The trouble with corporate news reporting on violent incidents in occupied Palestine is that it so often fails to contextualise those incidents, chiefly by omitting use of the words 'Israeli occupation/Israeli-occupied', or any reference to the legality or length of the occupation. I find myself wondering at times whether reporters and/or editors are even aware that we are dealing here with an illegal, 43-year old occupation. I also wonder at times, and this is scary, whether they have any idea at all what it means to live under a military occupation.
I was reminded of this matter yet again when ABC Radio's Background Briefing program replayed an interview with US foreign correspondent Megan Stack by the 7.30 Report's Kerry O'Brien, recorded at last year's Byron Bay Writers Festival:
KO: You flash back at this point to the first intifada and you talk about the stories of breaking bones. The [then Israeli] Defense Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, was supposed to have told Israeli soldiers, 'Break their bones, but don't kill them; beat them, but don't shoot them'. And there was talk of systematically working through a place, breaking chidren's arms.
MS: Well I have a friend who saw that. I have a friend who was a reporter at The New York Times who had been -
KO: Child after child, after child.
MS: Well, he said this. I was a kid at the first intifada. I read about that, because it's one of these famous ambiguities in Jerusalem, that Rabin said, 'Break their bones'. And there's two interpretations of that statement... Did he mean, 'Don't shoot them, just break their bones, just beat them'? Or did he mean, you know, 'Crush them'? And so there are two ways of looking at that, which is often the case in Jerusalem."
Which nonsense prompted this reaction on my part: For God's sake, stop pussyfooting around, Ms Stack. Isn't it bleedingly obvious that, whatever Rabin's exact words*, we're dealing here with the Suppression of Acts of Resistance by an Occuping Power, and whichever way you slice the cake, it's going to be a very dirty business indeed? And all that rot about famous ambiguities in Jerusalem and two interpretation and two ways of looking at things which is often the case in Jerusalem, isn't that just typical of how this particular Occupying Power deals with revelations of its crimes: deny, deny, deny, or fog us all up with mystifying, obfuscating weasel words, words, words?
What if Stack had simply said, I thought, 'Yes, Kerry, this is typical of the brutal reality that always characterises miltary occupations, and Israel is no different in that respect. Of course, I don't need to tell you they try bloody hard to spin it away there - Israel's propaganda efforts are second to none - but an occupation is always and inevitably about broken bones... and worse, much worse.'
I know, fat chance!
Chris Floyd's haunting meditation, The Obscure Ruination of a Single Human Life (chris-floyd.com, 16/11/10), about one tiny drop in the sea of suffering which is Israel's criminal occupation of the Palestinian territories, one whose name and experience never, of course, surfaced in the Australian or (I imagine) any other foreign media, goes directly to the dark heart of our subject, and is, I'll wager, worth every word ever spoken or written by the Megan Stacks of this world. (Her book, incidentally, is titled, Every Man in the Village is a Liar. When a ME correspondent writes a book called Every Israeli Official is a Liar, maybe then I'll sit up and take notice!):
"Decades before you were born, an invading army occupied your native land. The army of occupation has blighted and repressed your people for generations. You have heard your parents and your grandparents talk of all that they have lost, all that was taken from them, the friends and relatives they have seen killed, how the brutal, stifling occupation has bred extremism (often funded and promoted by the occupiers) that has riven your society, and how all hope of an ordinary peaceful life has been taken from your family, and from you.
"You are 13 years old. One day, you see some soldiers of the occupation army. They are bristling with weapons and body armor, they are protected by watchtowers, helicopters, they are equipped with radios that can call down a missile or an airplane to destroy your home in a matter of minutes. Their very presence is a harsh, mocking, inescapable emblem of your family's pain and degradation. And so, on this day, you pick up a stone - a stone - and throw it, in a weak and futile gesture, at these impregnable figures.
"And for throwing this stone - a stone, a small, hand-sized fragment of stone - this is what happens to you. From Israel's ynetnews:
Karim, a 13-year old boy from Hebron, was arrested in late September on suspicion of hurling stones at Israel Defense Forces soldiers. After spending 6 days in the Ofer Prison, he was placed under house arrest for 5 months in his uncle's home and can't even go to school. The boy's relatives say he is in a serious emotional state and is finding it difficult to recover from his days in prison. All he told his family members was that he was handcuffed and chained, and was sometimes left alone in a room or in solitary... The boy himself refuses to talk. Asked what he went through during the interrogation and in jail, he responds, 'I don't know, I don't know'. Karim's grandmother says his mental state has influenced his health. 'You can tell that he is afraid and frightened from his days in jail. He has fungus on his body and his skin has peeled from all the pressure, fear and nerves. He barely talks. Today we looked for him and found him hiding in the chicken coop because he didn't want to talk to anyone'.
"It's just a small story; what does it matter? It's just a tiny incident, far from the worst, in a vast, world-roiling conflict; what does it matter? I't's just the scarcely noticed ruination of one obscure child's life; what does it matter? Only losers and lamesters, only those on the margins, only those who aren't serious, who aren't savvy - only those who are struggling to keep hold of their humanity in the face of implacable systems of power, systems which seek at every turn to degrade and destroy what Arthur Silber calls 'the sacred value of a single human life' - would care about such discarded wretches. But it doesn't matter at all to anyone who 'matters' in the small, gilded circles of domination and sycophancy that oversway our lives and our discourse. And so these little stories will keep on playing out, everywhere, all the time, in the monstrous waste we make of our common humanity - and its brief, beautiful, absolutely unique individual expressions."
[*FYI: "Israel's Parliament decided today not to investigate charges that former Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin ordered soldiers to break the bones of Arab militants [!] at the beginning of the Palestinian uprising... The proposal was prompted by testimony in recent courts-martial of several soldiers charged with beating Palestinians and breaking their bones. The soldiers have testified that they were simply following orders..." (Israel declines to study Rabin tie to beatings, New York Times, 12/7/90)
"Israeli forces are carrying out a policy of shooting at the legs of peaceful demonstrators who protest the separation wall each Friday in towns across the West Bank, demonstrators are reporting. The accounts of the Palestinian demonstrators who have been wounded by Israeli fire in recent weeks are raising the legacy of the first Palestinian Intifada, when Israeli then-defense minister Yitzhak Rabin ordered his soldiers to 'break the bones' of young protestors." (Rabin's legacy: Protestors' accounts show Israel 'breaking the bones' of peaceful demonstrators, maannews.net, 10/2/09)]
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Clean Up Lebanon
Lebanon has always been a pretty messy place. Thankfully, many well-intentioned folk have selflessly proposed and/or implemented a variety of clean up campaigns over the years. For example:
In May 1976, Kissinger wanted to use the Syrians to "clean up on the [Lebanese] left," but was worried (needlessly as it turned out) they might "clean up on the Christians." (Memorandum of Conversation, White House, 18/5/76)
In March 2008, Lebanon's Defence Minister, Elias Murr, was more than happy for the Israelis to "bomb Shia areas" and "clean out Hezbollah," but only so long as they didn't "bomb bridges and infrastructure in the Christian areas" like they did in 2006. (US embassy cable, Beirut, 11/3/08)
In May 2008, the Saudis proposed the formation of an Arab force backed by US air and sea power to "maintain order in and around Beirut" and prevent a feared Hezbollah takeover. (WikiLeaks cables: Saudis proposed Arab force to invade Lebanon, Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, 7/12/10)
Doesn't it just warm the cockles of your heart to know that so many folk over so many years have been willing to pitch in and keep Lebanon clean and tidy?
In May 1976, Kissinger wanted to use the Syrians to "clean up on the [Lebanese] left," but was worried (needlessly as it turned out) they might "clean up on the Christians." (Memorandum of Conversation, White House, 18/5/76)
In March 2008, Lebanon's Defence Minister, Elias Murr, was more than happy for the Israelis to "bomb Shia areas" and "clean out Hezbollah," but only so long as they didn't "bomb bridges and infrastructure in the Christian areas" like they did in 2006. (US embassy cable, Beirut, 11/3/08)
In May 2008, the Saudis proposed the formation of an Arab force backed by US air and sea power to "maintain order in and around Beirut" and prevent a feared Hezbollah takeover. (WikiLeaks cables: Saudis proposed Arab force to invade Lebanon, Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian, 7/12/10)
Doesn't it just warm the cockles of your heart to know that so many folk over so many years have been willing to pitch in and keep Lebanon clean and tidy?
Friday, December 31, 2010
But is it acceptable to the Israelis?
It's the final day of 2010. Just time to squeeze in another rambamming:
"A group of journalists, thinkers [!] and business leaders, led by former NSW premier Bob Carr, has returned from Israel following a mission hosted by the NSW division of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) earlier this month. AICC chairman Kim Jacobs said the mission's aim was to provide a 'whole understanding' of the Jewish Sate. '[It was] basically to explore and understand why Jews and Israel have been so successful over the years, and to understand it from a cultural viewpoint, from a business viewpoint, from an economic, geopolitical viewpoint, and to get a whole overview of the whole country', Jacobs said. 'Everyone came away really as a devotee of Israel and understanding what Israel is about'." (Carr leads chamber tour, The Australian Jewish News, 24/12/10)
Love was in the air
Everywhere they looked around
Love was in the air
Every sight & every sound
"The tour differed from those usually offered by the AICC in that it was not purely about business. Activities ranged from a meeting with Israeli author Etgar Keret* and a talk with a representative from a foreign policy think tank the Reut Institute*, to visits to the Weizmann Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The group also visited Yad Vashem, where Carr laid a wreath, and heard from radio commentator Yaron Deckel*. They toured Masada and the Dead Sea, and visited deaf and blind theatre group Nalaga'at. The delegation also heard from a Koran scholar and visited the Peres Peace Centre." (ibid)
[* Carr quotes Etgar Keret in his blog, Thoughtlines with Bob Carr, to the effect that Israel's Labor Party gave the Palestinians Oslo, but hey, all peace-loving Israelis got in return was a second Intifada. And, moreover, Sharon gave the Palestinians Gaza, but hey, all peace-loving Israelis got was Hamas. (6/12) Bob also quotes the Reut Institute's Gidi Grinstein* to the effect that the Left (aka Ariel Sharon) gave the Palestinians Gaza, but hey, all peace-loving Israelis got was terror. (7/12) Such diversity of thought! No wonder Bob describes "radio journalist" Yaron Deckel as "brilliant." He wasn't singing from the same songsheet as EK and GG. No siree, Bob! He told Bob, in effect, we gave the Palestinians everything - Camp David, disengagement from Gaza, comprehensive negotiations, summits, cups of tea - but hey, all peace-loving Israelis got was... nothing! Nothing good, that is. (8/12). Oh yeah, and as a man with an eye for the best and the brightest, Bob reckons Thomas Friedman's "one of the best of the US commentators" and "very good on the Middle East." In his blog, he quotes Friedman to the effect that we Americans gave the Palestinians and the Israelis megabucks and assurances galore, but hey, all peace-loving Americans got was... nothing! Nothing. Full stop. (14/12)]
"'They had a real cultural, business and political tour of Israel', Jacobs said. They met Supreme Court judges, they met the Minister of Economics. It was amazing - I went on it [the tour] and I discovered things that I hadn't seen or heard of before'. Ernst & Young tax partner and AICC board member Alf Capito said the mission 'exceeded his expectations greatly'. 'It was an intense and, in the time allowed, incredibly informative immersion into the history, psyche, entrepreneurship and God-given [!] resilience of Israel and its people', he said... The plan is for the tour to become a yearly event, with Carr already expressing his desire to take part again."
Of course he'll take part again. He's perfect for the job. As an Australian Labor leader (or ex- in his case) he's committed body & soul to Israel. Of the Palestinians, he writes in his blog that "[t]he right of return is their deeper desire and would, of course, be seen as unacceptable by any Israeli government." (6/12) That's the bottom line for these types. Not is it right, but is it acceptable to the Israelis?
[*For those of you who've not yet had the honour and privilege of meeting GG and his tankthink, the Reut Institute, see my 13/1/10 post Getting It Reut.]
"A group of journalists, thinkers [!] and business leaders, led by former NSW premier Bob Carr, has returned from Israel following a mission hosted by the NSW division of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC) earlier this month. AICC chairman Kim Jacobs said the mission's aim was to provide a 'whole understanding' of the Jewish Sate. '[It was] basically to explore and understand why Jews and Israel have been so successful over the years, and to understand it from a cultural viewpoint, from a business viewpoint, from an economic, geopolitical viewpoint, and to get a whole overview of the whole country', Jacobs said. 'Everyone came away really as a devotee of Israel and understanding what Israel is about'." (Carr leads chamber tour, The Australian Jewish News, 24/12/10)
Love was in the air
Everywhere they looked around
Love was in the air
Every sight & every sound
"The tour differed from those usually offered by the AICC in that it was not purely about business. Activities ranged from a meeting with Israeli author Etgar Keret* and a talk with a representative from a foreign policy think tank the Reut Institute*, to visits to the Weizmann Institute and Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The group also visited Yad Vashem, where Carr laid a wreath, and heard from radio commentator Yaron Deckel*. They toured Masada and the Dead Sea, and visited deaf and blind theatre group Nalaga'at. The delegation also heard from a Koran scholar and visited the Peres Peace Centre." (ibid)
[* Carr quotes Etgar Keret in his blog, Thoughtlines with Bob Carr, to the effect that Israel's Labor Party gave the Palestinians Oslo, but hey, all peace-loving Israelis got in return was a second Intifada. And, moreover, Sharon gave the Palestinians Gaza, but hey, all peace-loving Israelis got was Hamas. (6/12) Bob also quotes the Reut Institute's Gidi Grinstein* to the effect that the Left (aka Ariel Sharon) gave the Palestinians Gaza, but hey, all peace-loving Israelis got was terror. (7/12) Such diversity of thought! No wonder Bob describes "radio journalist" Yaron Deckel as "brilliant." He wasn't singing from the same songsheet as EK and GG. No siree, Bob! He told Bob, in effect, we gave the Palestinians everything - Camp David, disengagement from Gaza, comprehensive negotiations, summits, cups of tea - but hey, all peace-loving Israelis got was... nothing! Nothing good, that is. (8/12). Oh yeah, and as a man with an eye for the best and the brightest, Bob reckons Thomas Friedman's "one of the best of the US commentators" and "very good on the Middle East." In his blog, he quotes Friedman to the effect that we Americans gave the Palestinians and the Israelis megabucks and assurances galore, but hey, all peace-loving Americans got was... nothing! Nothing. Full stop. (14/12)]
"'They had a real cultural, business and political tour of Israel', Jacobs said. They met Supreme Court judges, they met the Minister of Economics. It was amazing - I went on it [the tour] and I discovered things that I hadn't seen or heard of before'. Ernst & Young tax partner and AICC board member Alf Capito said the mission 'exceeded his expectations greatly'. 'It was an intense and, in the time allowed, incredibly informative immersion into the history, psyche, entrepreneurship and God-given [!] resilience of Israel and its people', he said... The plan is for the tour to become a yearly event, with Carr already expressing his desire to take part again."
Of course he'll take part again. He's perfect for the job. As an Australian Labor leader (or ex- in his case) he's committed body & soul to Israel. Of the Palestinians, he writes in his blog that "[t]he right of return is their deeper desire and would, of course, be seen as unacceptable by any Israeli government." (6/12) That's the bottom line for these types. Not is it right, but is it acceptable to the Israelis?
[*For those of you who've not yet had the honour and privilege of meeting GG and his tankthink, the Reut Institute, see my 13/1/10 post Getting It Reut.]
Thursday, December 30, 2010
The Kevin Rudd Road Show 5
How lucky we are to have an account of the Palestinian leg of the KRRS from the Australian Jewish News' Naomi Levin, because the rest of the media pack showed no such interest. As you'd expect, Levin colourfully depicts an Australian delegation that aggressively engages with its Palestinian interlocutors from an Israeli perspective. (NB: Additional details provided by my fly-on-the-wall):
Led by Albert Dadon, property developer and chair of the Australia Israel Leadership Forum (without whom the entire show could never have been staged), and Labor senator Kim Carr, with "senior (of course!) journalists" in tow, the Aussies bore down on the Palestinians like wolves on the fold:
"Sirens wail and blue-and-red lights blink incessantly as a convoy of armoured, five-and-a-half tonne Landcruisers storm through [Ramallah]. The 6 cars take up both sides of the road and go over, rather than around, roundabouts." (Journey to Ramallah, 24/12/10)
"Ramallah is less than half-an-hour drive from Jerusalem. For the convoy, it is a short trip. For others, it can be much longer as they await security checks by the fastidious young Israeli soldiers."
Trans: others=Palestinians; fastidious=fractious.
"Once through the checkpoint, the road snakes alongside the high concrete security wall* - built to prevent suicide bombers crossing into Israel and a huge success."
[* Wall, Naomi? Wall? How many times do we have to tell you, klutz: fence, FENCE, f-e-n-c-e.]
The Oi, Oi, Ois, of course, loved every metre of the grey beast, especially Labor MP Mike Kelly who had, in his former incarnation as a military lawyer, written a legal paper accusing the International Court of Justice, which had dared, in 2004, to rule the aforementioned fabulously successful structure illegal and call for its removal, of "damaging its credibility" (Critical Analysis of the ICJ Ruling on Israel's Security Barrier, Fordham International Law Journal, December 2005). 'It's still standing', he and Albert hummed cheekily as the convoy stormed by.
First stop was the Palestinian Legislative Council where our Aussie Heroes were greeted by four of that body's shiftiest Spawn of Satan. However, armed as they were with only the latest and most sophisticated of Israeli talking points, our boys were more than ready for anything these SoS had to dish out.
Senator Carr, who had already forgotten (if he'd noticed them at all) those "others" still being f****d around by the fastidious ones at the checkpoints they'd stormed past, wanted to know about "progress in the Palestinian territories."
One of the SoS present "described a very bleak scenario in the West Bank," a description, as Levin noted with a raised editorial eyebrow, "that appears to stand in contrast to the neat apartment blocks and full shops."
Yeah, but what about all the flash apartment blocks and full shops we stormed past, mate? shot back one of our True Blues, with a knowing smirk.
The "economic progress was in spite of Israeli barriers and obstacles," replied the SoS, as Albert, who just couldn't help himself, ejaculated, In spite of? Because of, more bloody likely!
Another of our Bronzed Aussies, thinking to sow confusion in the ranks of the SoS and so amuse his mates, wanted to know "whether the 2-state solution was becoming a 3-state solution because of Hamas's dominance in Gaza."
In response, one of the SoS foolishly attempted to crack a joke: "By the time the Israelis are ready to pull out and recognise an independent Palestinian state in pre-1967 borders, the Palestinian conflict will be resolved." (Well, he could hardly have said, By the time the Israelis are ready to pull out and recognise an independent Palestinian state, Hell will have frozen over, being a denizen of the place and all, now could he?) Anyway, it went down like the proverbial lead balloon, sending "small waves of disbelief around the table of Australians." The small waves of disbelief, reported my fly-on-the-wall, took the form of a chorus of soto voce OMGs.
"And what of Jerusalem? Why has the PA produced a research paper... claiming the Jewish people have no real connection to the Western Wall?" one of our Doughty Diggers chipped in, with a roguish wink to his mates.
Er, fact is, it just so happens to be "the Western Wall [of the] Aksa [sic: Aqsa] compound," which belongs to the "Muslim world," responded the one they later Christened, to everyone's merriment, Beelzebub.
Aksa-cuse me, roared our Lovable Larrikins, Wazzat? Bull-shit! ejaculated Albert.
And that was that.
The delegation then "zoomed up the road" to meet with Nabil Shaath, "former foreign minister of the PA and a long-time warhorse of the Palestinian cause."
Predictably, the old warhorse dared to voice "a simplistic [Good one, Naomi!] comparison between the Palestinians and black South Africans under apartheid."
Our Bra Boys were all, like, OMG! Did he really say that?
When Queensland Labor MP Bernie Ripoli, who'd never even heard of apartheid, asked him for "more concrete information on the comparison," the warhorse listed Jews-only roads, evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem, and that rabbinical call for a ban on renting homes to Arabs, before explaining that, anyway, a South African delegation had preceded them and declared that the West Bank was deja vu all over again, only worse, so there.
Then the old bugger got real uppity: "We have complaints about your political position. It is too close to the Americans, particularly under the Bush administration*," he said, before compounding his impudence by calling on Australia to follow the lead of Brazil, Argentina and other banana republics in recognising a sovereign Palestinian state. [*PA to OZ: recognise Palestine, Naomi Levin, AJN, 24/12/10]
But that was it, the Likely Lads had had quite enough, thankyou, of his insolence. Kevvie, who had been absent from the earlier Terrorist tete a tete, suddenly manifested, proclaiming, Fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate. Get your cotton pickin' hands off my policy settings and listen to moi: the peace process is a "'step-by-step' prospect" and "Australia [is] not yet prepared to address Palestinian statehood."
Then it was on for young and old, with Liberal senator Scott Ryan wanting to know "why the Palestinian people use the local media to spread hate," and Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture Mike Kelly wanting the dirt on "the delegitimisation of Israel in the Palestinian media." Of course, they'd been unwittingly primed by the folk over at Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) who'd told them of "a song being broadcast on the official PA TV station calling for jihad against the Israeli 'oppressors'." Jeeehad! Albert had ejaculated, as Scott and Mike furiously scribbled in their notebooks. This information, need I remind you, had been carefully designed to hit home, a fact which the delegation was soon to find out.
Scott and Mike's questions about Palestinian hate speech and delegitimisation proved too much for the old Palestinian warhorse, who, on letting fly an obscene Arabic curse, ending in what sounded like... ya ibn sharmuta, clutched at his ailing ticker, and collapsed in a heap on the floor. Undeterred, but obviously quite pleased with their performance, the Aussie party purloined the Palestinian cutlery as souvenirs, and left, giving the body a wide berth.
Led by Albert Dadon, property developer and chair of the Australia Israel Leadership Forum (without whom the entire show could never have been staged), and Labor senator Kim Carr, with "senior (of course!) journalists" in tow, the Aussies bore down on the Palestinians like wolves on the fold:
"Sirens wail and blue-and-red lights blink incessantly as a convoy of armoured, five-and-a-half tonne Landcruisers storm through [Ramallah]. The 6 cars take up both sides of the road and go over, rather than around, roundabouts." (Journey to Ramallah, 24/12/10)
"Ramallah is less than half-an-hour drive from Jerusalem. For the convoy, it is a short trip. For others, it can be much longer as they await security checks by the fastidious young Israeli soldiers."
Trans: others=Palestinians; fastidious=fractious.
"Once through the checkpoint, the road snakes alongside the high concrete security wall* - built to prevent suicide bombers crossing into Israel and a huge success."
[* Wall, Naomi? Wall? How many times do we have to tell you, klutz: fence, FENCE, f-e-n-c-e.]
The Oi, Oi, Ois, of course, loved every metre of the grey beast, especially Labor MP Mike Kelly who had, in his former incarnation as a military lawyer, written a legal paper accusing the International Court of Justice, which had dared, in 2004, to rule the aforementioned fabulously successful structure illegal and call for its removal, of "damaging its credibility" (Critical Analysis of the ICJ Ruling on Israel's Security Barrier, Fordham International Law Journal, December 2005). 'It's still standing', he and Albert hummed cheekily as the convoy stormed by.
First stop was the Palestinian Legislative Council where our Aussie Heroes were greeted by four of that body's shiftiest Spawn of Satan. However, armed as they were with only the latest and most sophisticated of Israeli talking points, our boys were more than ready for anything these SoS had to dish out.
Senator Carr, who had already forgotten (if he'd noticed them at all) those "others" still being f****d around by the fastidious ones at the checkpoints they'd stormed past, wanted to know about "progress in the Palestinian territories."
One of the SoS present "described a very bleak scenario in the West Bank," a description, as Levin noted with a raised editorial eyebrow, "that appears to stand in contrast to the neat apartment blocks and full shops."
Yeah, but what about all the flash apartment blocks and full shops we stormed past, mate? shot back one of our True Blues, with a knowing smirk.
The "economic progress was in spite of Israeli barriers and obstacles," replied the SoS, as Albert, who just couldn't help himself, ejaculated, In spite of? Because of, more bloody likely!
Another of our Bronzed Aussies, thinking to sow confusion in the ranks of the SoS and so amuse his mates, wanted to know "whether the 2-state solution was becoming a 3-state solution because of Hamas's dominance in Gaza."
In response, one of the SoS foolishly attempted to crack a joke: "By the time the Israelis are ready to pull out and recognise an independent Palestinian state in pre-1967 borders, the Palestinian conflict will be resolved." (Well, he could hardly have said, By the time the Israelis are ready to pull out and recognise an independent Palestinian state, Hell will have frozen over, being a denizen of the place and all, now could he?) Anyway, it went down like the proverbial lead balloon, sending "small waves of disbelief around the table of Australians." The small waves of disbelief, reported my fly-on-the-wall, took the form of a chorus of soto voce OMGs.
"And what of Jerusalem? Why has the PA produced a research paper... claiming the Jewish people have no real connection to the Western Wall?" one of our Doughty Diggers chipped in, with a roguish wink to his mates.
Er, fact is, it just so happens to be "the Western Wall [of the] Aksa [sic: Aqsa] compound," which belongs to the "Muslim world," responded the one they later Christened, to everyone's merriment, Beelzebub.
Aksa-cuse me, roared our Lovable Larrikins, Wazzat? Bull-shit! ejaculated Albert.
And that was that.
The delegation then "zoomed up the road" to meet with Nabil Shaath, "former foreign minister of the PA and a long-time warhorse of the Palestinian cause."
Predictably, the old warhorse dared to voice "a simplistic [Good one, Naomi!] comparison between the Palestinians and black South Africans under apartheid."
Our Bra Boys were all, like, OMG! Did he really say that?
When Queensland Labor MP Bernie Ripoli, who'd never even heard of apartheid, asked him for "more concrete information on the comparison," the warhorse listed Jews-only roads, evictions of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem, and that rabbinical call for a ban on renting homes to Arabs, before explaining that, anyway, a South African delegation had preceded them and declared that the West Bank was deja vu all over again, only worse, so there.
Then the old bugger got real uppity: "We have complaints about your political position. It is too close to the Americans, particularly under the Bush administration*," he said, before compounding his impudence by calling on Australia to follow the lead of Brazil, Argentina and other banana republics in recognising a sovereign Palestinian state. [*PA to OZ: recognise Palestine, Naomi Levin, AJN, 24/12/10]
But that was it, the Likely Lads had had quite enough, thankyou, of his insolence. Kevvie, who had been absent from the earlier Terrorist tete a tete, suddenly manifested, proclaiming, Fair shake of the sauce bottle, mate. Get your cotton pickin' hands off my policy settings and listen to moi: the peace process is a "'step-by-step' prospect" and "Australia [is] not yet prepared to address Palestinian statehood."
Then it was on for young and old, with Liberal senator Scott Ryan wanting to know "why the Palestinian people use the local media to spread hate," and Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture Mike Kelly wanting the dirt on "the delegitimisation of Israel in the Palestinian media." Of course, they'd been unwittingly primed by the folk over at Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) who'd told them of "a song being broadcast on the official PA TV station calling for jihad against the Israeli 'oppressors'." Jeeehad! Albert had ejaculated, as Scott and Mike furiously scribbled in their notebooks. This information, need I remind you, had been carefully designed to hit home, a fact which the delegation was soon to find out.
Scott and Mike's questions about Palestinian hate speech and delegitimisation proved too much for the old Palestinian warhorse, who, on letting fly an obscene Arabic curse, ending in what sounded like... ya ibn sharmuta, clutched at his ailing ticker, and collapsed in a heap on the floor. Undeterred, but obviously quite pleased with their performance, the Aussie party purloined the Palestinian cutlery as souvenirs, and left, giving the body a wide berth.
Colonial-Settler Cancer
Metastasis is a complex series of steps in which cancer cells leave the original tumour site and migrate to other parts of the body:
Metastasis in Palestine: "In October 1977, a month before Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's famous visit to Jerusalem to proclaim his desire for peace, the settlement of Halamish (pop. ca. 1,000) was implanted on the hillside opposite al-Nabi Saleh. Since then - in parallel with the never-ending 'peace process' - Halamish has expanded from its original foothold in a Jordanian police fort to occupy nearly half the historic lands of al-Nabi Saleh. The remaining village lands are mostly on the north side of Road 465, which runs on the floor of the valley separating al-Nabi Saleh from Halamish. In December 2009 settlers from Halamish expropriated the natural spring of 'Ayn al-Kus on the south side of Road 465. Several weeks later, Halamish settlers burned down 150 of al-Nabi Saleh's olive trees near the spring." (The problem is the Israeli occupation: al-Nabi Saleh, Joel Beinin, jadaliyya.com, 20/12/10)
Metastasis in Australia: "In 1829 the first white man came to the Barka and conferred on it the name of Darling. Over the ensuing years a number of explorers came and went through the land, and an overlanders' route for cattle and sheep was opened up along the Murray River. The tribesmen were not always seduced into complacency with tomahawks of European manufacture and other baubles, and sometimes objections were raised, as gradually even the arid fastnesses of their outer lands came under the white man's scrutiny. In the course of time they experienced something of the perfidy of the white boree, who came in likeness to the spirit ancestors of their dreaming, but was sometimetimes less than honourable in his dealings with the tribes. Trouble inevitably flared, especially after the squatters moved in to 'sit down' on the black man's land, and it was found that spears were no match for the lethal power of bullets. The invaders were insatiable in their greed: the greed of the squatters for land, of lecherous whites for the women of the Barkindji, of rapacious employers who bought the reluctant services of the dark people with grog." (Lament for the Barkindji: The Vanished Tribes of the Darling River Region, Bobbie Hardy, 1976, p ii)
Metastasis in Palestine: "In October 1977, a month before Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's famous visit to Jerusalem to proclaim his desire for peace, the settlement of Halamish (pop. ca. 1,000) was implanted on the hillside opposite al-Nabi Saleh. Since then - in parallel with the never-ending 'peace process' - Halamish has expanded from its original foothold in a Jordanian police fort to occupy nearly half the historic lands of al-Nabi Saleh. The remaining village lands are mostly on the north side of Road 465, which runs on the floor of the valley separating al-Nabi Saleh from Halamish. In December 2009 settlers from Halamish expropriated the natural spring of 'Ayn al-Kus on the south side of Road 465. Several weeks later, Halamish settlers burned down 150 of al-Nabi Saleh's olive trees near the spring." (The problem is the Israeli occupation: al-Nabi Saleh, Joel Beinin, jadaliyya.com, 20/12/10)
Metastasis in Australia: "In 1829 the first white man came to the Barka and conferred on it the name of Darling. Over the ensuing years a number of explorers came and went through the land, and an overlanders' route for cattle and sheep was opened up along the Murray River. The tribesmen were not always seduced into complacency with tomahawks of European manufacture and other baubles, and sometimes objections were raised, as gradually even the arid fastnesses of their outer lands came under the white man's scrutiny. In the course of time they experienced something of the perfidy of the white boree, who came in likeness to the spirit ancestors of their dreaming, but was sometimetimes less than honourable in his dealings with the tribes. Trouble inevitably flared, especially after the squatters moved in to 'sit down' on the black man's land, and it was found that spears were no match for the lethal power of bullets. The invaders were insatiable in their greed: the greed of the squatters for land, of lecherous whites for the women of the Barkindji, of rapacious employers who bought the reluctant services of the dark people with grog." (Lament for the Barkindji: The Vanished Tribes of the Darling River Region, Bobbie Hardy, 1976, p ii)
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Howler
Whose homeland?
"Mayhem, riots, death threats and sabotage attempts followed when the 230 Iraqis on board were told they were being taken back to Indonesia. People shouldn't behave this way, but they do. This was a lesson the Royal Navy learnt blockading Palestine to prevent Jews reaching their homeland* in the 1940s." (Arms are extended but backs are turned: Compassion is the likely loser after the tragedy at Christmas Island, David Marr, Sydney Morning Herald, 18/12/10)
[* See my 17/6/10 post Cannon Fodder for Zion: Exodus 1947]
This is a monumental howler by one of Fairfax's better journalists.
When even the best of them recycle Zionist mythology in this way, you've got to wonder what's going on. Was Marr channeling Leon Uris' 1958 propaganda novel Exodus, presumably read decades ago? Does this mean he hasn't read a corrective account of that event since? If so, what does his recourse to mythologised history tell us about the quality of his critical faculties, which, until reading the above, I had held in high regard?
Marr is the biographer of Australian novelist Patrick White (1912-1990), the first Australian to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.
In 1943, White, an RAF intelligence officer, was stationed in Haifa*. He wrote of the time:
"Looking back at the year I spent in Palestine I see a highly coloured, degrading collage: murders committed by the Stern Gang, adulteries between the Allied Forces and their Jewish mistresses, bribery, slander [...] Night after night the cabaret churned into action under the windows of the Hotel where we were billeted [...] Down the Carmel The Warsaw Concerto was belted out on a piano as we ate our vegetable stews. By day boatloads of European refugees who had escaped through Romania could be seen coming ashore, their few possessions squeezed into shoddy suitcases. Nightly again, at another club, another orange diva, this time Berlin, seduced us with You Walked Out of a Dream [...] and the dream in which we were all walking - of true love, peace, permanence, an Israel visualised by all the Jews, from the tragic European forced settlers, the bloodiest Stern Gangsters, to the tough new race of sabras born in the land of their forbears." (Why bother with Patrick White? abc.net.au)
White, like so many Europeans at the time, was caught up in the Zionist dream, while blind to the Palestinians' nightmare. White may have had some excuse; it was 1943, and the Stern Gangsters hadn't yet been unleashed on the natives. It's now almost 2011, Marr has no such excuse.
[* On the fate of Haifa, see my 7/5/08 post Bend It Like Benny]
"Mayhem, riots, death threats and sabotage attempts followed when the 230 Iraqis on board were told they were being taken back to Indonesia. People shouldn't behave this way, but they do. This was a lesson the Royal Navy learnt blockading Palestine to prevent Jews reaching their homeland* in the 1940s." (Arms are extended but backs are turned: Compassion is the likely loser after the tragedy at Christmas Island, David Marr, Sydney Morning Herald, 18/12/10)
[* See my 17/6/10 post Cannon Fodder for Zion: Exodus 1947]
This is a monumental howler by one of Fairfax's better journalists.
When even the best of them recycle Zionist mythology in this way, you've got to wonder what's going on. Was Marr channeling Leon Uris' 1958 propaganda novel Exodus, presumably read decades ago? Does this mean he hasn't read a corrective account of that event since? If so, what does his recourse to mythologised history tell us about the quality of his critical faculties, which, until reading the above, I had held in high regard?
Marr is the biographer of Australian novelist Patrick White (1912-1990), the first Australian to win a Nobel Prize for Literature.
In 1943, White, an RAF intelligence officer, was stationed in Haifa*. He wrote of the time:
"Looking back at the year I spent in Palestine I see a highly coloured, degrading collage: murders committed by the Stern Gang, adulteries between the Allied Forces and their Jewish mistresses, bribery, slander [...] Night after night the cabaret churned into action under the windows of the Hotel where we were billeted [...] Down the Carmel The Warsaw Concerto was belted out on a piano as we ate our vegetable stews. By day boatloads of European refugees who had escaped through Romania could be seen coming ashore, their few possessions squeezed into shoddy suitcases. Nightly again, at another club, another orange diva, this time Berlin, seduced us with You Walked Out of a Dream [...] and the dream in which we were all walking - of true love, peace, permanence, an Israel visualised by all the Jews, from the tragic European forced settlers, the bloodiest Stern Gangsters, to the tough new race of sabras born in the land of their forbears." (Why bother with Patrick White? abc.net.au)
White, like so many Europeans at the time, was caught up in the Zionist dream, while blind to the Palestinians' nightmare. White may have had some excuse; it was 1943, and the Stern Gangsters hadn't yet been unleashed on the natives. It's now almost 2011, Marr has no such excuse.
[* On the fate of Haifa, see my 7/5/08 post Bend It Like Benny]
Onward Christian Soldiers
Now the Christians want a slice of the National Curriculum action (see my last post):
"In this yuletide Tony Abbott went on record again as regarding the Bible as essential for all Australian schools. 'It is important for people to leave school with some understanding of the Bible'**, he responded to a question from the floor at his Penrith community forum on November 29. 'It is impossible to imagine our society without the influence of Christendom'.... In my role as an English and history teacher, rather than as a person of faith, I am convinced we disadvantage our public school students by not acquainting them with the meta-structures, motifs and moral queries of the Abrahamic scriptures... Indeed, when studying literature, children now in faith-based schools (about 32% of total enrolments, and much higher in senior secondary) enjoy a significant advantage over their state-school peers. Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Dickens, Bronte (both), George Eliot, Hopkins, Hardy, TS Eliot, Steinbeck, Beckett, Yeats, Plath, Golding, Attwood and many, many others, require more than a passing knowledge of the Abrahamic Old and New testaments." (Bible study opens the door to mastering literature, David Hastie*, The Australian, 21/12/10)
[* "DH teaches HSC and International Baccalaureate English at St Paul's Grammar School and is a PhD candidate in education at Macquarie University."]
"The draft national curriculum for history opened an exciting prospect. Here was a chance, I thought, to defend the honour of Christianity amid the cut and thrust of educational theory, pitting myself against the intricate arguments of those who would deny, or at least downplay, the greatness of the influence of Christianity in the unravelling of the great events of the ages. Yet the compilers of the draft curriculum have chosen the simplest strategy of all: deliberate, pointed, tendentious and outrageous silence. In its 20 pages, the draft ancient history curriculum mentions religion twice. There is no reference to Christianity anywhere in the document... For believers... the reality is that the incarnation of Christ was and is the greatest event in human history, and that this greatness is not simply a matter of degree, but it is a kind of an absolute and ultimate truth by which alone the significance of all other events must be judged." (Chistianity has role in learning, David Daintree*, The Australian, 29/12/10)
[*"DD is president of Campion College Australia. This is an edited version of an essay piece appearing in the forthcoming The national curriculum: A critique, published by the Institute of Public Affairs and Mannkal Economic Education Foundation."]
[**For Sam Lipski's suggestion that Exodus, 1-20 be included in the English curriculum, see my 12/4/10 post Sam Lipski's National Curriculum.]
"In this yuletide Tony Abbott went on record again as regarding the Bible as essential for all Australian schools. 'It is important for people to leave school with some understanding of the Bible'**, he responded to a question from the floor at his Penrith community forum on November 29. 'It is impossible to imagine our society without the influence of Christendom'.... In my role as an English and history teacher, rather than as a person of faith, I am convinced we disadvantage our public school students by not acquainting them with the meta-structures, motifs and moral queries of the Abrahamic scriptures... Indeed, when studying literature, children now in faith-based schools (about 32% of total enrolments, and much higher in senior secondary) enjoy a significant advantage over their state-school peers. Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Dickens, Bronte (both), George Eliot, Hopkins, Hardy, TS Eliot, Steinbeck, Beckett, Yeats, Plath, Golding, Attwood and many, many others, require more than a passing knowledge of the Abrahamic Old and New testaments." (Bible study opens the door to mastering literature, David Hastie*, The Australian, 21/12/10)
[* "DH teaches HSC and International Baccalaureate English at St Paul's Grammar School and is a PhD candidate in education at Macquarie University."]
"The draft national curriculum for history opened an exciting prospect. Here was a chance, I thought, to defend the honour of Christianity amid the cut and thrust of educational theory, pitting myself against the intricate arguments of those who would deny, or at least downplay, the greatness of the influence of Christianity in the unravelling of the great events of the ages. Yet the compilers of the draft curriculum have chosen the simplest strategy of all: deliberate, pointed, tendentious and outrageous silence. In its 20 pages, the draft ancient history curriculum mentions religion twice. There is no reference to Christianity anywhere in the document... For believers... the reality is that the incarnation of Christ was and is the greatest event in human history, and that this greatness is not simply a matter of degree, but it is a kind of an absolute and ultimate truth by which alone the significance of all other events must be judged." (Chistianity has role in learning, David Daintree*, The Australian, 29/12/10)
[*"DD is president of Campion College Australia. This is an edited version of an essay piece appearing in the forthcoming The national curriculum: A critique, published by the Institute of Public Affairs and Mannkal Economic Education Foundation."]
[**For Sam Lipski's suggestion that Exodus, 1-20 be included in the English curriculum, see my 12/4/10 post Sam Lipski's National Curriculum.]
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