: Regimes come and go, rulers rise and fall, ideologies flourish and wither, but geography stands forever. It's geography that decides the basic interest of every state.

Vladimir Putin, heir of Czars and Commissars, looked at the map. Looked and picked up the telephone to invite the Hamas leaders.

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IN ENGLISH, a "four-letter word" is a rude expletive. It is a vulgar description of a sexual act or organ, and an educated person will not use it.

Now it appears that in the Hebrew language, too, there is a four-letter word, which a decent person will not use, especially not in an election campaign. A (politically) correct person will avoid it at all costs.

That word is Peace (which in Hebrew consists of four letters).

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THE CENTRAL theme of this article is disgust. Therefore I apologize in advance for the frequent use of this and similar words.

In the thesaurus I find quite a number of synonyms: loathing, revulsion, dislike, nausea, distaste, aversion, antipathy, abomination, repulsion, abhorrence, repugnance, odium, detestation, and some more. They are all present in my feelings about the action that took place in Jericho on Tuesday.

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I BELIEVE this must be about the 15th time that I am writing an article like this one. On the eve of every national election I set out my doubts and hesitations. I do not tell people how to vote. What I am trying to do is help voters (including myself) to organize their thoughts and reach a logical conclusion, each according to his own conscience and understanding.

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THE MOST dramatic and the most boring election campaign in our history has mercifully come to an end. Israel looks in the mirror and asks itself: What the hell has happened?

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"Advance and be recognized!" the recruit on sentry duty calls out when he hears somebody approaching. "Sergeant Johns!" comes the answer.

"Advance and be recognized!" the sentry calls again. "I told you already, I'm Sergeant Johns!" comes the answer.

"Advance and be recognized!" the sentry calls for the third time. "What do you think you are doing, you idiot!" the sergeant shouts.

"Those are my orders," the recruit replies, "To call 'advance and be recognized' three times and then to shoot."

This is an old British army joke. It also happens to be the program of the government that is being formed in Israel.

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The Big Wink

[ 09 April 2006: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

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Lieberman is a man of the extreme-extreme Right. He could give lessons to Jean-Marie Le Pen and Joerg Haider. He is the sole leader of his party, his talk is violent and brutal, his message racist. He openly proclaims that his aim is to get all the Arab citizens out of Israel.

Before the elections, Peretz promised that he would not sit in the government with Lieberman. Since then two things have happened:

First, the leader of the left-wing Meretz party, Yossi Beilin, invited Lieberman to a well-publicized breakfast at his home, consuming (according to the gleeful reporters) "juicy herrings" and enthusiastically lauding Lieberman's personal qualities. In this way he accorded legitimization to this person, who until then was considered beyond the political pale.

Then, after the elections, an even more disgraceful thing happened. Peretz' people declared that he, not Olmert, was going to head the next government. It was to be a "social coalition", without Kadima. Simple arithmetic shows that such a coalition must include not only Shas, but also the National Union, the settlers' party that competes with Lieberman in racism. This ploy conferred legitimacy on the entire racist right. If extremists like Benny Eilon and Effi Eitam are kosher, why not Lieberman?

How could this happen to Peretz? It was clearly a hasty reaction to the behavior of Kadima. Immediately after the elections, Olmert should have called Peretz and proclaimed him his favored partner. Instead, Olmert's people started to humiliate Peretz and declare him unfit for the post of Minister of Finance, which he craved. Furious, Peretz started the move in order to get back at Olmert and frighten him. Understandable, but unforgivable. It was a personal response, and one which has caused huge damage. It has legitimized Lieberman as a candidate for membership in the government. It has also infuriated the Arab citizens and created the impression that Peretz may not be such a staunch fighter for peace after all.

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TODAY, EHUD Olmert has become the Prime minister of Israel. No longer just a "Deputy Prime Minister", but now a real one. One hundred days after Ariel Sharon sank into a coma, the job and the title were taken away from him, as the law demands. Olmert is now the acting prime minister of the transitional government, and in a few weeks hence, with the establishment of the new coalition, he will become the head of a regular government.

All this is happening without any real debate about Olmert. The man, who has been a public figure all his life, is really unknown to most citizens. For the public, it suffices that he is the "Heir of Sharon".

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I DON'T usually tell these stories, because they might give rise to the suspicion that I am paranoid.

For example: 27 years ago, I was invited to give a lecture-tour in 30 American universities, including all the most prestigious ones - Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Berkeley and so on. My host was the Fellowship of Reconciliation, a respected non-Jewish organization, but the lectures themselves were to be held under the auspices of the Jewish Bet-Hillel chaplains.

On arrival at the airport in New York I was met by one of the organizers. "There is a slight hitch," he told me, "29 of the Rabbis have cancelled your lecture."

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Originally posted by CMOT Dibbler:
So where is the cease-fire?
Will Hamas and Islamic Jihad torpedo the withdrawal from Gaza?
What is happening to Mahmoud Abbas?

Generally, a cease-fire is declared in one of three cases:
- When one side beats the other into submission,
- When a third party imposes it on the two belligerents,
- When both sides are exhausted.
"Silence is Filth"

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Originally posted by Fear-ah:

Why would you post something from July 16, 2005?

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[ 24 April 2006: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

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Originally posted by CMOT Dibbler:
I don't understand. The "All Hail the Isreali resistance"
[ 24 April 2006: Message edited by: CMOT Dibbler ]

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Why? Is there a hard drive shortage here? Why not just post up a topic if you found something current in say Ha'artz or Debka or Electronic Infitada? Any new posts end up at the bottom of the thread and so you have to RE-READ the whole thread to figure out the reply tree.

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Why?

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I think there may in fact be a shortage of hard drive space. There are definatly archive threads on the board other then this one.

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WHEN YOU see a person walking into a trap, you shout: "Look out!" But when you see a person walking into a trap knowingly, with open eyes, what are you supposed to do?

AMIR PERETZ is about to become Minister of Defense and he knows that it is a trap. So why is he doing it?

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SHALL WE start with the good news or the bad news? As confirmed optimists, let's start with the good news.

To paraphrase an old Hebrew saying: Don't look at the vessel but at what's not in it. Avigdor Liberman is not in the Israeli government.

He made a huge effort to board the ship. He put on an almost liberal mask, ate juicy herring with Yossi Beilin, who called him a nice person. After the elections, Amir Peretz made no mention of Labor's pledge not to sit with him in the cabinet. It seemed that the brutal racist would succeed in achieving legitimacy for his fascist views.

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PRISON SERVES an important function in the annals of every revolutionary movement. It serves as a college for activists, center for the crystallization of ideas, rallying point for leaders, platform for dialogue between the various factions.

For the Palestinian liberation movement, prison plays all these roles and many more. During the 39 years of occupation, hundreds of thousands of young Palestinians have passed through Israeli prisons. At any given time, an average of 10 thousand Palestinians are held in prison. This, the liveliest and most active section of the Palestinian people, is in continuous ferment. People from every class, every town and village, every political and military faction are to be found there.

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THOSE WHO listened to the radio news last Saturday heard a stunning report: that Muhammad Abu-Ter and Uri Avnery had barricaded themselves together in a private home in a-Ram.

The very fact that these two - the No. 2 man of Hamas and the notorious Israeli leftist - were together was already shocking enough. But the fact that they had invaded the home of an innocent Palestinian family and barricaded themselves there, like criminals fleeing from the police, was even more staggering.

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"THE PALESTINIANS never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity!" - this phrase, coined by Abba Eban, has become a by-word. It also illustrates a wise Talmudic saying: "He who finds fault in others (really) finds his own faults."

No doubt, from the beginning of the conflict, the Palestinians have missed opportunities. But these are negligible compared to the opportunities missed by the State of Israel in its 58 years of existence.

The list that follows is far from complete.

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SHEIKH MUHAMMAD Hassan Abu-Tir has something every politician craves: instant recognizability. His long beard dyed bright orange with henna is very conspicuous indeed. Actually it is a religious symbol: the prophet, for whom he is named, used to dye his beard the same way.

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NINE MONTHS before he invaded Lebanon, Ariel Sharon let me in on his grand design for solving all the problems of this region. It was mind-boggling. He did not ask me to keep it secret, just not to attribute it to him directly. I published it accordingly.

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"I COLLECTED with my bare hands the body parts of my two little sons. What mother must do that? One shell of the aggressors blew them apart. Within a second, my life was destroyed forever." The woman spoke quietly. Her third son, a boy of about eight, stood at her side and, from time to time, wiped the tears from her cheek. The well turned out woman, her hair collected in a pink kerchief, well dressed, was self-controlled but full of restrained hatred for the "aggressors" - the Serbs - who had caused her tragedy. A big wreath and the photos of the boys at the entrance of the home silently commemorated the 15th anniversary of the disaster - the first day of the siege of Sarajevo.

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