MK Zehava Gal-On (Photo: Knesset)The Haifa Cinematheque recently featured an excellent documentary, שלוש פעמים מגורשת, or Three Times Chased Away. The film followed Hitaam, a young woman originally from Gaza, in her quest to reunite with her children. Her abusive husband, an Israeli from the largest Bedouin town of Rahat, had divorced her behind her back in a shaaria court and chased her out of their home.
The screening of the gripping film was followed by a question-and-answer session with the director, Ebtisam Maraanah. The director told of her difficulties in getting the police to take seriously the death threats she herself had received. The police, Ebtisam relayed to the audience, simply told her to leave Tel Aviv and return to her village, where she would be safer. The police also refused to give Hitaam, the subject of the documentary, adequate protection. At this point, Ebtisam phoned Knesset member Zehava Gal-On from the Meretz party. With Gal-On's intervention, the police finally stepped in and put the ex-husband in jail - after he had beaten and stabbed Hitaam, and sworn to kill the director of the documentary. It's a good thing some politicians answer the phone in the middle of the night, Ebtisam commented.
The screening of the gripping film was followed by a question-and-answer session with the director, Ebtisam Maraanah. The director told of her difficulties in getting the police to take seriously the death threats she herself had received. The police, Ebtisam relayed to the audience, simply told her to leave Tel Aviv and return to her village, where she would be safer. The police also refused to give Hitaam, the subject of the documentary, adequate protection. At this point, Ebtisam phoned Knesset member Zehava Gal-On from the Meretz party. With Gal-On's intervention, the police finally stepped in and put the ex-husband in jail - after he had beaten and stabbed Hitaam, and sworn to kill the director of the documentary. It's a good thing some politicians answer the phone in the middle of the night, Ebtisam commented.
Israeli citizens have grown increasingly weary of the endless scandals involving politicians and public officials. Rape, bribery, corruption, and incompetence is all Israelis hear about their politicians these days. Therefore, it is refreshing to hear about a politician like Zehava Gal-On who takes her role seriously: to serve the public and try to make the country a better place for all its inhabitants. Perhaps her engagement will shake Israeli society out of the resignation and disgust with which it has come to regard politics.
28 comments:
THE ETHNIC CLEANSING OF HAIFA WILL NEVER BE FERGOTTEN. MORE ZIONIST HISTORY FOR THE "HISTORIANS"
The Zionist forces were made up of 5,000 soldiers mostly organized by Haganah (Carmeli Brigade) and some IZL troops. The attack on Arab Haifa started on the 21st of April and was initiated from Hadara Ha Carmel (Haifa's Jewish neighborhood), which aimed to split the city into three separate and isolated pockets (operation Misbarayim meaning scissor).
The 1st attacking force was directed from Wadi Rashmya towards the Northeastern neighborhoods of Arab Haifa, the 2nd attacking force was directed toward the Arab neighborhood next to the port, and the 3rd attacking was directed toward the commercial district.
The city was poorly defended with 350-500 Palestinian volunteers and some Arab Liberation Army (ALA). Haifa's defense was headed by Ahmad al-Huneiti (a Jordanian national), who was killed on March 17th, 1948 while supplying the city with a major arms shipment, 12 tons of explosives, from Beirut-Lebanon. This arms shipment was meant to reinforce Haifa's crumbling defenses, and to boost it moral. Based on a tip from a British commander stationed in the area, a Haganah force that was stationed nearby Kiryat Motzkin, a Zionist colony between Haifa and Acre, ambushed and killed Mr. al-Huneiti. The death of Ahmad al-Huneiti had a major demoralizing affect on Haifa's Arab population. On March 27th, 1948, Ameen 'Izz al-Deen took up the responsibility of defending Haifa until its surrender on the April 23rd, 1948.
Just prior to the city's surrender, close to 300 fighters from the al-Tira, a Palestinian village located 7 km southeast of Haifa, attempted to reinforce Haifa's crumbling defenses. As they headed down to Arab Haifa, they were confronted by a British force commanded by General Stockholm, who commanded Haifa's British forces at the time, and they were forced to turned back. The people of al-Tira are a very good example of how a poorly armed, but well determined and stubborn fighters, can stand up to the Zionist might. Despite all the odds, al-Tira withstood a siege and an onslaught for more than three months until its occupation in late July 1948.
in a Middle East trying to shake the old without loosing tradition, I find that humour is the best way to shake a society out of its won complacency.
In Lebanon, many movie makers tried to address similar issues of societal and family crisis, a common problem. They tried many genres, from fiction, pseudo-fiction, surrealist stuff, documentaries, but I feel the ones who hit the mark were those who relied on humour. A great example of this was "West Beirut"; many of us, from all stripes and sides, really identified with this boy's coming of age story. To many of us, it was almost an autobiography.
Similarly, in the Palestine/Israel conflict, Hanna K was alright, and Palestine Now was intriguing, but I really liked "Divine Intervention" subversive nature...
By "subversive" I mean movies that "shake" one out of one's complacency, kinda like a sermon you would watch with beer... I am sure there are many such "subversive" movies coming out in Israel. Would be worth watching.
...continuing from the last thread since ZR, Zoro-like, has returned to slash his fanciful Z's in the air...
Amos,
You're right that I had Habermas in mind. I don't necessarily buy his idealization of the 19th c. public sphere but, whether it ever existed or not, the kind of discursive environment he describes seems something worth striving for.
My point is that I don't see how one can avoid setting certain ground rules for discussion, which means, of course, making choices about what counts as appropriate kinds of disagreement and what is deemed subversive of discussion itself and therefore to be proscribed. Does ZR fit into the latter category? I think that he may. To begin with, although ZR claims again and again that it is the moderators of this blog and its regular contributors who refuse to engage him, to me it is clear that he is the one uninterested in a substantial discussion. By discussion I mean an exchange of opinions, based on some kind of evidence (itself potentially open to dispute), that can lead to new insights and, ultimately, some kind of agreement. This, needless to say, demands a modicum of good faith. When ZR announces that Israel will not live to see 100, or is satisfied to dismiss the so-called Zionist narrative (which he has yet to define) without explanation, he makes manifest his hostility to and contempt for those whom he is supposedly asking to "engage" him. At the very least, he shows a shocking naivety concerning human emotions if he expects a calm and reasoned reception for views that come wrapped in such provocative grandstanding. This guy sermonizes in the manner of a conquistador, and is surprised when the natives don’t like his message. So, my question, Amos, is whether it is time either to ignore or frankly to remove ZR’s posts. I have to say I was a little puzzled by your response to my last comment, since you correctly identified my reasoning but then said that that wasn’t exactly what you had in mind when you removed some ZR-like posts—yet you never spelled out what was your motivation either for removing them then or for reposting them recently.
This blog, I’ve found, is open to a wide variety of viewpoints, but like all forums, it assumes certain principles that govern discussion. The most basic is that discussion will center on issues concerning the Middle East and especially Israel. It is also true that the people who founded and run this blog, while in no way beholden to the official line of the state of Israel or any Jewish organization, have a personal stake in the society which has developed in Israel over the past hundred years or so. Also, it is assumed that participants will generally comment on the issues raised in the original post, not use every new post as a personal soap box. Given these characteristics of this one blog among many blogs, one wonders what ZR thinks he is doing. My most charitable interpretation is that he is woefully ignorant of the arts of persuasion.
Hi Jeha,
Thanks for your comment and the recommendations. I will keep an eye out of the films you mentioned, especially West Beirut.
I've already seen Paradise Now (which I assume you meant when you wrote Palestine Now?) - it's been featured at the Haifa Cinematheque several times. One of the main actors, who played a suicide bomber, even appeared for a Q&A session. The Haifa Cinematheque tries to invite directors, actors, or producers whenever possible, and the films and the discussions they generate afterwards are very enriching. I sure hope the other films you mentioned will be re/screened there.
Carmia,
Yes, I meant Paradise Now... Freudian slip, maybe.
For non-Arabic speakers, West Beirut would work with sub-titles, but it Hebrew speakers should easily get by without too much "reading"; they will catch on the Lebanese slang fast.
This genre of comedy has a lot of potential...
There is another one that I watched, it talks about the life of maids in Lebanon. Very gripping and accurate, very uncharitable about us; it was banned in Lebanon. We can't look at a mirror...
Ariel,
I agree with you of course, and I appreciate the thought you've put into this. I still prefer ignoring the guy over removing his posts.
I'm sorry if my response was a little mysterious. I certainly did not mean to make light of the serious issues you raised. What immediately prompted me to remove those two comments by that particular Anonymous, however, was the extremely insulting tone - not the larger theoretical considerations about the public sphere. I had gotten used to Anonymous and ZR referring to the "kids" who run this blog, but it was quite another thing to be addressed as "little boy" and "f---ing coward." I removed these comments because I acted on reflex; if I had thought about it a little more, I would have simply ignored them, in order to preserve the record.
The ZN is sick, realy. The Lies Of ZN are even contrary to the works of Ilan Pape. The only person who tried to "clean" the Arabs of Haifa by weapons was Nasralla who bombed them, killed them, destroyed their houses and then told them in an open TV broadcast to leave the city, I and million others saw it. Beside Haifa was never "cleaned" what a terrible word. There was and is a flourishing Arab community in Haifa which is growing all the time. The Arab high schools here are better than the Jewish ones. The literacy of the Haifa Arab population is about 100%. All Arab children in Haifa go to national or privet schools, the privet ones get the highest grades in the National matriculation. All Arab education is in Arabic, in what other country in the world is this so in regard to Arab minorities? The number of Arab students and faculty in Haifa U. is growing yeary. At least 5 Arab newspapers are published or sold daily in Haifa. Arab own economic firms and sell and buy real estate, unlike the stories spread by anti zionists. Arabs manage banks and work in all other jobs. At least 100 young Arabs from Haifa volunteer and join the IDF yearly. Arabs serve in Haifa police in all ranks. There are hundreds of mixed houses in which Jews and Arabs, like in any normal place in the world, live door by door. Often the apartments in areas with Arab majority, like opposite the maritime museum, are the best, more expansive and most desirable. In the poor and very poor areas Jews live beside Arabs. Generally there are very few "pure" poor Arab areas. Members of the Arab community here regularily meet in Jordan with relatives from the whole Arab and muslim world and this is encouraged by the authorities. In every measure of economic achivements, health, education and intgration the Arabs in Haifa are doing better than the Arab-Muslim minorities in Europe, as it should be. Nobody is doing anybody an favors. What does this sick pathological war monger wish to achive with his lies ? Sick.
Just more name calling is all I see. You can attack me personally and attempt to dimiss what I write, but the reality is stubborn. You do not know me, and any objective observer would be able to read what I wrote and make up his/her own mind.
Why are you guys so afraid of debate?
BTW, the only Nazi sympahtizers in the Arab world were Anwar Sadat, and the right-wing, Christian fascists in Lebanon, just like the one you parade on this blog.
Your little Zionist colony will not last in Palestine. If you think Israel has any chance of survival you really are delusional. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians, and thinking you can ethnically cleanse an entire population and steal their country, then ask for peace should be the very definition of Chutzpah.
No, you will not have peace on the ruins of our society. Palestine will be liberated, and the Palestinians are going home. Until that time, do not think, for single second, that you will have peace. There will NEVER EVER be peace for any colonizer in Palestine.
I was hoping to see some sort of post on here about the latest Zionist massacre in occupied Palestine. How many Palestinians did Israel kill in the last 48 hours? Are you going to post the picture of the 17-year old girl that the Israeli army killed in her own home ?
Why not? Also, are you going to post any pictures for the over 10 thousand Palestinian being held in concentration camps?
I WILL CUT AND PASTE ONCE AGAIN, THE FOLLOWING HAS BEEN PROVEN WITH OVERWHELMING EVIDENCE. FOR HOW LONG WILL YOU CONTINUE TO DENY IT? FOR HOW LONG DO YOU THINK YOU CAN IGNORE IT? DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN HAVE PEACE WITHOUT CORRECTING THIS HISTORICAL INJUSTICE? THE CONTINUED DENIAL AMOUNTS TO RACISM AND HATE SPEECH. WAKE UP BEFORE ITS TOO LATE. YOU WILL NEVER HAVE PEACE IN PALESTINE BECAUSE YOU ARE COLONIZERS AND ARMED SQUATTERS. YOUR ONLY CHANCE IS A SECULAR, DEMOCRATIC STATE IN PALESTINE. ANYONE WHO DENIES THE FOLLOWING IS EITHER IGNORANT, OR A RACIST NAZI. INTERESTINGLY, THE ZIONISTS THEMSELVES NEVER DENIED WHAT THEY DID AND NEVER HID THEIR PLANS. YOU ARE AS CRAZY AS THE HOLOCAUST DENIERS.
It is no longer contested, even among many Israelis, that the impact of Zionism on the Palestinian people in the last 100 years includes: the expulsion of a majority of Palestinians from their lands and homes, the prevention of their return, and the subsequent confiscation of their property for the EXCLUSIVE use of Jews; imposing a military apartheid system on those Palestinians who remained in Israel from 48 untill 66, which since then has been relaxed to a civilian Jewish supremacist system of discrimination; and the military occupation and apartheid system imposed on the WB and Gaza strip and their population for the last 40 years as well as continued colonization of these occupied territories
Amos & Ariel. It is an old dilemma. King James, Proverbs 26 4 "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him". 26 5 "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit". The point is that you never know who reads a blog. And by not ansewing; vicious, premiditated racial lies are established as facts, some place some time. Clearly ZR is a pathological case. After re reading the exchanges here and previously I am thinking about "eschelon" and other supposedly world covering spy systems that are screening the net, I am serious. Perhaps one day he will find himself in Guantanamo ?. Perhaps one day we will hear about his real name after some tragedy. It is real. Another line. J is great, I am serious, but I am not so sure that all the people in the whole of Lebanon are laughing all the time, especially when told about the future of their group or whole country by the Like of ZR. I, and not only I, think that Banini Movie about the Shoa was garbage, perhaps dangerous garbeg, some time comedy is not the right solution, granted other time it may be.
And last, discussed with a pro. the pathology of ZR. You remember he brought out the Arab proverb "I fear nothing but God" saying that he fear nothing including god. Fear is natural to all life the hare is afraid and the wolf, the snake and the gorilla. Under the microscope the amoeba and the euglena show fear, "avoidance reaction" it is called. Men, normal !! are afraid of war, pain, beravement ect ect. As is known the greatest cause of fear is death. Of all animals men are the most cognicent of death. So by admitting fear & talking about fear the proverb declares humanity or even belonging, being part of whole life (see John Don). By implying & declaring that the master of fear and anti-fear is God and that there is a source of all fear and anti fear - God, it is declared that the sayer belive. Belive in pain and in salvation from pain.
ZR is afraid, the pro. said that every word of his crazyness screams fear, he, ZR, knows it and all living things about him know it, you would not want to be one of these. But his own declaration that he refuses to be human - have fear, and refuse to belive in liberation-salvation from fear he is an empty shell full of hate. He is dangerous, very dangerous, did you buy these two guns yet you lurking pathological jerk? man am I happy not to be near you.
As I told you about the intentional lies of the jerk. The Pal. national movement with Hadj Emin el Husainy as head officially identified it self with the Nazies. Duting WW II HEU was in Germany and collaborated by military activity Propaganda to the Arab world and actual spying with the Nazies. It was published, HEU was declared a war criminal at the Neurenberg trials. The mad pathological jerk knows it, but he does not want a discussion he wants lies and death.
As I told you about the intentional lies of the jerk. The Pal. national movement with Hadj Emin el Husainy as head officially identified it self with the Nazies. Duting WW II HEU was in Germany and collaborated by military activity Propaganda to the Arab world and actual spying with the Nazies. It was published, HEU was declared a war criminal at the Neurenberg trials. The mad pathological jerk knows it, but he does not want a discussion he wants lies and death.
"racial lies"? Do not make such a statement without providing evidence and support. What did I say that is a "lie"? and what part of what I said is "racist". My opposition to zionism is because I am opposed to racism, not because I support it.
I am willing to discuss what is a "racial lie", but I cannot do so if people are afraid of debating me. Can you provide an example of what I said that is "racist" or a "lie"?
The name calling is really boring. Try to engage seriously, rigurously, and thougtfully. Name calling does not help you at all. It makes you appear weak and intimidated, unable to present cogent challenges to my position.
Feel free to continue to do so. Name calling does not bother me. Its just alot of clutter on the screen that I have to get through in order to find what little substance there may be.
You are right, I have no fear of anything. The only people who are afraid are the armed squatters and colonizers in Palestine. They are afraid because they are thieves living in someone else's homes. They should be afraid. All thieves are afraid because they know what they did and realize they are living in someone else's home. I promise you, they will remain living in fear until the day of liberation which, although they do not realize it, will also be the day of liberation for them: liberation from Zionism and the misery it has brought them.
The Lies about Haj Amin al-Husseini are not new. I noticed alot of people on this site are into recycling zionist propoganda from the early days of zionism.
It was the Zionists that supported and collaborated with the Nazi regime in Germany. This is well documented. They did so because they both shared the same goal, ridding Europe of its Jews. In response to this Zionist-Nazi alliance and cooperation, Haj Amin went to Germany to plead with the German government to not allow Jewish immigration to Palestine. This is what the evidence and history clearly shows.
p.s. I won't tell you who I work for, but you go have good instincts.
For those who are interested, the wartime activities of Haj Amin al-Husseini are well-documented.
After a failed pro-Axis uprising in Iraq in 1941, the Mufti and his crew moved to Berlin, where they willingly served the Nazi regime in various propaganda functions [Benny Morris, The birth of the Palestinian refugee problem revisited (Cambridge University Press, 2004, p. 12].
The German Foreign Office broadcast several speeches by Husseini, including one he delivered at a December 18, 1942 Berlin rally, calling on Muslims to fight against the United States, Britain, and the Jews [David Bankier, "The Use of Antisemitism in Nazi Wartime Propaganda," in The Holocaust and History, ed. Michael Berenbaum and Abraham J. Peck (Indiana University Press, 1998), p. 42).
Husseini also recruited Bosnian Muslims for the Waffen-SS, leading him to be branded a war criminal by a post-war Yugoslav commission; as a result, Husseini fled to Egypt [Morris, p. 12].
The major work on the Mufti's collaboration with the Nazis and Nazi-sympathizers is by a historian born in Yugoslavia and apparently draws heavily on Serbo-Croatian sources (I have not read it yet) - but it is available only in Hebrew: Lebl, Zeni. חאג׳ אמין וברלין {Haj Amin and Berlin}. Tel Aviv: J. Lebel, 1996.
To say that the goal of the "the Zionists" was to "rid Europe of its Jews" is a tendentious and disgusting lie. It is true that the Nazis and other extreme antisemites (such as the Polish Endeks) advocated the forced resettlement of Jews in Mandatory Palestine (Madagascar and other territories were also considered).
Also, just for the record - the Nazis vehemently opposed the formation of a Jewish State. Nazi Germany's Foreign Minister in 1937, Konstantin Neurath, articulated this policy as follows: "such a state in Palestine would not absorb all the Jews of the world but would give them a new power position, under the cover of international law, something comparable to what the Vatican represents for political Catholicism or Moscow for the Comintern. That is why it is in the interest of Germany to contribute to the strengthening of the Arab world in order to offset, if need be, the increased power of world Jewry" [Saul Friedlaender, Nazi Germany and the Jews, The Years of Persecution, 1933-1939, vol. 1 (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1997), p. 238.
Furthermore, a recent German study revealed that the Nazis had a unit ready to exterminate the Jews of the Yishuv in Erets Yisrael in 1942.
THERE YOU GO AGAIN,
Amos, will the apologists for the Zionist colonial project in Palestine ever stop exploiting the history of Nazi Germany, the Holocaust, and its victims for the propaganda purposes of the Israeli state?
What I read above is rather typical of those who attempt to defend Israel and Zionism. It’s a very ordinary example of the attempts to LINK the Palestinians with the Nazis and European anti-Semitism.
Fleeing British persecution (Arabs in general were all anti British and anti-France because they were the colonial powers in the Arab world and did not care much about the struggle among European powers themselves), the Mufti ended up in Germany during the war years and attempted to obtain promises from the Germans that they would not support the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. In 1946, the Jewish Agency produced documents purporting to show that the Mufti had a role in the extermination of Jews (examples of the lies can be read above). The documents showed no such thing. The only thing these unsigned letters by the Mufti showed was his opposition to Nazi Germany’s and Romania’s allowing Jews to emigrate to Palestine. Yet the Mufti continues to be represented by Israeli propagandists as having participated in the extermination of European Jews. When I visited Yad Vashem, I saw an entire wall devoted to the “links” tying the Mufti to Nazi officials. I looked hard but could not see anything that mentions that the Mufti’s contacts with the Nazis were themselves in response to the much more extensive contacts between the Zionist movement and the Nazis, two sides that shared the same anti-Semitic goal of ridding Europe of its Jews.
As you can see, neither Amos nor any other supporter of Israel is able to respond to my comments regarding the Zionist colonial conquest of Palestine. Yet, he, and they, are very quick to resort to their favorite propaganda line…nazi! Nazi! Nazi ! Not only the Mufti, but later Yasir Arafat was called Hitler and a Nazi. Gamal Abdul Nasser was called “Hitler on the Nile”, and later Saddam Hussein was called Hitler and a Nazi.
This is standard operating procedure for Israeli propagandists. They have been using this tactic for decades. Anyone who attacks Zionism and Israel must be an anti-Semitic and a Nazi.
I understand this is much easier for you, but it will not work. Now do you care to discuss what the Zionists did in Palestine? Or would you rather scream Nazi some more?
lol
Hasbani
ZR I am not talking to you outside a clinic but I am talking about you, it is a privet talk not to you ears, so please go away.
Ok Amos, what do you do now? For one thing I see that you are not publishing some of the most pathological signs of the ZR. You have to decide. By deleting some of the data you make it less usefull for future psycho-pathological research. Now, as they say, the data about him is partially (we do not know what part)contaminated by an observer - censor. Also there is no use chalanging ZR with facts, as you did, because of the pathological response of the patient to facts. The ZR is demanding facts. But when ever any claim put forward by him is refuted by facts or his position or talking style is observed logically the response is even more pathological. See for example the response to the facts about the connections between the Pal. national movement and Germany, Haifa Arabs or the hysterical screams "I am not afraid". His case is now clear, still more data will be usefull for future research on the mental pathology of hate.
But the claim put previously about parasitism is being proven. More and more place is being taken by him. After all it is your work and it is invaded by a suspected mental case, he is taking the place of others and could even drive away some of the participants. It seems to me that he may be aiming at killing your blog because he can not kill me or you. It is a well known tansference phenomena of mental cases in pathological rage.
Could I suggest that ZR will be allocted a certain space 'credit" per every 24 hours GMT without the abilty to transfer credit forward. Perhaps 20 free lines with no interference from you at all, legal problems excluded. In this way enough data will be collected for future research and the data bank will be controlled by the subject himself, no observer bias will be introduced. Also more place will be given to others. Think about that.
P.S. ZR you should not have listned to us, why cant you behave ?
Hazbani,
Sorry - we had moderated comments on but it's too annoying, especially since we have readers in very different time zones.
However, because of the comment moderation ZR's comment was not put up until now (i.e., until after you wrote your last comment - even though ZR's was actually written before yours). Anyway, we're just leaving the comments as is.
ZR it was you who brought up the Arab - Nazi business. It was you who very selectively blamed the young free Ezyptian officers ( it was never Sad. only)and some Arabs in the ME for Nazi connections. It was you who jumped on J. and pracically associated him with Nazism for not thinking exactly like you. The responces were to a subject you originally raised. The aim of the responses was to show your utter disregard to facts and to the opinions of others, except when they suit you. Your visit to Yad vashem and what you saw or did not see is another demonstration of your problematic scholarship and personalty. Scholarship and facts do not start in you and do not end with you. Your persona in the net cannt even comprehend that there are others and other view points in the world beside you. Any mentioning of such is taken as personal slur. The same goes for your totalitarian politics which reflect your totalitarian persona, accept my position or die. No one is obliged to do your wishes or obay your demands or think like you. I observe you for what you are by this blog. I see your persona in the net in the way you present it. I see your disregard to moral standards and to facts as you present them. You are a war monger by any definition. You are calling for war, iternal permanent war, which is the position of totalitrian politics and yet you refuse to be responsible to such inhuman stand and blame the other for the outcome. It is pathological by any accepted standard, see your abnormal and extreme responces to the subject of "fear" and the immediate transfer and transposioning of "fear" to the others, others=fear, so poor so transparent, little child in the darkness, notice how you call the others children to enlarge yourself to minimized "fear". Go to the library and get the Hand Book of the American Psych. Association. It does not look good for you.
You failed the test of facts, you failed the test of scholarship, you failed the test of personality why should I or any body else spend time discussing any subject with you?
ZR said: "Arabs....did not care much about the struggle among Europen powers themselve". Reading Arab and especially Palestinian documents and Europen diplomatic papers as well as travellers accounts will tell that Arabs were very intrested, as they are and should have been then, in the struggles between and among Europen powers. It can be seen from at least 1860 in Leb., there they were very interested in the overall French -British relations which ZR mentioned. Even previously they were interested in Russian relations with the two and with the effects of these on the local churches, ect. Travellers were often surprised by such interests and by the knowledge and understanding of the Levanine elite. This interest continues to this very day, see J blog for example. ZR hates Israel and the Zionists this is a fact. As demonstrated above even in important facts known even to the unprofessional the rest of his writtings are at best suspect and at too many other times blatant,well designed, non truth.
Nobody had responded yet to any of my facts and arguments. See previous post on earlier thread. I am not going to keep repeating myself. I said clearly where I stand, and I invited serious challenges to my position. There has been no response.
Name calling is not a response. It is a declaration of intellectual bankruptcy. And brining up other irrelvant issues is also a tactic desinged to avoid discussion.
I am truly dissapointed with Amos more than the others. Here is someone who aspires to be a historian yet he cannot debate history. Amos, you avoided discussing the events of 1948 in Palestine with me, but you were very eager to dwell on WWII and the Nazis. This is an easy subject for you I guess.
I would just one thing to you. Refugees fleeing persecution did not have to turn into colonial soldiers and armed squatters that ethnically cleansed Palestine. So based on that premise, my issue has yet to be addressed: What about the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948?
Finally, why are you so dramatic? Its just a blog. Relax. Besides, didn't I tell you I will respect your wishes and not come here if you ask me not to?
One other thing. Please, everyone, do not ask me to respond to irrelevant people or movements. For example, when I see a member of the Lebanese Likud on here defending the Zionist entity I will not respond. How do I know he is a member of one of the various Lebanese fascist groups? Well, its because the only people in Lebanon who would shamelessly defend Zionism are the right-wing fascists.
JaJa, Gemayel, Chamoun, and all the others COMBINED do not constitute more than 25% of 25% of the Lebanese population which is less than 1% of the Arab world. So when you see these numbers you can understand why I do not take him seriously and nobody else should either. Not unless you have alot of time to waste on irrelvant people. I don't.
A Lebanese who defends Zionism is definitely a French-Fried Phoenician with nothing serious to contribute. Their own little sectarian project in Syria has never worked, and there is less than 15 of them left. If you guys think is some sort of breakthrough for you into the Arab world, you are delusional.
Isn't Antoine Lahad a falafel and Humous vendor now in Northern Palestine somewhere?
btw, falafil and humous is an Arab dish popular in greater Syria. Europeans of the Jewish religious persuasion in Warsaw, Berlin, Moscow, and Budapest never ate it before they came to Palestine. You stole our land, please do not steale our dishes also.
AMOS, I have a complaint that I hope you will address. I think its very serious.
I was accused of being a "killer" on here. Is this acceptable? Somoene said ....."It seems to me that he may be aiming at killing your blog because he can not kill me or you."
I am not concerned with this clown's circus act or his silly drivel, but I am a little worried now. When someone accuses me of wanting to "kill" you or others, isn't that incitement against me? And I am also well aware that IP addresses can be traced so does this put me in any sort of danger? And what are your rules on this blog? Are people allowed to incite violence against me?
ZR,
No one got the impression that you in any way physically threaten anyone on this blog. Please just chill out. No one is out to get you. No one is inciting violence against you. We don't like your style of debate, but we have no desire to harm you in any way, nor did we attribute such a desire to you.
Yes, it is theoretically possible for me to track your IP address, but even if I knew how to do that, I want to emphasize that I would NEVER share this kind of information with anyone else, nor would I use it to physically track down anybody. The thought alone is abhorrent to me.
I really hope that this allays your fears, because you now have me worried.
Frankly speaking, this is absurd. Why should I be worrying about the psychic well-being of someone whom I do not know, will never meet, and who obviously does not care one bit about my feelings?
Amos,
Thank-you. I do care about your feelings as I care about all human beings and anytime you want to meet me on the Berkely campus and debate, I am willing to meet you and let you know me in person. I really do not care if anyone likes my style or not, but I respect your position regarding this topic and I apprecitate your public recognition that I never threatened anyone.
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