Nuggets of humor from Ryan B.:
CJ: Guess what I did tonight?
Ryan: Oooooo.... did you have a DATE?!?!
CJ: Um, no... Has hell frozen over?
Geez, Ry, have you MET me?
What I DID do last night was, if you judge by the usual success of my dating life, more worthwhile. I went to hear John Reese, a hydrologist with the Palestinian Hydrology Group, also affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, speak about ecological and humanitarian efforts and conditions in Palestine.
I don't claim to espouse any of these groups (many reading this will be familiar with my line: I don't join things). I do know, however, that the people involved in them have first-hand information that is not available to me. This is especially true for the PHG, as I know jack-snot about water conditions, wells, irrigation, sanitation, etc. Was the presentation "biased"? Sure. The mere fact that the presenter has an opinion and an agenda, however, does not change the reality/truth/fact of what he experienced.
I was particularly struck by his description of the Israeli-enforced curfew in Palestine: over a 120 day period, curfew was lifted for a total of 100 hours. That averages to less than 1 hour a day. This is not the curfew your mother imposed, either; it does not take effect only after sundown, after the streetlights come on. This is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you walk out your front door without say-so you get SHOT. Aside from being denied basic freedom to go outside, Palestinians face more concrete problems stemming from this, from unemployment to health risks associated with not being able to take out the trash to sanitation trucks not being allowed to pump out their septic tanks -- when the trucks aren't just confiscated altogether.
As Ryan and I were arguing about this last night, he posited that the Israelis had paid for all of the roads and trucks the Palestinians complain of not being able to use, so therefore should be able to say who gets to use them. This is not the case. Nice, paved roads built by Palestinians have been appropriated by "settlers;" UN trucks meant for sanitation or to deliver water are regularly stopped by Israeli soldiers and are not allowed into cities. Etcetera, times three.
The Washington Report was started by former US foreign service and government officials to provide a more balanced look at Middle East affairs than is available through mainstream media sources. Once again, I do not endorse this publication as gospel; as one of many available resources, however, it seems to have a higher content of critical thought and a lower likelihood for suppressing stories that don't fit its "slant."
Have I become a militant anti-Israeli over night? Nope. Nor do I maintain my neutrality. I do not think that this is a matter of the Israeli People versus the Palestinian People. It's a matter of those in power using that power to make their own lives as comfortable as possible, regardless of the effect on those who don't look or think like them. Hearing John's stories of industry purposely locating ecologically destructive plants so that their waste runs onto Palestinian farmland, I was reminded of the way companies here in the US will locate plants in depressed economic areas because they know that people there will not have the resources to cause legal trouble for them.
There were quite a lot of these "cross-national" comparisons to be made. There were also some disturbing similarities in rhetoric between the US government's current campaign against Muslim states and the introduction given before John Reese before his presentation. The introductory speaker, whose name I did not get, introduced herself as a Palestinian activist, and went on to characterize the struggle in Palestine not as Israeli versus Palestinian, but as "justice versus Zionism and evil."
If both sides continue to characterize the other as categorically evil, there is no room for understanding. This is what troubles me most. No side "wins" until each accepts the other. Bandying about the word "evil" does nothing to bring about acceptance or understanding; it only increases division and hate.
Back to Ryan's original question, I did go with my friend Keith, who IS kinda hot... (sorry Keith, I had to say it).
CJ: Guess what I did tonight?
Ryan: Oooooo.... did you have a DATE?!?!
CJ: Um, no... Has hell frozen over?
Geez, Ry, have you MET me?
What I DID do last night was, if you judge by the usual success of my dating life, more worthwhile. I went to hear John Reese, a hydrologist with the Palestinian Hydrology Group, also affiliated with the International Solidarity Movement, speak about ecological and humanitarian efforts and conditions in Palestine.
I don't claim to espouse any of these groups (many reading this will be familiar with my line: I don't join things). I do know, however, that the people involved in them have first-hand information that is not available to me. This is especially true for the PHG, as I know jack-snot about water conditions, wells, irrigation, sanitation, etc. Was the presentation "biased"? Sure. The mere fact that the presenter has an opinion and an agenda, however, does not change the reality/truth/fact of what he experienced.
I was particularly struck by his description of the Israeli-enforced curfew in Palestine: over a 120 day period, curfew was lifted for a total of 100 hours. That averages to less than 1 hour a day. This is not the curfew your mother imposed, either; it does not take effect only after sundown, after the streetlights come on. This is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you walk out your front door without say-so you get SHOT. Aside from being denied basic freedom to go outside, Palestinians face more concrete problems stemming from this, from unemployment to health risks associated with not being able to take out the trash to sanitation trucks not being allowed to pump out their septic tanks -- when the trucks aren't just confiscated altogether.
As Ryan and I were arguing about this last night, he posited that the Israelis had paid for all of the roads and trucks the Palestinians complain of not being able to use, so therefore should be able to say who gets to use them. This is not the case. Nice, paved roads built by Palestinians have been appropriated by "settlers;" UN trucks meant for sanitation or to deliver water are regularly stopped by Israeli soldiers and are not allowed into cities. Etcetera, times three.
The Washington Report was started by former US foreign service and government officials to provide a more balanced look at Middle East affairs than is available through mainstream media sources. Once again, I do not endorse this publication as gospel; as one of many available resources, however, it seems to have a higher content of critical thought and a lower likelihood for suppressing stories that don't fit its "slant."
Have I become a militant anti-Israeli over night? Nope. Nor do I maintain my neutrality. I do not think that this is a matter of the Israeli People versus the Palestinian People. It's a matter of those in power using that power to make their own lives as comfortable as possible, regardless of the effect on those who don't look or think like them. Hearing John's stories of industry purposely locating ecologically destructive plants so that their waste runs onto Palestinian farmland, I was reminded of the way companies here in the US will locate plants in depressed economic areas because they know that people there will not have the resources to cause legal trouble for them.
There were quite a lot of these "cross-national" comparisons to be made. There were also some disturbing similarities in rhetoric between the US government's current campaign against Muslim states and the introduction given before John Reese before his presentation. The introductory speaker, whose name I did not get, introduced herself as a Palestinian activist, and went on to characterize the struggle in Palestine not as Israeli versus Palestinian, but as "justice versus Zionism and evil."
If both sides continue to characterize the other as categorically evil, there is no room for understanding. This is what troubles me most. No side "wins" until each accepts the other. Bandying about the word "evil" does nothing to bring about acceptance or understanding; it only increases division and hate.
Back to Ryan's original question, I did go with my friend Keith, who IS kinda hot... (sorry Keith, I had to say it).
posted by Turtle at 11:20 AM
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