commentary from Israel & the West Bank
Posts tagged jerusalem
David Grossman in Sheikh Jarrah: “You have to be totally blind to not see what is happening here”
Apr 10th
David Grossman addressed the protest in Sheikh Jarrah with an impassioned speech about the importance of the ongoing protests in the neighborhood. Below is video of the speech and protest.
The good people at Just Jerusalem have posted an English translation of Grossman’s speech. Here it is:
“[...] what took place during the last few hours. We came in advance, a group of people, and visited one of the homes here in Sheikh Jarrah… at 1 P.M. The owner told us about the long history of abuse by the settlers, the police, and the army that has been going on for years, about how they are being effectively forced out, about how their lives are being made intolerable day and night, that they are being told how to live, harrassed incessantly, violently attacked. Then we went out, the same group, about 30 people, and stood quietly with signs protesting what is happening in Sheikh Jarrah, condemning the persistent, planned takeover of this place and other places by settlers, by right-wing elements. After all, what’s happening here is only the tip of the iceberg. It’s only one example of what has been happening in the Occupied Territories for more than 40 years. I think that we are all beginning to grasp – even those who maybe don’t really want to – how 43 years ago, by turning a blind eye, by actively or passively cooperating, we actually cultivated a kind of carnivorous plant that is slowly devouring us, consuming every good part within us, making the country we live in a place that is not good to live in. Not good not only if you are an Arab citizen of Israel, and certainly if you are a Palestinian resident of the Territories – not good also for every Jewish Israeli person who wants to live here, who cherishes some hope to be in a place where humans are respected as humans, where your rights are treated as a given, where humanity, morality,and civil rights are not dirty words, not something from the bleeding-heart Left. No. These are the bread and water, the butter and milk of our lives, the stuff from which we will make our lives, and really make them lives worth living here.
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The Model Moves to the Mainstream
Sep 22nd
Clayton Swisher, working for Al Jazeera in Jerusalem, filed a new report on Israeli opinions of Obama yesterday. It is wonderful to see the model that Max Blumenthal and I recently began using to explain the Israeli mindset make it into mainstream press outlets. I hope to see more videos like this from Clayton during his stay.
Below is a video about settlement opinion on the same streets as the one above. I made it with Antony Loewenstein and David Jacobus this past July.
David Jacobus Responds to the Critics
Jul 23rd
David Jacobus has written a response to the criticism that we have received for our latest video on public opinion in Jerusalem about Obama and the settlements.
“Those who find the interviews unfair seem to fit into two categories: the first disagree that the views shared in the video are representative of Israelis, and the second agree that they are, but think these perspectives should be kept private. I want to respond to both of these
I believe that those who simply want to keep this private are still relying on tribalism. It’s very clear from the outtakes and editors cuts of Max’s videos as well. People will speak for a bit and when they realize that this is the outside world, questions get asked. I’d say 50% of the interviews, more with Israelis behind the mic, Max or Joseph or Antony will be asked if they’re Jewish – asking him details and assessing his acceptability. Following this the result is: (1) comfort and more spouting of tribalisms or (2) further questions as to either the intent or perspective of the interviewer (Interviewee: “Well, what do you think?” Interviewer: “I’m a journalist asking people here what they think.”) These are met with a continuance of the perspective, perhaps with reservations, or an attempt to end the conversation. Max had a brilliant moment when a guy realized he’s Jewish and tried to take him aside, ex camera, to tell him “what’s really going on”. This isn’t at all an uncommon experience for journalists covering the issue amongst Israelis.”
what is the feeling in Jerusalem about settlements and Obama?
Jul 22nd
With all the current rhetoric out of Washington regarding an Israeli settlement freeze in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, we wanted to gauge public opinion on the streets of Jerusalem on a sunny, Sunday afternoon last weekend. What we found was shocking but unsurprising. The ease with which most Americans and Israelis, young and old, spouted racist and uncompromising comments about Arabs, settlements and Israeli conduct was a raw manifestation of the barriers to the peace process.
We chose the most central and trafficked area of West Jerusalem to conduct random interviews with passers-by on the street. Most people were willing to express their views, unafraid to display Zionist chauvinism in its most blatant form. Palestinians aren’t real human beings in this world. Engagement with Arabs is treasonous. Barack Obama should butt out of Israeli affairs. Illegal, West Bank settlements are necessary to secure the Jewish state.
The aim of this video isn’t to mindlessly demonise Israel but to reveal the side of a country, and its frequent visitors, that is too rarely discussed in the West. It’s a place that is all-too-often, conveniently ignored in the Jewish Diaspora. These bigoted attitudes are only growing in Israel, as American Jews increasingly support Obama to pressure Israel to change its self-destructive course.
The American-Israeli relationship is in serious need of re-assessment.
Co-produced and written with Antony Loewenstein
Does violence pay in Israel?
Jul 17th
The past week, the streets of West Jerusalem were rife with scenes of violence. Segments of the ultra orthodox have been protesting the arrest of an ultra orthodox woman accused of starving her three year old child. She was facing jail time and the ultra orthodox community is up in arms about how the state could apply law to their community in such a clear way. The response has been riots, violent riots. The community has taken to the streets in nightly protests which include rock and dirty diaper throwing as well as setting garbage on fire. This has resulted in, “At least 18 police officers were hurt over the course of the evening riots, nine of them hospitalized in various conditions. Six demonstrators were also wounded”. One official commented that, “We haven’t seen such things since the first intifada in Tul Karm,” For more commentary on this incident please see Ami Kaufman’s brilliant piece in Haaretz.
The state has arrested protestors but they have been released within the same day with no crime filed against them. The bottom line is that the ultra orthodox have succeeded in exerting force against the state, evident from achieving house arrest today for the woman accused of the crime. One could say that violence in this situation has proven successful.
The settler movement routinely uses violence against the authorities of the state with little or no ramifications. I am not referring to acts of violence against Palestinians, which is a routine aspect of settler life. Rather, I am talking about settlers using force against the IDF, the Israel Police and the Israel Border Guard. I have seen settlers punch police officers at various outposts and experience no consequences for their actions.
On the other hand, non-violent leftist Israelis are often attacked with grave force by the state authorities. One needs to look no further than my videos as well as the weekly protests at Bil’in. In Bil’in there have been reported incidents of rock throwing but this is attributed to international activists and Palestinians, not Israelis. Why are the non-violent protestors attacked and jailed while the rightwing violent protestors are able to use violence to their benefit? The primary reason is clear; we are resisting the occupation and doing it with Palestinians. Anyone working with Palestinians is considered one of them in a meaningful way thus receiving the same repressive treatment from the authorities. Of course, one of our goals is to improve Israeli society and enforce the rule of law here, but that goes unnoted as we are treated as traitors, self-haters, in cahoots with the enemy.
It is a sign of the burgeoning militancy in Israeli society that violent protests by settlers and the ultra orthodox not only go unpunished, but actually achieve results. Sure, a majority of Israelis may tell you that settlers are awful, that the religious are parasites, but what is anyone doing about it? How sad a situation we are in that violence pays.
Feeling the Hate in Tel Aviv The Sequel To The Censored Video
Jul 13th
Max Blumenthal has produced a follow up to our video entitled Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem which was banned from Youtube after receiving over 400,000 hits in one week.
The True Colors of The Jerusalem Post
Jun 8th
The Jerusalem Post has once again solidified its status as an unreliable news source. Two articles were published this afternoon regarding the video that Max Blumenthal and I produced last week.
Tori Cheifetz wrote, “According to Dana, some of those interviewed were on “programs like birthright israel – a few of those in my video were on birthright tours.” I have never said this statement or anything close to it. Never in print or otherwise. Maybe there was some confusion or maybe the author does not feel she needs to fact check or interview everyone involved in the story.
Lahav Harkov referred to me as “Joseph Dana who runs a pro-Arab blog”. I do not think this blog is pro-Arab rather pro-peace and anti occupation. In an email to clear up why she thought of Ibn Ezra as pro-Arab she wrote the following, “As far as I’m concerned, anti-settlement is pro-Arab”.
There is not much else I can say…
Update:
I contacted Ms. Cheifetz about her obvious mistake (I do not think it was a mistake) via Facebook and received this reply:
Mr. Dana,
“identified by the assistant director, Joseph Dana, as a Jewish girl from Florida” you said this in your NPR interview. It is not written that you told the Jerusalem Post this.
“college- educated” sons and daughters of middle and upper class American Jews from cosmopolitan metropolises and genteel suburbs…” The article says that this and the next two quotes come from Mondoweiss- again, it does not say that the Jerusalem Post interviewed you.
The following paragraph where it says that you identify some of the people as on birthright trips again comes from your blog- “Programs like Birthright Israel — a few of those in my video were on Birthright tours — exist for the exclusive purpose of indoctrinating American Jews into unyielding, unthinking supporters of Israel.”
The quotes come from your blog- http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2009/06/censored-by-the-huffington-post-and-imprisoned-by-the-past-why-i-made-feeling-the-hate-in-jerusalem-.html
Thank you for contacting me with your concerns.
Sincerely,
Tori Cheifetz
I attempted to contact Ms. Cheifetz again only to find that she had disappared from Facebook.
Then I recieved an email from one of the editors at the Jerusalem Post informing that it has been removed from the website. Since the article ran in the newspaper it is only natural that there would be a print redaction as well.
Update:
I am told that a print redaction is in the works. I hope so as it will be a nice step in the direction of more sound journalism at the Jerusalem Post and will happily post the success story on this blog if I indeed received something from the editors about a print redaction.
Nervous Unbelonging
May 18th
Friendships can be born and stories about life shared over the routine ritual of café preparation and consummation. I have become friends with my coffee guy at the Hebrew University. He is Palestinian and lives on the Mount of Olives. He is an outgoing, soft spoken guy who works three jobs and despite the hectic nature of his life is always upbeat. I welcome his optimistic perspective on politics and I am always amazed at his thirst for life. A couple of months ago we ran into each other on a bus going back to West Jerusalem. After some talking, he told me about returning to Jerusalem from Bethlehem after a visit with family the previous day. As a Palestinian from Jerusalem he enjoys more rights than Palestinians in the West Bank because Jerusalem has been annexed to the state of Israel. But to see his family, he has to experience the checkpoints and the reality of the occupation like the rest of the Palestinian population. For whatever reason or for no reason at all, he was detained at the checkpoint separating Jerusalem from Bethlehem. He was detained in a one meter by one meter room with no questions asked by Israeli authorities. His cell phone and personal items were confiscated and after six hours given back and he was free to leave. He never got an explanation as to why he was detained and whether he had done something wrong. He informed me of similar stories at Israeli checkpoints. All the stories sounded to me like normal Israeli abuses of power that send the message, to use the words of David Hare, “if we choose to delay you, we shall. We have the right to delay you. We have the right to render your life meaningless.”
Recently, he returned to Bethlehem with a friend preparing for marriage and looking for a wedding DJ. They were both arrested by Palestinian police officers and swept away to an unknown prison in Bethlehem. He was interrogated and beaten. The police thought that he was collaborating with the Israeli government. The reasons that they gave were that he speaks fluent Hebrew, his cell phone was in Hebrew and he has many Israeli contacts in his phonebook. Collaborators are dealt with in a serious way in Palestine and it seems like he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. After 36 hours in custody without food, water, cigarettes and without being charged with a crime he was dropped off at the Gush Etzion police station. He filed a report with the Israeli police, called family that must have been worried sick as to his whereabouts and had something to eat.
I saw him today during our regular interaction of coffee preparation and consummation. He looked worried and thin unlike like his normal cheerful self. He walked slowly and his movements were deliberate. At first I thought he was just hung over from the previous night. He told me about what he had experienced with the police but did not want to go deeply into the details. He would often point at his stomach and shake his head as if he was in disbelief that he could be caught up in something like this. I could see the uncertainly of the whole situation hitting him like a brick wall as we talked. I can only imagine the sense of fear that one walks around with when your people and your host country suspect you of being a traitor. You live in a state of nervous unbelonging. Outside of the obvious crimes of the occupation and the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, stories like this one reflect the absolute sense of not belonging that many Palestinians experience in this country.
Israel Continues to Place Settlers in East Jerusalem
Jul 30th
Posted by Joseph Dana in Villages
1 comment
Last night, Israeli settlers took over yet another house in East Jerusalem. This time the house is located in the Arab quarter of the Old City. The facts on the ground simply discredit Israeli rhetoric about peace. The government continues to demonstrate its willingness to put more and more Jewish settlers in highly contested areas despite official policy of wanting peace talks with the Palestinians.
Peace Now has posted the following video of the arrival of the settlers in the Old City:
The Associated Press is also covering the story here.