False Dichotomies

Much of the analysis on the ongoing crisis in Gaza is dependent on some understanding of what happened during the previous six months. During this time, a ceasefire was in place between Israel and Hamas. Once the agreement was reached, though, people stopped paying attention. With this in mind, I’ve read over a detailed report issued by the IICC. Some readers may note that the IICC is firmly in the right-wing camp. To this criticism George Orwell’s famous dictum comes to mind: just because it’s in the Daily Telegraph, it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. In short, a priori objections are not sufficient, although I’d be happy if readers send me equally sober analyses from the left-wing camp. In the meantime, here’s my summary of the report’s key findings. Read more

1. Those who see Operation Cast Lead as some kind of Israeli election stunt often also view Hamas as itching for compromise. They might, we are told, accept some kind of long-term ceasefire based on Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders. If only Israel would talk to them! If this is your view, perhaps explain to me this conundrum: Israeli elections are very simple. When the country is under attack, the right-wing generally performs better. The firing of Qassams on the Gaza envelope means that the more centrist parties (I accept the redundancy of the notion of a left/right split in mainstream Israeli politics) have to show their military muscle. Hence the decisiveness of the current operation. If Hamas wanted to maximise the chance of compromise, they could have eased off the rockets, at least until the new government was settled in. Why didn’t they? Read more

1. Normally, even those opposed to Israeli attacks will attempt to distinguish between civilians and combatants. Today, that no longer seems to be the case. I’ve already noted the attempt to ‘civilianise’ the victims of Operation Cast Lead, specifically the graduating policemen who – had Hamas not been so naive – wouldn’t have been so exposed.  But how many civilians have been killed? Writing in the Guardian, Andrea Becker relates the experiences of a colleague in Gaza. “Several major attacks were near her home. One of the worst – with reports of 40 dead – was a mere 50m from her children’s school.” In other words, not at her children’s school. Much has been made of the fact that the attack started while children were leaving school, but is there such a thing as a good time to launch an operation such as this? Furthermore, shouldn’t the timing be of Israel’s choosing? According to figures I have read, estimates suggest that 20 children and 10 women have been killed, out of around 300 fatalities thus far. While this is awful, it is important to note that a vast majority of those killed were members of the Hamas infrastructure, and hence the responsibility of Hamas. Those why cry for proportionality  might like to imagine what would have happened if Israel had lobbed Qassams back at Gaza’s densely populated cities. I suspect that the civilian casualty rate would have been much higher. In any event, the primary responsibility lies with Hamas. Read more

1. In the more violent corners of the hip-hop community, reality is clear: Don’t walk around like you can’t get touched. Whatever the signals coming from your enemies may be, stay on your guard. I suspect the Hamas leadership doesn’t listen to much hip-hop, but I’m still surprised at how naively they’ve behaved over the past few days. Firstly, their post-ceasefire strategy has been based on the mistaken assumption that Israel wouldn’t react to rocket fire during an election campaign. Secondly, they were deceived by two Israel manoeuvres: the temporary withdrawal of troops from the Gaza envelope, and the decision to send in a relatively large number of trucks with humanitarian aid on Friday. Add to this the mistaken belief that Israel would never attack on Shabbat, and it becomes clear how Hamas were totally flummoxed. New policemen gathered at a Hamas headquarters for their graduation ceremony, while senior figures in the movement sat down together for a meeting. Both were met with the destruction wrought by the Israeli bombing campaign. The message was clear: do not expect to carry on managing your affairs as normal while your co-conspirators continue to attack Israeli with impunity. Whatever the circumstances, you can be touched. Read more

“The Des’y got a beautiful ring/I can hit any one of y’all, options is a beautiful thing.” Jadakiss (Mighty D-Block, 2 Guns Up)

Last Tuesday evening I was at Shuk HaCarmel, buying some apples. Having selected the least bruised of the bunch, I stepped forward to make the purchase. Around me, all the talk was of the oncoming winter. “I won’t be here tomorrow,” said the stall-owner. “There’ll be a lot of rain; I’m going to take the day off.” I hadn’t kept up to date with the latest weather forecast, and was keen to know more. “Is winter here then?” I asked. “Yep,” he told me, confidently. “Haven’t you heard? They had stopped it at Erez checkpoint, but have decided to let it in tomorrow.” I wandered off with my apples, pondering this dark humour, while the wind began its anticipatory swirl up above. Read more

Umm-el-Fahm is up and down, down and up, urban planning as chaos, a city of squiggles. Rising high over Wadi Ara, its back to the Green Line, the Mother of Coal sits as a sober reminder to those who offer up easy solutions for the conflict. In the headlines following Baruch Marzel’s aborted far-right march through the city, it seemed the perfect place to launch Falsedi’s attempt to reconnect with Zion, with its towns and its countryside and its people. Read more

I guess this counts as the official endorsement. See if you can spot falsedi’s finest….

גם אני מצביע לציפי לבני

“Real life has always seemed to us more frugal in coincidences than the novel or other forms of fiction, unless we were to allow that the principle of coincidence is the one, true ruler of the world, in which case, we should give as much value to the coincidence one actually experiences as to that which is written about, and vice versa.” Jose Saramago (The Double)

Abu Ghosh stilled as I came down the hill; another Thursday evening had arrived. As nobody else was waiting at the bus-stop, I assumed that the 185 had actually been on time. Even the broken plastic white chair was nowhere to be seen. I turned off my iPod and sat on the stone wall, intending to read until the next bus came. Agitated with the vanishing light, though, I decided to hitch. This was the first time I had tried to hitch my way away from work; I let my arm hang limply, like someone trying to solicit a prostitute for the first time.

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I’m always interested when novelists write about politics. As passionate a fan as I am of modern literature, I can’t help but thinking that writers let themselves down when they express their views on contemporary political debates in the op-ed pages. Some examples: I think Martin Amis’ frequent interventions on terrorism are hopelessly misplaced, a tragic misuse of his unmistakeable prose style. Amos Oz should stop with the banal entreaties about divorce and fanatics, and get back to novels. And then there’s Paul Auster’s recent statement that 9/11 might not have happened had Al Gore been president. That’s some counterfactual. Read more

Uri Avnery remains the most cutting-edge thinker on the Israeli left. Arguably the only true Progressive Zionist around, he has done more than anyone to articulate what a Hebrew Republic would actually look like. In his latest Gush Shalom missive, however, he draws one analogy too many, and as a result misses the nuances of his particular situation, Zion in the year 2008. Read more