To the author of http://ingaza.wordpress.com

To the author of http://ingaza.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/next-time-it-will-hurt-more/: you mistranslated the writing in the first two pictures that have writing in them, and you obviously misunderstood what the soldiers who wrote them meant. Perhaps I can give you a better understanding of why the soldiers left this specific writing on the wall. Maybe it will also explain to you a little of why this sorry war happened.

The words photographed on those walls are the words of a song. This song is called "Hatikva". It is the Israeli anthem. It speaks of 2000 years of yearning for a homeland, and of being in a homeland without being subject to oppression. It embodies the collective mindset of the Israeli people, who deeply believe that our existence as a free people is seriously threatened by Hamas. Every rocket that Hamas had fired (and continues to fire) on Israel has a major effect on the Israeli collective mindset. It hits right where it hurts. It awakens our deepest fears. It strengthens our collective remembrance of being a people without a homeland, subject to the mercy or cruelty of whichever country we are refugees in, without being able to do anything about it. And it immediately awakens the protective instinct that Israeli existence is based on.

The soldiers who wrote the Israeli anthem on those walls were speaking their mind. They were not saying "we will destroy you", they were saying to you "you won't destroy us". The IDF soldiers in Gaza, just like most other Israelis, truly believe that Israel's existence is threatened by the Hamas.

If this cycle of violence is to ever end, you must understand that Israeli aggression, however terrible, is rooted in very deep fears.

The Israeli public has a mental weakness: it cannot stand being helpless. Israel cannot tolerate being fired upon without striking back. More than 10 years ago, Hamas came violently into the Israeli consciousness by killing Israeli women and children on Israeli buses. Hamas consistently claims that its goal is to destroy Israel. Hamas is holding an Israeli soldier captive for over 2 years without providing the red cross any access to him. It is seen by Israelis as a cruel and vicious organization, which did not hesitate to break the kneecaps of Gaza citizens who opposed it, and it has continuously fired Qassam rockets at Israel for over 8 years.

The Hamas has been waving a red cloth at a raging bull, and you are surprised that the raging bull has attacked.

Hamas keeps waving this red cloth by continuing the fire missiles on Israeli cities. What can you do to make Hamas stop waving this red cloth?

To Sumaiya

Sumaiya left a very emotional comment on a previous post of mine. The comment was phrased as a series of questions.

Sumaiya - I understand your pain. I feel much of it too. Nevertheless, I wish to give you my point of view by answering some of your questions.

Why are the Palestinians border closed?

 => because Hamas, which has basically declared a war on Israel, took over Gaza, and the Israelis are afraid of Hamas.
  => why did Hamas declare a war on Israel?
   => because Israel killed many Palestinians
    => why did Israel kill many Palestinians?
     => because the Palestinians killed many Israelis
.... and so on.

Why can the people of Gaza not leave or anyone go in to Gaza for the past 3 years?

=> see my answer to your previous question

Why is there a huge wall around the west bank (for how many years?)?

=> because Palestinian militants killed Israeli children by exploding themselves in civilian buses. The wall was built mostly as security measure. Nevertheless, it has caused suffering to innocent civilians.

Who builds walls around city's and keep people locked in? This is madness!

=> I agree. The situation is madness. Both sides have lost their head. Who carries explosives on their bodies, walks into a bus or a shopping mall and detonates? This is madness too.

The Palestinians have been living in horror for over 60 years and they have been locked within there own city's. The only weapon they have is homemade bombs (which is nothing compared to the weapon the Israeli army have) and there will to live on.

=> I disagree. Most palestinians have not been living in horror for over 60 years. They have been living in extremely bad conditions, but most of the time - not horror. The people of Gaza have been living in terrible despair for the past 3 years, and in absolute horror for the past 3 weeks.

Now and then just suddenly the Israeli army will open fire on the people of Gaza, just because they "suspect" that there is some kind of "terrorist" with in them! Killing innocent people and children.

=> The Israeli army has decided to regain its "deterrence". After the 2nd Lebanon war, the Israeli population began to fear that the Arabs are no longer afraid of the Israeli army. Israelis were afraid that the Iranians no longer fear Israeli retaliation, and that the Iranians will destroy Israel with a nuclear weapon. I have a feeling that the Israeli action in Gaza was also a message to Iran.

If there is to be peace then there has to be equal rights between both Palestinians and Israeli's.

=> I agree. But the Palestinians also have some work to do here. I explain more below when I suggest a non-violent struggle.

Why is there a wall around the west bank, is this how people are to live?

=> I answered this above, but I'd like to add that the wall is a border. There has also been a fence around Israel for over 60 years. It is also a wall. The wall causes more pain, because it passes through people's fields.

Why is Gaza peoples locked up in there own city. They are not given food or medical supplies or clean water. They are forced to live by digging tunnels and smuggling food and supplies though. Including weapons to fight back this oppression!

=> Fighting back violently is not the way to win. It only increases the oppression. The palestinians can win. All they have to do is renounce ALL violence - not just the Israeli violence. I suspect this will be even more difficult for them to do after the recent horrors.

You expect the people to be happily live like this and not fight back?

=> You are right. But this is also true from the Israeli side. We have been suffering from Arab violence for 100 years. I know that the Arab world doesn't see it this way, but this is how Israelis think. Israelis see themselves as fighting back.

Of course they will! What do you do watch your child starve to death and do nothing.

=> Please read my previous post.

How many Israelis died so far?

13!

How many Palestinians died in 3 weeks?

1100 and 5000 wounded critically!

=> For the past 60 years, every time that Israel decided to increase the amount of violence, it caused more pain to the Palestinians than to the Israelis. Ironically, every time that the Palestinians decided to increase the amount of violence, it also caused more pain to the Palestinians than to the Israelis. The Palestinians have much to gain from switching to a non-violent struggle. I hope that they will understand this some day.

And don't forget 3 years ago in Janeen how many Palestinians where killed?

5000!!!

And the Israelis denied it....so who killed them?

=> I have never heard of 5000 Palestinians dying in Janeen. I will appreciate references to objective sources (not Israeli or Arab - I don't trust either).

The people in Gaza are being attacked by the world strongest army, by sea, air and now land.

This is ridicules and sick the Gaza strip is such a small place and half the population are under 18 years old.

There is no food, no water, no place to live or to hide.

How can this be fair?

This is murder and all people who let this happen and support it are responsible.

Sumaiya

It is not fair. The entire situation is not fair. I was born into the conflict - I didn't start it. That isn't fair either. We should struggle to find a solution that will be fair to the children of the future.

Doctor from Gaza who works in Israel lost 3 children

First part is in Hebrew. English translation below.

קראתי חלק מהתגובות של גולשים לכתבה ב-ynet, והוספתי בעצמי תגובה.

הנה היא.

האסון הנורא של ד"ר עז א-דין אבו אל-עייש הוא אחד מתוך כמעט 1000 אסונות כאלו בעזה, שלא לדבר על מאות אלפי ילדים תמימים שבשארית חייהם ישאו את הצלקות הנפשיות של הטראומה של שלושת השבועות האחרונים. אין לי מושג לכמה עשרות אלפים מהם יש הלם קרב.

לכל מי שהגיב כאן והרגיש צורך להאשים את השמאל או את החמאס: אני מבין לליבכם. קשה להודות באשמה. זה מאוד אנושי להאשים מישהו אחר. כל כך קשה להיות שותפים לרצח.

אני מקווה שיום יבוא ונוכל להתסכל על עצמנו במראה, ולהבין לכמה סבל אנחנו אחראים. אז נוכל להגיד לפלשתינאים: הכאבתם לנו, אבל אנחנו איבדנו לחלוטין את העשתונות וגרמנו לכם סבל שלא יתואר. אנחנו אשמים בחלק גדול מאוד מהסבל שלכם. אנחנו מקווים שיום אחד תוכלו לסלוח לנו.

אני רוצה רק להסביר ולהוסיף למה שכתבתי שם, שהאשמה היא לא רק של צד אחד. לשני הצדדים יש חלק. אני מקווה שאם צד אחד יקח אחריות על החלק שלו, גם הצד השני יתבגר ויעשה את אותו הדבר.

An article in Hebrew in ynet tells of a physician from Gaza, who works in Israel as a doctor, and 3 of his children were killed by an Israeli shell.

Many of the reader comments to the article put the blame on Hamas. Others, on Israeli peace activists. A few of the commenters realized that Israel has gone too far in the violence.

I added a comment of my own. Here's rough translation:

The terrible disaster of the doctor from Gaza is one of almost a 1000 such disasters, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of innocent children which will bear the scar of the past three week's trauma for the rest of their lives. I don't know how many thousands will suffer from PTSD.

To everyone who commented on the article and felt the need to blame the Hamas or the Israeli left: I understand you. It is very difficult to admit your guilt. It is very human to blame others. It is so difficult to be a party to murder.

I hope that one day we will be able to look at ourselves in the mirror, and understand how much suffering we have caused. Then we will be able to tell the Palestinians: "you have hurt us, but we lost our head and caused you unmeasurable suffering. we are responsible for much of your suffering. we hope that one day you will find it in yourselves to forgive us."

I also want to emphasize, that I still think that not only one side is responsible. Both sides have a part. I hope that if one side will admit its own responsibility for the pain, than the other side will also grow up and do the same.

Gaza

For the last 8 years, several thousand regular Israelis were living in constant fear. Every few days they were shocked by a siren and had to run to the shelter. The other 6 million Israelis were angry and somewhat afraid, but mostly in the background of their lives. With the exception of the Lebanon war, which disrupted things for a while and hurt the national pride, life went on as usual.

But the fear and anger and hurt kept building up. Like a bag being slowly filled with acid. Slowly but surely. And in the past few months, when the Qassam attacks intensified, the building up of fear and anger intensified with them. Last week, the upcoming elections, like a needle, punctured the bag of acid.

And the anger and fear, built up over 8 years, exploded. Right into the faces of the residents of Gaza.


For the past few days, a million regular residents of Gaza have been living in absolute terror. The earth is literally shaking under their feet with constant explosions. Innocent people are afraid to go outside lest they be torn apart by a ton of dynamite. They are afraid to stay at home, because they don't know if the Israeli army thinks that their neighbors are Hamas activists. They can't buy food. They don't have electricity. The 8 years-worth of mounting fear and anger inside 6 million innocent Israelis is now being hurled at 1 million innocent Gazans.

Most Israelis don't realize this yet. We can't even begin to understand the amount of pain and terror that our army's attack is causing. We are too preoccupied with thoughts about Hamas rockets now reaching Ashdod and Ashqelon and Be'er Sheva, and the fear that if we do not destroy Hamas, then their rockets will reach the rest of Israel. And there's the restored pride in our army too. When you're afraid that a billion Muslims want to kill you, it's very comforting to know that you can count on your army. Especially if you know that "some of these lunatic Muslims" are working hard to get a nuclear bomb, and keep telling you that they want to kill you.


At some point in the future, some Israelis will realize the amount of terror inflicted by the IDF on the civilians in Gaza. We have created a very painful wound in the soul of every single resident of Gaza - and it will be decades, if not centuries, before this is forgotten. Some Israelis will regret it. Most won't care, because they are too concerned with the wounds in their own souls. They will blame only the people of Gaza. Just like the people of Gaza are going to blame only the people of Israel.

Next week - a non-political meeting of Israelis, Palestinians and Internationals

If you understand Hebrew, read this link: http://thehub.cafe.themarker.com/view.php?t=449802

If you don't: http://www.emergingfutures.org/files/GVS%20invitation%20June%202008.pdf


Highly recommended.

-IB

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.

ConflictBlotter: Personal impressions from Gaza

Charles Levinson brought more amazing impressions from Gaza.

Here's an excerpt from a post he wrote 2 days ago:

... At the Erez crossing today we met a Palestinian looter who made us look at some of the looters at least in a slightly different light. He was tearing out copper wiring from under the pavement at the Erez border tunnel. He was working his way down the walk, and at every spot where an electric light had been, he had used a hand held hammer to smash through a foot of concrete. He then dug into the ground another three feet perhaps until he found the underground wiring and tore out the copper. He had done this in at least a dozen different locations so far. Each kilo of copper wire he pulled, could be sold for 10 shekels ($2.50). In four hours of digging he had pulled 3 - 4 kilos, he said.

I mean, this guy was working tirelessly and doing back breaking work to get this wiring. This wasn’t some looter who thought he’d grab a quick TV when no one was looking. I just thought it very telling that one of Gaza’s hardest working people had no other options than to loot for $2.50/hour.

Apparently Charles has left Gaza (at least for now). Dion Nissenbaum describes why he and Charles Levinson decided to leave Gaza - not necessarily the reasons you'd expect!

Whoa

I ran across this video today and just had to share it. If there are any Palestinian women who undergo this kind of treatment and do not become active supporters of violence against Israelis: you have my personal admiration. [(update): I'm adding the following clarification because of Stefanella's comment below] I'm not suggesting that the Arab women should turn to violence. On the contrary. I admire any one of them who doesn't turn to violence. [end of clarification]



And my note to the settler girls in this clip: you are not defending Zionism by acting like this. You are giving Zionism a bad name, and are encouraging hate. You are have become active carriers of the same violence that you fear.

A great number of Israelis would be disgusted by this sort of behavior.

So why are the soldiers permitting it? Why is the Israeli society permitting this?

My answer: because the Israeli society is afraid of Arabs. Israelis see the Palestinian women in the video clip, and immediately associate them with the images of the Hamas militants in Gaza throwing people off rooftops, the memories of exploding buses, and the promises by Hamas to eradicate Israel.

Any change in the situation must come from reciprocal action. For us Israelis to take the Arab side - and actively prevent the behavior demonstrated in this clip - we need to witness Arabs actively taking our side too.

If you're wondering what's happenning in Gaza

Conflict Blotter is an amazing blog by Charles Levinson, the Mideast Correspondent for the Sunday Telegraph.

He is currently in Gaza, and reporting from there.

From his latest post:

Hamas TV broadcast disturbing and gruesome footage of Fatah commander Samih al Madhoun, famed for ruthlessly confronting Hamas in northern Gaza, being dragged into the streets, shot repeatedly and the stomped by a swarm of people

I want to take this opportunity to answer a comment made almost a year ago by Mohamed Maher from Egypt to a post of mine. In my post, I wrote that Israelis are afraid of Arabs, and that the Israeli violence towards Arabs is driven by that fear. Moahmed Maher commented:

i'll tell u something about arabs, all the arabs feel that they are brothers , they talk the same language ,they have the same history same culture and allover history we there were no borders between us... so we are the same

Well, Mohamed - if you're reading this, the pictures from Gaza should explain to you why Israelis are afraid of the Arab brothers. If Arabs are willing to murder and drag their brothers, we don't want to imagine what they will do to us - people who are not their brothers, who have done many wrongs to the Arabs, and who are (mistakenly) seen by the Arab world as vicious murderers.

I take it back

Yet again, I find myself learning a lot by trying to listen to the people behind the comments posted on my blog.

A few days ago I tried to answer a question raised by Nizo: "What do Israeli Arabs need to do in order for them not to be perceived as a threat?"

I thought that Israeli Arabs understand the fears of the Israeli Jews, and can become a bridge between Israel and the Arab world. I thought they could explain the rationale of Zionism to the Arab world, something that would cause Israeli Jews to see them as partners, rather than a threat.

I suspect I was way way off with this suggestion.

I now think that Israeli Arabs have too many bad feelings against Israel. If I try to put myself in their shoes, I can see why this would be so. They are citizens in a country that does not let them identify with it. How can someone be a "proud Israeli Arab"? What symbols of this country can they identify with? They are citizens in a country that does not make it easy for them to contribute to it, and treats them as second grade citizens.

I don't know if the statistics that Khaled quoted are accurate - but I suspect that they represent how Israeli Arabs feel.

So it seems we have another vicious cycle here:Boy, are things here complicated!

What do Israeli Arabs need to do in order for them not to be perceived as a threat?

UPDATE 28/4/07 - Everything I suggested here: I take it back. It can't happen - at least not in the foreseeable future. But I'm glad I wrote this post. I learned much from the Arab response to it. [end of update]

---

The Azmi Bishara videos inspired Nizo to raise several very interesting questions regarding the pervasiveness of the perception that Arabs are a demographic time bomb.

His 8th question was "What do Israeli Arabs need to do in order for them not to be perceived as a threat?"

I'd like to suggest an unusual answer to Nizo's question. I don't know if what I'm suggesting can ever happen, but hey - if the idea is never raised, it certainly won't happen.

I think that Israeli Arabs can undo this "threat perception" by adopting the role of the ambassadors of Zionism to the Arab world. [correction: I was extremely naive in suggesting this. I agree with NC's comment on this post: Arabs can do a great service to humanity if they simply explain to the Arab world that Zionism doesn't aim to destroy the Arabs[.


In that role, they can explain to the Arab world that Jews have no other country. They can explain that Jews all over the world fear persecution, and feel that without a Jewish homeland, they will never be truly safe anywhere in the world. They can also explain to the Arab world that Israel wants to live with them in peace.

If they do that openly and sincerely - and accept this role as a primary part of their identity as Israeli Arabs - then Israeli Jews will stop fearing them.

Amongst Arabs in general, Israeli Arabs are in the best position to understand Israeli Jews. They are Israeli citizens. They can travel freely to any part of Israel. They speak Hebrew. Many of them study in Israeli colleges. Some of them work in Jewish Israeli companies. If they choose, they can become interested in how Israeli Jews feel.

They can understand our fears.


If Israeli Arabs understand the Zionist cause, they can support it. And if they support it, Israeli Jews will no longer fear that Israeli Arabs will undermine that cause.

Of course, this is not simple. Many Israeli Arabs feel they are neglected by the country. Some feel that their nationality is betrayed. They see the Israeli Army mistreating their Arab kin. It is much more natural for them to adopt the nationalistic views represented by Bishara. But these nationalistic views only increase the tension and fear.

It will take true greatness of Israeli Arabs to actively supportexplain Zionism in this atmosphere - but if they can amass such courage, they will gain a great deal (as will the entire region).

Israel: evil or moral?

I read an interesting article an Ha'aretz today. Here's the Hebrew version, and here's the English translation. - didn't find an English version yet (anyone who finds it - please let me know).(Thanks Lisa)

The article says that the IDF has appointed an officer to investigate why the a major Hebron street (the Shuhada street) is closed to Palestinian pedestrians since 2000. It is open to Jewish (i.e., settler) traffic, by the way. The IDF has claimed this is a mistake that will be rectified, but so far this hasn't happened.

I think that the title of the article reveals much about the Israeli state of mind regarding Palestinians. The article says "The street was closed to Palestinians". If the Israeli grasp of Palestinians was "humans of equal rights", I suspect that the article would have talked about "Palestinians being barred from entering the street".

To all Israelis who think Israel is pure, just and moral: think about this.

So if Israel isn't pure, just and moral - is Israel evil? Of course not. If Israel was evil, this article would not have appeared in Ha'aretz. Organizations like the "movement for civil rights" would not have approached the courts, the courts would have not summoned the IDF to respond, and the IDF would never have considered lifting the restrictions.

So why do Israelis grasp Palestinians as lesser humans? Is it because of the many years of bloody conflict? Is it because Palestinian society is so far behind Israeli society? Does it have to do with most Palestinians blaming Israel for everything that's wrong with their condition instead of taking some responsibility? Is it because the interaction between Israelis and Palestinians is limited to Israelis hiring Palestinians for jobs Israelis wouldn't do? Is it something else?

Is there a way out?

Azmi Bishara videos

Dr. Azmi Bishara is an Arab Israeli member of the Israeli parliament (Knesset).

The Israeli media has lately been publishing very incoherent and non-informative articles about Dr. Bishara's intentions (or non-intentions) to resign (or not resign) from the Israeli Knesset, due to his being persecuted (or not being persecuted) by various government security agencies (or not). It seems there is a court order barring the media from discussing whatever is going on (or not going on), so they are discussing the issue without actually discussing it. Go figure.

Anyways, Halemo has contemplated on his hebrew blog that these agencies are after Dr. Bishara because of a 6-part video on YouTube. Halemo claims that in the video Dr. Bishara "eloquently explains, in well versed English, his anti-Israeli views" and his "support of Hizballa".

I took the time to watch the videos. I suspect Halemo didn't, because in those videos I heard the exact opposite of Halemo's claims.

Yes, in this video, Dr. Bishara says many things Israelis don't like to hear about Israel. But he also says:

1. That he recognizes Israel as an existing country, and that the entire discussion of "historic rights" is totally irrelevant. Israel exists and that's it.
2. That most Arabs recognize Israel (something I personally don't think is true - but Dr. Bishara is obviously more connected to the Arab world than I am)
3. That he fully recognizes the horrors of the Holocaust. Unlike others, he doesn't deny it occured.
4. That Hizballa is no longer a legitimate movement. He says it used to be a legitimate resistance movement - as long as Israel occupied Lebanon - but it is no longer so.


Dr. Bishara explains that he sees 2 possible solutions to the conflict: either that Israel annex the Palestinian territories and make Palestinians equal citizens of Israel, or agree on a 2 state solution based on the June 4 1967 borders.

If only the majority of Arabs held the opinions that Dr. Bishara's expresses in those videos, I think the conflict would have long been over.

Halemo - if you're reading my words: can you please explain what you meant when you said "Anti Israeli Views"? Perhaps you are referring to things he said that are not shown in the video?

MIT announces Just Jerusalem competition

A group of people at MIT "hope to encourage new ways of thinking about the many difficult issues and hardships faced by Jerusalemites, regardless of their faith or ethnicity".

So as part of their "Jerusalem 2050 project", they recently launched a competition for visionary ideas for the city called Just Jerusalem. The submissions to the competition must be "Well Specified Projects" that support "a vision of a just, peaceful, and sustainable Jerusalem". Their web site lists 4 submission tracks to the competition:

• Physical infrastructure (buildings; urban designs; landscape projects; transportation, sewage, water, or communication systems; etc.)

• Economic infrastructure (new activities or products; employment or social security schemes; trade, banking, or currency arrangements; technological innovations; etc.)

• Civic infrastructure (inventive institutions or social practices; neighborhood or community-level activities and organizations; new civil-military relations; educational systems; health care services; etc.)

• Symbolic infrastructure (essays, films, photographic exhibitions, poems, songs, museums, festivals; etc.)

The Prizes page states that "At least one prizewinning entry will be selected in each category of submission, with a total of 5 awarded. Prizewinners will be given the opportunity to spend up to an academic semester in residence at MIT as Visiting Fellows, with all expenses paid, including travel, housing, and stipend."

I really like the idea of this competition. Interestingly enough, it also links two places which have influenced my life: Jerusalem and MIT. I was born in Jerusalem, and lived there for the first 6 years of my life. One branch of my family tree even includes people born in Jerusalem at least 5 or 6 generations back. As for MIT: this is one of the institutions I admire. I keep finding that I share the same professional views as people at MIT (especially the MIT media lab) - and am always excited by the projects they have there. (At some point I even seriously considered applying for PhD studies at there - but was sucked into the industry instead). So I'm really looking forward to finding out what the competition will generate!

-I.B.

The channel 1 film on Sayeret Shaked will (correction: NOT) be shown again this Wednesday

The film which had enraged the Egyptians will be shown again this Wednesday at 21:40, on Israeli Channel 1.

Having written about it, I guess I should make an effort and actually see it, shouldn't I?


Update (March 21, 2007):
Nominally.Challanged has commented here that the rescreening has been cancelled. Shame indeed - I too wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

The Egyptian rage about the Israeli channel 1 film

As usual, the Israeli media and the Arab media have two completely different descriptions of the same event.

A few days ago, Mohamed Maher said:

there is some news which was spread in all the egyptian newspapers , two days ago.
it says that, the israeli "channel one", released a new documentry film, which says that in the war of 1967 , a troop had a leader called " benjamen aleaazer" (who is an israeli minister right now) killed 250 captured egyptian soldiers which were without any weapon , these soldiers were captured while they were runing away from sinai, after the israeli strike.
...
many israeli soldiers which were a part of this troop talked in this film, and they admitted the doing of such a crminal action.
"aleaazer" said that they used to fire a large number of bullets on each captured soldier to be sure that he is dead...
the film has also some documentry movie parts , which were taken in 1967, that shows these type of criminal action....
...

I assume this is a pretty accurate description of how Egytians remember the events.

Israel has a completely different story. Not having seen the film myself, I have to rely on newspaper articles and radio interviews, but it is quite clear that the Israeli version is very far from teh Egyptian view.

For starters, participants in those events totally deny killing unarmed soldiers. According to radio in interviews with people who participated in the operation, this was a combat operation, and was a battle against soldiers who still had their guns. I heard in those interviews that Israeli soldiers who participated in the operation have some moral reservations about the action, because they had an unfair advantage in the battles, and because the battles took place after victory had been declared. The Egyptian soldiers still had their weapons, but the Israeli operations were carried out during the day, when the Egyptian soldiers were in hiding.

Here's a paragraph from an article in Ha'aretz about the film:

In the end, Sayeret Shaked has no cause to glory in the operation, but it is not a matter of killing prisoners, as was claimed by the Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram after the film was broadcast. It was a revenge action, an organized hunt of helpless soldiers who had no chance of fleeing from the firepower of the Israeli fighters who were assaulting them from the air. It was not "fair play," but it is doubtful that the action falls into the category of war crimes, as defined by law.

The article also quotes what the Israeli soldiers actually said in the film, including mentions that the Egyptian soldiers were armed at the time.

I also happened to hear a radio interview with a former Israeli ambassador to Egypt. He complained that as an ambassador he tried many times to go on Egyptian TV / radio - but was never allowed there. He said that he did manage to get a few newspaper interviews, but that they always distorted his words.


Why is this happenning? Why are the Israeli and Arab versions of the same event always so different? I can think of three possible explanations:

• Option 1: Arabs are saints. Israelis are evil. Arabs always tell the truth, and Israelis always lie and distort reality.
• Option 2: Israelis are saints. Arabs are evil. Israelis always tell the truth, and Arabs always lie and distort reality.
• Option 3: Arabs are human and Israelis are human. Arabs think that they are saints and that Israelis are evil. Israelis think that they are saints and that Arabs are evil. When Israelis speak - Arabs think Israelis are lying to cover up crimes. When Arabs speak - Israelis think this is anti-Israeli propaganda. Neither side is willing to accept that no one here is a saint. No one likes to belong to a group which is not "Just" or "Moral". People defend their own side, and try to prove that the other side is evil. It is so difficult to accept that your own side is also wrong, that people find it much easier to believe that the other side has evil intentions and is twisting the facts. As a result, both sides see the other as evil or crazy, and the words and actions of one side are constantly misunderstood by the other (e.g., the Al-Aqsa events).

Any other explanations anyone?

-IB.

ben eliezer