So in continuing my stint of unemployment and "dicking around" (surfing, reading and blogging) around sunny Santa Barbara, CA, I opened the paper over a steaming cup of Arabic coffee this morning and saw:
(Al Seib. Los Angeles Times)
The caption says that there was a shooting in a Los Angeles synagogue yesterday. Two people were hurt. But what almost made me spit out my coffee was the fact that on the top of the skullcaped fellows vest was the word HATZOLAH. Hezbollah? Nope. Hat-zo-lah. An irony indeed. And a little close for comfort, eh?
I wonder if this was just a tired Abu G on vacation, or if anyone else in the Middle East blogosphere picked this one up. Oh, how the Middle East is my fix...
South African jurist Richard Goldstone has, on more than one occasion, asked that debate over his United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict last winter remain focused on its content rather than personal attacks about its authors.
Then again, he would say that. After all, Goldstone is a small man, devoid of any sense of justice, a technocrat with no real understanding of jurisprudence - at least according to Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. And I'm not paraphrasing; that's an exact quote. Believe it.
Going on to allege he "was on a one-sided mission to hurt Israel," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate continued, "If anyone should be investigated, it should be him."
Then in his most properest, Goldstone shot back a few hours later, "I would say that the President's comments are specious and ill-befitting the Head of the State of Israel."
"I am content to be judged by my actions over the course of my career both in terms of my professional judicial career and my voluntary service," he added.
Anyway, I'd planned to post something more relevant than this exasperating but hilarious opposite-of-cat-fight exchange between two old men not known for their wild outbursts, but then got absorbed into how oddly similar both side's accusations sound against the other's vis-a-vis the Gaza report, and found plenty more from other concerned individuals.
So yeah, here's like a top 12. Enjoy, but don't accuse me of equating anyone with the stronger, scarier, more terrorist or most occupying party, or whatever. In no particular order:
"That is exactly what a recent UN report on Gaza did... falsely equating the terrorists with those they targeted." -Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister
"The report tried to equate in one way or another between the aggressors and the victims." -Ahmed Yousef, Hamas leader
"It fails to distinguish between the aggressor and a state exercising its right for self defense." -Shimon Peres, Israeli president
"...failed to distinguish between the aggressor and the victim." -Hamas lawmaker
"Rather than condemning the terrorists... some here have condemned their victims." -Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister
"Israel as the occupying power with that of the occupied Palestinian population..." -Khalida Jarrar, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
"...tried to draw an equivalence between Israel and those who tried to target Israeli civilians." -Gabriela Shalev, Israeli ambassador to the UN
“...occupiers must not be confused with the occupied.” -Ibrahim Khraisheh, Palestinian ambassador to Geneva
"The comparison between those who pursue terror and terror victims is inconceivable." - source close to Ehud Barak, Israeli defense minister
“...there is absolutely no symmetry or proportionality between the occupier and the occupied. -Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN
"We reject any comparison between a democratic country defending itself and a terrorist organization." -Yossi Levy, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman
"When the victim defends itself... this cannot be compared with crime Israel is committing... the Palestinian people are the victims and Israel is the hangman, the occupier and the attacker." -Khaled Mash'al, Hamas leader
In conclusion, check out this baller scarf, the perfect holiday gift for the Goldstone affectionado in your life. Available only in Gaza City, $22.50.
In a recent email, As-Salibi--the spiritual leader of The Casbah--writes in:
Am I crazy or did Thomas Friedman just (very carefully) suggest America stop aid to Israel? [Our dear friend] Mike May brought this paragraph to my attention:
That’s how I see Afghanistan today. I see no moderate spark. I see our secretary of state pleading with President Hamid Karzai to re-do an election that he blatantly stole. I also see us begging Israelis to stop building more crazy settlements or Palestinians to come to negotiations. It is time to stop subsidizing their nonsense. Let them all start paying retail for their extremism, not wholesale. Then you’ll see movement.
So what's the deal? Can it really be that even NY Times Middle East guru Thomas Friedman has had it with the current Israeli government? Sure seems like it. And if some kind of boycott is really what he meant, does this now mean that other American Jews are going to start articulating similar stances toward the Likudniks in charge? For the first time in the 60+ year conflict it seems that even the steadiest pro-Zionist public voices are starting to grow weary. But it isn't out of their lack of support for Israel. No. No. And no. It is coming from an utter disgust for the policies of occupation.
Can we agree that this is what is happening here? Or has old Abu G been hangin' in the Nablus casbah for too long? (Didn't that picture of the kunafa at the end of the last post make you hungry?) Don't know about the rest of you Casbahites, but I can't wait for As-Salibi's next installment of "So Goldstoned," an epic of reflection and commentary as one of our own sifts through the sands of the Goldstone report.
This is my most recent article, as published by the Ma'an news agency. I would like to especially thank As-Salibi--the spiritual adviser to The Casbah--for the shrewd edits and helpful comments. I met Salibi in Nablus, the West Bank, two years ago during the Hamas-Fatah infighting. This summer when I went back to Nablus and realized that the place had changed so much I could hardly recognize it. But, as Salibi and I later agreed upon over a tasty Bethlehem falafel, the recent improvements in Nablus mean little without the overall liberation from occupation. So here is the article that came out of that conversation. Enjoy!
The Nablus Casbah: From Kalashnikovs to knafa
Nablus is alive again. In just two years, its casbah has gone from militants wielding kalashnikovs to baking the largest plate of knafa on record. One can feel its bustling culture through the ancient walls of its narrow souk.
"You just wouldn't recognize it today," says Alaa Abu Dheer, the public relations director at An-Najah National University.
"You can see the progress; many in former military groups are now working as police officers, the Israeli raids are down to few a month, Palestinians from Israel come on Saturdays to boost our economy with shopping," he adds.
(The markings of one of “those former military groups.” Graffiti markings like this are abundant in Nablus. The Israelis didn’t commonly refer to Nablus as the “dark city” during the Second Intifada for nothing.The Nablus old city was core to the resistance.)
All of this is true. Perhaps even more. But Abu Dheer understands - like everyone seems to in Nablus - the vulnerability of this progress. The full reopening of the Huwwara checkpoint, he says, is the best example of how the occupation could again cripple the city. Probably overnight.
Indeed, just because a few checkpoints were relaxed, shopping is up, and the awe-inspiring new downtown cinema offers a glimpse of normalcy doesn't mean Nablus has escaped the occupation. Its recent improvements should fool no one, yet they continue to.
An alarming amount of coverage in the international press seems to have come down with a case of "occupation isn't so bad" syndrome. These there-for-the-moment reporters have been more focused on the new thrills of the Nablus cinema than the people's actual grievances. They miss the fact that progress is lost to checkpoints and military raids.
(What the old city of Nablus looked like two years ago. Notice the green Islamist flag on the right. Where are the people?)
Everyone in Nablus says it's the gem of Palestine. It is a city as old as the biblical Samaritan women who once offered water to Jesus; for thousands of years it was enriched by steady trade with neighboring cities. Although Nablus is still surrounded by checkpoints, most of them have been reduced to a few teenage Israeli solders joking around or smoking cigarettes. But at any time, the humiliating, open-air checkpoints of the past could be reopened.
Sixty percent of today's West Bank is classified as Area C, placing it under the full authority of Israel. This means schools, shopping centers, even laying water pipes is not permitted outside the city without express consent of the Israeli government. Nablus is surrounded by the opportunity-crushing reality of the occupation.
Foreigners who wish to help - be it through an NGO, investigative journalism or scholarly research - are often hassled by Israeli officials who maintain control over all borders and visas. Only the most determined foreigner willing to shake off Israeli interrogators and brave the narrow and vastly inefficient Palestinian roads of the West Bank can enter. This policy is clearly designed to keep the world in the dark about the realities of Israel's occupation.
Unemployment in the West Bank is over 19 percent. Over half of Palestinian youth between the ages of 15 and 29 do not work or study. As for those who do work, the International Labor Organization estimates that most make between 1,500 to 2,000 Israeli shekels (about 400 to 550 dollars) a month. Nablus most certainly is responsible for keeping these numbers as high as they are, although it's all subject to the mood of Israel's occupation czars.
(This picture was taking the day before Eid, the Muslim feasting period after the fasting of Ramadan.As the pictures shows, Nablus was thriving with people and commerce.Two years ago this was nowhere to be seen.)
"For the longest time," Abu Dheer continues from his home just outside the Old City, "I thought Nablus was dying. It is better now. Much. But this is no gift from the Israelis; it is our right to build our city as we wish. We must not forget the Israeli occupation created this mess."
As for now, the people of Nablus seem happy enough to trade in their kalashnikovs for knafa. The days of fighting militias and abundant Israeli raids have been, at least temporarily, replaced with cultural festivities and catching flicks.
(A famous Nablus sweet, kunafa is one of those Nablus things that is as culturally centric to the city as anything.)
But make no mistake, the clock could be turned back on Nablus at any moment. While there's always room for progress and entrepreneurship, "it will mean nothing," Abu Dheer points out, "if the Israelis again decide to strangle our city."
This is why "wining" in Afghanistan will be harder than Iraq.
FAIZABAD, Afghanistan — In this remote corner of northern Afghanistan, distances are measured in days. The only paved road lasts for less than a mile, and travel often takes place on the back of a donkey.
Apply those qualities to an area the size of South Carolina, add in the topography of Colorado, and you get an election official’s nightmare, which is about how Sayed Masood saw it on Sunday, as he frantically prepared for the presidential election runoff on Nov. 7.
“There is very little time,” said Mr. Masood, the top election official in Badakhshan Province. “I have to hire 130 district coordinators by tomorrow.”
Thank you Sabrina Tavernise of the NY Times. This is a great piece! And a great example of how unnatural this whole election process has been/will continue to be to tribal, rural Afghanistan. Think this will also make statecraft/counterinsurgency a little tougher than Iraq? I do. Along with the tribal structure, as well.
Update: And... thank you As-Salibi for bring the words of PLO chief negotiator, Dr Saeb Erekat, to my attention. I think Salibi would agree that Dr Erekat is probably the only elected Palestinian worth a damn. As for the rest of 'em, well, just ask any Palestinian. That should do.
