So, Israel declared a unilateral ceasefire and Hamas grumbled along about halting their own activities for a week (why just a week, I wonder, but with these guys, even a week comes as a pleasant surprise).
I really hope Hamas will use this ladder to get off their high tree and maybe, just maybe, turn their energy towards re-building Gaza. I admit, I am not too optimistic. Maybe it’s the recent talk I’ve had with my acquaintance in Gaza, but I just don’t think these people have the same priorities as we do (i.e. peace and prosperity).
Huge international summit on the way, and I hope and pray they make the best of this fragile ceasefire to secure some sort of arrangement between the sides.
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 8:27 am
I’m convinced that Hamas and any other militant groups are determined to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, at all costs, so I don’t have much hope for the ceasefire either. I was talking to a friend of mine recently and he tried to argue that Hamas is fighting this ridiculous war because no one else wants to stand up for the Palestinians. That’s completely absurd because you have the whole world standing up for Palestinians. While I don’t doubt the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only reason many, especially Europeans, are so anti-Israel is because they want to be anti-US. But that’s the extent of it. They couldn’t care less about Muslims and their plight because they don’t even want them within their own borders (think Arab immigrants and Turkey).
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 11:43 am
….I’m convinced that Hamas and any other militant groups are determined to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, at all costs…
If only they could !!! Viva Chavez….Viva Morales….
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
“I don’t doubt the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”
Self-inflicted, exaggerated, and negligible compared to Zimbabwe or the Congo.
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
@Don Cox
What an a…..e you are. You are supporting ciminals and i hope some organisations will get those cowards from Israel that hae respect for absolutely nothing but themselves.
Mordekhaye Eliyahu, a crazy Rabbi, sent a letter to Ehud Barak and his criminal friends praying in synagogues to the effect that it is ok according to your stupid God to destroy the ennemi, kill, kill, kill.
Your’e just a bunch of racists that should be stopped before you do more harm to the people that are not jewish and don’t believe in your racist God and religion..
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
I guess it’s out then, Decembre, you want Israel erased off the map. Go on have fun in Canada dreaming about it. I assume you are a native Indian of Canada of course, hoping for the State of Canada to be erased off the map so you can resurrect the land of your forefathers.
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 12:34 pm
decembre, your rhetoric is every bit as bad. Can’t you see this?
This sort of outrageous flaming of others is precisely what obscures any chance at a solution. Hating never solved diddly squat. What you need to do, if you are committed to peace, is to venture over there yourself from Canada and involve yourself in the grass roots work of making people understand one another. It would be challenging and it would require that you care about the people on both sides, Could you actually do that? Or is your hatred of Israel so intense, you would hope there is constant war?
Frankly, what seems more apparent you would rather throw stones from an intellectual distance and do your damnedest to make things worse. In most galaxies, that is actually funny.
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
,,,,is your hatred of Israel so intense, you would hope there is constant war?,,,,
I have an immense sympathy for the Palestinians, first the 1.500.000 who were forced to move from their land, their home for camps, to whom the Zionists stole the land in the name of the jews.
Befor the Zionists, Arabs, Christians, Muslims and Jews lived together in peace in Palestine.
So i don’t have to involved myself in a grassroot as you hypocritally suggest, but yourself and the Jews who support the Zionists should repent for their murders of innocent human beeings.
The ones who hate the most are the Jews, they just prooved it,
Stop the Occupation of Palestine, the Un voted for that 30 years ago. Since then the Zionists have stolen more and more land like thieves. Get out of Palestine now.
on Jan 19th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Talking about Occupation wich is the main reason of these mass-murders from Israël here is a document that tells the truth, made by two jewish girls i love.
OCCUPATION 101
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2451908450811690589&hl=en
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 1:58 am
I am all for ending the occupation of the land taken in 1967. If you are talking about all of Israel, you are in effect talking about destroying my country and culture.
I am still curious as to which Indian tribe you belong to?
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 8:01 am
Bottom line, those lands belong to whoever can defend them. Are we to believe that the entire course of history should be reversed just because one group feels that their “occupiers” need to leave? The entire history of humanity is based on peaceful and violent acquisitions of land and convergence of cultures! But why stop with Israel? Let’s tell every European white in the “New World” (North and South America) to pack their sh*t and return to Europe because the continents belong to the Natives. Australians? Get out! The aborigines don’t want you there. Doesn’t this sound ridiculous? If Israel is not provoked, Israel won’t attack. The way I see it, the only side willing to make peaceful negotiations is Israel. Any Palestinians that want to pursue peace as well are killed or ostracized.
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 8:52 am
….Bottom line, those lands belong to whoever can defend them….
Ho yeah ?
So you mean that if i steel my neighbourg”s property and I can defend it better than him, it’s mine ?
What king of criminal rethoric is that ? Do you live in a democratic state or is the mafia rulling USA ?
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 9:01 am
…..But why stop with Israel? Let’s tell every European white in the “New World” (North and South America) to pack their sh*t and return to Europe because the continents belong to the Natives. Australians? Get out! The aborigines don’t want you there. Doesn’t this sound ridiculous?….
Yes it is ridiculous abd the reason is nobody asks for that ! Are you that misinformed ?
Israel during all the different peace process never stopped demolishing houses and steel lands from palestinians. This did not occur 2 or 300 years agos but 30 years ago !
Now if 30 years ago and since then, jews kept on steeling lands to people who could not defend themselves who is in fault, who is the bandit, who are the killers ?
The ciminal Zionists that stole Israel from the real jews !
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Just curious – why is it ridiculous to ask this of the Israelis and not of Canadians and Americans? According to your system of thought – where does the difference lie? Is it just a matter of how long ago?
Not that I agree with any of your claims about stealing land – the land I live on was bought fair and square from its Arab owners over a century ago. But just for the sake of argument – why does a 200 years old occupation which has used some of the most brutal means known to human kind against the native Americans be excused, according to your own reasoning? Just curious…
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
…..why does a 200 years old occupation which has used some of the most brutal means known to human kind against the native Americans be excused, according to your own reasoning?….
No excuse. No excuse at all to have killed all these people to steal everything they had.
Canada admitted the offical genocide of the Indians and made it’s excuses. But, it’s laughable. What purpose does it serve after it’s done ? Canada keeps them in “reserves” slowly killing the last ones.
The white man killed the red man thinking that white was superior to red therefore, he had supremacy over the red men, he had the right to kill this non-human.
Funny but the Indians tought exactly the opposite !
Now, science proved that there is only ONE human race. Color is just a coïncidence.
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Ok, I assume that as a sign of protest you gave up on your Canadian citizenship and are working as hard on dismantling Canada as you are on dismantling Israel. Good to know that you’re not hypocritical – which country do you think you’ll be moving to? I mean, surely the white people should go back to Europe to restore the national rights of the Canadian Indians? Where is your family originally from?
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 4:40 pm
Israeli Mom, you are totally mixed-up.
I just told you that Indiens cannot be compared to the Palestinians. Why do you insist ? Your comparaison means nothing.
The Palestinians were stolen for the past 20 years, not 300, and you promised to the UN you would give it back. Why do you refuse to honor your signature ? Isn’t and deal a deal, a contract a contract ?
You’ll see, once the zionists have what they want, there will not be peace cos’ they feed on wars like their cruel God feeds on human blood. Mind you, the israelis, never satisfied of murders, even killed the palestinians’ animals.
……………………
Dismatling Canada is a possiblity as much as dismantling the USA or Israel.
Actually, I would say that on paper, they are almost dismantled. The Amero is supposed to replace the US and the CAN dollar + the Peso.
Like in Europe with the EU, they have a plan in America to reunite the 3 countries. So soon both you and me will be voting for a country that has less and less power and might as well be dismantled.
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Decembre 2007
The Annapolis peace talks regard me as an interloper in my own land. Israel’s deputy prime minister, Avigdor Lieberman, argues that I should “take [my] bundles and get lost.” Henry Kissinger thinks I ought to be summarily swapped from inside Israel to the would-be Palestinian state.
I am a Palestinian with Israeli citizenship–one of 1.4 million. I am also a social psychologist trained and working in the United States. In late November, on behalf of Mada al-Carmel, the Arab Center for Applied Social Research, I polled Palestinian citizens of Israel regarding their reactions to the Annapolis conference and their views about our future, and how they would be affected by Middle East peace negotiations.
During Israel’s establishment, three-quarters of a million Palestinians were driven from their homes or fled in fear. They remain refugees to this day, scattered throughout the West Bank and Gaza, the Arab world and beyond. We Palestinian citizens of Israel are among the minority who managed to remain on our land. Like many Mexican-Americans, we didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us. We have been struggling ever since against a system that subjects us to separate and unequal treatment because we are Palestinian Arabs–Christian, Muslim and Druze–not Jewish. More than twenty Israeli laws explicitly privilege Jews over non-Jews.
The Palestinian Authority is under intense pressure to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. This is not a matter of semantics. If Israel’s demand is granted, the inequality that we face as Palestinians–roughly 20 percent of Israel’s population–will become permanent.
The United States, despite being settled by Christian Europeans fleeing religious persecution, has struggled for decades to make clear that it is not a “Christian nation.” It is in a similar vein that Israel’s indigenous Palestinian population rejects the efforts of Israel and the United States to seal our fate as a permanent underclass in our own homeland.
We are referred to by leading Israeli politicians as a “demographic problem.” In response, many in Israel, including the deputy prime minister, are proposing land swaps: Palestinian land in the occupied territories with Israeli settlers on it would fall under Israel’s sovereignty, while land in Israel with Palestinian citizens would fall under Palestinian authority.
This may seem like an even trade. But there is one problem: no one asked us what we think of this solution. Imagine the hue and cry were a prominent American politician to propose redrawing the map of the United States so as to exclude as many Mexican-Americans as possible, for the explicit purpose of preserving white political power. Such a demagogue would rightly be denounced as a bigot. Yet this sort of hyper-segregation and ethnic supremacy is precisely what Israeli and American officials are considering for many Palestinian citizens of Israel — and hoping to coerce Palestinan leaders into accepting.
Looking across the Green Line, we realize that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has no mandate to negotiate a deal that will affect our future. We did not elect him. Why would we give up the rights we have battled to secure in our homeland to live inside an embryonic Palestine that we fear will be more like a bantustan than a sovereign state? Even if we put aside our attachment to our homeland, Israel has crushed the West Bank economy–to say nothing of Gaza’s–and imprisoned its people behind a barrier. There is little allure to life in such grim circumstances, especially since there is the real prospect of further Israeli sanctions, which could make a bad situation worse.
In the poll I just conducted, nearly three-quarters of Israel’s Palestinian citizens rejected the idea of the Palestinian Authority making territorial concessions that involve them, and 65.6 percent maintained that the PA also lacked the mandate to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. Nearly 80 percent declared that it lacks the mandate to relinquish the right of Palestinian refugees–affirmed in UN General Assembly Resolution 194 of 1948 and reaffirmed many times–to return to their homes and properties inside Israel.
Palestinians inside Israel have developed a history and identity after nearly sixty years of hard work and struggle. We are not simply pawns to be shuffled to the other side of the board. We expect no more and no less than the right to equality in the land of our ancestors. Israeli Jews have now built a nation, and have the right to live here in peace. But Israel cannot be both Jewish and democratic, nor can it find the security it seeks by continuing to deny our rights, nor those of Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, nor those of Palestinian refugees. It is time for us to share this land in a true democracy, one that honors and respects the rights of both peoples as equals.
About Nadim Rouhana
Nadim Rouhana is Henry Hart Rice Professor of Conflict Analysis at George Mason University and heads the Haifa-based Mada al-Carmel, the Arab Center for Applied Social Research.
on Jan 20th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
If I read your final paragraph correctly, what you are advocating is that the temporary boundaries of the West Bank and Gaza be done away with and to allow both people to live together under one flag.
Is this about right? Frankly, that seems interesting to me.
on Jan 21st, 2009 at 2:17 am
Actually, the Amero coin is a myth. It is a “gag” or joke coin being produced by a novelty company. If you want some, you can order them here;
http://www.dc-coin.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=8
on Jan 21st, 2009 at 8:19 am
@Skippymjp
The Amero coin is a myth now and you are right to mention it.
But talks between USA, Canada and Mexico have started. The 3 presidents met here in Québec last year. They are talking about a corridor that would be buit across the countries for a better transportation of the goods and facilitate customs, although not for the people, goods only !
The NAU North American Union is not a futur project anymore it’s beeing discussed now. The right timing is important because there will be negative reactions in the civil population.
Do you know about the latest special measure by your government to control social unrest ?
on Jan 21st, 2009 at 4:06 pm
I am a European. To say that Europeans are more pro-palestinian than pro-israel is a fallacy.
The impression that Europeans are more pro-palestinian is due to the fact that the pro-palestinian side is more vocal and is powered by a number of ONG’s whose LifeLine is “Help the oppressed”, otherwise they would be out of work….
And btw did anyone see that most of those who are vocal for Palestinian are immigrant to Europe?
So, for me the plight of the Palestinians is mostly self-induced. Where did I hear that Ismael Anyhe (or how is he called) declared Palestinian Victory!
So for me again: the greater the number of casualties among Palestinians, the greater their Victory!
Sorry to be that cynic.
on Jan 22nd, 2009 at 1:48 am
Oh, there were victory parties all over Gaza. I can actually see some sort of logic there – they figured Israel was out to get Hamas out of office, or destroy them, and it didn’t happen. The intensity of the attack is demonstrated by the number of casualties, so this one was a strong attack which, in their view, did not succeed (Hamas still being in power).
Of course, the Israeli government declared from the beginning that the goal of the operation was to lessen the Hamas’ ability to launch rockets and, more importantly, to “affect” their willingness to do so. Only time will tell if those goals have been reached.
But yes, you’re right, using their logic – the more casualties, the greater their “victory”. I posted about this before, and many others have noted the same – higher numbers of casualties does serve the interests of Hamas. Maybe that’s why they have their armed men preventing civilians from evacuating buildings where they store rockets and ammo…
on Jan 23rd, 2009 at 1:05 pm
“higher numbers of casualties does serve the interests of Hamas.”
It also helps them to have a large proportion of fighters under the age of 18, as these can be claimed as “children” when they are killed or wounded.
on Feb 13th, 2009 at 7:50 pm
The goals of Hamas is Jihad. That’s it. Either we all become muslims or we all die while they kill us and themselves. I’m thinking I might look ok in a burka…Islam can’t be all that bad and if we can all just stop fighting.
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