Thank you for your respect.  Perhaps "rape victim" isn't correct.  Are you saying the Palestinians aren't victims because they defended themselves and were overwhelmed?  Are you saying that Palestinians deserve to die or be expelled from their land for saying insane things about Jews controlling America? They mostly weren't saying those things before they were expelled, but were mostly living in peace with the people whose Zionist leadership was planning to expel them.  Just what is the point of bringing it up?

Based on your previous posts, it seems to me that your main criteria for clear-headedness is supporting Israel.  You ask this of people who've been forced from his home by the Zionists or lives under Israeli military occupation with no rights, who can be killed at the decision of the Israeli military or at the whim of a soldier or settler, who's land can be confiscated for Jewish-only settlements, whose right to worship in the mosque in East Jerusalem can be denied, whose home can be demolished because the state of Israel refused a permit.  Yet you've decided you have "honesty" and "critical facilities," who can be "analytical," "clear-headed" and "concerned." 

Just how do you expect to achieve the support for Israel you demand from these people, freely and without coercion?  How do you expect to achieve support for a nation that excludes them from their native land because they aren't Jewish?  The point is, you can't, and then we're back to bombing Gaza, walls and checkpoints around the West Bank, campaign of propaganda saying it's their fault, accompanied by deliberate incitement of hatred for Palestinians in order to justify it.  Of which there's plenty of evidence of in the posts in this blog.

I'm not saying there isn't a lot ideas I consider ridiculous among Hamas members, on the other hand, Israeli Jew Jeff Halper  traveled to Gaza just last summer, was welcomed by the Hamas leadership and received the biggest applause from the Gazans of anyone from the free Gaza boats.  I actually thing the idea that all Palestine is an Islamic waqf, while untrue, has more validity than the often-repeated claim by some Jewish groups and Christian Zionists that it belongs to the Jews some people of the same or similar religion lived there 3000 years ago.  A claim, in other words, that Palestine is some kind of Jewish waqf.

Here are some accounts from the April 9 1948 massacre at Deir Yassin, from http://www.palestineremembered.com:

Ms. Safiyeh Attiyah, 41: "I screamed but around me other women were being raped too. Some of the men were so anxious to get our earrings they ripped our ears to pull them off faster." Mr. Mohamed Jaber, student, "The Jews [broke] in, [drove] everybody outside, put them against the wall and shot them. One of the women was carrying a three month old baby."

Here's one from Safsaf:
As we lined up, a few Jewish soldiers ordered four girls to accompany them to carry water for the soldiers. Instead, they took them to our empty houses and raped them. About 70 of our men were blindfolded and shot to death, one after the other, in front of us. The soldiers took their bodies and threw them on the cement covering of the village's spring and dumped sand on them. I stayed in the village for almost a week... the Jews visited us once or twice.
They told us that we might stay in the village if we wished, suggesting that we send word to our men to return to the village. Although they assured us that no harm would come to us... that we should forget about what had happened in the village, we did not trust them nor did we believe them. Every night, about four persons would leave the village without the Jews' knowledge. I did not want to stay... How could we forget what they did to our boys?... How could we open our hearts to them and really trust them?
Chapter IV. The Fall of Galilee: From Landowners to Landless Refugees The Palestinian Exodus from Galilee 1948.
Nafez Nazzal, 1978. Beirut, Lebanon: Institute for Palestine Studies.

Yes, people in Gaza are killed on a daily basis and no one raises a voice of protest or outrage except a few decent human beings. Then like the rapist that the Jewish State is it blames the victim for provoking it into the act of rape. The analogy with the rapist is actually not a far fetched one Charles. Because what has been going on for decades now is the rape of Palestine and of the Palestinians and those who dare to resist the rapist are then murdered in cold blood.
The rapist wants a docile and compliant victim and that is what the Jewish State wants. It wants a submissive Palestinian population that just like the slaves is expectd to know where its place is and what its role is and more importantly how to be invisible. When the Palestinians step out of line they are murdered just like what is happening in Gaza.
For three weeks now over a thousand dead and over 4000 injured (who knows how many of them will die) and what did the world and particularly those self-appointed defenders of freedom and democracy and self-described "civilzed world" do? If this is what civilized means then take it and stuff it where I think I don't want your civilization.
Conflict? what is going on is not a conflict it is a war of extermination, a genocide, that the Jewish State is engaged in and has been engaged in for decades. When you deny the existence of a people and every chance you get you refer to them as cancer, snakes, cockroahes, and venom then it is clear what is the conception of what is a Palestinian among the Israeli ruling elite and not just the ruling elite but the majority of the Jewish Israeli and Zionist public.
Thank you for your support. What we need is none of what you state though. What we need is actually quite simple. We need our humanity recognized and we need our rights restored. I want to be able to go into my grandfather's house in west Jerusalem and tell the people living there that from now on if you want to stay here you have to pay me rent.
You may say that will not happen and that it is not realistic to expect such a thing to be accomplished. However, that is the source of our strength and the source of our determination. It is this hope that is passed along from generation to generation. Without it we will die because "hope dies last" and we refuse to die because we, like all other peoples, love life.
Just like it is the rapist that has to be stopped from victimizing and not the victim from fighting back and making as much noise as possible, the Zionist idea of a Jewish State must come to an end otherwise the rape will continue and the war will continue until it consumes us all.

I'm not going to address the substance of what is written above, except to say: it's a total non-sequiter to take any random story and immediately attach a sob story from 1948 to it. It's the reverse image of supporters of Israel using the holocaust to justify Israeli crimes, or more recently the stories of terrorist victims as a way of defining the Palestinian enemy.

Israel is not the sum total if crimes committed in its name. Ditto for the Palestinian cause. The near endless repitition of those crimes on this site is testament to a shallowness of spirit that this site hopes to overcome.

Can't we just begin to deal with the root of the problem? Compensation for land stolen and a Right to Return home?
Or the other root of the problem for millenia - creating bad enemies to justify the victor's theft. We are one! Help us Charles to take this challenge to evolve into one human family.
http://nontoxicbeauty.wordpress.com/
Passion is not wrong - it can distract - but often is a necessary ingrediant for acheiving one's goal.
With Deep Gratitude to all for their love and concern for all children everywhere.

What "sob story" Charles? Is that waht you call the massacre of Palestinians in Deir Yassin a sob-story? Mybe you haven't realized yet that the massacres continue and have continued for the last sixty years: every few years Israel decides to "teach the Palestinians a lesson".

Kay, Palestinians killed Israelis and Israelis killed Palestinians in 1933, 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973.... what is your point?

If the Palestinians seriously want peace and not use the word peace as a code word for getting rid of Israel, but for a two state solution, then we need to let bygones be bygones, stop the current terror coming from Hamas towards Israeli civilians, sit down by the table and negotiate a solution.

But as long as in both the charters of the PA and Hamas, Israel has to be eliminated, what's the point of talking peace.

So stop the terror from the Palestinian side today and in the future, clean up your charters and peace is negotiable.

There you go again, attributing me with positions I don't hold and  calling me shallow in spirit, as if name-calling helps your argument.  I was not justifying as you accuse me of that the Palestinians should kill anyone, I'm just saying that at least 80% but probably well over 90% of the killing was done by Israel or the Zionists in order to grab as much territory as they could.  Most of it appears to be deliberate targeting of civilians in order to achieve the aim of expelling them from the land.  I will also say that the majority of Palestinian crimes are motivated by vengeance or retribution.  That doesn't justify it.

The stories were about rape.  Your whole analogy that Palestinians aren't like rape victims assumes rape victims don't fight back.  They often do, and are murdered because.  Often they're murdered simply to cover up the crime.  On a grander scale, the Israelis/Zionists have murdered many Palestinians in order to erase them as a people, denied their existance, and claimed there was no crime because there were no Palestinians. 

In 1930, Palestinians proposed, or rather demanded of the British, that a parliamentary system be set up on the basis of 1 person, 1 vote regardless of race or creed.  It was turned down because the British were supporting the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.  And the Zionists who started this project had every intention of driving out the native people to create the Jewish state by one means or another.

You are presenting the argument that "Israel, although it's hideously cruel and wrong, isn't the only evil enemy of freedom in Gaza..."  In other words, Hamas is worse than Israel.  I'm sorry, Israel has Gaza walled in, it's been walled in since 1991, and has been denying adequate food, medicine, adequete clean water, access to the outside world, and has been using white phosphorous and other hideous munitions against schools, UN shelters, firestations and people, but the problem is that Hamas doesn't advocate freedom (as we see it), and what Israel is doing with all these bombs is freeing the Palestinians?  Freeing them of their lives and limbs, homes, and children I guess.  Orwell must be turning over in his grave.

And then there's your invented Hamas voter, again you've attributed him or her with positions that any particular Hamas voter might or might not have.  I believe even some Christians voted for Hamas, because it was a vote of resistance.  You've put casualties among "civilians granting assistance to those fighters" in the same class as the militants - in most Israeli propaganda this makes them "legitimate targets" of the military campaign.  Assistance could be anything, food, emergency medical care.  Thereby ambulances, hospitals and doctors become shelters where the brothers, sisters, wives and children of militants hide can be attacked.  Your wording makes it seem that you were implying that as well.  If so, you would be advocating a war crime.  How does that serve the cause of peace?

Thank you for your great magnitude in deciding that the Palestinian people are "worthy" of being included in the family of nations. 

Mr. Cohen: there were no Israelis in 1933.  How were Palestinians able to kill them?  And even if some small minority of Palestinians used violence to stop the illegal immigration of persons (Zionists) who were intent on taking over their land and expelling them from it, how does that justify massacring innocent men, women and children?

http://www.ceasefirenow.org/

http://www.dailygood.org/more.php?n=3564

Kay,
1. You are right in 1933, the Jews in Palestine were not yet Israelis, but they were murdered just the same, by Arabs.

2. The land of Israel was for over 3,000 years inhabited by Jews, they were expelled numerous times, but granted a State in the land of Israel today by the UN in 1947, so were is the illegality, Mr. Swen?

There you go again, reinventing history, Mr. Swan, after Israel left Gaza to its own resources with a complete agricultural infrastructure in place, what did you do? (I'm assuming you are a Palestinian, if not excuse me) The next day you destroyed it, and started sending in to Israel suicide bombers, several were stopped at the crossing, but they kept coming, so we closed the strip. What would you do if terrorists want to come into your house, close the door.

So please, stop the lying, if you truly wanted peace, why did you destroy your only source of food? If Israel was blockading you as you say, then why is Israel supplying Gaza with food, money, water and gas? If Israel wanted to blockade Gaza, you would have nothing, believe me.

You made a mistake by voting for Hamas that has brought you nothing but death and despair, don't blame Israel for your bad decisions. We have the right of self defense, like any nation in the world would do under similar circumstances.

We have nothing against the Palestinian people, and if you come to the table, with true intentions of living in peace, two nations side by side, you will see Israel reciprocating.

Shalom, Saalam.

 The extensive violence and high casualties from the Israeli military operation that began on 27 December in Gaza, overshadowed much of the difficult situation that had prevailed during the rest of the month.

The compounded effects of the low truckload imports and the December closure culminated on 18 December when UNRWA suspended its food assistance program to 750,000 residents of Gaza due to the depletion of its wheat grain stocks. The situation in December generated other peaks:
the shortage of over 100 essential pharmaceuticals in the Gaza Strip; suspension of cash distribution by the Ministry of Social Affairs and UNRWA more than 100,000 of the poorest families in Gaza due to the lack of cash notes; the shutting down of the Gaza power plant five times throughout the monthaffecting over half a million residents and all aspects of daily life, including sanitation, water and power supply to households, schools, and civilia institutions; the doubling of the amount of raw sewage
dumped into the sea (to 40 million litres), due to the absence of power and fuel for the wastewater treatment plant; the closing of almost all cooking gas distribution centers in Gaza, due to the  lack of gas supplies; 60% of the population receiving running
water only once every 5-7 days.

WFP has been unable to preposition stocks; in case of an emergency, it has no food available within the Gaza Strip."




 

There is no defense for Israel’s actions in Gaza. None of the half-truths, misconceptions, and dated references of its defenders will bring us any closer to peace. On the other hand, one can not criticize Israeli hawks alone. That is American weaponry killing those people. Without the approval of the Bush Administration the attacks on the innocent civilians would have ended long ago. The problem is that our radical bushites have been giving their radical bushites freedom to kill indiscriminately. But then what can we expect of neocons who have as much respect for human life as they might for a slab of ham and have a history of mindless violence? It is no coincidence that the attacks were launched while Bush is still in power. The other American debacles in Western Asia show us that we have a very strong stake in peace in—what? the name is even debatable—war and killing only breeds more of the same, especially in that area. There is no way that there can be peace between Israel and Palestine; but perhaps Jews and Muslims in a small corner of Western Asia can start talking over tea and refreshments. wIth any luck the good guy who is taking over will help that along.

David, it's quite unlikely for a negotiation if Bibi Netanyahu is elected. With this convinient choice of time for Hamas to attack on Egypt's greenlight, and for Israel to invade Gaza once again, Netanyahu will probably be elected because Israelis will feel believe in the safety of a right-wing leader who would like to see Israel prosper before protecting Palestinian rights?
The time for Palestinians and leftie Israelis to work together would be on February 10. It's more proper to say, that if the Israelis would like to see a coexisting Palestine and Israel, then they must elect a left-wing leader.

I'd rather believe stories about Gaza from the horse's mouth; and believe me, they say quite-the-opposite than what you are claiming. Israel did not leave Gaza with prosperity; they left the Palestinians isolated and desperate. It is a siege, and Israeli blockade. Nothing can be exported from Gaza, nothing imported into it, electricity being shut off, water being cut off, I'd hardly say this was a healthy condition to leave the Palestinians in Gaza in. Another refugee camp.
Never has collective punishment been so defined.

The Palestinians voted for Hamas because they were the only chance for a free, soverign Palestine. They didn't know that it would lead them to this. Relating it to U.S. politics, you can't blame the American people for voting for Bush. They didn't know either; in a time of turmult and fear the people run to the place they often feel the safest--the very same place they should have been hiding from, do they not?

Dina, I do not deny the dire situation in Gaza, but they very well knew Hamas's agenda, they kept it no secret, it was and is on their charter, so they can't hide behind ignorance.

They believed that Hamas can get rid of Israel and they will have all of it for themselves, pure fantasy, but that is what Hamas believe and are fighting for, which leaves Israel absolutely no choice, but to defend itself.

So they have no one to blame but themselves, and if they come to their senses, we can all sit down and talk peace. But not with Hamas who only want to eliminate us, what's to talk about? First denounce terror as a means to your end.

Terribly Bloodied, Still Breathing By sudhan By CAOIMHE BUTTERLY | Counterpunch, January 16-18, 2009 The morgues of Gaza’s hospitals are over-flowing. The bodies in their blood-soaked white shrouds cover the entire floor space of the Shifa hospital morgue. Some are intact, most horribly deformed, limbs twisted into unnatural positions, chest cavities exposed, heads blown off, skulls crushed in. Family members wait outside to identify and claim a brother, husband, father, mother, wife, child. Many of those who wait their turn have lost numerous family members and loved ones. Blood is everywhere. Hospital orderlies hose down the floors of operating rooms, bloodied bandages lie discarded in corners, and the injured continue to pour in: bodies lacerated by shrapnel, burns, bullet wounds. Medical workers, exhausted and under siege, work day and night and each life saved is seen as a victory over the predominance of death. The streets of Gaza are eerily silent- the pulsing life and rhythm of markets, children, fishermen walking down to the sea at dawn brutally stilled and replaced by an atmosphere of uncertainty, isolation and fear. The ever-present sounds of surveillance drones, F16s, tanks and Apaches are listened to acutely as residents try to guess where the next deadly strike will be- which house, school, clinic, mosque, governmental building or community centre will be hit next and how to move before it does. That there are no safe places- no refuge for vulnerable human bodies- is felt acutely. It is a devastating awareness for parents- that there is no way to keep their children safe. As we continue to accompany the ambulances, joining Palestinian paramedics as they risk their lives, daily, to respond to calls from those with no other life-line, our existence becomes temporarily narrowed down and focused on the few precious minutes that make the difference between life and death. With each new call received as we ride in ambulances that careen down broken, silent roads, sirens and lights blaring, there exists a battle of life over death. We have learned the language of the war that the Israelis are waging on the collective captive population of Gaza- to distinguish between the sounds of the weaponry used, the timing between the first missile strikes and the inevitable second- targeting those that rush to tend to and evacuate the wounded, to recognize the signs of the different chemical weapons being used in this onslaught, to overcome the initial vulnerability of recognizing our own mortality. Though many of the calls received are to pick up bodies, not the wounded, the necessity of affording the dead a dignified burial drives the paramedics to face the deliberate targeting of their colleagues and comrades- thirteen killed while evacuating the wounded, fourteen ambulances destroyed- and to continue to search for the shattered bodies of the dead to bring home to their families. Last night, while sitting with paramedics in Jabaliya refugee camp, drinking tea and listening to their stories, we received a call to respond to the aftermath of a missile strike. When we arrived at the outskirts of the camp where the attack had taken place the area was filled with clouds of dust, torn electricity lines, slabs of concrete and open water pipes gushing water into the street. Amongst the carnage of severed limbs and blood we pulled out the body of a young man, his chest and face lacerated by shrapnel wounds, but alive- conscious and moaning. As the ambulance sped him through the cold night we applied pressure to his wounds, the warmth of his blood seeping through the bandages reminder of the life still in him. He opened his eyes in answer to my questions and closed them again as Muhammud, a volunteer paramedic, murmured “ayeesh, nufuss”- live, breathe- over and over to him. He lost consciousness as we arrived at the hospital, received into the arms of friends who carried him into the emergency room. He, Majid, lived and is recovering. A few minutes later there was another missile strike, this time on a residential house. As we arrived a crowd had rushed to the ruins of the four story home in an attempt to drag survivors out from under the rubble. The family the house belonged to had evacuated the area the day before and the only person in it at the time of the strike was 17 year old Muhammud who had gone back to collect clothes for his family. He was dragged out from under the rubble still breathing- his legs twisted in unnatural directions and with a head wound, but alive. There was no choice but to move him, with the imminence of a possible second strike, and he lay in the ambulance moaning with pain and calling for his mother. We thought he would live, he was conscious though in intense pain and with the rest of the night consumed with call after call to pick up the wounded and the dead, I forgot to check on him. This morning we were called to pick up a body from Shifa hospital to take back to Jabaliya. We carried a body wrapped in a blood-soaked white shroud into the ambulance, and it wasn’t until we were on the road that we realized that it was Muhammud’s body. His brother rode with us, opening the shroud to tenderly kiss Muhammud’s forehead. This morning we received news that Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City was under siege. We tried unsuccessfully for hours to gain access to the hospital, trying to organize co-ordination to get the ambulances past Israeli tanks and snipers to evacuate the wounded and dead. Hours of unsuccessful attempts later we received a call from the Shujahiya neighborhood, describing a house where there were both dead and wounded patients to pick up. The area was deserted, many families having fled as Israeli tanks and snipers took up position amongst their homes, other silent in the dark, cold confines of their homes, crawling from room to room to avoid sniper fire through their windows. As we drove slowly around the area, we heard women’s cries for help. We approached their house on foot, followed by the ambulances and as we came to the threshold of their home, they rushed towards us with their children, shaking and crying with shock. At the door of the house the ambulance lights exposed the bodies of four men, lacerated by shrapnel wounds- the skull and brains of one exposed, others whose limbs had been severed off. The four were the husbands and brothers of the women, who had ventured out to search for bread and food for their families. Their bodies were still warm as we struggled to carry them on stretchers over the uneven ground, their blood staining the earth and our clothes. As we prepared to leave the area our torches illuminated the slumped figure of another man, his abdomen and chest shredded by shrapnel. With no space in the other ambulances, and the imminent possibility of sniper fire, we were forced to take his body in the back of the ambulance carrying the women and children. One of the little girls stared at me before coming into my arms and telling me her name- Fidaa’, which means to sacrifice. She stared at the body bag, asking when he would wake up. Once back at the hospital we received word that the Israeli army had shelled Al Quds hospital, that the ensuing fire risked spreading and that there had been a 20-minute time-frame negotiated to evacuate patients, doctors and residents in the surrounding houses. By the time we got up there in a convoy of ambulances, hundreds of people had gathered. With the shelling of the UNRWA compound and the hospital there was a deep awareness that nowhere in Gaza is safe, or sacred. We helped evacuate those assembled to near-by hospitals and schools that have been opened to receive the displaced. The scenes were deeply saddening- families, desperate and carrying their children, blankets and bags of their possessions venturing out in the cold night to try to find a corner of a school or hospital to shelter in. The paramedic we were with referred to the displacement of the over 46,000 Gazan Palestinians now on the move as a continuation of the ongoing Nakba of dispossession and exile seen through generation after generation enduring massacre after massacre. Today’s death toll was over 75, one of the bloodiest days since the start of this carnage. Over 1,110 Palestinians have been killed in the past 21 days. 367 of those have been children. The humanitarian infrastructure of Gaza is on its knees- already devastated by years of comprehensive siege. There has been a deliberate, systematic destruction of all places of refuge. There are no safe places here, for anyone. And yet, in the face of so much desecration, this community has remained intact. The social solidarity and support between people is inspiring, and the steadfastness of Gaza continues to humble and inspire all those who witness it. Their level of sacrifice demands our collective response- and recognition that demonstrations are not enough. Gaza, Palestine and its people continue to live, breathe, resist and remain intact and this refusal to be broken is a call and challenge to us all. Caoimhe Butterly is an Irish human rights activist working in Jabaliya and Gaza City as a volunteer with ambulance services and as co-coordinator for the Free Gaza Movement

David Cohen;
You claim "The land of Israel was for over 3,000 years inhabited by Jews," and "they were expelled many times."  Both can't be true.

I don't deny that a few Jews lived in Palestine (which you call Israel) since the Jewish religion was invented.  On the other hand, all three major Ibrahimic faiths claim derivation of that religion, and also say that theirs is the proper teaching of it.  Who am I to say that the Moslems aren't the real heirs of that land, particularly as the Jewish peoples of that land mostly adopted Islam (or Christianity) long ago.  Some Palestinians have lived there since Canaanite times, and until recently probably had the most cultural affinity with the original agrarian people. 

My history book says that around 135 AD, a section of Palestine known as Judah was brutally cleansed of most people by the Romans who were suppressing an uprising.  But there were other parts of Palestine, Galilee, Samaria which were in fact more fertile and therefore probably more populous where Jews still lived, and undoubtably that's where most of the Jews who were fleeing the Romans went.  There are records of some doing so.  So no, the Jews were not expelled from what is now Israel.  They adopted other religions, except for a small minority.

Now, you imply that those few Jews living there who didn't convert gives Jews from anywhere in the world (most of whom are the product of later conversions to Judaism) the right to the whole land, just because they have the same religion as some people who lived there long ago.  This despite the fact the Zionist Jews legally owned only 6-7% of Palestine before 1948.  Your claim is that Jews (the minority) can take land from non-Jews simply because they're not Jews.  I find that a racist position.  I should add, utterly in keeping with Israel's policy - why Israel is a racist state.

As far at the U.N. granting the Jews a state there, in fact it did make that recommendation in resolution 181 of 1947.  Whether or not you agree that the U.N. has the right to decide the fate of people without their consent and over their objections (and most  people of Palestine did not agree with the U.N.'s recommendation), the state of Israel has been in flagrant violation of that resolution  practically since it was passed. 

I'm really sorry when I hear people repeat religious myths like the Jews have a "right" expel innocent people from their homes because some Jews lived in the land of Israel 3000 years ago and then murder those who object to having their land taken.  It's hard to disabuse people of their religious myths.  I don't doubt that some Jews were murdered in 1933, mostly in Germany, but I fail to understand why it gives Jews everywhere the "right" to murder innocent people who had nothing to do with it.

It is another story, another prospect.


I will share with you what I feel at this moment.


ISRAEL, THE LAND OF CONTRASTS!


There is a soft sun and from the kibbutz, as far as the eye can see, fields met at the horizon towards to Gaza. Friends are there working peacefully in their tractors. Above, intermittently, the flights of planes and helicopters heavily charged; in the back, the crackling of the machine guns of the hardly recruited reservists, practicing in the phantom citym3 km far away from the kibbutz (a bad copy of an Arabic small town built for practicing); at the horizon the deafning noise spitting in direction to Gaza. Half an hour ago, like almost everyday towards noon, the howl of the siren inviting us to take refuge in the shelters dispersed all over the kibbutz.Bombs do not fall on our permises.

I am behind my small wall, in the interior peace, without judgment
facing this new conflict.I stay in the deepest respect of the choice of each individual, with the feeling that each one of us where he/she is, is at the right place, at the right time. What arrives to him/her in this moment, and it does not matter if he/she is active or passive, combatant or victim, is exactly wht he/she needsto increase his/her conscience. He/she had chosen it, created it, consciously or unconsciously.

I am not a dissident, a protester!I conceive my mission as a Lightworker, as being to light my candle, my headlight in the storm, in order to allow the leaders of the two implied parties,to see more clearly the situation and to make the best possible decisions for the good of all. I keep more than ever in my heart this vision of reconciliation and fraternity with my Palestinian brothers and sisters, leaving to God to allow this miracle.

Israel had created this situation and faces it exactly as in the past.

An analogy goes up in me with the way in which modern medicine, with violence,  treats cancer: ablation, chemo and radiotherapy. A blind symptomatic medicine that fights against an external enemy with an increasingly sophisticatec technology and the result is: yesterday the tumor was in Lebanon and today it is in Gaza!

We know that cancer, like a gangrened situation, comes from a very defective immune system,above all due to un unbalenced lifestyle, but especially due to negative loads of emotions being able to come from feelings of anger, despair, hatred, fear, pain, frustration or humiliation, tht remained latentand had impregnated the cellular body at a precise, determined place.

In fact only a soft, natural, holistic therapy can truly cure this cancer.

Cancer, as it was told by Guylayne Lanctot : "is an extraordinary springboard to reach a higher dimension of our life; our body drives us back against the wall to encourage us to renew contact with ourselves and to reorient our existence. It is a chance that it offers us. Let us thank it and bless it."

Then we must rejoice and strongly light our headlights!

By courtesy of Alain Bonet

a friend living in a kibbutz at 30km from the Gaza Strip.

Sharansky on eliminating cancer to cure the body:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1232275661520&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Sharansky's pretty hilarious - completely absent in this opinion are notes of any wrongdoing by Israel or it's soldiers.  Snipers killing little Palestinian girls, news reporters, and otherwise peaceful protesters.  Shooting Palestinian kids for sport.  These are all documented actions by the Israeli army.

Not to mention the ethnic cleansing/genocide upon which Israel was founded. 

So Israel is Sharansky's religion, he's a true believer.  I have no expectation of observable facts, when they conflict with it, being able to shake true belief such as his.  Or maybe he's not, and just trying to spread it to the rest of you.  It's curious how deliberately selective he picks his facts.  For example, reporting at least 130 Israelis killed by Palestinians in March 2002.  This was the single month of absolute highest casualty rate for Israelis in the whole intifada.  At least 40 of those were Israeli "security personnel."  Another 17 or so were settlers who had no business being where they were, many settlers are armed militants.  What he leaves out was that  in the same month Israel killed over 200,  46 "participants in fighting," 93 not participants in fighting, and 99 unknown by btselem human rights reporters.  Similar proportions on either side.

Well, you just can't argue with religious fanaticism like Sharansky's.  Unless it's cynical skewing of facts in the interest of Israeli propaganda we've come to know so well, a chorus of  charges of "terrorism, terrorism, terrorism" levied against Palestinians in order to justify mass murder and genocidal actions. 

Why do so many people who have the luxury of sitting somewhere in the world in safety and comfort hold so many half assed ideas about what is and what isn't just in the Israel Arab conflict. This is not an intellectual game of analysis. Israel for many reasons has decided to attack them.  Hamas has negated this country, which nevertheless is causing it real, concrete problems at the moment.  What outcome would anyone expect?  They terrorize Israelis daily aiming for maximum kill, but they are dealing with a military power which far exceeds theirs. 
Considering how much more power could have been unleashed by Israel; they are lucky Israel is exercising restraint.  They received the land they claimed to want.  Israel forced Israelis to leave Gaza, causing its own citizens great hardship.  Hamas and all those who voted them into power could have chosen to build up their own government and economy on the infrastructure they received.  But that isn't what they have done. They chose to keep attacking Israeli towns and people.

Hamas is like the child who kills his parents, and then demands mercy from the court because he is an orphan.

Sylvia, I'm truly sorry you are so afraid of Palestinians, but you do understand that most of Israel was formerly inhabited by them, and most of the people in Gaza are refugees from coldly calculated massacres perpetrated by Israel and its Zionist founders in order to "cleanse" the land of it's native inhabitants.  I'm really against many political views of Hamas, but if you herd people into a small territory and then constantly bomb them from the safety of helicopter gunships and F16 fighters, or tanks, massacre them occasionally, why do you expect friendly feelings from them?  Israeli settlers caused great hardship by uprooting the settlers who were illegally there, in criminal violation of international law in the first place?  That would be laughable if it weren't so tragically mis-informed.  If you don't want to live in fear, don't steal peoples land and drive them from their homes.

To be true - history is who writes it - we are not there - we do not "KNOW" what is the ONLY important thing is NOW always NOW what are we going to do NOW to make sure both members of this family are healed and reunite. This will take great risk and great love on both sides - they are both victims both right NOW we begin to let go the past - we all have horror stories from each other and we can continue to be the victim of the other but we can see where that gets us. Forgive is made up of two concepts to forego and to give away. We have to drop the past, it is a nightmare we must wakeup from - let us feed each other's children and elders. There is the way home for all of us.

David -
I pray for your healing and the healing of ALL people. You accuse Kay - or whoever- as full of hatred, prehaps there is some projection there? There is certainly Fear and I am sorry for your Fear but we all must face our fears which means we must risk vulnerability.

Terror is a construct to keep us Fearful of each other. We have all suffered great losses. Until we recognize this, truly grieve and can put the hurt aside, we will be stuck in this place of torment. We must see each other as humans with unmet needs, pledge to give each other what we need and live in Peace - not the absence of war but of Soul Peace.

We will never bring back those we both loved and lost through the millenia - but we can use their sacrifice for spiritual lessons and renewal and together glorify our Creator.

God Bless you, yours and everyone and theirs.

THE TERROR TEST

Terror: two criteria, 1. Intentional killing of innocents and
2. Political gain.

Political gain:

Every time an Israeli is killed by terrorists, the Arab street is dancing, lots of support so +1 for Palestine. When the IDF causes casualties, the world, the UN condemn Israel, riots in the streets of Europe, so political gain for Israel -1.

Intent:

Palestinians led by Hamas send rockets on Israeli cities, with the intent of killing innocents, no way around that, so intent for Palestine +1. The IDF on the other hand announce on the phone, and drop leaflets  before attacking a Hamas stronghold, with the full intent of saving civilian lives, so Israel -1 for intent.

Terror score: Palestine 2, Israel -2. Palestine you win the terror
score, by a margin of 4.

How sad Michael that you see it this way -

My point is Christine, that Israel is not the instigator of terror but the Palestinians, and unless they stop, their will be no peace.

The world is punishing Israel the victim of terror instead of the instigator of terror the Palestinians.

By all definitions israel has never, will never  and is not commiting acts of terror.

You have got it upside down, time to wake up and join the fight against the Islam extremists terror tactics before its to late.

THE SUFFERING OF ISRAEL FROM PALESTINIAN TERROR

Since 1950 the total terror casualties from Palestinian terror groups has been 3,678 that amounts to 4.7 per 100,000 population. In comparison the total US casualties in those same years from the Korean war, Vietnam war and the Gulf war have been 146,000 that amounts to 4.8 per 100,000, almost the same amount!

ISRAEL HAS LOST TO TERROR PROPORTIONALLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF PEOPLE AS THE US HAS IN THE LAST THREE WARS COMBINED, EXCLUDING THE CURRENT ONES.

So please stop blaming Israel for defending itself.

Correction should be 2,577 since 1950, 3,678 since 1920, my apology, the rest is correct according to numbers published by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Sweet Brother David:
We each side can provide documented truth that supports our arguments - they keep us in bondage. It is when we move away from our intellect that keeps score, and move from our heart that we grow personally, politically, economically, et al.

When we can face our own faults, sins, or blames - which we all possess, that is the place of liberation, for we see it and leave it for it no longer serves us.

As Alain, myself and others try to implement non-judgement and accept that each of us is where we must be, it is still our responsibilty to move/ take action toward healing and connection to Creator. This comes from compassion.

One of my deepest sorrows being an American is the perpetration of the myth on the founding our our country. I do love it, believe it can be perhaps the greatest nation, but recognize that until we stop romanticizing who we are, see ourselves with our sins and blames - the atrocities against the natives and our slavery - these things will keep us from being as great as we can possibly be, and also we will continue to be the perpetrator  in other nations ills.

It is in accepting blame - it is acknowledging that we have hurt someone maybe because we were also hurt, that we are liberated from blame.

Accepting blame does not make us bad... on the contray  it makes us pure! It is when we continue to perpetrate atrocities thinking we are blameless that we are "bad" or keep our own hurt from healing and continue to hurt others.

I am sorry for the hurt my ethnic heritage has dealt you, and I hope one day that together we can leave the hurts behind and live, and love together as we once did. What a glorious day this will be! I see it - hold it, nurture it.

Gratitude to you for sharing - allowing yourslef to be vulnerable to other people's opinion of you and the land you love.

Stepping into forgiveness - hope you join me
Love, christine

And Michael - sorry I meant to say Sweet Brothers David & Michael

David - I received the notice of your blog Letter to the Citizens of Gaza from a concerned Neighbor - but it is not on the blog page?

Dear David:
I read your "Letter to the citizens of Gaza from a concerned neighbor" - Since I received it in my blog update, I beleive others received it and have read it as well.

I think it was a good start. I know that you carry much hurt and so perhaps are having some challenges around expressing this hurt, that is very normal, we all are challenged this way around things that deeply impact us.

I thought perhaps I might be of service by tweeking the language of your letter so that you can better express your deep hurt, and the hurt of others, to be expressed, acknowledged and hopefully healed.

Since your letter was received through the blog update I think that I am not the only one who would have received it, yet it is no where to be found on the blog page...(not sure how that can happen but maybe I will discover how after posting this) Therefore I do not find it out of line to share here my amendments to your letter.
With Deep Conviction for Peace in our Homeland
Love, christine


 A letter to the citizens of Gaza from a concerned neighbor
(tweeked by christine shahin)

Dear neighbor, My name is David and I live in Israel, thirty minutes (or one minute rocket time) from you, in a beautiful house by the woods, that used to be a place where your grandparents played with mine. I hope someday to have you over for a cup of tea. We have a lovely view from the balcony. On a clear day we can see our jets bombing your neighborhood.

I think it's time we had a heart to heart. It's time you knew the truth. After all, what are neighbors for? You might have wondered why both you and your parents were born in a refugee camp. Why is it that even though we live only 30 minutes apart, I live in prosperity and you live in poverty and filth? I hurt because you live in despair and hatred because of your unmet needs, which come spilling over into my own life. I want to live in hope and love, but I choose to demonize you and live in Fear of you because this land is so beautiful I know why you never wanted to leave it, neither do I.

You live in poverty not because you are evil and worthless but because we block your lives thoroughly – I am unable to feel compassion for this situation in your life because it would tear apart my belief system that you are human and I am victim. Your poverty is good because I have been taught and I continue to believe that there is lack in the world and if you prospered then it means that I would have to be poor and I don’t want to be poor. I have not yet allowed full comprehension that when I ensure a livable place for you in the world that I will never lack and always be blessed.


Here is the truth, neighbor: There really was a Holocaust, even though I never experienced it, it is something that I know you have, and understand from your personal daily lives. Even though my ancestors suffered so, it never gives me the right to expel others from the land and lives they so loved because I am not different from you really. Neither of us is to be forgiven any sin we may commit, no matter what our respective faiths may fill our heads and hearts with. Dear citizen of Gaza, the Holocaust really happened. Not very long ago. It happened. And guess what? I live in deep fear so that it's NEVER going to happen again, except I fear it is happening to you.  I cut myself off from the realities of how this effects you – because if I did not I would not be able to accept these atrocities so that is why I allow you to live in terror so that I won’t, I am truly sorry. Your young boys taken into custody and tortured and released at will. Our people too experienced prod gram and now we share that experience with you. I know that safety is an illusion but is something I must believe in although my Faith teaches me to bow to no one or fear no one because The Divine is all I need, it’s hard to live that, I see you struggle with this too.

The time in history when Jews were led to slaughter, persecuted, raped and pillaged is over and will never recur, but we will never forget or forgive, Never, because to do so would mean to live in the Now and that is very scary.

Someone must pay for a Holocaust I never experienced yet you do daily. G-d knows someone has to and I am sorry but it can’t be me – I mean is it true that the whole world can live in Peace by putting weapon’s manufacturers, the only beneficiary of wars, out of business??

We now have our own country, I know you used to live here and I am sorry it had to happen this way; I am indebted to your sacrifice and promise to love and care for the land as if it were yours… although the amount of poison from all these toxic weapons we use on each other is collective suicide and when this is all over will continue to contaminate us both for decades if not longer! That’s the insane thing about modern weapons their toxicity knows no boundaries! The poisons go everywhere…
 
We now have the bombs; the USA gives us over 10 million of their tax payer dollars A DAY so we can live in prosperity and build walls to keep you out of food, medicine, school, work, life. I know the US must also give you weapons because they are making a TON of money with this neat money laundering scheme, pitting us against each other feeding each of us lies about each other and the American’s don’t get anything for their tax dollars either – truly an amazing situation don’t you think? Maybe we should not listen to them anymore and just create our own reality.

We will never forget what was done to our people because to do so we would feel their death was in vain and we love them dearly, as much as you love your families, and it’s hard for you to forget and let go too- still I know that one day – we will heal the past and walk into the future together. A wise and holy woman once told me that “the past was like defecating – you just flush it…”

We don't hate you. We don't hate anyone. Jews are a peaceful people. We don't want oil. We don't want to rape your women or murder your children. We never tried to force our religion on anyone. Our eternal capital, Jerusalem, is open to all faiths to love and to worship. We treat your Arab brothers who live among us as equals, both of our fathers is Abraham. Our hand has been extended to peace with our neighbors since day one, although I heard that many people were put to death in mass graves and other were given 24 hours to leave when solders pointed guns at them and their families, this truly is a sad situation. I did not know they did this to you for me.  Time and time again through numerous negotiations and extensive compromises we have come; still I can relate that it must be difficult for you to have lived in a concentration camp for over 40 years. I know that Gaza is the most densely populated area on the planet, no wonder there is so much filth and without honorable work no wonder there is so much poverty! My heart aches for you because I know I could never tolerate such living conditions for a moment no less 40 + years! And if I could not tolerate such why would I think you could, there is so much we share in common.

We ask only for one thing, that you join us in forgiveness and peace. That's right. We have no other demands. Justice & peace. It's as simple as that. We have the money from our US slave masters so we can provide for your families as it does ours, we will compensate you for the loss of your land and homes which in turn will give us ferocious and merciful security. We will rebuild your homes and your cities. We will make your miserable lives miserable no more because as we know we share the same father Abraham and this healing will give him much joy. There is abundance for all of us; come home in peace.

Our soldiers are not motivated by hate but by determination, we have many who are now refusniks – such beautiful souls who recognize the oneness of all life and love but they are ridiculed, shunned, treated for insanity. We embrace life and will do anything to preserve it. Killing, stealing, and coveting is against our religious laws and we know that love is the only way to protect our land and our way of life. Let us not listen to those who wish to control our emotions with useless lies.

A terrorist is a terrorist. I know you know there are many forms of terrorism, that a terrorist is nothing more than a coward. Not a hero. Not a Shahid. There is nothing heroic in entering a Mosque with solders on Holy Day and creating havoc to insight trouble. Anybody can do that. Anybody can hide inside a school, mosque, temple, church and blindly fire rockets into cities, hoping to kill as many babies as possible. There is nothing courageous or admirable in these acts of cruelty. I understand because we too lived through such atrocities and I would never wish them on my worst enemy.

To take pride in an act of terror is pitiful and pathetic. I’ve heard you've been raised to believe the contrary, but I think with my heart and my heart tells me this is a lie. I have seen how your children are so profoundly hurt by our actions they would rather commit suicide. Your suicide bombers are glorified, I know this because we too romanticize and glorify our suffering to the point where no one else matters.  This is tragically sad. A real hero recognizes that suffering is suffering and reaches out with compassion to alleviate it because not to, is abhorrent.

A real hero protects his people and will die for them but not among them, but I know how impossible this is because there is no space living under concentration and occupation to make that distinction. Israel exists and it belongs to the Jewish People. I've seen your school books. I know that Israel has been omitted from your maps, as we omit your country from ours. Contrary to what you've been told, the State of Israel really does exist. Look outside your window. We are here and we are not going anywhere, so we have decided instead of taking from you we will give you Just Compensation for the beautiful home of your ancestors that we now hold the keys to and live in. Why did we not think of this before! To give you what I would have wanted for myself, my home and land, a fair monetary compensation. I mean we could do this right? With the 10 +Million dollars we get every day!?? I am so very excited to realize that we can begin anew and we can live together for justice always creates peace!
 
Dear Palestinian neighbor, it's time to deal with the facts. We love our beautiful little country. We will protect it with our lives, you surely know this because every day you protect what little of this precious land you have with your lives too.

But still I live in Fear and Fear is dominating all I do so it is very difficult for us to allow you any land except for the small parcel with the millions of you on it. This was explained to you in 1948. We got your country and you got something…I know the acreage has been dwindling as our portion grows, so sorry that much of your life has been a repeat of the lives the indigenous population of America- the prime land was taken from you, you were set up and spoken to in forked tongues and some of your own people sold you out – we have that situation too. It’s amazing how similar our stories really are once we truly explore them isn’t it?

Thousands of lives have been lost for nothing. It's NEVER going to happen! I realize that you have been yearning for return to your homeland and there are so many people on the few miles where you are that nurturing it is challenging, we have built one of the most beautiful and successful countries on Earth with the 10 +million dollars a day we get from the USA!

We've planted forests and quenched the desert. We've drained wetlands and culivated fields. We built universities, opera houses, superhighways, hospitals, skyscrapers and stadiums again with the wonderful taxpayer moneys of the great West – we are so very grateful to them because if we did not have this money we would not be able to do all of these amazing things, we would not be able to exist! Wow now THAT IS SCARY!

We have millions of refugees, but no refugee camps. We promise to break down the walls and give you the ability for fair wage employment, medicine, and food. This takes love, hard work and determination. We can help. We have experts and scientists helping developing nations across the globe. I am happy that today we can lay down our weapons and join together in making this great region of the planet even greater.

Shalom, Salaam,
David from Soragim, Israel (tweeked by Christine Shahin, US citizen with family in Beirut)

For the record:

It was Charles who compared the situation to a rapist and a rape victim.  Not K. 

K respects the self determination of Palestinian people, but also undertsands that Zionist communities and US media often paints a picture of two equal sides fighting each other, not a colonial state that has removed and violently oppressed another people.  And K simply believes that the word "conflict" in some way perpetuates that mis-information.  K is not interested in defining conflict to understand if it factually fits or not, b/c context is too important.

As for the plea for dispassionate analysis.  I wish Charles would check his patriarchy.  This is such a basic and cliched male criticism for more feminine ways of understanding the world that include emotion.  Charles should know better than to reject a way of coming to analysis that has been systamatically rejected by a male-dominated media and academia.   Have you read the article, "the Scream"?

This US citizen and Jewish community member says:

End the seige on Gaza NOW, end the occupation NOW, end the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians NOW. Collective liberation is good for everyone.

http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/Church_Tagged_With_Anti-Arab_Graffiti_Washington_DC.html