The curse of leadership in Israel and Palestine

Palestinian leadership says another Trump term would be a disaster.
Palestinians have an enemy that is definitely going to destroy them, that enemy is not Trump, it is not “The Joos”, it is the Palestinian leadership…Hamas and Fatah.. Those two factions are so focused in being the sole leaders of a now-fantasy Palestine, that they have lost the skill of calculating their advantages when they have them.

Peace, Justice & Equal Rights for all

I am not talking about refusing the many “wonderful opportunities” that Israel offered Palestinians because those were the most mean-spirited choices anyone could get, but packaged as gifts from Heaven. I am talking about the FACT that nothing can give them a Palestine that has any hope of survival, that can ever expect to be more than an Israeli Bantustan.
Palestinian leadership should publicly give up the idea of a Palestine for Palestinians and agree to merge with Israel as a single country with equal rights, protections and opportunities for ALL, regardless of whether they may be Jews, Christians or Muslims. The new Israel CAN be called Israel and it can also be called Palestine, that is immaterial. After all, Switzerland remains an internationally-respected, neutral country in spite of the fact that it has FOUR ethnicities and Four official languages…French, German, Italian and Romansh. Those languages are being used in the whole country. Switzerland also has names in each language, for the same city and geographic areas such as lakes and mountains. Quite importantly in contrast with Israel, the different ethnic groups are often not accepting of one another but in expression only. Perhaps the one thing they have in common with Israeli Jews is that they too, hate Muslims but to a much lesser extent.

Jews and Palestinians are being forced apart largely because of Western support against Palestinians. There is NOTHING keeping a united Israel-Palestine from happening except for the egotistic, bigoted, leaders in Israel and in Palestine. In this tragedy, only the Palestinians will continue to suffer deprivation, deaths, genocide, and humiliations. It is time for the Jews of Israel and their supporters to forget the idea of a “Jewish character” of Israel, because thus far, the only “Jewish character” in evidence, is that of a genocidal organization against Palestinians. It is also time for Palestinian leaders to help Palestinians lose the idea of a “Free Palestine” for what would appear to be a single-faith (Islamic) nation. Get used to the idea of a multi-faith nation working together with Peace and Justice for all. The current Palestinian leaderships (Hamas and Fatah) offer neither Peace, nor Justice, nor any semblance of a democracy; one is totalitarian and the other corrupt.

“War!”; gathering intelligence intelligently

  The man who blew himself up and took 7 CIA men with him should help teach us in the US, the same lesson…yet again! But if the lesson learnt is that we should not trust Arabs and Muslims, then all seven CIA lives, all American lives before them and all lives that will be taken in the future, will have been totally wasted.  

What should the US have learnt, this time, as they should have, a long time ago? There is no substitute for good intelligence-gathering and good intelligence-gathering does not come through the eye of a satellite, the cross-hairs of a drone or, from a rented stranger, it comes from good friends. But first, let us see how the US deliberately alienates Muslims across the world.  

Of Angels & Demons

I recently received a link to a YouTube video of Rachel Corrie in 5th grade, giving a speech in which she shared her vision to help the world be a better place. I was very impressed because while we all desire world peace in our childhood, it is seldom that we manage to retain the vision and act on it in our adulthood. This remarkable girl spoke with clarity and confidence and with the sincerity of one whose soul speaks out.

A Permanent Peace Plan for Israel

(First published April 7, 2005) Peace in the Holy Land is very much a possibility but it is by no means easy.  In fact, it can be argued that the most successful solution includes one country with Jews, Christians and Muslims living together in peace and harmony as they had for centuries before now.

One of the problems of current peace negotiations is that with blind support from the West, Israel has everything to lose and almost nothing to gain by giving up any of its territories.

The language of “War!”

Today’s (8.14.2007) news featured an attack by Israel, on Gaza, killing ten Palestinians including “gunmen”, “Hamas terrorists” and an elderly mother “being used as a human shield”.

“Well done IDF!” was the most-voiced comment in Israel…great glory and righteousness on the part of IDF; Israel may survive yet another day.

In strategy and tactics of war, the most important weapon is the language of war.

The Reality of Suicide Bombing

Most people of good will should be able to condemn not only suicide bombing but ANY act of wanton killing whether it is done by our side (“good guys”) or the their side (“bad guys”). Unfortunately the Israel/Palestine dispute has so polarized people that they have no hesitation in condemning the other side without ever seeking to understand. All too often, seeking to understand the other is seen as taking sides by people blinded by partisanship.

Israel and Palestine; letter to my Congressman

Dear Congressman Inslee,

 

Thank you for taking the time to send me your reason (letter below) why you chose to endorse a condemnation of the Goldstone Report; I am afraid I cannot accept your response as a considered one.

 

While I realize you might never see this, I feel you need to understand why we are feeling such agony over your signing of that infamous resolution.

 

I wonder if you have ever visited Gaza?

It is about 360 sq Km (137 sq. mi, see detailed maps below) in total with about 1,500,000 people imprisoned inside…that is almost 11,000 people per square mile (17 per acre) if everybody was neatly spread around all of Gaza, desert and all. If you were told to “run” with your children, where exactly would you have been able to escape Israeli bombs when Israel was even bombing the beaches of Gaza? Israeli forces deliberately even killed entire families who were surrendering with white flags.

Yet you surprise me by saying, “Israel’s implementation of warning efforts that appear to have saved lives“.

Are you aware of DIME weapons that we have provided Israel? Ha’aretz reports that “The problem is that when you are killed – you are ripped to shreds and there is nothing left“.