31 Sides to Every Story

I created this slide show as a condensed overview of my time spent in Israel and Palestine this summer. They are pictures from events that happened in several cities and villages throughout Israel and the West Bank. They are pictures of people I know and people I don't know. They record pain and joy, triumph and heartbreak. They show people living their daily lives in the shadow of uncertainty.

When you look at a situation from more than one point of view, your convictions may weaken. Your feelings of indignation, fear, or even hatred toward others may seem less founded. And the more points of view you visit, it will become more and more difficult to pass judgment on anyone. Until eventually you realize that you are the same as everyone else. That when you hurt another person, you are hurting yourself.

The things you don't like about the world, you can think of as cancer. You may want to kill that cancer so that you can live. But it came from you. It is you. And you can only hurt it so much before you kill yourself.

For the full posts of each photo included above, visit these links:

The Holocaust as Political Platform

Hebron: Land of Guard Towers and Minarets

Palestinian Dignity: Contraband Under Occupation

Cease Fire Still Cooking Despite Attacks

Checkpoint Soldiers Given Grudges, Guns

Siege-Breakers Take Heat Off Smugglers

The buzz about those those seige-breakers I wrote about is getting louder. Probably because they actually succeeded in breaking the siege and arriving in Gaza.

The event was very poorly publicized when the ships first set sail from their original location in Greece, but with each stop on each island closer to Gaza, they received more publicity. During the last leg of their trip, Israel sent word that they would be allowed to pass through to Gaza because Israeli intelligence had determined that they were not a security threat.

Today, two days after they docked in Gaza, the human rights organizers in charge of the event plan to join a Gazan fishing expedition to provide cover for the fisherman, who are not allowed far enough off the coast to catch adequate numbers of fish to support their families and their economy.

While breaking the siege has a lot of symbolic importance, the practical benefit for the people of Gaza is minimal. The two ships, the SS Liberty and the SS Free Gaza, while carrying 45 human rights activists, did not bring much in the way of necessary material items to a people who are short on almost everything, from food to soap.

Ynet says:

A Gaza activist told Ynet Saturday that local residents were disappointed by the small quantities of food brought in by two boats carrying international leftist activists.

"Many people thought these boats will make a significant contribution to break the siege, not only politically but also in terms of brining in goods, equipment, food, and medicine," he said. "However, once it turned out these boats contain too little food and mostly activists…some people left the beach disappointed."

Perhaps it would be more efficient to support the smuggler network already operating roughly 100 tunnels under Gaza. It is this network that has been responsible for such feats as providing Gazan mothers with baby formula and sexy underwear and delivering drugged lions in sacks for Gaza's zoo.

But of course, these are not the only items being smuggled through the tunnels. And the confirmation of their existence puts to bed previous questions I had about how al-Qaida is providing weapons to Hamas.

US Teaches Israel the Art of Fear

Well folks, Blogger is back in English and the internet is fast, which can only mean one thing: I have returned to the US. But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop covering the Middle East. Now, I will be doing it from afar. The first event that has caught my interest since my return is when Israel's Counter Terrorism Bureau issued a warning to Israelis traveling abroad. They claim that Hezbollah is planning to abduct Israelis in foreign countries.

Which is pure fear mongering.

The statement does not mention any countries specifically or reveal sources or any specific method of abduction:

The travel advisory issued Wednesday was a general warning, applicable to the entire world, not any specific travel destinations. Israel does not have specific intelligence regarding the location where Hezbollah plans to attack, but the Counter-Terrorism Bureau said that the militant group was constantly preparing to kidnap Israelis.

Although the statement looks like a bunch of useless baloney, it does serve a purpose. Israelis are notorious globetrotters who often travel for long periods of time and, partly because of this, emigration from Israel has always been a problem. This could be one way for the government to try to stop the leak.

Which still means Israel is taking lessons from the US in using fear to manipulate the populace.

Tzipi Snatches Dangled Carrot

Last week, I wrote about Israel's hotly debated leadership. Warhawk Shaul Mofaz and moderate Tzipi Livni are still the two frontrunners for leadership of the Kadima party, and most likely Israel.

But waaa-aaay-yay down at the bottom of that article I wrote about the proverbial dangled carrot in this scenario. The PA had released a statement saying that if Mofaz were elected, the peace process would halt. They even stated that for the current peace plans to proceed, Tzipi has to win.

Oh and then they asked Tzipi to release a few hundred Palestinian prisoners as a show of good faith. I personally was in favor of this move because, just as the article states, such a move would garner the PA some favor among the people, which would give them more power to actually accomplish stuff. But I really did not except Tzipi, and Israel, to come through on it.

And then they did.

According to Haaretz, Israel has approved the release of 200 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom "have blood on their hands," whatever that means.

And Tzipi says:

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the leading Kadima candidate to succeed Olmert, said the release showed Palestinians that dialogue, not violence, achieved the best results.

Another Cult, Another Dead Baby

This AP article talks about a cult that killed a 1 year old baby because it wouldn't say "Amen" before meals. The deets are pretty standard for this kind of situation: a down-and-out young mother winds up hanging out with the wrong crew and gets brainwashed.

But then the article went on to have way WAY more detail than journalists normally find out these days. Usually everybody is pretty tight lipped about these sorts of situations. But not this time. Oh no.

For more than a week, police say in charging documents describing the scene, the child's lifeless body lay in the back room of an apartment. Queen Antoinette, the 40-year-old leader of a group that called itself 1 Mind Ministries, brought in her followers and told them to pray. God, she said, would raise Javon from the dead.

Instead, Javon's body began to decompose.

NO. It began to decompose. That's yer real shocker there, folks. You'd think that would be the end of the story. The body began to decompose and they called the police or some neighbor smelled it or whatever. Oh no.

Meanwhile, after cult members abandoned hope of Javon's resurrection, they switched to Plan B, police say. Antoinette burned Javon's clothing and mattress and put his body in a green suitcase. She stuffed the suitcase with mothballs and fabric softener sheets, and opened it occasionally to spray disinfectant inside.

In early 2007, cult members stored the suitcase behind a home in Philadelphia and relocated to New York City, according to police, who found the suitcase more than a year later, the body still inside.

A green suitcase, don't forget. How did AP get all this information?? These are things only "Queen Antoinette" (note to self: hahahHAHAHAHhahahaha) would know. Did she throw herself at the mercy of the court and spill all? Is her lawyer setting up a crazy defense? You know, trial by media.

Personally I think it was the kid's mom that spilled all. The word "brainwashed" is mentioned three times in the article and the word "cult" is mentioned thirteen times. The article is mostly from the perspective of the 1 year old's grandmother, who supposedly (but somehow no records exist, weird) told the cops about this crazy cult long before her grandson was killed. She lamented about how her daughter is now "an empty shell."

Sigh.

The Holocaust as Political Platform

Tisha B’av is the Jewish holiday of lamentation, an opportunity to mourn the destruction of the Temple, the Holocaust, and other Jewish tragedies. This year Tisha B’av fell on Saturday, August 9, 2008. Many people, Israelis and tourists, chose to commemorate this event by visiting the Western Wall and attending one of the services held there.

The enclosed, gender-separated areas close to the wall were filled to capacity and many people sat on the smooth stones of the courtyard, too far away to hear the services, but close enough to see the wall. Sitting on the ground is one way to show mourning on this holiday.

Security was tight around the Old City. As usual, everyone entering the Western Wall courtyard went through metal detectors and had their bags checked. But in addition, police and soldiers were stationed at every entrance to the Old City and in continuous groups around the wall.

This was not due to the holiday or its observation, but because of a separate event happening on the same night. Women in Green, an organization which supports and encourages Jews living in the occupied territories, planned a march on Tisha B’av around the Old City, the purpose of which was to reassert sole Jewish rights to all of what is now Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem.

In addition to the green caps of Women in Green, the march was populated with bright orange flags that said in Hebrew, “The land of Israel for the people of Israel.” These flags were adopted after the evacuation of Jewish settlers from Gaza in 2005. That event is known simply as The Disengagement by most Israelis but is considered by Women in Green to be an event on par with the Judenrat’s activities during the Holocaust.

In 2004, when the government’s plans for a pullout from Gaza were made public, the chairwoman of Women in Green, Nadia Matar, sent a letter to Yonatan Bassi, the man overseeing the operation. In it, she said:

Yonatan Bassi is a much worse version of the 'Judenrat' in the Holocaust, for then in the Holocaust, this was forced upon those Jewish leaders by the Nazis, and it is very difficult for us to judge them today. But today no one stands with a pistol to Bassi's head and forces him to cooperate with the deportation of the Jews of Gush Katif and northern Samaria.

She included a 1942 letter from the Judenrat which mirrored the words and tone of the letter Bassi sent to the settlers of Gaza who would be evicted.

She makes a good point. One could take out the names in the letter and it would be difficult to tell who was doing what to whom. For example, can you tell who is doing what to whom in this piece:



Or this one:



Both of these are from Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem. They refer to Nazi policies against Jews, but with the names removed, they are accurate descriptions of current Israeli policies toward Arabs.

So, who is doing what to whom?

There are some differences between Israeli settlers who were removed from their houses in Gaza and Arabs who are removed from their houses in the West Bank: the Jewish settlers were offered compensation and were given more than a year’s notice before their evacuation. Arabs whose houses are demolished are often given no warning at all, let alone financial compensation.

But the reasons for the evictions of both groups are very similar. The Jews in Gaza were evicted basically because they were living there illegally. Arab houses are often demolished not because they are in illegal locations, but because they have been built without permits.

I joined the march with a friend, a British journalist, and we began talking to people we encountered to find out what they thought about the it. Some of the Jews on the march wanted to walk to commemorate Tisha B’av but were unaware of, or didn’t support, the political element of the event.

As the march entered East Jerusalem, we talked to the Arab shopkeepers who were watching the procession pass. We asked them what it was about. One said it was a Jewish holiday but didn’t know which one. One brave soul told us, “They say they don’t want Arabs.”

At the end of the march, Knesset Member Arieh Eldad gave a speech in which he declared that Israel and all its occupied territories should be for Jews only, that Arabs should be excluded from having the rights of citizenship, if not deported outright.

On the way home from the march, there was an American family on the bus. They were nervous about finding their hotel, and about riding the bus in Israel, and especially about a large bag on an adjacent seat that didn’t look like it had an owner.

There were two police officers riding the bus, which gave them some comfort, and when they revealed their fears about the bag and about riding the bus, one of the officers smiled at them indulgently. He smiled as a father smiles to his son who believes there are monsters under his bed.



My friend, the British journalist, noted that this is the result of having a Jewish state. The National Homeland for Jews has created a state of fear in which even tourists are afraid. He questioned whether this homeland makes Jews any safer than the diaspora does.

Left wingers blame terror on the poor treatment of Arabs, right wingers blame terror on the moral turpitude of the Arabs themselves.

On a narrow road in the Old City, leading to the Western Wall, I found a street sign with two bumper stickers on it. One said, “No Arabs, No Terror” and one said simply “Remove the Arabs.”



And so it is that the world fails to learn a lasting lesson from the Holocaust.

Nadia Matar wrote an article in February of 2005 titled, “Israel Has Not Learned the Lesson of the Holocaust!” She wrote:

Have we Jews internalized, and comprehended, all
that we have learned and heard about the Holocaust, so that this
cannot happen again? Anyone who looks at what has been
happening in the State of Israel in recent years, and especially in
the past few months, will reach the sad and unfortunate,
conclusion that it is the political leadership in Israel, which
specifically has not learned that lesson.

If Israel is repeating the mistakes made by Chamberlain, who
handed over the Sudetenland to Hitler in the Munich agreement,
in the hope that this would satisfy his appetite - and Israel is
currently planning to hand over additional parts of the homeland
of the Jewish people to Hitler's successors, hoping that this step
will satisfy them and stop their jihad campaign against the
Jewish people - then Israel has not learned the lesson of the
Holocaust.

Commander in IDF Abuse Case Held Responsible

There have been developments on The Saga of the Rubber Bullet. Lieutenant Colonel Omri Bruberg has resigned from his post and it is likely that criminal charges will be filed against both the commander and the soldier who shot their bound Palestinian detainee.

Ashraf Abu-Rahma was shot in the foot with a rubber-coated bullet at close range while he was handcuffed, blindfolded, and in IDF custody. The unnamed soldier who shot him claims his commander ordered him to fire.

Ynet says:

The IDF's Judge Advocate General, Avi Mandelblit, also decided that the commander and the firing soldier will face criminal charges of improper conduct. Such offences are considered relatively minor and do not result in a criminal record. The trial is expected to end in a plea bargain.

Humanitarian organization B'Tselem, who publicized the now-famous footage of the incident call the minor charges "shameful."

In response to the decision, Bruberg said: "I’m the commander, I'm responsible, and I'm paying the price. I believe this decision is good for the soldier (involved in the incident,) for the regiment, and for the army as a whole." In a talk he held with his subordinates, Bruberg said he is "proud of the army."

U.S. Funds Creation of Palestinian Security Forces

In an interview with Haaretz today, U.S. three star general Keith Dayton revealed his progress in creating a U.S. trained Palestinian security force.

This week Dayton left on a home visit to the United States, after completing three missions: The first battalion of the rebuilt Palestinian National Security Forces, numbering 500 soldiers from the West Bank, completed four months of training in Jordan; a Presidential Guard training college is being constructed outside Jericho; and a strategic-planning department has been created in the Palestinian Authority's Interior Ministry in Ramallah, to establish decision-making and work processes. On the eve of his departure, Dayton finalized plans for a second Palestinian battalion to leave for training in Jordan, and after lengthy delays, obtained the approval of the Israeli Defense Ministry to equip the Palestinian forces with protective vests and new jeeps.

Dayton says the first step in creating a Palestinian state is creating a Palestinian security force. In explaining his mission and his purpose, he said that if Palestinians can secure their own territory, then it cannot be used to launch attacks against Israel.

Whatever the reasons behind creating the forces, everyone seems to be pretty excited about it.

"The Jordanians said, after the first couple of weeks, who are these people? They're quick learners, they're disciplined, they follow orders, and they're motivated," recalled Dayton, who visited them with PA Interior Minister Abdel-Razak Yahya, a familiar figure for Israelis from the early days of the Oslo process.

"He may look like an old man," said Dayton, "but he's a young man. He gave a speech to them, which was just amazing. He told these guys, 'You're not learning how to fight the Israelis, you're not here to fight the occupation, you're here to fight the forces of disorder, the forces of crime and lawlessness inside Palestine.' He said 'armed groups,' which was his way of saying 'terrorists.' He said: If you do your job properly, we will have a state. The national project will succeed.'

"I went to the graduations," continued Dayton, "and I'm not naive. I watched them, kinda looked them in the eyes, and I'm telling you, these are new people. Now it can all go bad if political progress doesn't happen, I guess, but these are new people. They think they're building a state, and I'm pretty pleased about that."

Dayton has a congressionally-approved budget of $75 million with which to train these security forces, and he expects to spend at least three years on this project.

Israel's Leadership Under Hot Debate

With Israeli Prime Minister Olmert stepping down amid numerous accusations of bribery, Kadima party leadership is now being debated. Olmert vowed that he would resign as soon as a new leader of his party was chosen. The winner of that primary will then be named Prime Minister.

One of the frontrunners for party leadership is Shaul Mofaz, a native of Iran, who recently denounced his home country as "the root of all evil" and hinted at the ever-present option of attacking Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment.

He then pledged to oversee peace talks with the Palestinians personally and vowed he would produce actual results.

In Haaretz:

"I have more years of experience than others. I will give the negotiations with the Palestinians utmost priority. I will do my best to advance them and to achieve results, and that's a promise. I will put all of my weight behind it and will deal with it personally," he said.

"They know me, after all," Mofaz continued, "Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas], [Palestinian Authority Prime Minister] Salam Fayyad and [PA chief negotiator] Saeb Erekat. They'll say that everything I promised, I delivered. True, I don't go easy in negotiations, I'm not a man of words - I'm a man of actions and I promise to bring results. It won't happen in two days and maybe not in a year, but there will be results."

Then he continued to blather on in a very convincing fashion about why the peace talks are important.

"For years I experienced the hardship of war, the suffering of battles and the loss of friends, subordinates and commanders .... Kadima under my leadership will continue the path of previous prime ministers who worked to bring peace and security for Israel," Mofaz said.

But then the Palestinian Authority issued a statement about Mofaz's candidacy that makes me think he doesn't know what he's talking about. Just maybe.

In a Haaretz article titled, "PA: Mofaz as head of Kadima would be disaster for peace":

A victory by Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz in next month's Kadima Party leadership race would be a disaster for the peace process, senior Palestinian Authority officials say.

The officials said that an American-Palestinian plan for the continuation of the process is contingent on Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni winning the primary. A Mofaz victory, in contrast, would send the talks into a deep freeze, given his hawkish views.

But in a dangled carrot, the newspaper does reveal an opportunity for Israel and the PA to help each other:

The Saudi newspaper Al-Watan reported Tuesday that a list of the Palestinians Abbas wants released, which also includes many others of the longest-serving prisoners, was given to Livni during her meetings in Washington with the head of the PA negotiating team, Ahmed Qureia. Qureia told Livni that the release of these prisoners would play an important role in bolstering the PA's status among the general Palestinian public.

I think it was Sun Tzu or some other Chinese genius who said that you cannot win without helping your opponent save face. And here Israel has an opportunity to do just that. The question is whether the cries of the right wing warhawks will drown out the logic speaking quietly from inside this option.

Thoughts About Stone Throwing

A note on stone throwing. My sentiments might be as unpopular to Israelis as they are to Palestinians. But the potential to offend someone when discussing this conflict is limitless.

The latest news about the ill-fated village of Nil'in in the West Bank is about Ahmed Mousa, a 10 year old who was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier. When I originally read about this event, it was from the left-wing Israeli media, which basically expresses sorrow about the boy but also reminds us that he was throwing stones. Then they add a mention of an IDF soldier who was hit in the eye with a rock.

Non-Israeli media makes no mention of stone throwing, or any reason at all for the soldiers' actions.

I was not there and therefore cannot comment on the exact causes of this event, but I can comment on the phenomenon of stone throwing. Every day, and especially after protests, teenage boys throw stones at Israeli soldiers. They are filled with adolescent rage and frustration and their browbeaten parents can neither control them nor offer them a feasible alternative.

So they throw rocks.

Sometimes these rocks fall far from their intended targets and the effort goes ignored. Sometimes the rocks hit the soldiers, and there is retaliation. We must not forget that both the stone throwers and the soldiers are acting in response to the same emotions. They are limited by the same level of brain development.

My sentiment is: those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

But this sentiment is directed not at those who literally throw the stones but the puppeteers behind them: the international media.

It is no accident that every time a Palestinian suffers unduly, an outsider with big opinions is there to publicize it. Each protest in the West Bank villages of Nil'in and Bil'in ends with Palestinian teenagers throwing stones. And this often leads to injuries, sometimes fatal ones. But the international activists who organize these protests make no effort to stop the stone throwing. They stand by with their cameras, waiting for someone to get hurt so they can reinforce the image of the Palestinian as Victim.

The internationals who, with the best intentions, insert themselves into this conflict are as integral to the problem as the stone throwers and the IDF. They form a triangle that continuously feed the roles of victim, conquerer, and hungry audience. It's a gladiator show.

Without the violence, would anyone be watching?

With nobody watching, would there still be violence?

Many argue that these kids throw stones because it is the only option left to them. But what if it is just the only option anybody told them about? If it is considered fair by anti-Israelis to abduct IDF soldiers to leverage for ransom, why not to shoot teenage stone throwers? The abducted soldiers were combatants, legal targets, but they did not volunteer for service. The stone throwers, then, are also combatants, who by virtue of their perceived lack of options, didn't volunteer either.

The differences between them are weak. Take an IDF soldier, subtract four years and a uniform, and you get a kid with a rock.

Everyone who profits from this conflict, from the Canadian construction firms building settlements to the mainstream media, are doing so at the expense of the region's children.

Further Information on the Siege Breakers

In my last post, I wrote about some humanitarians that are planning to break the siege on Gaza by sailing from Cyprus. News reports at that time were unclear on the details of the plan, but new information has come to light.

Press TV journalist Yvonne Ridley is set to be on the mysterious nameless ship that leaves from Cyprus on August 4th.

However, there is still a huge shroud of secrecy over our whole operation which reminds me of the old World War II saying my mother used to tell me if I talked too much. "Loose lips sink ships," she would say.

In truth, even if I wanted to, I could not give you the exact location of our sailing vessel so, dear reader, you will have to be patient like me. When the time is ready, you will be among the first to know where she is anchored.

Ridley reports that the voyage will be live-broadcast on the Free Gaza website, here.

More to come.