Walkout...

No wonder why we can't solve the crisis in Gaza. Still this is the typical Western response as Gaza starves: Just walk away. I don't agree with the Libyan ambassador's comparison to the Holocaust because this has become a different situation in and of itself given the length it has continued for. That being said it's just deplorable that the West would allow people to starve because it doesn't agree with the language used in the discussion of the situation. Have we really compromised so much on our humanity? It seems the West will only discuss this situation only if blame for this situation is placed on the victims. It's truly an embarrassing time to be an American.

Another bout of craziness

Thanks to Al Jazeera for showing me something that would motivate me to update this.

Lately Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livini(I'm glad i'm writing this because I could never say it) has been at Doha's annual democracy forum. She said that Arab states do not need to wait for an agreement with the Palestinians to normalize ties with Israel and that Israel and Arab states face the same threats from Hamas and Hezbollah (It seriously took me ten minutes to write this sentence while my mind tried to block me from doing so). I've also debating whether to seriously discuss this point by point but I'll take a different approach.

At one point in Josh Rushing's book Mission Al Jazeera he writes about how Americans think that Iraq and Palestine are totally different issues while he states that most Arabs see them as similar if not the same. Why is this? Although some would claim that this is the work of the Israel lobby (This sounds like a job for Mearsheimer and Walt), I think that people really should be able to see that the conflict in Palestine has effects in the rest of the Middle East in some way. That said, I don't think that Livini is really trying to court Arab states. I think the statement is for the Israeli and American publics to say that Israel is still interested in peace but since the Arab states are delaying on normalizing relations with Israel, the Arab states are not interested in peace so we can keep on bombing Gaza. That's the only way this makes sense.

ha...

Looks like the only democracy in the Middle East decided to prove that Mr. Falk's criticisms were completely unfounded by NOT LETTING HIM IN!!!

Full Circle: Israel and the Nazi comparisons

Go to any demonstration that criticizes Israel and you will often see signs that connect Israel with the Nazis. It use to just be a hippie thing but now Professor Richard Falk has brought that discussion into the mainstream. Richard Falk is the UN’s investigator into Israel’s conduct in the occupied territories and like anyone in the UN who is free to speak their mind such as John Dugard, he is naturally very critical of Israel’s conduct. It is important to note that Falk did not say that Israel and the Nazis were the same, Falk claimed that Israel and the Nazis both employed collective punishment often. His comments were aimed specifically at the American public and the BBC quoted him as saying, “if this kind of situation existed...in...China...or...Darfur, I think there would be no reluctance to make that comparison.” Falk claimed that the reluctance stemmed the historic sensitivity to the persecution of the Jewish people and the fact that the double standard in international law and morality actually works to Israel’s favor. An incensed Israel wants Falk’s mandate expanded to look into human rights violations by the Palestinians in order to deflect criticism from its own conduct. Otherwise, “the only democracy in the Middle East” will consider barring Falk’s entry.

Thanks to the BBC.

Land Day

Another article I wrote:




"Tel Aviv-Yafo-Over 1,000 Arabs marched through the port city of Yaffa to protest Israel’s plans to move 500 Palestinian families out of Yaffa and to commemorate the killing of of six people in 1976 over the confiscation of Palestinian land. The Palestinian families have been issued notices to prove that they own the land that they reside in or to leave it. Given the sensitivity of a large Arab demography in a Jewish state, proving one’s prior residence is a long and hard legal battle that can take time. Palestinians claim that they are being evicted to pave the way for Jewish immigration from other countries.

Across Israel were other rallies commemorating Land Day. Land Day takes place on March 30th which was the date in 1976 when six unarmed protesters were shot demonstrating against a decision by the Israeli government to confiscate land in the Galilee region which is home to many Palestinians who stayed in Israeli following the war in 1948. Although the Israeli government claimed the land confiscations were for security reasons, they were used to build a military training camp and Jewish settlements. Protests and general strikes were held the 30th of March and during the protests, six demonstrators were shot and 100 people were wounded as the Israeli Occupation Forces and police fired into the crowd.

Land Day is attended by both Israelis and Palestinians who wish to see and end to the land confiscations. Banners in both Arabic and Hebrew denounced the Israeli policy of land confiscations. Although Arab citizens of Israel are supposed to be guaranteed equal rights under Israel’s basic laws, widespread discrimination is common particularly in areas such as housing and education."

This one was accepted for the newsletter.

"Road Blocks"

This is an article I wrote for a school newsletter but who knows if it fits the format.

"East Jerusalem-I was with some friends of mine when we were going through a checkpoint outside the neighborhood of his friends’ house. It was a wooden shack with two soldiers standing guard. I didn’t really want to go into the neighborhood because I knew that we would have to deal with the checkpoint on the way out. As the soldiers were looking through my passport, one of them came back and explained to me with my friend translating that he couldn’t find my Israeli visa. I showed it to him and we then argued back and forth about whether the visa was still valid (it turned out that the soldier couldn’t read well). After pointing out all the dates on my visa several times and even showing my e-ticket to prove that I wasn’t going to over stay my visa. Later, my friends explained that for Palestinians incidents at the checkpoints get much worse than that.

Israel has today pledged to remove 50 of these ”road blocks” in order to advance the peace process while also pledging to upgrade checkpoints to reduce the wait time without compromising security. However, these 50 are only a fraction of the 500+ checkpoints in the occupied West Bank and the number of checkpoints have only increased from Annapolis until now. The World Bank has found that checkpoints are the main factor that is stifling the economy in the West Bank and the Palestinians claim they are collective punishment.

Although Palestinian officials welcomed the move, both Palestinians and Israelis are deeply skeptical of a peace deal being concluded before Bush leaves office. Condoleezza Rice is in the Middle East to try to invigorate the peace process and may use this opportunity to claim that progress is being made. In the meantime, Israel is using this opportunity to pressure the Palestinian government to take “greater security responsibility” in the West Bank by allowing 600 Jordanian-trained security officers to be deployed to the West Bank city of Jenin. However, there does not seem to be great expectations for an improvement in security for the Israelis or substantial concessions for the Palestinians."

On another note I was accepted the Arabic program at AUB so I am officially awesome.

Where is the humanity?

This is part 2 of a very beautiful movie series that I think translates to "where is the humanity?" It was nice that they included what happened on Sept. 11th as well as the events in Iraq and Palestine. I'm just glad that the concept of Arab unity isn't completely dead if various artists can come together to produce this. This is one of the big reasons why I want to go to the Middle East, to try to find where the humanity is in all of it. Unlike a lot of the hippies around here, I'm willing to work for the U.S. gov't if it gets me to the Middle East for awhile. Although some would say these actions contribute to the very things I'm working against, I don't buy into this mentality of "lets talk shit about the U.S. gov't and don't actually do anything to solve this." The only way this would actually help is if you moved out of the U.S. (which I don't see many of these people do which is odd because they talk about how the U.S. is such an evil country) and stop paying taxes (what do they think is aiding the gov't the most?). I really hate how U.S. foreign policy has been under both democrats and republicans (essentially the same really) and I know that there is no one electable who can really solve these problems with their current rhetoric. That's why it is important for me to go there any way I can and try to actively work against what the American and Israeli gov't is doing any way I can.