kerkko.fi

YOU

Take my water.
Burn my olive trees.
Destroy my house.
Take my job.
Steal my land.
Imprison my father.
Kill my mother.
Bomb my country.
Starve us all.
Humiliate us all.

BUT

I am to blame:
I shot a rocket back.

The "Gaza Youth Breaks Out" manifesto does not put forth any clear analysis of the current historical situation, or outline a response to it. It does not invite anyone to join anything. Its tone is denunciatory rather than analytical. Its language is apolitical: the terminology of resistance common to Palestinian manifestos is replaced here by use of the f-word. It lacks any mobilisational dimension.

Without being rooted in any particular or collective vision of change, the demands articulated in the manifesto are meaningless. Perhaps this is why it is so attractive to those who have read it on Facebook, and the European and American media who have taken it up. It caters to western tastes and desires, especially to the fantasy of a digitally connected youth emerging from cyberspace as agents of transformative change in the real world.

In the case of Palestine, this fantasy does a number of things besides soothing guilty consciences. It reframes the issue of justice for Palestine in vacuous and unthreatening terms, casts the method by which change may occur into virtual space, and empties the Palestinian body politic of the thoughtfully articulated demands of its millions of citizens.

http://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2011/01/10/karma-nabulsi/facebook-in-gaza/

Source: Israeli television Channel 2 comedy show "Eretz Nehederet" ("Wonderful Country"), Season 8, Episode 1, skit "Kindergarten Hope".

We, the youth in Gaza, are fed up with Israel, Hamas, the occupation, the violations of human rights, and the indifference of the international community. We want to scream and break this wall of silence, injustice, and indifference; scream with all the power in our souls in order to release this immense frustration that consumes us because of the situation we live in.

We are like lice between two nails living a nightmare inside a nightmare, no room for hope, no space for freedom. We are sick of being caught in this political struggle; sick of coal dark nights with airplanes circling above our homes; sick of innocent farmers getting shot in the buffer zone; sick of bearded guys walking around with their guns abusing their power, beating up or incarcerating young people demonstrating for what they believe in.

We are sick of the wall of shame that separates us from the rest of our country and keeps us imprisoned in a stamp-sized piece of land; sick of being portrayed as terrorists, homemade fanatics with explosives in our pockets and evil in our eyes; sick of the indifference we meet from the international community, the so-called experts in expressing concerns and drafting resolutions but cowards in enforcing anything they agree on.

We are sick and tired of living a shitty life, being kept in jail by Israel, beaten up by Hamas, and completely ignored by the rest of the world.

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Paris that "there was a single door [in the peace process] and that it was imperative to move through it now." French diplomats said Sarkozy had three things to say to Netanyahu: "you think you have time, but you do not"; "you think you have an alternative solution, but you do not"; and "you think you are stronger than the Palestinians, but you are not".

http://wikileaks.fi/cable/2009/06/09PARIS827.html

The left's thinking is governed by the "Standard Left Explanatory System" -- an intellectual construct that gained popularity in Europe and the US in the 1960s after the demise of European colonialism. The basic principle is simple: Always support the underdog, particularly when non-Western, and always accuse Western powers, preferably the US and its allies, for what the underdog does. Anything aggressive or destructive a non-Western group says or does must be explained by Western dominance or oppression.

The system assumes that if you are nice to people, all conflicts will disappear. It disregards the human desire for dominance, power, and a belief system that gives them self-respect. The system, under the guise of humanitarianism, assumes that non-Western groups do not have a will of their own; that all they do, feel, or want is reactive to the West. It is devoid of respect for non-Western groups: It assumes that they are not responsible for their deeds, and that all they do must be explained by Western victimization.

One of the last remaining Auschwitz survivors has launched a blistering attack on Israel over its occupation of Palestine, The Herald reports. Dr Hajo Meyer, 86, sparked a furious reaction from hardline Jewish lobby groups, with Dr Meyer branded an "anti-Semite" and accused of abusing his position as a Holocaust survivor.

Dr Meyer said there were parallels between the treatment of Jews by the Nazis and the treatment of Palestinians by Israelis. "The Israelis tried to dehumanise the Palestinians, just like the Nazis tried to dehumanise me. Nobody should dehumanise any other and those who try to dehumanise another are not human," he said.

Dr Meyer also insisted the definition of "antisemitic" had now changed. "Formerly an antisemite was somebody who hated Jews because they were Jews and had a Jewish soul. But nowadays an antisemite is somebody who is hated by Jews," the 86-year-old death camp survivor said as he began a lecture tour of Scotland.

"Maybe we should start calling "real anti-semitism" by another name," one internet commentator suggested. "Maybe something that does not suggest that the plight of this one group of people is completely unconnected to the plight of others? This may sound crazy, but I suggest the term racism."

Boycotts of Israeli products and services by governments gives a boost to boycotts by non-government bodies around the world. Human-rights organizations in Europe are running campaigns to boycott Israeli products. They note that boycott is an especially effective weapon against Israel because Israel is a small country, dependent on exports and imports. They also point to the success of the economic boycott against the apartheid regime in South Africa.

The world watched Israel pound Gaza with bombs on live television in Operation Cast Lead. No public-relations machine in the world could explain the deaths of hundreds of children, the destruction of neighborhoods and the grinding poverty afflicting a people under curfew for years. They were not even allowed to bring in screws to build school desks. Then came the flotilla, complete with prominent peace activists, which ended in nine deaths, adding fuel to the fire.

Underlying the anger against Israel lies disappointment. Since the establishment of the state, and before, we demanded special terms of the world. We played on their feelings of guilt, for standing idle while six million Jews were murdered. But then came the occupation, which turned us into the evil Goliath, the cruel oppressor, a darkness on the nations. And now we are paying the price of presenting ourselves as righteous and causing disappointment: boycott.

http://t.co/5CNx5vi

"It's a little girl. She's running defensively eastward."

"Are we talking about a girl under the age of 10?"

"A girl about 10, she's behind the embankment, scared to death."

"I think that one of the positions took her out."

"I and another soldier ... are going in a little nearer, forward, to confirm the kill ... Receive a situation report. We fired and killed her ... I also confirmed the kill. Over."

"This is commander. Anything that's mobile, that moves in the zone, even if it's a three-year-old, needs to be killed. Over."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/nov/16/israel2/print