From Occupied Palestine

"...namely the State of Israel"
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3 May 2008

EVERY TIME I hear the voice of David Ben-Gurion uttering the words "Therefore we are gathered here..." I think of Issar Barsky, a charming youngster, the little brother of a girl-friend of mine.

The last time we met was in front of the dining hall of Kibbutz Hulda, on Friday, May 14, 1948.

1967: A personal testimony
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Gush Shalom, June 2007

On May 25, 1967, twelve days before the Six-day war, I published in Haolam Hazeh, the news magazine of which I was the editor, an article entitled "Nasser Has Fallen Into a Trap". That sounded crazy, because, at the time, all Israel was in the grip of mortal fear.

Agatha In The Rain
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Gush Shalom, 1 July 2006

"ISRAEL HAS declared war on the Palestinian people! The Palestinian people will answer in kind! The Palestinian rebellion will go on! The Palestinian fighters are steadfast in the service of the nation! Down with the Nazi-Zionist occupation! Out with the unclean infidels from the Holy Land! Destroyed Rafah - we shall build you anew! Long live the Palestinian revolution! Long live the State of Palestine!"

A nation? What nation?
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Gush Shalom, 25 September 2004

It sounds like a joke, but it is quite serious.

The government of Israel does not recognize the Israeli nation. It says that there is no such thing.

Could you imagine the French government denying the existence of the French Nation? Or the government of the United States of America not recognizing the (US) American nation? But then, Israel is the land of unlimited possibilities.

An Officer in Court
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Gush Shalom, 28 August 2004

When I came out of the beautiful Supreme Court building, I was feeling depressed.

I had listened for hours to proceedings on a number of applications concerning the separation wall. I was especially interested in the part of the wall that is threatening to ruin the lives of the residents of A-Ram. There, it will be remembered, the planned wall runs the full length of the Jerusalem-Ramallah road, which passes through A-Ram. The strip along the middle of the road will be displaced by an 8-meter high concrete wall that will cut off most of the town’s inhabitants from their work places, schools, hospitals and even cemetery.

A very one-sided war
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Gush Shalom, 21 August 2004

"For all I care, they can starve to death!" announced Tzahi Hanegbi, after Palestinian prisoners declared an open-ended hunger strike against prison conditions. Thus the Minister for Internal Security added another memorable phrase to the lexicon of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Hanegbi became famous (or infamous) for the first time when, as a student activist, he was caught on camera with his friends hunting Arab students with bicycle chains. At the time I published a photo of him that would not have shamed German or Polish students in the 1930s. With a small difference: in the 30s the Jews were the pursued, now they were the pursuers.

Drought in Texas
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Gush Shalom, 16 August 2004

Once upon a time, an assistant to Levy Eshkol, our late Prime Minister, rushed up to him and cried: "Levy, a disaster! A drought has set in!"

"Where?" the Prime Minister asked anxiously, "in Texas?"

"No, here in Israel!" the man replied.

"Then there's nothing to worry about," Eshkol said dismissively.

Right from the beginning, the State of Israel has been critically affected by events in the United States. "If America sneezes, Israel catches cold," is the local version of the universal saying.

Some order in the mess
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Gush Shalom, 7 August 2004

Ariel Sharon's "disengagement" plan has already made a mess on all levels.

It has sparked a continuing cabinet crisis, an upheaval in several parties, a disorientation of public opinion, confusion in the security establishment and armed confrontations between Palestinian organizations.

The Israeli peace movement is mixed up like everybody else. Some support Sharon because of the plan and even want to join his government, others denounce Sharon and the plan furiously.

Marie and the ghosts
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Gush Shalom, 17 July 2004
[updated, 21 July 2004]

Sometimes a trivial episode throws a revealing light on a grave public disease.

A classic example: the Captain of Koepenick. On the face of it, it was a minor criminal incident: in 1906, a shoemaker named Wilhelm Voigt was released from prison, after serving a sentence for forgery. To get work he needed a passport, which, as a former convict, he could not get.

There are judges in The Hague
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Gush Shalom, 10 July 2004

One of the Israeli newspapers, Haaretz, put the two events on the front page: the 100th anniversary of the death of Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionist movement, and the judgement of the International Court of Justice, which declared the Israeli Separation Wall illegal.

This coincidence may seem fortuitous. What connection could there possibly be between a historical anniversary and the latest topical event?