Arab as violent

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Permalink Reply by Autistic socialist on November 25, 2011 at 11:55pm

If you walk through as a Jew in full orthodox clothing you'll get the same reaction as if you went through the black ghetto with a Nazi helmet on... You'll be lucky to make it out alive... But there are lots of anti-zionist jewish bloggers who went through Gaza and the West Bank and had a positive experience... It depends on if you are an a-hole or not... Like France!   

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Permalink Reply by Jeff stern on November 29, 2011 at 3:05pm

You have to love the comparision of Orthodox Jews to Nazi's always a winner in my book.  The idea is that if you dont show that you are Jewish they will not beat you, great!

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Permalink Reply by Autistic socialist on December 2, 2011 at 4:33am

Not comparing Orthodox Jews to Nazis, just comparing reactions. People often have expectations about people based on what they wear. You can't walk through a Palestinian area dressed in full Orthodox regalia without making the Palestinians nervous that you are a settler out to take their land.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff stern on December 4, 2011 at 9:15pm

So if a Jew is walking in a Palestinian city they will harass, attack, kill etc... him because they are afraid he is trying to build a settlement?  Does that make any sense to you? Or do they just hate Jews? If the same Jew would walk around Egypt would he not possible be attacked for the same reason?  Arab media is full of hate for Jews, they stiull distribute the Elders of Zion.  This has nothing to do with settlements.

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Permalink Reply by Autistic socialist on December 26, 2011 at 9:31pm

Jeff if you saw a man in a German uniform in one of your precious settlements you freak out... And i don't even mean a nazi uniform I mean just a normal one! And just to state one could wear a yarmulke alone and be fine! 

Fact I like the Iron cross but wonder weather or not I should display it on this website... Tell me you would not be offended and I will agree with you!

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Permalink Reply by Basil Keilani on December 29, 2011 at 4:02pm

                           Jeff Stern, you state that hatred of Jews that exists has nothing to do with settlements. So when the Spanish Catholics subjected the Jews and Muslims to the Inquisition was hatred for Catholics by some Jews and Muslims simply because they were of different religions? No. Did the Irish dislike the English because they were Protestant? You see you are assuming that if the state of Israel wasn't created and thereby displacing so many Arabs and being part of various wars no matter who you think started what, Arab Palestinians suffered horribly, that the Elders of Zion would simply have been popular in Europe regardless of what happened in history. Furthermore, the Israeli media and books are also full of hate for Arabs.  I don't think a Jew wandering in an Arab city should be harmed, and some Israelis do meet Arabs without any problems, but they come in peace, they mean the Arabs well, and they are known to the inhabitants.  Most Jews that Arabs see in the West Bank are settlers.  And many of the settlers want the land the Palestinians are on, and they don't hide that fact. 

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Permalink Reply by Ghazi al-Galini on December 7, 2011 at 8:49am

Commentator Robert Haymond, a Jew, presumably, who resides in a settlement in the Westbank, brought up a very real situation, one which he has witnessed and which actually exists, yet with all the high sounding phrases and ideas, not one poster even bothered to consider the example of Rahmy-Levy's, a business in which Jews and Arabs appear to actually co-exist and on a dynamic level.  Apparently, it seems too much for mepeacers to actually contemplate.  As a businessman myself (at least, in my latest incarnation), I'd say that we are the best people to model peaceful solutions on because we are practical and quite non-political when it gets down to the nitty-gritty.  So, Peacekeepers, what about the example of Rahmy-Levy's?  

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Permalink Reply by Corey Gil-Shuster on December 7, 2011 at 10:29am

@Ghazi, I agree that business connections are an excellent opportunity for Israelis and Palestinians to work together. I live in Tel Aviv next to a hummus restaurant owned and run by Palestinians who employ Jews. They have been part of the fabric of the neighbourhood for years.

Some Palestinians are supportive of these connections but the dominant Palestinian narrative in the West Bnak is that dealing with Jews is "normalizing the occupation"- meaning we won't deal with Israelis until the occupation ends by Israel. They are full of crap because a large portion of the products in every store are Israeli products that they someone keep buying. What matters though is what they claim in public so they will claim to boycott all things Israeli (including businesses that work with Palestinians). I hope that the rational people will win out because it is in Palestinian interests to deal directly with Israelis and the occupation won't end until Israelis begin to trust Palestinians (which requires them to deal directly with Israelis).

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Permalink Reply by Ghazi al-Galini on January 5, 2012 at 8:59am

Just now read your apt comment, Corey.  Thank you for adding interesting information (the Tel Aviv hummus restaurant) and your analysis about what would be required for peace, i.e., direct communication and subsequent trust.  There are too many people (unlike yourself) on this forum who comment void of context.  

By the way, speaking of hummus, about one year ago the Lebanese press was critiquing Israel for "pirating" Lebanese hummus recipes while calling the recipes their own.  One cartoonist even dared to entitle one of his illustrations, "The Great Hummus War", depicting a fat Muslim with a scimtar  in his shield with a Crescent shaped design embossed on it across the table from a paunchy Jew with an automatic rifle across his lap with the Star of David emblazoned on it both greedily munching down gobs of hummus with pita and both men saying at the same time, "Your hummus even outdoes our hummus"...  What's the moral of this story?  Food lovers on both sides of the divide are willing to put aside their weapons and their differences if only the humus is excellent.  What do you think?

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Permalink Reply by Corey Gil-Shuster on January 5, 2012 at 4:13pm

Before I get into your specific question/suggestion, I have to point something out: Arabs love to claim that Israelis stole hummus and felafel to link simple foods to the idea of theft of land. The idea being that Jews all came from Russia and Poland and therefore have no connection to Middle Eastern foods. 55% of Israelis Jews today are of Middle Eastern origin- meaning their grandparents, parents or they themselves come from Arab countries so hummus, felafel etc. is cooked at home. These are the people who generally own the hummus places in Israel (along with many Palestinians). Therefore hummus is just as native for them as it is it for Palestinians. People like me who come from non-Arab backgrounds of course enjoy these foods and eat them often in the same way that Palestinians (and other Arabs) eat potatoes which are NOT native to this side of the world. Arabs always want to focus on the negative (using the word theft) and in this case, use this issue to create a false image of Israelis to serve their needs- to believe that all Jews are colonist thieves even of food- instead of taking it as a compliment that non-Arabs adopted their food and the majority of Israelis have an Arab culture as well.

About your idea. Of course meeting and talking and including food is very important. But it doesn't lead directly to solutions or common ground. There is a phrase for years in Israel relating to Israeli-Palestinian dialogue groups called 'hummus and hugs' referring sarcastically to the belief that if Jews and Arabs just sit down over a plate of hummus, everyone will leave understanding each other. It isn't that easy. If it was, we would have peace years ago. Solutions require years of trying to understand the other even when what they say threatens what you already believe about the other or yourself. It is really tough work. Hummus (and any other food) definitely needs to be involved in my opinion because food calms people, connects people and even brings up issues such as the example above of the theft of hummus as a microcosm example of the conflict in general.

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Permalink Reply by Ghazi al-Galini on January 7, 2012 at 2:35am

Once again, thanks for your apt, informative and interesting reply, Corey.  The cartoon, itself, was extremely humorous but it's hard to describe without the illustration much less trying to translate it from Arabic to English.

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Permalink Reply by Sussan on January 7, 2012 at 5:45am

Amos Oz: Oz argues that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a war of religion or cultures or traditions, but rather a real estate dispute — one that will be resolved not by greater understanding, but by painful compromise, Review of A Tale of Love and Darkness, from National Review

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