Blog For Palestine

I have avoided posting for the past couple of weeks. The primary reason is that I don’t like what I’ve been writing. Recently the blog inched past the 1000 total visitors mark and that prompted me to take a look back at my previous posts. What I read did not at all impress me.

First off I am a bad writer. I’m not being hard on myself here; it’s not like I aspire to be Norman Mailer and I just realized that I haven’t reached my goal. My ambitions are limited to having the writing competence of a high school graduate that didn’t spend his four years smoking massive amounts of pot; which is I think where I am today. For example I really don’t know what the hell the semicolon is for and I just use it whereever I think it might look cute. Proper word usage and sentence construction are black magic as far as I’m concerned and writing is therefore reduced to throwing words together and hoping that I don’t break too many rules of grammar along the way. I’m a grammatical and spelling disaster and this is no way for a grown man to be. The last thing I want to do is to look like an incompetent buffoon while supposedly advocating for the Palestinian cause. I hate incompetence; especially when I’m the incompetent one. So I’ve crafted a little plan to allow me to become a writing ninja. I’ve gotten some books - On Writing Well, Grammatically Correct, and The Elements of Style. I’m going to read and apply their wisdom in the hopes that the garbage that I’m spew out into the world is going to stink a little less.

The second problem is focus, or the complete lack of it. I still, after more than two months of doing this have no idea what I’m trying to accomplish and who I’m trying to reach. One of the biggest problems that stopped me from starting the blog was trying to figure out what the goal was. Then I decided to start writing and maybe the blog will reveal its purpose to me. Well it didn’t. But maybe there is no real objective beyond just being out here on the web, consuming bandwidth and mindshare that might otherwise be occupied by voices that support the racist and cruel policies of Israel. Moving forward I’m just going to drop all the pretentious crap about doing something spectacular and simplify the mission to this - give Tineen some space to express his thoughts about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

I will leave you now with the promise that my coming posts will become incrementally better.  So prepare yourselves for Tineen the next generation.

-Tineen

Jonathan Cook looks at the murder of Palestinian civilians in a bus in Israel by an Israeli soldier and the fallout. He does a great job exposing the hypocrisy of Israeli society and government as well as the racism that lies at the root of the hypocrisy. Here is a snippet of the article talking about how Zada the Israeli purportrator of the attacks was ignored by the authorities despite his extremist views.

There was no investigation of why Zada, well-known for his extremist
views, had been allowed to go AWOL for weeks from his unit without
attempts to trace him. Or how his family’s repeated warnings that he
had threatened to do something “terrible” to stop the disengagement had
been ignored by the authorities. No one questioned why, a few days
before his attack, the police had sent Zada away after he tried to hand
in his gun.
Even more disturbing, no one discussed why Zada, who openly belonged to
a racist and outlawed movement, Kach, which demands the expulsion, if
not eradication, of Arabs from the Holy Land, had been allowed to serve
in the army. How had he and thousands of other Kach supporters been
left in peace to promote their obscene ideas? Why were these Kach
activists, mostly young Israelis, demonstrating openly against the Gaza
disengagement, assaulting policemen and soldiers, when the group was
supposedly underground?

I’m not exactly sure how contorted the Israeli psyche needs to be for them to believe that all this racism, hatred, and injustice is normal and acceptable. I’m looking at a book right now which I think I’m going to pick up that discusses the Israeli psyche, it should be an interesting read.

-Tineen

A good article by Nigel Parry discussing the latest Israeli atrocities as it compares with the IDF’s Modus Operandi.  He reiterates my long standing belief that the Israeli army has a clear and systematic policy of killing Palestinian civilians.

John Quigley’s The Case for Palestine is a comprehensive look at the question of Palestine from the beginning of the problem in the late 1800s to the present day. The history is presented within an international law framework. From Quigley’s point of view, international law falls clearly on the side of the Palestinians and sharply indicts the Zionist movement as well as Israel’s policies and actions. I will be summarizing the book over the course of a few posts in the next couple of weeks, hopefully distilling the book into its most salient points. I am more interested here in giving an overview of the book and to reflect a bit on what I got out of it.

This is a great introductory book to the conflict. If you or anyone you know would like to get a fairly good picture of the conflict including all the relevant history this book will do the trick. The whole of the history, as well the legal analysis associated with the events, is presented concisely and in a manner that is easy to digest for us who don’t have mad international law skillz. The book is organized well with sections covering the different periods of the conflict, each section containing chapters which discuss the important issues for that period. The chapters are tight and chock full of useful information, making the book as a whole a great reference for the different events and issues.

What surprised me more than anything in reading this book was how I found myself responding to it. John Quigley did not intended to be a great narrator here, and while his writing is engaging as far as this genre goes, he makes no attempts at embellishment or ornamentation of any kinds. All he does is provide us with the facts in the most efficient and clear way. But as I read this book, what emerged is this incredibly vivid and moving portrait of the Palestinian catastrophe. While Quigley recited the facts in a most academic way, I was reacting quite emotionally.

I felt sadness at the history that the Palestinian people have had to endure, including massacres, oppression, destitution, discrimination and occupation. I felt contempt towards a world that was satisfied issuing condemnation after condemnation against Israeli atrocities but was never willing to intervene. I felt anger at countries that were complicit in creating this nightmare, how trivial political and economic benefits seemed to trump averting or ending the suffering of a whole people. But the thing that really broke my heart is how truly inhuman people can be. There were absolutely no questions throughout this ugly history that the Zionist dream was built on a Palestinian nightmare. This fact continues to this day and the world is reminded of it with every new settlement and every murdered Palestinian. To bring such cruelty upon a whole people simply to fulfill a colonial fantasy is the pinnacle of barbarism.

I’m not sure if my reaction to this book is due to the fact that this is such a personal issue. It may be that my emotions were moved only because of the hundreds of stories of expulsion, loss and struggle that have left an indelible mark in my memory. Still, I do hold out hope that the thread of humanity that binds all people is greater than our differences; that this book and others like it would move all those that read it and that they will see that this cannot go on and find common cause with the Palestinian people.

-Tineen

Michael Neumann in his latest article on Counterpunch, brings to our attention a new book called Jewish Opposition to Zionism. The book apparently attacks Zionism and outlines how Zionism betrays the most important of Jewish religious duties and moral values.

Michael Neumann, along with many pro-Palestinian proponents, seems to celebrate such positions. I remember at an ADC convention that I unfortunately attended a few years ago, some members of an orthodox Jewish organization that was opposed to Israel showed up, and they were quite the hit - I’m talking rockstar status. For many the existance of individuals such as these is a strong indictment against Israel. For one they blow away Israel’s religious argument for its existance. Second, they usually, such as this author (Professor Yakov Rabkin), argue against the immorality of Israeli actions against the Palestinians from a religious point of view. Finally they weaken the argument that Israel is a state for all Jews, as they are Jews that are strongly opposed to its very existance.

To be honest with you, I care very little for these voices. The reasons are varied, not the least of which is the fact that I hate religion. To hear people make an argument on behalf of the Palestinians because their religion says so is repulsive to me. More importantly this is not a religious issue and therefore it doesn’t need Jewish scholars on both sides to hash it out. Zionism, at its most fundamental level is not religious in nature. Zionism is rooted in a very human trait of group identity. Whether this identity manifests itself in nationalism, ethnicity or religion is irrelevant, what is important in our case is how ugly human beings can become when they are taken over by their group identity. The end result can be discrimination, oppression, and ethnic cleansing. This happened in Nazi Germany, Apartheid South Africa, and in Israel. Outrage against Zionism should be rooted in common human values, not some artificial religious construction of morality.

-Tineen

The internal tension between Hamas and Fatah is growing and it seems to be taking a serious turn for the worse. Fatah has created a 2,000 man militia in the West Bank in what looks like a response to the 3,000 man militia Hamas created in Gaza. In the past I have totally avoided talking about this issue, primarily because it pains me to see this happening. It is disheartening to see the Palestinians turning on each other at such a critical time.

So why am I talking about his now? It’s because I’m worried. I’m worried that my despite my daily mantra of “A Palestinian civil war is impossible”, that it might get that bad. And even if it doesn’t get to the point of a civil war, it might still be a drawn out and damaging struggle for power. Besides my obvious concern for all the Palestinians people and what something like this will do their already miserable lives, I am also concerned about more difficult questions to answer. What are the reprecrussions of what is happening today in terms of the Palestinian struggle for justice? How do we in on the outside contribute positively as we look into a pollitical and social landscape griped by chaos?

I’ve yet to find an real analysis of what the impact of the current problems will be. I’m looking for discussions of ‘what if’ scenarios. What ff the hostilities between Palestinian factions continue, get worse, or turn into a full fledged civil war, what will that mean? What are we to do? Do we need to redirect our activism in anyway? I’m going to be hunting for some answers. My mind is already crippled by these questions, so I’m going to have to sit down and talk to some people with more brain capacity that mine. What do you guys think? Do you have any opinions to share on this topic? Drop me a comment.

I guess the best translation of Chutzpah would be ‘gall’. In the case of Israel it is the capacity to adopt the most racist, hypocritical, and immoral positions and do so proudly. Ehud Olmert’s speech to congress, as Kathleen Christison’s Counterpunch piece illustrates, smacks of the insolent hypocricy that is so characteristic of many of Israel’s positions. Olmert proudly pronounces that he “believed, and to this day still believe, in our people’s eternal and historic right to this entire land.”

Now that’s what I call Chutzpah (in Arabic we call it Wa’aha). The Prime Minister of Israel, goes up in front of congress, openly declares the most extreme of Zionist Land fantasies, and says that the problem is that the Palestinians are refusing to recognize Israel. And all of this insanity is met with a standing ovation. I was just waiting for the Twightlight Zone dude to come out after the end of that speech and say something clever about how twisted reality can be.

The other Israeli PR gift is of course Hasbara (which sort of also has a good Arabic translation Za’bara). In Israel’s case it means lying, cheating, and general dishonest carsalesmanship. And while an argument can sometimes be made that the ends justify the means, I’m not sure it works when the ends are to oppress a people, and to impose a ruthless apartheid system on them. In another Counterpunch article, Jonathan Cook, illustrates how all the talk of unilateral disengagement, peace, and outstretched hands, is just meant to hide the awful truth of Israeli actions and intents. He explains how the whole disengagement story is really nothing more than reconcentrating israeli military energies to more efficiently go after the Palestinians. This quote from an Israeli peacenik makes it painfully clear what disengagement really means:

“After we remove the [isolated] settlements and after we stop being an occupation army, all the rules of war will be different. We will exercise our full force. We will not have to run around looking for this terrorist or that instigator — we will make use of force against an entire population. We will use total force. Because from the minute we withdraw I don’t want to know their names. I don’t want any personal relations with them. I am no longer in a situation of occupation and policing and B’Tselem [the Israeli human rights organization]. Instead, I will be standing opposite them in a position of nation versus nation. State versus state.”

-Tineen