'Here on the slopes of hills, facing the dusk and the cannon of time
Close to the gardens of broken shadows,
We do what prisoners do,
And what the jobless do:
We cultivate hope'
- Mahmoud Darwish
Israel
Al Nakba: Expelled from home and native land but not from history
Finkelstein's hope for Gaza
This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences in the Gaza Invasion
(Or Books,
2010;
$20.00)
On one level Norman Finkelstein's new book, This Time We Went Too Far: Truth and Consequences in the Gaza Invasion, on Israel's 2008 invasion of Gaza does not reveal much new. It consists of information that has made its way to the public realm over the past year. Yet he brings together the disparate pieces of the event to sharp effect. There is a clear sense that the story has been insulted by the casualness of attention to it.
Hey Elton John, Toronto's John Greyson has a message for you
Palestinian civil society has called on Elton John to respect their boycott call and cancel his June 17th concert in Tel Aviv.
Related rabble.ca story:
Ottawa tilts towards Israel in a nonsensical way
Retired diplomat Robert Fowler made a splash in March when he voiced the widely held view that Prime Minister Stephen Harper's slavish support for Israel was driven by ethnic politics. Fowler told a Liberal Party conference on Canadian foreign policy that "the scramble to lock up the Jewish vote in Canada meant selling out our widely admired and long-established reputation for fairness and justice."
A preview of the Toronto Jewish Film Festival
Israel may have problematic politics but it is also a hothouse for remarkable storytellers and journalism as demonstrated by some upcoming offerings at the upcoming Toronto Jewish Film Festival, on from April 17 to 25.
The latest available episode of the Israel TV sitcom, "Arab Labour" is only on at 12 p.m. on April 23 at the Al Green Theatre in Toronto, but you may be able to rent it eventually in some video and DVD outlets along with past episodes. Sayed Kashua, the scriptwriter and creator of this remarkable series may be among the funniest men in the Jewish state. I wish someone could do something as biting in Canada.
The injured continue to suffer in Gaza
Thousands across Gaza live with severe injuries: youth war amputees, mothers severely burned by phosphorus bombs, countless Palestinians coping with physiological wounds, all injuries stemming from the disaster wrought on Gaza by the Israeli military assault in the winter of 2008/2009.
And war injuries remain a consistent reality in 2010.
"Every night, even last night, Israeli warplanes bombed Gaza," said Muawiya Hassanein, director-general of ambulance and emergency services for the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in an interview from Gaza City during the recent strikes.
"Many were injured... there are serious injuries and those people are being treated right now at the European Hospital in Gaza."
Holocaust survivor: Why I support Palestinian rights
In Canada, Holocaust Memorial Day has been established by Heritage Canada to be on April 11. It is a good opportunity to review what we learn from the Holocaust experience and how we apply these lessons to the troubled situation in the Middle East.
Netanyahu is calling Obama's bluff
There is a new theme developing in U.S.-Israeli relations and while not a new one it is the first time U.S. officials have talked about it so openly: Israeli and U.S. interests in the Middle East are not identical. So far these words have not passed the lips of Obama or Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and have only been uttered by military brass. Whether the brass would have the jam to make these statements to pressure Obama on his Mid East policy or they are simply playing their role in an Obama strategy is unclear.
Is criticism of Iran a form of anti-Iranianism?
Happy April Fool's Day to our rabble-rousing readers! The following is a short parody about the Canadian Parliamentary Coalition to Combat Anti-Semitism (CPCCA). Their deliberations are based on the premise that criticism of Israel is anti-semitic. The author of this piece, Terry Greenberg, takes a look at an original quote below by writer Thomas Friedman, which was cited by MP Irwin Cotler as the basis of the CPCCA.
Will Israel attack Iran?
When Benjamin Netanyahu humiliated U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden two weeks ago with his settlements announcement it was just one more calculated effort to both expose Barack Obama as a weak president and to increase Netanyahu's own geo-political power. Unfortunately for the Middle East, Obama, and the world in general, the brinkmanship seemed to work. The immediate U.S. response to this deliberate humiliation was half-hearted, weak and confused. The balance of power within the U.S.-Israeli alliance appeared to shift overnight. Obama is the classic ditherer -- faced with someone bold and daring, he simply can't find the moral outrage or courage to stand up for his principles.