Comments on: Photos of the Sea http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/photos-of-the-sea/ a radical newsletter in the struggle for peace and social justice Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:07:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: opeluboy http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/photos-of-the-sea/#comment-16296 opeluboy Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:19:01 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/photos-of-the-sea/#comment-16296 Heartbreaking for the simplicity of the dream denied. I recall a piece by Naomi Shihab Nye, in which she explained that Palestinian artists were forbidden to paint with the colors of their flag, making it difficult to represent a flower. Sometimes the cruelty is even more monstrous and inhumane in the small things. The Israelis have mastered this. There must be no Hebrew word for "karma." Heartbreaking for the simplicity of the dream denied.

I recall a piece by Naomi Shihab Nye, in which she explained that Palestinian artists were forbidden to paint with the colors of their flag, making it difficult to represent a flower.

Sometimes the cruelty is even more monstrous and inhumane in the small things. The Israelis have mastered this.

There must be no Hebrew word for “karma.”

]]> By: Brian Koontz http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/photos-of-the-sea/#comment-16281 Brian Koontz Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:46:37 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/photos-of-the-sea/#comment-16281 It's worse than apartheid. In apartheid South Africa the blacks were used as workers for the whites. They had value as workers and therefore were not mass-murdered as long as they "remained in their place". The Israeli state wants one of two things for the Palestinians - expulsion or extermination. They don't care which, but they do care somewhat about international opinion and they very much care about limiting their own costs and risks. Ideally they would clear out the Palestinians without bringing Arab nations into a conflict with them. The constant talk of apartheid is tragic because this is an absolutely crucial difference. The situation in Palestine is much more similar to the Nazi concentration camps. This shouldn't really surprise anyone, as victims often become victimizers in the fashion in which they were victimized. Israel is the most racist nation on earth. It's the second coming of Nazi Germany. Prior to the concentration camps in Germany the Nazis encouraged those who would later be killed to leave. Those who did not select voluntary expulsion were exterminated. Another area of blindness even among the educated class in the US is that the US and Israel share the same interests, or that Israel dominates US foreign policy. This is not the case. Israel is very vulnerable to military strikes due to their physical proximity to nations they oppose. The US, on the other hand, ultimately doesn't mind if Israel is annihilated, as long as the process which creates that annihilation serves the US war machine. Israel's racism and paranoia is fueling their own destruction, and the US is happy to oblige and facilitate that very process. But with all the books talking about how AIPAC controls US foreign policy and how the American elite are in bed with the Israeli elite, the truth about the crucial differences between the actual interests of the two states are being lost. It’s worse than apartheid. In apartheid South Africa the blacks were used as workers for the whites. They had value as workers and therefore were not mass-murdered as long as they “remained in their place”.

The Israeli state wants one of two things for the Palestinians – expulsion or extermination. They don’t care which, but they do care somewhat about international opinion and they very much care about limiting their own costs and risks. Ideally they would clear out the Palestinians without bringing Arab nations into a conflict with them.

The constant talk of apartheid is tragic because this is an absolutely crucial difference. The situation in Palestine is much more similar to the Nazi concentration camps. This shouldn’t really surprise anyone, as victims often become victimizers in the fashion in which they were victimized.

Israel is the most racist nation on earth. It’s the second coming of Nazi Germany.

Prior to the concentration camps in Germany the Nazis encouraged those who would later be killed to leave. Those who did not select voluntary expulsion were exterminated.

Another area of blindness even among the educated class in the US is that the US and Israel share the same interests, or that Israel dominates US foreign policy. This is not the case. Israel is very vulnerable to military strikes due to their physical proximity to nations they oppose. The US, on the other hand, ultimately doesn’t mind if Israel is annihilated, as long as the process which creates that annihilation serves the US war machine. Israel’s racism and paranoia is fueling their own destruction, and the US is happy to oblige and facilitate that very process. But with all the books talking about how AIPAC controls US foreign policy and how the American elite are in bed with the Israeli elite, the truth about the crucial differences between the actual interests of the two states are being lost.

]]> By: D. R. Munro http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/photos-of-the-sea/#comment-16248 D. R. Munro Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:00:31 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/photos-of-the-sea/#comment-16248 everybody's* everybody’s*

]]> By: D. R. Munro http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/photos-of-the-sea/#comment-16247 D. R. Munro Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:59:37 +0000 http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/03/photos-of-the-sea/#comment-16247 "I believe the inability of Majda’s son to travel to the sea in his homeland smacks of Jim Crow and apartheid and that it is in everybody’s interest to right this wrong without further delay." Not everbody's interest, and therein we see the problem. “I believe the inability of Majda’s son to travel to the sea in his homeland smacks of Jim Crow and apartheid and that it is in everybody’s interest to right this wrong without further delay.”

Not everbody’s interest, and therein we see the problem.

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