The Sting
The worst thing about being taken for a ride isn’t the material loss, even if that loss is very great. It’s the humiliation, the stinging insult that is so unbearable, so painful. The victim presents the swindler with his most precious, closely guarded treasure, his trust, only to have it abused, trampled on, ridiculed. It’s a strong person that doesn’t turn bitter as a result.

Arafat’s masterful scam comes to mind.

And I realize, in amazement, that I am impressed at my country’s ability to swallow the insult, to a great extent, and react in a relatively careful and measured fashion. It may not look that way from where you’re sitting, in front of your computer screen, but it certainly does from here. You see I am the victim and I feel the sting. You don’t, so you can’t understand, just as Europe cannot understand the sting of 9/11. Not yet anyway.

We have the power to crush the Palestinians like so many ants. Angry people can’t think straight. They don’t consider the results; they don’t take the implications into account. In their anger and hatred, they take revenge, even if the end is ‘Let me die with the Philistines’. [Samson’s exclamation as he pulled down the Philistines temple, with what was left of his strength, killing himself along with his enemies - Judges, 16, 30]

And sadly, this is what the Palestinians have been doing. It’s pathetic. I’m sorry for them. But in their humiliation, their anger and aggression are being directed at the wrong target. They should be turned towards the real cause of their terrible malady, towards the main reason that they are not busy right now with the exciting endeavor of building their brave new sovereign state. I’m talking about Arafat. The Master Swindler. He didn’t just take us for a ride.

We have the power to crush the Palestinians and yet we don’t. You’re right, their lives are awful; they exist on a continuum of poverty, degradation and danger; they can be killed by a stray bullet, theirs or ours; making a decent living is nearly impossible; their freedom of movement is severely constricted; many of our young soldiers behave very badly towards them. And there’s more.

But it’s nothing to what we could do, and probably would, if we were in the business of revenge, not self-defense. And it’s nothing to what anyone else would do, especially the Palestinians themselves, if they were in our shoes.

You may say that that is no excuse. No it isn’t. The only acceptable explanation is self-defense. And that is exactly what it is. We are effectively fighting vicious, hate-filled, unrelenting, bloodthirsty terrorism as humanely as we possibly can. It may not be humane enough for you. But if it were in your back yard, you would very likely feel very differently. Maybe if it were, you would also be impressed with our ability, and willingness, to swallow the sting.

posted by Imshin 20:16

Most Comfortably Ugly



posted by Imshin 16:30

Random associative chatter
Bish said he was bowled over by my answer on Norm’s profile to “What personal fault do you most dislike?” I said “Blaming others for one's own shortcomings and failures.” “You do that.” He said with a little twinkle in his eye. Well, duh! I know that!

He was talking of what I do on a personal level. But I also realize that much of what I write here on my blog, in my attempts to explain why Israel does what it does, is blaming others. My inner work is to be aware of this.

I do try to see our part, our mistakes, and our part of the blame. If I don't write about it very much, it is because it is being done already, particularly viciously and unfairly, by others, others who refuse to see any other point of view and refuse to put any of the blame on the Palestinians, even as they commit crimes against humanity. It is also because I believe that, especially at a time of war and bloody conflict, this is mainly a subject for inner debate, inside Israeli society, in Hebrew.

A large segment of Israeli society has been deeply immersed in the self-blame game for years. I had counted myself as part of this segment for most of my adult life. Then one day I discovered that this can be dangerous, even suicidal, when it is one sided.

Yes, we do share part of the blame for what has happened in our conflict with the Palestinians. I saw the Oslo Accords and Barak’s offer for a final settlement as sincere attempts to accept this, correct it, and make amends.

However, the Palestinians, as a people, seem completely and utterly unwilling to openly look at themselves critically. Until we see such a serious, pervasive inner dialogue among Palestinians as we see in Israeli society, until we see a real Palestinian peace camp, until they are widely able to accept that there are two sides here, and that they must compromise, there will never be peace.

Despite this, and despite Palestinians’ often-sickening war strategy and the open proclamation of certain Palestinian parties that the destruction of Israel is their ultimate goal, the self-blame game of many Israelis continues, unfettered.

Ruined parts of Jenin refugee camp are being rebuilt and renovated - wider roads, better, newer homes. Some residents are being relocated to a shiny, new neighborhood. See how Gideon Levy follows Palestinian lead, perversely twisting this into something monstrous.

Wider roads, not so that cars can drive through the former narrow alleyways, but so tanks can get through! (Apparently building roads wide enough for tanks to pass without having to go through the houses is a very wicked thing to do). He makes building nice new homes for people sound like something awful. How could this possibly be? Is it because they may lose the urge to want to destroy Israel and kill Israeli civilians? Is it because if they’re not desperate, what excuse will they have to be angry, indignant, and murderous? As Bish put it, it’s taking all the fun out of the Right of Return!

Yahoo! reports that the construction and renovation works in Jenin have been halted, because some Palestinians are so angry they’ve been threatening workers and even shooting off rifles in the local UN offices! Is this Israel’s fault as well? Surely there must be limits on blaming oneself.

Actually this ungrateful, violent behavior sounds like no more than a typical Middle Eastern ploy by private Palestinians in order to get a better housing deal. The best way to get what you want in this part of the world is to make sure to be the one to shout and complain the loudest. The Palestinians, as a people, are the masters of the art. Westerners, unfamiliar with the practice, are completely taken in.

I am reminded of Efraim Kishon’s classic depiction of an Eastern ma’abara dweller, Sallah Shabbati. A ma’abara was a transition camp – the Israeli version of a refugee camp - where they housed the hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the early years. They were awful places. People lived for years in soggy, muddy tents or, if they were lucky, in ramshackle huts.

In one of the most famous and well-loved scenes of the film, which I recommend watching if you get the chance, Sallah Shabbati is fed up of being continuously passed over for permanent housing. Typical Kishon, Shabbati stages a noisy demonstration with his sizable family in front of the local Housing Ministry office, chanting, “We don’t want housing! We want the ma’abara!” The housing bureaucrats are, of course, horrified, and the members of the Shabbati family soon find themselves in their brand new apartment in the housing project.

posted by Imshin 12:59

What’s all this then? Palestinians want it like in Israel?
Amazingly, Palestinians seem to prefer the Israeli way of doing things, according to the latest Khalil Shkaki opinion poll.

Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza strip view Israeli democracy as the preferred model for a regime that they would like to see applied in a future Palestinian state, according to a survey released at a conference in Jerusalem last week.

Not the American model, not the French model. The Israeli model (with all its crazy chaos). Things are not always as they seem.

And between the lines we learn the most important message of all: They want democracy, real democracy, not the farce Arafat gave them under the auspices of Oslo, the EU, and Clinton.

posted by Imshin 12:30

Just my luck that I'm in this morose mood when Norman Geras is kind enough to post a profile of me (I find it intensely embarrassing to write that. Who do I think I am? Profile, indeed!).

So if you've come from Normblog, welcome! Feel free to click through to the stuff on the left sidebar. And please don't hold the anti-model bias against me, I'll be feeling more postive about life soon, I hope.

posted by Imshin 16:43

Lately I haven’t had anything good to say about anything. I have disliked everything I have managed to put into writing. In such a state it is better to keep quiet.

Here’s a little contribution to the Comfortably Ugly collection



And here are some unconnected snaps I took at the beginning of a little tour I took with work to the shiny new Terminal 2000 of Ben Gurion Airport. Not very interesting, but I like them.







All taken before the sinking feeling started setting in. I was initially immensely enjoying the interior design of the place. Gradually I began to realize that the concept was all wrong. A week later I am still slightly in shock.

I had been under the impression that the idea was to build something that would eventually serve as a travel center for a peaceful Middle East. Apparently not. They seem to be building a shopping mall with an airport.

My sad verdict: A very expensive white elephant. I can’t see how it is any improvement on the old place, besides being more modern and more flashily designed, and besides being bigger, not in a clever way, but in an opulent, ostentatious way. I dearly hope I prove to have been very mistaken.

Monday is the grand opening celebration. Don’t ask me why. They say they’re not starting to use it before November. I’d be surprised if they even made that deadline.

[See what I mean about not having anything nice to say?]

posted by Imshin 16:04

I hate pigeons.
I hate them. I hate them. I hate them. Horrible, dirty, flea-infested creatures. I hate them. I hate them. I hate them. Did I mention that it's my wedding anniversary today? Yup, Bish and I tied the knot exactly fifteen years ago, give or take an hour or two. And how do we spend the day? Fighting horrible, filthy pigeons and their crawly, nasty, itchy fleas. I hate them. I hate them. I hate them.

Poor Shoosha. We thought it was her, and we schlepped her to that lovely vet for treatment. But it wasn't her at all, poor little thing. It was those horrible, revolting pigeons. I hate them.

I don't think I'll ever feel clean again. And I can't believe I once thought pigeons were sweet.

I hate them.
posted by Imshin 21:50

home