Friday, March 14, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 5:57 PM
The Road To Peace, Maybe
Not a moment too soon, the US promises to unveil the road map to peace for the Palestinians and Israel
In much awaited speech, President Bush has announced that he will soon announce a peace plan for Palestinians and Israeli. I hope it is not only a political marketing ploy. The condition attached – the election of a Palestinians Prime Minister with “significant authority” - is quite murky and open to interpretation. Nevertheless the speech provides a welcome ray of hope in an otherwise dark horizon.
The onus is now on the Palestinians to prove they are willing to seize the opportunity offered. At the same time Bush must show he is serious about the plan by exerting pressure on the Sharon Government to create the preconditions for the plan. Unless Israel stops the settlements expansion and scales down its military occupation, the tension will remain too high for any moderate Palestinian leader to emerge.
One of the claims of the Bush Administration is that the removal of Saddam will provide the momentum for a democratic and peaceful reorganization of the Middle East. While I personally think this is wishful thinking, it is true that the Palestinian-Israeli stalemate badly needs breaking and a successful war on Iraq may convince the US to get serious about brokering a deal. For the sake of both populations, I hope so.
posted by Carla Passino at 8:22 AM
Drawing the Line
When does criticism of Israeli policy become anti-Semitism?
Calpundit has a rather interesting post on Pat Buchanan’s views that the American neocon agenda is heavily influenced by pro-Israel American Jews.
As Calpundit points out, Buchanan is infamous for his anti-Semitic remarks, so his objectivity is questionable. But is there a grain of truth in what he says? After all, his piece pretty much echoes the Washington Post’s article on Likudniks. And, more importantly, is this type of criticism the right way to address the issue? Calpundit wonders “which lines of attack on neoconservatism are reasonable and which ones aren't, and what kinds of criticism of Israel are legitimate and which ones aren't” and is looking for a blog with comments to take the discussion up, so International Sentinel volunteers.
I think that being critical of Israel’s policies and its supporters does not equate to being anti-Semitic – just as much as being critical of France and its policies doesn’t equate to being anti-French. So yes, I think that, under the Bush administration, the United States have pursued a Middle Eastern policy which is coloured by a pro-Israeli – and more specifically a pro-Likud – bias, that this policy has further complicated the already difficult relationship America has with the Arab world (although there are other causes) and that, unless it changes, this policy may jeopardise the peace process in the Middle East. I think that this policy may not turn out to be in America’s best interest, but I don’t know for sure. And I think this policy may well have been influenced by the lobbying of American Jewish neocons – just like the lobbying of Italian-Americans or Irish-Americans has influenced American policies towards Italy or Ireland. And yes, I think that this is an acceptable thing to think and say.
When the criticism moves on to insult and racial stereotypes, however, it’s a different matter. The ‘jokes’ and abuse the French are being subjected to in the United States these days – or even the racial profiling of Italian-Americans in sit-coms like The Sopranos or films like Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – are considered legitimate but wouldn’t be acceptable if the targets were Jewish. I find that, regardless of the target, this kind of ‘humour’ is at the very least a glaring example of bad taste – if not outright racist.
Should it be condoned? As a British resident, I am used to hearing much worse on national television everyday (Britain has been joking about les Frogs – but also die Krauts and gli Spaghetti – since long before it became fashionable to). As an Italian national, I laugh off the Sopranos and Captain Corelli. But would I be able to, if my people had been hounded to their death in millions in the past? Probably not.
So I guess the border between legitimate criticism and racism lies here: denounce policies to you heart’s content, but leave people alone. And this applies to both the Jewish and any other ethnic group.
Thursday, March 13, 2003
posted by Mooraq at 9:13 PM
Back From NY
5 days of fun
We are back in old Europe after a week in NY. Despite a couple of setbacks – of which later - we had great fun. I have discovered that NY is not only the city that never sleeps but also the city that never ceases eating. Food is everywhere, portions are gargantuan and the risk of excessive sugar intake massive.
Visited all the classic places (we were guiding a couple of people who had never been to the big apple) and some less classic ones. Took some good pics, I’ll post them later this week, and generally walked ourselves to sleep every day.
Two setbacks only. One, I had tickets for la Boheme on Broadway. In thirty years Broadway spent the total of four (4) days on strike, guess which? Yes, the four I was in there with my stall tickets dutifully purchased one month in advance. It looked very much like old Europe!
Second setback, arriving at 10pm at the hotel (our 3 AM) we discovered that the hotel or travel agency messed up the reservations and we had only one room booked instead of two. Fortunately I had my voucher and itinerary that clearly spelled “2 double rooms” on them. After a minute of appraisal and a thoughtful conversation with the manager, Elizabeth – such was the name of the evil lady at the reception – came back to us with a smug smile and told us that Actually ‘2 double rooms’ meant one room with four beds. Maybe she thought we were from France and had decided to take revenge against we surrender monkeys. Carla was calm, as usual, and I had to restrain her from jumping over the counter and giving Elizabeth a lesson in English grammar the Rumsfeld way. But all is well that ends well and we were able to secure our two (2) rooms as planned.
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