Total Eclipse

Political Disclaimer:
Before diving into deeply contentious subjects, I’d like to precede by stating that I am and always have been a member of the Israeli peace camp. I support the Palestinian’s right to self-determination, within the boundaries of the land acquired by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War.
Having said that, It is often the [...]

Regarding the costs of war, just to put things in perspective [translated from a piece by Brigadier General (res.) Shuki Shichrur, a former chief of staff of the Israeli Northern Command]:
Fallujah lies 70km west-north-west to Baghdad. In 2004, it had between 200 and 300 thousand residents. From early 2004, it was under control of Jihadist [...]

So it seems while all eyes on are Gaza, The Israel Central Elections Committee decided to disqualify the two major Arab parties from running in the elections.
There’s nothing new to the claims that the Arab parties (the only one left, Hadash, is an Arab-Jewish communist coalition) do not accept Israel as a Jewish state. It’s [...]

Syrian President Bashar Assad has been signaling through western media that he is interested in resuming peace negotiations with Israel unconditionally.
He urged Israeli Prime Minister Ulmert to try him out, “call his bluff”.
This well-played rhetoric places Israel in a difficult position. Israel can ill-afford to be perceived as war-mongers in the world (as if it’s [...]

Expanded from a discussion I had on livejournal:
Someone: The IAF bombed a building because a rocket launcher was in it- they had no way to know the basement was packed with children, and had they known I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have bombed it.
ME:
Not fucking good enough!
We are judged by our actions, not merely our [...]

For the past day or so I’ve been scouring the net for information on the current grim meathook state of affairs. I’ve been reading both Israeli and Lebanese independant blogs and webzines. I find it fascinating. Some Lebanese blogs have been getting comments in the hundreds. Surpringly, for the most part, discourse has been heated, [...]

“War is the very crudest of responses and reflects the utter failure of imagination and intelligence in foreign policy. The cycle of poverty, inequality, and hatred will grow worse. Terrorist recruiting will flourish in the aftermath.” – Prof. Thompson Bradley, Swarthmore College
Is that so? I can think of at least 2 wars that led to [...]

I am a foreigner everywhere.
Current events make me sick to my stomach. I really do try and avoid any contact with mainstream media, because it has this nauseating effect on me. I get my news from boingboing and Fortean Times and that’s usually enough.
But once in a while, I get this masochistic urge to burst [...]

Tags: politics, holocaust, zionism, israel, palestine, israeli-arab conflict, sociology, wwii
Tuesday this week we mark the Israeli Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day. This is the only official day marked by Israeli law dedicated to Holocaust memorial.
Of course, Yad Vashem operate all year round, but anyway, this is the official day.
Those of you who don’t [...]

Tags: grim+meathook+future, future, gmf, israeli-arab conflict, middle east, war
I’m writing this post instead of studying for my exam tomorrow. Which is as good an excuse as any.
Today in Advanced Social Psychology, we had a guest lecturer; Sociologist Mr. Ahmed Chijazi from Neve Shalom who gave a talk about Interaction of Identity in the Jewish-Arab Conflict. [...]