The tough life of a 'terrorist' turned 'Zionist'

The phenomenon of jokers and clowns like Waleed shoebat, Kamal Saleem and Zachariah Anani and the recently famous new-born ex-Muslim Magdi Allam, is very amusing. And and time goes by, more and more is becoming known about the intricacies governing the metamorphosis from being an ex-terrorist, or more frequently ex-nothing, to being a symbol of courage and hope for the enlightened world.

Once you announce your intent on becoming an 'ex-Muslim' , the world opens its arms to welcome you as if you were a long lost child. Past sins are instantaneously forgotten and you become the darling of freedom-loving, democracy-promoting defenders of the Western Civilization. And, on the spot, you are pronounced a world expert on something that confuses the heck out of the civilized world: Islam, and the 'Islamist Terrorist' mind set.

Of course, there are some provisos:

• First: you need to have been born a Muslim (ex-converts need not apply - see second proviso for explanation).
• Second: You must be able to claim that you were raised by evil people that fed you hate for the Jew from the moment you took your first breath (converts to Islam are usually lacking this important qualifier, hence, they need not apply - see first proviso).
• Third: you must be able to show your undying love for the State of Israel, and your conviction that there is nothing called 'legitimate resistance to Israel'. The evil Arabs should surrender to the will of God. Being righteous means not resisting what Israel wants.
• Forth proviso is sort of optional. You get bonus points if you convert to Christianity. It makes you more appealing to the Christian Zionist folks. Note: Conversion to Judaism is a demanding process, and is a move that has not been tried in the arena of ex-terrorists before. Play it safe, and stick with Christianity if you are in the market for a new uniform - I mean faith.
  

A lot of practical tips can be learned from the lives of the great ones. A nice collection of facts about that unique 'life form' known as Waleed Shoebat was published yesterday in the Jerusalem Post. Excerpts (in italics) are presented below, with my added headings.

Poor baby - He lost his innocence early:

When he was 16, says Walid Shoebat, he was recruited by a PLO operative by the name of Mahmoud al-Mughrabi to carry out an attack on a branch of Bank Leumi in Bethlehem.

But fear not for him. He now make a lot of money and for a good cause.

Shoebat is sometimes paid for his appearances, and he also solicits donations to a Walid Shoebat Foundation to help fund this work and to "fight for the Jewish people."

He also made some political connections:

Now he and two other former extremists are set to appear along with US Senator Joe Lieberman, Ambassador to the US Sallai Meridor and other notables at an annual "Christians United For Israel" conference in Washington in July.
Last year, Shoebat spoke to the BattleCry Christian gathering in San Francisco, which drew a reported 22,000 evangelical teenagers.

His ignorance and amnesia of what he did were not an impediment to his success

Asked whether word of the bombing made the news at the time, he said, "I don't know. I didn't read the papers because I was in hiding for the next three days." (In 2004, he had told Britain's Sunday Telegraph: "I was terribly relieved when I heard on the news later that evening that no one had been hurt or killed by my bomb.")

Shoebat could not immediately recall the year, or even the time of year, of the purported bombing when talking to the Post by phone from the US. After wavering, he finally settled for the summer of 1977.

His uncle and wife do not even know what he is talking about, but that is not an impediment either.

The uncle and his wife both said firmly that there was no attack on Bank Leumi [as he claims].

Incidentally, half his blood is American blood.

The uncle, interviewed at his home, said he remembered little about his nephew, because Walid left for America at the age of 16, and because his American mother always kept a distance from the rest of the family.

And he cares a lot about the Jews.

He argued that Israel should retake the Gaza Strip and rehouse Jews there, regarding Gaza as Jewish by right. "If a Jew has no right to Gaza, then he has no right to Jaffa or Haifa either," he said.

He also knows what is good for the Jews better than the Jews themselves.

"The Jews are not aware of the true threat," Shoebat said. "They are still fighting dead Nazis. It is easy to fight dead people. But they don't have the will to fight the living Nazis, the Islamic radicals."

He is a multi-tasker: He can enlighten Americans while defending the Jews.

He told the Post he had set up his Walid Shoebat Foundation to educate Americans as to why the US should support Israel. Shoebat said the foundation had reached out to over 450 million people.

Despite all his efforts to make the world a better place, there are those who simply find faults with him. Every prophet has their doubting Tom, I guess.

A New York Times report last month on the Air Force Academy event, headlined "Speakers at Academy Said to Make False Claims," noted that "Academic professors and others who have heard the three men speak in the United States and Canada said some of their stories border on the fantastic, like Mr. Saleem's account of how, as a child, he infiltrated Israel to plant bombs via a network of tunnels underneath the Golan Heights. No such incidents have been reported, the academic experts said. They also question how three middle-aged men who claim they were recruited as teenagers or younger could have been steeped in the violent religious ideology that only became prevalent in the late 1980s.

Yet, there are those who want to tell him how much they really value his effort to save humanity, and they let their wallets do the talking.

The Times said the three men were to be paid $13,000 for the Air Force Academy event.

And they do not let minor details get in the way of great charitable work

Asked by the Post whether the Walid Shoebat Foundation is a registered charity, Shoebat replied that it is registered in Pennsylvania. [But] The Pennsylvania State Attorney's office said it had no record of a charity registered under this name.

Oops! another lapse of memory. I guess it is not easy being an ex-terrorist superhero trying to save the world.

Questioned further, Shoebat said it was registered under a different name, but that he was not aware of the details, which are handled by his manager.

And if the whole ex-terrorist life story was a fantasy, it was for a good cause.

If the Bank Leumi bombing claim is unfounded, it is unclear why Shoebat would have wanted to manufacture a terrorist past. True or not, however, it has plainly brought him some prominence and provided him with a means to speak in favor of Israel and be paid for doing so.

So, I was wrong, not just one cause, but three good causes :

1. 'Some prominence': qualifying his prominence as 'some' is the under-statement of the year. He is more popular the Ehud Olmert and Ehud Barak with American Jewish right wing nuts, and more than John McCain among the Zionist Christians.
2. Speaks for his favorite country, Israel: although it has been troubling me that many of those nut cases of ex-terrorists and ex-Muslims, despite of their great love for Fundamentalist Jews and Israel and their unlimited desire to "fight for the Jewish people", they convert to Christianity instead of Judaism. Yet fundamentalist Jews are their most ardent supporters! Interesting, but see note on forth proviso.
3. "be paid for doing so": Well, we all have to earn a living some how. And $13,ooo for a few hours of ranting nonsense in front of the Air Force cadets is not bad money at all.
   

Prominence, money, and a chance to fight for God's chosen people from the comfort of his own charity organization. He does not even have to give up pork, or to honor the Sabbath.
Boy, some people do have it all.

Khaled

Excerpts are from an article in the Jerusalem Post. There is a lot more interesting facts their, so click below to read the full article.

The Palestinian 'terrorist' turned 'Zionist'- Jerusalem Post

Fitna: Duch for 'Garbage': by Richard Silverstein

By now the whole world knows about about the stupid propaganda production 'Fitna'. It is to some extent heart warming that the responses so far from non-Muslims have been predominantly non-supporting of the fear-mongering message of that piece of trash (see many reports on my Khaled's Online Finds).

I liked the nice sentiment and a brief comment I found on Tikun Olam web site by Richard Silverstein. His description of the author's face as 'smug' it exactly what goes on in my mind every time I see the face of that person. He look full of him self, happy to be in your face, and in the spotlight (although a less glamorous shot of him can be found here). But forget about the smug face, I wanted to share some of Richard's comments with you (Click here for the full posting).

Fitna: Duch for 'Garbage' - by Richard Silverstein

"Yes, I know Geert Wilders’ anti-Muslim diatribe, Fitna, has been watched by 400 zillion YouTube viewers. That must make it right, right? Wrong. I watched the first minute or so at the behest of a very nice fellow who’s been helping me upgrade my Wordpress installation. As soon as the first panel from the Koran was displayed on screen quoting a verse that threatens death to all and sundry and was followed by the 9/11 plane flying into the World Trade Center, I knew what I was in for. That was enough for me. Do I hear Islamophobia, anyone?"

"... Every religion contains messages of hate, intolerance and violence. Every religion contains message of love, hope and grace. If we condemn Islam and say it is all bad then let’s condemn every religion and say they’re all bad every one of them. I don’t believe this proposition. I make it just for the sake of argument."

And, as any educated person knows, hand picking verses and sentences out of context from any book, holy or not, and super-imposing them on images that has a lot of negative emotional associations is the oldest trick in the textbook of brain-washing methods. It has always surprised me that Muslims have been getting the this kind of nonsense about Islam thrown in their face all the time without responding in kind. Putting together a 15-20 minute 'movie' that has images of what has been happening in Occupied Palestinian Territories, in Lebanon, in Iraq, in Abu Ghraib, etc, then impose on them some of the abundant Biblical verses promoting violence and harsh measures against whole towns and communities, could be a small weekend project for a high-schooler with any of the simple and free video editors. But, Muslims 9as countries and larger communities) have not resorted to these dirty techniques so far mostly because our respect for the Old and New Testament, out of respect for the People of the Book, is a religious obligation for us.
Of course, if any of us would make such movie, 'hate-monger', and 'anti-Semite' will be tattooed on their face forever. Certainly, the movie maker will NOT be on CNN, Fox, BBC, FrontPage Magazine, or Jerusalem Post as experts on Christianity or Jewish radicalism. And it is also unlikely for them to be invited to the Air Force Academy in Colorado, and get paid to enlighten our military personnel (see below).

Too bad the fundamentalist and propagandists on the other side do not have that kind of restraint. For a couple of years now, Muslims had to endure the fallout of the movie Obsession, promoted by the Ex-Muslim Ex-Terrorist current-propagandist/Christian/Zionist opportunist by the name of Shoebat . The stupid, and immoral, 'movie' has been paraded as The proof of what Islam is about. It has been routinely and repeatedly shown in synagogues and churches all over the country, and the idiot behind it has been the darling of right wing media and bloggers, and fundamentalist Jews and Christians for a while. He is paid thousands of dollars just to show up. Few months ago he was actually paid to 'lecture' about radical Islam in the Air force Academy in Colorado. The air force men and women of the world's only superpower are getting their indoctrination fix from and ex-terrorist who was raising money for the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) after his movie showing in a St. Louis synagogue two summers ago.
If that is not stupid, then what it?
Khaled

Links:
Fitna: Duch for 'Garbage' - by Richard Silverstein

[For those interested in the Ex-terrorist story, do you own Google search. I do not feel like linking to his stupid web site from here. If you search Google using Shoebat and Air force Academy you will hundreds of link of the event I mentioned in the last paragraph. The link below is one of them]
Paid Bigot's Including Walid Shoebat Teaching Religious War At U.S. Air Force Academy

When morality hurts

Moral value systems of any universal significance - for the less cynical among us, anyway - seem to go against the grain of our survival instinct. 'Survival for the fittest' is the rule as we all have heard. Yet our moral code tells us that we may be strong, but we should not dominate. We may be powerful, but we should not oppress. And even though we may in the majority, we should not strip the minority of its rights. And even when it was no us that took away, stole or abused the weak and the less fortunate, our moral code still makes us feel so responsible that if an illegitimate endeavor bring us benefit, we feel obliges not to enjoy it, and morally compelled to reject illegitimately obtained benefits.
Moral individuals in pre-civil rights America and apartheid South Africa fought the same system that entitled them to great privileges. Nothing is more beautiful than a human being fighting for someone else's right, fully aware that their own success in their fight will only make them and their children less powerful, less rich or less privileged.
These thoughts came to my mind as I was reading an article on YNet (the online version of the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot). In summary,

..... A good, ethical Israeli Jew, does not even buy produce or eggs originating from a West Bank settlement. He has no problems dealing with Arabs, and interacts with them equitably, humanely and with no sense of supremacy.
Then he discovers the truth: his own home is built on land owned by Palestinians who ran away fearing for their lives in 1948. He is told this painful truth by one of those Palestinians, sitting in front of him in his house.
The Israeli Jew was not even born then. He did not know that bit of truth, and the Arab is resigned to what destiny dictated on him. Yet, the living pain he sees in the soul of one of the dispossessed people shakes his moral core, and will haunt him for the rest of is life. What should he do?

If we can put aside for a while all the intense feelings almost all of us have about the Israeli Palestinian conflict, it is possible to see how the creation of a state from scratch in the span of less than a century is an amazing sociological experiment. Not even considering the economic, military, political, linguistic and other problems of such an adventure, the ethical and moralistic aspects of such a creation are astounding. Nearly all nations were established on the losses of pre-existing nations. But, none have done so over a short period of time that a fully established country is contemporary to the first generation of those who were dispossessed by its creation.
This posting is not meant to bash Israel, but to reflect on the moral dilemma facing some Israelis who come to the realization that their parents and grandparents, while having worked hard and sacrificed to give them the country they have great privilege living in, they have done so at the expense of individuals that are still alive- Palestinians that are still haunted by the memories of their losses. This is very different from being an American that feels for the injustices done to native Americans or African slaves centuries ago. In Israel, if you feel the pain of those dispossessed by your parents, you also know that the pain is not in the past, is not history, it is an every day reality for some of those people.
To be honest, I do not know how I would feel if I were in their situation. And if I felt bad, what would I do? Or even, what could I do? When correcting a wrong - that we did not even participate in - means we would lose everything, how many of us, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhist, etc, would have the courage to give up what our lives and existence is made of just to make things right?
To you, my few readers, let me pause this question: you are the lucky grandchild of a wealthy man. You get married, and rich grandpa gives you the house of your dreams. You live a wonderful family life, get blessed with 2 lovely children, help your neighbors, worship God faithfully in you own way, and feel good about all fellow humans. Then lighting strikes.
You discover that your loving grandpa, now in heaven, have earned his living by dealing in drugs. The particular piece of land your home sweet home was built on was extorted from the widow of one of your grandpa's over-dose victims; who happened to owe him a lot of money. In such an extreme form, this situations sounds like a cheap B- movie (or a sleazy daytime soap opera if you like). But if you think of a less extreme, and less dramatic, situation, the dilemma could still exists.
Grandpa (or grandma) could be an abusive exploitive employer, a doctor that takes advantage of his patients health issues, an insurance sales person that over-prices and over-hypes the insurance policies he sells, or even an eloquent car sales person that earns a good living passing 'lemons' for used cars to unsuspecting buyers. The dilemma is still the same for you - and you are still on the privileged side, courtesy of the family-loving, yet not ethical grandpa.
What would you do - really? No posturing or 'grand standing' type answers please.
Now, imagine you are on the other side of the fence - the dispossessed side. Does your answer change?
Be honest to yourself above all. Only this kind of introspect and honesty can lead us to some understanding of a reasonable compromise that may last long enough for the ink of its draft to dry.To read the thought provoking article click the link below.
Unclaimed property? by Yehuda Litani - on YNetNews.com

Five years and counting

Portland State University, Portland, OR. Each white flag represents at least 5 Iraqis, and each red flag represents 5 Americans, killed as a result of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

From The Nation

Jewish 'Mullah' Issues a racist 'Fatwa'

Dov Lior is the Chief Jewish Mullah (=fundamentalist Rabbi) of the Jewish religious Madrassa (=Yeshiva) in Hebron and Kiryat Arba. Kiryat Arba is a piece of land, stolen from Palestinians , and reserved for the exclusive use of Israeli Jews (=settlement) . This particular settlement was built by one of the most fanatic of Religious Zionist groups that spearheaded the settlement (=land theft) movement.
The settlement has 'Meir Kahane Memorial Park', in memory of the terrorist founder of Kach, a Jewish Far-Right organization designated as a terrorist group by the US, the EU and Israel. It also has the grave of Baruch Goldstein, who perpetrated the Al-Aqsa Mosque massacre. The terrorists grave has become pilgrimage shrine for the Jewish Far Right (definitely check this one on the BBC for a good, but very bitter, laugh).
This so-called 'Man of God' decided that God needed to tell the Israeli Jews something important, so he spoke for God, and issued this recent Halakhic ruling (Jewish law Fatwa).

"Since there is mortal danger here, it is obvious that it is strictly forbidden to employ [Arabs] or to rent out houses to them in the Land of Israel.
It is forbidden to employ them, not just in yeshivas but also in factories and hotels and everywhere," (as reported by The Jewish and Israeli Blog Network)

Notice that he is not talking about convicted criminals or terrorists. Just Arabs in any and all forms and flavors: Muslims, Christians, Israeli Arabs, Palestinians, etc. This holy man has issued equally obscene fatwas and statements before such as:

• Captured Arab terrorists could be used to conduct medical experiments (see here). [If someone calls him a Nazi, would that be wrong?]
  
• Several rabbis led by Rabbi Lior have issued a precedent setting fatwa (=halakhic ruling) that Israel must shoot civilian populations in areas from whence attacks on Jewish communities originate (see here).
• God can remove these people [who planned disengagement from Gaza] from their posts, exile them along with their Arab friends, or remove them from this world entirely (see here).
• Following question from 12 year-old girl invited to a cousin's Bat Mitzvah - Rabbi Dov Lior of Kiryat Arba rules Orthodox Jews forbidden from attending Reform events (the cousin's Bat Mitzvah in this case), entering Reform synagogues – deeming them [Reform Jews] worse than Muslims (see here).
  

This fake holy man, Dov Lior, is not hiding in a cave, being chased by the authorities, or harassed by security force on daily basis for the evil he teaches, and the violence he espouses. He is working in the open, teaching and graduating more 'holy men' of his kind. He is freely issuing summaries of his consultations with God every now and then for the benefit of Jewish people, and at the expense of whomever he picks on (mostly Arabs, but including some Jews depending on the circumstances). He is the JewishYesha (Yesha is a Hebrew acronym "Yehuda Shomron 'Azza", which is the West Bank and Gaza Strip) Rabbinical Council Chairman, whose wisdom is being regularly distributed in synagogues all over Israel.
And, if you happen to be someone who agree with such racist criminal mind, and you feel like sending him some donations, have no fear of the FBI. You would not have to smuggle the money or use 'Hawala'. You can do it with the blessing of the official banking channels, and may even find your donation to be tax deductible.

Read full articles on the recent 'Fatwa' here:
Yesha rabbinical council chief: Don't rent houses to Arabs - Haaretz
Rabbi: Don't hire, rent homes to Arabs - Jerusalem Post

When Experts Spoke on Iraq

The quotations are from a web-only article on The Nation website, by Victor Navasky & Christopher Cerf presenting their new book:
Some pretty amusing statement by the engineers of the quagmire.
So far,

• THOUSANDS of American lives were lost
• HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of Iraqi lives were lost
• near a TRILLION of DOLLARS was spent (primarily out of tax-payers pockets and into weapons manufacturers accounts).

"........
More people get killed in New York every night than get killed in Baghdad. The fact of life is that there will never besuch a thing as one hundred percent security--it doesn't exist.

L. Paul Bremer III
Director of the Coalition Provisional Authority
August 2003.

"It is unimaginable that the United States would have to contribute hundreds of billions of dollars and highly unlikely that we would have to contribute even tens of billions of dollars."

Kenneth Pollack
former director for Persian Gulf affairs -National Security Council
September 2002

"The costs of any intervention would be very small."

Glenn Hubbard
White House economic adviser
October 4, 2002

"When it comes to reconstruction, before we turn to the American taxpayer, we will turn first to the resources of the Iraqi government and the international community."

Donald Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense
March 27, 2003

......"

You would probably hear less hype in some 'Bait & Switch' schemes.

If it were not for these little annoying details (lost Lives and $$$) I mentioned at the beginning, some of those statements may even make you laugh.

With people that clever at the helm, I am surprised we are not in deeper mess (if there were any mess that is deeper).
And do you know what is even more painful? NONE of the war engineers left office in shame. And, who knows, we may find some of them in a coming administration, to help finish the job they started.

Read the full article, with more quotations on the Nation website.
The Experts Speak on Iraq- The Nation

A beautiful song and a captivating video: I want to live in a Land called Paradise

This weekend, I was almost decided to post something that has nothing to do with violence, suicides, racism, fundamentalists, etc. And, while there was no shortage of bad news this weekend, I managed to stick with my plan.

This is a truly beautiful song by a very talented American Muslim musician/singer/song writer (with a degree in chemical engineering, and a soon-to-finish degree in Law!!). This is the kind of song that I like to listen to with the volume set to maximum. And even if you do not like country music, I bet you will like this one (By the way, he is of Egyptian ancestry so I have more reasons to like him).



Art, especially music, is a blessing. In 4 minutes and 13 seconds, Kareem Salama manages to inspire a lot of feelings and beauty that is difficult to match - for me at least.

I know this has been around for a while, and many of you may have seen it before. Still I hope you will enjoy it as much as I still do.
Khaled

Ten Commandments for Arab and Jew at war - Haaretz

Ten Commandments for Arab and Jew at war. By Bradley burston -Haaretz

"It helps little that each side lays claim to ultimate morality and consummate victimhood. For Palestinian Muslim and Israeli Jew both, many of the most strident calls for escalation, for war until absolute victory, for refusal to compromise, for justifying injury to civilians on the other side, in fact, for eradication, political or physical, of the other side, come from ultra-nationalist religious leaders.

With radicalism at the clerical level having tainted and to some extent warped both Islam and Judaism, perhaps now is the time for the rest of us believers to put in our two cents.
Herewith, a first draft: Ten Commandments for the Arab and Jew at war:"

The author then follows with elaboration of his list of proposed commandments. It is difficult for most reasonable people to disagree with that list.

I, as a human, and as a Muslim agree with him on each and every commandment

"1. Thou shalt not kill the civilian
.......

2. Neither shall you use civilians as human shields.
.........

3. Thou shalt not worship the use of force, nor mistake revenge for self-defense....."

And my personal favorite, number 10

"10. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain
The clergyman - rabbi, reverend or imam ? who counsels hatred for the other, who preaches that the Lord is on the side of wider and deeper war, is not a man of God.
The man of the cloth who dismisses the beliefs of the other, the history of the other, the validity of the other's faith-based claim to this land, is not a man of God."

Read the full list and his 'commentary' on Haartz
Ten Commandments for Arab and Jew at war - Haaretz

What do Arabs and Palestinians want from Israel? An open letter to Israeli Officials

What do Arabs and Palestinians want from Israel?

An open letter to whomever it may concern in Israel

The last 2 weeks have been difficult time for anyone who follows the Israeli Palestinian conflict. A comment that BZ made on a previous post of mine showed the extent of her frustration with what is going on, and concluded with an emotional question: “What I don't understand is what Gaza wants from Israel.” While I cannot claim to know for certain if the question was rhetorical or literal, intense frustration - something I have a lot of - was evident in her tone, as was her implicit statement that Israel has done its fair share of trying to get things right.

In all territorial or religious conflicts, people who are closely involved with one side do not seem to have a clear idea what the other side wants. More often than not, our side seems always to have more honorable goals and legitimate demands. We have always done enough to solve the problem, have always shown good intentions, and have walked the extra mile. The other side, unfortunately, is always rejecting the good hand extended in peace and friendship. Without some effort, it is difficult to see our side as having done anything wrong, and if we did, we almost always feel that we were forced to do it because the enemy was really, really misbehaving.

For the purpose of this posting, I assumed the question was not rhetorical, and I decided to take the challenge of answering it, expressing my own thoughts. I am not speaking for every Palestinian, Arab or Muslim, but I think many will agree with me on most points.

Of course, I do not know what Hamas wants and, truly, I do not care any more. Judging from Arabic and Western media, their spokesmen frequently come across as angry demagogues. It does not seem from their statements that they factor reality in their calculations. Occasionally, they even come across as delusional (But delusions are not infrequently encountered in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The pro-Israel crowd has more than their fair share of delusions, as I will discuss in a future posting. So stay tuned). Most recently Hamas spokesperson declared victory following the massacre committed against Gaza civilians two weeks ago. Victory, for most of the ‘non-delusional’ people I know, is not defined as getting as many of my own people killed with minimal material harm to the enemy. But, if that is Hamas’ definition of victory, they have really achieved it repeatedly, if I may say. However Hamas is NOT the Palestinians, and not even the whole of Gaza. Even Arabs, many of whom are angry with Israel, rarely say good things about Hamas anyway.

So, taking Hamas out of the equation, I will try to answer the following question: What do many Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims want from Israel? And, in case the Israeli leadership does not know what people like me want from them, I will be addressing my answers to the Israeli Government and Knesset members - an open letter if you wish - so they cannot claim no one told them what Arabs want.

1. For a starter, unconditionally return Palestinian land that you have occupied for over FORTY years. The whole world knows what and where the green line is. The vast majority of Palestinians and ALL Arab governments have officially declared willingness to normalize relations with Israel if all the land taken was returned (If you are still not clear where the line is, check you own maps on June 4, 1967).
2. Stop treating Gaza and the West Bank as your own property. All the occupied territories borders are under Israeli control, not only in the West Bank, but also in Gaza: land, air and sea. Your claim of 'disengagement’ from Gaza is bogus when you control who and what gets in and out. You cannot simply impose total siege, and then ask the occupied people to just lie down and wither away. After all, it was the arrogant and deliberate unilateral ‘disengagement’ that put Gazans and Israelis in the situation they are in today. With that unilateral action Sharon, in his wicked wisdom, ensured that there will always be trouble in Gaza; and that Israel will always have an excuse to make a battle field out there at will (for practicing new tactics, for a show of how powerful you are, or to satisfy a domestic public relations and electioneering campaigns). And he sure knew what he was doing.
3. Stop building new homes and settlements on land that is not yours. Creating 'facts on the ground' - as our president once called it - is not a way to show good intentions to you future neighbors. It is evil. This is STOLEN land. Stop advertising in Europe and US for ‘cheap housing’ built on Arab land. It is cheap, because it is built on stolen land.
4. As for the 'illegal' outposts: for goodness sake, do not gently try to convince the wingnuts that establish it - under IDF eyes and protection - to leave peacefully. Yank them from there. Treat them the same way you treat Palestinians who try to make a short cut around a check point so they may make it to school or work on time. You do not politely negotiate with them. You round them up, and throw them back where they belong. Don't you? Please extend that kind of courtesy to the land thieves in illegal outposts.
5. I truly think it is a great idea for your country to acknowledge the historic disaster that its establishment has inflicted on the Palestinian people. Israel may not need to return all the land, but it SHOULD acknowledge that the country was established on someone else's land, causing great harm culturally and individually to millions of Palestinians. The silly claim that it was land without people is absurd and, even after 60 years, is still insulting and humiliating to those who live in exile, in refugee camps, and to those 'ex-Palestinians' who still live in Israel. If there were no people there, where did all those Israeli Arabs come from?
6. As Israeli leaders, please advise you constituency, especially the Members of Knesset, and your own government appointees to stop making claims referring to the Land of Greater Israel. As you may imagine, it impossible to have 'peace' with a country when the 'purists' in that country’s governments and parliament still claim my land as theirs.
7. And while we are talking about the land, don’t you think that Israel should declare some borders for itself? No other country in the world has cruised for 60 years without declaring borders. May be you should do that soon, so we know what you consider as occupied territories, and what is next on the list for future expansion if the Jewish population grows enough to ensure Jewish Majority on a larger piece of land.
   
8. Stop the humiliation that the Palestinians have to endure on daily basis at your check points to go to work, to school, or to buy bread. End the iron-fisted Israeli subjugation of Palestinians when they try to get a permit to build on their own private land, to travel abroad, to come home from abroad, to get medical care, etc. Get an international force to replace your occupying forces, ironically called the defense forces.
9. As far as power supply, medicine and food for Gaza: coordinate with Egypt and the international community to provide the portion that Israel is still providing. I know that ongoing talks were underway to do just that, so please expedite it, and set dead lines if you wish so everyone knows where you stand. Cutting power, fuel, and food supplies to cities as punishment is immoral. And remember, as long as you control the borders it is your responsibility to provide for the occupied people.
10. Remember that the collective punishment you widely practice serves no purpose except for getting oppressed people to feel more humiliated, being treated as sub-humans, undeserving of consideration as individuals. When you get peaceful individuals to feel humiliated, do not blame anybody but yourselves if they take it out on you wherever they can reach you. I am not saying that is right, but your Psych Op people can explain to you the ‘cornered mouse scenario’ better that I can. And as a Muslim, I can tell you honestly, that it is not religion or ideology but humiliation that is the major force behind irrational and even self-destructive violent behavior.
11. You better also start thinking of symbolic repatriation, even of a small number, of 1948 Palestinian exiles, without disturbing you precious 'demographic dominance'. Such a symbolic gesture of good intentions will serve to show your understanding of the devastation these people suffered and will show your respect for their feelings as humans. This gesture, believe you me, will go a long way making your presence acceptable in the heart of the Arab world.
12. And you also need to start thinking about reparations due to the millions of refugees and their children. And think about the billions of dollars worth of resources you drained from the occupied lands over 41 years. The lives lost, homes destroyed and memories wiped out of existence are invaluable and can never be replaced, but your sincere attempt to heal the wounds you inflicted on Palestinians will begin the reconciliation process.
13. For the wise ones amongst you: do you best to get your government officials and elected representatives to stop thinking like the mob; threatening Israeli Arabs with expulsions, demolishing the homes of the families of dead terrorists, stop talking about the 'existential threat' of Arab Israelis demographic growth. Israeli Arabs are either Israelis or not. If they are, then do not talk about them as if they were a dangerous herd of wolves that is multiplying rapidly in your classy neighborhood. If you do not want them as citizens, then I have a suggestion for you: another partition. Give up a fifth of your 'Israel proper' land, hand it to the Israeli Arabs, and close your borders to non Jews. Admit the ethnocentric basis of the country, face the world with that, and live with that admission and its consequences. Stop the double talk about the 'only' democracy in the Middle East with one face, and the threat you face of Israeli Arab population continuing to grow with the other face. Apartheid South Africa was not a nice country, but they were at least honest to their principle no matter how evil it was. Of course, I do not need to remind you what happened to them eventually.
14. As we are talking about citizenship: why don't you start working on a constitution? A sixty year old democracy should have by now figured out what principles it wants to enshrine in its constitution. It would also help us figure out if Israel is a democracy for all its citizens or a democracy for Jews only. Is Jewish religion or ethnicity the gold standard to hold key government positions? Is the Israeli democracy you brag about similar to other democracies we know that has two key principles: ‘one person one vote’ and ‘the majority should not dominate or oppress the minority’. While this may be an internal Israeli affair, it will help your neighbors figure out what kind of country you are (for strategic risk assessment purposes). It will also help your blind supporters in the west find out what kind of democracy they are really supporting.
    

Finally, members of the Israeli Government and Knesset: I want to tell you that without borders to tell us what your Israeli Defense Forces are defending, without constitution that tells us who you are and what kind of society you will be, with 40 years of occupying land and exploiting it to you own gains while abusing and demonizing its people on daily basis, and with official statements that many consider warmongering, violent, mobbish, or plain racist, please forgive the rest of us for not trusting you or your intentions.

And in case no one told you before what most Palestinians, Arabs, and many others who seek justice for all including many Israelis and Jews allover the world, there you have it: an itemized wish list. So, please show us some good intentions, supported by some real actions that do not involve supersonic fighter jets or laser-guided bombs.

Yours truly,

Khaled

Secular and Religious Jewish Knessette Members threaten Arab members: One day we will 'take care of you'

The ultra nationalist and former Minister of Strategic Threats in the Israeli Cabinet is still alive and well as a Knesset member (MK), and he is not of making his usual anti Arab statements and threats. Just as a background, he left the cabinet position because he thought the current government is soft on Palestinians not because he was, God forbid, fired as a result of his recurrent racist anti-Arab rhetoric.

Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman said at a Knesset plenary meeting on Monday, addressing Arab MKs, that "a new administration will be established and then we will take care of you."

This followed a a similar threat made by a fellow anti-Arab Knesette member, National Union MK Effie Eitam:

"one day we will expel you from this house, and from the national home of the Jewish people."

Leiberman, summarized how he feels about the current Israeli government, and strategic plan for Israeli Arabs:

"... today we have a government made up of wimps. Believe me, this is temporary, just as you are temporary here."

The 'Only real democracy in the Middle East', in his opinion, has something to learn from another democracy that we sent our troops to defend in the 1990's, Kuwait. Lieberman adds:

"Just as the Kuwaiti government knew ho to handle situations like these," referring to the Kuwaiti decision to deport citizens who attended a rally commemorating the arch terrorist Imad Mughniyah, who was killed in a bomb blast in Damascus on February 12.

Just indulge me for a moment: imagine if an Iranian or Moroccan member of the Parliaments said that about Iranian or Moroccan Jews. The whole civilized world will be on their case, teaching the 'backward' Arabs and Persians that in the civilized world, we do not do that!
I wonder if anyone will even notice what happened in the Knesset.

And that reminds me to thank God again for news outlets like Haaretz.

Lieberman to Arab MKs: One day we will 'take care of you'- Haaretz
MK Eitam to Arab MKs: One day we will expel you from Israel - Haaretz

On the path towards more bloodshed

The Settler's Yeshiva- By Gideon Levy

Few days ago, An Arab Israeli entered a major Jewish fundamentalist religious school (Yeshiva) and opened fire from his AK-47 assault rifle. In a couple of minutes he killed 8 yeshiva students, 7 of whom were under the age of 19 years. He was shot dead on site by a police officer (although an earlier report suggested he was shot by an armed students).
This was an apparent revenge for the Israeli operation in Gaza that left over 120 Palestinians dead, at least half of them civilians, with nearly 30 children among the civilian deaths.
The Merkaz Harav Yeshiva was established more than 80 years ago in British-mandated Palestine, and has produced many of the key figures in Religious Zionism. It has been pivotal in the development of the settlement movement in Gaza and the West Bank.
Haaretz's Gideon Levi discusses in this article the centrality of Merkaz Harav to the settlement movement, and its impact on the Israeli political scene.
Some excerpts from the article are presented here, but the full article can be read on Tikkun

"The flagship of religious Zionism" was the common expression used, the "holy of holies"; there was even a hyperbolic comparison to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in terms of sanctity.

While its importance cannot be overstated, its impact has not a positive one in his opinion.

No one can explain in depth the magical powers of extortion this group has obtained. Nor can anyone ignore the damage it has caused the country. Without the settlement enterprise, peace might have reigned here already; without the Gush Emunim movement, supported by successive Israeli governments, there would be no settlements; and without the Mercaz Harav yeshiva, there would be no Gush Emunim.

As a right wing religious school, it has trained a large number of very influential ultra conservative rabbis that continue to shape the attitude of orthodox Israeli Jews regarding peace and resolution of the ideological and territorial dispute in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Religious leaders such as Rabbis Moshe Levinger, Haim Druckman, Avraham Shapira, Yaakov Ariel, Zefania Drori, Shlomo Aviner and Dov Lior, all idolized by their students, raised generations of nationalist youths within those walls.
Rabbi Lior, for example, head of the Council of Rabbis of Judea and Samaria, ruled in 2004 that the Israel Defense Forces was allowed to kill innocent people. How do these words sound now, after the attack in Jerusalem? Is the permission ours alone? Back then, Lior ruled that, "There should be no feeling of guilt at the morality of foreigners."

In 2002, Rabbi Aviner, another graduate of the yeshiva, called for the execution of Israelis who refused to serve in the military. Back then the refusal came from left-wingers, of course. Aviner also ruled that war casualties are no cause for national grief, and he called for the abolition of Yom Hazikaron, the annual day of remembrance for fallen Israeli soldiers. He compared the road map peace plan to the appeasement of Hitler and considers the evacuation of settlements an "illegal crime."

Gideon Levi, though not a fan of that Religious Zionism cradle, does not condone or justify in any way the terror that has been inflicted on the 8 young men that were slaughtered few days ago on the hands of an East Jerusalem Israeli Arab. And, in the same breath, he denounces the horrors inflicted on the Palestinians of Gaza few days earlier on the hands of the Israeli Army.

The killing at the yeshiva is heartrending. No one deserved it. The innocents in Gaza and the victims at Mercaz Harav in Jerusalem were all an unnecessary sacrifice. They have already paid the highest possible price. Their families and those around them will probably adopt even more radical positions now, and so we will be led into another round of endless bloodshed.

Any one cares to bet how long before the next cycle starts, and how many more lives will be lost? My best guess: a week or two, and 2-3 dozen lives lost, at least.
Any one cares to guess if any of this coming bloodshed will bring us closer to a solution, no matter what that solution is? My answer is NO. I am not guessing, I am certain of it.

Read the full article on Tikkun

Recounting of the Gaza Massacre of February 2008

The Day the Earth and Sky Traded Places - Gazan Shoah

This is not about recounting the bodies, and there was a lot of bodies to count. By best estimates, a bit over a hundred. Ninety of them were civilians, and 25 were children. The pictures of whatever was left of their little bodies, has been on a lot of newspapers and web sites. Nothing I post can add to the pain and anger many of us who are seeking justice and peace feel. Arrogance and pride backed by unlimited military power is blinding the hegemonies of the world, leading them to forget that 'pride comes before the fall' [or as per the original text of the Old Testament -Proverbs 16:18: "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."].
But today I want to share with you one of the most emotional recount I read about those several miserable days in Gaza. It is written by Jennifer Loewenstein, associate professor of Middle East Studies in the University of Wisconsin. She is one of a growing number of Jews, Israelis and Westerners that can see through the mud that most media sling against anything that is Arab or Muslim. She lived in Palestine, among Palestinians in Gaza and the West bank.
Her article narrates the thoughts of a Palestinian Gaza resident 'M', whose goals are like anyof us, but his life is not. She also adds her own thoughts at the end.

"Around 10:30pm on the night of February 28, M and his wife S spoke in low tones in a dark room dimly lit by a battery-operated lamp. They were trying to decide if it was still safe to send their children to school and decided in favor because the elementary school building is in a safer part of the city near a number of international offices."
"This is a black day in Gaza," M wrote; "a holocaust as (Israeli deputy defense minister Matan) Vilnai put it. There is an attack every five or ten minutes. It keeps our nerves on edge and our senses strained. There is so much rage at what is happening; especially the scenes of murdered children and babies. I am so busy I don't know how to describe my feelings. I work to avoid feeling because right now that's too unbearable."

Jennifer Loewenstein, who has lived on the 'Western' side of the world most of her life, is painfully aware of how 'selective' the West can be when it comes to empathy and sympathy. We hand pick the people we would like to share our human emotions with, and we deny the 'others' any share of our concern and love.

"... rockets fired into the interiors of homes with no knowledge of who is inside. Eye-witnesses report this and worse: a six month old baby girl becomes tiny body parts with her mother and brother. A small child is cut apart by shrapnel and screams that she doesn't want to die just before leaving this world. The mothers and fathers cannot protect them so they weep and scream at the funerals that this side of the world never views, especially during basketball season."

She is also very critical of the belligerence and audacity behind the logic of the Israeli government militaristic mentality justifying such operations:

"Who really cares about these children? Every Palestinian is a militant because everyone (sooner or later) wants Israel off their land, out of their lives, and forgotten like a horrible dream. It is for this reason that they are all equal targets"

Loewnstein knows very well that it is greed and a sense of entitlement that get in the way of peace and justice.

"Peace would require relinquishing regional hegemony. Peace would demand sharing the land and the resources equally. Peace might, heaven forbid, require democratic decision making in a region where the Israelis are not better, more entitled, more deserving of Their Way than everyone else in the neighborhood."

In a super powerful concluding sentence, she alludes to racist and nationalistic attitudes as the underpinning of the current policies and attitudes toward the Palestinians;

"Untermenschen [German for sub-human; a term from Nazi racial ideology used to describe "inferior people"] who can be denied food, water, fuel, electricity, medical supplies, the right to leave and return home, the right to not to die in an ambulance that without the proper permits, the right to their own land and their own nationhood precisely because they are lesser human beings can also be picked off one by one or in groups or in families or because they are "militants," or all of the above, who deserve no fair hearing, due process, photographs, names, headlines, stories, grief or televised tear-jerker funerals to commemorate their sacrifices. In such a world contexts are an insult to the intelligence of the policy-makers."

Please read the article in its entirety on the Tikkun to get the full impact of a very powerful article.
Jennifer Loewenstein is an American Jew who lived for extended periods amongst Arabs in Gaza and writes frequently on Middle East issues with special focus on its human cost. She founded the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project and she is a member of the board of the USA branch of Coalition against House Demolition.

Recommended Links:

• The Day the Earth and Sky Traded Places: Gazan Shoah by Jenifer Loewenstein

Another, somewhat older, but equally interesting article on CounterPunch by J Loewenstein.

• For Those Who Haven't Noticed: Watching the Dissolution of Palestine

I also like to recommend taking a look as the Tikkun web site. This is an informative progressive Jewish web site run by Rabbi Michael Lerner. You will find a lot of interesting articles and discussions (from a liberal humanistic perspective) about the Israeli Palestinian conflict, Iraq was, AIPAC and the Israeli lobby in Washington, and USA elections.
Tikkun - Network of spiritual progressives

George Washington on the conduct of the Iraq War

The Washington Post Op-Ed by Brian O'Malley discusses the text of two letters from George Washington, to Col. Benedict Arnold who led the Campaign against Canada in 1775, in what O'Malley labelled as "America's first preemptive war". One of the letters lists five specific recommendations to the campaign military leader. If you have not had a lot of affection for George Washington already, reading those recommendations will do it for you.
Read the following excerpts form the letters, then check the full text, and the analysis by the Op-ed author.

• "You are by every means in your power to endeavour to discover the real sentiments of the Canadians towards our cause, and particularly as to this expedition; ever bearing in mind that if they are averse to it, and will not co-operate, or at least willingly acquiesce, it must fail of success.
• The safety of American personnel depended on how they treated people. "... not only the Good of their Country and their Honour, but their Safety depends upon the Treatment of these People."
• "Any other Prisoners who may fall into your Hands, you will treat with as much Humanity and kindness, as may be consistent with your own Safety and the publick Interest."
• "Should any American Soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any Canadian or Indian, in his Person or Property," Washington wrote, "I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary Punishment as the Enormity of the Crime may require." And, "Should it extend to Death itself it will not be disproportional to its Guilt, at such a Time and in such a Cause."
• an finally, "As the Contempt of the Religion of a Country by ridiculing any of its Ceremonies or affronting its Ministers or Votaries, has ever been deeply resented, you are to be particularly careful to restrain every Officer and Soldier from such Imprudence and Folly and to punish every Instance of it."

In 1775, that was the standard of conduct expected from our Armed forces.
And 230 years later , three quarters of a trillion dollars and with no end in sight for the Iraq war, we are in a quagmire thanks to the violation of each and every one of that beautiful piece of timeless advice.
Khaled

Links:
On the Washington post - if you are a WP registered user.
Or for open access you can read the full test of the op-ed On Mountain Runner

Israeli Minister: We Will Bring ‘Holocaust’ on Palestinians

This very upsetting report shows the reality of the inner workings of the mind of an Israeli high ranking Defense Official. The use of the term Holocaust to describe atrocities is frowned upon by Israelis as well as by most Jews. The magnitude of the human loss to the Jewish people (both in relative and absolute magnitude) is tremendous. Most people, even those strongly opposed to Israeli policies, refrain from using the term out of respect for the millions that perished in concentration camps.

But that near-taboo may be eventually broken. The deputy Defense Minister of Israel has used it to describe what Israel intends to do to Palestinians in Gaza if they do not stop the firing of the Qassam rockets.

'Palestinians will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our might to defend ourselves,' says Deputy Defense Minister Vilnai.

It is not unexpected then that Hamas rhetoric is of the same magnitude:

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said of Vilnai's comments: "We are facing new Nazis who want to kill and burn the Palestinian people."

I guess when the carnage intensifies in Gaza (it has already been going on for a while), it will be difficult to restrain many others from using the term that the Israeli Deputy Defense Minister used it to describe his government's intentions.

I also cannot help but remember the numerous times I, and many other Muslims, have been expected to apologize for every stupid statement made by a lowly criminal terrorist, or an ignorant angry preacher anywhere on the planet. I am certain it will not be long before I, or any of the Muslims readers of this blog, or any other Muslim will face the question when a smart Islamophobe (like Daniel Pipes or David Horowitz) will be demanding a proof that we, i.e. Muslims in General, are not inherently antisemitic because we did not go on record denouncing Hamas representative for describing those who threatened his people with a holocaust, of being the new Nazi. As for the original statement threatening Palestinians with a "bigger holocaust", it will soon be forgotten.

We always needed to prove that we do not condone hate and violence. If we do not apologized enough, and repeatedly, we are assumed to be harboring the worst of agendas against non-Muslims and the West. Let us wait to see if anyone will care to apologize for Vilnai's statement, and how high ranking they would be.

This was reported first on YNetNews (an online English version of the major Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth) but I became aware of it when it was reported on Richard Silverstein Tikun Olam Blog. I am gratefulto him for his effort exposing troubling issues like that. Click below to read his comment and analysis - and may be to leave your own comment or thank you note.
Israeli Minister: We Will Bring ‘Holocaust’ on Palestinians