You just know that when Jeremy Al Bowen is invited to update us all on the situation concerning Israel and the disputed Palestinian territories, well, those pesky Jews aren’t going to come out of it too well. And so it was that Jeremy embarked on the usual cliched mantra which all boiled down one thing; the lack of peace in the region is Israel’s fault, the Palestinians are innocent, especially the doves in Al Fatah.
NO FRIEND OF ISRAEL
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Interview with Salam Fayyad
~ No interview with Ehud Olmert.
~ No mention of the weakness of both the Palestinian and Israeli governments which makes delivering on any promises doubtful.
~ No mention of Palestinian demands for return of refugees to territories which will be Israel.
~ No mention of anything the Palestinians have to do.
deegee, are you suggesting that the Palestinians should be expected to do something? What a shocker!
We all know that as the Israelis have superior military strength then all moral agency lies solely with them. It’s a mantra on the left that only the stronger side has the power to end the conflict. It’s never really explained why this should be so, and no-one ever makes moral demands of the Palestinians – which might indicate a belief that they are essentially subhuman creatures lacking moral autonomy.
I don’t believe them to be so: I would even go so far as to claim that they have as much moral agency as Jews do. That is why I hold no truck with the appalling double-edged patrician stupidity of the West in making virtually no demands of the Palestinians, save that they keep the Jew murder down to the bare minimum while we throw money and soothing words at their damaged egos.
When a kid has temper tantrums you don’t reward them, or you end up with a teenager you’ll regret, and an adult who ends up ruining his own and other people’s lives. That’s what we are doing with the Palestinians. We should rather insist on decent behaviour: if they want a state, let them earn it by building one, as the Jewish settlers did in the 19th century. They shouldn’t get one by stamping their feet and shouting. That just encourages stamping and shouting.
Don’t our leaders ever watch Supernanny?
Diary: The road to Bethlehem
BBC correspondent Aleem Maqbool writes an online diary as he walks from Nazareth to Bethlehem, retracing the Christmas journey made by Joseph and Mary in the New Testament.
What does not get included in the nativity plays, is the probability that the couple also faced hostility from Samaritans who lived in what is now the northern West Bank.
The hostility of modern Muslims to Christians – naa.
Of course, there are new difficulties today. The supposed route goes through areas of continued conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Not if they traveled via the coast. That would of course stop the predictable confrontation at a checkpoint until the 10th day.
You would never guess that Nazareth is disputed as a Christian site as there is evidence the town did not exist at the time of Jesus. Nor that construction of a large mosque in front of the Church of the Annunciation led to Christian protests worldwide.
Following the diary with interest.
Worth reading the City of Nazareth website
Henryf,
If our politicians ever watched Supernanny they would probably have her arrested for abusing children!
Mailman
It seems like only yesterday (it was only yesterday) that they were telling us that Hamas has announced the imminent end to its “ceasefire.”
Not to have mentioned that at all seems a bit forgetful.
Curbing the activities of Hamas is obviously way down the list of ‘what-needs-to-happen’ in order to get ‘back-on-track’ with the peace process. It pales into insignificance in comparison to the wretched ‘set-el-ments.’ (events in Hebron have also slipped Mr. Naughtie’s mind)
Jeremy Bowen made me smile when he started off with “I’ve been talking with a lot of Palestinians lately”
You don’t say, Jeremy. You don’t say.
deegee,
I commented on “Diary: The road to Bethlehem” on the open thread below:
http://www.haloscan.com/comments/patrickcrozier/1363859541696411279/#436296
The BBC continue to be enamoured by Richard Falk. The latest articles:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7774988.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7784348.stm
Neither gives any context to Falk’s absurd worldview. If an Israeli advocate was a 9/11 troofer, Ward Churchill supporter and fan of Ayatollah Khmeini it would surely be mentioned!
Past articles by DV:
http://biased-bbc.blogspot.com/search?q=falk
I commented on “Diary: The road to Bethlehem” on the open thread below:
Biodegradable | 15.12.08 – 2:44 pm
Hat tip to BioD. So many threads – so little time. I missed it the first time round.
Once upon a time at the end of the Second World War, Gerlinde The German Lady was ethnically cleansed from Luxembourg. At around the same time, Fatma The Palestinian Lady was ethnically cleansed from what is now Israel. Gerlinde The German Lady went on to have two children and a new life, and each of her two children had two of their own. Fatma The Palestinian Lady went on to have 57 children, thus no new life, and each of her 57 children had 57 of their own in full knowledge that very little divided by 57 makes very much less.
As hard to grasp as some might find it, this, and only this, is the true reason the Palestinians are now at war with Israel whilst the Germans are not at war with Luxembourg.
Preposteroso | Homepage | 15.12.08 – 6:01 pm |
In actual fact, the Palestinians mostly ethnically cleansed themselves in 1948. In actual fact, the “very little” which Fatima’s 57 children are trying to divvy up is the billions of dollars given to them which was trousered by their leaders who, in turn, turned Fatima’s children into a death cult as a distraction.
Other than that, yeah, you’re right.
Hat tip to BioD. So many threads – so little time. I missed it the first time round.
deegee | 15.12.08 – 6:00 pm
I didn’t mean to claim any credit – just to add my observations to yours 😉
Israel – damned if it does, damned if it doesn’t.
Palestinians – always asking for more.
Crowds greet freed Palestinians
Palestinian prisoners minister Ashraf al-Ajrami said that although he welcomed the release of prisoners, Israel was acting unilaterally and ignoring Palestinian demands.
“The Israelis decided to release these prisoners without any negotiation or any connection with the Palestinian side.”
In other words Israel freed the prisoners without asking for anything in return – and the ungrateful Arabs complain!
The BBC, of course, think the Arabs have a point:
BBC Jerusalem correspondent Tim Franks says the event will do little to alter the lack of clear progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, or to heal the toxic rift between the Palestinians, with Fatah in the West Bank, and the Islamist Hamas group in charge of Gaza.
BBC Jerusalem correspondent Tim Franks says the event will do little to alter the lack of clear progress in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, or to heal the toxic rift between the Palestinians, with Fatah in the West Bank, and the Islamist Hamas group in charge of Gaza.
Biodegradable | 15.12.08 – 8:14 pm |
If Israel were to agree tomorrow to 100% of the Palestinians’ demands, their leadership would promptly issue a statement saying the Zionists had refused to meet them halfway.
Here’s the BBC lying again via the reprehensible Aleem Maqbool:
The fighting resumed, with an Israeli army incursion into Gaza and a retaliatory barrage of militant rocket fire. With that, Israel all-but shut the Gaza Strip.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7739063.stm
No, BBC. The ‘fighting’ resumed because Hamas were digging a tunnel into Israel with the purpose of kidnapping more Israeli soldiers and also placing explosives at the fence to gain access to Israel.
But reading Maqbool, people will conclude that Hamas is bravely defending its people against the brutal Israelis. The BBC has a helluvah lot to answer for.
Not a huge amount to complain about in Aleem Maqbool’s The road to Bethlehem Monday 15 December.
Describing Afula as predominantly Jewish is a little misleading as the town has 99.4% Jewish and other non-Arabs population. On the other hand Nazareth has a adjacent ‘Jewish’ town of Nazareth Illit (pop 10% Arab) that doesn’t warrant a mention.
I suppose it was too much to expect A.M. to take some preparatory donkey control lessons but the donkey is only the MacGuffin for this diary.
David Preiser | 15.12.08 – 6:17 pm |
Yes, thanks for those comments. Difficult to get the entire picture into a nutshell. A long time ago, in an English language newspaper printed in a foreign land, I was amused by a droll error in an article in which Palestinians were referred to as “Pale Stinians”.
This, as far as I know, is the one and only occasion in history that anything to do with Palestinians has ever raised a smile, so I had no intention to be lenient.
“The fighting resumed, with an Israeli army incursion into Gaza and a retaliatory barrage of militant rocket fire. With that, Israel all-but shut the Gaza Strip.”
Israel as the aggressor, Palestinians simply “retaliate”: Israel to blame for lack of peace.
That’s just about the best example of the BBC taking sides I’ve seen in a long time!
Bryan | 15.12.08 – 11:13 pm
Would Jews need a special permit to enter Jerusalem today? Even if they were traveling from the West Bank?
deegee | 16.12.08 – 8:09 am
Not a huge amount to complain about in Aleem Maqbool’s The road to Bethlehem Monday 15 December.
Perhaps not, but I expect Bryan or Biodegradable will find something.
Jeremy Bowen said, on Feedback, not long ago, that since the Palestinians are the “underdog”, reports should “reflect” that.
It’s not bias, the BBC really does support the Palestinian cause. Although Bowen didn’t say this in so many words, the answer to the question was clear: Israelis have the backing of the US so someone has to stick up for the Palestinians.
gabriel | 16.12.08 – 3:37 pm
I’m so glad you think everything’s fine and dandy with the BBC’s reporting on Israel and its annual antisemitic blood libel.
Now get back to your desk at the BBC, some people here are paying your wages!
http://www.amishrakefight.org/gfy/
I’ve only just read this:
Country profile: Israel and Palestinian territories
The creation of Israel was the culmination of the Zionist movement, whose aim was a homeland for Jews scattered all over the world following the Diaspora. After the Nazi Holocaust, pressure grew for the international recognition of a Jewish state, and in 1948 Israel came into being.
Could have been written by the Iranian Ministry for Disinformation – no mention of the constant presence of Jews in Israel for the last 3,000+ years…
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced, and several wars were fought involving Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
No mention of the 800,000 Jews expelled from Arab countries…
Palestinians in the West Bank, including east Jerusalem, have lived under Israeli occupation since 1967.
Not quite, they lived under Jordanian occupation from 1948 to 1967, in which time no “Palestinian State” there was ever mooted, and it was an occupation that was only recognised by Great Britain and Pakistan.
Israel evacuated its settlers from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and withdrew its forces, ending almost four decades of military occupation. However, after the militant Islamic group Hamas seized control of Gaza in June 2007, Israel intensified its economic blockade of the Strip.
No mention, or even a hint about the thousands of rockets fired at Israel from Gaza, or the “blockade” of the strip by Egypt…
The main stumbling blocks include the status of Jerusalem and the fate of Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements.
The Palestinians, blameless.
Did you write that, “gabriel”?
Handkerchiefs out!
The stunt with the donkey, a vehicle for bringing out the poignancy of the hardships endured by the innocent and oppressed, is so subtle and specially sensitive for the season of goodwill.
Imagine, poor baby Jesus 2008, born by the roadside at a checkpoint.
Maqbool and Co have dispensed with the background, because they already know what they want to say, because having collectively decided, long, long ago, to whip up a baying mob, verily they trudge along a well worn poisonous path, ignoring and disregarding, as is their wont, the same-old other-half of the story.
Carefully groomed over the years, the British public and all the sanctimonious vicars will be cheering and applauding tearfully.
The BBC has educated the man-in-the-street all about the great injustice that is being done to the poor, pale Stinians.
(Preposteroso | 16.12.08 – 10:54am)
So poor and so pale.
Who wouldn’t be pale after all that ethnic cleansing? And they were indigenous.
Some of their indigenousness could even be traced back as far as two years!
Longing to return to their goat and their olive tree in their milk ‘n honey homeland, Stin.
Pass the frankincense, myrrh and smelling salts.
Sue :+:
On the Road Again
gabriel | 16.12.08 – 3:37 pm
Your superciliousness deserves a shoe. Two even.
Biodegradable | 16.12.08 – 7:24 pm
Blimey. If I’d read that first I wouldn’t have bothered to write mine.
Never mind, eh.
Blimey. If I’d read that first I wouldn’t have bothered to write mine.
Never mind, eh.
Sue | 16.12.08 – 7:28 pm
Facts are fine, but your posts are so much more fun to read. Please don’t stop. 🙂
Sue (and all, of course), more here:
http://www.google.com/custom?as_sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.honestreporting.com&q=bethlehem+christmas
BBC and Aleem Maqbool points for originality: 0/10
There was a Palestinian donkey a few years ago that wasn’t as fortunate as Maqbool’s. As an act of resistance the heroic freedom fighters of Gaza strapped explosives to the beast and sent it towards the Israelis. Dunno what happened next but I’m pretty sure PETA didn’t complain.
No Israelis were hurt.
Come to think of it, any self-respecting donkey would surely prefer having explosives strapped to it rather than be in the company of Aleem Maqbool.
That’s just about the best example of the BBC taking sides I’ve seen in a long time!
Biodegradable | 16.12.08 – 12:26 pm |
Maqbool probably thought he was being fair and balanced. After all, he mentioned Israel, not the Zionist Entity. That couldn’t have been easy.
Would Jews need a special permit to enter Jerusalem today? Even if they were traveling from the West Bank?
David Preiser (USA) | Homepage | 16.12.08 – 3:07 pm
Well, it would be a good idea to have Israeli ID on you. But I have a feeling I’m missing the point.
Just realised that any donkey that spent enough time in the company of Maqbool eventually would get explosives strapped to it.
Did you write that, “gabriel”?
Biodegradable | 16.12.08 – 7:03 pm |
Actually the Israel profile is a dreadful cut and paste job, which accounts for the numerous chronological oddities. No one seems to have written it or at least edited it in years.
An example is placing the paragraph describing the death of Yassar Arafat, The former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat died in a French hospital on 11 November 2004, aged 75. a full nine paragraphs after the introduction that Mahmoud Abbas won the poll to replace him.
I wrote a point by point review of the profile for the Israeli-Palestinian Impartiality Review in 2005 available here if you have the patience. It’s amazing how little has changed in the profile.
By contrast to BioD I think the main omission is not Israel’s arguments for their actions or historical justification vis-a-vis the Palestinians. The main omission is everything else Israel has done in 60 years – built up a first world economy, absorbed all the refugees from the Arab states and Eastern Europe – high tech leader – democratic government – nobel prizes – infrastructure, etc.
The BBC is surely a blind man thinking he knows what an elephant is like by touching its tail or possibly a better analogy – an elephant thinking it knows what a man is like by touching an elephant’s tail.
BTW the illustrative map ‘still’ ignores the Golan Heights, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. I can’t imagine why.
In deegee | 16.12.08 – 8:09 am I suggested (somewhat tongue in cheek) that it was too much to expect Aleem Maqbool to take some preparatory donkey control lessons.
Not the least tongue-in-cheek, did he seriously think he could transport animals without checking what documents he might require? I don’t know anything about moving animals around the U.K. but try taking a donkey from Queensland to New South Wales without permits and veterinary inspection and see how far you will get.
The Israeli government says the barrier, and the checkpoints, are necessary for the security of its citizens – to keep potential Palestinian bombers out. It is one of the main reasons given for the massive decrease in the number of suicide bombings in Israel.
But the Israeli army has also arrested and killed hundreds of people it suspects of militancy, in regular raids on West Bank towns and cities.
Israel doesn’t kill on suspicion. Although if the barrier and checkpoints are one of the main reasons for the ‘massive’ decrease in the number of suicide bombings then activities such as the IDF capturing/eliminating terrorists as Jihad Nawahda must have been an important secondary reason.
Intriguing caption to the video however. Funeral for a Palestinian man allegedly killed in an Israeli raid. Allegedly? Is there any doubt who killed him? Somehow I missed the bit in the Gospels where Joseph and Mary took a side-trip to attend the funeral of a Sicari.
By contrast to BioD I think the main omission is not Israel’s arguments for their actions or historical justification vis-a-vis the Palestinians. The main omission is everything else Israel has done in 60 years – built up a first world economy, absorbed all the refugees from the Arab states and Eastern Europe – high tech leader – democratic government – nobel prizes – infrastructure, etc.
…
deegee | 16.12.08 – 11:38 pm
deegee, no contrast between us I think. I agree with everything you say.
I don’t believe Israel’s main argument should be based on historical, or religious justifications – I agree that a more balanced profile would emphasise Israel’s growth since independence at least as much as the Palestinians’ suffering is always underlined.
My point was to draw attention to the delegitimisation of Israel through selective omission of the historical presence of Jews to the point of inferring that Jews only landed in Palestine as a result of the Holocaust thus displacing the “native” Palestinians. Which is the main argument of the Palestinians and their supporters.
It is a fact isn’t it that many, if not most of those claiming to be Palestinians are in fact descendents of Arabs from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria etc who immigrated to what was still called Palestine under the British and during the period that early, pre-independence Zionists began to make the dessert bloom, and lay the foundations of modern Israel, and provide work for those Arab immigrants?
Xmas in Bethlehem: By the Numbers
The road to Bethlehem EVENING, WEDNESDAY, 17 DECEMBER: ZABABDEH
The pean to jackasses continues.
In recent years, frequent raids by the Israeli army to kill suspected militants (like the one I wrote of yesterday), Actually, as you wrote yesterday, We were told he was a local leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group and had been wanted by the Israeli army for some time. He was an actual not a suspected militant. Of course if the BBC used the ‘T’ word AM could have written alleged terrorist and been on firmer ground.
and a new barrier, which separates it from towns such as Nazareth in northern Israel, have left Jenin bruised, and with an economy in tatters. Why does Israel have an obligation to allow Jenin access to Nazareth any more than Lebanon have an ‘obligation’ to allow Israel access? Is it not possible that the “gunmen in the hills” may have a smidgen of contribution to Jenin’s economic woes?
“You are lucky the gunmen did not shoot at you,” said a young man walking towards us when I reached the camp. Now that would have made an interesting story, although AM probably would have referred to some undocumented attack against Joseph and Mary.
“I called them to say you were journalists and not the Israeli army. That van of yours looks exactly like the one the Israeli forces came in yesterday when they killed Jihad. The IDF never makes mistakes but Islamic Jihad do! It’s all Israel’s fault if AM is shot.
“Somebody up the road called the gunmen in the hills to warn them you were coming.” I’m not sure. Did the anonymous young man with the ‘militant’ phone number warn them or not. AM may not have mastered donkey documentation but was at least smart enough to organize his ride with the ‘militants’. Pity he didn’t report on what he saw.
We climbed together to the hilltop village of Burqin and its church, thought to be the third oldest in the world. Somehow AM didn’t describe Burqin as a mixed village. 5,900 total population and about 20 Christian families – why so few in such an important Christian area?
Onward, Aleem Maqbool to Bethlehem. Did you make a booking or do you and your trusty steed intend to bunk out in a manger?
From one of Maqbool’s pieces to camera this morning on BBC World News:
“Of course there is no Palestinian state yet, so they’re obliged to live under Israeli occupation.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7784227.stm
Do you have a question for Aleem? You can send your questions to him using the form on the right-hand side.
I have one or two questions for the BBC:
Why do you send a Muslim reporter to “retrace the steps of Mary and Joseph” through pre-Islamic Eretz Yisroel, and will you be sending a Jewish or Christian reporter to cover next year’s hajj?
… oh I forgot, infidels are not allowed to go to Mecca, in the apartheid state of Saudi Arabia.
Aleem Maqbool: the smiling face of jihad.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/586161/the-war-against-the-jews-13.thtml
http://hopelessheroes.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?p=45970
Maqbool left out the part where Joseph sets up a home-made catapult and hurls a few burning rocks at the Roman settlement.