What Israel is doing to Gaza (with US complicity) is an abomination. What about those new settlements in East Jerusalem, openly defying international requests that they stop? Has their been any dip in the billions of dollars in military and other aid from the United States?
Also I want to be bff with the kid in the pink helmet.
@zombie_dola: I'm not sure why you think East Jerusalem is off limits to Jews. Jerusalem is not in the West Bank. Jerusalem is still part of Israel. East Jerusalem is where Israeli Arabs live. So. . are you just limiting Jews living there, or all Israelis?
@deeemer: Damn I thought I might get called out. It's just that the whole rest of the world (including the State Dept) is anti-semitic. BUSTED!
Heat turned on Israel over east Jerusalem settlements
(linking not working for some reason)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hDGi58CTKf_tT6PLc8L4cC_JBPyw
Despite the criticism, Israel insisted that its "right" to all of Jerusalem was not up for discussion.
@zombie_dola: Also, international requests are Russia and France. I would be more inclined to take them seriously if they themselves would let go of the Kursil Islands and Corsica first. I mean, speaking of occupation. . .
@zombie_dola: I'm sorry. What was the bargaining again? To my knowledge, East Jerusalem was offered by Olmert, and rejected. Should we just assume, that even after being rejected, that it still belongs to someone else?
Jerusalem is one city, maintained and within Israel borders. It is not in the West Bank. There are some people that have decided that, for some reason, it belongs to Palestinians, simply due to its proximity to the West Bank. I find that strange. I also find it questionable that Israel isn't allowed to make new apartments to house its residents. Is no one allowed to have children now? Is the population supposed to kill off every new member of the city?
I find it questionable that the whole world is watching Israel's evil "occupation", but no one calls out other countries for the same actions. And those other countries are the ones doing the accusations! Even Jordan has revoked thousands of Palestinian passports, and stripped those living there of their rights. But they're not on the chopping block.
I also found this very helpful:
http://www.globallawforum.org/ViewPublication.aspx?ArticleId=101
@deeemer: Since we're trading, I found this article helpful.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072813.html
Continuing to demolish Palestinian homes in East Jersusalem in violation of Israel's commitment to 'the roadmap' is not helpful. I just can't believe that you really agree with your own logic, that Israel has a moral license to do this because there are other border disputes and oppressive conditions in the world. Bringing up Corsica, as strained an analogy as it is, shows how tenuous you think the ground Israel walks on really is. Corsica, Puerto Rico... Gaza?
Like many neighborhoods in Jerusalem, the homes reflect a mixture of architectural styles from the Ottoman era to the present, although the Israeli government contends that these homes have been built "illegally" because they have not been granted permission to be built in the first place, a permission that is next to impossible for Palestinians regardless of whether they have an Israeli residency ID or citizenship. Such is the logic of colonialism and ethnic cleansing in Palestine over the last 61 years. And accordingly, a number of Israeli colonists have been confiscating and taking over homes and buildings to pave the way for the wholesale seizure of Palestinian neighborhoods.
These are the real victims of that wall. Those with the will and the means will still perpetuate violence one way or another, but these victims are innocent. Walls.Don't.Work.
Edited by AtomiClash: humanitarian misanthrope at 07/21/09 9:19 AM
AtomiClash: humanitarian misanthrope was starred
AtomiClash: humanitarian misanthrope was unstarred
Great, they have a flag. So can we give them a fucking nation to live in already? I think the Western World's decades of placating has gone far enough.
@battleaxonista: Sometimes I feel as though the only country they would accept is directly in conflict with the existence of Israel. Which is a bit of a problem in solving this issue. I guess because I have never been attached to the land around me in such a deep manner I will never be able to understand the conflict enough.
The US had to intervene to get them to let in pasta. Rice, they let in. Pasta, no. Until the State Department said "W.T.F?!"
Or, in the words of Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA): "When have lentil bombs been going off lately? Is someone going to kill you with a piece of macaroni?"
@Fizzy77: Always possible. But I'm an Israeli-American who has been studying, writing about, and living the conflict for 25 years, so I do know a few things.
I always think it's best to listen to the people who are living it, though, like the former combat soldiers in Combatants for Peace [www.combatantsforpeace.org] the combat soldiers who refuse to serve in the territories [www.yeshgvul.org] the decorated pilots who refuse to fly missions over the territories anymore (including a Brigadier General) [www.fmep.org] or the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, in which people on both sides who have lost loved ones to the violence work together for peace [www.theparentscircle.com]
Also, and not for nothing, but this is the policy that Israel has pursued for more than 40 years, and it hasn't worked. It might be time to try something else.
@ellaesther: I agree with you 100%. Political/religious/whatever conflict is not reason enough, ever reason enough, to effectively starve civillians which include little children that have no say in whats going on.
@ellaesther: My comment sounded harsher than I intended it too.
I am an American Israeli, currently living in NYC... And I know it may not make a lot of sense to everyone, but where ever I stand I stand with Israel.
So for me, I believe there is a reason why Pasta isn't let in. Damned if I know WHY, but I trust that the Israeli government's reason is legit and it's purpose is to protect the Israeli people.
@Fizzy77: I'd love to have a faith that strong in any government, but it kind of seems like things like this picture are a direct result of that type of singular attitude. No one country is better than any other because countries are made of people, people who are ALL equal.
11/03/09
Refugee camps? Not so much. Neither pige-y nor bebbeh should ever have to be in one... #ezzabedrabbo
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
11/03/09
10/14/09
09/15/09
07/31/09
Also, wow--beautiful!
07/30/09
07/30/09
07/30/09
07/21/09
Also I want to be bff with the kid in the pink helmet.
07/21/09
Please explain this "abomination".
07/21/09
Heat turned on Israel over east Jerusalem settlements
(linking not working for some reason)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hDGi58CTKf_tT6PLc8L4cC_JBPyw
Despite the criticism, Israel insisted that its "right" to all of Jerusalem was not up for discussion.
That's what I call bargaining in good faith.
07/21/09
07/21/09
If your argument is that those nations are hypocritical colonizer states as well, then hey, I'd have no problem getting a drink with ya.
Lets just not have any illusions here, or wonder why world public opinion (not all frothing Jew-haters) finds Israel's conduct intolerable.
07/21/09
Jerusalem is one city, maintained and within Israel borders. It is not in the West Bank. There are some people that have decided that, for some reason, it belongs to Palestinians, simply due to its proximity to the West Bank. I find that strange. I also find it questionable that Israel isn't allowed to make new apartments to house its residents. Is no one allowed to have children now? Is the population supposed to kill off every new member of the city?
I find it questionable that the whole world is watching Israel's evil "occupation", but no one calls out other countries for the same actions. And those other countries are the ones doing the accusations! Even Jordan has revoked thousands of Palestinian passports, and stripped those living there of their rights. But they're not on the chopping block.
I also found this very helpful:
http://www.globallawforum.org/ViewPublication.aspx?ArticleId=101
07/21/09
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1072813.html
Continuing to demolish Palestinian homes in East Jersusalem in violation of Israel's commitment to 'the roadmap' is not helpful. I just can't believe that you really agree with your own logic, that Israel has a moral license to do this because there are other border disputes and oppressive conditions in the world. Bringing up Corsica, as strained an analogy as it is, shows how tenuous you think the ground Israel walks on really is. Corsica, Puerto Rico... Gaza?
Like many neighborhoods in Jerusalem, the homes reflect a mixture of architectural styles from the Ottoman era to the present, although the Israeli government contends that these homes have been built "illegally" because they have not been granted permission to be built in the first place, a permission that is next to impossible for Palestinians regardless of whether they have an Israeli residency ID or citizenship. Such is the logic of colonialism and ethnic cleansing in Palestine over the last 61 years. And accordingly, a number of Israeli colonists have been confiscating and taking over homes and buildings to pave the way for the wholesale seizure of Palestinian neighborhoods.
07/21/09
07/21/09
06/22/09
/gutshot
05/28/09
05/28/09
05/27/09
Because Israel won't let the concrete in.
The US had to intervene to get them to let in pasta. Rice, they let in. Pasta, no. Until the State Department said "W.T.F?!"
Or, in the words of Congressman Brian Baird (D-WA): "When have lentil bombs been going off lately? Is someone going to kill you with a piece of macaroni?"
[www.independent.co.uk]
05/27/09
05/27/09
I always think it's best to listen to the people who are living it, though, like the former combat soldiers in Combatants for Peace [www.combatantsforpeace.org] the combat soldiers who refuse to serve in the territories [www.yeshgvul.org] the decorated pilots who refuse to fly missions over the territories anymore (including a Brigadier General) [www.fmep.org] or the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum, in which people on both sides who have lost loved ones to the violence work together for peace [www.theparentscircle.com]
Also, and not for nothing, but this is the policy that Israel has pursued for more than 40 years, and it hasn't worked. It might be time to try something else.
05/27/09
05/27/09
I am an American Israeli, currently living in NYC... And I know it may not make a lot of sense to everyone, but where ever I stand I stand with Israel.
So for me, I believe there is a reason why Pasta isn't let in. Damned if I know WHY, but I trust that the Israeli government's reason is legit and it's purpose is to protect the Israeli people.
05/27/09
05/27/09