Rockets, casualties, Gaza, Lebanon: two points of view

The common Israeli point of view:

• The latest killings and woundings of Israeli civilians by Hamas rockets are making the situation intolerable. The Hezbollah takeover of Lebanon is more proof that Iran is becoming a real threat to Israel. If we don't do something quickly, we'll be trapped between two Iranian entities: one in Lebanon and one in Gaza.
• We Israelis have to do something.
• What can we do?
• Minority view (very small minority, actually): talk with Hamas.
• Majority view:
• Attack them - destroy their military capability, and make the citizens of Gaza sorry that they elected the terrorists of Hamas.
• The goal of Hamas is the destruction of Israel. If we lower the pressure, all we're going to do is allow Hamas more time to gain power in order to achieve their goal of destroying Israel. Proof? Sure: we left Gaza, and what we got in return was more rockets than there were before.
• If the people of Gaza want to stop sufferring, they should prove to us that they want peace. We proved it to them by leaving Gaza, and all we got in return was proof that they want to destroy us.
  

My guess about the Arab point of view:

• The rockets on Israel are nothing compared to the sufferring of the innocent civilians in Gaza now and in Lebanon during the last war.
• The Israeli talk about "proving to us that they want peace" is pure propaganda. They didn't really leave Gaza, they just put a seige on Gaza. Their helicopters and airplanes never really left.
• The only way we can protest against the seige is by firing rockets. We'll keep firing rockets until the Israelis lift the seige.
• These rockets aren't doing any real harm - they're just proving to those cruel Israelis that they can't beat us. If we stop firing those rockets, then we lose our pride.
• Yes, Hamas wants to destroy Israel, but there's no way it can really achieve this in the forseable future, so the Israelis aren't really afraid. On the other hand, Hamas and Hezbollah are proof that we Arabs aren't so incapable as we used to think.

Did I get it correctly?

-IB

And another joint blog

I don't know the people behind this one, but it looks promising: http://gnblog.com/

A joint blog: from blockaded Gaza and bombarded Sderot

Two friends of mine have started a joint blog. It's called Life must go on in Gaza and Sderot. Usually there's nothing special about joint blogs. But this blog is being written by two people who live on opposite sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and their lives have been directly impacted by the violence.

Peace Man lives in Gaza. The Israeli blockade on Gaza made Peace Man walk 30 kilometers through the desert to buy basic goods in Egypt. He doesn't always have electricity to post.

Hope Man lives in Sderot. Rockets from Gaza frequently fall near his home. His wife and kids are already used to running to the shelters almost every day.

Nevertheless, those two people are maintaining their friendship and writing together.

Peace Man and Hope Man are two awesome and courageous people, who are able to overcome the shallow slogans and terminology of our societies and see the real human beings on the other side. They are a source of hope for me. I'm proud to be their friend.

Islam - the most easily offended religion?

"...Then one of my favourite students - a lovely, charming girl with a great sense of humour - said in a low, warning voice: “Teacher, we can’t joke about the Prophet Mohammed.”

This was the experience of Blake Evans-Pritchard in Khartoum. Not of Gillian Gibbons, who is now in a Sudanese jail awaiting deportation. Her students didn't warn her that Islam is easily offended, and now hundreds of Sudanese Muslims demand that she be executed for allowing her students to name a teddy bear Muhammed, the name of one of the kids in her class.

Are other religions as easily offended as Islam? I'm sure that every religion, and every nationality, has its soft spots. I assume that if a teacher in a Catholic school would name a teddy bear "Satan" than the parents of the children would get quite emotional. I know that anything slightly reminiscent of antisemitic terminology immediately raises a very big red flag for almost every Israeli Jew. But still, such mass demonstrations and calls for execution over a mere misunderstanding? I get the feeling that Islam is a very touchy and nervous religion.

Haven't posted for a while

... and it's probably not going to improve soon.

At least I'm in good company!

Truth is I've got a writer's block. A few weeks ago I started writing a post about my visit to Khaled's Holocaust Museum, but I can't get myself to finish it.