This Israeli documentary about the plight of young Palestinian men trying to cope by having to find menial work in an Israeli market is, I suppose, well meant. But it also displays that curiously gentle and evasive tone that supposedly sympathetic Israelis seem to possess. While sympathising with the Palestinian youths there is never any criticism of the Israeli government policy dictating their plight.
I appreciate the glimpse into this sordid world. The young men affect a jauntiness, which is the right of all young people, but there is a long silent moment when we see in the eyes and visage of the main protagonist his deep and utter despair. It is the still centre of the entire documentary.
The Israeli employer of this young man is decent enough in his way. He pretends a father/son relation. He feels for him. He has wife trouble and apparently no children and this young man means something to him. When the authorities make it impossible for the Palestinian to work in Israel, the employer shows human sympathy. But not once does he criticise his government. Instead the usual blurring of the truth by wishing for peace without acknowledging that Israel holds 95% of the power to make it. This wilful act of innocence.
Showing posts with label Gaza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaza. Show all posts
Monday, September 20, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
A KIWI VOICE: ROGER FOWLER
I've been in many campaigns at a community level. We had a picket of probably 200 people and Muldoon came out and I happened to be in the way and he threw a punch at me and I can still picture him standing in the middle of Queen Street yelling out: I'll take you on one at a time! Yeah, I've been involved in some pretty hairy events over the years.
It was certainly a tragic stand-off in the last peace flotilla, but our hope is that there be so many people involved the Israelis would be extremely stupid to do anything outlandish. It's pretty scarey, yeah, and it just shows you the desperation that the Israeli military sometimes will descend to.
We weighed up the pros and the cons, and the pro was here were one and a half million people in a desperate situation. On the other hand were the big cons, a whole lot of reasons, really good reasons why we shouldn't go or shouldn't do anything about it. Of course, we come down on the side, yes, we have to go.
This is going to be an international convoy and it's important that Kiwis are part of that. I was very apprehensive [when my son wanted to join up] but I respect his wishes and, yes, I'm extremely proud of him.
My personal feelings and anxiety don't even come into the picture compared to the desperation of the people of Gaza. There's one and a half million people there living in a tiny sliver of land which is as big as East Coast Bays here in Auckland, up to Browns Bay. That's how big it is. Everywhere you look it's completely desperate.
Some consumable items are allowed in. It takes a long time for them to get in and they're only dribbling in. The people of Gaza now have the luxury of being able to get chocolates and mayonnaise and things of that nature, but I'm sorry, their need is much more desperate than that. I mean, the country's been bombed to shreds. They can't get building material to rebuild their houses. They can't even get a bag of cement.
It's one of many [pressing issues the world faces] but the main thing that differentiates this issue from everything else is that it's a man-made issue. The people of Gaza are suffering, and suffering every day, 24x7, as a direct result of Israeli government policy, and that can be changed.
It is definitely a stand. We also know about our peace flotilla in Auckland which changed the situation where we were having unwanted nuclear warships visiting our harbours and we were able to turn that around.
All packed and ready to go. I would hope that one day if my grandchildren ever ask me what did you do Poppy to try and stop the wars in this world, that I'm not going to be stumped for an answer.
It was certainly a tragic stand-off in the last peace flotilla, but our hope is that there be so many people involved the Israelis would be extremely stupid to do anything outlandish. It's pretty scarey, yeah, and it just shows you the desperation that the Israeli military sometimes will descend to.
We weighed up the pros and the cons, and the pro was here were one and a half million people in a desperate situation. On the other hand were the big cons, a whole lot of reasons, really good reasons why we shouldn't go or shouldn't do anything about it. Of course, we come down on the side, yes, we have to go.
This is going to be an international convoy and it's important that Kiwis are part of that. I was very apprehensive [when my son wanted to join up] but I respect his wishes and, yes, I'm extremely proud of him.
My personal feelings and anxiety don't even come into the picture compared to the desperation of the people of Gaza. There's one and a half million people there living in a tiny sliver of land which is as big as East Coast Bays here in Auckland, up to Browns Bay. That's how big it is. Everywhere you look it's completely desperate.
Some consumable items are allowed in. It takes a long time for them to get in and they're only dribbling in. The people of Gaza now have the luxury of being able to get chocolates and mayonnaise and things of that nature, but I'm sorry, their need is much more desperate than that. I mean, the country's been bombed to shreds. They can't get building material to rebuild their houses. They can't even get a bag of cement.
It's one of many [pressing issues the world faces] but the main thing that differentiates this issue from everything else is that it's a man-made issue. The people of Gaza are suffering, and suffering every day, 24x7, as a direct result of Israeli government policy, and that can be changed.
It is definitely a stand. We also know about our peace flotilla in Auckland which changed the situation where we were having unwanted nuclear warships visiting our harbours and we were able to turn that around.
All packed and ready to go. I would hope that one day if my grandchildren ever ask me what did you do Poppy to try and stop the wars in this world, that I'm not going to be stumped for an answer.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
A KIWI VOICE: NICOLA ENCHMARCH
I'm not used to the sound of gunfire and I hope I don't hear it again. As a New Zealander and coming from a peaceful country and not being exposed to such violence you go back and think wow actually that was all a bit crazy being up on the upper deck with the bullets flying around everywhere.
There was nothing in our planning that involved any form of defence or violence. We knew something was going to happen. We thought they may have just tried to block us. [Israeli boats were] chasing. It is one memory that I probably won't forget and stands in my mind is the sound of the engine of the Mavi Marmara accelerating before I even reached up to the upper deck. At the same time the helicoptor started hovering over the roof of the boat.
[The sound of weapons] penetrates into your hearing so deep. You're trying to work out what's going on. It's very disorientating. It's very hard to tell where it's coming from. I know it's coming from the zodiacs and I know it's coming from up in the roof and it's coming down the starboard side of the boat which I was standing on. There was so much noise. They were landing everywhere.
I thought I had [taken cover] by going near the top of the boat so the helicoptor was obscured behind it. I'm automatically thinking there's no way they would attack this flotilla using live ammunition. It just doesn't even enter the head that they would use live ammunition. I'm thinking rubber bullets.
The first fatality was a photographer. He was holding his camera up to take photographs up on the roof and he received a bullet in the forehead. So I knelt down next to him, put my hand under his head, not thinking, and then I realised the extent of his injuries. This was the realisation that things had got crazy. He was still breathing. I understood the sound of the breathing from when my grandfather died. So I knew he didn't have long. I just held his hand. I just thought his family wasn't there. I thought this brave man, who was only taking a photograph, is alone and it's his last moments.
What we went through on that flotilla, from being shot at, killed, bound for long lengths of time, this is what the Palestinians live with every day. Every day.
This blockade has to stop. It can't go on. These people have the right to rebuild their lives, rebuild Gaza.
I can speak for myself, and I can speak for my colleagues, and I can speak for the people who were also part of the Viva Palestina convoy, is that you are fixed on that goal, that's all you think about, breaking that siege and getting into Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid, having the world understand that this is not acceptable.
I find it very difficult to rationalise how you can be self-defending when you are the one that's committing the attack. So the Mavi Marmara and the other boats in the flotilla were on course. They were in international waters. There were no arms in these boats.
I have seen the images that the Israelis have put out of knives. Those knives came from the kitchen of the boat. They've sticks. Every passenger is part of the instruction, quite categorically were told under no circumstances must they take on board anything that is remotely conceived as a weapon.
I was searched and then I was handcuffed and then I was taken up to the upper deck. Already outside on their knees, hands bound behind were two rows of men that were already bound. Some were blindfolded. So the decks started to fill up with all of these people, all bound, were yelled at, told to shut up, we have the guns pointed at us. We were detained outside the boat, on the decks, in that position, for several hours. As the sun came up, while we were out there, they were trashing the inside of the boat. So everyone's luggage was opened, cameras, money. We saw possessions being taken out, video footage, everything.
[Then] to be shoved into the prison van that can only hold three people, and being locked in there and not being able to do anything about it.
It was horrendous that nine had to die on a humanitarian flotilla. They were aid workers, humanitarian aid workers. There was a boy of nineteen years old, he was at the beginning of his life, he was shot five times.
I don't look [to die for this cause]. I don't think my mother would appreciate it! I would give the most that I can. I believe that you don't stop trying. You've got to keep trying with this.
I get a lot of lectures when I go home. Don't do it again. But we are. We're doing another land convoy.
I'm just committed to believing that the Palestinians have a right to exist as you and I do.
There was nothing in our planning that involved any form of defence or violence. We knew something was going to happen. We thought they may have just tried to block us. [Israeli boats were] chasing. It is one memory that I probably won't forget and stands in my mind is the sound of the engine of the Mavi Marmara accelerating before I even reached up to the upper deck. At the same time the helicoptor started hovering over the roof of the boat.
[The sound of weapons] penetrates into your hearing so deep. You're trying to work out what's going on. It's very disorientating. It's very hard to tell where it's coming from. I know it's coming from the zodiacs and I know it's coming from up in the roof and it's coming down the starboard side of the boat which I was standing on. There was so much noise. They were landing everywhere.
I thought I had [taken cover] by going near the top of the boat so the helicoptor was obscured behind it. I'm automatically thinking there's no way they would attack this flotilla using live ammunition. It just doesn't even enter the head that they would use live ammunition. I'm thinking rubber bullets.
The first fatality was a photographer. He was holding his camera up to take photographs up on the roof and he received a bullet in the forehead. So I knelt down next to him, put my hand under his head, not thinking, and then I realised the extent of his injuries. This was the realisation that things had got crazy. He was still breathing. I understood the sound of the breathing from when my grandfather died. So I knew he didn't have long. I just held his hand. I just thought his family wasn't there. I thought this brave man, who was only taking a photograph, is alone and it's his last moments.
What we went through on that flotilla, from being shot at, killed, bound for long lengths of time, this is what the Palestinians live with every day. Every day.
This blockade has to stop. It can't go on. These people have the right to rebuild their lives, rebuild Gaza.
I can speak for myself, and I can speak for my colleagues, and I can speak for the people who were also part of the Viva Palestina convoy, is that you are fixed on that goal, that's all you think about, breaking that siege and getting into Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid, having the world understand that this is not acceptable.
I find it very difficult to rationalise how you can be self-defending when you are the one that's committing the attack. So the Mavi Marmara and the other boats in the flotilla were on course. They were in international waters. There were no arms in these boats.
I have seen the images that the Israelis have put out of knives. Those knives came from the kitchen of the boat. They've sticks. Every passenger is part of the instruction, quite categorically were told under no circumstances must they take on board anything that is remotely conceived as a weapon.
I was searched and then I was handcuffed and then I was taken up to the upper deck. Already outside on their knees, hands bound behind were two rows of men that were already bound. Some were blindfolded. So the decks started to fill up with all of these people, all bound, were yelled at, told to shut up, we have the guns pointed at us. We were detained outside the boat, on the decks, in that position, for several hours. As the sun came up, while we were out there, they were trashing the inside of the boat. So everyone's luggage was opened, cameras, money. We saw possessions being taken out, video footage, everything.
[Then] to be shoved into the prison van that can only hold three people, and being locked in there and not being able to do anything about it.
It was horrendous that nine had to die on a humanitarian flotilla. They were aid workers, humanitarian aid workers. There was a boy of nineteen years old, he was at the beginning of his life, he was shot five times.
I don't look [to die for this cause]. I don't think my mother would appreciate it! I would give the most that I can. I believe that you don't stop trying. You've got to keep trying with this.
I get a lot of lectures when I go home. Don't do it again. But we are. We're doing another land convoy.
I'm just committed to believing that the Palestinians have a right to exist as you and I do.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
TROUBLED WATERS
Troubled waters. A rather whimsical title for the content it heads up. Almost romantic. Mills and Boon. Gentle and evasive. The title for an Israeli documentary about two of eighteen Jewish families who live on Palestinian land in Gaza around 2000, and who fish from the same beach as Palestinians.
These Israeli settlers are not fanatics, one father is a professed left-winger, but nevertheless the parents possess this gentle and evasive self-centredness. A quiet will to dominate. If the fact of illegal settlement is completely overlooked it is so easy to blame the Arabs. Superficially there is this hail fellow well met friendship with the Palestinian fisherman. They sit on the beach and eat together. But it is all completely phoney.
The larger political scene brings into being the second Intifada. Immediately one father demands of the military that they destroy Palestinian crops. Those bastards want to harm innocent children. If they take something of ours, we will take something of theirs. If they harm us we will harm them 10 times over.
Meanwhile aerial bombardment of Gaza is compared to Palestinian gunfire. When they shoot at night and the kids are terrified we don't feel safe. Meanwhile there is devastation in Gaza following helicopter assault. With satisfied looks they watch TV showing terrified Palestinian children and learning that there is one dead and over fifty wounded. Let them fear a bit.
Then one of the women phones a Palestinian fisherman. Why? Is it some undetected need to fraternise? Is it a hidden wish to hear that the other suffers? The Palestinian gives nothing away. The woman then applies guilt. You have turned us into paupers, we have no money. Things could be better you know.
That war criminal Sharon comes into office and these few settlers are given increased security, funding and flasher homes with swimming pools. Still they complain while Palestinian agriculture remains erased from the land. Having just made them comfortable Sharon then decides to embark upon his scheme to lock up Gaza and focus on the West Bank. The settlers have to leave. They wallow in increased self-pity.
An unmarried man lives with one of the families. He us quite glad to be moving into Israel. Why? Apparently more chance to get married. Picking grapes with one of the children he asks: You know whose vines these are? Arabs who used to live here. Their homes were demolished. They had the cream of the land out here. Now it's ours. Is he teaching the child to pity or to gloat? The ambiguity encompasses both possibilities at the same time, resulting in moral stultification.
But a ray of hope. One of the daughters tells her father that she has no problem with the Arabs. When she was younger she saw more of them than Grandma. Left-wing father says to her: This is Israel. She replies: No it is not. He responds: This is Greater Israel. May that young woman retain her genuine integrity and not be smothered by national conditioning.
At the very end as they leave one of the women declare: All of this goes to the Arabs. As if it was not theirs before and should not be theirs in the future.
These Israeli settlers are not fanatics, one father is a professed left-winger, but nevertheless the parents possess this gentle and evasive self-centredness. A quiet will to dominate. If the fact of illegal settlement is completely overlooked it is so easy to blame the Arabs. Superficially there is this hail fellow well met friendship with the Palestinian fisherman. They sit on the beach and eat together. But it is all completely phoney.
The larger political scene brings into being the second Intifada. Immediately one father demands of the military that they destroy Palestinian crops. Those bastards want to harm innocent children. If they take something of ours, we will take something of theirs. If they harm us we will harm them 10 times over.
Meanwhile aerial bombardment of Gaza is compared to Palestinian gunfire. When they shoot at night and the kids are terrified we don't feel safe. Meanwhile there is devastation in Gaza following helicopter assault. With satisfied looks they watch TV showing terrified Palestinian children and learning that there is one dead and over fifty wounded. Let them fear a bit.
Then one of the women phones a Palestinian fisherman. Why? Is it some undetected need to fraternise? Is it a hidden wish to hear that the other suffers? The Palestinian gives nothing away. The woman then applies guilt. You have turned us into paupers, we have no money. Things could be better you know.
That war criminal Sharon comes into office and these few settlers are given increased security, funding and flasher homes with swimming pools. Still they complain while Palestinian agriculture remains erased from the land. Having just made them comfortable Sharon then decides to embark upon his scheme to lock up Gaza and focus on the West Bank. The settlers have to leave. They wallow in increased self-pity.
An unmarried man lives with one of the families. He us quite glad to be moving into Israel. Why? Apparently more chance to get married. Picking grapes with one of the children he asks: You know whose vines these are? Arabs who used to live here. Their homes were demolished. They had the cream of the land out here. Now it's ours. Is he teaching the child to pity or to gloat? The ambiguity encompasses both possibilities at the same time, resulting in moral stultification.
But a ray of hope. One of the daughters tells her father that she has no problem with the Arabs. When she was younger she saw more of them than Grandma. Left-wing father says to her: This is Israel. She replies: No it is not. He responds: This is Greater Israel. May that young woman retain her genuine integrity and not be smothered by national conditioning.
At the very end as they leave one of the women declare: All of this goes to the Arabs. As if it was not theirs before and should not be theirs in the future.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
THE ISRAELI TAKE
The Israeli Take was an imported "in-depth" news item shown last night on NZTV Sunday programme. Previously we had had a home-grown item interviewing Nicola Enchmarch, a real Kiwi hero, who had been on the Mavi Marmara. She had attended to a dying man who had been shot numerous times, including the head. She did not hide down below with other women, she was obviously not an extremist, and she had important things to say about what happened. But she had a wonderful Michaelic will and focus for what had to be done for the people of Gaza.
The Israeli Take threatened to be a complete excuse for the Israeli military, but surprisingly the voices from two or three persons on board the Mavi Marmara were included. Perhaps in the interest of "balance", for the whole item was the usual ambiguous establishment news item in which no firm journalistic stance was taken. It was an essentially disgraceful piece of work which chose not to deal with the relevant issue of the blockade. Instead time was wasted on wondering who started the hostility, as though - yet again - we are dealing with two equal and morally equivalent forces.
If I put aside the fact that the Israelis have no right to own a good deal of the eastern Mediterranean and do just what they like there, and were therefore "starting" the "fight" - having already started it by setting up Gaza as a concentration camp - if I put these facts aside, the programme itself seemed to answer this question for me. The Israeli commander was heard to warn the Mavi Marmara that it was entering an area of hostility - that is, an area made hostile by the presence and intentions of Israeli forces. But the programme makers chose not to notice this.
Instead I think we were shown men on the Mavi Marmara sawing lengths of metal from the railings, as if this was the moment which started the fight. It was also the moment at which the programme makers seriously took the side of the Israelis by implying that it is not OK to take steps to defend yourself from a pirate in uniform. As if it is not quite the done thing to actually be serious about the objective of the flotilla. As if it was indeed just a stunt. The Israelis - and presumably the British programme makers - do not accept the right of others to resist.
When I see men making weapons out of a ship's railing I draw the conclusion that essentially they did not have weapons. When I realise that not a single Israeli soldier was killed this conclusion is reinforced. When I learn that firearms taken from Israeli soldiers were not used against them, even the moral standing of the flotilla is reinforced.
This was a programme which enabled the Israeli perspective to be given. What did we get? Surprisingly little. We saw flotilla men justifiably manhandling - but not killing - soldiers who assumed they had a right to board a vessel. We saw men making those metal bars. We saw - note this well - Muslim men having an anti-Israeli meeting. Surprise, surprise. With an adversary capable of any crime it would have been just one way to bolster courage. We heard Israeli soldiers claiming they were being shot at. Did any of them receive gunshot wounds? The Israelis and the programme failed to say.
We were told that the Israeli commandos fired paint-ball guns, as though they were carrying out an exercise in benevolence. An example of Israeli humour perhaps? The programme told us that the very first person shot was shot by a paint-ball. He was one of the persons from the Mavi Marmara who was interviewed, but curiously he was not asked - for the viewer anyway - to confirm that his seeming agony on the ground and the red patch on his body was due to a paint-ball. It would have been so easy to have cleared this matter up.
Having been thumped by establishment media for presuming to resist tyranny, the flotilla was then trounced with the accusation that they were not so much humanitarian, as political. How dare they also presume to take part in the political process. The writer William Trevor was once asked if he was a political person. He replied that he took a concerned interest in matters that occurred in the world, but this did not make him political. I take this as a starting point and from this one's concern is made to be political by others who really are political. If you are concerned and do nothing about it you are not political. If you do something about it you are forced to be political. Yet you have as much right to be political as any other human being set up as an agent of state.
Once again time was wasted on the intentions of the flotilla, rather than the obscenity of people in a concentration camp. There is absolutely no shame in saying that the flotilla was both humanitarian and political. The people of Gaza needed to be strengthened and the state of Israel needed to be weakened.
This accusation of political action was reinforced by the programme makers by making fun of some of the items eventually delivered to Gaza. Wheelchairs which appeared to have been damaged in transit from helpful Israel, and out of date medicines. The programme did not wonder why so many wheelchairs were in bad condition. It did not imagine that perhaps any medicine is better than none and that only the comfortable worry about expiry dates. No, these two amusing items reinforced the supposed hypocrisy of the flotilla mission, rather than perhaps its ability to do the best it could with the resources available.
The Israeli Take threatened to be a complete excuse for the Israeli military, but surprisingly the voices from two or three persons on board the Mavi Marmara were included. Perhaps in the interest of "balance", for the whole item was the usual ambiguous establishment news item in which no firm journalistic stance was taken. It was an essentially disgraceful piece of work which chose not to deal with the relevant issue of the blockade. Instead time was wasted on wondering who started the hostility, as though - yet again - we are dealing with two equal and morally equivalent forces.
If I put aside the fact that the Israelis have no right to own a good deal of the eastern Mediterranean and do just what they like there, and were therefore "starting" the "fight" - having already started it by setting up Gaza as a concentration camp - if I put these facts aside, the programme itself seemed to answer this question for me. The Israeli commander was heard to warn the Mavi Marmara that it was entering an area of hostility - that is, an area made hostile by the presence and intentions of Israeli forces. But the programme makers chose not to notice this.
Instead I think we were shown men on the Mavi Marmara sawing lengths of metal from the railings, as if this was the moment which started the fight. It was also the moment at which the programme makers seriously took the side of the Israelis by implying that it is not OK to take steps to defend yourself from a pirate in uniform. As if it is not quite the done thing to actually be serious about the objective of the flotilla. As if it was indeed just a stunt. The Israelis - and presumably the British programme makers - do not accept the right of others to resist.
When I see men making weapons out of a ship's railing I draw the conclusion that essentially they did not have weapons. When I realise that not a single Israeli soldier was killed this conclusion is reinforced. When I learn that firearms taken from Israeli soldiers were not used against them, even the moral standing of the flotilla is reinforced.
This was a programme which enabled the Israeli perspective to be given. What did we get? Surprisingly little. We saw flotilla men justifiably manhandling - but not killing - soldiers who assumed they had a right to board a vessel. We saw men making those metal bars. We saw - note this well - Muslim men having an anti-Israeli meeting. Surprise, surprise. With an adversary capable of any crime it would have been just one way to bolster courage. We heard Israeli soldiers claiming they were being shot at. Did any of them receive gunshot wounds? The Israelis and the programme failed to say.
We were told that the Israeli commandos fired paint-ball guns, as though they were carrying out an exercise in benevolence. An example of Israeli humour perhaps? The programme told us that the very first person shot was shot by a paint-ball. He was one of the persons from the Mavi Marmara who was interviewed, but curiously he was not asked - for the viewer anyway - to confirm that his seeming agony on the ground and the red patch on his body was due to a paint-ball. It would have been so easy to have cleared this matter up.
Having been thumped by establishment media for presuming to resist tyranny, the flotilla was then trounced with the accusation that they were not so much humanitarian, as political. How dare they also presume to take part in the political process. The writer William Trevor was once asked if he was a political person. He replied that he took a concerned interest in matters that occurred in the world, but this did not make him political. I take this as a starting point and from this one's concern is made to be political by others who really are political. If you are concerned and do nothing about it you are not political. If you do something about it you are forced to be political. Yet you have as much right to be political as any other human being set up as an agent of state.
Once again time was wasted on the intentions of the flotilla, rather than the obscenity of people in a concentration camp. There is absolutely no shame in saying that the flotilla was both humanitarian and political. The people of Gaza needed to be strengthened and the state of Israel needed to be weakened.
This accusation of political action was reinforced by the programme makers by making fun of some of the items eventually delivered to Gaza. Wheelchairs which appeared to have been damaged in transit from helpful Israel, and out of date medicines. The programme did not wonder why so many wheelchairs were in bad condition. It did not imagine that perhaps any medicine is better than none and that only the comfortable worry about expiry dates. No, these two amusing items reinforced the supposed hypocrisy of the flotilla mission, rather than perhaps its ability to do the best it could with the resources available.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
KIA ORA GAZA
Six New Zealanders - Kia Ora Gaza - will be taking part sometime in September 2010 in another movement by land to subvert Israel's illegal and medieval blockade of Gaza. They have my full support. They are far more true heroes than the first New Zealand fatality in Afghanistan whose body has arrived back amid a sickening political and media hype. He was merely doing a job he loved and was paid for which potentially if not really involved killing civilians.
Presumably after Israel played its passport game in New Zealand some years ago we have been blessed with the absence of an Israeli embassy. Now it is back. The very evening Kia Ora Gaza was announced on New Zealand establishment television news we had to put up with the sight and sound of the Israeli ambassador being allowed to comment. He had the temerity to say that Kia Ora Gaza is not the Kiwi way. This is from a person who comes from a country which does not share the same values as Kiwis, who wish others well, are tolerant of people of other cultures, religions and governments, and who hate bullies.
Israel cannot continue to keep playing the same card. More people see that it is a domineering, trouble-making bully, with one set of rules for everyone else and none for itself. Without the United States it would disintegrate, having brought this on itself.
Does Israel imagine that it can continue on its current path indefinitely? It has become the most despicable nation on earth. Why? Because it should know better. But it is as if the state of Israel has been established and led by low class thugs. Israel has little to do with the best in Jewish culture, thought and activity. It actually represents the worst - that tendency to materialism, spitefulness and lack of compassion.
Presumably after Israel played its passport game in New Zealand some years ago we have been blessed with the absence of an Israeli embassy. Now it is back. The very evening Kia Ora Gaza was announced on New Zealand establishment television news we had to put up with the sight and sound of the Israeli ambassador being allowed to comment. He had the temerity to say that Kia Ora Gaza is not the Kiwi way. This is from a person who comes from a country which does not share the same values as Kiwis, who wish others well, are tolerant of people of other cultures, religions and governments, and who hate bullies.
Israel cannot continue to keep playing the same card. More people see that it is a domineering, trouble-making bully, with one set of rules for everyone else and none for itself. Without the United States it would disintegrate, having brought this on itself.
Does Israel imagine that it can continue on its current path indefinitely? It has become the most despicable nation on earth. Why? Because it should know better. But it is as if the state of Israel has been established and led by low class thugs. Israel has little to do with the best in Jewish culture, thought and activity. It actually represents the worst - that tendency to materialism, spitefulness and lack of compassion.
Monday, May 31, 2010
TRUE HEROES
I know that the people of Gaza will honour those international citizens who took part in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla May 2010, and in particular those who have lost their lives. Beneath the sorrow there will be a kind of joy that others in the world care enough to be injured or to lose their lives for them, out of love and concern for them.
You have the unreal heroes of Hollywood, but the real hero is physically helpless against evil and yet steps forward and lays his/her life on the line regardless. Jesus Christ is the epitomy of the true hero. He was oppressed both by the power of empire and by the corruption of the Jewish establishment yet courted their violence by having another vision.
Whatever the ethnicity and religion of those on the Flotilla they have all acted in a Christian way, some laying down their lives for others. The true hero is a true Christian.
There would have been those on the Flotilla who knew very well that Israel was capable of anything and yet they did not allow their sense of foreboding and vulnerability to deter them. This is true heroism. When you know that you are up against implacable power and refuse to back down you are among the best that the world can produce.
The foreign minister of a nation which is a master at provocation described the Flotilla as a provocation. The foreign minister of a nation which is supreme at manipulating public perception described the Flotilla as a publicity stunt. Yet for a mere provocation and publicity stunt this sick nation of Israel determines that at least 9 international unarmed civilians must be killed and at least 50 injured.
If this is a picture of Israeli behaviour toward the citizens of other countries only God knows how the people of Gaza manage to cope. There must be many true heroes among them.
You have the unreal heroes of Hollywood, but the real hero is physically helpless against evil and yet steps forward and lays his/her life on the line regardless. Jesus Christ is the epitomy of the true hero. He was oppressed both by the power of empire and by the corruption of the Jewish establishment yet courted their violence by having another vision.
Whatever the ethnicity and religion of those on the Flotilla they have all acted in a Christian way, some laying down their lives for others. The true hero is a true Christian.
There would have been those on the Flotilla who knew very well that Israel was capable of anything and yet they did not allow their sense of foreboding and vulnerability to deter them. This is true heroism. When you know that you are up against implacable power and refuse to back down you are among the best that the world can produce.
The foreign minister of a nation which is a master at provocation described the Flotilla as a provocation. The foreign minister of a nation which is supreme at manipulating public perception described the Flotilla as a publicity stunt. Yet for a mere provocation and publicity stunt this sick nation of Israel determines that at least 9 international unarmed civilians must be killed and at least 50 injured.
If this is a picture of Israeli behaviour toward the citizens of other countries only God knows how the people of Gaza manage to cope. There must be many true heroes among them.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
BAROUD, RAMZY. MY FATHER WAS A FREEDOM FIGHTER: GAZA'S UNTOLD STORY
Like Abdel Bari Atwan, Ramzy Baroud was born and lived in an Israeli concentration camp in Gaza, from where with the selfless effort of his father he also has managed to breath and write about his people and the Middle East. He is editor of PalestineChronicle.com
What is plain enough for me for the first time is that the state of Israel was already well on the way to being established regardless of the holocaust. The Zionists had been intent upon this for decades while the British and others allowed the terrorism to happen. Zionism is to the Jew as Nazism is to the German. They are both race-based, hate-filled ideologies. The Palestinians were set down for catastrophe long before any holocaust in Europe.
Baroud draws a loving picture of his father and gives an understanding of Palestinian and Israeli politics. As with any society, the elite were always essentially corrupt and collaborated with the occupiers. When a real democratic election occurred in 2006, a real choice, for which Baroud's father with a sense of liberation voted for Hamas because they were decent people, the United States and Israel were incapable of any action other than vengeful and immoral blockade.
Rating: Very good.
What is plain enough for me for the first time is that the state of Israel was already well on the way to being established regardless of the holocaust. The Zionists had been intent upon this for decades while the British and others allowed the terrorism to happen. Zionism is to the Jew as Nazism is to the German. They are both race-based, hate-filled ideologies. The Palestinians were set down for catastrophe long before any holocaust in Europe.
Baroud draws a loving picture of his father and gives an understanding of Palestinian and Israeli politics. As with any society, the elite were always essentially corrupt and collaborated with the occupiers. When a real democratic election occurred in 2006, a real choice, for which Baroud's father with a sense of liberation voted for Hamas because they were decent people, the United States and Israel were incapable of any action other than vengeful and immoral blockade.
Rating: Very good.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
THE ROLL CALL
An extract from Drinking the Sea at Gaza : Days and Nights in a Land under Siege, by Amira Hass appears in Tell Me No Lies : Investigative Journalism and its Triumphs, edited by John Pilger. Amira Hass is an Israeli correspondent regarded as the most courageous reporter of occupied Palestine. The injustices she reports in Gaza in the 1990s literally take your breath away.
Why should I be so concerned? Why cannot I be like most of Hass's Israeli readers, among the best of them, who read one of her items, have their breath taken away, but then put the knowledge aside and get on with their lives? Of course we do get on with our lives, we have to, but surely the putting aside is a consciously wilful action. We are choosing not to have a response. We are choosing to be an unresponsive bystander. This is the role the New Zealand media plays in relation to Gaza.
Amira learned from her mother the evil of the unresponsive bystander when being transferred from cattle truck to concentration camp German women stood on the side just looking. (Her father and mother survived, went to Israel where they refused to accept a house offered them which had been taken from Palestinians).
I am afflicted with an inner compulsion to react to injustice, to bullies. It is involuntary and I cannot put it aside. I do not know why injustice in the Middle East affects me more than in other parts of the world. I fully realise that the victim in this life may be the bully in the next. So why can I not say to myself: why worry? I wish I could. I dare say all those magnificent investigative journalists wish they could. All those people involved with human rights.
Amira Hass, choosing to live among the Palestinians, details the military and bureacratic inhumanity and torment they are subjected to. They are unable to live normally. Suffice to say that in the 10 - 15 years since it has become abundantly clear that Israel intends giving the Palestinians nothing and the only reason it insists upon a moderate Palestinian leader is because he will be amenable to management and the perpetuation of occupation and oppression.
The life of Gazans states Hass is synonymous with mass internment and suffocating constriction. One Gazan joke is that you can get an exit permit if you are about to die. Another joke is that only the roll call is missing. (The point of this latter not seen or appreciated by many Jewish Israelis). Another piece of humour: It's a good thing the roads are in such bad shape - it takes a whole hour to get from one end of the Strip to the other and you don't notice how small it is. If you drive really slowly, say fifteen miles an hour, you can pretend that you're actually going a very long way".
Here I am standing on the sideline wondering what on earth can the Gazans do to have some notice taken of them. They are concentrated into a sealed camp and that mythical international community does not give a damn. What if they adopted a measure of mass demonstration by secretly making or having made a concentration camp uniform? And everyone, literally everyone, began walking about their daily business in these camp clothes?
In what way would Israel go ballistic? Would it mow everyone down with machine guns? Would it put everyone into prison? Would it drive them into the sea? Would it turn the level of deprivation from malnutrition to mass starvation? Would we see the Israeli army back in Gaza full-time administering every neighbourhood and instituting a morning roll call?
Would we international bystanders find ourselves looking into the Gaza camp at skeletons in camp uniforms, some crawling, some dying, some dead? The question has to be asked: does Israel actually know to what depth of fascism it is prepared to sink? Would it even see the irony?
Or would the real international community get the point and refuse to cooperate with the United States, which would of course be blaming the victims for their outrageous bad taste.
Why should I be so concerned? Why cannot I be like most of Hass's Israeli readers, among the best of them, who read one of her items, have their breath taken away, but then put the knowledge aside and get on with their lives? Of course we do get on with our lives, we have to, but surely the putting aside is a consciously wilful action. We are choosing not to have a response. We are choosing to be an unresponsive bystander. This is the role the New Zealand media plays in relation to Gaza.
Amira learned from her mother the evil of the unresponsive bystander when being transferred from cattle truck to concentration camp German women stood on the side just looking. (Her father and mother survived, went to Israel where they refused to accept a house offered them which had been taken from Palestinians).
I am afflicted with an inner compulsion to react to injustice, to bullies. It is involuntary and I cannot put it aside. I do not know why injustice in the Middle East affects me more than in other parts of the world. I fully realise that the victim in this life may be the bully in the next. So why can I not say to myself: why worry? I wish I could. I dare say all those magnificent investigative journalists wish they could. All those people involved with human rights.
Amira Hass, choosing to live among the Palestinians, details the military and bureacratic inhumanity and torment they are subjected to. They are unable to live normally. Suffice to say that in the 10 - 15 years since it has become abundantly clear that Israel intends giving the Palestinians nothing and the only reason it insists upon a moderate Palestinian leader is because he will be amenable to management and the perpetuation of occupation and oppression.
The life of Gazans states Hass is synonymous with mass internment and suffocating constriction. One Gazan joke is that you can get an exit permit if you are about to die. Another joke is that only the roll call is missing. (The point of this latter not seen or appreciated by many Jewish Israelis). Another piece of humour: It's a good thing the roads are in such bad shape - it takes a whole hour to get from one end of the Strip to the other and you don't notice how small it is. If you drive really slowly, say fifteen miles an hour, you can pretend that you're actually going a very long way".
Here I am standing on the sideline wondering what on earth can the Gazans do to have some notice taken of them. They are concentrated into a sealed camp and that mythical international community does not give a damn. What if they adopted a measure of mass demonstration by secretly making or having made a concentration camp uniform? And everyone, literally everyone, began walking about their daily business in these camp clothes?
In what way would Israel go ballistic? Would it mow everyone down with machine guns? Would it put everyone into prison? Would it drive them into the sea? Would it turn the level of deprivation from malnutrition to mass starvation? Would we see the Israeli army back in Gaza full-time administering every neighbourhood and instituting a morning roll call?
Would we international bystanders find ourselves looking into the Gaza camp at skeletons in camp uniforms, some crawling, some dying, some dead? The question has to be asked: does Israel actually know to what depth of fascism it is prepared to sink? Would it even see the irony?
Or would the real international community get the point and refuse to cooperate with the United States, which would of course be blaming the victims for their outrageous bad taste.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
GAZA: A GIRL CALLED ALMAZA (JEWEL)
I am Almaza Ibraheem Helml Mahmoud Samouni. I'm in the seventh grade. I am thirteen years old. In the future, when I become a politician, I can work on children's rights for those who have been deprived of their families and were brought up as orphans
Every minute I remember my family. Every minute I remember when they were martyred in front of my eyes. I looked at my nephew, I saw that he was martyred. Also, I looked the other way, I saw all my family martyred. They were dead, lying together, one on top of the other. Really, it was a scene I couldn't believe.
All my family is gone at once. Thirty of my tribe was killed. It is completely unjust. Now, when Eid comes, I won't see my uncles. On the day of Eid I used to visit my uncles, go to uncle Talal's home, go to Rashad's home and go to Atia's home. What have I done to be deprived of my family, to be deprived of my uncles and my mother?
I was at home. We were unaware of anything. In the early morning about 6am the Israeli's started invading. First they invaded with planes and when they knew the area was safe for them the tanks and bulldozers followed after. About four o'clock at night there were suddenly shells and bullets coming inside our house. We went into the living room. We were very close to my uncle Talal's house. There's only a narrow pathway between us. They started firing shells that made a very loud noise and gave off a strong smell. Eventually we couldn't hear or breathe. We were suffocating. We were about to die and then suddenly the Israelis blew a hole in the wall and pointed their weapons at us. The look of them frightened me of course. If they're coming at night, how would you know who they were? You could not even see their shadow. They kicked us out of the house and sent us to Wael Samouni's house. We stayed there for three days without food, without water. Even the little children who wanted to drink - and some were about six months old - there was not even anything for them.
We stayed there for three days. My brother went to get some wood but when he was about to leave the house they fired a missile at him and he was martyred. So we had to go inside. I was left with my sister-in-law and her nine month old baby. They executed the baby. They opened fire on him. The little boy was martyred in front of her eyes, while he was in his mother's arms, cradled by his mother. He was executed right after they executed his father.
I went inside where I found them all martyred. I saw three missiles in the house. All of them were martyred. All of them were bleeding and they were in a pile, one on top of the other. A lot of bleeding, bleeding over each other.
We used to study here. We used to play here. This was my brother's room, here's my mother's room and here are my siblings' room who were all martyred. May Allah bless their souls. This is where my books were and I used to put my satchel here. I have a lot of memories.
This was mine when I was little. This was my mother's, may Allah bless her soul. This belonged to my brother Nassar, may Allah bless his soul. This is mine, I used to wear it when I went to the mosque. This is also mine. And this was my nephew Mo'tasem's, may Allah bless his soul. This is my mother's robe, may Allah bless her soul. This is my brother Ismail's, he was martyred.
Here is my uncle's house. We used to bake here. Here we used to play 'Idreas' with stones. Here is the mosque. Here we used to learn the Quran, pray and have lessons in Quran verses. Here, of course, was the praying place for men and upstairs there was a floor for the women.
Here you can see the martyrs. There is my brother Mohammad Ibraheem Samouni, and that is my cousin Walid. Here is the dome of the mosque where a crow used to stand. The dome was so high. This is the dome. We used to study here. Our teacher used to sit over here. It was a sitting room with the breeze blowing through. We used to come to study here and learn the Quran. Here, we used to have our meetings, bring the chairs and sit. The sheikh would sit here. This was a room where we used to sit and study.
Here we used to raise a lot of chickens. A lot. The Israelis bulldozed it and killed them all. Here there were olive trees from which we used to get olive oil and store olives to keep. Here was a pomegranate tree which we used to make the famous local dish 'Rummaniyya'. I used to love pomegranate, I used to love 'Rummaniyya' as its called. This is also where my uncle's wife's house was, my uncle who was martyred. My uncle Atia, he was her husband. My cousin was also martyred. Also, there were lots of orange trees here, there were citrus trees. Lots of trees.
This is the school, the destroyed school. They targetted the school with burning phosphorus bombs. They burned the school. The lab that we used to go to, it was also burned. We had drawn a map. Even that was destroyed, as you can see. They didn't leave anything untouched. This was the lab I used to go to and do everything. It was bombed as well. Here was the library where we used to borrow storybooks and sit and write. They've all been destroyed too. We used to go to a morning school then this was switched to the afternoon.
Now there are about sixty orphans, maybe more, they are all orphans. What have they done? A girl of two and a half who's now an orphan. Who will play with her, who's going to teach her? Her mother, father and elder brothers are all martyrs. Can a girl who's twelve or thirteen years old raise an eighteen month or two year old girl?
(ALMAZA'S FRIEND): No, because she doesn't ask or respond. When my mother was martyred, she was in her arms. We asked her: "Do you want to go to see your mother?" She said: "No, because mum is dead, she was shot by the plane. I don't want to go to her. There was so much bleeding from here and here, I don't want to go there". She refused because when my mother was martyred, she was in her arms and with my father. When they were putting the bandage on my father, when he was injured, she wouldn't ask about her or about anything else. She just keeps on screaming.)
We used to play here. The place was an empty yard. It was bulldozed.
I have the right to claim my rights because they deprived me of my mother and my sisters, deprived me of living in a good home and in a safe place. They took it all away and destroyed everything. This area was pretty, full of everything, trees, it was a nice green area. You can imagine what it looked like. When the Israelis came in, the left nothing.
We will never leave our place here. We will remain in it and Allah, please God, may make it easy for us, to help us rebuild our homes and live in them - Allah willing.
Every minute I remember my family. Every minute I remember when they were martyred in front of my eyes. I looked at my nephew, I saw that he was martyred. Also, I looked the other way, I saw all my family martyred. They were dead, lying together, one on top of the other. Really, it was a scene I couldn't believe.
All my family is gone at once. Thirty of my tribe was killed. It is completely unjust. Now, when Eid comes, I won't see my uncles. On the day of Eid I used to visit my uncles, go to uncle Talal's home, go to Rashad's home and go to Atia's home. What have I done to be deprived of my family, to be deprived of my uncles and my mother?
I was at home. We were unaware of anything. In the early morning about 6am the Israeli's started invading. First they invaded with planes and when they knew the area was safe for them the tanks and bulldozers followed after. About four o'clock at night there were suddenly shells and bullets coming inside our house. We went into the living room. We were very close to my uncle Talal's house. There's only a narrow pathway between us. They started firing shells that made a very loud noise and gave off a strong smell. Eventually we couldn't hear or breathe. We were suffocating. We were about to die and then suddenly the Israelis blew a hole in the wall and pointed their weapons at us. The look of them frightened me of course. If they're coming at night, how would you know who they were? You could not even see their shadow. They kicked us out of the house and sent us to Wael Samouni's house. We stayed there for three days without food, without water. Even the little children who wanted to drink - and some were about six months old - there was not even anything for them.
We stayed there for three days. My brother went to get some wood but when he was about to leave the house they fired a missile at him and he was martyred. So we had to go inside. I was left with my sister-in-law and her nine month old baby. They executed the baby. They opened fire on him. The little boy was martyred in front of her eyes, while he was in his mother's arms, cradled by his mother. He was executed right after they executed his father.
I went inside where I found them all martyred. I saw three missiles in the house. All of them were martyred. All of them were bleeding and they were in a pile, one on top of the other. A lot of bleeding, bleeding over each other.
We used to study here. We used to play here. This was my brother's room, here's my mother's room and here are my siblings' room who were all martyred. May Allah bless their souls. This is where my books were and I used to put my satchel here. I have a lot of memories.
This was mine when I was little. This was my mother's, may Allah bless her soul. This belonged to my brother Nassar, may Allah bless his soul. This is mine, I used to wear it when I went to the mosque. This is also mine. And this was my nephew Mo'tasem's, may Allah bless his soul. This is my mother's robe, may Allah bless her soul. This is my brother Ismail's, he was martyred.
Here is my uncle's house. We used to bake here. Here we used to play 'Idreas' with stones. Here is the mosque. Here we used to learn the Quran, pray and have lessons in Quran verses. Here, of course, was the praying place for men and upstairs there was a floor for the women.
Here you can see the martyrs. There is my brother Mohammad Ibraheem Samouni, and that is my cousin Walid. Here is the dome of the mosque where a crow used to stand. The dome was so high. This is the dome. We used to study here. Our teacher used to sit over here. It was a sitting room with the breeze blowing through. We used to come to study here and learn the Quran. Here, we used to have our meetings, bring the chairs and sit. The sheikh would sit here. This was a room where we used to sit and study.
Here we used to raise a lot of chickens. A lot. The Israelis bulldozed it and killed them all. Here there were olive trees from which we used to get olive oil and store olives to keep. Here was a pomegranate tree which we used to make the famous local dish 'Rummaniyya'. I used to love pomegranate, I used to love 'Rummaniyya' as its called. This is also where my uncle's wife's house was, my uncle who was martyred. My uncle Atia, he was her husband. My cousin was also martyred. Also, there were lots of orange trees here, there were citrus trees. Lots of trees.
This is the school, the destroyed school. They targetted the school with burning phosphorus bombs. They burned the school. The lab that we used to go to, it was also burned. We had drawn a map. Even that was destroyed, as you can see. They didn't leave anything untouched. This was the lab I used to go to and do everything. It was bombed as well. Here was the library where we used to borrow storybooks and sit and write. They've all been destroyed too. We used to go to a morning school then this was switched to the afternoon.
Now there are about sixty orphans, maybe more, they are all orphans. What have they done? A girl of two and a half who's now an orphan. Who will play with her, who's going to teach her? Her mother, father and elder brothers are all martyrs. Can a girl who's twelve or thirteen years old raise an eighteen month or two year old girl?
(ALMAZA'S FRIEND): No, because she doesn't ask or respond. When my mother was martyred, she was in her arms. We asked her: "Do you want to go to see your mother?" She said: "No, because mum is dead, she was shot by the plane. I don't want to go to her. There was so much bleeding from here and here, I don't want to go there". She refused because when my mother was martyred, she was in her arms and with my father. When they were putting the bandage on my father, when he was injured, she wouldn't ask about her or about anything else. She just keeps on screaming.)
We used to play here. The place was an empty yard. It was bulldozed.
I have the right to claim my rights because they deprived me of my mother and my sisters, deprived me of living in a good home and in a safe place. They took it all away and destroyed everything. This area was pretty, full of everything, trees, it was a nice green area. You can imagine what it looked like. When the Israelis came in, the left nothing.
We will never leave our place here. We will remain in it and Allah, please God, may make it easy for us, to help us rebuild our homes and live in them - Allah willing.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
GAZA: A CRIME OF WAR
Rawhiya was a 37 year old wife and mother, a native of Gaza, who was murdered on the 13 January 2009.
IMAN AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's neighbour): For 2 or 3 days before that day they had been firing phosphorus bombs randomly, but they weren't targetting our neighbourhood, they were actually firing from here, so we could see the bombs flying over our heads and falling in different areas.
We thought at first it was the usual firing of bombs overhead but then my neighbour Rawhiya started calling me. She was shouting to us that our homes were burning. We went out, the smoke was like fog covering everything. Every house received their share of phosphorus bombs. Rawhiya was trying to put out the fire at her house and other neighbours were doing the same. Then she told me hurry up your house is on fire. I ran to the house but it was all on fire.
The special forces had taken the high building and alleyway while we were putting out the fires. They later told the prisoners that they took that we saw you trying to put out the fire but we didn't see you carrying any weapons. They told them that if you had been carrying weapons we would have wiped you out.
The sun had not yet come up, it was still early, when we heard our neighbours scream. So I shouted What's wrong? and she said they're demolishing the house from the front while we are still inside.
They were destroying them like you crush a matchbox and we stood there watching. The soldier that was in the bulldozer was laughing, he was chewing gum and laughing. He turned the head of the bulldozer towards us in a playful manner as though he was telling us you are all going to die.
Nawhiya was leading them. She said if all the women and children start moving out then everyone else could follow afterwards. So she distributed white flags and led them out. She walked at the front carrying a white flag, followed by other women carrying their children.
A couple of radio stations called and we tried to echo our voice and call upon the world to find a solution for us, ar at least save Rawhiya. We didn't know at this point if she was still alive or dead.
No-one answered our call for help. At the end we decided to go out together and face the bombardment. The way we saw it was that it was better to walk into the fire than stay here and die under the rubble. If we went out some of us might get hit and some of us might die but at least someone would make it out alive to tell our story to the outside world.
I used to believe that there are international laws and that there are international courts that prevent Israel from abusing the rights of humans. I have learnt that Israel can do anything it wants without being punished, without anyone stopping it, or even asking it why. Israel can kill, demolish houses, destroy trees and wreck not only a small neighourhood or village but an entire country without anyone stepping in. The Security Council can't stop it, nor can international organisations. That's what I learnt.
NASSAR AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's husband): We used to think that this area was safe because there were no resistance fighters here. They used to bulldoze farms and agricultural lands and then leave. We didn't expect them to demolish houses. We didn't expect this extent of criminality.
At Khuza'a the villagers were used to living under the guns of the Israeli watch-towers and in the first two weeks of the war I'd become accustomed to the artillery and air-strikes but the night before Rawhiya's murder it became clear that this was something different.
She said she didn't want to leave her house and that if she was going to die, they were going to kill her, she would rather die in her own house. She said the white flags [?] so they wouldn't harm them, but they didn't respect the white flag.
My heart is wounded. It fills me with sorrow to look at the place where she died. We spent a lifetime together. She was my friend and companion since I was just 17 years old. What can I say?
HIBA AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's daughter): When they were putting out the fire the neighbour started coughing because phosporus emissions were suffocating him, so my Mum grabbed a towel and soaked it with water because we had been told that water helps.
I was right next to her, a centimetre away. My neighbour was also walking next to her. She was holding up her child as though a flag. Then he shot her. He shot her and she immediately fell to the ground.
I immediately knew that she died. I told the women she's gone. My mother died. They were trying to comfort me by saying she's going to be fine, but I shouted at them She's gone, she's dead, I know she's dead.
We were screaming and holding our white flags so they would see us and not demolish the house with us inside, but they didn't care, it made no difference to them, they started collapsing the walls with us inside.
(Crying) Whenever there's bombardment or gunfire starts we stay inside our houses. We can't go out. It is not fair what they are doing to us. We are imprisoned in our homes. We go from home to school, from school to home. What did we do wrong?
YASMINE AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's neighbour): And then they breached the wall of our house, so we tried to escape through the window. We all escaped and gathered in this empty square behind me.
We all gathered here and then the bulldozer breached the walls of the house here which was right next to us, so we started to escape. Just before that the Israelis had gathered the men and told them that we had to evacuate the area within half an hour. But it seem like they hadn't spoken with the special forces.
When we reached the top of the road the special forces were positioned in the house right opposite to us that took us by surprise.
A bullet hit Rawhiya in the head, It entered through one side and went out through the other. I was so close to her, but there were special forces in front of me. They started shooting at me again and the bullets were passing over my head, but they didn't get me this time, only a small splinter of metal that stuck in my arm.
We went through that alleyway but just as I was about to pass and cross an exit in the road, followed by most of the neighbourhood, they started shooting at us again, so everyone went in one of the houses on the street and were stuck there, but I kept running for about 300 metres until I reached an ambulance and paramedics who were waiting for us.
MOHAMMAD AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's neighbour): The place where you are sitting now was a staircase but they levelled it and placed a mattress on it. Then a soldier lay down on his stomach here. I was hearing everything that was happening and when they were taking me to the toilet they took off the blind-fold and untied my hands, so I could see a few things.
They asked me to sing along with them but I refused. They were still talking to me and one of them was translating. He said to me that if I don't do what they ask they will kill me, so I did what they asked, I started to sing with them until they retreated.
I was really scared. I was worried that something was going to happen to my family. I heard the shots being fired at Rawhiya and I heard her scream God is great. Well that scared me more because it meant that they were killing people and I thought that they were going to kill me when they started pulling out.
They were starting to pull out of the area and so they told us when you hear a few gunshots being fired you can leave. They didn't want anyone to see them, they didn't want to draw attention to themselves.
MARWAN ABU RAIDA (Paramedic): I drove straight there, I was still 60 -70 metres away from the body when what I think were Israeli special forces started shooting at me. I felt powerless, there was nothing I could do for her. My understanding was that medical teams were protected under international law and ethics. Medical teams should be protected, they should have freedom of movement and work because they are emergency services.
I ran out of the ambulance and headed toward the body of the martyr who was dead by then. She bled to death after she was lying there for about 12 hours. I took the body which was in horrible condition and headed for hospital in Khan Younis. You could tell she was killed intentionally because she received only one shot straight to the head. It was obvious that the sniper meant to kill her. I wish the International Court of Justice would take action against those who committed these crimes, because what we witnessed here is unbelievable terror.
IMAN AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's neighbour): For 2 or 3 days before that day they had been firing phosphorus bombs randomly, but they weren't targetting our neighbourhood, they were actually firing from here, so we could see the bombs flying over our heads and falling in different areas.
We thought at first it was the usual firing of bombs overhead but then my neighbour Rawhiya started calling me. She was shouting to us that our homes were burning. We went out, the smoke was like fog covering everything. Every house received their share of phosphorus bombs. Rawhiya was trying to put out the fire at her house and other neighbours were doing the same. Then she told me hurry up your house is on fire. I ran to the house but it was all on fire.
The special forces had taken the high building and alleyway while we were putting out the fires. They later told the prisoners that they took that we saw you trying to put out the fire but we didn't see you carrying any weapons. They told them that if you had been carrying weapons we would have wiped you out.
The sun had not yet come up, it was still early, when we heard our neighbours scream. So I shouted What's wrong? and she said they're demolishing the house from the front while we are still inside.
They were destroying them like you crush a matchbox and we stood there watching. The soldier that was in the bulldozer was laughing, he was chewing gum and laughing. He turned the head of the bulldozer towards us in a playful manner as though he was telling us you are all going to die.
Nawhiya was leading them. She said if all the women and children start moving out then everyone else could follow afterwards. So she distributed white flags and led them out. She walked at the front carrying a white flag, followed by other women carrying their children.
A couple of radio stations called and we tried to echo our voice and call upon the world to find a solution for us, ar at least save Rawhiya. We didn't know at this point if she was still alive or dead.
No-one answered our call for help. At the end we decided to go out together and face the bombardment. The way we saw it was that it was better to walk into the fire than stay here and die under the rubble. If we went out some of us might get hit and some of us might die but at least someone would make it out alive to tell our story to the outside world.
I used to believe that there are international laws and that there are international courts that prevent Israel from abusing the rights of humans. I have learnt that Israel can do anything it wants without being punished, without anyone stopping it, or even asking it why. Israel can kill, demolish houses, destroy trees and wreck not only a small neighourhood or village but an entire country without anyone stepping in. The Security Council can't stop it, nor can international organisations. That's what I learnt.
NASSAR AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's husband): We used to think that this area was safe because there were no resistance fighters here. They used to bulldoze farms and agricultural lands and then leave. We didn't expect them to demolish houses. We didn't expect this extent of criminality.
At Khuza'a the villagers were used to living under the guns of the Israeli watch-towers and in the first two weeks of the war I'd become accustomed to the artillery and air-strikes but the night before Rawhiya's murder it became clear that this was something different.
She said she didn't want to leave her house and that if she was going to die, they were going to kill her, she would rather die in her own house. She said the white flags [?] so they wouldn't harm them, but they didn't respect the white flag.
My heart is wounded. It fills me with sorrow to look at the place where she died. We spent a lifetime together. She was my friend and companion since I was just 17 years old. What can I say?
HIBA AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's daughter): When they were putting out the fire the neighbour started coughing because phosporus emissions were suffocating him, so my Mum grabbed a towel and soaked it with water because we had been told that water helps.
I was right next to her, a centimetre away. My neighbour was also walking next to her. She was holding up her child as though a flag. Then he shot her. He shot her and she immediately fell to the ground.
I immediately knew that she died. I told the women she's gone. My mother died. They were trying to comfort me by saying she's going to be fine, but I shouted at them She's gone, she's dead, I know she's dead.
We were screaming and holding our white flags so they would see us and not demolish the house with us inside, but they didn't care, it made no difference to them, they started collapsing the walls with us inside.
(Crying) Whenever there's bombardment or gunfire starts we stay inside our houses. We can't go out. It is not fair what they are doing to us. We are imprisoned in our homes. We go from home to school, from school to home. What did we do wrong?
YASMINE AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's neighbour): And then they breached the wall of our house, so we tried to escape through the window. We all escaped and gathered in this empty square behind me.
We all gathered here and then the bulldozer breached the walls of the house here which was right next to us, so we started to escape. Just before that the Israelis had gathered the men and told them that we had to evacuate the area within half an hour. But it seem like they hadn't spoken with the special forces.
When we reached the top of the road the special forces were positioned in the house right opposite to us that took us by surprise.
A bullet hit Rawhiya in the head, It entered through one side and went out through the other. I was so close to her, but there were special forces in front of me. They started shooting at me again and the bullets were passing over my head, but they didn't get me this time, only a small splinter of metal that stuck in my arm.
We went through that alleyway but just as I was about to pass and cross an exit in the road, followed by most of the neighbourhood, they started shooting at us again, so everyone went in one of the houses on the street and were stuck there, but I kept running for about 300 metres until I reached an ambulance and paramedics who were waiting for us.
MOHAMMAD AL NAJAR (Rawhiya's neighbour): The place where you are sitting now was a staircase but they levelled it and placed a mattress on it. Then a soldier lay down on his stomach here. I was hearing everything that was happening and when they were taking me to the toilet they took off the blind-fold and untied my hands, so I could see a few things.
They asked me to sing along with them but I refused. They were still talking to me and one of them was translating. He said to me that if I don't do what they ask they will kill me, so I did what they asked, I started to sing with them until they retreated.
I was really scared. I was worried that something was going to happen to my family. I heard the shots being fired at Rawhiya and I heard her scream God is great. Well that scared me more because it meant that they were killing people and I thought that they were going to kill me when they started pulling out.
They were starting to pull out of the area and so they told us when you hear a few gunshots being fired you can leave. They didn't want anyone to see them, they didn't want to draw attention to themselves.
MARWAN ABU RAIDA (Paramedic): I drove straight there, I was still 60 -70 metres away from the body when what I think were Israeli special forces started shooting at me. I felt powerless, there was nothing I could do for her. My understanding was that medical teams were protected under international law and ethics. Medical teams should be protected, they should have freedom of movement and work because they are emergency services.
I ran out of the ambulance and headed toward the body of the martyr who was dead by then. She bled to death after she was lying there for about 12 hours. I took the body which was in horrible condition and headed for hospital in Khan Younis. You could tell she was killed intentionally because she received only one shot straight to the head. It was obvious that the sniper meant to kill her. I wish the International Court of Justice would take action against those who committed these crimes, because what we witnessed here is unbelievable terror.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
GAZA WAR WON'T STOP DAD
During Israel the Brave's most recent all-out assault on the people of Gaza I read an item in the local newspaper entitled "Gaza war won't stop dad's trip to Israel" in which a Devonport resident was returning to Israel to be at his daughter's graduation. It sounded as if he were doing a brave thing in the face of danger and adversity. I wondered if he was feeling a little fearful of being subject to the humiliation of Gazan airport officials and Gazan security checkpoints on his arrival. Or whether, once installed in Israel, he feared a sudden neighbourhood attack from Gazan aircraft and helicopter gunships. Or whether, perhaps, he feared the arrival of Gazan tanks in the street intent upon levelling his dwelling and even killing him as he tried to make his escape, mistaking him for a sniper. His death an unfortunate event in the name of Gazan security. My heart goes out to him.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
ISRAEL IN PALESTINE: A PRIMER
Criticism of Israel often leads to claims of anti-Semitism by apologists which are designed to deflect attention from the issues which merit discussion. They are as hateful in their determined intolerance and dishonesty as anti-Semitism itself.
If what Israel has just committed in Gaza had been done by any other nation without the acceptance of the United States, the whole world would be voicing its criticism.
In his Nobel Prize speech Harold Pinter stated: “The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them”. The same could be said about Israel. Certainly the New Zealand mainstream media are extremely hesitant in criticising Israel.
I have tried to take an interest in the Israel / Palestine situation for four decades, and I believe that I have reached a number of valid conclusions. None of them are controversial and I apologise for their obvious nature, but they appear bothersome because apparently we are meant to keep quiet.
The first of my conclusions is that Israel is a nation founded by terrorist activity. An increasingly aggressive settlement of Palestine from the 1880s leading to terrorism in the 20th century killed and drove from their homes and lands 750,000 Palestinians. Many of these people and their descendants now exist in Gaza. It is not acceptable for Jewish people, renowned for intellectual and artistic achievement, to use religion and its texts as an excuse for this terrorism. And although it is understandable, it is also both dishonest and unacceptable to use the holocaust as an excuse.
Israel is not a victim. Jewish people in World War Two were victims, but the contemporary state of Israel is a powerful military force, fully supported by the most powerful nation on earth. It is wrong for Israel to continue to convince itself and the world that it is always and essentially the victim.
Israel is a racist society. If you found a nation for one group of people, a Jewish nation, then it follows as a matter of fact that the foundation of your nation is racist. It also follows that another group of people, the Palestinians, previously and still living within this nation are unavoidably a negative problem. So long as Israel = Jewish nation the mindset of any Israeli government to the Palestinians will be inherently racist. This is completely at variance with social developments in Western countries, mistakenly said to share common values with Israel, which make efforts to forge multicultural societies.
Israel practices apartheid. It has chosen apartheid rather than multiculturalism because it must maintain Israel as a Jewish state. A growing, developing, educated and participating Palestinian population would be a threat to this. So Israel cannot allow peaceful coexistence where all individuals possess equal rights. Some elements of an apartheid state found in Israel include: complete control of all elements of the lives of a group of second class citizens; the need for ID cards in order to travel; the subjection to checkpoints for any movement; the requirement to live in defined areas; arbitrary arrest and detention without charge; the ability to kill without excuse or apology. Israel goes a step further than South Africa by building enormous walls and structures to encircle the defined areas. If the subject population threaten to get out of control, for example by electing the wrong party, then intervention occurs. Sometimes it just occurs anyway.
Israel has never negotiated in good faith. It has strung the Palestinians along for six decades. Negotiation is a game and an end in itself. There is always a reason not to do the right thing. There is always another condition to derail an agreement. There is always someone to blame. The blameworthy have included the PLO, then Fatah, and now Hamas – the very people you must talk to in order to find a just solution. If you demonise them then you do not have to be responsible for a solution, for any solution may mean that you have to relinquish power and control. Yet if Israel has an acceptable person with which to negotiate still nothing happens. Abbas, the Palestinian Fatah president, has been available for negotiation for some time now and Israel has given him nothing – except more checkpoints in the West Bank and more Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. When a person in his position feels the need to write in newspapers directly to the Israeli people for their understanding, this underlines the disdain with which the Israeli government is treating him. Israel need not negotiate with Palestinians when they are divided: Israel will not negotiate with Palestinians when they are united.
Israel has created and is creating the most enormous open prison system in the world. These prisons, given the relentless nature of Israeli policy and behaviour, are on their way via ghettoes to concentration camps. These prisons can be and are shut down at will at any time. This can be done in part or in whole whenever an excuse can be claimed, or it can be done quite arbitrarily. The imprisoned population can be subjected to lack of food, warmth, shelter and other basic necessities of life whenever the occupying power decides.
Israel is responsible for the Palestinian resistance. It is inevitable and a human right that when an occupying power mistreats its subjects they will resist. In films of World War Two we applaud the efforts of the Dutch and French resistance when they blow up the armaments and kill the soldiers of the occupying military force. The Palestinian resistance finds this difficult because they are so bottled up and the occupying force is so much more powerful. Because the Israeli military can mistreat the Palestinians from arm’s length the resistance has adopted the questionable tactic of firing rockets into the Israeli civilian population. Israel refuses to learn the right lesson from this, namely that it is unacceptable for any group to lose some of their people to military force. This tactic merely gives Israel the supreme excuse to blame and to kill further. Israel and “the West” refuse to acknowledge that it is the role of any resistance movement not to allow the occupying force to feel comfortable in its abusive power. In the current crisis, Israel speaks of seeking “peace and quiet” for itself, not ever of dialogue and justice.
Israel is completely self-centred. It appears to have a complete inability to empathise with others, to see their point of view, even to be interested in it. Its racism equates the death of one Israeli (even a soldier) to hundreds of Palestinians. If a human being is self-centred in this way we would say that his development is somewhere between a child and an adolescent with sociopathic tendencies. The USA, as parent of this unruly child, has overindulged and spoiled him all his life. As a result he is demanding, self-righteous, overbearing and out of control. If anyone in the neighbourhood dislikes his attitude and behaviour he will respond with some form of bullying aggression, knowing that Dad is always there to back him up. He becomes the neighbour from hell.
My final conclusion is that Israeli spokespersons lie to the media. Time and again they will, with a reasonable face, indicate what reasonable actions are being taken, only for the persistent media watcher to discover that Israel will not be doing those actions at all or are doing the exact opposite. It is the old story: pay no attention to what is said, but attend to what is done. Unfortunately, in “the West” it works the other way round for most people. When Israeli spokespeople speak to the media they do so from out of an attitude and national character which has created a militant, racist, apartheid society and all the trappings which go with this.
Some of these trappings include the stubborn assertion that Israel is always in the right, and also the inability to consider that a mistake or injustice has been committed, let alone a crime. This can lead to quite extraordinary statements: that because Hamas exists and because it lives among the Gazans it is responsible for the death of 400 children, not the Israeli military who fired missiles, shells and bullets at them. I assume that, in an individual, this severe inability to take responsibility for one’s actions would be recognised as some kind of mental or moral incapacity.
Norman Finkelstein, son of holocaust survivors, has said that if Israel does not wish to be likened to Nazis then it must stop behaving like Nazis. This is true not just for the war on Gaza, but for the war on all Palestinians for the last sixty years. Over this time Israeli policy has shown that it does not respect the Palestinians, it does not care about Palestinian civilians, and it does not want Palestinians to get too close. In the words of Peres it wishes the Palestinians would just disappear.
The only proper solution is integration. This happened in the US in the sixties and in South Africa in the nineties. De Klerk had the statesmanship to realise that apartheid could not continue, it was morally bankrupt. We cannot live in ethnically pure states and democracy cannot be based upon tribalism. There has to be a one-state solution. Part of the one-state solution requires compensation for the Palestinians. New Zealand has experience to offer in the manner in which crimes committed by an occupying people might be addressed by an integrated nation.
Imagine if New Zealand, which has the same kind of population numbers as Israel, were able to virtually dictate American foreign policy and thereby that of Europe? How weird. That one small country with such a small population could cause so much trouble in the world! It would surely go to our heads. We would probably come to believe that the United States was also our country.
If what Israel has just committed in Gaza had been done by any other nation without the acceptance of the United States, the whole world would be voicing its criticism.
In his Nobel Prize speech Harold Pinter stated: “The crimes of the United States have been systematic, constant, vicious, remorseless, but very few people have actually talked about them”. The same could be said about Israel. Certainly the New Zealand mainstream media are extremely hesitant in criticising Israel.
I have tried to take an interest in the Israel / Palestine situation for four decades, and I believe that I have reached a number of valid conclusions. None of them are controversial and I apologise for their obvious nature, but they appear bothersome because apparently we are meant to keep quiet.
The first of my conclusions is that Israel is a nation founded by terrorist activity. An increasingly aggressive settlement of Palestine from the 1880s leading to terrorism in the 20th century killed and drove from their homes and lands 750,000 Palestinians. Many of these people and their descendants now exist in Gaza. It is not acceptable for Jewish people, renowned for intellectual and artistic achievement, to use religion and its texts as an excuse for this terrorism. And although it is understandable, it is also both dishonest and unacceptable to use the holocaust as an excuse.
Israel is not a victim. Jewish people in World War Two were victims, but the contemporary state of Israel is a powerful military force, fully supported by the most powerful nation on earth. It is wrong for Israel to continue to convince itself and the world that it is always and essentially the victim.
Israel is a racist society. If you found a nation for one group of people, a Jewish nation, then it follows as a matter of fact that the foundation of your nation is racist. It also follows that another group of people, the Palestinians, previously and still living within this nation are unavoidably a negative problem. So long as Israel = Jewish nation the mindset of any Israeli government to the Palestinians will be inherently racist. This is completely at variance with social developments in Western countries, mistakenly said to share common values with Israel, which make efforts to forge multicultural societies.
Israel practices apartheid. It has chosen apartheid rather than multiculturalism because it must maintain Israel as a Jewish state. A growing, developing, educated and participating Palestinian population would be a threat to this. So Israel cannot allow peaceful coexistence where all individuals possess equal rights. Some elements of an apartheid state found in Israel include: complete control of all elements of the lives of a group of second class citizens; the need for ID cards in order to travel; the subjection to checkpoints for any movement; the requirement to live in defined areas; arbitrary arrest and detention without charge; the ability to kill without excuse or apology. Israel goes a step further than South Africa by building enormous walls and structures to encircle the defined areas. If the subject population threaten to get out of control, for example by electing the wrong party, then intervention occurs. Sometimes it just occurs anyway.
Israel has never negotiated in good faith. It has strung the Palestinians along for six decades. Negotiation is a game and an end in itself. There is always a reason not to do the right thing. There is always another condition to derail an agreement. There is always someone to blame. The blameworthy have included the PLO, then Fatah, and now Hamas – the very people you must talk to in order to find a just solution. If you demonise them then you do not have to be responsible for a solution, for any solution may mean that you have to relinquish power and control. Yet if Israel has an acceptable person with which to negotiate still nothing happens. Abbas, the Palestinian Fatah president, has been available for negotiation for some time now and Israel has given him nothing – except more checkpoints in the West Bank and more Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. When a person in his position feels the need to write in newspapers directly to the Israeli people for their understanding, this underlines the disdain with which the Israeli government is treating him. Israel need not negotiate with Palestinians when they are divided: Israel will not negotiate with Palestinians when they are united.
Israel has created and is creating the most enormous open prison system in the world. These prisons, given the relentless nature of Israeli policy and behaviour, are on their way via ghettoes to concentration camps. These prisons can be and are shut down at will at any time. This can be done in part or in whole whenever an excuse can be claimed, or it can be done quite arbitrarily. The imprisoned population can be subjected to lack of food, warmth, shelter and other basic necessities of life whenever the occupying power decides.
Israel is responsible for the Palestinian resistance. It is inevitable and a human right that when an occupying power mistreats its subjects they will resist. In films of World War Two we applaud the efforts of the Dutch and French resistance when they blow up the armaments and kill the soldiers of the occupying military force. The Palestinian resistance finds this difficult because they are so bottled up and the occupying force is so much more powerful. Because the Israeli military can mistreat the Palestinians from arm’s length the resistance has adopted the questionable tactic of firing rockets into the Israeli civilian population. Israel refuses to learn the right lesson from this, namely that it is unacceptable for any group to lose some of their people to military force. This tactic merely gives Israel the supreme excuse to blame and to kill further. Israel and “the West” refuse to acknowledge that it is the role of any resistance movement not to allow the occupying force to feel comfortable in its abusive power. In the current crisis, Israel speaks of seeking “peace and quiet” for itself, not ever of dialogue and justice.
Israel is completely self-centred. It appears to have a complete inability to empathise with others, to see their point of view, even to be interested in it. Its racism equates the death of one Israeli (even a soldier) to hundreds of Palestinians. If a human being is self-centred in this way we would say that his development is somewhere between a child and an adolescent with sociopathic tendencies. The USA, as parent of this unruly child, has overindulged and spoiled him all his life. As a result he is demanding, self-righteous, overbearing and out of control. If anyone in the neighbourhood dislikes his attitude and behaviour he will respond with some form of bullying aggression, knowing that Dad is always there to back him up. He becomes the neighbour from hell.
My final conclusion is that Israeli spokespersons lie to the media. Time and again they will, with a reasonable face, indicate what reasonable actions are being taken, only for the persistent media watcher to discover that Israel will not be doing those actions at all or are doing the exact opposite. It is the old story: pay no attention to what is said, but attend to what is done. Unfortunately, in “the West” it works the other way round for most people. When Israeli spokespeople speak to the media they do so from out of an attitude and national character which has created a militant, racist, apartheid society and all the trappings which go with this.
Some of these trappings include the stubborn assertion that Israel is always in the right, and also the inability to consider that a mistake or injustice has been committed, let alone a crime. This can lead to quite extraordinary statements: that because Hamas exists and because it lives among the Gazans it is responsible for the death of 400 children, not the Israeli military who fired missiles, shells and bullets at them. I assume that, in an individual, this severe inability to take responsibility for one’s actions would be recognised as some kind of mental or moral incapacity.
Norman Finkelstein, son of holocaust survivors, has said that if Israel does not wish to be likened to Nazis then it must stop behaving like Nazis. This is true not just for the war on Gaza, but for the war on all Palestinians for the last sixty years. Over this time Israeli policy has shown that it does not respect the Palestinians, it does not care about Palestinian civilians, and it does not want Palestinians to get too close. In the words of Peres it wishes the Palestinians would just disappear.
The only proper solution is integration. This happened in the US in the sixties and in South Africa in the nineties. De Klerk had the statesmanship to realise that apartheid could not continue, it was morally bankrupt. We cannot live in ethnically pure states and democracy cannot be based upon tribalism. There has to be a one-state solution. Part of the one-state solution requires compensation for the Palestinians. New Zealand has experience to offer in the manner in which crimes committed by an occupying people might be addressed by an integrated nation.
Imagine if New Zealand, which has the same kind of population numbers as Israel, were able to virtually dictate American foreign policy and thereby that of Europe? How weird. That one small country with such a small population could cause so much trouble in the world! It would surely go to our heads. We would probably come to believe that the United States was also our country.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
NOBEL OBAMA
Like Obama I and millions of others have a vision for peace and fail to do anything about it. Only our vision includes recognising that Hamas was democratically elected by its people. It includes acknowledgement that blockading these voters in an open prison and subjecting them to human rights and war crimes is not right nor peace-loving. At the very least it does not mean opposing the Goldstone report on the Gaza war at the United Nations.
Our vision means that we will give up interfering in South America. We will stop undermining governments democratically elected by their people. We will not support disaffected wealthy elites. We will stop building bases all over the world. We will not extend war-making in the Middle East. We will stop demonising other world figures and other countries. Instead we will stand up to the psychos leading our own country by the nose. We will treat Israel with discrimination. We will stop thinking so well of ourselves, that we the United States are somehow special and not subject to international law. We are just another country. We will look after the people in our own country properly, and this will peacefully help people in other countries.
A prominent New Zealand commentator has described Obama as a big fat disappointment. His vision of peace continues the Bush vision, only with a very charming smile upon the face of the tiger.
Does the corrupt and outrageous nature of this award mean that I can anticipate the Nobel Prize for Literature being won by Obama’s speechmakers?
TO BE OR NOT TO BE
I try hard not to think about things, to turn my back on what is happening, cover my head and hope for the best. I can see this is what many young people do and I feel sorry for them. They know matters are just too bad to face. I live my suburban life, I grow my vegetables, I go shopping, I try to read books which are not going to upset me, and most of all I only get my news from Television New Zealand.
There is simply nothing better than TVNZ news to keep me coddled and insulated from reality. Coalition of evil? Gaza? They simply do not exist. An attractive middle class Iranian woman is shot dead by an agent of a repressive regime. Axis of evil. TVNZ shows it over more than one evening. (And only 7 minutes of international news per evening) A Palestinian woman is shot dead on her own land by an agent of a repressive regime. It never happened.
Then I go and blow it. I look something up on the internet and discover what I fear: wickedness is continuing out there. The Israelis turn away a ship destined for Gaza with medicine and toys. No government of the coalition of evil does a thing or says a word. (Not TVNZ news either) Having performed a revised 2009 version of Guernica in front of the world it is business as usual for Israel. The wickedness and the evil of the civilisation I live in, a civilisation of pre-emptive strikes against civilian populations, fills me with disgust and shame.
The United States is so wedded to its own good opinion that it will dismantle its domestic base in order to pursue global power. Having driven the Muslim world into resistance it already begins to blame that world for the consequences. The U.S. is driven by fear and sentimentality, and both lead to insanity.
And Israel seems perfectly happy to be the match for global conflagration. Is this because the traumatised child grown up is going to take it out on all of us? Or is it because Israel is too full of people with a shameless ethnic superiority which they will insist upon until the bitter end?
Perhaps it is a mixture of both. Israel has been practicing both for decades against the
Palestinians with malicious spitefulness ........................................................................... forgive me, it is nearly time for me to go back to sleep for a while. I need some hack television journalism, to hear the sweet inanities of Simon Dallow and Wendy Petrie, to listen to the inconsequential splutter of Mark Sainsbury, and to wallow in the earnest emptiness of sports news ..................................................
There is simply nothing better than TVNZ news to keep me coddled and insulated from reality. Coalition of evil? Gaza? They simply do not exist. An attractive middle class Iranian woman is shot dead by an agent of a repressive regime. Axis of evil. TVNZ shows it over more than one evening. (And only 7 minutes of international news per evening) A Palestinian woman is shot dead on her own land by an agent of a repressive regime. It never happened.
Then I go and blow it. I look something up on the internet and discover what I fear: wickedness is continuing out there. The Israelis turn away a ship destined for Gaza with medicine and toys. No government of the coalition of evil does a thing or says a word. (Not TVNZ news either) Having performed a revised 2009 version of Guernica in front of the world it is business as usual for Israel. The wickedness and the evil of the civilisation I live in, a civilisation of pre-emptive strikes against civilian populations, fills me with disgust and shame.
The United States is so wedded to its own good opinion that it will dismantle its domestic base in order to pursue global power. Having driven the Muslim world into resistance it already begins to blame that world for the consequences. The U.S. is driven by fear and sentimentality, and both lead to insanity.
And Israel seems perfectly happy to be the match for global conflagration. Is this because the traumatised child grown up is going to take it out on all of us? Or is it because Israel is too full of people with a shameless ethnic superiority which they will insist upon until the bitter end?
Perhaps it is a mixture of both. Israel has been practicing both for decades against the
Palestinians with malicious spitefulness ........................................................................... forgive me, it is nearly time for me to go back to sleep for a while. I need some hack television journalism, to hear the sweet inanities of Simon Dallow and Wendy Petrie, to listen to the inconsequential splutter of Mark Sainsbury, and to wallow in the earnest emptiness of sports news ..................................................
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