Posted by Susan Stark
WE ARE NOT ALONE
We, Palestinians, are not alone
The best of humanity is on our side
Mighty truth… Gracious morality is on our side
Justice, dignity, human values, radiant hope are on our side
Soil, sand, and stones
Trees, poppies, lemon zest, and morning mist
Jerusalem sunshine and Jenin’s moonlight
Haifa’s Carmel and Jaffa’s shoreline
Are all on our side
We stand firm
As the stick of Moses
Splitting good and evil
Refusing to bow down
Our tragedy is a sieve
Filtering the wicked away
We all live a fleeting moment and soon die…
Better to die standing on our feet
Than to live crawling on our knees
Better to live with a wounded body
And a soul whole
Than to live and die
Inflated by arrogance
Bent by corruption
Twisted by greed
weighed down by oppression
Lusting after power
With a disfigured soul
Poem by Nahida
14 Comments.
Who fired the first rocket after the expiration of the cease fire?
I dunno. The American right treats this as a black and white issue and the American left treats it as a white and black issue. Boo-urns.
Aren't most of the innocents not dying on their feet, but being crushed by collapsed houses as they sleep and split by bomb shards as they walk along the street? Is dying on your feet a metaphor for defiance? Is it a tit-for-tat justification for 300 Qassam rocket attacks a month?
Operation Cast Lead is a tragedy. That's pretty clear; what I'm not so eager to endorse is the idea that the conflict is wholly, wholly and utterly unilateral. I don't consider the al-Aqsa Martyr Brigades to represent gracious morality or human values. It doesn't matter that the Israeli government doesn't represent those things either.
Go ahead and fight on your feet susan. Oh wait, you just talk. You live vicariously through the suffering of others. If you really cared you would be laying your life on the line…however you just do what all posers do…..talk.
I would be wary to assert that "the best of humanity" sides with the Palestinians, because a lot of the scum also sides, unilaterally, with them.
But, of course, this is a leftist cause célèbre, so it must be right, right?
Neither side is innocent. Both are wrong, fueled by fundamentalists. The Israeli government is often at the political mercy of the ultra-Orthodox, even though the ultra-Orthodox are vastly outnumbered by secular Jews. As always, those who believe that God is on their side are especially dangerous.
The actions of the Israelis is unconscionable. 300 civilians is horrible. Israeli extremists are part of the problem, big time. In Jerusalem, I once heard an Israeli rabbi tell a girl in my (Jewish) tour group that she should be "happy that those filthy Arabs weren't raping and murdering" her.
That said, the Palestinians aren't angels either. They blow up children and civilians as well, although less efficiently. And I hate to say this, but they started it. What exactly did they expect Israel to do? Pass out fucking cotton candy after rockets went into their borders? Hamas has put all Palestinians in serious danger.
The zionist cancer, aka Israel, is attacking its concentration camp. Provoke, starve, deny medicine, act innocent, attack. Repeat, rinse, repeat.
The zionist cancer is really conducting a pre emptive strike against a whatever feeble efforts Obama and his zionist lite regime may try.
Crocodile tears from the zionist cancer's amen corner notwithstanding.
Susan,
Israel started it's air campaign on Dec 27th. Hamas started firing missles into Israel on Dec 19. Did you post and Israeli poem or are you an anti-semite?
I condemn Israel's attack on the Palestinans utterly and without hesitation.
Ever watch "Futurama"? The government of Israel is like a malign "Brain Slug Trust". It's one thing they parasite off the USA in what is legally "Sedition" in any other country including theirs, but they hurt people they should try to live with and they use us to back them up. Kind of like old cliche fiction where an older kid saves a young weak kid from being beaten by bullies, but it goes to the wimps head. Next thing you know he's being a bully himself, using the threat of his older friend to stop anyone fighting back. And the older kid either withdraws his protection or he gets in trouble over something the younger kid did and can no longer help him. So the nerd is back to square one, only this time he has a lot more enemies and they really want to hurt him this time…
But I guess such a powerful lesson on how real life can be is too smart for the American public anymore.
It's not my poem. This was written (allegedly) by a Palestinian, which I'm not.
For the record, I have never approved of the Palestinian suicide bombings or their firing of rockets into villages, either morally or as a legitimate resistance tactic. There is a difference between *resistance* and *revenge*, and these tactics used by Palestinians are simply just revenge. And revenge doesn't solve anything. On the other hand, when the Gazans tore down the fence on the Egyptian border in January, that was an act of perfectly legitimate resistance. When someone is trying to starve you, that's what you do.
The so-called "withdrawal" from Gaza was _not_ a land for peace deal, it was a unilateral action by Ariel Sharon designed to turn Gaza into an open-air prison. There was no negotiation with Abbas over this. But as usual, the mainstream media are parroting the "we withdrew and look what they did" line.
I genuinely don't like to talk or think about this issue, but really, it's becoming too much lately.
"…On the other hand, when the Gazans tore down the fence on the Egyptian border in January, that was an act of perfectly legitimate resistance. When someone is trying to starve you, that's what you do.
The so-called "withdrawal" from Gaza was _not_ a land for peace deal, it was a unilateral action by Ariel Sharon designed to turn Gaza into an open-air prison. There was no negotiation with Abbas over this. But as usual, the mainstream media are parroting the "we withdrew and look what they did" line."
– Susan Stark
The Gazans blew the fence again a couple of days ago, and were shot at by Egyptian border guards. I don't know if anybody from Gaza sneaked out to buy basic necessities like they did before.
The whole deal with this attack is not about those rinky dink Quassam rockets, it's about punishing the Gazans for voting Hamas in 2006 and sticking by their vote. That miserable 20 foot "security fence" (another Sharon innovation) in the West Bank does the same thing but a lot slower with the added benefit of exproprating farm land and villages. If the Israelis cannot starve the Palestinians then they sick the IDF on them; a "plan" similar to the one the US used on Nicaragua from 1981-1990. I hope it does not succeed.
– mr. mike
Israel is teaching Palestine women and kids (that cowards) they can't serve as Hamas human shields. And it's a definitive lesson. If you understand me.
The definitive lesson is the one the Jews learned in Lebanon a few years ago. If you understand me, that is.
Lol!
Its honestly interesting every time I read about the Palestinian people and the Israelis.
"WE ARE NOT ALONE" starts the poem. It's interesting that they always remember the UN mandate for Israel and all of the wars. Yet they forget how the Arab nations refused to grant them citizenship or any rights. They left them there, alone.
The Palestinian people are nothing but a herd of sheep being guided by the Arab nations. If the Palestinian people were to ally with Israel and form a bond of solidarity. I guarantee you the money from the Arab nations would dry up real quick. You might ask why the Arab nations don't do anything about it? Well… they did. Many nations with many soldiers were defeated by a nation making shell casings out of brass lipstick cases. Victory belongs to he who wants it the most. Therefore, its easier to use the Palestinian people to attack Israel than send their armies in again and watch them be destroyed.
The "historians" of the area also forget how the Jews lived in the area peacefully before. It wasn't until the 1940s with Hitler and the Mufti that antisemitism actually came to the Arab world. When it did come they made it retroactive and applied a new found ideology to old ways of thinking and history. An ideology that did not exist before was now according to them there forever.
I also disagree with the Israeli people's actions. However, how many microseconds would it take for the US to bomb the ever living shit out of Canada or Mexico if they were to send missiles to New York or LA? Think about it, your neighbor shoots at you with a pistol and you are holding a full auto assault rifle, do you just hold back?
The really sad part of the conflict is that the moderates never win out. The extremists always hijack arguments on either side and take it to the far extreme. The Palestinians are imbued with an antisemitic rhetoric which never existed there before the Mufti and Hitler. The Israelis and the Zionist cause, which ironically is older than Arab antisemitism and that is why they settled in Africa. When the Arab authorities recognize that the Israelis and them lived in the same land before and they drop antisemitism; then when the Israelis drop their extremism then we can finally have a first step towards a real solution.
But frankly I am willing to drop my life in a heart beat to go fight against those who want to exterminate an entire population. Whether those to be exterminated are the Jews, Muslims, Catholics, whatever.
I know more than likely extremists are going to hijack my argument so I will not check back to see if anybody posted.
Peace.
in my view both sides are shades of grey. But in my view, palestine (thanks to hamas) will allways be the darker shade