Anger is a legitimate emotion in the face of injustice. Passive acceptance of evil is not a virtue.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Mondoweiss:Mainstream journalist Ashraf Khalil explains why stories about the Palestinian experience are rarely told
"Before going to Cairo last month, I made it a point to seek out Ashraf Khalil, whose journalism on the conflict in the LA Times earned him a wide reputation for fairness. A man of large spirit, Khalil (left) introduced me to other journalists, brought me to a place I could actually get a beer, and made me feel completely at home. Last week we picked up a piece by Mohammed Omer, the Palestinian journalist who was tortured by Israeli border security on returning to Gaza from England last year after winning the Martha Gellhorn prize. Omer referred to Khalil's coverage of the episode-- in fact the best piece to appear in American mainstream media-- though he criticized Khalil for including an Israeli explanation of certain injuries. I asked Ashraf if he had anything to say. He writes:"
There's no such thing as "Palestine", so obviously, there can be no "Palestinian experience".
ReplyDeletePS Mohammed Omer was obviously lying.
"He claims that when he came to, an Israeli scratched his face deeply under his eyes, then someone gouged his head, clawed at his eyes and tore his skin. An Israeli pressed his neck to the floor with a boot, he charges, saying he suffered "beating, scratching and assaults" before Israelis summoned an ambulance that took him to a hospital in Jericho."
Even the Philistine doctor who examined him made that clear:
"<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dr. Diaa Husseini, who examined Omer at the hospital, said the journalist had no signs of physical injury.</span> He said Omer had suffered a nervous breakdown brought on by emotional stress and was given stomach medication and released after two hours."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-07-10-gazajournalist_n.htm
Zionism was based on a faulty, colonialist world view that the rights of the indigenous inhabitants didn't matter. The Arabs' opposition to Zionism wasn't based on anti-Semitism but rather on a totally reasonable fear of the dispossession of their people.
ReplyDeleteOne further point: being Jewish ourselves, the position we present here is critical of Zionism but is in no way anti-Semitic. We do not believe that the Jews acted worse than any other group might have acted in their situation. The Zionists (who were a distinct minority of the Jewish people until after WWII) had an understandable desire to establish a place where Jews could be masters of their own fate, given the bleak history of Jewish oppression. Especially as the danger to European Jewry crystalized in the late 1930's and after, the actions of the Zionists were propelled by real desperation.
But so were the actions of the Arabs. The mythic "land without people for a people without land" was already home to 700,000 Palestinians in 1919. This is the root of the problem, as we shall see.
Now for the truth about what happened to Omer -
ReplyDeleteISRAEL DETAINS AND TORTURES AWARD WINNING JOURNALIST
http://notinhisname.blogdrive.com/archive/cm-7_cy-2008_m-7_d-06_y-2008_o-0.html
Zionism is the indigenous nation of Israel in its land.
ReplyDeleteIf the visiting Arabs don't like it, they can go back to their own lands elsewhere.
The truth of what happened to Omer was widely reported- and confirmed by an Arab doctor.
ReplyDelete"<span style="text-decoration: underline;">Dr. Diaa Husseini, who examined Omer at the hospital, said the journalist had no signs of physical injury.</span> He said Omer had suffered a nervous breakdown brought on by emotional stress and was given stomach medication and released after two hours."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-07-10-gazajournalist_n.htm
Anything unclear?
Zionism is the nation of Israel in its land.
ReplyDeleteAnd as to the truth about Omer:
"Dr. Diaa Husseini, who examined Omer at the hospital, said the journalist had no signs of physical injury. He said Omer had suffered a nervous breakdown brought on by emotional stress and was given stomach medication and released after two hours."
What about that is unclear? he lied and was caught by an ARAB DOCTOR!
PS Erasing my posts won't erase the truth.
Oh yeah, and my precious point still stands (another one you erased):
ReplyDeleteThere's no "Palestinian experience" because there's no such thing as "Palestine". :-D
As to the truth about Omer:
ReplyDelete"Dr. Diaa Husseini, who examined Omer at the hospital, said the journalist had no signs of physical injury. He said Omer had suffered a nervous breakdown brought on by emotional stress and was given stomach medication and released after two hours."
What about that is unclear? he lied and was caught by an ARAB DOCTOR!
""As they ridiculed me, they took delight most in mocking letters I had received from readers in England. I had now been without food and water and the toilet for 12 hours, and having been made to stand, my legs buckled. I vomited and passed out. All I remember is one of them gouging, scraping and clawing with his nails at the tender flesh beneath my eyes. He scooped my head and dug his fingers in near the auditory nerves between my head and eardrum. The pain became sharper as he dug in two fingers at a time. Another man had his combat boot on my neck, pressing into the hard floor. I lay there for over an hour. The room became a menagerie of pain, sound and terror."
ReplyDeleteAn ambulance was called and told to take Mohammed to a hospital, but only after he had signed a statement indemnifying the Israelis from his suffering in their custody. The Palestinian medic refused, courageously, and said he would contact the Dutch embassy escort. Alarmed, the Israelis let the ambulance go. The Israeli response has been the familiar line that Mohammed was "suspected" of smuggling and "lost his balance" during a "fair" interrogation, Reuters reported yesterday.
Israeli human rights groups have documented the routine torture of Palestinians by Shin Bet agents with "beatings, painful binding, back bending, body stretching and prolonged sleep deprivation". Amnesty has long reported the widespread use of torture by Israel, whose victims emerge as mere shadows of their former selves. Some never return. Israel is high in an international league table for its murder of journalists, especially Palestinian journalists, who receive barely a fraction of the kind of coverage given to the BBC's Alan Johnston."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/02/israelandthepalestinians.civilliberties
There is no difference between the denail of a people (the Palestinians and their destruction zionist scum and the attempt to destroy the Jewish people to make them no more. Guest, it is your failure to understand this that makes you the true anti-semitic genocidal maniac that the nazis once were - you are their heir apparent
ReplyDeleteThere is no difference between the denial of a people (the Palestinians) and their destruction by zionist scum and the attempt to destroy the Jewish people to make them no more. Guest, it is your failure to understand this that makes you the true anti-semitic genocidal maniac that the nazis once were - you are their heir apparent
ReplyDeleteYou are also in the process of destroying Judaism
ReplyDeleteISRAELI WAR CRIMES IN GAZA
ReplyDelete