The claim that peace cannot exist between Israelis and Palestinians until Palestine recognizes the right of Israel to exist is predicated on a lie against Palestinians
The colonized land called "Israel" should be retuned to its native population, and the trespassers mandated to leave or face arrest. If they want to occupy uncontested land, there's plenty still available on Antarctica.
As a Jew who rejects Israel’s war path of destruction and displacement I do not have an attachment to Israel that many in my Boomer age cohort of Jews do.
I visited Israel two times in the 1970’s a different place without skyscrapers and multi lane highways (for Jewish Israelis). I was fortunate to go to places now off limits, if not decimated. Before the return of the land south of Eilat to Egypt I took a bus trip through the Sinai to Sharm el Sheikh. Memorable experiences.
My age cohort in particular was taught a story about Israel’s founding and development that I know from learning the history that is honest about actions taken by all sides, tells a counter narrative that doesn’t sugar coat Israel’s history.
Absent a government that pursues a democratic and equitable path forward, the never ending wars will continue. This breaks my heart. I am a long tenured synagogue member and understand that antisemitism is abhorrent and dangerous for all Jews. I know that criticizing Israel’s policies is NOT antisemitism. That there are elected officials, including in down ballot positions, putting Israel’s interests ahead of American interests, shows me who is due to be challenged for their seat.
I am reading "The Hundred Years War on Palestine" by Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi and learning a lot about the creation of the state of Israel out of a country with a majority Arab population-and Israel's total disregard for the boundaries-bombing and displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since 1948
❤️ Qasim, your writing always inspires me to keep thinking and hoping for solution--when I want to throw up my hands and quit. The years of slaughter in Gaza--and no country has said "that's enough" and thrown down a serious ultimatum to Israel. Now I wonder, if Germany hadn't been attacking France, the UK, and Japan hadn't attacked the US, would ANY country have stood up to Germany regarding the Holocaust? No. I doubt, I'm sure, they would not have. I wish there was even one country on Earth that truly cared about human rights. But there isn't. You are a rare breed, Qasim.
Thank you for laying this out so clearly. I have asked my politicians plainly: are Palestinians human? If so, do they deserve human rights? They have refused to give me the yes or no answer I requested. My pols, btw, are Schumer and Gillibrand. Pretty hopeless to expect any humanity from them!
For those interested in trying to understand how we got here, and I am one of those, I would like to recommend two books by two people who have lived the experience and are writing to understand it themselves. They don't have solutions; they can help us deal with the conflicting feelings that they themselves have which inspired them to write. Peter Beinhart, who grew up in South Africa and knows apartheid but also saw its end and the leadership of Mandela, wrote a book titled: Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza. It is short and heartfelt - and helped me understand my own feelings. The other is by Omer Bartov, world wide renowned scholar on genocide: Israel - what went wrong. He is describing the psychology of the oppressed and the occupier from history and specifically mid-east history and what has changed in Israel that began in the late 1800s as a place to escape the pogroms in Russia. Like everything it is complicated. There was never a unified definition Zionism. Omer grew up in Israel and knows first hand patroling Gaza way back when.....These are people who write to bring understanding to a complex issue. They are not pundits, or celebrities, or "Bill Mahers" - they are serious thinkers with the lived experience to help inform us. I'm guessing, but Qasim, if he hasn't read the books, he knows their names. Let's all try to become more educated and informed before going on TV to spout nonsense.
I second your recommendation for both of those excellent books by Bartov and Beinhart. I love Peter’s Substack - he is so knowledgeable and compassionate and always has interesting guests. There are also good books by Ilan Pappe, the progressive Israeli historian. And all three of those men urge us to read Palestinian writers.
It is strikingly similar to companies that don't want their employees to unionize, because the employees might get better wages. Israel doesn't want a unified country of Palestinians, because together as a country, they would be able to defend themselves and grow as a nation. Properly so.
Seems to me that simply the creation of Israel was predicated on a refusal to acknowledge that Palestine had a right to exist.
Thank you for explaining Israel's refusal to say where (it thinks) its boundaries are. That is convenient for the Greater Israel project. It is also nuts. I'd not previously understood the issue.
Along with all the other things, the truth is the Palestinians are Semites, and the Ashkenazi Jews are Middle Europeans for the most part.
Irgun and the Stern Gang could have just moved in and coexisted, but were not okay with that. Yes, there were idiots and hard-liners on both sides, but that doesn't make one side right. Killing targets you manifested by telling them a place is safe is not even allowed in hunting. A Baited field is illegal. I hope one day soon Bibi and his thugs pay. Maybe Bibi and the Don can share a cell.
Thank you for this article, Qasim. It clearly explains the REAL situation & what needs to be done. Palestinians are being uprooted, killed, maimed, raped, imprisoned, & decimated for the over-inflated egos of the zionists. American needs to back off & more world leaders need to stand up to Israel's filthy regime. Palestine has a right to exist!
Thank you for this analysis, Qasim! My attention hasn't been focused on Israel and Palestine, at least not except for the ways in which the decline of the US is harming the situation—and that's a status they share with the vast majority of countries who aren't America.
I know the situation is more complex than my young Hebrew-school understanding of "Netanyahu is awful", but there are very few sources I trust to give me an objective and thorough overview of the politics and the history in that region. Thank you.
The colonized land called "Israel" should be retuned to its native population, and the trespassers mandated to leave or face arrest. If they want to occupy uncontested land, there's plenty still available on Antarctica.
As a Jew who rejects Israel’s war path of destruction and displacement I do not have an attachment to Israel that many in my Boomer age cohort of Jews do.
I visited Israel two times in the 1970’s a different place without skyscrapers and multi lane highways (for Jewish Israelis). I was fortunate to go to places now off limits, if not decimated. Before the return of the land south of Eilat to Egypt I took a bus trip through the Sinai to Sharm el Sheikh. Memorable experiences.
My age cohort in particular was taught a story about Israel’s founding and development that I know from learning the history that is honest about actions taken by all sides, tells a counter narrative that doesn’t sugar coat Israel’s history.
Absent a government that pursues a democratic and equitable path forward, the never ending wars will continue. This breaks my heart. I am a long tenured synagogue member and understand that antisemitism is abhorrent and dangerous for all Jews. I know that criticizing Israel’s policies is NOT antisemitism. That there are elected officials, including in down ballot positions, putting Israel’s interests ahead of American interests, shows me who is due to be challenged for their seat.
I am reading "The Hundred Years War on Palestine" by Palestinian historian Rashid Khalidi and learning a lot about the creation of the state of Israel out of a country with a majority Arab population-and Israel's total disregard for the boundaries-bombing and displacing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians since 1948
❤️ Qasim, your writing always inspires me to keep thinking and hoping for solution--when I want to throw up my hands and quit. The years of slaughter in Gaza--and no country has said "that's enough" and thrown down a serious ultimatum to Israel. Now I wonder, if Germany hadn't been attacking France, the UK, and Japan hadn't attacked the US, would ANY country have stood up to Germany regarding the Holocaust? No. I doubt, I'm sure, they would not have. I wish there was even one country on Earth that truly cared about human rights. But there isn't. You are a rare breed, Qasim.
Thank you for laying this out so clearly. I have asked my politicians plainly: are Palestinians human? If so, do they deserve human rights? They have refused to give me the yes or no answer I requested. My pols, btw, are Schumer and Gillibrand. Pretty hopeless to expect any humanity from them!
For those interested in trying to understand how we got here, and I am one of those, I would like to recommend two books by two people who have lived the experience and are writing to understand it themselves. They don't have solutions; they can help us deal with the conflicting feelings that they themselves have which inspired them to write. Peter Beinhart, who grew up in South Africa and knows apartheid but also saw its end and the leadership of Mandela, wrote a book titled: Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza. It is short and heartfelt - and helped me understand my own feelings. The other is by Omer Bartov, world wide renowned scholar on genocide: Israel - what went wrong. He is describing the psychology of the oppressed and the occupier from history and specifically mid-east history and what has changed in Israel that began in the late 1800s as a place to escape the pogroms in Russia. Like everything it is complicated. There was never a unified definition Zionism. Omer grew up in Israel and knows first hand patroling Gaza way back when.....These are people who write to bring understanding to a complex issue. They are not pundits, or celebrities, or "Bill Mahers" - they are serious thinkers with the lived experience to help inform us. I'm guessing, but Qasim, if he hasn't read the books, he knows their names. Let's all try to become more educated and informed before going on TV to spout nonsense.
I second your recommendation for both of those excellent books by Bartov and Beinhart. I love Peter’s Substack - he is so knowledgeable and compassionate and always has interesting guests. There are also good books by Ilan Pappe, the progressive Israeli historian. And all three of those men urge us to read Palestinian writers.
Both are excellent books. Good recommendations.
So well said - thanks for helping me have an intelligent response to those who keep saying, "what about Hamas?"
It is strikingly similar to companies that don't want their employees to unionize, because the employees might get better wages. Israel doesn't want a unified country of Palestinians, because together as a country, they would be able to defend themselves and grow as a nation. Properly so.
Seems to me that simply the creation of Israel was predicated on a refusal to acknowledge that Palestine had a right to exist.
Thank you for explaining Israel's refusal to say where (it thinks) its boundaries are. That is convenient for the Greater Israel project. It is also nuts. I'd not previously understood the issue.
He got touched by the hand that feeds him, as a ally cat he flinched and trump took him over, A MAGA wingnut now!
Did those safe and snug in their homes Zionists watch and read about Hitler with great interest?
Happy 4th Qasim. Rest up. It continues.
Along with all the other things, the truth is the Palestinians are Semites, and the Ashkenazi Jews are Middle Europeans for the most part.
Irgun and the Stern Gang could have just moved in and coexisted, but were not okay with that. Yes, there were idiots and hard-liners on both sides, but that doesn't make one side right. Killing targets you manifested by telling them a place is safe is not even allowed in hunting. A Baited field is illegal. I hope one day soon Bibi and his thugs pay. Maybe Bibi and the Don can share a cell.
Bibi and Don deserve each other, and nothing more.
Thank you for this article, Qasim. It clearly explains the REAL situation & what needs to be done. Palestinians are being uprooted, killed, maimed, raped, imprisoned, & decimated for the over-inflated egos of the zionists. American needs to back off & more world leaders need to stand up to Israel's filthy regime. Palestine has a right to exist!
Thank you for this analysis, Qasim! My attention hasn't been focused on Israel and Palestine, at least not except for the ways in which the decline of the US is harming the situation—and that's a status they share with the vast majority of countries who aren't America.
I know the situation is more complex than my young Hebrew-school understanding of "Netanyahu is awful", but there are very few sources I trust to give me an objective and thorough overview of the politics and the history in that region. Thank you.
Truth.