The Agonist - Israel and Palestine

Palestine and Israel III (Day13)

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:10:38 -0800

Jan 5

Jan 8

Rockets from Lebanon hit northern Israel - police

Three rockets fired from Lebanon exploded in northern Israel on Thursday, the first since the Jewish state launched an offensive in Gaza two weeks ago, Israeli police said.

** Haaretz ticker is reporting that the rockets were fired by Palestinian group and not Hezbollah
** Reuters reporting that Israel fired artillary back in a 'pinpoint response'

Please check comments for most recent articles. This is a continuation thread, Earlier threads can be read here- part II and here - part I.

Predictions For 2009

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:53:33 -0800

Hannes asked a few days ago for thoughts on what 2009 might bring. Here are some of mine, in no particular order:

1. Franken and Burris will be seated in the next Senate.

2. Guantanamo and the other prisons will be closed.

3. Unemployment will reach double digits.

4. The stimulus package will include more tax cuts than are currently anticipated.

5. Said stimulus plan won't do much good. The infrastructure component will be too small and the build-out will take too long to help in 2009.

6. The word 'Depression' will become much more common in the media and we very well may flirt with an almost 10% retrenchment in GDP.

7. The Dow will trade below 6,000, and the S&P will trade in a similar range as the Dow as Wall Street earnings estimates finally catch up with reality.

8. Gold will not hit $1,000. The dollar will remain relatively strong in a weak overall currency environment. The Yen will remain strong as well, hurting Japanese exports even more.

9. There will be no inflation. There will be deflation.

10. Obama will govern from the center right and the left will be even more dismayed, including many of his supporters.

11. We will begin drawing down out of Iraq, but not nearly fast enough.

12. Obama will double down in Afghanistan. It will do no good.

13. Obama will not negotiate with Iran. He will be prevented/hamstrung from doing so by AIPAC and the neocons.

14. America will end the embargo against Cuba.

15. The market for treasuries will not blow up this year--we'll leave that for 2010. There is still too much debt destruction (i.e. deflation) going on, credit card defaults, among other items, are next. Domestic demand for treasuries will remain strong, even in the face of the Chinese, OPEC countries and Japan not buying.

Have I missed anything?

Flathead Strikes Again

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 05:21:05 -0800

Why does anyone take this guy seriously? The stupidity starts in the second paragraph and only grows and grows. He writes:

Who is going to be the regional superpower — Egypt? Saudi Arabia? Iran?

Two problems: a superpower, by its very definition, is not regional. It is global. This is one of Flathead's more egregious problems: degradation of the language. But this question also has another inherent flaw. Any guesses?

Yeah, that's it: Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Iran aren't even 'great powers' which are defined as nation states with proven nuclear capabilities. And none of them are even close to having a deliverable weapon, not even Iran. But this is the kind of false equivalence that feeds American ignorance and caters to our conceits.

But here's an even stupider example, this time of Friedman's sheer ahistoricalism.

The struggle for hegemony over the modern Arab world is as old as Nasser’s Egypt.

Actually, the struggle isn't at all modern and it's much, much older than Nasser (another brickbat the likes of Friedmanians beat people over the head with: those evil dictators, never mind we support one in Egypt even now): the struggle for dominance in the Near East is as old as . . . wait for it . . . here it comes . . . civilization itself. Think about it. Do the names Babylon and Pharaoh and Hittites (Modern Turkey) and Persians and the 'Promised Land' getting squashed between them mean anything to Friedman?

How'd this man ever get a column for The New York Times?

Wait, don't answer that.

Should Israel Talk To Hamas?

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 07:38:29 -0800

January 6, 2009

SHOULD ISRAEL TALK TO HAMAS?

John Chuckman

It is so elemental a question, yet one rarely mentioned in the mainline press. Hamas has been demonized so thoroughly and with so little genuine reason that its situation provides prima facie evidence for the immense reach of the Israel lobby.

The world is horrified by Israel's bombing of Gaza’s densely populated area, and rightly so, but the bombing is only a more intense horror than the blockade.

The word “blockade” comes so easily, so cleanly, without any feeling for what it reality means. It is one of that class of terms you find dissected in Orwell’s great essay, “Politics and the English Language.” It truly means here an entire population is abused and tortured for months because it voted the wrong way.

Gaza as Depicted By Al Jezeera

Mon, 05 Jan 2009 02:43:44 -0800

I broke down yesterday and coughed up $30 a night for a nice hotel. And let me tell you, $30 gets you a nice hotel in Medan. As I mentioned yesterday the mini-bus I was in was built for 9 and there were 17 of us in it. Needless to say my back took a beating and I have been paying the price since the moment I climbed out of the van. So, that's why I'm staying in a relatively upscale hotel.

With the upscale comes satellite TV. And in a largely Muslim country of course one of the main channels is Al Jezeera. Make no mistake about it, there is nothing fair and balanced about Al Jezeera. It is Arab TV for Arabs and Muslims the world over. But that doesn't take away from the fact that Al Jazeera does quality journalism. If only a tenth of the images of Palestinian suffering made their way onto American TV Americans would be in an uproar about what is being done there.

If the real quotes, sound bites and comments made by Israeli leaders were actually shown on American TV and juxtaposed with the visuals of destruction being rained down on Gaza by our weapons, paid for by us, the taxpayers, Americans would be in an uproar.

Instead, we get the usual neo-con, Likudnik supporters on American TV explaining why Israeli is justified in the slaughter of at least 500 Palestinians for Hamas' stupid policy of shooting glorified bottle rockets into Southern Israel.

As Chris Rock might say, "I'm not saying it's right, but I understand."

The Jewish Community Debates the Gaza Strikes

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 12:10:43 -0800

A recent and acrimonious debate between American Jewish leaders regarding the Gaza strikes reflects a struggle over the meaning of "support for Israel." Some progressives may react with kneejerk antipathy to that phrase, believing that like "I support the troops," the possibility of any meaning other than a right-wing hawkishness has long ago been crowded out. But I believe that if we can reconfigure the notion of support for Israel, we can fundamentally change the dynamic of our domestic debate on the Arab-Israeli conflict. That, in turn, will allow our leaders to play a role in halting, instead of perpetuating, the conflict.

What is really going on in Gaza

Sun, 04 Jan 2009 08:23:26 -0800

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing

click to enlarge

Damnation, Indeed

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:41:20 -0800

Go read Ddjango, now. Please.

On that note, I asked one of our readers to provide a list of Jews who opposed the current policies vis-a-vis Palestine. He did so. Here is the list. Please peruse them when you have the time. It is important that these voices be heard:

http://www.tikkun.org/ (Tikkun Magazine, edited by Rabbi Michael Lerner, definitely a guy to know about)

http://www.peacenowar.net/newpeace/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=481&Itemid=1

http://thewestbank.blogspot.com/2007/02/voices-of-jewish-opposition-to.html

http://www.icahd.org/eng/

http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org

http://www.jewishfriendspalestine.org/

Many Israeli Refuseniks (the word can mean different things, but in this case it applies to draft resisters) are internationally known voices for peace, as are organizations of Israeli ex-military personnel. Many of them travel widely to speak at public events. You can look them up yourself.

Ships defying the Gaza blockade have carried, among others, Jewish academics and journalists.
http://www.ccun.org/News/2008/December/9%20n/Fourth%20blockade-defying%20ship%20reaches%20Gaza.htm

This is just one of the many Jewish-sponsored or -cosponsored education and protest events that I have been invited to in the Twin Cities recently:
--------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, January 24, 2009
DVD Presentation: An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Transforming Palestine/Israel Into A Single, Secular, Democratic State

A DVD panel discussion presented by the Committee for Open Discussion of Zionism (CODZ) June 7, 2008. Moderator: Rabbi Susan Einbinder: Panelists: Ali Abunimah, co-founder and editor of the Electronic Intifada: Kathleen Christison, author of Perceptions of Palestine: Their Influence on U.S. Middle East Policy; Amaya Galili, Israeli activist with Zochrot, a group working to raise Israeli consciousness of the Nakba; Joel Kovel, editor of Capitalism Nature Socialism, and author of Overcoming Zionism.

Sponsored by Middle East Peace Now (MEPN). WAMM is a member of MEPN.
http://www.worldwidewamm.org/calendar.html

Israel & Palestine II

Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:30:17 -0800

UPDATED

(A child arrives at Shifa hospital in Gaza City after an Israeli air strike yesterday. Getty images)

Jan 3

DF invades Gaza:

IDF ground troops entered the northern Gaza Strip Saturday evening, as the army launched its long anticipated ground operation. Palestinian eyewitnesses reported that large numbers of tanks, armored personnel carriers, and bulldozers are moving into the Strip.

US gives Israel free rein on whether to invade Gaza

US President George W. Bush, in remarks to be broadcast Saturday, urged all able parties to press Hamas to stop firing rockets at Israel and secure a lasting ceasefire, after a week of heavy Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip.

His administration meanwhile gave Israel free rein over whether to send ground troops into Gaza, despite growing criticism over its handling of a conflict that has killed at least 435 people, including 66 children.

Gazans face ‘humanitarian crisis’ as Israeli raids intensify

After six days of Israeli bombardment, aid agencies say that Gazans are facing a humanitarian crisis with air strikes causing severe problems in getting food, medicine and fuel supplies to the besiegedcivilian population.

The assessment, by several international relief organisations, contradicts the statement by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, during a visit to Paris yesterday that "there is no humanitarian crisis in the Strip, and therefore there is no need for a humanitarian truce".

** Israeli assault on Gaza enters 2nd week with no end in sight
** Another senior Hamas leader killed in Gaza
** Israel prepares to send in the tanks
** Invasion of Gaza appears imminent
** Israel, U.S., Arab nations discuss international force for Gaza
** Escalation Feared as Israel, Continuing Bombing, Lets Foreigners Leave Gaza

Please check comments for most recent articles. This is a continuation thread, original thread can be read here.

George Kenney on Gaza, Forgiveness and American Complicity

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:21:50 -0800

George, as always, hits the nail right on the head.

The Jews never stop making everyone they can, all over the world, apologize for the Holocaust. Especially the Germans. As Norman Finkelstein has bravely pointed out, mining the Holocaust also has made some Jews very rich. Much more importantly, however, the Holocaust story helps Jews worldwide to keep their thumbs on the political scales. Yet for all the forced apologies, for all the monetary blackmail, and for all the political coercion there's one thing I've never, ever seen from the Jews: Forgiveness.

On the BBC website, just to take one example, Rabbi Albert Friedlander artfully explains that, for metaphysical reasons, it is impermissible for Jews to forgive anyone for the Holocaust. Now, such ideas should give pause. They are not the ideas of a religion whose bona fide stands up to serious scrutiny but seem more, from a certain point of view, like organized hate-mongering.

Read it all.

Gaza

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:23:19 -0800

An Atrocity in Gaza

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 04:28:17 -0800

It must be said. What is happening in Gaza is an atrocity. 300 for 1 is simply not acceptable. It is reprehensible. It is barbarism. Plain and simple.

And of course, the Israel Lobby will continue to pull the wool over the eyes of the American public.

I am outraged almost beyond words. It is an unconscionable act of a people who have gone, in less than two generations, from the oppressed to the oppressors. And it must stop.

It is time for the Israelis to forgive the West and the rest of the world for the Holocaust.

Why?

In one century man has committed four major genocides: those perpetrated against the Armenians, European Jewry, Cambodians and Rwandans, not to mention those against the Kurds, Bosnian Muslims and Kosovars. One, in the Sudan, is already underway in the 21st century.

What’s the lesson here? Perhaps it is this. Nothing is unique about any of them and complacency is deadly. It can happen anywhere.

What would the world be like if all of these nations acted as Israel does?

Until Israel comes to grips with this simple reality there will be no peace in the Middle East and American will continue to be embroiled in wars that make the Middle East safe for Israel.

Day 4: Israel rejects truce; ready to fight for "weeks"

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 20:17:09 -0800

UPDATED | Jerusalem | Dec 30

(Five sisters killed while sleeping)

(Reuters) - Israel on Tuesday rejected any truce with Hamas in the Gaza Strip before the threat of rocket fire from the coastal territory has been removed, and said it was ready to fight the Islamists for "weeks."

"There is no room for a ceasefire," Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit told Israel Radio as Israel's aerial offensive on Gaza entered a fourth day, with 345 Palestinians killed and four Israelis killed by rockets fired from Gaza.

"The government is determined to remove the threat of (rocket) fire on the south," he said. "Therefore the Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of Palestinians, of Hams, to continue to fire at Israel."

"That's the goal and it must be achieved," he added.

Israeli Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai said the military "has made preparations for some long weeks of action."

** Three Israelis killed as Hamas launches revenge attacks
** Gaza death toll from Israeli offensive exceeds 375
** Israeli naval ship clashes with Gaza aid boat
** Palestinian militants goaded Israel saying it should "fight like men" by sending ground troops into Gaza rather than relying on bombardment from the air

previous updates after the jump

THIS THREAD IS CONTINUED HERE

The neighborhood bully strikes again

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:18:27 -0800

Gideon Levy | Tel Aviv | December 29

Haaretz - Israel embarked yesterday on yet another unnecessary, ill-fated war. On July 16, 2006, four days after the start of the Second Lebanon War, I wrote: "Every neighborhood has one, a loud-mouthed bully who shouldn't be provoked into anger... Not that the bully's not right - someone did harm him. But the reaction, what a reaction!"

Two and a half years later, these words repeat themselves, to our horror, with chilling precision. Within the span of a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, the IDF sowed death and destruction on a scale that the Qassam rockets never approached in all their years, and Operation "Cast Lead" is only in its infancy.

UN atomic chief warns Syria & Israel to cooperate with nuclear investigation

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 23:27:25 -0800

Zeina Karam | Beirut | Dec 22

LA Times - The head of the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency warned Syria to cooperate with the investigation of its nuclear activities or face deeper confrontation with the international community.

In an interview with the London-based Al Hayat newspaper published Sunday, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said his agency expects clarifications from Syria and Israel on issues related to a Syrian site bombed by Israel last year.

In a visit this year, IAEA inspectors found traces of processed uranium at the Al-Kibar site, which U.S. officials say was a nearly completed reactor of North Korean design that could have produced plutonium, a pathway to nuclear arms.

Syria denies having nuclear ambitions and says the site was an unused military installation.

Syria's foreign minister has suggested that the traces may have been from Israeli bombs dropped in the Sept. 6, 2007, airstrike.

ElBaradei said the agency has requested clarifications from Israel on the Syrian claim. "We are also looking into technical aspects to see whether it really was from the Israeli attack," he told the pan-Arab newspaper.