78 drops of olive oil

I finally took the Palestinian embroidered tablecloth to the drycleaners today. I was going to give it to my mother-in-law for Christmas. Every year I grudgingly drop a couple hundred dollars to buy presents for a holiday I don’t even celebrate. Last year I decided to order my gifts from the Palestinian Children’s Welfare Fund instead of squandering my money at Pottery Barn. I got a great shawl for my sister-in-law and a beautiful mother-of-pearl Bethlehem souvenir jewelry box featuring the Nativity Scene. I also got a pile of stuff I never even ordered, like a bottle of organic Palestinian olive oil, a handful of little wooden peace-dove pins, and a keychain reading “Bethlehem 2000,” which I recall they were hoping would be a big tourist event but the Israeli troops canceled Christmas that year. Hence, the leftover keychains, I suppose. There was also a stack of about 30 flyers about the Wall.

I was rather astonished when I received the package because the stamps were stuck all over the box in such a disorganized fashion that the post office was not able to stamp them. Later, I soaked the cardboard in water to get the stamps off so I could reuse them. They were the pretty blue and gold Eid Mubarak 41 cent stamps.

Furthermore, there was a strangely long handwritten message written on the packing slip signed “Riad Hamad.” I looked for it after I learned of his untimely demise but unfortunately I could not find it and I have no clear memory of what it said. I remember feeling strangely disturbed because of the tone of urgency with which the note asked me to let the world know what was happening to Bethlehem. A certain part of my brain asked, “What is wrong with him?” because most Islamic or Arabic relief agencies stick to glossy professional mailings free of personality. This charity worker seemed to really want me to know that it was Riad Hamad sending me these gifts from Palestine. I appreciated the gift items but was not sure why he seemed so urgently to feel that I should know his name.

I was even more astonished when I looked at the embroidered table cloth and saw that it had a faint round stain on it, as from a mug of tea.

The JCRC of Boston has hosted a website for years, entitled “MARRIAGE,” which ponders the question of what my husband and I discuss over dinner. So for all you silly Zionists out there here is your answer! I asked my husband if he knew Riad Hamad and he told me, “Sure, you met him too, at the Al-Awda conference.” It was one of our first dates when we were newly married. It was the day that Shaykh Yassin, Mufti of Jerusalem was murdered in his wheelchair by Israeli assassins in a helicopter. I heard him speak once, outdoors in downtown Cleveland during a rally for the release of our beloved brother Imam Jamil Al-Amin. I couldn’t understand anything he was saying since it was in Arabic but his voice kept cracking. He reminded me of an old Native American Indian chief begging us to save his people, who were being massacred.

I told Joachim, my husband, “Your friend at PCWF sent us a stained tablecloth. I paid $100 for that tablecloth.” He started laughing. “He sent you a used tablecloth?” We both cracked up. We decided not to ask for a refund since it was for charity but Joachim told me he’d email Riad to tease him about it. He never got around to emailing him though. (Men!)

Strangely, I was in such a rush to pack the family into the car to go to New Jersey for Christmas, that I actually forgot all the Christmas presents. It was totally embarrassing. But I remember thinking, there must be some reason that God didn’t want me to let go of those things, although I did send my sister-in-law the gorgeous black shawl with red embroidery.

When I saw the news report that Riad Hamad was brutally murdered, I immediately remembered his name. He was the weird guy who sent me the box of Christmas presents from Palestine. I saw his photo on the obituary and he did look familiar. He was someone with a strong and uninhibited personality. No wonder you could feel it just from the paper that he had touched. He was one of the few Muslims who could associate with secularists and leftist Jews and not compromise himself socially.

Last night, I engaged in an act of superstition. A dear friend of mine, aged 38, seems to be convinced that he will die at age 40 since his father died suddenly of heart failure at 40. He has spent most of his life praying and getting ready to pass on to the next world, in my opinion diminishing his joy in life. At one time I was committed to cheering him up. At this point I realized he is enjoying his symptoms.

I held the near empty bottle of Riad’s organic Palestinian olive oil upside down and said to God, “Tell me how many years he will live.” By the end of the 30s, I admit, it really did seem like time was running out. But it kept on slowly dripping until it reached 78. The last drop didn’t fall, it just hovered there until I got bored of standing there with my arm raised. I used my finger to wipe out the last bit. 78 years. It’s not forever, but it’s more than 40 years. Or, however old Riad Hamad was when he died.

This little event reminded me of when Ribhi Ramlawi, the owner of Jerusalem Garden in Ann Arbor, died. I used to work there. Upon hearing of his sudden death, one of the other waitresses, Amy, burst into the kitchen and brought out the vat of hommos that had been prepared for the coming day. She told us to eat, because this was the last hommos Mr. R. had ever made. His hommos was truly the best hommos I ever had in my life.

I was so relieved to hear Riad Hamad had an Islamic burial. Nothing feels quite as empty as a leftist funeral without prayers. The brother who washed his body said part of Riad’s brain was missing, as from a blow or a gunshot wound. I don’t know why someone would have wanted to do this to him. I do know that embroidery is a powerful force. I remember wearing my embroidered Palestinian shawl and playing “This Land is Your Land” on my fiddle in Highland Park, New Jersey. The older Zionists went sort of white and crossed to the other side of the street when they saw me, as if they had seen a ghost. The younger psychotic Zionists tried to interrupt me as I played my violin, and when that failed, they formed a circle discussing me. One of them asked me where I got my shawl. He demanded to know how I got into the Occupied Territories. I refused to tell him but in truth I got my shawl from the Palestinian Children’s Welfare Fund. As I continued to play old American and Klezmer songs on my violin on the street during that festival, even though they were too timid to approach me, some orthodox Jews sent their children to tell me how much they liked my violin playing. There was something so powerful, almost magical, about that Palestinian embroidery.

Now I know why God made me forget to bring the gifts from Bethlehem. He wanted me to have them. In the years to come, I may need them to remind me of why I am alive. What am I doing here. I am here to struggle for Allah. The owner of the drycleaners seemed to believe there was no doubt the tea stain could be removed. Maybe there is some hope for the life to come.

One thing I thought was so interesting about the JCRC commentary on my marriage was that Jonathon Haber compared me to Cleopatra. Many years ago an ex-fiance published a book of poetry in Italian, which includes a number of poems about me, one of which speaks of me swimming in the Mediterranean Sea at night, “naked as a Cleopatra.” And here I am, middle aged, and some Jew pens an apparently permanent online commentary about me, again referring to me as Cleopatra.

So I just wanted to mention something that I hope might mean something to Riad, if he can hear me out there, and all the Palestinians scattered in the world out there and beyond. I grew up in America, never feeling like I quite belonged here. My mother came here in search of feminism and my father came here in search of my mother. I always wanted to return to Europe. For most of my teenage years, that was what I planned to do. By the age of 20 I managed to charm a Swiss man into offering me his gold confirmation ring with his initial on it. His family owned land in Italy and I went to see it. Olive trees in a sandy orchard as far as the eye could see, and on the horizon, the speckled lights of the ancient city of Florence. The house was over 100 years old. He had been born there, as had his mother. It was beautiful. There was an oil painting of the Virgin Mary on the wall, and a terra cotta roof. Wine in barrels and olive oil and chickens running around in the yard. An ancient stone oven in the garden, where one could bake bread without overheating the house. The neighbors were old folks, drinking their grappa beneath the grapevines. Not too far away was his actual home in Switzerland, in the mountains, near crisp cold sparkling clean waterfalls and rivers that rushed through the dark green forests of the most beautiful region in the western world. His parents started fixing up the old house when they learned he had fallen in love with me, hoping for grandchildren, I suppose.

I just couldn’t go through with it though. America was my home, and I had already fallen in love with Islam. Europe, as beautiful as it was, seemed to me to be a place whose time had come and gone. Now it was just old folks enjoying the scenery, waiting to die, essentially. The churches all empty, the women’s wombs all barren. I invited him to join Islam, but he said he was just a simple village boy. He didn’t think he could be something as exotic as a Muslim. So I left him. It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. I left him behind for the sake of Allah (not that I’m that great of a Muslim or anything). I accepted to live in this ridiculous country, the ugly and cheap United States of America.

Why?

Now I know why because Riad Hamad reminded me. He wanted me to have those gifts to remind me of why I am alive and why I am going to die. What am I doing here. I am here to struggle for the sake of Allah. I am here to remind you that there are more important things than olive trees as far as the eye can see. There is more to life than rings of gold and even fresh eggs from the chickens in the yard. That thing that makes life go forward is purpose. God wants every person to have a purpose, yours to unfold the true potential of your soul’s longing. I would have been bored to death there. I need struggle.

And so do you. Because struggle is the essence of the seed which grows, simply to affirm its own self worth, and pushes its way through the darkness of the soil until it explodes, so to say, above the soil and becomes a flower, and then a fruit. That is what life is. You don’t get the flower and the fruit unless you go through that struggle of sheer hope that what what you are doing is the right thing, pushing your way through the darkness, searching for the Light, knowing it must be there.

All plants are Muslims so we have to learn the lesson from the plants. The Land is not the goal, it is a means. We struggle through the land, through our lives, through our every effort, because we are reaching for the Light. And the Eternal Light is the Nur of Allah.

I would rather be a Muslim in America than to own every olive tree in the Mediterranean. Because on the day that I die, that is the only thing that is going to matter.

I am so happy Riad has found that Light and he is so lucky to have died as a Shaheed. I envy him.
Please make me worthy of a death as honorable as that of Riad Hamad and give me Paradise as well.

To Allah belongs the Kingdom, and the Glory, forever.
Amen.

===

SULLA SPIAGA DI VIAREGGIO
by Cosimo Pieracci
Vita: Madre di Parole

Ma ora il tuo sguardo brilla di vino e fatica, sorridi.
Sei solo un’ombra nell’aria densa
di questa discarica di sabbia.
Esercizi di yoga accanto alla striscia d’argento
generosa carezza che luna
stende qui come su altri mari.
Io scrivo con gli occhi pieni
di zanzare e di sonno.
Vorrei addormentarmi,
farlo possibilmente senza doverti baciare;
Tu non chiedi nulla e nemmeno saetti
all’improvviso la tua lingua attraverso le mie labbra
cosi mentre parlo o sbadiglio:
il sorprendente bacio del camaleonte!
Ti stendi leggera, aspetti il sonno, lo ottieni.
Dovro ancora lottare a lungo contro posto o poco distante da li.
La mattina e un paradiso:
sono venute le rondini, il sonno ha spento i motorini
e la giostra, un cono di silenzionsi gabbiani attraverssa
il latte dell’alba dove ti bagni
nuda come una Cleopatra.
Vedo la tua nuca andare verso l’acqua,
entrare nel rumore della risacca, sparire.
Il tuo pube torna al nostro giaciglio proprio
prima che l’oro cominci a colare sui passi lunghi
si muti magicamente in azzurro.
Le lingue del mare si srotolano sulla spiaggia,
tra le zampe di quattro bastardi ubbidienti e felici,
facendo una piccola schiuma nell’orgasmo di leccare il mondo.
Comprendo le’estasi di cui parlavi ieri alla mi mente
stanca nel momento in cui tornavi a sdraiarti sul ventre.
…Cosi le nere ombre della notte si sdraiano caute
sulla sabbia, copiando per non essere scorte, le forme del mondo…
Quanto poco possono sul tuo corpo le mie mani ora che sai
la dolcezza con cui ti carezza il tuo immenso amante di zaffiro.

Precinct by precinct, freedom is now

Every candidate that is running for office right now, Democrat or Republican, except Ron Paul, has promised AIPAC to continue the US belligerent stance against Iran. Obama promised that he would continue to threaten to bomb Iran. Furthermore there is a good chance of US troops in Sudan, Pakistan, and other places. So if we care about the future of the planet our number one concern is to pull the plug on this system of funneling US taxpayer money into corporate subsidies that finance Israel’s wars.

Everybody disagrees with Ron Paul about something. Many left-leaning Democrats reject him because of his pro-life stance on abortion. Yet, Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate in your lifetime that has promised to bring home all troops from every US base that is not in the US. He has promised to cut off all foreign aid to Israel and the Muslim dictators. Did you hear that folks? He is offering you your freedom. He wants to phase out income taxes. The Prophet (pbuh) was also opposed to income taxes.

Ron Paul has taken a moderate stance on the immigration issue. He wants to help 60 million foreigners immigrate here legally. He is the only candidate that is opposed to home to home searches for illegal immigrants. He is realistic about the tax burden on society that is created by uncontrolled immigration. Some people think that you can’t be a nice person if you don’t want amnesty for all illegals. But if your neighbor lost her house and became homeless because of your coercive charity plan, was it worth it? Dr. Paul’s position is not a fixed position regarding immigration. He believes that in a good functioning economy people will be more tolerant of newcomers. He is the only presidential candidate that is not embarrassed to talk to Iran. He promised to lift the sanctions against Iran, Sudan, Libya, Cuba, etc. He is a fiscal conservative. Best of all, he has really good manners. He doesn’t act. He is humble and genuine. He is the only presidential candidate I trust to talk to Ahmedinejad or Bashir. He is in favor of a currency backed by gold or some other commodity. He will stop printing paper money. Isn’t that what we believe in?

Best of all he claims he will liberate thousands of non-violent prisoners his first day in office and give all the US detainees the right to a fair trial. He will shut down Guantanamo and repeal the Patriot Act. He doesn’t believe in “Islamofascism.” He calls this kind of speech war propaganda. There are so many deeply important things that Ron Paul is doing for the Muslims that we should be willing to give everything and do everything we can to be of service to this remarkable man. Don’t go by the official campaign ads; The official campaign flyers are geared towards a certain type of mainstream American consumer audience and don’t give you a good picture of the clarity and depth of Dr. Paul’s grasp on reality. http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/ has his articles and speeches and are a better indication of his thinking on the issues.

Ron Paul has 10 years of a voting record that shows he is the closest to a friend that we have in Washington. No other candidate, not even Kucinich, has promised to cut funding of Israel. If you are not registered to vote as either Unenrolled or Republican, you cannot vote in the primary anyway but you can still get involved with freeatlast2008.com. Hundreds of thousands of people are dying because of US interventionist policy. Ron Paul is the only candidate talking about non-intervention. That’s priceless.

Also keep in mind: As president he doesn’t have a lot of power to do much about the “controversial” issues like immigration and the gold standard because he’d have to get it through Congress. The only power he really has as president is commander-in-chief of the US military. He’d be authorized to end the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan etc. And he can pardon prisoners. Everything else has to go thru Congress. He’s a low-risk candidate to back, and by doing so you can tap into a VIBRANT peace movement! It’s not your usual leftist peace protest, it’s a socially conservative peace movement. That is so priceless.

It’s important to mention that there is currently a precinct by precinct coordinated attempt to reclaim American democracy from the special interest lobbies. It has been proven that all it takes is about 10-20 people per precinct to turn things around entirely. By hooking into the ronpaul.meetup.com network you would gain valuable contact with other Americans who support the Constitution.

Please watch http://youtube.com/watch?v=FG2PUZoukfA

In closing I want to urge you to give Dr. Paul a chance because the press combined with coordinated email attacks to smear Dr Paul as the scariest man imaginable is because of his refusal to continue funding for Israel’s wars. Nothing they say about him is true. Please note that the people who spearheaded the vicious anti-Paul campaign are the same group of people who always smear CAIR and our mosque. I would only go on like this about a course of action we must take together now, if I thought it were a life and death situation. And it is. We have to pull the US out of everywhere and the only way we can do that is by pulling the plug on war financially. Ron Paul plans to do that.

Martin Luther King Day Money Bomb - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA2AGnOOp3g

Hit Piece Bruises Ron Paul

Hit Piece Bruises Ron Paul
January 10, 2008
MariaHussain.wordpress.com

Martin Peretz, owner of the New Republic and funder of
Hillary really hurt Paul yesterday. It was a typical
Peretz thing to do - smear someone as a “homophobe”
and “racist” the day of the election. The New
Republic’s Jamie Kirchick ludicrously claimed that Ron
Paul personally called Martin Luther King a “gay
pedophile,” and other outlandish claims he later
retracted as mere gossip.

A very similar thing happened in Somerville on the eve
of the vote about whether or not city funds should be
invested in Israel or locally - in order to make it
sound more “controversial” than the issue really was,
all the neocon pundits went crazy, making up stories
about how I am a supporter of the local investment
movement and I’m a homophobic terrorist supporter that
hangs out with David Duke. This is a common tactic. It
makes you seem really “scary” to liberals. Liberals
whose vote we were counting on.

If the American people can’t get beyond the
“homophobic” smear in order to save their country,
America probably deserves to be crushed like a bug
quite frankly. People act exactly like insects.
Running around doing what “they” expect, never
thinking.

We have to be prepared in advance. I mentioned a
couple weeks ago the Zionist press is going to do
this. Dr. Paul needed a pre-emptive attack - a
statement on how his program is best for Blacks and
Gays. As we all know, there is no difference between
Huckabee and Hillary when it comes to AIPAC issues.
This game is a distraction. But there is a comeback.

Is Dr. Paul a racist? No, Dr. Paul WILL SET YOU FREE.
We need to emphasize his prison release program and
make sure people realize that Hillary and Obama are
NOT going to end war, they want new wars. Ron Paul is
the Black Man’s Best Friend. He is going to bring your
sons home from the war and release all non-violent
drug offenders from prison his first day in office, he said.
Ron Paul has more Black supporters than any other
Republican candidate and more active US military
personnel supporters than any other candidate.

The issue is not which candidate will win or lose. The
real issue is are we going to lose our country?
Americans are such sheep. If we don’t somehow teach
our friends to mistrust the media and double check
everything, that’s it for USA.

The sad part is that Dr. Paul was polling at 17% but
then a lot of those people went to vote Democratic
because they were embarrassed by the homophobic racist
smear that was circulated on the internet. It is true
that there was reportedly voter fraud. The hand count
of the votes puts Dr. Paul at 15% not 8% as the
newsmedia erroneously reported. But that still means
he lost 2% of the expected vote and all of the
fence-sitters who could have put him above 20% just
because of this typical Jewish smear tactic that was
coordinated and planned to not give Ron Paul time to
answer the accusations before the election.

Dr. Paul will not be counted as a winner unless he
wins by an overwhelming landslide. Even then, the
neocons might send in the National Guard to prevent
him from taking office, except the Guard is in Iraq.
(How convenient.) What happens next? No country in the
world knows what the next step is, how to get free.
The question is, how much longer will Americans fall
for these tricks?

RON PAUL’S RESPONSE

Ron Paul has already responded to these ridiculous
accusations and slammed them as political haymaking to
coincide with the New Hampshire primary.

“The quotations in The New Republic article are not
mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever
believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce
such small-minded thoughts.

In fact, I have always agreed with Martin Luther King,
Jr. that we should only be concerned with the content
of a person’s character, not the color of their skin.
As I stated on the floor of the U.S. House on
April 20, 1999: `I rise in great respect for the
courage and high ideals of Rosa Parks who stood
steadfastly for the rights of individuals against
unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies.’

This story is old news and has been rehashed for over
a decade. It’s once again being resurrected for
obvious political reasons on the day of the New
Hampshire primary.

When I was out of Congress and practicing medicine
full-time, a newsletter was published under my name
that I did not edit. Several writers contributed to
the product. For over a decade, I have publicly taken
moral responsibility for not paying closer attention
to what went out under my name.”

[We invite readers to share their views on Mr.
Kirchick’s article by e mailing him at
james.kirchick@gmail.com.]

Dr. Paul has an honest opinion. The neo-liberals have
think tanks working night and day doing marketing
analysis and using psychology to turn the public away
from Dr. Paul. There are Israeli/neocon spies that
keep tabs on every political activist in Boston and do
write-ups about them in Jerusalem, and meet with the
local & Israeli government about how to neutralize
them. In Palestine they just use a laser gun if
someone starts telling the truth. In America they
character assassinate more often. Like we have any
importance whatsoever. They flew the mayor of
Somerville to talk to Ariel Sharon about how to
silence eleven Boston responsible investment
activists.

Basically how the Lobby won it (and it was a close
race, 45 to 55%) was they made a bunch of slick
posters with Deval Patrick’s face on it, AND they
released a number of news reports and commentaries
that totally twisted the positions and arguments of
both sides, so that the average voter would be
confused about what they were voting for or against.
They also used a lot of psychological pressure
labeling people as “racists” “anti-Semites” etc. so
that the people who would normally support the ballot
initiative got scared away.

These people are very serious about not wanting Dr.
Paul’s voice to be heard and they don’t want him to
win. But they always use the same tactics.

If they don’t succeed in turning Dr. Paul’s name into
mud, they will turn on the organizers of the movement.
It’s going to go on and on and we have to strategize.
Is there a strategic planning wing of the People for
Paul movement?

Muslims discover Ron Paul

After the Republican debate on Tuesday evening in Dearborn, Mich., a reporter from the Arab-American News asked Ron Paul what he thought of the term “Islamic fascism.”

“It’s a false term to make people think we’re fighting Hitler,” Paul responded. “It’s war propaganda designed to generate fear so that the war has to be spread.”

The call has gone out to all the Muslim Americans to hurry up and register to vote Republican so that they can vote in the Republican Primary to support Ron Paul, the anti-interventionist, non-isolationist candidate for President of the United States. Muslims are opening their wallets and joining teaparty07.com as well.

An anonymous Ron Paul supporter posted the following message on the internet: “Muslims and Americans have an unique window of opportunity for the 2008 election. There is a candidate running as a Republican that would work to completely cut off the funding to Israel, remove ALL US troops from Arab lands, and repeal the Patriot Act. He’s a Republican with Libertarian views named Ron Paul. Ron Paul’s policies ranging from monetary to foreign are top notch. Till now Muslims and Americans have not had an American Presidential candidate that really suited their best interests. This election is unique in that we have a man running as a Republican that speaks the truth…We know the current policies in the Middle East are failing, not only making it less safe in the world but hurting and killing innocent Muslims, which our media callously calls collateral damage. It is our duty as Muslims to follow the truth regardless of how futile it may seem. Ron Paul is the only candidate that does not seem to be swayed by the influential lobbies that the other candidates are catering to.”

Ron Paul stood up in Congress in 2006 and opposed a resolution that sided with Israel in the Lebanon-Israel conflict. He stated the following.

Ron Paul: “Mr. Speaker, I follow a policy in foreign affairs called non-interventionism. I do not believe we are making the United States more secure when we involve ourselves in conflicts overseas. The Constitution really doesn’t authorize us to be the policemen of the world, much less to favor one side over another in foreign conflicts. It is very clear, reading this resolution objectively, that all the terrorists are on one side and all the victims and the innocents are on the other side. I find this unfair, particularly considering the significantly higher number of civilian casualties among Lebanese civilians. I would rather advocate neutrality rather than picking sides, which is what this resolution does.”

Ron Paul has also sponsored a bill to overturn the Patriot Act. He is one of the few members of Congress from either of the major houses that is speaking rationally about these issues. How can we get everyone, and I mean everyone, to join the Ron Paul Republican voter sign-up campaign?

There is general frustration with politicians these days, and the unwillingness to believe that supporting a particular candidate will make a difference. But whether Ron Paul wins or loses, ronpaul.meetup.com is a great way to meet your neighbors who are against the war and organize the community on a grassroots level. If something like Katrina ever happened to us, knowing our neighbors could mean the difference between life and death to our families.

The common thread I’ve been reading lately about leftists and Jews is that they are having trouble getting more than a dozen people to come to their stuff (whether anti-Zionist or Zionist). The anti-Israel movement is not moving forward, because “protest Zionist imperialism” is just not a catchy slogan. By contrast, there are over 400 RP activists against war taxes in Boston alone. Every day the list of passionate anti-war activists grows. Very few of them agree with every single RP position, they just want to get the Lobby out of the way and pull the troops out of Iraq.

One reason it’s working is because of the software. They made the ronpaul.meetup.com site almost like a dating site, where you can make friends with people in or near your zip code. They made it very easy to get together with new people to join the activism. You can’t beat technology, may as well use it.

In the event that RP actually won the election and got the Hamas treatment, his supporters are fully in support of the Right to Bear Arms. It would be interesting to see what followed.

If anti-war protesters want to continue to focus on the genocidal machinations of the global zionist-imperialist military, industrial, financial, political, neoliberal, media complex, they have to be willing to meet with anyone any time to hear what ideas people have to address this, which is our primary responsibility - even if they are Republicans.

If you ever saw Ron Paul in an interview it cannot be said that he avoids discussing vital issues. He is someone who is willing to make a statement and stick by it even when no one agrees with him. I don’t “believe” in electoral politics but it’s not that much sweat off my brow to go and vote to end war.

I think the fact that NO pro-Israel group will let Ron Paul speak at their convention, not even peace Zionists, is evidence enough that he is the only person to put in charge as commander-in-chief. And, even if he loses, making all these contacts with local anti-interventionists is priceless. If you want to expand the peace movement so that it overlaps with the freedom movement like ripples in a pond, you just have to respect the fact that people might agree with you, but for different reasons.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muslims_for_ronpaul/

Legal Approach vs Idealistic Platitudes

Due to a conflict between those wanting to focus on legal approaches and those preferring to dwell on idealistic platitudes, the first One State meeting in Boston was canceled before it happened.

It seems like whether you talk about a two state solution or a one state solution, certain folks are always willing to concede rights on behalf of the Palestinians that they would never cede for themselves under American or international law. I think that’s why they like to keep it a Jewish-Arab issue or a “bi-national” issue, to leave majority of the world population out of the conversation, to leave the Arabs without back-up.

There is also a split between those who want to wait until “someday” when Israelis can be convinced to accept their neighbors as “equals” - as long as they don’t try to demand from Jews what Jews expect from the Germans (like putting aging prison guards in prison, getting their former houses back, demanding reparations and social security benefits) - and those who believe that we must have a plan that takes into account the possibility that some Jews are not going to like being treated like equals to non-Jews, and some of them will perceive the enforcement of international law as “vengeance.”

My point of view is that until Zionism is declared a criminal ideology and prosecuted as such, there is not much hope of any useful compromise since Zionism gives certain folks rights over others and that’s not fair.

Any solution based on human equality has to also take into account that giving Jews “equal rights” with Palestinians discriminates against all non-Palestinian Gentiles. Why should an American Jew have more stake in what goes on in Palestine than say, an Irish American or a Chinese Malaysian? A Jewish State is unfair because it favors Jews over Palestinians, but a bi-national state is unfair because it favors Jews over non-Jews worldwide. Before Israel’s existence, Palestine used to accept peaceful immigrant communities from all over the world who were not Arabs nor Jews. Why should Jewish residency permits be placed above others? Why not use other methods of preferring groups of immigrants over others?

I believe the Palestinians should have the right to decide who gets to live as an immigrant in Palestine, and maybe they should give a chance for non-Jews who want to immigrate there with the Palestinians’ permission. The idea of Palestine as a safe haven for childlike Jews is also insulting to Jews.

I think it is healthy to go back and forth between the extremes of idealism and justice-thinking to come up with a workable plan. So I guess it shows you what you are up against when trying to fight for justice for Palestinians, because there is still a lot of resistance from older Jews especially - using human rights language to tell Palestinians what they need to give up next. Claiming to want peace and reconciliation while excluding those who want to talk about what specific legal actions will be necessary for peace, by slurring them as full of “hate” or “vengeance,” is really no different than the approach that the Zionists are already using.

In any case, I wasn’t sure what the purpose of the One State group was supposed to be. If what is required is a discussion group, then maybe we should just throw it out there and let the Palestine discussion groups fight it out. So that is why I am making this an open letter. I really think that no One State Solution is possible without the majority participation of non-Jews.

I tend to view this from a psychological perspective. I see that liberal secular Jews do not have a tradition of gut-wrenching repentence in front of God, although this does exist in Rabbinical Judaism where you say to God, “I deserve to die for what I did, but please forgive me.” The resistance within the secular mind to getting to this point of spiritual abasement is what I view as a primary obstacle to dealing with “terrorist populations.” Muslims and Christians do have “sorry” and “accepting punishment” as a cultural philosophy and tend to view these two actions as a prerequisites for forgiveness of sinners.

What we are seeing with the Secular One Statists, is the imposition of secular values onto a non-secular society, where they want Jews to just be accepted as equals with Palestinians while they want Jews to be exempted from having to make reparations and especially exempted from prosecution for their crimes. And as I see it increasingly clearly, we are dealing with a sociological issue that is deeper than racism.

Sugarman Steals ‘Sexy’ Election from Hamas

The World Chooses Sexiest Anti-Zionists on the Planet

Sugarman Steals ‘Sexy’ Election from Hamas:
Charlotte Kates Emerges as Female Champion
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/wvns/message/6923

Well, the votes are in for the World View News Service’s “Sexiest
Anti-Zionist on the Planet.” The female winner is Palestine Solidarity
activist Charlotte Kates. Leila Khaled came in as runner-up - see
http://www.mqm.com/English-News/Jan-2001/leilakhalid.htm for her
photo, but in truth she didn’t even come close because no one could
top this gushing nomination from Charlotte’s very shy admirer -

“I have to say that she reminds me of a very young Bette Davis
(complete with her bewitching eyes!), and her smile could melt the
heart of any sentient human. But, I guess it’s her voice that really
stands out; it has a character, a limerance, a sort of joyful
resonance that is — well — “captivating” is the word that comes to
mind. She is also perhaps the most graceful and engaging human being I
know of.” See Charlotte Kates’ photo and read about her passion at
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article2242.shtml

The male winner looked like it was going to be the manly Palestinian
prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh -
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/archive/archive?ArchiveId=18704 -
but a last-minute, coordinated campaign by Chaim Sugarman to subvert
the election resulted in the landslide victory of this previously
unknown candidate. View the heart-stopping Chaim Sugarman campaign
poster at
http://kabobfest.blogspot.com/2007/02/our-vote-planets-sexiest-anti-zionist.html

Warmest Congratulations to Charlotte Kates, Sexiest Female
Anti-Zionist on the Planet! Hats off to Chaim Sugarman the Sexiest
Anti-Zionist Man on the Planet! See him without his shirt at
http://www.blogger.com/profile/33281445

Other Nominations:

Roger Tucker in North Carolina (I can provide his phone number ladies)
Elaine Antonia in Florida
Judy Andreas in New York
Shams in Kuwait (we don’t know if she’s actually an anti-Zionist but
we like her video: http://www.mon-pagerank.com/videos/out.php?id=4847)
and of course, Karin Friedemann and Joachim Martillo in Massachussetts

for more gossip see http://kabobfest.blogspot.com/2007/02/sexy-yet-kosher-love-affair.html

*********************************************************************

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