Most who from the beginning oppossed the so-called “security fence” argued it was a sham and had nothing to do with security. The Shin Bet itself admitted as much a couple years ago. It’s main intent, like the settlements, is to annex as much of the West Bank as possible before an agreement with the Palestinians. An article by Amos Harel in today’s Ha’aretz, basically concedes these points:
Seven years after construction work began on the West Bank separation fence, the project seems to have run aground. Work has slowed significantly since September 2007, and today, after the state has spent about NIS 9.5 billion, only about 60 percent of the more limited, revised route has been completed.
Tags: Israeli Army, Propaganda
Uri Avnery on Bibi Yahoo’s wonder government:
Some weeks ago, Netanyahu appointed Hadas to one of the most sensitive positions in the security establishment: to coordinate all the efforts to free the “kidnapped” soldier Gilad Shalit.
If we do not want to assume that this man, a confidante of the Prime Minister and a former senior officer of the Mossad, who has been responsible for life-and-death decisions, was an accomplice to a vile fraud, there is no escape from the conclusion that his judgment is grievously impaired and that he fell into a trap that any person with common sense could have spotted a mile off.
How can such a person possibly be entrusted with such a sensitive task as the negotiation for a prisoner exchange with Hamas, in which sophisticated Egyptian mediators are involved?
And what does this say about the judgment of Netanyahu, who appointed him to this task, especially assuming that his wife had demanded it?
Tags: Corruption, Israeli Army
Tags: Settlers
Ha’aretz discusses Bibi Yahoo’s paranoia:
Netanyahu appears to be suffering from confusion and paranoia. He is convinced that the media are after him, that his aides are leaking information against him and that the American administration wants him out of office. Two months after his visit to Washington, he is still finding it difficult to communication normally with the White House. To appreciate the depth of his paranoia, it is enough to hear how he refers to Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod, Obama’s senior aides: as “self-hating Jews.”
Tags: Israeli Politics
I can’t remember when the first time I heard this chant at a protest. But it struck me as a powerful and true statement. I thought it came from the early union struggles here in the US. Only recently I learned that the chant is the title of a Chilean song ¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! which was written as a sort of unoffical anthem for Allende’s political movement. The song and chant became even more popular and widely used by protest movements around the world, after Pinochet’s bloody coup. You can read the lyrics and listen to it here. (I can’t say I love the lyrics or the music – it sounds more like a turn-of-the-20th-century Russian socialist “workers” song than an indigenous Chilean melody).
As quoted on the link above, the composer of the song himself notes how he heard the chant at a rally and it inspired him to write the song. I have been unable to trace the history of the chant any further back. Whatever its origins, it came to mind this week as I watched events unfold in Iran.
Tags: Iran
Yesterday’s post cited an article from the WSJ entitled Iran’s Web Spying Aided by Western Technology. I added some commentary which I decided to pull out since the article has broad implications about government use of the Internet to spy on its citizenry.
Tags: Propaganda
The situation is so fluid on the ground, that I hesitate to comment, This post is a collection of news articles and commentary I personally found educational and enlightening. I start with a quote which expresses my own feelings about what is going on. It seems exceedingly strange to me that I quote a sitting President as the person who most eloquently expresses my own feelings. But Barack Obama does have a gift with words, and he is an exceptionally kind and intelligent man:
The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost. We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights.
As I said in Cairo, suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government. If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion.
Martin Luther King once said – “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I believe that. The international community believes that. And right now, we are bearing witness to the Iranian peoples’ belief in that truth, and we will continue to bear witness.
Tags: Iran
Nearly a year ago I wrote this post on the topic. I actually began the part 2, but let it lie for a while. Given the dramatic events in Iran and the pseudo-debate in the US about how Obama should react, I find it apt to finish up the topic now.
Tags: Empire, Feature, Human Rights, Hypocrisy, Nationalism
Ha’aretz hands the paper over to writers instead of journalists for one day. Go to the Ha’aretz site and choose June 10th under “Previous Editions” to see it. This article by Etgar Keret is amongst my favorites:
Barak spoke Tuesday night to the Council for Peace and Security, in an auditorium full of veterans of the Israel Defense Forces, the Shin Bet security service and the Mossad – or as one journalist described it, “generations of defense officials. These people led us from disaster to disaster.” …
The speech was erudite and precise. The text was pragmatic. But the subtext was depressing: We cannot survive without a treaty, but we have no one to sign one with. We must try, but just between the two of us, it won’t work. The word “opportunity” was mentioned repeatedly, but every time, it was accompanied by a sigh. Pessimism is part and parcel of being a rightist leader, but to be a pessimistic leftist leader is unpleasant.
Relevant Quotes
Entre los individuos, como entre las naciones, el respeto al derecho ajeno es la paz: Among individuals, as among nations, respect for the rights of others is peace -- Benito Juárez
It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it. -- Eleanor Roosevelt
Let them call me a rebel and welcome. I feel no concern from it. But should I suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul -- Thomas Paine