Saturday, 9 June 2012
Syrian army executes prisoners, desecrates their corpses
This graphic footage, purportedly filmed by Syrian security forces loyal to Bashar al-Asad in March 2012, depicts what appears to be a field execution of 15 men in the Idlib countryside. The living are bound and shot; the corpses are then dragged, shot again, and exploded for the entertainment of the troops filming this video. It was leaked and uploaded by Syrian democracy activists on 7 June 2012.
Friday, 1 June 2012
Living without your name
From Neve Gordon:
My friend’s wife was accepted to a PhD program at McGill University in Montreal. They decided to move to Canada with their two children at about the same time that I was offered a fellowship at Princeton and decided to move with my family to New Jersey for a year. Hoping to rent out our apartments while we’re away, we both posted ads on the most popular website in Israel. I received about five calls a day and found a tenant within a couple of weeks. My friend received only three calls in four weeks, and none of the people who called came to look at his flat.
A few days ago he removed his ad from the website and posted a new one, only this time he changed his name from Hussein to Rami. Rami is an ethnically indeterminate name – it can be either Jewish or Palestinian – but there are no Jews called Hussein. Within three days ‘Rami’ received about thirty phone calls, and six people came to look at the flat. He expects to sign a lease with one of them tomorrow. In Israel, if you are a Palestinian and want to rent a flat, at times, to misquote Arthur Miller, you have to live without your name.
First published in London Review of Books
My friend’s wife was accepted to a PhD program at McGill University in Montreal. They decided to move to Canada with their two children at about the same time that I was offered a fellowship at Princeton and decided to move with my family to New Jersey for a year. Hoping to rent out our apartments while we’re away, we both posted ads on the most popular website in Israel. I received about five calls a day and found a tenant within a couple of weeks. My friend received only three calls in four weeks, and none of the people who called came to look at his flat.
A few days ago he removed his ad from the website and posted a new one, only this time he changed his name from Hussein to Rami. Rami is an ethnically indeterminate name – it can be either Jewish or Palestinian – but there are no Jews called Hussein. Within three days ‘Rami’ received about thirty phone calls, and six people came to look at the flat. He expects to sign a lease with one of them tomorrow. In Israel, if you are a Palestinian and want to rent a flat, at times, to misquote Arthur Miller, you have to live without your name.
First published in London Review of Books
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Poster of Jewish settler who shoots Palestinian children
This criminal Jewish settler specializes in shooting Palestinian children. Please share the picture widely.
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
US academic Ali Abunimah on history and culture
From Gilad Atzmon:
In the above clip I elaborate on US academic Ali Abunimah’s attitude towards history and culture.
I contend that since Israel defines itself as the Jewish state and its tanks are decorated with Jewish symbols, we are entitled to ask ourselves who are the Jews and what is Judaism and Jewishness? In my work I try to understand the role and the impact of Jewish culture on Israeli and Jewish politics – something I believe is necessary to bring peace to the region and beyond.
But Ali Abunimah doesn’t agree. In reference to a talk I gave at the Stuttgart One State Conference in Decemebr 2010, he suggested that history and politics are detached from culture – an unusual approach which contradicts all recognized, intellectual and philosophical understandings of humanity, history, politics as well as culture.
Abunimah says “Talking about Jewish culture is wrong because such arguments can be made about anyone. We could blame German culture for the history of Germany...”
Someone should tell Abunimah that this is exactly what intellectuals, historian and political scientists do. They search for the origins of political thoughts in culture, ideology, religion and heritage. For instance, those who study the Nazi era try to comprehend the impact of Wagner, the German symphony, Protestant culture, German philosophy, Martin Luther’s The Jews and their lies, Hegel and the German spirit, German early romanticism, Lebensphilosophie, Heine, Athens versus Jerusalem, and so on. It is obvious to me that, Abunimah hasn’t thought it through. However, it is never too late to admit a mistake and put it right.
To view Atzmon’s Stuttgart presentation click here.
In the above clip I elaborate on US academic Ali Abunimah’s attitude towards history and culture.
I contend that since Israel defines itself as the Jewish state and its tanks are decorated with Jewish symbols, we are entitled to ask ourselves who are the Jews and what is Judaism and Jewishness? In my work I try to understand the role and the impact of Jewish culture on Israeli and Jewish politics – something I believe is necessary to bring peace to the region and beyond.
But Ali Abunimah doesn’t agree. In reference to a talk I gave at the Stuttgart One State Conference in Decemebr 2010, he suggested that history and politics are detached from culture – an unusual approach which contradicts all recognized, intellectual and philosophical understandings of humanity, history, politics as well as culture.
Abunimah says “Talking about Jewish culture is wrong because such arguments can be made about anyone. We could blame German culture for the history of Germany...”
Someone should tell Abunimah that this is exactly what intellectuals, historian and political scientists do. They search for the origins of political thoughts in culture, ideology, religion and heritage. For instance, those who study the Nazi era try to comprehend the impact of Wagner, the German symphony, Protestant culture, German philosophy, Martin Luther’s The Jews and their lies, Hegel and the German spirit, German early romanticism, Lebensphilosophie, Heine, Athens versus Jerusalem, and so on. It is obvious to me that, Abunimah hasn’t thought it through. However, it is never too late to admit a mistake and put it right.
To view Atzmon’s Stuttgart presentation click here.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Friday, 23 March 2012
Tuesday, 13 March 2012
What happened to Palestine's steam railways?
From Stuart Littlewood:
Not all is doom and gloom here in the UK. The North Norfolk Railway (Poppy Line) put on its Spring Steam Gala last weekend and a good time was had by young and old.
Their cute little J15 was celebrating her 100th birthday, dwarfed by wildlife artist David Shepherd's mighty 'Black Prince'. The B12, which had been undergoing a major overhaul, emerged into the sunlight looking as brand spanking new as she did the day she was built in 1928. And two visitors joined the proceedings - the Great Western 'Kinlet Hall', 83 years old but absolutely immaculate, and a Black Five - to round off this steam spectacular.
North Norfolk Railway's Spring Steam Gala
As I snapped these snorting, chuffing, hissing beauties and basked in waves of nostalgia I couldn't help wondering what happened to Palestine's steam railways. In the days of the British Mandate there was an extensive rail network in the Holy Land with Lydda the hub.
When Britain quit Palestine in 1948 it left behind a considerable steam rail legacy. Does anyone have memories? But Lydda was renamed Lod after the Israelis attacked and annexed it. The same fate befell other Palestinian towns. Did anything survive? What happened to the trackbeds, locomotives and rolling stock? Are some hidden away in old sheds or did the Israelis steal everything that was moveable and destroy everything they could carry away?
In Britain the government discarded our fine steam locomotives in its unseemly rush for diesel in the 1960s. It was nothing short of criminal to treat our priceless heritage so carelessly. Enthusiasts scraped some money together and rescued what they could, and today there are well over 100 resurrected railways and tramways with more than 500 miles of track and some 400 stations. They carry about 7 million passengers a year and play a valuable role in tourism.
It is believed that nearly 3000 locomotives have been preserved or are restoration projects. The 120-ton 'Black Prince' is a class 9F heavy freight locomotive and one of the last to be build in the UK for main line use. David Shepherd paid just £3000 to save it from the scrap yard in 1967. "She was eight years old, she'd just had an overhaul and they were going to just chuck her away and cut her up," he said. "I managed to save her and thank God I did.
"You can have all sorts of emotional feelings on an engine when it's in steam! I just love this engine for the pleasure it gives."
In Palestine, as a consequence of the UN's daft Partition plan, key bridges and other rail infrastructure were destroyed in the 1948 war. Had the Palestinians been left in peace their steam railways would no doubt have played a major role in building the nation's economy and bringing prosperity.
By now they'd probably have a number of steam preservation lines in their coastal resorts and population centres like Jerusalem and Ramallah to excite the children, charm their parents and celebrate the romance of the steam age.
What a different world it could have been.
Not all is doom and gloom here in the UK. The North Norfolk Railway (Poppy Line) put on its Spring Steam Gala last weekend and a good time was had by young and old.
Their cute little J15 was celebrating her 100th birthday, dwarfed by wildlife artist David Shepherd's mighty 'Black Prince'. The B12, which had been undergoing a major overhaul, emerged into the sunlight looking as brand spanking new as she did the day she was built in 1928. And two visitors joined the proceedings - the Great Western 'Kinlet Hall', 83 years old but absolutely immaculate, and a Black Five - to round off this steam spectacular.
North Norfolk Railway's Spring Steam Gala
As I snapped these snorting, chuffing, hissing beauties and basked in waves of nostalgia I couldn't help wondering what happened to Palestine's steam railways. In the days of the British Mandate there was an extensive rail network in the Holy Land with Lydda the hub.
When Britain quit Palestine in 1948 it left behind a considerable steam rail legacy. Does anyone have memories? But Lydda was renamed Lod after the Israelis attacked and annexed it. The same fate befell other Palestinian towns. Did anything survive? What happened to the trackbeds, locomotives and rolling stock? Are some hidden away in old sheds or did the Israelis steal everything that was moveable and destroy everything they could carry away?
In Britain the government discarded our fine steam locomotives in its unseemly rush for diesel in the 1960s. It was nothing short of criminal to treat our priceless heritage so carelessly. Enthusiasts scraped some money together and rescued what they could, and today there are well over 100 resurrected railways and tramways with more than 500 miles of track and some 400 stations. They carry about 7 million passengers a year and play a valuable role in tourism.
It is believed that nearly 3000 locomotives have been preserved or are restoration projects. The 120-ton 'Black Prince' is a class 9F heavy freight locomotive and one of the last to be build in the UK for main line use. David Shepherd paid just £3000 to save it from the scrap yard in 1967. "She was eight years old, she'd just had an overhaul and they were going to just chuck her away and cut her up," he said. "I managed to save her and thank God I did.
"You can have all sorts of emotional feelings on an engine when it's in steam! I just love this engine for the pleasure it gives."
In Palestine, as a consequence of the UN's daft Partition plan, key bridges and other rail infrastructure were destroyed in the 1948 war. Had the Palestinians been left in peace their steam railways would no doubt have played a major role in building the nation's economy and bringing prosperity.
By now they'd probably have a number of steam preservation lines in their coastal resorts and population centres like Jerusalem and Ramallah to excite the children, charm their parents and celebrate the romance of the steam age.
What a different world it could have been.
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