Fata Morgana


Salman Masalha
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Fata Morgana

Vanishes into mist
Roams like rain that pours
He’s holding in his fist
A book from years of yore
Appears, then is no more
Like dew in the day’s first blush
In stories shared aloud
His soul behind a door
Half his heart is melted cloud
The other half is crushed

Only vanishing exists
O, what kind of news is this!
Here a day, his hair turned gray
Though he’s bent, he still persists
Like a mirage he fades away
Into his fevered mind
For return he longs
In some other songs

In love
In youth
In dust
In stone

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English: Vivian Eden
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For Arabic, press here

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Between the devil and Iran


Israel's occupation fills an ancient Mideast need for evil:
Among other things, the Arab-Israeli conflict serves as a tool of manipulation for the Iranians in their drive to restore Persian glory.


Salman Masalha || Between the devil and Iran

First of all, when it comes to Iran, it should be acknowledged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is right. Since the ayatollahs took power Iranian leaders haven't stopped talking about Israel, referring to it as "the Little Satan" at every opportunity. And when these leaders, whose spiritual world is constrained by such messianic shackles, use such a loaded expression it's clear they must take active steps to deal with such a Satan, even a little one. But in saying that Netanyahu is correct, that's as far as it goes.

As the opium of the ignorant masses, religion has always been used by manipulative politicians to achieve their profane goals. The term "evil" served U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1982 when he labeled the Soviet Union "the evil empire." The term "crusade" served another American president, as the proper Christian response to the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001.

Every ideology that claims to possess absolute truth and absolute goodness needs an opposing, weighty, ideological enemy to flourish. Islam developed in the Arabian Desert on Jewish-Christian foundations and is totally immersed in theological polemic vis-a-vis the Jews and Christians. In essence, Islam combines Jewish monotheism and Christian missionary ideology. If it were deprived of its relationship with Jews and Christians nothing would be left of it. Contemporary Islamic discourse finds an equivalent in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, like the primordial Muslim confrontation with "Ahl al-Kitab," the People of the Book, which from a Muslim perspective includes both Jews and Muslims.

When it comes to Iran, it is no coincidence that Shi'ite doctrine took hold among the Persian peoples. From the outset, Shi'ism was an internal Islamic arena serving to promote Iranian national goals vis-a-vis the Arabs who conquered Persia and forced its inhabitants to convert. It is therefore no wonder that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders make repeated reference to the Iranian nation in their speeches.

Testimony to the deep historical animosity between the Persians and Arabs can be found in Shi'ite literature relating to the end of the world. One traditional tract relating to the appearance of the Mahdi, the Shi'ite messiah, states: "Woe unto the Arab dictators for the punishment that is approaching." And in his reappearance, he will actually start taking care of the Arabs: "When the Mahdi appears, there will be nothing but the sword between him and the Arabs and the Qureish [Mohammed's tribe]," as another traditional account states.

Sunni-Arab Islam fights back and accuses the Shi'ites of basing their doctrine on Jewish collusion. It relies, of course, on Shi'ite literature itself, which also speaks of the Mahdi "imposing the justice of David and Solomon." And, if that's not enough, when he reappears "he will issue the call to prayer by explicitly invoking the name of Allah in Hebrew," as another traditional saying has it.

If that's the case, things in this part of the world are not so simple, to say the least. As the only son in the region of the American "Great Satan," and its beloved ally, Israel is playing in the big league and continues to kick the Palestinians. The prolonged Israeli occupation fulfills the need for the existence of evil, of Satan and the prospect of divine justice. It is the fuel that turns the wheels of manipulation of the seminaries of the monotheistic religions' high priests.

Among other things, the conflict serves as a tool of manipulation for the Iranians in their drive to restore Persian glory. Against the backdrop of ancient Muslim animosity toward the Jews, and through use of the Palestinian pretext, they gain a following among the Arab masses. Christian and Jewish messianists attempt to force the issue and bring on the arrival of their messiahs. Israel is therefore situated at the vortex of the major confrontation connecting the pieces of this monotheistic constellation of forces.
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Published: Opinions-Haaretz, 28 March 2012

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For Hebrew, press here
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The decay in the Arab world


Assad is a symbol of The decay in the Arab world:

With great sadness, it can be said that in the absence of a sane civil alternative, the Arab world will continue along this path.

Salman Masalha || 

The decay in the Arab world


Bashar Assad, who is continuing to massacre Syrian civilians, is not only the president of an important country in that region called "the Arab world," but above all, he is the most prominent symbol of the rot in that Arab world. It should be recalled that the incumbent President Assad received the post of Syrian president on a silver platter drenched in the bloodletting committed by his father, President Hafez Assad.

Assad Senior's junta, which took power in a military coup, drew the blood of thousands of Syrians as well as Lebanese and Palestinians living in Lebanon. And behold that knight in shining armor, this ophthalmologist and young heir, instead of bringing relief and enlightenment to his people, has for many months been sending his army and gangs of shabiha thugs to sow destruction and death. In every direction, he has been drawing more and more of the Syrian people's blood.

This Western-educated president has spurned whatever he witnessed or learned or experienced in the West. He has returned to his tribal roots to perpetuate the bloody legacy of his forefathers. And the Arab world has been looking at this spectacle and hasn't lifted a finger to stop the killing of Arabs. It is waiting for salvation to arrive from the West, which is nothing new. The Arab world has always been like that, inasmuch as the entire Arab world is a stinking corpse.

Just over a week ago on this page, Gideon Levy lamented Israel's apathy in the face of the horrors taking place on the other side of the border ("The monster next door," Feb. 26 ). "The minimum should be a resounding call to our absolute ally, the United States, and to Israel's other friends - do something, right now," Levy implored in his column. "Forget for a moment the Iranian threat and the Israeli occupation. Join in a rescue of which none is more important."

There is something even more serious than Israel's silence, and it's actually those who are not holding their tongues. There are those in our midst, our own Arab flesh and blood, who have long had no conscience. They sit there serenely in the Knesset, both those holding respected government positions and those on the upholstered opposition benches, and decry the injustices of Israeli governance, rightly of course, in every possible forum. Nonetheless they have no shame in holding forth or rushing to appear on Syrian television in service of the interests of the butcher of Damascus.

Those poor souls, irrespective of their political affiliations, have lost any moral right to speak about freedom and human rights as a result of their actions. No one will buy their line anymore, not their hypocrisy and not the bill of goods emanating from their mouths. This Assad, who has become the darling of Arab public figures and Knesset members, is the most prominent testimony there is to the resounding failure of Arab nationalism.

The pretentious Ba'ath Party slogan "one Arab nation with an eternal mission" is crumbling within sight of everyone. In fact with such a deadly mission, there is no need for external foes. The Arab world is worn out, faltering and above all exploited and confused. The regimes that were called "national" never learned how to build a single nation-state worthy of its name, and maybe never intended to.

The greatest treason against the Arab peoples is the treason of the intellectuals, who never summoned the courage to propose another way. They always worked in the service of the repressive and corrupt regimes, and consigned opposition to corrupt and rotten regimes to the Islamists. That is the deep-seated explanation for the recent rise in these countries of what has been dubbed the Arab Spring.

As long as the younger generation of Arabs doesn't manage to establish and propose a different, sane civil alternative, the choice will remain between fraudulent murderous Arab nationalism, such as the Syrian Ba'ath movement headed by Assad, and Islamic forces who take the name of Allah in vain, people with malignant ideologies and beyond cure. With great sadness, it can be said that in the absence of a sane civil alternative, the Arab world will continue along this path.
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Published: Opinions-Haaretz, 6 March 2012

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Ebrahim Nabavi || A Contract Between the Ayatollahs and God

Ebrahim Nabavi :
A Contract Between the Ayatollahs and God


It was recently reported in the Iranian press that Jaafar Shajooni, a mid-level but influential cleric who heads the prayer leaders association had said that God had signed a contract with the ayatollahs, entrusted much to them. Here is my take on the text of such an agreement.


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Contract Between God and the Ayatollahs

This contract is signed between God and the ayatollahs to cover the affairs of people who live on planet Earth and in Iran, who together will be generally referred to as “people” in this agreement.

Article One. For God to establish relations with people (residents of Iran and the world), he is required to pursue such activities through the ayatollahs. Reciprocally, the ayatollahs undertake to tell people whatever they wish on behalf of God.

Article Two. God must announce his decisions regarding people only through the ayatollahs. The ayatollahs undertake to announce, or not announce, any parts of such notices as they please, or as they dislike, or to retract whatever they may have said in the past at any time they wish, or to unexpectedly announce that they had forgotten to declare something or anything in the past, while God has no right to interfere in the ayatollahs’ relations with the people.

Article Three. Ayatollahs have the right to impose taxes on people as the fees for their services, or wages, and pronounce these as the rights of God. God gives the ayatollahs the authority to spend, or not to spend and expend this income for people in any way they like. God has no right to question them on this.

Article Four. God undertakes to consider all the instructions prescribed in the Quran (the original agreement), but nobody except the ayatollahs have the right to announce the views of God to the people. God himself must ask the ayatollahs (specifically the public relations office of ayatollah Khamenei) about the interpretations of the Quran. God is responsible to note the names of all those people who personally, as a group, through non-Shiite groups, as dervishes, or other corrupt groupings interpret God’s views from the Quran, prevent them from entering Heaven and to cooperate with (Iran’s) judiciary to prosecute them.

Article Five. God is responsible to act according to the view of the ayatollahs on the political issues of Iran, international affairs, the US and Africa. Russia and China are exempt from this agreement until further notice. In return, the ayatollahs commit to keep their media to themselves and to prevent the publication or the broadcasting of anything against God and his associates which the ayatollahs consider to be incorrect.

Article Six. Allowing people to enter or exit Heaven or Hell is God’s prerogative. But in view of the expert views of the ayatollahs, he is obliged to respect the views of the ayatollahs in letting someone into or out of Heaven and Hell.

Article Seven. In view of those actions that are attributed to Satan and which are carried out through groups such as Satan Lovers, artists, intellectuals, women, the youth, and Westerners, God is committed to inflict pain on these individuals after they die and to refrain from engaging in negotiations with them, listen to their grievances, and establish any personal relations with them for as long as they live. If he decides to provide any assistance to them, he must first coordinate this with the appropriate authorities.

Note on Article Eight. Generally God does not have the right to directly act to fulfill the prayers and wishes of people and must do so only through cooperation with the appropriate authorities.

Article Eight. Since some former ayatollahs have been deceived by Satans or those associated with him, and have attempted to establish personal relations with God under the guise of being religious intellectuals, priests, Brahmans, Kohanims, or bishops, and who may act outside this agreement, God is thus responsible to pursue all of his merciful acts, graceful acts, divine acts, or any financial assistance and contributions, or even sexual services only through the ayatollahs. Coordination with the ayatollahs on these and other acts shall take place through the supreme leader (specifically the public relations office of ayatollah Khamenei).

Article Nine. The dispatch of any prophets, imams, representatives, etc by God must be announced to the ayatollahs at least two years prior to the act and coordinations must be made with the ayatollahs regarding the purpose and goals of such dispatches with the ayatollahs, and any redundancy regarding this should be avoided.

Article Ten. This contract is effective and valid for seven thousand Earth years from the time it is mutually signed. It shall be signed in two original copies and its scope shall include all other planets, moons and galaxies in addition to Earth.

Signatures:

God: Allah

Jaafar Shajooni: Ayatollah Khamenei’s representative for agreements

February 28, 2012
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Source: Rooz

Obama's friends


America's hypocritical friendship with Saudi Arabia: Just as Obama said to Mubarak a year ago, 'Now is now,' we expect him to tell the Saudi government: 'Enough is enough!'


Salman Masalha || Obama's friends

“Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are,” goes the proverb. So it’s worth directing our gaze for a moment at the friends of U.S. President Barack Obama and of his predecessors in the White House. In September 2009 there was a media uproar over the fact that the president of the greatest power bowed down before the Saudi king at the meeting of the G-20. It seems that since that bow Obama has been walking around with a bent back in the face of one of the most unenlightened regimes in the world. Obama, who called for the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the outbreak of the Egyptian uprising, is remaining silent in the face of the outrageous actions of the Saudi government. Recently we heard one story that exposes the benighted nature of the Saudi regime, which is the darling of the West, including Israel.

A Saudi journalist named Hamza Kashgari made the mistake of opening a Twitter account. Several tweets that he posted are liable to cost him his life. What aroused the anger of the masses and the fury of the palace are the comments he made about religious “values” of Islam and its prophet Mohammed.

An examination of the tweets that got Kashgari into trouble paints a picture of someone who is just the opposite of a heretic. It turns out that the young journalist is a strong believer. He has only one small problem. He uses his common sense and raises thoughts and questions about all sorts of issues that he feels contradict his sense of morality.

On the birthday of the prophet Mohammed, Kashgari wrote: “I liked your revolutionary spirit, which has also inspired me. But I don’t like the halo surrounding you. I won’t pray for you.” And another tweet: “On your birthday I see you wherever I go. I say that there are things I liked about you, other things I hated, and there are things that I’ve never understood.”

Social groups, with thousands of members, quickly organized and demanded his head. He felt threatened, quickly erased what he had written and even tweeted an apology to the effect that “things were taken out of context.” But the uproar did not die down, and Kashgari boarded a plane and left the kingdom.

Saudi sheikhs, self-appointed defenders of God and guardians of the prophet, convened and discussed the burning issue. After a “profound discussion” they decided that the journalist’s tweets were words of “heresy” and that he must be tried according to the laws of Islam practiced in the kingdom. In such cases, as we know, the accused can expect the death penalty.

The issue was even placed on the table of the Saudi king himself. He ordered the arrest of the journalist, who tried to get to New Zealand. Kashgari was arrested at a stopover at the airport of the Malaysian capital. The many protests to the Malaysian government against the arrest made by international organizations were to no avail. Malaysia handed Kashgari over to Saudi security people, who flew him back to Saudi Arabia.

“Saudi women won’t go to hell, because it’s impossible to go to hell twice,” wrote the “heretic,” in a tweet on the position of women in his country. Now he is personally experiencing the difficulty of escaping that hell. That is life in the kingdom of oil. Kashgari, who tweeted and endangered himself, is in evil hands, awaiting his fate.

The time has come for lovers of freedom, both in the West and in the Arab world, to peel off some of the layers of hypocrisy regarding this regime. All the more so for the man who sits in the White House, the one who bowed down and danced in the club that is filled with the smell of oil.

Lovers of freedom, wherever they are, must distance this smell from their noses and stand erect when dealing with the kingdom of darkness. Just as Obama said to Mubarak a year ago, “Now is now,” we expect him to tell the Saudi government: “Enough is enough!”
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Published: Opinions-Haaretz, 22 February 2012

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The number's up for monotheism



Not only has the time come to separate between this monotheism and the state - both the Jewish and Arab state - the time has also come to separate it from the national discourse.

Salman Masalha | The number's up for monotheism

"Right now, most governments in the world are keeping silent despite the calls by the Palestinian mufti [Muhammad Hussein] to kill Jews," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech last month to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Netanyahu added that he was horrified by the fact "that there is a legacy of hate and destruction, because this mufti is following in the footsteps of that other mufti [Haj Amin al-Husseini, who allied with Hitler] ... and rather than calling for peace and reconciliation, he calls for the destruction of the Jewish people wherever they may be."

Netanyahu was preceded by President Shimon Peres, who also sharply criticized the mufti of Jerusalem. "The mufti's words are dangerous and are liable to bring about an escalation in Jewish-Arab relations, and even loss of life," the president warned.

It's interesting to note that both men were quiet during the scandal raised by Rabbi Yitzhak Shapiro's "The King's Torah," a book giving Jews permission to kill Gentiles who threaten Israel. They and other politicians have also remained silent in the face of petitions and racist statements that have emerged from the study halls of "the sages of the generation" of one type or another.

It seems to me that the ones who ought to be coming out to defend the mufti are exactly those rabbis who cried foul and argued that the state is not permitted to intervene in matters of religion and religious law. So it is with adherents of the infantile monotheism, in all its branches and metastases.

Whoever reads the literature of monotheistic religions, and it doesn't matter which religion, soon learns that it is full of moral abominations. The hadith that the mufti quoted does actually exist in the Islamic branch of monotheism: "Judgment Day will not come only when the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them; the Jew will hide behind the stone and the stone will say, 'Oh Muslim, Oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'"

These hadiths and others are part of the eschatological traditions that deal with the End of Days and Judgment Day, and they exist in other cultures as well. Islam did not invent the eschatological wheel. It drew from Judaism and Christianity and invented these and other traditions to serve its very worldly purposes, namely broad conquests.

Muslims don't just fight Jews in the End of Days. These hadiths also tell us that the end of days will not come "until they will fight with Husa and Carman, who are among the Persian peoples." And in another version, "until you fight the Turkish peoples." This is what these people look like: "Red-faced, with flattened noses, narrow eyes, and with round, flat faces like shields."

And if the Jerusalem mufti and other muftis will continue to search through these desert hadiths, there's another surprise awaiting them. In the present cold Jerusalem climate, one wonders what kind of shoes the learned mufti is wearing, since if he would continue to read the fine print, he might find himself on the wrong side. After all, the hadiths also say that "the end of days will not come until you fight the men wearing padded shoes."

In short, not only has the time come to separate between this monotheism and the state - both the Jewish and Arab state - the time has also come to separate it from the national discourse. Because if we don't, this ridiculous and dangerous monotheism will take over and destroy whatever good that remains here.

The little politicians who pretend to teach us "what it means to be Jewish" or "what it means to be Arab" will continue to throw hollow slogans into the air. Meanwhile, we can say about the Israeli-Palestinian situation that not only is "the face of the generation like a face of a dog," but that the face of the "Bibi" is like the face of the "Tibi."

As for the rest, go and learn it.
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Published: Opinions-Haaretz, 14 Ferbruary 2012

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Lessons in apartheid


Israel needs a few more lessons in apartheid:

Zionism did not merely pave paths of ethnic discrimination in the occupied territories. Discrimination against civilians exists in every corner of the country.


Salman Masalha | Lessons in apartheid

Scholars of the social sciences know how to defend a public opinion survey. In their way of thinking, this is a scientific tool with which it is possible to assess feelings and understand positions and trends at any given time. Together with these "quiz shows" that supply the masses with a glimpse of the mood of the public, we are also able to familiarize ourselves with the personal feelings, points of view and tendencies of those who conduct the polls.

Zionism did not merely pave paths of ethnic discrimination in the occupied territories. Discrimination against civilians exists in every corner of the country. Research institutes and the media, whether intentionally or not, cooperate with this discrimination and also perpetuate it. In parallel to that, the slogan "a light unto the nations" is repeated here ad nauseum. It is therefore worthwhile comparing the situation in Israel with that among "the nations."

Take, for example, the Population Registry Law. During the era of apartheid in South Africa, the citizens of that country were forced to register themselves with the authorities on the basis of their skin color: white, black or colored. In Israel it is not possible to oblige people to sign up in the registry according to their race or color, since the Jews themselves belong to assorted colors and races: Some are white because they came from Poland or Russia, and others are dark skinned - from Yemen or Ethiopia. With no other option, the Zionist mind was forced to invent a unique solution that was suitable to this place, and which answers the need for separation, and thus it was that the registration was born, of Jews, Arabs, Druze and so forth, in the Israeli Interior Ministry.

Another discriminatory law that was enacted in South Africa allotted separate living areas to different races. One can compare it with the local law about selection committees, whose entire objective is to make it possible for various community settlements to chose who will be allowed to become members - based on ethnic background.

Recently the state has managed to peek into the bedrooms of the Arab citizens via the Citizenship Law, which places restrictions on their marriages. And the last word has not been said on this matter.

The election season is drawing close here. This will no doubt bring blessings and money to all who deal with it, first and foremost the polling institutes. From reports about the surveys we can learn that ethnic separation is alive and well, both in these institutes themselves as well as in most of the Israeli media. Indeed, the latter will pounce on the polls' findings. Politicians will rush to check their popularity among herds of voters. The disappointed politicians who lack inspiration and intelligence will turn to recipes supplied to them by the witch doctors known as media advisers. These witch doctors will instruct the aspiring politicians how to win the support of the masses. Between them and their followers, they will no doubt explain that a political platform is not as important as the show: The more the hopefuls sweat, run around and appear on every screen, the greater their chances of influencing the average voter.

The public opinion surveys also tell us, as noted, about those who conduct them. "If elections were to be held now," the pollsters tell us, this party would get this number of seats, and that party would get that number of seats. Then, at the very end of the detailed report about this and that, within the context of the "menu" of Jewish-democratic parties, will come the eternal sentence: "And the Arab parties will receive such and such a number of seats." Because in the eyes of every "educated" Zionist, every single Arab is an Ahmed, or is assumed to be an Ahmed.

It is therefore not clear why so much time and money is being spent. After all, the election results are a forgone conclusion: 110 Knesset seats to the Jewish parties and 10 seats to the Arab parties - is that not so? Here is yet another lesson in the apartheid sciences.
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Published: Opinions-Haaretz, 30 January 2012

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Two backward peoples

Israel, Palestinians must let go of justice and join reality
The reality that will develop will not be a prophetic binational vision: The opposite is true. It will be a patently inhuman reality over which a black flag will fly, on which will be written in blood, 'This is the Balkans.'


Salman Masalha ||

Two backward peoples


The poet Taha Muhammad Ali, who recently passed away, revealed to us in one of his poems that it took him 60 years to realize that "water is the best of drinks / And bread is the tastiest of foods." Someone who takes so much time to understand reality can be tolerated. He's allowed to be backward and learn slowly; he'll write poems about that. But it's different when we're talking about the backwardness of a nation, and how much more so, its elected leadership.

It seems that the people who populate this land from both sides of the "national" barricade belong to "peoples" that are slow to grasp reality, at least for the past three decades. And this slowness is most evident among the leaders.

The milestones of this slowness stand out for all to see. One of these was when the Zionist movement, during its beginnings, adopted the claim that was originally Christian: "a land without a people for a people without a land." Thus, it accepted anti-Semitic claims and made them its own. But it completely ignored the reality in the country and its inhabitants. Only years later did the Zionist leaders, led by David Ben-Gurion, suddenly discover that "the land is not empty."

When the immigration waves increased, the situation in the land changed. The tensions surfaced with all their gravity. The conflict between the Zionist movement, which was orderly and organized, and the land's inhabitants who were still in a pre-national stage began to grow.

With the cynical encouragement of the colonialist powers, the situation became more complicated. The world order that crystallized after World War II put the partition plan on the agenda. The Zionist leaders knew to jump at the chance. But that wasn't the case with the Arab leaders.

After two decades of slowness on the part of the Arabs to grasp reality, the 1967 war broke out and completed the occupation of the land beyond the 1948 hudna (armistice ) lines. The war was a turning point in the conflict. It brought Zionism into close contact with the emotionally charged heritage sites on which the dream of "a Jewish homeland" was based. But it led to a situation in which Israel "swallowed" the land's residents who were beginning to consolidate themselves into a separate national movement.

History doesn't remain stagnant, nor does demography. Two decades of settlement, wars, intifadas and rapid demographic change went by until the leaders of both peoples realized there was no choice but to divide the land. With that, we all returned to square one.

Slowness in grasping the national, social and political situation has led to disasters in the past and will bring more disasters in the future. This slowness is a crime of historic proportions, committed by the leaders. The price will be paid by people, with a great deal of blood.

That's why we must put aside claims of justice - because all people who demand total justice in this conflict are cut off from reality and are merely grasping at delusions. They help themselves and those around them fall into useless dreams that make both peoples act as if they were outside history. This leads to a dark tunnel from which there is no escape; to perpetuating hatred on a primeval path.

The reality that will develop as a result will be concrete and historic. It will not be a prophetic binational vision: The wolf shall not dwell with the lamb, and swords shall not be beaten into plowshares. The opposite is true. It will be a patently inhuman reality over which a black flag will fly, on which will be written in blood, "This is the Balkans."
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Published: Opinions-Haaretz, 13 January 2012

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Proselytes are hard for Ishmael

Associating part of the muezzin's call with Arabs is a Zionist invention intended to demonize all Arabs.

Salman Masalha | Proselytes are hard for Ishmael

The people who gathered among the "pictures of medal-bedecked Russian heroes" at the community center in Lod were waiting for MK Anastassia Michaeli (Yisrael Beiteinu ), who has presented a bill to silence the muezzins. One of those present termed the muezzin's call a "tool of terror," and said that muezzins use the words itbakh al-Yahud ["kill the Jews"] (as reported by Roy Arad in the Hebrew edition of Haaretz on December 20 ). We will return below to the source of the call to "kill the Jews."

Zionism, as its early leaders attested, was not interested in all Jews everywhere. It sought to create a new Jew here, and therefore sought Jews of a different type. David Ben-Gurion expressed this attitude very clearly: "Zionism is not a philanthropic venture," he said in the 1930s to the British high commissioner, and added: "We need here a superior type of Jew who will develop the Jewish homeland."

When there is a dearth of "superior types" of authentic Jews, they bring converts to Judaism. As the Hebrew newspaper Hashkafa reported in 1903, "in a region of Astrakhan are many proselytes...they also leave the Russian language and call themselves exiles in Egypt and they call Russia Assyria and long for the coming of the redeemer who will restore the Jews." (The quote is from Prof. Yuval Dror's "Russian Converts in the Galilee at the Beginning of the 20th Century," Cathedra, 1979. ) The Zionist Movement pounced on this find, because it wanted to increase the number of "Jews" in Palestine and also to bring people to this country who were skilled farmers.

Meir Dizengoff and Dr. Hillel Yaffe, who were members of the early Zionist group Hovevei Zion, helped bring these "converts" to the country, and they were sent to Hadera and colonies in the Galilee. Ben-Gurion himself got to know the converts, Russian farmers who were Subbotniks (Judaizing Christians ), during his time in Sejera. Despite tensions between the Jews and the converts, the Russian farmers proved a great help to Jewish settlement. There was another reason to bring them to the country. It involved improving Jewish blood. "It will not at all hurt Jewish blood, which has become weakened through generations of marriage (among Jews ) to mix somewhat with Christian blood," Yaffe said (also quoted in Cathedra ).

Many of those that "we needed" for the "development of the Jewish homeland" and the betterment of Jewish blood came to Israel with the fall of the Soviet Union. Many of them vote for Michaeli's party, Yisrael Beiteinu. That party took the name "Israel" and appropriated it as a "home" for itself; that is, if party followers claim "Russia is Assyria." But they might also claim they are "exiles in Egypt" and may even pray to the one "who brought us out of Egypt" or "who wrought miracles for our forefathers."

One of the converts, one Yaakov Nitchev, lived in Sejera. He allegedly took to drink after a family tragedy. It is also said that one day a year, on Simhat Torah, he permitted himself to get "as drunk as a goy." When he was drunk, he would revert to being a Russian farmer of the old days, and as with every drunken Russian farmer, the vodka would shout from his throat, bei zhidov ("kill the Jews" ).

That, it seems, is how the call was born here, at the beginning of the 20th century, in Palestinian Hebrew - itbakh al-Yahud. The Russian bei zhidov, which comes from the Russian pogroms, underwent a transformation here due to circumstances. It was translated literally-nationalistically by converts and lovers of Zion and was attached to the Arabs. Associating the call with Arabs is a Zionist invention intended to demonize all Arabs. Therefore, let the ancient sages be comforted: As it turns out, proselytes are not hard on Israel, they are actually hard for Ishmael.
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Published: Opinions-Haaretz, Dec. 28, 2011

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That's how the Zionists are

A short history of Arab feelings toward Zionism:
A new Arabic monthly, Lughat al-Arab ('the Arabic language'), that began publication in Baghdad 100 years ago, published an investigative report by the editor called 'The Founder of Zionism' in its September 1911 issue.

Salman Masalha | That's how the Zionists are

The Arab attempt since the start of the 20th century to understand the Zionist movement has long produced mixed feelings. A new Arabic monthly, Lughat al-Arab ("the Arabic language"), began publication in Baghdad 100 years ago. The third issue, from September 1911, contains an investigative report by the editor called "The Founder of Zionism."

"Many talk about Zionism nowadays, but most of the people don't know what it's about," he wrote. To enlighten his readers the editor quoted an article published three months earlier in a French newspaper, by a writer from Istanbul: "Before the group came to be known as 'Zionists' the Turks called them Donmeh [Turkish crypto-Jews] ... "
Arab Spring

The article in the Baghdad journal connected Zionism to the Sabbateans and divulged for its readers details from the life of their leader, Shabbetai Zvi, who claimed he was the Messiah and that all twelve tribes of Israel would soon return to Palestine. In Cairo, the author relates, Shabbetai Zvi met a beautiful Jewess who acted oddly and purported to be the "Queen designated for the Messiah."

They married and traveled throughout the Orient; Shabbetai Zvi continued to spread his message until his imprisonment and conversion to Islam. His followers, emulating him, also converted. Shabbetai Zvi was exiled to Albania, where he died in 1676, because he continued to engage in mysticism. After the death of the "scoundrel," the article said, his followers continued in his path and their descendants now "live in Salonika and Edirne."

"Those are the Zionists and their roots. Heads of state and officials fear them as men fear lions. That is because the Zionists are serious, industrious people, cunning and alert, and they exert considerable influence on their surroundings," the article explained. It isn't hard to guess what was considered the source of the influence. The writer elaborated: "Because of the gold they hold in their hands ... Thus, in meetings with delegates, some fawn over them, while fearing machinations. For these reasons, honest state officials talk about the 'Zionist danger.'"

In fact, officials from far-flung areas in the region warned of this danger. They reported an increased Jewish presence in Iraq and in parts of Greater Syria. They alluded to the proliferation of agricultural and industrial machines and facilities, and even talked about the "routines and organization on their colonies." The official in Jerusalem wrote, "80,000 Jews live in the city, while the number of Muslims does not exceed 9,000." A Syrian official confirmed this estimate, adding, "The activities undertaken by these people are those of a nation; during holidays they wave a blue flag that has 'Zion' written on it."

On one hand, the writer tried to reassure his readers: "Whatever happens with this Zionist issue, there's no reason to worry that the Zionists will ever turn into a nation." On the other hand, he did not attempt to conceal his concerns: "You have to bear in mind that these foreigners compete with natives of the land, and so struggles and disputes about the land erupt." The Baghdad journal found reason to underscore the tight bonds that unite Jews, and referred to the "ethos of solidarity among them, which has reached the highest level."

This report projected anxieties about the unknown, alongside admiration. In conclusion, the author suggested there was something to be learned from the Zionists: "They should serve as exemplary models to others," he wrote. One hundred years have passed. It seems that nothing has changed since then, and life in the East continues as always.
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Published: Opinions-Haaretz, 20 December 2011

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