Mairead Maguire sails for Gaza

by Justin Morahan Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:02

Links and a picture of boat on previous voyage, cartoon of arrival, with Free Gaza Movement press release, in European Tribune http://www.eurotrib.com/?op=displaystory;sid=2008/10/24...30/47

by Frank Adam - private citizen Mon Oct 27, 2008 20:31

Strange.... but The Guardian and others playing at Voice of the Arabs recount that more than enough petrol, cigarettes, guns and ammo and much else are finding their ways into Gaza by the tunnels under the Rafah border with Egypt. So why not medicine? Given, "chemist shop prices," one would have thought they would be as pofitable for the smugglers as ammo and cigarettes?

Stop and think. A human needs a kilo (raw) of daily food and without will look starved within a couple of months - or perhaps you are not aquainted with the pictures of concentration camp survivors, Biafra, and Croatia? After all you did not get into those shindigs.

If Gaza has 1500 000 people it needs that many kilos of food a day ie 1500 tons or not quite a 100 lorries and according to reports they are being supplied. Whether they are being distributed, and distributed fairly? is another matter - Hamas' responsibility - but tsk tsk...

So to conclude: so far there have been no pictures of Belsen babies in all the 60 years of the Arab war on Israel. There might not be a luxury market in Gaza but they are adequately fed. What is for sure is that if there were any Baifra babies, The Guardian and The Independent would have printed front page pics a long time ago; so tread down the molehill and persuade your friends to keep their word and treat others as equals. It makes life far easier when you do not provoke people and deservedly get your shins kicked. FDA

by Sean Og Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:08

JPost.com » Middle East » Article

Oct 29, 2008 9:57 | Updated Oct 29, 2008 12:30
27 international activists sail into Gaza to protest blockade
By JPOST.COM STAFF AND AP

What's this?

A boat carrying 27 international activists sailed into the Gaza Strip on Wednesday to draw attention to the blockade sanctions on the Hamas-controlled territory.

Free Gaza activists arrive in the Strip on Wednesday.
Photo: AP

Slideshow: Pictures of the week Israel had threatened to block the boat, but navy ships did not intervene, and the boat sailed unhindered into a Gaza harbor, where it was greeted by Hamas policemen and a small group of Palestinian activists.

The 66-foot yacht, Dignity, sailed from Cyprus on Tuesday with a shipment of humanitarian supplies.

Among the 27 passengers on board the boat were five physicians, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire, who has been involved in the protests at Nil'in, MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) and Palestinian Legislative Council member Mustafa Barghouti.

The Dignity was chartered by the US-based Free Gaza group, which sailed two similar boats into Gaza in August. Israel let those boats through, saying at the time that ignoring them would deny the protesters the publicity they were seeking.

The Foreign Ministry initially said Israel would not allow this one to dock, but spokesman Yigal Palmor said the decision was changed late Tuesday. He would not comment further.

Israeli activist Gideon Spiro said he joined the boat to express his opposition to his government policy toward Gaza. "It is collective punishment against people who did not do anything wrong, especially children, women, elderly people, and I think that's not the way to handle it and that's why I'm here," he said.

Jamal Khoudary, one of the Palestinian organizers of the protest, said the boat would take 10 Gazans back to Cyprus, including students and patients needing medical care. Israel and Egypt control who enters and leaves Gaza, and it was not immediately clear whether the boat would be permitted to sail.

He said plans were under way for more boats and for a flight into Gaza to break the air blockade.

"We are not going to give details, but preparations are under way," he said.

by Vincent Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:43

" If Gaza has 1500 000 people it needs that many kilos of food a day ie 1500 tons or not quite a 100 lorries and according to reports they are being supplied. "

Sorry Frank & Sean,

Hasnt anyone told you that the Israelis have already figured out your equations. The bear minimum required to maintain a level of desperation and borderline starvation and to ensure negative growth and long term physical trauma among the population has already been calculated. A torturer knows his art, and well he knows that it is of little use if the prisoner dies.
But you are thinking along the same totalitarian lines as your heroes in that " One human equals One Kilo of food" . Gauging the equivalence or worth of a person in weights an measures. Quite chilling.

Meanwhile in the Human World, Good news for the Gazans under siege :

LARNACA - The Free Gaza Movement is delighted to announce that their third boat, the SS Dignity carrying 27 crew and passengers arrived in Gaza at 8:10 Gaza time, in spite of Israeli threats to stop them. In the pouring rain, the boat pulled into port amid cheers from the people of Gaza and tears from the passengers.

http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id...fset=

by Reporter12 Fri Oct 31, 2008 12:48

Congratulations to the Free Gaza Movement on their Brave exploit.

The Totalitarian regime of Israel had threatented to stop them but realised that such actions could lead to international interest being aroused. They would not be able to continue with their experiment in Human misery if the world actually decided to take note.

But already the Fascists have started attacking the peace activists and the Palestinian fishermen.The hatred and the cowardliness evident in the actions of these state terrorists from Israel, funded and armed by US Sponsors, simply beggars belief.

" According to David Schermerhorn, one of the internationals on board, "Three naval vessels attacked us with machine gun fire and water cannons. "

http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id...fset=

by Sean Og Sat Nov 01, 2008 23:11

Totalitarian ?

Free Elections

Free Courts

Free New papers

Get Real - Reporter 12

by Reporter12 Sun Nov 02, 2008 16:17

Dear Sean, I feel I must tell you that your viewpoint is extremely childish.

Free Newspapers ? What do you mean by free newspapers ? I presume you are referring to Freedom of the Press.
The Reporters Without Borders dare to disagree with you analysis listing Israel as only 44th in the world for press freedom.That's right after South Africa but still ahead of that Bright and Shining Beacon of freedom the USA.
But even freedom of press ranking lists cannot take into account the voluntary self sanitisation that is standard practice in all countries including Ireland and to a infinitely worse degree in Israel. Did you read it in any paper in Ireland that the Free Gaza Org have now successfully landed three boats in Gaza ? Come to think of it did you even read any significant feature on Gaza or the West Bank in the last year ? No?
Its not peculiar to here, it is a universal phenomenon of self censorship and regulation that results in the staggering statistic that in the first year of the intafada you were more than ten times likely to read about the death of an Israeli than a death of a Palestinian if you were a citizen of the greatest democracy in the world - the USA.
Your notions of "free Newspapers" in Israel is extremely childish.

http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=24025

As for you Free Courts and free elections that also is almost so infantile in its conception that it barely merits response but suffice to say in simplistic terms - You really dont what to be an Palestinian, not even one with Israeli citizenship, in front of an Israeli court.There is no justice in Israeli courts for Palestinians.

Not to bore you with how Israel has imprisoned many of the democratically elected Hamas parliamentarians, as these people I am quite sure will not register on your radar I will direct you to Azmi Bishara as he relates below how he, as an elected representative to the Knesset, was run out of Israel under an official threat of a death sentence on trumped up charges that wouldnt see the light of day in a proper democracy.

" These trumped-up charges, which I firmly reject and deny, are only the latest in a series of attempts to silence me and others involved in the struggle of the Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel to live in a state of all its citizens, not one that grants rights and privileges to Jews that it denies to non-Jews " .

http://www.counterpunch.org/bishara05042007.html

Finally, I wish to inform you that you dont understand the meaning of the word totalitarian and should take the time to understand the term before trying to refute it with your incorrect assertions.
Regardless of its paranoid and maniacal warmongering control over it's own citizens, continually whipped into a frenzy of aggression through military conscription continual mobilisation and live fire excercises in occupied Palestine.

The Israeli regime is absolutely Totalitarian and completely fascist in its dealings with the occupied Palestinians.

Definitions of totalitarian :

Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a concept used to describe political systems where a state regulates nearly every aspect of public and private life.

exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others; authoritarian; autocratic.

completely regulated by the state especially as an aid to national mobilization in an emergency

by Susan Tue Nov 04, 2008 01:30

This is a very timely and sensitive report into the effect that Free Gaza is starting to have in English Politics after only three successful landings.

" Last weekend I was among about 100 foreigners due to arrive in Gaza for a medical conference on the impact of siege on mental health. The World Health Organisation was a co-sponsor of the conference, Walls versus Bridges and, with other international organisations, had applied to the Israeli military authorities for permission for each individual to enter. Everyone – mainly doctors, psychiatrists, academics from the US, Canada and Europe – was barred, and had to fall back on a blurry video conference from Ramallah. "

So if the doctors are not allowed in, then who should be allowed to visit the Gaza Strip ? European Politicians, should they go and just see for themselves ?

" They would be able to do it with ease, unlike the handful of people who made the trip recently in two boat trips from Cyprus, bringing medicines, hearing aids for the deaf, and hope that the world could hear the horror of what is happening to them. "

A report by Victoria Brittain

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/02/gaz...risis

by Frank Adam - private citizen Tue Nov 04, 2008 15:43

Some remarks of Vincent and Reporter 12 just advertise a provincial and ivory tower blinkers of narrow reading or none, and little travelling. Everybody in catering, famine relief, and wartime rationing - let alone school cookery lessons - knows the average requirement in calories or actual food per portion / per diem per cap - if not since the Renaissance pioneers logged the weight of their daily consumption and excretion. If you are serious about a problem you need the figures to be practical, but Reporter 12 probably prefers some surplus to speculate in famine prices and Swiss accounts as Arafat did so well with €uro aid.

The USSR collapsed not only because it was too rigid and genuinely totalitarian, but because it could not fund its agriculture and feed its people in steady adequacy. Grow up! The effects of poor water, and sewage are more chilling and swift in their arrest than ration sums!

Lay off crying, "Wolf!" with, "totalitarian" - even if you are a real Mac Carthy. If Israel were totalitarian:
*Israel would not be so easy to visit;
*there would be no Israeli coalition government problems;
*there would not be so many Israeli critics;
*let alone foreign critical visitors;
*and the Jewish and Arab populations would not have trebled since 1967 compared to the territories' Arab population remaining stagnant under the Hashemite annexation.

Darwish the Arab Palestinian poet (who earned his literature degrees in Hebrew) said shortly before he died this year, "We have indeed acheived independence - of Gaza from the West Bank!" If the Arabs wish to be independent they are welcome; but then, be independent. Stop whinging for Israeli aid and jobs which the Arabs themselves shut out by their politically clumsy manner of war on Israel's civil population. Remember throughout the first intifada of '87-'91 the Arabs kept their rebellion within Gaza, Nablus and Hebron Districts, and Israel continued to let the Gazans and others work in Israel; but then subtlety, as distinct from wily vindictiveness, was never Arafat's strong point.

In all the fakery about Palestine, the most ironic is to continue calling the Biblical heartland of the country - Judea and Samaria - by its Jordanian annexation of 1947 -'67 - and not even by its British District titles of the traditional town names of Nablus and Hebron! ! ! But then Nablus is the Arabic accent on the Graeco -Latin Neapolis / Naples; and Hebron is Hebrew so Arabs cannot really admit to the non- Arab foundation courses of the country... and the Jordanian Hashemite state is genuinely Arab if nothing else ...

by Reporter 12 Wed Nov 05, 2008 13:44

Israeli army has invaded Gaza in Violation of the truce agreement and has killed seven members of the Palestinian resistance in armed clashes. Numerous Civilians have also been wounded in the fighting. The israeli forces invaded residential areas and used tank and helicopter rocket fire against the Palestinians in what is another clear violation of the cease fire agreement

http://www.imemc.org/article/57563

" As the Israeli army continues its invasion to the Gaza Strip, two more Palestinians fighters were killed and several residents were wounded during armed clashes with Israel forces invading Al Qarara area, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Resistance groups in Gaza vowed retaliation. "

Over 35 home-made rockets have been launched at Israel in response with no damage or casualties reported. This violation of the truce agreement comes on top of a long list of violations on Israel's behalf including the continual attacks on Gaza fishermen, and the implemenation of a 300m free fire zone inside the Gaza border where shooting of Palestinian is encouraged by the occupation forces.
Israel has also failed to lift the siege on Gaza which was one of the main purposes behind the Truce.

Hamas has been reigning in rogue elements who have fired rockets at Israel during the truce but it is reported that Hamas has actually claimed responsibility for the new barrage, apparently signalling the decision of Hamas to no longer maintain their part in a one-sided truce.

Israel and its allies Fatah have used the relaitve quite of the Hamas truce to consolidate the occupation in the West Bank through assassinations and kidnappings of the civilian population there. A huge upsurge in violent attacks by illegal Israeli immigrants in the Occupied territories has also been noted in recent months. With a fear that the so called "settlers' are now a force that has spiralled so far out of control that they are a complete impediment to any efforts to evolve peace talks.

http://article.wn.com/view/2008/10/02/General_Israeli_s...e_up/

" Hundreds of Jewish settlers are engaged in violence against Palestinians and Israeli soldiers who get in their way, Israel's top general in the occupied West Bank said in remarks published on Thursday. "In the past, only a few dozen individuals took part in such activity but today that number has grown into the hundreds. That's a very significant change," "

by Vincent Wed Nov 05, 2008 17:47

Frank,

Typically, you put quote marks on on words which were never spoken. What Darwish said was : "We have triumphed. Gaza won its independence from the West Bank. One people now have two states, two prisons who don't greet each other. We are victims dressed in executioners' clothing."

You will note that it is an irony laden piece that people with a genuine understanding of the Palestinian struggle would not fail to be affected by.
With your mistakes and your complete lack of empathy or understandiong for a people who have struggled so long for independence, you may as well be misquoting the ingredients on the back of a cereal box.

Unsurprisingly, your population statistics are completely bogus also.

http://israelipalestinian.procon.org/viewresource.asp?r...raph5

There is no doubt that in its dealings with the Occupied Palestinians the Israeli Government is a Totalitarian regime which has taken complete control of every aspect of the peoples lives. It has taken complete control of their political system and every aspect of administration over the people.This positions Israel as a Totalitarian regime. Under any totalitarian regime sections of people benefit from the system and others pay the price.This is no different than Israel. The fact that you can visit the place is irrelevant as it was easy to visit Iraq under the Totalitarian regime of Saddam Hussein. Its also easy to visit China, Egypt and Iran. Large sections of those poulations are in a position to live their life in relative freedom and large setion have and will feel the Totalitarian nature of the regimes in the course of their lives.

The rest of your ramblings are barely intelligible zionist drivel that have no relevance here.

by Susan Thu Nov 06, 2008 17:41

http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id...fset=

" Larnaca: Tomorrow afternoon at 5:00 pm, the DIGNITY leaves for the third time for the shores of Gaza. This time, eleven past and current members of the European Parliament are on board, along with journalists from Al Jazeera English and The Independent. "

by Susan Sat Nov 08, 2008 15:01

A photoset of the Dignity arriving in Gaza. Free GAza !

http://picasaweb.google.com/sameh.habeeb/DignityBoatAga...Trip#

In relation to the Totalitarian nature of the Israeli regime as discussed above. here is a brief little article that should clarify the issue for anyone in doubt .

http://www.imemc.org/article/57591

" On November 2nd, Hebrew University student Ali Bahar was detained for three hours after refusing to shake hands with Israeli president Shimon Peres.

When the President approached Bahar to shake his hand, the student refused, stating QUOTE "I will not shake hands with a murderer of children."

by Frank Adam - private citizen Sat Nov 08, 2008 15:43

To say that the population of Gaza, Hebron and Nablus Districts with East Jerusalem have trebled since 1967 is not bogus. In the second half of June '67 the Israelis gave notice of a census and 24 hour curfew and counted the actual people in the territories they had just taken off Egypt, Syria and Jordan for threatening to dispose of Israel. There were 960 000 Arabs in the areas in question.

If Vincent's graph now claims over three million Arabs in the areas, it is hardly "bogus" to say the population trebled. Secondly while military government is usually deeply into democratic deficit, to then confuse the issue by accusing Israel itself of totalitarianism is sloppy drafting if not disingenuous defamation.

All those who are - justifiably - outraged the Arab war on Israel is still with us, have to explain why the Arabs did not create their so very desired Palestine Arab State before 1967 - as the Israelis created their state in what they held? Also for those who only know the "drivel" of Arab pamphlets and were not alive at the time to witness the fact: in the week after the 1967 Six Day War the Israaeli government via US good offices sent an offer to Egypt, Syria and Jordan that Israel was willing to return to the Green Line then and there on the one condition - not an onerous nor excessive condition - of a peace treaty that turned the Green Line of the 1948 armisticeS into a legal frontier.

Those who hold it is OK for Ireland to secede from the UK, have to concede the secession from Ireland of the Northern Six Counties on similar reasons; and so it is OK for Israel to secede from the Arab World as for Spain and the others to.

by Outraged European Mon Nov 10, 2008 09:50

Where can possibly be the justification for this ? Even the usual crap about smuggling weapons cant have any relevance here. This is pure thuggery for the sake of it. It's not like this is happening in the South China Sea or off the Coast of Somalia. This is happening in the Med. "Sophisitcated Europeans" are sipping cocktails not too far away whilst the Israelis are simply being allowed to lose the plot with a bunch of fishermen.
There must be loads of European Naval Vessels in the area that could intervene in the crime without so much as even getting a fresh order from above. These are flagrant violations of International and Human Rights Law going on on the front lawn of Europe by a rogue foreign power.
If the Yanks were lording it around the Med spraying chemicals at innocent fisheremen would the EU shrug its shoulders and say " HuH?" Would they hell ?

" 9:15 am. From a small Palestinian fishing boat, David Schermerhorn watched as Israeli sailors aboard a large Navy Gunboat put on Hazmat suits and masks. Five minutes later, the fishermen and internationals were blasted by water from a cannon mounted atop the gunboat. The water was filthy, with an appalling chemical smell to it. "

http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id...fset=

by Vincent Tue Nov 11, 2008 12:04

Frank, This has to be the most bizarre argument I've ever heard in an attempt to delegitimise the Palestinian claim to a settlement of the conflict based on the international consensus.

You are telling us, They have more babies when under occupation by Zionists rather than by Jordanians!

If there is any logic in that I cant see it.

Are you saying that the Jordanians were stopping them from having Kids or that the Zionists are encouraging them ?And What the hell has it got to do with reality ?

Whatever it is you are concocting, it is also driven by a strange quirk in your reckoning as it doesnt get reflected in the statistics and graphs which show a steady increase throughout the period in question. The noticeable decline in the steady growth is evident immediately after the Israeli invasion in 1967.

You then say :

" Those who hold it is OK for Ireland to secede from the UK, have to concede the secession from Ireland of the Northern Six Counties on similar reasons; and so it is OK for Israel to secede from the Arab World as for Spain and the others to. "

Bananas !

Much like the Arab States had hoped to do earlier, Israel actually declared Independence from the UN Mandated region in 1948 , it is a fact. The Arab States and the Palestinian parties, including Fatah and even Hamas, are now waiting for Israel to recognise everybody elses sovereignty by moving it's people and its occupation forces back behind it's borders. There is no impediment to Israel achieving full relations with the Arab world. The solution has been on the table for a long time.

by Susan Thu Nov 13, 2008 01:54

Sometimes all your options have been taken away Here's an interesting story about that with an ending that would not suit you :

" Abu Shammala was granted a referral to receive treatment in an Israeli hospital in late July 2007. He started to coordinate his travel through Erez Crossing. On Tuesday, 9 September 2008, he was interviewed by Israeli intelligence at the crossing. He was called for an interview despite his critical medical condition. He suffered from abdominal bloating due to liver malfunction.During the interview, an Israeli officer told him that he was allowed to travel."

http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9953.shtml

by Frank Adam - private citizen Sat Nov 15, 2008 16:15

Given a lot of the fringe nonsense, lies and insults said about Israel, it pays off to remind people of the actual arithmetical facts to constrict the argument to the nub which is does Israel have a right to exist? Yes by all international policy declarations since the League of Nations 1920 San Remo award of the Mandate to Britain to facilitate the creation of a Jewish Homeland in Palestine.

For the Palestinistas does [Arab] Palestine have a right to an Arab state in Palestine? Yes since the UN 181 resolution of 1947. So why have the Arab parties in Palestine repeatedly failed to make a state for themselves in the way the Israelis built their state with the fewer cards history dealt them than they would have wished?

Zillions of petro-dollars slushed, and slush about the World speculatively so why has some not been constructively put into a Palestine State institutions such as hospitals, schools and sewerage? Why no Palestine universities till the Israelis gave permission in the 70's? If the Irish had behaved like Arafat the British would still be in the South. Michael Collins succeeded because he took over and ran the courts and finances and recognised when he had run into diminishing returns.

Sharpen up your focus! Israel is out of Gaza and if the Hamas idiots had held their rockets would also have left Hebron and Nablus Districts; but that is unlikely to happen now because Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the PLO Aqsa Brigades have shown they can not be trusted to leave Israel alone and are only offering a return to the pre- 1967 regime of border harrassment - besides the persistent boycotts and harrassment in the UN and libellous propaganda tha tEgypt and others have never let up on - lovely neighbours.

Further in 1948 Israel declared her independence from the Arab World first because the Mandate had ended; and secondly because in the Arab rejection of UN 181 the Arabs declared they wanted all Palestine as a "unitary Arab State," - their form of words throughout 1947 - 48; and effectively since, if you read the PLO Charter.

by Felix Quigley Mon Nov 17, 2008 17:40

See

http://4international.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/gaza-is-...inds/

by Vincent Mon Nov 17, 2008 20:41

The Pattern Continues that Racist Extremists, who prefer ethnic cleansing to dialogue, will continue to shout the twisted slogans of Israeli National News (Arutz Sheva- Right Wing Extrmeist news outlet) Citing, Smuggled TV Sets and as being the proof of terrorism.
Calmer people, who wish for peace, will take on board the realities highlighted in Amnesty International and Red Cross and UN Reports that continually show the decent into hunger and desperation in Gaza.

=== The report says the heavy restrictions on all major sectors of Gaza's economy, compounded by a cost of living increase of at least 40 per cent, is causing "progressive deterioration in food security for up to 70 per cent of Gaza's population". That in turn is forcing people to cut household expenditures down to "survival levels".

"Chronic malnutrition is on a steadily rising trend and micronutrient deficiencies are of great concern," it said. ===

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/chr....html

Its up to you to choose what to believe !

by Felix Quigley Tue Nov 18, 2008 15:18

Vincent

You are quick to label your opponent as racist extremist but that does not answer any arguments.

The big motive force which is overlooked by the so called "left" is the Jew hatred of the Arabs, especially the Arab bourgeoisie, and do not forget that the originater of the "Palestinians" was Hajj Amin el Husseini who was Hitler's right hand man. He was at the centre of the Holocaust. Also known as the Mufti of Jerusalem. So watch who you label as "racist".

The Arab ordinary people will not succeed in anything until they throw off Jew Hatred.

For a real socialist revolutionary (ie Trotskyist) view read

http://4international.wordpress.com/2008/11/17/as-trots...rity/

by Vincent Tue Nov 18, 2008 19:10

The only line in the Balfour declaration that carries any significant historical weight is as follows :

" ... it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, "

The imperialists who carved up the region with no moral, legal or natural authority to do so, emphatically recognised the existence and the rights of the indigenous people as a precondition to implementation of any part of the Zionist project.

Most 'Zionists' now refuse to even recognise the existence of these people 90 years later. These people are the Palestinians (no inverted Commas required, F.Quigley). The very people that you disavow in your convoluted argument to condone or justify the massive Human Rights Outrage in Gaza, with photos of TVs no less, and the continuing land theft in the West Bank.

Then to foolishly scurry of back into the century old imperialist blather of Balfour. Even in his day He was way ahead of your modern day racist supremacists in Hebron who you support in their mafia war against the indigenous people of Palestine. The same existing non-Jewish communities protected in theory under your insignificant little declaration form the long rotten British Empire.

Your argument is a self inflating hot air balloon perforated with holes. Otherwise known as an empty windbag.

by Justin Morahan Tue Nov 18, 2008 20:28

http://homepage.eircom.net/~justinmorahan/peace/peacepe....html

In her account, Mairead covers the isolation of Gaza both from the Israeli and Egypt sides, the bombing of electricity and sewerage plants by Israel, the attack on fisher boats in which human rights activists were present, the Israeli authorities' arrest and charging of Israeli human rights activist Gideon Spiro for "illegally entering Gaza", reception of the siege breakers by the Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, Mairead's address to the Palestinian Parliament, the address of Dr Barghouti to his fellow Parliamentarians whom he had not seen for two years, the many hardships of the siege, hope for the future especially if the struggle remains non-violent and, as always, the silence of what she calls " international governments and the Western media".

by Sean Og - media monitor Tue Nov 18, 2008 22:30

Summary of Editorials from the Hebrew Press

(Israel Government Press Office)

Yediot Aharonot notes that "approximately 25 residents of Gaza are hospitalized at Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon," and reminds its readers that last Friday, "a Kassam rocket hit Ashkelon and shook the hospital." The author says, "Outside, there is a war to sow destruction and death, while inside, behind the walls of the hospital, we fight for patients' lives, regardless of their national origin. If, Heaven forbid, a Kassam falls on the hospital, in Gaza they will certainly cheer the great achievement. Nobody will think for a second about the residents of the Strip who are being cared for there."

Haaretz writes: "Those seeking to occupy Gaza should be reminded that Israel agreed to the truce because it recognized that the price of a large military operation in Gaza would be intolerably high. In the current situation between Israel and Hamas, there is no choice but to adopt the lesser of two evils and mend the shattered truce. The chorus of people encouraging war provides no reasonable alternative except political sloganeering. They had better listen carefully to the residents of the western Negev, because they know better than anyone what the truce is good for."

The Jerusalem Post comments on the conflicting statements being made by various Israeli leaders in the face of the current barrage of rockets from Gaza: "The bluster and contradictory pronouncements emanating from Israel's top echelon haven't been made to confuse the enemy - they are sadly indicative of our disarray. Nothing is more disheartening to Israel's citizenry than to witness such disunity when the country is under attack. It may well be unreasonable to expect this caretaker government to solve the Gaza conundrum. It is not unreasonable to ask ministers who will not cooperate in the security cabinet to stop babbling away in public."

by Felix Quigley Wed Nov 19, 2008 09:21

Vincent

I hope you have studied this. I suspect not.

Answer me then...Who were the "Palestinians" of 90 years ago?

There certainly were Arabs nobody is disputing that but..."Palestinians"???

by Vincent Wed Nov 19, 2008 14:02

Dear Felix,

I am glad that you hope that I have studied "this". I suppose knowing what your "this' is would be a help here. I regret to inform you that the jury is still out on many of the issues pertaining to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. Successive juries having been bought over or intimidated over the decades by American and Zionist interests.
You will appreciate that a large body of study is ongoing in this field.
For example: Only recently has it come to light that the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine were ran out of their homeland by marauding bands of Zionist militia massacring and burning a path through the region. Up until then there perpetutated a story of fickle Arabs calmly deciding to vacate their Palestinian Holiday Homes and towns to visit relatives in the Arab hinterland. Some people used this fishy story to justify their prejudices that the existing non-Jewish communities of Palestines' thousands of years connection with the land was a mere freak occurrence of no import. Believe it or not, some people still desperately cling to this bigotted rhetoric to justify their hatred of Arabs and Muslims commonly expressed in their denial of the Palestinian identity.
Dont take my word for it, just look above at your fellow traveller Sean Og who refers to the Israeli newspapers as "Hebrew Media". Not for a single second does it occur to Wee Sean that there are nearly 2 million non-Jews in Israel who the Israeli media is supposed to serve, one and a half million of which are the descendents of the non-Jewish communities of Palestine of the early 1900s.
Of course The Israeli media does not serve these people, these Palestinians with Israel citizenship are an inconvenient remnant of the existing non-jewish communities of whom Balfour declared that it should be " clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights" of same.
Who are these mysterious people ?

Oh.. there was not a single Israeli in existence in the Universe 90 years ago. None.

by Felix Quigley Wed Nov 19, 2008 16:26

You sidestep the issue Vincent which is that 90 years ago, that is 1918 I think, the Arabs were not really calling themselves Palestinian.

Add 20 years to 1938 and this still was not the case.

This was the time of the British Mandate and the Arabs were not using the term Palestinian as we know it today. THE ARABS ACTUALLY DISLIKED THE TERM PALESTINIAN.

However it is fairly fruitless to continue this except that you seem to have no understanding of these things.

It is important because the term Palestinian has got a very powerful emotional content today.

This is largely because of the lies promulgated by people like you Vincent and there are plenty in the above.

So I ask you what do you mean by "Zionism".

I will give you my view. Zionism is the name given to the 2000 year old wish of the Jewish people to have their own Homeland in Palestine. This is a wish which predated Herzl by 2 millenia almost, predated Israel, predated the Arab Mohammedan invasion by many centuries, it is the wish of a people to have their own Homeland.

It is not a pure movement. There are many differing concepts of how this can be achieved. There are even some fools who think that US Imperialism can help their struggle.

Very foolish that the friends of the Nazis (The CIA) should help the Jews.

But answer me Vincent in what way then is Zionism different to the Irish national struggle. There were all kinds of differing views therein too, such as Dev, Collins, Connolly!!!, Connolly's Communist son Roddy!!!!!!, on to McGuinness very suspect man and Adams!

But perhaps you oppose all nationalism. If so poor demented you!

Admit it Vincent you have a thing about Zionism. About Israel. In your mind Israel and Zionism has become a replacement for hatred of the Jew.

You have made in your mind a ghost of Zionism which haunts you.

by Vincent Wed Nov 19, 2008 20:45

A ghost that haunts me? That's amusing.

To answer your question, It appears to me that Zionism today is a movement formed by American schoolkids who have no friends in the real world so they stalk the internet finding discussion boards where they can put the word Palestinians in inverted commas to gain mucho kudos with other "Zionist" schoolboys.
This is not all bad news, in my opinion, as they may one day become so numerous as to drown out the other class of modern Zionist which is the one who will use the Jews and their history in Europe to deflect all criticism of the actions of successive fascist Israeli regimes. These regimes are the ones you call fools, who think that US Imperialism can help their struggle to wipe clean with deadly force, as much real estate in the Middle East as possible to make way for Israel,the 51st state.

Using the Jews as scapegoats for things they are not responsible for is classic Anti-Semitism and so today: "Zionism" = Antisemitism.

Tomorrow, it will be the duty of those who really do support a safe and secure homeland for the Jewish people in Israel to reclaim the Zionist ideology of the early 20th century. To seperate the legitimate needs of the Jews from the blind support for Israel of the troubled American schoolkids and the rabid Anti-Semites who have sought refuge in the term "Zionism".

In the meantime you can dig and poke around all you like in the deep trough of "Zionist" cliches and hackneyed arguments in order to draw the attention of as many weak minded children as you like from the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation. The history of the conflict and the cause of its perpetutation are a constant area of enlightened study today and the truth is at last emerging.

The original existing non-Jewish communities, to which your adopted friend Balfour referred in his declaration when he demanded that it be clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice their civil and religious rights are getting closer to realising Balfour's hopes for them.

by Sean Og - Monitoring the Media Thu Nov 20, 2008 00:37

Israel outraged at UN remarks on Gaza blockade
by Barak Ravid and Amos Harel, Haaretz, and News Agencies

Israel reacted angrily to comments made Tuesday by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in which she called for an immediate end to its blockade of the Gaza Strip, which she said breached international and humanitarian law.

Pillay's demands provoked an angry response from Israel's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Aharon Leshno-Yaar, who accused her of being utterly shortsighted and repeating blatant misinformation.

"Overall responsibility for the situation in the Gaza Strip lies with Hamas, which invests all of its resources in arms and terrorism instead of providing for the civilians that it brutally controls," Aharon Leshno-Yaar said, adding that Palestinian groups had fired more 170 rockets and mortars at Israel during the past 10 days.
Leshno-Yaar said that Pillay's should have begun her statement with a condemnation of Hamas' continued violence against Israel.
"Overall responsibility for the situation in the Gaza Strip lies with Hamas, which invests all of its resources in arms and terrorism instead of providing for the civilians that it brutally controls," Leshno-Yaar said, adding that Palestinian groups had fired more than 170 rockets and mortars at Israel during the past 10 days.

Leshno-Yaar also rejected Pillay's claim that Israel has cut off essential supplies to Gaza. "Electricity and water continue to flow from Israel to Gaza, and 33 trucks laden with supplies arrived in Gaza yesterday, with more waiting to enter as soon as Hamas ends its violent attacks," he said.

"It is disappointing to see the high commissioner fall victim to Hamas' cynical manipulation of the media," said Leshno-Yaar.
"Most disturbing is the way she casually refers to Palestinian aggression in the last sentence of her statement, almost as an afterthought.
Unfortunately, Israel does not have the option of being so casual in its response to rocket attacks on its civilians, attacks which violate the most fundamental right of all, the right to life," said Leshno-Yaar.

Earlier Tuesday, Israel resealed border crossings with the Gaza Strip, citing continued rocket fire at its towns, despite warnings from world aid groups of looming shortages of food and fuel supplies in the coastal territory. Israel had allowed supplies into Gaza for the first time in two weeks on Monday, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert assured Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas he would not permit a humanitarian crisis to develop there.

by KHALED ABU TOAMEH, Jerusalem Post
Palestinian Authority officials in Ramallah accused Hamas on Tuesday of staging the latest blackouts in the Gaza Strip in a bid to win sympathy and incite the Palestinian public against Israel and the PA.

The officials said that contrary to Hamas's claim, there is no shortage of basic goods, medicine and fuel in the Gaza Strip, largely thanks to the many underground tunnels along the border with Egypt.

This is not the first time that Palestinians have accused Hamas of staging Gaza blackouts under the pretext that Israel had cut off fuel supplies to the district's power grid.
Earlier this year, Palestinian journalists in Gaza City told The Jerusalem Post that scenes of Palestinian children and women holding lit candles in the dark had been staged by Hamas and some Arab satellite TV stations.

"There's no shortage of fuel in the Gaza Strip and the Electricity Company is continuing to function normally," said a PA official.
"Our people in the Gaza Strip have told us that the blackouts are all staged as part of the Hamas propaganda."

Another PA official noted that Hamas's lies reached their peak last January when its legislators held a meeting in a darkened hall of the Palestinian Legislative Council—while light could be seen coming in through the curtained windows.

The official accused Al-Jazeera of serving as a platform for Hamas's propaganda machine by airing staged footage of children and women during candlelight protests in the streets of Gaza City.

"There's enough fuel in the Gaza Strip," he said. "Even when Israel reduces the fuel supplies, Hamas continues to smuggle tens of thousands of liters through the underground tunnels."

The Fatah-controlled Pal-Press Web site has quoted a senior official in the Gaza Electricity Company as saying that Hamas has been stealing fuel supplies intended for the power grid.

The official, who asked not to be identified, also denied claims by Hamas and Al-Jazeera about power outages in large parts of the Gaza Strip. He noted that 70% of the Gaza Strip's electricity came from Israel and Egypt, while the remaining 30% were being supplied by the local company.

"Hamas has seized more than 220,000 liters of fuel that was intended for generators belonging to our company," he revealed. "There's no shortage of fuel and as such there is no reason for a crisis."

The official also disclosed that Hamas militiamen had been forcing the company to cut off power supplies to some areas in the Gaza Strip so as to create the impression that the outage was due to a lack of fuel caused by the ongoing closure of the border crossings.

by Felix Quigley Thu Nov 20, 2008 09:12

Vincent

You skirt around my initial question, what do you mean when you use the term "Zionism".

You write

start quote here

It appears to me that Zionism today is a movement formed by American schoolkids who have no friends in the real world so they stalk the internet finding discussion boards where they can put the word Palestinians in inverted commas to gain mucho kudos with other "Zionist" schoolboys.
This is not all bad news, in my opinion, as they may one day become so numerous as to drown out the other class of modern Zionist which is the one who will use the Jews and their history in Europe to deflect all criticism of the actions of successive fascist Israeli regimes. These regimes are the ones you call fools, who think that US Imperialism can help their struggle to wipe clean with deadly force, as much real estate in the Middle East as possible to make way for Israel,the 51st state.

Using the Jews as scapegoats for things they are not responsible for is classic Anti-Semitism and so today: "Zionism" = Antisemitism.

end quote here

I will take you seriously. I do not grasp your irony because you show no erudition on the subject.

Zionism was not the work of schoolboys.

Zionism has existed for 2000 years, since the first Roman dispersals. It has been the wish of Jews to always return to their ancestral home, which is today at least Palestine.

This is a national liberation movement and was given expression at last in the founding of Israel in 1948, an event gretted by almost every Jew in the world.

You do not address my main point above.

These national movements have many currents. Take the Irish. Connolly was part of the Irish, as a socialist and syndicalist. His son Roddy could still be called an Irish nationalist, yet he had moved on to relate to Lenin and Trotsky. But there were also real capitalist types like Collins and Devalera. These too were Irish nationalists.

That is my point.

There are many currents inside Zionism. No different in reality and essence to the Irish.

There are even Zionist haters, just as there are Irish haters in Ireland. I read these in the Irish Sunday papers.

But in a general sense Vincent there is one other thing which you disregard. Jews have always faced antisemitism and do you deny that they do so today. I ask you then what form does it take? I believe that Israel today has become the hated Jew of antisemitic history.

Will you address any of these points without talking about school children?

by Vincent Thu Nov 20, 2008 15:23

Dear felix,

Its almost impossible to take anything you say seriously. All your spiels and lectures could well have been taken directly from any one of a hundred web sites where angst ridden pimply "Zionist" soldiers try to outdo each other by stretching the limits of who they can call an antiSemite to childish extremes. What damage you or these immature fools do to the prestige of Jewish communities the world over, by hanging around their necks the words and deeds of successive fascist regimes in Israel, does not even register in your preoccupied minds.
It is you and these Modern "Zionists" who continue to sidestep and skirt around the issues affecting the Israeli and Palestinian Peoples with this tired old tack of resurrecting Balfour and Herzl and 2000 years of exile everytime the occupation forces shoot another kid or blow up another house.

But right now Felix, and this is the bit you will find difficult to deal with, Israelis have a much more urgent set of moral and logical dilemnas to face than whether The Mufti was a nasty man or not. Right now, their Sons and daughters are killing, abusing and continuing to enrage the regional neighbours in Palestine and Lebanon on a massive scale.Their government is carrying out Human rights abuses on a mass scale in Gaza every day. And their fellow countrymen are illegally attacking the local Palestinians, driving them from their homes in the West Bank, with the aid of their Government, making any future peace impossible. Israelis must face the realtiy that they are passengers on a runaway bus which sooner or later is going to drive over an abyss, but not before creating and leaving havoc, hatred and mass suffering in its wake.
Its the "Zionists " like you, who refuse to accept the terrible truth of today, that are going to bring about the end of the dream of Israel as a safe and secure homeland for the Jews along side the existing non-Jewish communities.

You claim to believe that Israel today has become the hated Jew of antisemitic history but sadly, it is actually your antics and those of ill-informed "Zionists" and advertent and inadvertent antisemites who are making Jews the historical scapegoats for the hateful actions of Israel.

by Felix Quigley Fri Nov 21, 2008 09:31

Look who you add your name and support to.

1. The Catholic Church in Ireland

2. Maguire who marched up and down the Falls Road leading a crowd of reactionaries calling for Peace, the code word at the time for the victoruy of British Imperialism over the IRA in Belfast and Derry.

That is the company that unprincipled antisemites like you keep.

I asked you several questions and have not had an answer.

I asked you what you meant about the term Zionism

You answered:

To answer your question, it appears to me that Zionism today is a movement formed by American school kids who have no friends in the real world so they stalk the internet finding discussion boards where they can put the word Palestinians in inverted commas to gain mucho kudos with other "Zionist" schoolboys.
This is not all bad news, in my opinion, as they may one day become so numerous as to drown out the other class of modern Zionist which is the one who will use the Jews and their history in Europe to deflect all criticism of the actions of successive fascist Israeli regimes. These regimes are the ones you call fools, who think that US Imperialism can help their struggle to wipe clean with deadly force, as much real estate in the Middle East as possible to make way for Israel,the 51st state.

Using the Jews as scapegoats for things they are not responsible for is classic Anti-Semitism and so today: "Zionism" = Antisemitism.

(So Zionism is anti-Semitism according to Vincent. Some mouthful for somebody who is clearly in support of the PA, of Fatah and Hamas, who in their school literature and TV programmes churn out versions of the Protocols continuously)

(Let me further interject here Vincent. I asked a basic question…what you meant by the term Zionism. You make a strange reply. First you refer to “American school kids”. That is indeed a strange concept. But it seems to be part of your answer. Then you answer me by referring to the “other class of modern Zionist”. And you quickly in this regard refer to “successive fascist regimes”. Sp you see Zionism as being school kids and fascist Israeli regimes. Zionism to you has become Fascist. This is a serious charge because what you are saying is that the people who were nearly liquidated by the Nazis have become Fascist themselves.)

Tomorrow, it will be the duty of those who really do support a safe and secure homeland for the Jewish people in Israel to reclaim the Zionist ideology of the early 20th century. To separate (sic) the legitimate needs of the Jews from the blind support for Israel of the troubled American schoolkids and the rabid Anti-Semites who have sought refuge in the term "Zionism".

(This again is a non answer. What was this Zionist ideology of the early 20th century. Do you mean the plans of Herzl and the First Four Zionist Congresses? If your time frame is correct you must. So please try to clarify this)

In the meantime you can dig and poke around all you like in the deep trough of "Zionist" cliches and hackneyed arguments in order to draw the attention of as many weak minded children as you like from the plight of the Palestinians under Israeli occupation. The history of the conflict and the cause of its perpetutation (sic) are a constant area of enlightened study today and the truth is at last emerging.

(What history of the conflict do you refer Vincent? What is this “enlightened study”? What truths are now emerging?)

The original existing non-Jewish communities, to which your adopted friend Balfour referred in his declaration when he demanded that it be clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice their civil and religious rights are getting closer to realizing Balfour's hopes for them.

(Why do you call Balfour my adopted friend? He was a British Minister who made a statement on the need for a Jewish Homeland. But that Balfour Declaration did not stand alone, it was incorporated into the Versailles Treaty, was fleshed out in detail in the League of Nations San Remo Treaty of 1920. Up until that point the Jewish National Homeland was to incorporate present day Israel, Gaza, Golan, Judea and Samaria AND present day Jordan. That was to be the Jewish Homeland. Can you add to this history and add what you believe happened next Vincent, when in the Peel Commission post 1936 Israel found itself fighting for a scrap of this, one tenth of this total land area)

I suspect you cannot Vincent because you do not have the historical facts at hand.

But sticking to the point you have been unable to convince that you understand the term Zionism and in what way it differs from Irish nationalism. Except that one is Irish nationalism and one is Jewish nationalism.

You find yourself in the company of a crowd of antisemites in Galway. History repeats itself but never exactly the same. It seems that Galway is making a name for itself in taking over the mantle of the anti-Semitic capital of Ireland from Limerick. Except that I happen to know Galway people and I know that you and your strident bunch in Palestine Solidarity represent only your selves.

You are certainly not Marxist as is seen in your rubbishing of Marx here. Above all you are not Trotskyist because Trotsky supported the setting up of the JEWISH state in the years before he was murdered. You may be Stalinist however!

by Justin Morahan Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:44

Sean Og's media watch quotes from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz but either has missed or doesn't wish to mention the weekly advertisements in that newspaper sponsored by Gush Shalom that reveal what is really happening in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Gush Shalom is an Israeli Peace movement.

Here is a recent report from Gush Shalom on how the cease-fire ended between Israel and Hamas.

"The ceasefire on the Gaza Strip border has lasted five months and provided a measure of calm to the suffering inhabitants, This ceasefire was violated with a provocative invasion of the Strip's territory and the killing of six Palestinians, on the night of November 4, while the world's attention was focused on the historic US presidential elections. The government of Israel flagrantly violated the ceasefire, with its own hands bringing salvos of Quassam missiles upon the heads of the inhabitants of Sderot, Ashkelon and the Western Negev.

During the past two weeks, whenever a chance arises for resuming the calm and ceasefire, the government hastily authorizes the army to carry out additional "liquidations" of Palestinians, which inevitably provoke a further shooting of missiles and a further escalation of the situation. When Ismail Haniya, Palestinian Prime Minister on behalf of Hamas, declared his willingness to accept Israel in its pre-1967 borders, there was no reaction of any kind from official Israel. Instead, there is a veritable chorus of demagogues of all kinds, calling for an intensification of the Gaza fire and seeking to transform it into a full-scale war.

On top of all that, since the morning of last Thursday the government of Israel refuses to allow industrial oil, needed for running the Gaza Strip's sole power station, to be passed through the border crossings. The majority of the Gaza Strip's population suffers, due to that, power cuts lasting 16 hours per day. The government also prevents the passing of cooking gas, foodstuffs and additional vital goods. The continuation of collective punishments can cause the final collapse of health, education and welfare in the Gaza Strip."

by Frank Adam - private citizen Thu Nov 27, 2008 23:34

Temper! Temper! Vincent! A lot of people hold the Arab World in fear, disgust and contempt, not out of the prejudices of class and conquest, nor out of religion classes' myths and misinterpretations, but because of events like today's Islamist attack on Bombay, the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks on New York and London and the 138 kamikaze bomb attacks on Israeli buses and restaurants that featured the first years of the current Arab War on Israel. A war, which like the others achieved nothing for Arab Palestine and of which it was said that Arafat started not because Palestine Arabs hated Israel particularly, but to make sure Arabs did hate Israel.

This form of war does not inflict the sort of material or military damage that is disastrous. It just makes people coolly angry and not disposed to give any benefit of the doubt nor sympathy, neither in the conference room, nor especially on the battlefield. It is a total puzzle why the Arab World with all its oil zillions, can not put its house in socio-economic order getting its roads, village schools and clinics right. Coming from, in the current jargon, "non-state actors," such unofficial war offers no opening for discussion: just take it or leave it poses from individuals who deny responsibility, have dubious electoral legitimacy - and no peace policies, not even among their contemptible selves. If you want to be empathised with and respected you have to lay off insulting attitudes and drop the medieval notion that you do not have to keep faith with kaffirs – sorry: infidels.

India is not going to fall over backwards, and nor are the USA nor Israel. Everything in Israeli and Jewish history these hundred years has pointed to, "If somebody says they intend to kill you, believe them;" and Arabs have done nothing to disabuse Israelis of that fear. Moslems of the sub - continent have messed up Pakistan and broken the unitary British India. Palestine Arabs have messed the PA especially Gaza. Gaza has no claim on Israel for jobs, food or anything if they use the cover of commuting to knife and shoot and use their "independence" to mither the neighbours. If you want independence it is your responsibility to look after your people and if you start wars: etymology German- verwirren/ confusion do not expect the enemy to feed your population. Twice in my parents’ life Britain and Germany had a pretty good go at starving each other. Currently Israel is humanitarianly silly enough to support its enemy’s population – and it is the Arabs who have declared Israel a cancer to be eliminated! If Israel had turned off all the taps years back the violence would have burned out in a month – or the Egyptians would have been forced to feed the ungrateful Gazans. Unfortunately oil-greedy busybodies have insisted on floating these ill tempered nihilists ever since assembling UNWRA to stop the Rumplestiltskins drowning in their own mess.

To be generous Vincent writes as if in top teens or young twenties as he appears not to remember how Gazans commuted for decades to 120 000 jobs in Israel and trebled their population on the highest wages in the Arab World and the highest foreign aid ($700 per cap) on Earth. All of which ended with Arafat’s war posited on Arafat's experience and Soviet training of the fifties when European empires retreated before guerillas sponsored by the new great powers to pick up the power and trade. The bloody buffoon missed the fallacy that in Israel and Northern Ireland, Lebanon and Ceylon such tricks against a skin of merchants and officials do not work so easily and cheaply against a population that considers itself at home and sees the casualties for the low levels they are to be avenged. When pushed too far as in Ceylon now, or Israel 1948, the full weight is unleashed and the needlers are deservedly dumped in the trouble they have caused as in the exchange of Smyrna Greeks and Thracian Turks in 1921, or Indian partition.

The Germans with their Hymn of Hate found out from1914, hate is self destructive and clouds thinking as much as any other passion. You can only influence friends and partners. As Neil Kinnock put it, "There is no such thing as out-fluence. There is only influence." The trouble is the Arab World slashes its nose to spite its face rejecting UN 181 and partition in general for decades – Hamas still does. Arabs indulged Iraqi wars on Kuwait and Iran; Syrian meddling bloodily in Lebanon (100 000 dead in civil war!), or Egypt in Yemen; Morocco and Algeria in the Saharawi where the other Arab refugee population festers on UN aid because Arabs in general do not care about their fellows when down.

When the oil era is over Palestine will be seen as a faked up excuse to suborn rival Arab states. At last it will be seen as one of a string of minor post imperial after shocks excacerbated by the pomposity of the successors who had no skill to shut down a conflict encountering diminishing returns. Finally it will be recognised that Israel’s secret strength was the Arabs playing their cards so badly you could not put them into a plausible film or novel.