BINYAMIN NETANYAHU is not known as a classical scholar, but even so he has adopted the Roman maxim Divide et Impera, divide and rule.
The main (and perhaps only) goal of his policy is to extend the rule of Israel, as the "Nation-State of the Jewish People", over all of Eretz Israel, the historical land of Palestine. This means ruling all of the West Bank and covering it with Jewish settlements, while denying any civil rights to its 2.5 million plus Arab inhabitants.
East Jerusalem, with its 300,000 Arab inhabitants, has already been formally annexed to Israel, without granting them Israeli citizenship or the right to take part in Knesset elections.
I don'y see much divide but plenty of genocide by the Israeli zionist against the Palestinian people. If by division you mean the alignment of Israeli Zionism with the Arab Saudi and Egyptian distrust of the Persian Iran then that division within the Muslin world already exists. Taking advatage of these divisions, whether within the Palestinian camp or other divisions may be a better way of expressing the point.
ONE HAS to choose: Binyamin Netanyahu is either incredibly shrewd or incredibly foolish.
Take his Iran policy. Actually, there is little to choose from. Netanyahu has no other policy to speak off.
According to him, Iran constitutes a mortal danger to Israel. If it obtains a nuclear weapon, God forbid, it will use it to annihilate Israel. It must be stopped by any means, preferably by American armed intervention.
I MUST admit that Moshe “”Bogie" Ya'alon did not top the list of my favorite politicians. The former army Chief of Staff and present Minister of Defense looked to me like a mere lackey of Netanyahu and a one-dimensional militarist. Many people call him a "bock", a non-complimentary German-Yiddish term for billy goat.
Yuval Steinitz, the present minister for I-don't-know-what, was also not at the top of the list of politicians I admire. He, too, seemed to me one of the servants of Netanyahu, without a recognizable personality of his own.
Even the former army Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, was not one of my ultimate heroes. When he was appointed, some malicious people claimed that he owed his advancement to his Oriental origin, since the Minister of Defense, at the time, was also of Oriental origin. Ashkenazi's father was from Bulgaria, his mother from Syria. The Minister of Defense at the time, Shaul Mofaz, was from Iran. Ashkenazi was in charge of one of the serial wars against Gaza. He was and remains popular.
THE MISDEEDS of Napoleon's occupation army in Spain were not photographed. Photography had not yet been invented. The valiant fighters against the occupation had to rely on Francisco Goya for the immortal painting of the resistance.
The partisans and underground fighters against the German occupation of their countries in World War II had no time to take pictures. Even the heroic uprising of the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw was not filmed by the participants. The Germans themselves filmed their atrocities, and, being Germans, they catalogued and filed them in an orderly way.
In the meantime, photography has become common commonplace. The Israeli occupation in the Palestinian occupied territories is being filmed all the time. Everybody now has cellular phones that take pictures. Also, Israeli peace organizations have distributed cameras to many Arab inhabitants.
I am afraid of the Islamic State movement, alias ISIS, alias Daesh.
It is the only real danger that threatens Israel, that threatens the world, that threatens me.
Those who treat it today with equanimity, with indifference, will come to regret it.
IN THE year I was born – 1923 – a ridiculous little demagogue with a funny mustache, Adolf Hitler, staged an attempted putsch in Munich. It was put down by a handful of policemen and soon forgotten.
IN THE early 1950s, I published a story by my friend, Miko Almaz. At the time, the new State of Israel was in dire straits, its leaders did not know how to pay for next month's food.
Someone remembered that in a remote part of Africa there was a small community of Jews, who owned all the diamond mines and were immensely rich. The government chose their most effective money-raiser and sent him there.
The man realized that the fate of the state was resting on his shoulders. He assembled the local Jews and gave them The Speech. About the pioneers who left everything behind to go to Palestine and make the desert bloom, about their back-breaking labor, about their lofty socialist ideals.
"WE HAVE nothing to fear but fear itself," said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was wrong.
Fear is a necessary condition for human survival. Most animals in nature possess it. It helps them to respond to dangers and evade or fight them. Human beings survive because they are fearful.
Fear is both individual and collective. Since its earliest days, the human race has lived in collectives. This is both a necessary and a desired condition. Early humans lived in tribes. The tribe defended their territory against all “strangers" – neighboring tribes – in order to safeguard their food supply and security. Fear was one of the uniting factors.
Belonging to one's tribe (which after many evolutions became a modern nation) is also a profound psychological need. It, too, is connected with fear – fear of other tribes, fear of other nations.
FORTY-FIVE YEARS ago Gamal Abd-al-Nasser died at the early age of 52. It is not an event of the past. It continues to have a huge influence on the present, and probably will on the future.
My meetings with him go back to 1948. I used to joke that "we were very close to each other, but we were never properly introduced!"
It happened like this: in July we were desperately trying to stop the advance of the Egyptian army towards Tel Aviv. The cornerstone of our front was a village called Negba. One evening we were told that an Egyptian unit had cut the only road to this kibbutz and dug in across it.
I FIRST met Mahmoud Abbas in Tunis at the beginning of 1983.
I knew that he was responsible for the Israel desk in the PLO leadership. Said Hamami and Issam Sartawi, the PLO delegates with whom I had been in permanent contact since 1974, told me that he was in charge. But he was not present at my first meeting with Yasser Arafat in Beirut during the siege.
I came to Tunis with General Matti Peled and Yaakov Arnon, in an official delegation of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, which we had founded in 1975. Before meeting with Arafat himself, we were asked to meet with Abu Mazen (as Abbas is called) and discuss our ideas, so as to present the leader with an agreed, detailed proposal. That was also the procedure in all the many meetings that followed.
The Magician's Apprentice
ONE HAS to choose: Binyamin Netanyahu is either incredibly shrewd or incredibly foolish.
Take his Iran policy. Actually, there is little to choose from. Netanyahu has no other policy to speak off.
According to him, Iran constitutes a mortal danger to Israel. If it obtains a nuclear weapon, God forbid, it will use it to annihilate Israel. It must be stopped by any means, preferably by American armed intervention.
Valentino's Ghost: Framing the Arab Image
Temporary displacement of Jordan Valley communities, 2015
The Molten Three
I MUST admit that Moshe “”Bogie" Ya'alon did not top the list of my favorite politicians. The former army Chief of Staff and present Minister of Defense looked to me like a mere lackey of Netanyahu and a one-dimensional militarist. Many people call him a "bock", a non-complimentary German-Yiddish term for billy goat.
Yuval Steinitz, the present minister for I-don't-know-what, was also not at the top of the list of politicians I admire. He, too, seemed to me one of the servants of Netanyahu, without a recognizable personality of his own.
Even the former army Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, was not one of my ultimate heroes. When he was appointed, some malicious people claimed that he owed his advancement to his Oriental origin, since the Minister of Defense, at the time, was also of Oriental origin. Ashkenazi's father was from Bulgaria, his mother from Syria. The Minister of Defense at the time, Shaul Mofaz, was from Iran. Ashkenazi was in charge of one of the serial wars against Gaza. He was and remains popular.
A year after the bombings in Gaza: Maha Abu Mutlaq, 17 years old
Strike keeps Christian schools closed in Israel
The Face of a Boy
THE MISDEEDS of Napoleon's occupation army in Spain were not photographed. Photography had not yet been invented. The valiant fighters against the occupation had to rely on Francisco Goya for the immortal painting of the resistance.
The partisans and underground fighters against the German occupation of their countries in World War II had no time to take pictures. Even the heroic uprising of the Jewish Ghetto in Warsaw was not filmed by the participants. The Germans themselves filmed their atrocities, and, being Germans, they catalogued and filed them in an orderly way.
In the meantime, photography has become common commonplace. The Israeli occupation in the Palestinian occupied territories is being filmed all the time. Everybody now has cellular phones that take pictures. Also, Israeli peace organizations have distributed cameras to many Arab inhabitants.
Miko Peled - 2015 National Convention
US turns blind eye to how Israel treats Palestinian children
'Gaza to be unlivable by 2020': No clean water, proper food, electricity
'Protest of Pain' - Ethiopian Israelis' anger and pain at second class status
Arad: Off-Limits to Africans
Al Jazeera World - The Mother Refugees
The Real Menace
I AM AFRAID.
I am not ashamed to admit it. I am afraid.
I am afraid of the Islamic State movement, alias ISIS, alias Daesh.
It is the only real danger that threatens Israel, that threatens the world, that threatens me.
Those who treat it today with equanimity, with indifference, will come to regret it.
IN THE year I was born – 1923 – a ridiculous little demagogue with a funny mustache, Adolf Hitler, staged an attempted putsch in Munich. It was put down by a handful of policemen and soon forgotten.
Renewed violence at the Al Aqsa
Palestinian ambassador: Al-Aqsa standoff could unravel
Relative calm at Al Aqsa Mosque compound after days of tension
Israeli forces deployed in East Jerusalem
Don't Talk Zionism!"
IN THE early 1950s, I published a story by my friend, Miko Almaz. At the time, the new State of Israel was in dire straits, its leaders did not know how to pay for next month's food.
Someone remembered that in a remote part of Africa there was a small community of Jews, who owned all the diamond mines and were immensely rich. The government chose their most effective money-raiser and sent him there.
The man realized that the fate of the state was resting on his shoulders. He assembled the local Jews and gave them The Speech. About the pioneers who left everything behind to go to Palestine and make the desert bloom, about their back-breaking labor, about their lofty socialist ideals.
Flooding of Gaza tunnels cuts off Palestinian lifeline
Israeli army under fire over arrests of Palestinian children
The Ministry of Fear
"WE HAVE nothing to fear but fear itself," said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was wrong.
Fear is a necessary condition for human survival. Most animals in nature possess it. It helps them to respond to dangers and evade or fight them. Human beings survive because they are fearful.
Fear is both individual and collective. Since its earliest days, the human race has lived in collectives. This is both a necessary and a desired condition. Early humans lived in tribes. The tribe defended their territory against all “strangers" – neighboring tribes – in order to safeguard their food supply and security. Fear was one of the uniting factors.
Belonging to one's tribe (which after many evolutions became a modern nation) is also a profound psychological need. It, too, is connected with fear – fear of other tribes, fear of other nations.
Girl Who Fought Off Israeli Soldier Is Leading Protests In The West Bank
Palestinian Politics and Strategy in Challenging Times
Meet Palestine's first professional basketball player
Inside Story - The end of the Oslo agreement?
UpFront - Is Israel at risk of becoming an 'apartheid' state?
Nasser and I
FORTY-FIVE YEARS ago Gamal Abd-al-Nasser died at the early age of 52. It is not an event of the past. It continues to have a huge influence on the present, and probably will on the future.
My meetings with him go back to 1948. I used to joke that "we were very close to each other, but we were never properly introduced!"
It happened like this: in July we were desperately trying to stop the advance of the Egyptian army towards Tel Aviv. The cornerstone of our front was a village called Negba. One evening we were told that an Egyptian unit had cut the only road to this kibbutz and dug in across it.
Jews only: Arabs facing discrimination in Israeli property market
Palestine's Abbas wants to avoid violence with Israel
Inside Story - Is Israel maintaining the status quo at al-Aqsa Mosque?
Frustration boiling over in occupied West Bank
Israel's Netanyahu pledges action after stabbing attacks
Leader without Glory
I FIRST met Mahmoud Abbas in Tunis at the beginning of 1983.
I knew that he was responsible for the Israel desk in the PLO leadership. Said Hamami and Issam Sartawi, the PLO delegates with whom I had been in permanent contact since 1974, told me that he was in charge. But he was not present at my first meeting with Yasser Arafat in Beirut during the siege.
I came to Tunis with General Matti Peled and Yaakov Arnon, in an official delegation of the Israeli Council for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, which we had founded in 1975. Before meeting with Arafat himself, we were asked to meet with Abu Mazen (as Abbas is called) and discuss our ideas, so as to present the leader with an agreed, detailed proposal. That was also the procedure in all the many meetings that followed.
The Battle For Justice in Palestine - Ali Hasan Abunimah
Soldiers escorting Yitzhar settlers on violent rampage, 2015
Inside Story - What is legal basis for killing Palestinian attackers?
Inside story - Is a third Palestinian Intifada imminent?
A new generation hits the streets in Palestine
Israeli police kill more Palestinians in Jerusalem
‘This was going to explode': Spate of violence intensifies with near-daily stabbings in Israel
Israel calls up reservists amid daily clashes in W Bank
oops!
The 2015 Summer School Keynote lecture by Amira Hass, Haaretz correspondent
The 2015 CFCCS School Dilemmas of a non-objective Journalist: Journalists converse with Amira Hass
Israeli forces kill Gaza border protesters
West Bank clashes intensify as new conflict enters 2nd week
3 Palestinians shot dead in fresh wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence - police
Violence in Jerusalem ‘is a predictable outcome of Israel’s brutal occupation’ – activist
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