Month: July 2014

• July 30, 2014

  Berlin in Gaza / Men at War / Mother of Life

   

  BERLIN IN GAZA
  At a certain point in every Israeli war fighting the Holocaust, there is a moment when the superior fire power merely rearranges the rubble of Berlin. Then depression sets in, reality sets in. You can’t bomb your way to safety, Hitler is still dead, there is still no peace, for this enemy can only be beaten with reconciliation not obliteration. Then they turn to us again, too proud to ask, we impoverished, bloodied, no resources, except our wounded open hearts.

  MEN AT WAR
  Men at war above all cannot abide their own impotence, and so they smash everything and everyone insight as a distraction.

  MOTHER OF LIFE
  Most important person in Jewish history? Not Abraham, not Moses. Beruriah. Hate the sin, not the sinner, hate the ideology not the ideologue, wish that crimes cease from this earth, not criminals. 
  The only path to life from Jewish …

• July 29, 2014

  Essential to Peacebuilding

   

  Essential to Peacebuilding is learning to accept blows, bad ones. How can we expect Israelis or Syrians or Iraqis not to become killers after suicide bombs on their streets or Palestinians not to become Hamasniks after losing everything if we cannot happily accept insults?
  Education does not matter on these challenges. It is education of the heart that allows you to accept blows for the greater good of peace.

  

  (Photo source: Belfast Telegraph)…

• July 29, 2014

  The Cycle of Intimate Relations

   

  The cycle of intimate relations between angry men with great power just continues to suck us all into its vortex , and it makes me profoundly sad and bewildered by its power. Think about the world we live in today, conditioned by Jibril, but more to the point, Bin Laden, Bush, Khameini, Assad, Nasrallah, Putin, Erdogan, Al Badghadi, Meshal, and, of course, my very own dearest and nearest, Netanyahu. We must face the darkness here of this moment in history of the Middle East, so that we know best how to shift the vortex in a new direction beyond these angry violent men.

  

  (Photo source: US News)…

• July 28, 2014

  “Gaza becomes Syria: Middle East geopolitics 2.0”- +972 Magazine

   

  Aziz and I published an article in +972 Magazine.  You can read the full article by clicking here, but here is the extract below.

  There are two main camps involved in negotiating a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel. However, the players are not within the camp that most would have expected. What started as Israel vs. Hamas is quickly becoming a geopolitical issue involving many new actors. While this might seem good for some, it should be seen as terrible news for Palestinians and Israelis alike.

  Today this same is happening in Gaza. ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, is already reported to have a presence in Gaza and is likely to try to take power from Hamas. While all the other regional powers are arguing about which “proposal” for a ceasefire should be accepted, more than 1,040 Palestinians have been killed and 6,000 injured,

  …

• July 28, 2014

  Zionism

   

  Antizionism is not antisemitism, for the simple reason that tens of thousands of identified Jews, secular or religious, are avowed antizionists. At the same time, antizionism has not done a goddam thing for the grievances of millions of Palestinians against millions of Zionists who run a successful country and who are going nowhere. 
  I am sick and tired of “anti” philosophies while children are dying needlessly. Someone tell me how to save the children of the whole Middle East, and keep the “anti’s” out of the conversation.

  …

• July 24, 2014

  Note from the War Front to Fellow Jews

  The relationships between loving Jews and Arabs, even in Gaza right this moment, is plainly evident. I get reports every day. But it is hard to imagine for those who carry suspicion and fear and loathing of one side. But let’s talk about the strategic and moral and rational necessity of empathy. Hamas is their only defense right now. Hamas is not seen as the oppressor thanks to the twelve year siege and the constant wars. They WOULD be seen as such if anyone had a chance to live a normal life in Gaza. Would you have seen the Stern Gang as an oppressor in 1945, with both the British and the Nazis bearing down on you and the Mufti siding with the Nazis, even if you hated their philosophy of violence against civilians? You don’t have to approve of Hamas, you can consider them criminals, they are.  But you …

• July 23, 2014

  Mother/Father in a Time of War

   

  Fear pervades, 
  Terror strikes the land, 
  We need our mother/fathers. 
  Earth is been struck by a few Father/Mothers of Death, 
  Marching their Children into murder/suicide.
  So we become Father/Mothers of Life, 
  We become Hava, 
  Em Kol Chai, Mother of all of Life. 
  The Secret of Creation is not an original Mother/Father of all Humans,
  though that too science claims.
  The Secret is that only Mother/Fathers of every human,
  Save as all humans from each other.

   

  (Photo source: Nutrition and Beyond)…

• July 22, 2014

  Reflections in My Middle Eastern Mirror

   

  Compassion fatigue.
  Strange expression.
  What is the fatigue?
  Too much suffering, 
  Too many people crying,
  Too many dead bodies, 
  Too many people 
  Demanding that I love them,
  But only them,
  That I see only their tears,
  As they fall upon the bloodied bodies
  That once laughed
  and danced
  and cheered.
  Ask me for compassion
  And I will refuse.
  Ask me who are you?
  Ask a peacemaker,
  Who
  the
  fuck
  are
  you?
  Look at that goddam mirror,
  Do you know any more?
  Or does everything bleed red,
  In the cracked mirror,
  Which you broke,
  In a fit of rage?
  …

• July 21, 2014

  Short Reflections on the Gains and Losses of War

   

  ENEMIES
  
  When you stay with a family that thrives on hatred of everyone else, 99.9% of humanity fears you, and certainly dislikes you. When you grow into your original family of humanity, your enemies are only a small percent of your old family that thrived on fear and hatred of the rest. 
  
  LOVE
  
  If you want the joy of loving humanity, you must endure the sorrow of losing many loved ones. The more you love, the more you lose. If you are not prepared, bitterness will swallow you.

  If you prepare yourself for loss, then the light of love will endure and even conquer the darkness dividing you from enemies, when the men with guns slink into the shadows exhausted and defeated.

  CALCULATIONS

  Miscalculations cause much human violence. Each side thinks its escalation of inflicted pain will cause the other to back down, and then it does the …

• July 21, 2014

  Victims and Perpetrators: A Twisted Dance

   

  Victims will always want their story told no matter how bloody. no
  matter how gory, no matter how outrageous. Perpetrators will always want to
  ignore the very same thing.
  
  Victims will always be outraged by crimes committed, whereas
  perpetrators or their relatives will always be outraged by the report
  of crimes. For one died at the hand of the crimes, whereas the other
  died at the hand of the report. One lost their bodies, and one lost their souls.

  …