Yahoo! News reports that Pulitzer-prize winning author Alice Walker, who wrote “The Color Purple,” is traveling to Gaza with a group of female activists to deliver aid and meet with non-governmental organizations and residents. The trip was organized by U.S. anti-war group Code Pink.
The group’s goal is to highlight the devastation of the Israeli offensive on Gaza’s residents. Walker called for “Americans who give so much military aid to Israel to understand how their money was being used.”
“It’s very important that they understand what is happening, and that we hold our own administration accountable,” she said.
“I feel that what is happening in the Middle East is very important because the situation is so volatile,” said Walker, speaking by telephone Saturday from the Rafah border crossing as her group waited to travel into Gaza. “I love people, and I love children and I feel that the Palestinian child is just as precious as the African-American child, as the Jewish child.”
The situation is volatile, that’s for sure. I’m in Israel almost every summer, and every time there’s some sort of violent incident–this year it’s been bulldozer attacks in crowded places. I seldom comment on stories like this one because commentary on Israel from either side is rarely met with supportive and understanding discussion. However, I think the implication of this story and Walker’s comments are that Israelis are using American aid to target Palestinian women children, which is simply untrue.
In many cases Hamas intentionally positions their operatives in civilian-heavy areas to force the Israeli military into an impossible choice: keep allowing terrorists to send rockets and bombs into their country to kill civilians and cause devastation; or take them out, knowing that because of Hamas strategy, devastation will likely be a byproduct, and civilians will likely get hurt or killed. If Israel does nothing, the world may not condemn them, but Israeli civilians remain targets. But if Israel does do something to protect its citizens, the world cries human rights violations. And either way, children and civilians will suffer.
What would you do, if your home was under attack?
posted March 11, 2009 at 6:46 am
i read occasionaly your (biased) cooment about mrs.walker visit to gaza , and i’d like to comment also on your demonstration and analysis of the situation there.. first of all .. yes i agree that if some people attack your home with rockets , u are normally would react to it.. but that’s irrelevant to th issue , precisely it’s just a shot in the middle of lot of events.. for instance you didnt mention ,i know you dicard, that BLOCKADE and EMBARGO and humilaiation the gazan people are treated like the jews of Concentration camp. while their kids are dying slowly due to lack of simple medicines and elctricity essential for surgeries and incubators for little babies or kidney failure patients for more than years as indiscrimnate punishment. number two .. you , intentionally, discard/hide that majority of the gazans are refugees and ancestor of refugees whom expelled from what’s called now israel , so defacto it’s not JUST israelis settlers home , it’s also refugees lands which are consifcated and denied to return to them. number three , i notice also that you , discard, and try hide the big elephant in the room which is israel barbaric actions regard to occupation and expanding settlements and expelling lands owners and uprooting their olive trees. The question is how would u react if you are under this zion occupation which aims to get rid of you.?
posted March 11, 2009 at 8:39 am
So everything pre-2005 was just hunky-dory? And that’s why Israel… and Egypt, by the way, funny how this is only a Jewish/ Zionist issue when it’s convenient… tightened the borders? Abraham claims that the “zion”s are trying to get rid of the Palestinians, but it appears that most Israelis are in favor of a two state solution and peace with their neighbors, while Palestinians prefer that Israelis disappear occasionally using terrorism to speed along the process. Who, exactly, is trying to get rid of who?
If the citizens of Gaza are so hell bent on peace, maybe they should let their leaders know that firing rockets indiscriminately into Israel is bad. Using civilians as shields is bad. Kidnaping soldiers via tunnels and refusing to allow access to the Red Cross is bad. Basically, doing everything possible to bait Israel in the hopes that the propaganda tide turns your way, while effective, is disingenuous and is what ultimately leads to Gaza’s continued suffering.
And by the way, if you’re going to talk about barbaric treatment of Gazans, would you mind saying a few words about Hamas’ actions towards suspected Fatah sympathizers in the aftermath of the Israeli action? Some of the incidents I saw and read about online make The Color Purple read like a Disney fairy tale.
So send a message to Hamas. If it wants to be recognized as a legitimate government, it needs to act like one, using diplomacy over violence. Only then will it be safe for neighboring countries to trade freely and open borders.
posted March 11, 2009 at 8:59 am
It is the Palestinians under attack. The West Bank is their land not Israel’s so stop whinging about Israel being under attack.
As for the nonsense “how would you feel if your home was under attack”, go and ask the Afghans and Iraqis bombed to bits by the coalition of the killing for no reason at all.
posted March 11, 2009 at 10:04 am
To JJ :- actually Hamas is elected government whether u and me accepted it or not ..
secondly i ofcourse don’t buy that Hamas use human shields while fighting.. and if you really aware of the news and timelines events .. the cease fire dictated to lift tup the embargo and stop rockets .. and lotsa sources said that israel broke the ceasefire in 11 nov 2008 and several times in one week. plus it ddnt lift up the barbaric blockade against the palestinians .
thirdly .. it’s pity that u arent aware of the recent poll about the majority of the israeli refused to withdraw from westbank and forms two states solution as attached in my post above , and israel doesnt recognise palestine as a state while arafat and fateh recognised israel .. but they got screwed and beseiged and embarrased the fateh gov many times by expanding settlements , which you don’t condemn it.
you also mention kidnapping SOLDIER , while discarding about 11 THOUSANDS palestinians in israel jails including women and children without trials like ppl in Gunatanamo .. is that kinda hypocrisy u adopt?
posted March 11, 2009 at 10:31 am
The Israeli’s have laid siege to Gaza from land, sea, air. They made their own inilateral decision to “withdraw” a few years ago but they still control the strip. That is why Palestinians have to tunnel underground to get the goods they need. Any intelligent person can see what is going on, despite the propoganda by the pro-zionist media in the USA. How about we ask tne questions
“WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF A FOREIGN PEOPLE OCCUPIED YOUR LAND AND PUSHED YOU INTO GAZA, AN OPEN AIR PRISON, AND KEPT YOU UNDER LOCK AND KEY?” Might you consider lobbing rockets over to your old home where Jews from all over have come and settled? I think the answer would we “Yes” by most normal humans.
What Israel should do is admit a great injustice has been done to the Palestinians for 60 years. They need to ask their forgiveness and they need to acknowledge their right to exist on the land that has belonged to them for generations. They need to knock down the apartheid wall and the many road blocks. They need to overthrow their Zionist dictators and we in the USA need to do the same and overthrow the Zionists who control congress, who are stifling any discussion on the issue (google Chas Freeman) and who are the biggest danger to our freedom and democracy today.
posted March 11, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Abraham, the poll you refer to was Abbas running an ad, not a real survey. Of course the most radical people responded in higher numbers. The next poll mentioned in the article was conducted jointly by the Harry S Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah. The results of that poll were statistically the same for Palestinians and Israelis, but the outcome wasn’t sensationalist enough for Haaretz to mention it first, apparently.
To address your other points- yes, Hamas is the elected government, just like the government of Sudan was rightfully elected. That does not mean that it is concerned with the welfare of its citizens. Politics = money. Look at how baly Arafat robbed the Palestinians. There’s money to be made in victimhood and the people in this region know it. Evidence of this is that no one has any idea how much aid that gets through to Gaza actually makes it to the people or is allocated to projects that can sustain people in the long term. When aid came in after the Israeli action, Hamas hoarded it for themselves. Even the major media sites reported this. By the way, are other Arab countries breaking down the door trying to help? There’s an awful lot of silence from the neighbors! And you forgot to address Egypt.
I’m sorry you disagree about human shields. Look on liveleak.com for footage of Palestinian fighters setting up mobile missile launchers in front of civilian buildings, firing and running before fire is returned. There’s no better propaganda than dead or injured civilians- and they know it. Just wondering- why is it so easy to find footage of people dancing in the streets and firing weapons in the air when Israeli children are killed, but no one danced and sang when Palestinian children died? Here’s a hint- we were busy crying, too.
Illegal settlements- I’m totally against them. The people who do this are extremists and do not have the support of main-stream Israelis or American Jews. There are radicals all over the region. Any surprise that Israel has them, too? The government came to blows with them a few years ago. Lately I get the impression that they don’t know what to do with them.
As far as prisoners- both sides are locked in a dance. Good comparison to Gitmo. If you suspect someone is a terrorist, do you wait it out and see? The situation is absurd, so the responses are also absurd. How do you suggest it is resolved? Hopefully, the new American administration can help sort things out. I do believe in my heart that people want to live in peace and security.
posted March 11, 2009 at 7:58 pm
To JJ
ummm i am not sure that presdient of sudan is rightfully elected .. i consider him as a dictator like many US allies arab rulers whom they are called “Moderates”.. personally i want the sudanese president to be arrested for the justisce of the voiceless people.
don’t you know that Gaza is the MOST populist region in the WORLD? so i and entire districts were bombed and schools and legislative building.. actually i feel sorry that u aren’t aware of these details.
if i suspect someone as terrorist .. i arrest him and try him .. not locking him in prison for years without trials .. the simple lgical concept that person is innocent till he’s proved guilty .. unlike your mentality suggests that person is guilt till he PROVES himself innocent and he will not prove.. and i said kids and children among the prisoners.. the palestinians dont dance for killing kids .. but they are busy to bury their died kids cuz of slow death either by lack of medicines or essential equipments to survive. again you use Propaganda .. u are against illegal settelments but got astonised why the palestinians are angry. it’s u dont like the kid be burned but u are surprised why is he screaming because he’s burned ..!! hahaha
personally i don’t like arafat too but he was described as peaceful leader and recognised israel and signed oslo accords and and .. and by the way US nor israel care if the palestinian leader is corrupt or not , what they only care that he serves the agenda and be toothless , and the palestinian chose hamas cuz of the severe corruption by (some) fateh candidates but the US and israel didnt like the result of the game they wanted to begin.
Again you discard that israel dont recognise the two states solution or even accept to withdraw from westbank .. and after rabin death , natanyahy and sharon ruined oslo accords and road map. hamas gave the fateh the oppurtunity to negotiate and show what they could gain .. only impotent negotiations with smiles and photos ..even Abbas told that israel doesn’t want peace according to the URL above .. syria offered peace and no rockets from golan heights for decades .. but israel annexed golan heights.. so the excuse is not hamas or etc ..it’s israel rejection of “peace” but wanting the “piece”
posted March 11, 2009 at 8:06 pm
they are not just jewish extremists , they are cuddled by the zionist regime , they are protected by IOF troops , they have the right to vote in the elections and the israeli leaders appease them to gain more votes. plus the zionist decieving government are pumping money to expand settelments or build new colonies and clusters and the AIPAC which is very powerful lobby in US sugarcoat what israel did against the innocent palestinians. and israeli gov refused the return of the refugees who are expelled.. it’s NOT just bunch of extremists .. it’s a state policy and terrorism.
actually the propaganda that you try to use became too old to work , precisely it doesnt work anymore.. the current and new generations know more details and facts about the zionist regime and steps to confiscate lands at the expense of the indigenous people unlike the people who lived in the 50s and the 60s.
posted March 11, 2009 at 8:27 pm
to JJ .. also i noticed that u visited israel every summer .. why don’t you move your butt and take a taxi for 10 minutes and visit westbank .., i didnt say gaza, and stand for minutes with the JEWISH women in HUNDREDS of checkpoints who monitor the brutality of the IOF with the palestinians to cross from road to other in their OWN city to reach hospital or go to their work in hours while they are supposedly to reach it in less than 10 minutes. go ask those jewish woman about their investigations and notes or watch the vedio clip in the url above ..
go ask israeli gosh shalom organisation which slams israel and zionists about the human rights they violate and the inhumane treatment towards the palestinians.
i also noticed that u mentioned that some attacks with his bulldozer in sirael .. while you don’t mention the fully armed bulldozers and dozers to destroy houses and farms in westbank .. and to install roads only for JEWS and no body else is allowed to walk in or be shot!.
i also noticed that you didnt mention the israeli refusniks who refuse to serve in the IOF army cuz they treat the palestinian like animals adn those refusniks are called in israel as cowards.
JJ i also notice that you are one eyed person who claim things and don’t mention the other side’s calamity ,and are not fair .. shame on you!
posted March 14, 2009 at 3:42 pm
To Gly:
WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF A GROUP OF TERRORIST THUGS BLEW UP YOUR GRANDPARENTS ENJOYING A HOLIDAY DINNER, YOUR TEENAGE CHILD (NIECE OR NEPHEW) DANCING AT A DISCOTEQUE, YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER ON A BUS GOING TO SCHOOL OR WORK, YOUR MOTHER, FATHER, SISTER, BROTHER, NIECE, NEPHEW, OR BEST FRIEND HAVING AN ICE CREAM CONE OR SLICE OF PIZZA AT A LOCAL RESTAURANT?”
Might you consider retaliating against those perpetrators. I think the answer would be “Yes” – by most normal humans.
posted March 15, 2009 at 10:01 am
lee ann , i would feel crazy that occupiers dance on my stolen land while i am expelled outta it… and i would turn their life to hell