“Love is the only freedom in the world because it so elevates the spirit that laws of humanity do not alter its course.”
“Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and ..........is created in a moment.”
Gibran says of the plight of the women by describing them as “the bird with broken wings in a cage.”

Hasapiko:

Justice???

Give me a break. Grow up.

Virginia777:
“First came the Dao and then virtue followed.
But what is virtue? Love and truth and justice combined.
He who would seek the Dao must climb the steps. There is no shortcut.
First justice and truth, then love, because without them love cannot exist.”
-Ancient Chinese proverb

Re: By Hasapiko, May 10 at 9:47 pm

Hasapiko,

You are using information about a period, almost a 100 years ago from sources I am sure are contaminated and infilterated by Zionist bullshitting and disinformation and misinformation.
What are we arguing about here??!! The basic fact is that the European Zionist, basically Russian and Polish Zionists, came to Palestine under the protection and tacit approval of the British Mandate and the Balfour declaration and expelled a large segment of the Palestinian people from their land and homes to a life of humiliation and hopelessness in squalid refugee camps or occupied ghettos.
The Zionists used terror, murder and ethnic cleansing tactics to make the Palestinians flee and abandon their homes and land.
That is the basic fact, so please, stop dancing around the bushes.

Hasapiko:

“I would posit that Palestinian impotence in the face of the Zionist invasion from 1921 to the present is what led to the deep rage which manifests itself in SOME parts of palestinian society as what the West considers to be terrorist or suicidal activity.”

Oh you would, would you. Listen, keep your blood thirst to yourself, I don’t care to hear it.

Again. Hatred doesn’t solve hatred. Only Love can do that.

truedigger3:
I felt pretty sure that my unkind comments about the Palestinians would get a rise out of somebody and voila. Well, I am happy to be an equal opportunity critic of both sides of this sorry story. If you believe that Palestine was a wonderful place pre-1918, the statistical data are not in your favour. I will only quote one or two figures that reflect standard of living: In 1914 the infant mortality rate in Palestine was 290/thousand(!) and male life expectancy was 30 years(!). This from http://www.palestineremembered.com/Acre/Palestine-Remembered/Story559.html#Table 2, hardly a Zionist site. I will not even get into the great famine of 1917-18. To dispel your other fantasies about Palestinian society and its leadership I would recommend you read some of what are considered to be relatively objective texts, for example Smith’s “Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict”.

Re: By Hasapiko, May 10 at 11:20 am

Hasapiko wrote:
“Now, getting back to you, let me suggest that Palestinian society pre-1921 (the beginning of the British mandate) was neither terroristic nor genocidal. However, it had many other flaws that made it easy pickins for the British and Zionists, namely, rank poverty, lack of an educated middle class, a primitive, disorganized societal structure, venal leadership, etc., etc.
I would posit that Palestinian impotence in the face of the Zionist invasion from 1921 to the present is what led to the deep rage which manifests itself in SOME parts of palestinian society as what the West considers to be terrorist or suicidal activity.
—————————————————————————-

Hasapiko,

With all due respect, you are completely misinformed.
Palestine before tht British mandate was part of the Ottoman Empire. It was prosperous “province”, with fairly modern cities, good amount of fruit Orchards, lot of Olive oil trees. The Palestinians had high literacy rate and intellectuals. There was some sheep and goat herding by the Beduin segment of the Palestinian people. The Palestinians had a good business and commerce acumen.
So, the Zionist story that Palestine was an arid desert and the zionists came and made the desert bloom is a complete lie
The Zionists started to come to Palestine in large numbers under the protection of the British who didn’t spare any effort to disarm the Palestinians and break any organized resistance and Jail and sometimes excute any resistors.

Virginia777:
Your sentiment is laudable. However, before addressing it, let me start at the beginning. My original comment was addressed to Nefesh who said: “Palestinian Arabs have fashioned for themselves the world’s first truly terrorist - and genocidal -  society” and in response to my comment she wrote: “...we all know Jews love life and these Arabs clearly do not.”
These words, probably written from the comfort of some living room in suburban Chicago or Tel Aviv or whereever, are tinged with the ignorance, triteness, bigotry and arrogance that do nothing to bring the peace you wish for any closer.
Now, getting back to you, let me suggest that Palestinian society pre-1921 (the beginning of the British mandate) was neither terroristic nor genocidal. However, it had many other flaws that made it easy pickins for the British and Zionists, namely, rank poverty, lack of an educated middle class, a primitive, disorganized societal structure, venal leadership, etc., etc.
I would posit that Palestinian impotence in the face of the Zionist invasion from 1921 to the present is what led to the deep rage which manifests itself in SOME parts of palestinian society as what the West considers to be terrorist or suicidal activity.
It is easy for us to say “darkness cannot chase out darkness, etc”, but I will remind you that the US has plenty of blood on its hands. We are responsible for the death of tens or hundreds of thousands in Iraq, the disposession of millions of other Iraqis and the ongoing violence there and I won’t even get into Vietnam, the racial cleansing of Native Americans, all done in the name of freedom and democracy. Yet you would condemn the Palestinian mother who believes in violence to achieve freedom and reclaim her home.

Hasapiko:

“So, why is it hard for you to understand that the Palestinians, stuck in poverty and ignominy for 63 years, would hate those whom they perceive to be the cause of their affliction?”

Its not that I do not understand their hatred, I do. But as you have said, violence is not the answer:

“Had you exterminated all the Palestinians in 1948, rather than kicking them out or letting them run away, the problem of the murderous cruel Palestinian Arabs would have gone away, but, then you would have become as cruel and murderous as them.”

and as for this:

“And, if hatred is not a solution (I never said it was) what is it?”

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. - Martin Luther King

Virginia777:
Please read my comment carefully. I am not condoning violence. I am only trying to remind Nephesh that Israel is stuck in a dilemma of its own making. If you read the history, you will find that the Zionist enterprise was warned, back in 1918, that colonizing Palestine en masse, especially on the back of an imperialist power, would give rise to massive indigenous resistance. On the other hand Europe Jewry faced an existential peril. Zionism had to make a difficult decision, but one that ultimately ended in the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians. So, why is it hard for you to understand that the Palestinians, stuck in poverty and ignominy for 63 years, would hate those whom they perceive to be the cause of their affliction? Are you really in a position to judge them? And, if hatred is not a solution (I never said it was) what is it?

Let’s all forget about the 1400 Gazans killed—a majority women and children. This film is BS.

Hasapiko:

“You see, Nephesh, Israel is the victim of its own compassionate caring nature. Had you exterminated all the Palestinians in 1948, rather than kicking them out or letting them run away, the problem of the murderous cruel Palestinian Arabs would have gone away, but, then you would have become as cruel and murderous as them.”

Give me a break. Take your blood thirst and stuff it.

Hatred is NEVER solved by hatred. Get used to it.

You see, Nephesh, Israel is the victim of its own compassionate caring nature. Had you exterminated all the Palestinians in 1948, rather than kicking them out or letting them run away, the problem of the murderous cruel Palestinian Arabs would have gone away, but, then you would have become as cruel and murderous as them. Unfortunately there are now millions of cruel murderous Palestinians with a sense that they too have a right to Palestine, just waiting for your iron wall to rust and crumble.

Nephesh,
Perhaps you are right. Perhaps all Jews are compassionate and caring and all Palestinian Arabs are cruel and murderous. That doesn’t change the fact that in your compassionate and caring way you, with the help of the British, took over their country without asking their permission, thus eliciting their cruel, murderous response. Perhaps your people should have taken over the country of a people who are as compassionate and caring as you are, but you didn’t. Perhaps the compassionate and caring people you didn’t choose would also have been smarter, better organized and less amenable to being kicked out of their country than the cruel, murderous and stupid ones who were.

A story could be made about the parents of Juliano Mer-Khamis, a film maker and activist who was murdered this year, as his mother,Arna, was an Israeli zionist and his father, Saliba, a christian Palestinian, operating within British mandated 1948 Palestine.
His mother, Arna, nearly died during the birth of Juliano thanks to “doctors” refusing to treat her on learning of her husband’s nationality.
The problems, in a lot of these cases, is not with people but ingrained, indoctrinated, religious prejudice, which is still alive and well and operating freely throughout this World..

Re: By nefesh, May 7 at 1:45 pm

Nefesh,

Your comment is crude, artificial, dumb and devoid of any truth or logic that it is not worth answering!

nefesh:

“we all know Jews love life and these Arabs clearly do not. “

I do not know that. In fact, I doubt that very much.

By hasapiko, May 6 at 12:52 pm -

...Substitute Aravi for Yehudi and you “get” Raida.

That’s just stupid. Even for Truthdig that was
idiotic.

Jews do not hope for their kids to be suicide
bombers. It is, however, a fact of Palestinian Arab
culture. Your lame equivocation won’t fool anyone.
Haters will ignore the truth, of course, but we all
know Jews love life and these Arabs clearly do not.
I’m teaching my kids to respect everyone and revere
life, and I will do anything in my power to make sure
they grow up safely, with wisdom and tolerance for
all. However, it is also an obligation to defend
ourselves when confronted with twisted evil such as
these Arab parents sending their kids out with bomb-
vests looking for Jews to slaughter - on buses, in
cafes, on the street, wherever they can find them.
What part of this can’t you understand?

Sounds cool.

Truthdigger3 enlightens my understanding of this story and I don’t plan to be manipulated by the film.

So it comes as a devastating shock when Mustafa suddenly addresses Eldar—and, more important, his camera lens—with the announcement that if Muhammad survives she hopes he will become … a suicide bomber.

No big shock there, really. Palestinian Arabs have fashioned for themselves the world’s first truly terrorist - and genocidal -  society.

Really! Is this story for real? Of course not.
I thought the Israelis are smarter than this crude piece of naive propoganda! OH, how humane and kind hearted the Israelis are and how hateful and vicious those Arabs are.  No Shit!. Tell that to the 1500 killed and 5000 maimed Palestinians in Gaza. Most of these victims were civilians, including hundreds of women and children, from bombing and fire bombing with phosphorus bombs of crowded urban areas in operation “Cast Lead”!!!??