Tuesday, 13th of January, 2009

…that Barrack Obama could do worse than listen to.

I don't have the time to comment in-depth (OK, I'm not even commenting shallowly!), but the article linked above was submitted by Jello to Change.gov and one can only hope he actually reads it (yeah I know…). A lot of food for thought there.

Sunday, 11th of January, 2009

The Liberal Conspiracy has a great post up about the endlessly unproductive back-and-forth that occurs whenever Israel-Palestine is mentioned in the media and blogs. Sunny Hundal and Sunder Katwala call for an end to whataboutery – and in case it looks like a simple "you're all equally wrong" kind of thing, flick through the comments to Sunder, and later Sunny's extensions of what they mean here.

I'm not sure it's any kind of manifesto for fixing shit, but it does manage to express something of the way I feel whenever this happens.

Yes, we mean you. If you can only see the humanity of one side and never the other, one side of the history, and one side of the suffering. If everything you say is to point the finger of blame at the baddies and exonerate the goodies. If you haven’t had a new point to make for five, ten or sixty years.

You are not part of the solution; you are part of the problem.

- if you are ordering pizza for the Israeli Defence Force,
- waving Hamas flags on peace rallies
- organising boycotts, blame and ostracism
- if you think that bombing Gaza will bring peace
- if you think Hamas are a bunch of valiant freedom fighters
- if all you can do is quote SWP or Conservative Friends of Israel talking points…

Peace is difficult because it will come when Palestinians and Israelis recognise the essential truth – that their peace and security is mutually inter-dependent.

That’s difficult for those at the centre of the conflict. But what’s your excuse?

Thursday, 8th of January, 2009

I want to urge you (and also you) to read this post by Lisa Goldman on the Gaza conflict:
Haniyeh and his Israeli sisters: wartime tales from Gaza and Israel
It's rare to see a perspective from on the ground in either Israel or the occupied territories, that isn't either propaganda or pretty much militant activism of some sort. Lisa, a Canadian journalist and blogger now living in Israel, is always very much worth a read, and has built up a large number of friendships in the Arab world which make her particularly worth listening to.
I've been waiting for her to write about this mess, and the post above is a long and impassioned commentary on what's going on, an informed Israeli anti-war perspective. Even if you're already against this war you should read it, because as ever, the left likes its absolutes; it's not necessary to defend Hamas in any way at all if one wants to condemn Israel's actions and support Palestinians.

Meanwhile, the wonderful Israeli author Etgar Keret has an article in the LA Times on "Proportionality". He argues, in his usual measured fashion, that a mathematical analogy is useless when both sides refuse to accept the narrative, and the suffering, of the other.

The only equation I can wholeheartedly accept is one whereby zero bodies appear on either side of the equation. And until that time comes, I'll choose outcry and protest that appeal solely to the heart. I shall reserve my appeals to the mind for better times.

And for some light relief, here's Jon Stewart (another leftist Jew) at the beginning of the latest(?) edition of the Daily Show, suggesting that Israel is just "getting their bombing in before the January 20th hope and change deadline". January 20th is of course the date of the Obama inauguration. Stewart inevitably veers close to "making light" of the suffering, but that's satire for you. He pretty much nails it, especially on the mendacious hypocrisy as ever on both sides of US politics.
We're not doing much better here, and you might want to support Amnesty's campaign for the UN Security Council to take decisive action (a "humanitarian corridor" and 3hrs of ceasfire a day really ain't enough…)