There has been much discussion on the recent speech by Barak Obama, and its implications for the US-Israeli relationship, and he occupation of Palestine. I would like to run through a few of the commentators not yet mentioned, and some issues and such that were mentioned as well. I'll end with a few video pieces as well, so come check it out!
First, this video came out recently and has made the rounds on the internet rather quickly. On Dkos, it met a mixed response, and I found truth in much that was said; on the one hand, individual racism and such should not be used to depict large swaths of people or groups in general. On the other hand, I didn't hear that when the same individual did videos of right wing Christians, or when the media focused on racist statements by McCain/Palin supporters. So with that said, here's the blogger himself regarding his experience with this particular video clip;
Censored by the Huffington Post and Imprisoned By The Past: Why I Made 'Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem'
By Max Blumenthal
On Wednesday, I walked around central Jerusalem with my friend, Joseph Dana, an Israel peace activist who has lived in the country for three years. We interviewed young people on camera about the speech President Barack Obama planned to deliver to the Muslim world the following day in Cairo. Though our questions were not provocative at all – we simply asked, "What do you think of Obama’s speech" – the responses our interview subjects offered comprised some of the most shocking comments I have ever recorded on camera.
Behind the Israeli view of Obama lies a climate of extremism that exploded into the open when the country attacked Gaza. Today, extremist sentiment hovers well above the surface. A groundbreaking study of Israeli attitudes published in the wake of the Gaza war by the Tel Aviv University political psychologist Daniel Bar-Tal, who I recently interviewed, found that "Israeli Jews' consciousness is characterized by a sense of victimization, a siege mentality, blind patriotism, belligerence, self-righteousness, dehumanization of the Palestinians and insensitivity to their suffering." Bar-Tal commented to me that the army is the primary vehicle for stoking the nationalism of young Israelis. "Some countries are states without armies," he said. "But Israel today is an army without a state. There is no civilian institution capable of restraining the army’s influence."
Despite the Huffington Post’s rejection of my video report, it has exploded across the blogosphere. Even the rapper 50 Cent posted it prominently on his official website. It two days it has garnered 100,000 views. I hope those who have watched it, especially those predisposed to dismiss it as anti-Israel propaganda or shock video with "no news value," will at least ask how vitriolic levels of racism are able to flow through the streets of Jerusalem like sewage, why the grandsons of Holocaust survivors feel compelled to offer the Shoah as justification to behave like fascist street thugs, and how the sons and daughters of successful Jewish American families casually merged Zionist cant with crude white supremacism. The willful avoidance of these painful questions by self-proclaimed supporters of Israel is setting the stage for the complete delegitimization of the country they claim to love. As Obama said, "any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners of it."
Do read the whole post, it it well worth it. And there is also this;
Joseph Dana discusses 'Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem' on Tampa NPR
Joseph Dana, who blogs at Ibn Ezra and is the co-creator of the Feeling the Hate In Jerusalem on Eve of Obama's Cairo Address video with Max Blumenthal, was interviewed by Tampa NPR station WMNF. Joseph discusses the background on the video, what he thinks it says about the Israeli Jewish, and American Jewish, communities and his important work with the Israeli organization Ta'ayush. The interview begins at 40:30.
Aside from that, let's run down some other reactions to the speech.
First up, As'ad Abu Khalil, also known as the Angry Arab;
Obama Speech: Part Vapid and Part Sinister
I did not expect much. I mean, you know the routine by now. When presidents change, they merely change the Zionist Middle East "expert" at the White House who guides the president. Something happened in Middle East policy making in the White House in the Reagan administration. They no more trusted a real Middle East expert to guide policy making (this is party the obituary of the Arabists in Robert Kaplan's book by that name).
And he then condemns (unspecified) Western stereotypes of Muslims and then matches them with what he calls Muslim stereotypes of America as empire. But those two are not symmetrical: American stereotypes of Muslims are racist and essentialist, and the notion that the US is a war mongering Empire is shared by none Muslims and Muslims alike around the world. The literature about the US as Empire is written largely by Westerners. So Obama is asking for a bargain: to end Western racism (but not wars) against Muslims, Muslims need to stop attacking US foreign policy and wars. This is chicanery--don't you like those old fashioned words?
And he then moves from a discussion of the Nazism to the Arab-Israeli conflict. What is his point here: that because of Nazi crimes, the Palestinians need to accommodate Zionist crimes on their lands? This is the most offensive section of course: he talks about the Palestinians without identifying who was doing those bad things to them.... He then lectures the Palestinians: "Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed." I read that and thought: wait. Did you not in the early part of the speech bragged about how the US fought (non-violently, I may add) against British Empire? I should lecture Obama here: why didn't the US resort to non-violent resistance against the British Empire? How could he speak about nuclear weapons without even mentioning the Israeli arsenal?
Bush...and Obama
GW Bush, Rose Garden, 24 June 2002: "It is untenable for Palestinians to live in squalor and occupation. And the current situation offers no prospect that life will improve... My vision is two states, living side by side in peace and security."
BH Obama, Cairo University, 4 June 2009: "They endure the daily humiliations, large and small, that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable... The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security."
That will change Arab perceptions of the US
""Shoukran," Mr. Obama replied, which in Arabic means "thank you."" Look how nice, how sensitive, and how humane. Why did not other presidents think of that. If only that word was used before. I mean, if you print the word "shoukran" (it should be "shukran" but hey, it is the New York Times), on bombs and missiles that are being dropped on Arabs and Muslims, I think that they will no more mind US wars. Really. Just by using the word, Obama guaranteed a switch in Arab/Muslim public perceptions of the US. In fact, I once entered a French restaurant in Paris: and I started to hit customers and trashing the place. When some customers gathered to attack me, I yelled: "Merci." With that, the entire crowd started to cheer and they went to the kitchen to bake me a croissant. You should try that trick sometimes. "Thanks you."
Next, Gideon Levy
Obama emerged in Cairo as a true friend of Israel
By Gideon Levy
Neither Tel Aviv nor Ramallah held their breaths Thursday as the American president gave a speech in Cairo; the traffic in both crowded cities continued normally. Tel Aviv was indifferent, Ramallah sunk in desperation: Both cities have already had their fill of nice, historic speeches.
Nonetheless, no one can ignore the speech given by Barack Obama: The mountain birthed a mountain. Obama remained Obama. Only the Israeli analysts tried to diminish the speech's importance ("not terrible"), to spread fear ("he mentioned the Holocaust and the Nakba in a single breath"), or were insulted on our behalf ("he did not mention our right to the land as promised in the Bible"). All these were redundant and unnecessary. Obama emerged Thursday as a true friend of Israel.
This is the thinking of a great leader, who walked with wisdom and sensitivity between the Holocaust and the Nakba, between Israelis and Palestinians, between Americans and Arabs, between Christians, Jews and Muslims. How easy it is to imagine his predecessor, George Bush the Terrible, in the same position: a complete opposite.
Quite a juxtaposition, those two, no?
Next up, Chomsky!
It is worth remembering that there has been one break in U.S.-Israeli rejectionism. President Clinton recognized that the terms he had offered at the failed 2000 Camp David meetings were not acceptable to any Palestinians, and in December, proposed his "parameters," vague but more forthcoming. He then announced that both sides had accepted the parameters, although both had reservations.
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in Taba, Egypt, to iron out the differences, and made considerable progress. A full resolution could have been reached in a few more days, they announced in their final joint press conference. But Israel called off the negotiations prematurely, and they have not been formally resumed. The single exception indicates that if an American president is willing to tolerate a meaningful diplomatic settlement, it can very likely be reached.
It is also worth remembering that the George W. Bush administration went a bit beyond words in objecting to illegal Israeli settlement projects, namely, by withholding U.S. economic support for them. In contrast, Obama administration officials stated that such measures are "not under discussion," and that any pressures on Israel to conform to the Road Map will be "largely symbolic," the New York Times reported (Helene Cooper, June 1).
And a few more voices;
Nurit Peled:
Well I enjoyed it tremendously. It was, like all his other speeches, a breath of fresh air. This man is honest, educated, extremely eloquent, extremely human, determined to do the right thing and has the best interest of people at heart. The only thing that bothered me was that whereas he spoke of Violent Muslim extremists around the world, emphasising these were a potent minority of Muslims, He declared that Palestinians must abandon violence, as if all Palestinian are violent
Neve Gordon:
At the end of the day, though, it is less the words that count, and more the actions. Israel does not intend to freeze the settlement build-up nor is it going, of its own free will, to dismantle the illegal settlements and bring the settlers back home. The question, then, is what Obama will do. Will he exert enough pressure to save Israel from itself? Or will he allow, following his predecessors, to become a full blown Apartheid regime?
Ilan Pappé:
But on the whole, I have to admit that I was not disappointed, as I did not expect much. The substantial issues were not included in the speech, and I did not expect them to be. Even the settlements appeared only as illegitimate if they are continued, while their very existence is illegitimate. If the deal is, as one gathers from Rahm Emmanuel, is an America willingness to replace a Netanyahu government by a Livni government in return for endorsing systematic human rights violations in the Arab world, it means that cynicism still reigns. The Palestine issue would not be solved, human rights issues would not be improved and the destruction and dispossession of Palestine would continue.
And on the ground in Palestine, insult is still added to injury... and murder;
Israeli forces halt funeral procession of slain Palestinian
On Saturday morning, clashes with Israeli forces erupted as a funeral procession in the village of Ni'lin was prevented from reaching its the burial grounds. The funeral was for Yosef A'qel Srur of Ni'lin, killed by Israeli forces this past Friday.
Hundreds of mourners, including several Palestinian leaders, clergy and political activists, left the Ramallah hospital with Yosef A'qel Srur's body. They took to the streets to accompany the man, who was shot in the chest with a live bullet by Israeli soldiers on Friday, to his grave.
The procession chanted slogans affirming their belief in non-violent resistance and dedication to the struggle against the wall.
The slain man was a 37-year-old father of three young children. Three others were injured by live bullets at the event, and were taken to hospital for treatment.
Here's some more video,