Every road out of Bethlehem is blocked by mounds of dirt and a checkpoint. Imagine driving along as you have always done, between Hampstead, say, and Regent's Park, when you come upon a barrier of earth thrown up the night before. Soldiers stand at the barrier in full battle gear, yelling at you in a strange language or a pidgin version of your own. They tell you to get out of your car - you're not allowed to drive here any more. If you're allowed to carry on, you will do so on foot. They yell at you to line up and they take their time checking your papers, questioning you - Where are you going? Why do you want to go there? Prove to me that your daughter/best friend/dentist/music teacher lives there. A few metres away you can see the new highway that cuts across your old road. Cars are speeding along on it, driven by men and women of that other people, the people that the soldiers belong to.http://www.thewe.cc/contents/more/archive/december2003/now_the_landscape_itself_has_changed.htm
We stand at one of these checkpoints, my son taking photographs of the pedestrians waiting to be allowed to walk to the next village. Two soldiers leave the checkpoint and stride towards us, raising their M16s to the level of our heads and shouting: "No photographs! Give me your camera. You! No photos."
"Where's the notice that says no photography?" we call.
"Everyone knows. Give me the camera. I can shoot you. You take photo of me..."
"We took photos of the people waiting."
"You took photo of me. I can shoot you..."
"What's the problem? Are you ashamed of what you're doing? Show me the paper that says we can't take photos." This is Tony, our Palestinian guide. He's a film editor with an international press agency and has a US passport.
"I don't need no fucking paper. I can shoot you, that's my paper."
"Show me the paper."
"This is Israel, I do what I like. I can shoot you. Here I do what I like."
"This isn't Israel. This is the West Bank."
"West Bank? What is this West Bank?" The soldier turns to his friend questioningly.
My son tries to chip in but I stamp on his foot.
"Look: in there, is Palestine. You do what you want. Here is Israel. In your country, can you take pictures of secret soldiers?"
After a bit more of this Tony gets out his mobile and phones the army. The soldiers take off their shades and turn into unhappy young men: "You think I like to do this? You think I like to stand all day wearing this, and this, and this? This I have to do so my mother is safe in Tel Aviv." We suggest it might be a happier situation all round if they did this on the green line. "Green line? They can creep under the green line. Look: we give them everything. They always want more. We give them land, we give them water, we give them electricity. They want more..."
"But you are stealing these people's land. What about the settlements?"
"That is for the politicians. We don't know about that. It is the politicians." They go back to the checkpoint. We keep the camera. Tony has to take our photos to the army censor for clearance within 48 hours.
Was there any financial transaction by the Jews to gain their independence - similar to the British East India Company paying a negotiated sum of money to the Sultan of Johor for the permanent use of a large island - later to be known as Singapore ?Originally posted by banzie:Every Land in Isreal when their independence was purchased by the Jews themselves... Naturally they have the rights to claim the land as theirs... Same thing as Singapore forbiding Malaysian from Staying in Singapore as they like.
Lee Ah KiatOriginally posted by kilua:I did a search for famous jews and i am quite shocked by the list....
That's something many people cannot understand. They think that the Arabs/muslims/etc actually have a deep love for jews and that if the jew just stop attacking their neighbours, there will be everlasting peace in the middle east.Originally posted by googoomuck:Read the recent history of Israeli - Arab wars and will realise that the Israelis have to be ruthless in dealing with their hostile neighbours. The Arabs want them to become extinct...