Why are incidents of Israeli terrorism not reported on? There have been many, even here in the US.

interesting blog and well done!

some people are just plain ignorant…nothing much you can do about it but you handled it well..fact of the matter is Israel is built on stolen lands and there are no two ways about it!

One day…hopefully sooner than later …Palestinians will have their country back….

Jawahir

Did you catch Moyers’ interview with Richard Goldstone a couple weeks back? I think an opening of discourse is slowly happening in this country. More and more Americans are slowly waking up to the wrong-headedness of our foreign policy, including in respect to Israel. But as the West dithers, Palestinians continue to suffer under occupation.

You could have asked if she read that in the Talmud, but I think you handled it appropriately.

I have two questions for you.
On the October 8th broadcast of Deutche Welle Radio carried on NPR the reporter mentioned that one of the arrested was a ‘suspected Islamist’. What do you think popular reaction be if a reporter said ‘suspected Judaist’ in describing an arrestee of Ashkenazi origin?

Mainstream media is still silent regarding thermate explosives residue found in 9/11 dust samples by several research laboratories. Do you think this silence is confirmation of government and media cooperation in yet another false flag operation or simply the mainstreams effort not to give the alternative media anymore popularity than it already has?

I hope you and your family are well. Peace.

that said… i find it unbelievable she never have met a Palestinian before, most certainly an atypical case in this regard. after all… if we ware so separated, solving the conflict would have been easier.

One only needs to read Israeli newspapers to see how ignorant most Israelis are about Palestinians. The Israeli government has a conscious policy of fostering fear of terror from Palestinians whether it is justified or not (see http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1116159.html -”The Gaza War ‘victory’ – Has Israel grown dependent on terror?” by Bradley Burston writing in Haaretz.).

Palestinians, on the other hand, have much greater interaction with Israelis (basically with Israeli soldiers, prison guards and police) since 10-12,000 of them, overwhelming civilians, are held in Israeli prisons at any one time and hundreds, including children, are kidnapped each month and held without charges. In contrast, only one Israeli, a soldier, is being held by Palestinians. One result of this is that Palestinians often speak Hebrew which they learn in prison (and English which they are taught in school) as well as Arabic, while most Israelis only speak Hebrew.

This follows the common pattern that the oppressed know more about the oppressor than vice versa as they have to to protect themselves. Thus, the reaction of the Israeli woman Gaza Mom met is not unusual. It is the product of a complex, complete and outrageous system of segregation which has condemned one people to living on the margin in increasingly smaller and cut off ghettos deliberatively created by the other.

I have relatives in Gaza and I can also relate to what the writer is saying. Thank you for taking this iniative. Lets not talk about the humanitarian situation (an antizionist anywhere will get a bunch of monkeys chaasing).

It´s not like there isnt enough denial and disagreement more then we actually have agreement and acceptance in this world. Its not like we understand eachother anyhow yet to see what each and other is going throw. The current leadership both in Israel and in the PA/Hamas/whatever is helping the the situation to improve for the palestinian people.

Though I think that the Israeli mom meant that its the first time she meets someone from the “other side” rather than meeting a palestinian and really if you think about it for three seconds…

That is what we need.

First, just a few quick facts:

You have to be an Israeli citizen in order to serve in the Israeli army. A lot of them aren’t Jewish – about 1 million people from the former Soviet Union immigrated to Israel in the 90′s, about 300,000 are non-jews, either christians or atheists. Also you have Druze and Beduoin (different sectors of the palestinian society) serving in large numbers in the army. So actually, claiming that all the soldiers of the Israeli army is very far from the truth, and no – describing them as “Jews” is not accurate.

Secondly, could you explain why do Jews all over the world carry responsabilty over what the Israeli government is doing? Should I understand that you share the Zionist view that Israel is the representing tool of jews all over the world?
Would you demand from “the Muslims of the world” to “claim responsability” over the human rights offences being performed in Sudan, Iran or Saudi Arabia?

My stand is that no Jew should claim responsablity for what a state, where he is not a citizen, does. And the reason I am asking these questions is that I feel there is a very strong racist undertow in your writing. The link you make between Israel, who I criticize as harshly as you do (I think), and between this imaginary body of “Jews” is false and shows that you are influenced both from Zionist views and antisemitic views. When dealing with the Israeli oppression, talk about the Israelis.

“In fact it would have been easier to cut off all supplies from Gaza with a permanent presence in the Gaza strip.” Huh? How so?

I’m sure you are fishing for the propaganda line. You know. Self defense from all those rockets being fired at Sderot. Those homemade rockets make a hole in the ground about 3′deep by 4′ wide (I will find a link to video that proves it). It’s terrible that sometimes people get hit, but you really have to be standing right where the thing lands to get hurt by it. It’s just not the same thing as firing real bombs from F-16′s or drones, which happens more frequently than the homemade rockets coming from the strip.

Where would you like me to start on the facts. Just this topic – the Gaza “war” last year? Or how about Lebanon in 06 and 1982 through 2000 (and all the other meddling and assassinations). Or the ’73, ’67, ’56, ’48 wars? Or resolution 242? Or the White paper? Or further back the Sykes Picot agreement vs. the Balfour Declaration vs. the promises made via Lord McMahon to the Arab populations under Ottoman rule in WWI? Or further back?

For now I’ll get you some links to back up what I said earlier but since I’m in the middle of my 44 hour work week, it’ll take a couple of days before I can post again.

Interested to see if you can explain yourself better though.

afp