User:Nishidani

Some reflections

“You have to understand, most Palestinians were born to die – we just have to help them.”Amiram Levin^[1]

Let the reader think of the history which we are ourselves witnessing; anyone who, for example, evaluates the behavior of individual men and groups of men at the time of the rise of National Socialism in Germany, or the behavior of individual peoples and states before and during the last war, will feel how difficult it is to represent historical themes in general, and how unfit they are for legend; the historical comprises a great number of contradictory motives in each individual, a hesitation and ambiguous groping on the part of groups; only seldom (as in the last war) does a more or less plain situation, comparatively simple to describe, arise, and even such a situation is subject to division below the surface, is indeed almost constantly in danger of losing its simplicity; and the motives of all the interested parties are so complex that the slogans of propaganda can be composed only through the crudest simplification—with the result that friend and foe alike can often employ the same ones. To write history is so difficult that most historians are forced to make concessions to the technique of legend.Erich Auerbach,Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature 1953 pp.19-20.

Perhaps in no other major international conflict has the gap between opinions—or “myths,” as in this context I shall call them—and demonstrable historical facts been as great as they are in the Arab-Israeli and the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts since the early twentieth century. As a result, perhaps in no other international conflict have these myths, which still dominate Israeli and US political discourse, had such devastating consequences for both peace and justice.'Jerome Slater,Mythologies without End: The US, Israel, and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1917-2020, Oxford University Press 2020 p.1.

“For seven years, I visited the Palestinian territory twice a year. I also conducted a fact-finding mission after the Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2008, 2009. So, I am familiar with the situation, and I am familiar with the apartheid situation. I was a human rights lawyer in apartheid South Africa. And I, like virtually every South African who visits the occupied territory, has a terrible sense of déjà vu. We’ve seen it all before, except that it is infinitely worse. And what has happened in the West Bank is that the creation of a settlement enterprise has resulted in a situation that closely resembles that of apartheid, in which the settlers are the equivalent of white South Africans. They enjoy superior rights over Palestinians, and they do oppress Palestinians. So, one does have a system of apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territory. And I might mention that apartheid is also a crime within the competence of the International Criminal Court.” . John Dugard,United Nations special rapporteur cited in Ramzy Baroud, Romana Rubeo,What You Need to Know about the ICC Investigation of War Crimes in Occupied Palestine Counterpunch 19 May 2020

"[The] great Designer of the universe .. permitted a fiat to be recorded, that the beings whom it was His pleasure in the first instance to place amidst these lovely scenes, must eventually be swept from the face of the earth by others more intellectual, more dearly beloved and gifted than they. Progressive improvement is undoubtedly the order of creation." The Old Testament and Darwin's theory of evolution joined forces in a righteous and comforting way - for the trespassers.' R. G. Kimber, 'The End of the Bad Old Days: European Settlement in Central Australia, 1871-1894,' 5th Eric Johnston Memorial Lecture, 9 November 1991.

The Palestinians are the only people on earth required to guarantee the security of the occupier, while Israel is the only country that demands protection from its victims.Hanan Ashrawi paraphrased by Gideon Levy, 'Even Gandhi would understand the Palestinians’ violence,' Haaretz 8 October 2015.

The army’s professionality has been stained by the shooting soldier affair too. The chief of staff reported, in an explicit and documented manner, that two-thirds of the army are employed in keeping the occupied territories (it’s unbelievable, but only one-third deal with the Arab states, Iran, submarines, F-15, Hezbollah, Hamas and all the other calamities).Sima Kadmon, 'Hebron shooting: A micromodel of Israel’s maladies,' Ynet 5 December 2016.

'Israel has a poor record of holding its own forces to account for serious laws-of-war violations; Hamas has not even claimed to investigate violations by Palestinian fighters. The involvement of the ICC could help to deter both sides from committing war crimes, while potentially offering victims a modicum of justice. With its UN observer-state status, Palestine is eligible to join the ICC, and it marked the New Year by finally doing so. The ICC will have jurisdiction over war crimes committed in or from Palestinian territory; that is, its mandate will apply to both sides in the conflict. However, the US and leading EU countries tried to prevent this development by placing misguided pressure on Palestine not to join the Hague-based court. But they take the opposite position in virtually every other situation of large-scale war crimes, where they recognize that curbing these crimes is often a prerequisite to building the trust needed for productive peace talks. No one has credibly explained why the Israeli-Palestinian conflict should be an exception to this rule.'World Report Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch January 2015 p.7.

The legal runaround to secure recognition of one's land by a hostile occupying power. An exemplary case. Madeline Buthod, Experiencing sumud in the West Bank Mondoweiss November 6, 2014

John V. Whitbeck, The only legally, politically and diplomatically correct ways to refer to the 22% portion of historical Palestine occupied in 1967 are now “the State of Palestine”, “Palestine” and “occupied Palestine”. “Palestinian Authority”, “occupied territories” and “occupied Palestinian territories” are no longer acceptable.’ at Counterpunch, Weekend Edition January 18-20, 2013

(The EU's 27 foreign ministers) have also received information from human rights organizations saying Israel is planning to evacuate some 2,500 Bedouins of the Jahalin tribe from their residence in the E1 area near Ma'aleh Adumim to the garbage removal site near the village of Abu Dis.Barak Ravid, 'EU voices protest over Israeli policies in East Jerusalem, West Bank,' at Haaretz, 23 December, 2011.

'Anti-Semitism exists today on the furthest margins of Western society, in obscure sinecures, on the Internet, but perhaps most prevalently in our feverish imaginations. And in our generation that is where it constitutes the biggest threat. ..It would make much more sense if they could outlaw calling people anti-Semites. Not because there aren’t any anti-Semites out there, but because of the damage we do ourselves with this incessant searching and name-calling.' Anshel Pfeffer, 'The new anti-Semitism is whatever Israelis want it to be,' at Haaretz 7 February 2014.^[2]

欲以存亡繼絕, (淮南子, 卷二十一 要略 7a.)

ἄγνοια γὰρ ἡ μὲν τῶν ἰσχυρῶν ἐχθρά τε καὶ αἰσχρά— βλαβερὰ γὰρ καὶ τοῖς πέλας αὐτή τε καὶ ὅσαι εἰκόνες αὐτῆς εἰσιν—(Φίληβος,49ξ)

Of course english wikipedia is biased by the fact that the anglosphere is overwhelmingly Christian . .a fundamentally christian perspective, when I say deep-seated I'm referring to this permeation of christian thought in enlightenment thought which leaks into wikipedia.

'most - nearly all - websites created in HTML, will not outlive their creators, and the duration of the materials may well be much shorter even than that.' Jerome McGann, 'Our textual history: Digital copying of poetry and prose raises questions beyond accuracy alone,' TLS,November 20, 2009 pp.13-15,p.15

“The historian’s task is not to disrupt for the sake of it, but it is to tell what is almost always an uncomfortable story and explain why the discomfort is part of the truth we need to live well and live properly.” Tony Judt, in William Grimes, ‘Tony Judt, Chronicler of History, Is Dead at 62,’ NYT 7 August 2010

'The State of Israel is at war with the Palestinian people, people against people, collective against collective.' Israel's Ministry of Justice 2009, in Uri Avnery, 'Israel's Most Revolting Law?' Counterpunch, 23 March 2009

"Justice and freedom for the Palestinians are incompatible with the existence of the State of Israel." Binyamin Netanyahu, 'Boycott movement aims to destroy Israel: PM,' Yahoo News 8 June 2015.

'We're not obliged to give 'both sides of the story' when the 'other side' is irr(e)levant.'User:NoCal100 on the Lydda Death March talkpage. The other side consists of Palestinians

Regarding assailants (Arabs, kids, whatever) that are killed or injured as they attack, frankly that should be seen as WP:ROUTINE unless the incident is truly notable

'no Palestinian can dig a hole more than 40cm below the ground.' Robert Fisk, ‘In the West Bank's stony hills, Palestine is slowly dying,’ Independent 30 January 2010

'Ainsley Cody . .lives by his own code of honor, which includes respecting others if they deserve it, defending yourself, and never backing down if you are right.' Margaret Atwood, reviewing E. O. Wilson, Anthill, NYRB April 8, 2010 pp.6-8 p.8.

Tibet-Palestine

'To engage with China's arguments concerning Tibet is to be subjected to the kind of intellectual entrapment, familiar in the Palestinian conflict, whereby the dispute is corralled into questions which the plaintiff had never sought to dispute. Tibetans complain of being robbed of their dignity in their homeland by having their genuinely loved leader incessantly denounced, and of being swamped by Chinese immigration to the point of becoming a minority in their own country. But China insistently condemns such complaints as separatism, an offence in China under the crime of 'undermining national unity', and pulls the debate back to one about Tibet's historical status. Foreigners raise questions about human rights and the environment, but China again denounces this as a foreign intervention in the internal affairs of a sovereign nation, and pulls the debate back to Tibet's historical status.' George Fitzherbert, 'Land of Clouds', Times Literary Supplement, June 30,2008 p.7

Gaza on the Mind

a picture isn't worth a thousand words, which here, as throughout history, would blush in silence. The picture is of Sahir Abu Namous, who looked like this when he was alive.

'It was as though the buildings destroyed by bombs and shells, the central courtyard ploughed up by the war - full of mounds of earth, heaps of twisted metal, damp acrid smoke and the yellow reptilian flames of slowly-burning insulators - represented what was left to him of his own life.'Vasily Grossman, Life and Fate p.246

Palestine

'Toujours plus désolée et plus solitaire, la Palestine se déroule, infiniment silencieuse'. Pierre Loti, Jérusalem p.34

Hebron Hills on the Mind cf. (1)

"The South Hebron Hills are a place of great beauty. Gazelles roam the hillsides, birds are abundant in the sky. When you look out over the hills you can see ancient Palestinian villages where people are still living a simple, subsistence lifestyle. They have flocks of sheep and goats. They market lambs, and the women make delicious cheese and butter. In springtime, the valleys are brilliant green with crops of wheat and barley.

"But this beauty is marked with pain. As you look out across the horizon now, you also see the unmistakable mark of Israeli settlements. They appear as modern suburban developments dropped down on the hilltops in this rugged terrain. Settlement outposts extend the reach of these settlements, and confiscate increasingly more Palestinian land exclusively for Israeli use. Religiously zealous, ideological and violent settlers threaten and attack anyone who dares draw near. Palestinian shepherds here find they have less and less land to graze their flocks, and must take grave risks when they do.

"As we accompany these shepherds, they often speak of the stories this landscape holds for them. They speak of the land they knew as children; the places they used to roam; the valleys their fathers and grandfathers used to graze the flocks. Recently, as we accompanied one shepherd, Shaadi, he pointed out some of the landmarks in his memory along the way. From high on a hilltop, we can see the nearby settlement and outpost. Although he does not mention it, we are looking across at a place where his children have been repeatedly attacked while walking to school. He continues to send his children to school, knowing that to do so is defiance of the violence and threats to push him and his family off of their land.

"As we pause at the cistern to water the flocks, he recounts the time when three masked settlers from the outpost attacked him and his young son while they were watering the sheep. The settlers arrived in a truck and began firing stones at them with a slingshot. They broke the legs of two of his sheep. His nine year old son was also hit by the rocks. Shaadi tried to comfort his son, who would not speak after the attack. When he called the Israeli police to report the attack, the police refused to come to the village to take his report saying they were afraid of the settlers, 'We are only two police. We need a whole army to go in there. The settlers will break our windows.' Shaadi replied, 'If you are afraid of the settlers, how do you think I am?'

"A short walk later, we pass by the place where three years ago a settler from the illegal settlement outpost Havat Maon, stole fifteen sheep from his flock. Despite filing a police report, including video evidence of the entire incident and eyewitness testimony from an international observer, no charges were filed against the settler. As we approach his home, he talks about the forced removal of several hundred people from this area. On April 7, 1998 over one hundred families in the area, including Shaadi's, were served orders to abandon their homes by April 12th. In a dark irony, the deadline given was Easter Sunday. The families refused to leave. The military confiscated their meager belongings, and offered to return them if they agreed to leave. They refused. Shaadi's home is a simple place, closely connected with the homes of his extended family. But even home is a place of scarred memories. Settlers have come and attacked his family. Shaadi shares the painful memory of the time when armed settlers came to the village, and started shooting. His mother was shot in the leg, and his brother was also wounded. For him and his family, there is no safe place of refuge.

"As is typical in the area, they once had a toilet out-building adjacent to the house. In May of 2006, the Israeli Civil Administration issued a demolition order for the toilet. A few days later a bulldozer came and destroyed it. He has not been allowed to rebuild it. It seems even the basic human dignity and privacy of a toilet will be denied him.

"Shepherds in this area continue to face violence and threats on a daily basis. In January of this year, while Shaadi was out grazing his flocks with a few other local shepherds, settlers came out from the outpost and fired six shots at them. The flocks scattered, and the shepherds fled. The Israeli police refused to respond, saying they 'had better things to do'.

"A few weeks ago, Shaadi was one of several shepherds that went to graze their flocks in a valley called Mshaha, south of the illegal settlement outpost, Havat Maon. They went together as an act of resistance to threats and violence from the settlers. They went to recover the use of their land, and find sustenance for their flocks. On this day, Israeli soldiers arrived and demanded that the shepherds leave. The shepherds responded that this was their land, and that they wanted to appeal to the commander to decide the issue. Settlers from the outpost also came and spoke with the soldiers. The soldiers ran toward the flocks and kicked several sheep, trying to drive them away. Many of these shepherds reported injuries to their sheep, including broken teeth, and internal bleeding. Shaadi lost two lambs later that week from injured ewes.

"As we were finishing up this long walk, we paused along the way as a young lamb was born. Shaadi tended gently and expertly to the newborn, and invited us back to his house for a meal. We rejoiced in the new birth, hopeful that this might be finally a sign of new life for him and his family."

Christian Peacemaker Teams, Al-Tuwani Reflection: The Stations of Shaadi, 13 March, 2008.

CPT material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. [1]

'Investigations fail to result in convictions even when eyewitnesses provide accurate descriptions of Jewish suspects seen at or fleeing the scene, holding incriminating evidence - as in a case reported earlier this month by the Jerusalem Post's Dan Izenberg. According to the April 6 article, a settler from Kedumim was caught by police last summer, fleeing a burning Palestinian orchard while holding a jerrican filled with flammable liquid, and with the smell of the liquid on his hands. The suspect refused to answer police questions during interrogation; and less than a year later, the courts dismissed the case for "lack of evidence." Michael Sfard, Yesh Din's legal advisor, described the court's decision as "scandalous." Lisa Goldman, ‘Who will protect Palestinians from growing settler extremism?,’ Haaretz 24/04/2010

m:User:Nishidani