Identity politics and ideology pollutes our understanding of the Israel/Palestine conflict
The conflict in Israel is constantly interpreted through the lens of identity politics and ideology both on the right and the left of politics. This creates warped perceptions of what is going on - perceptions that reinforce feelings of hatred and revenge.
Those who reflexively support Israel tend to see Palestinian violence as a manifestation of a culture which is antithetical to civilisation, rather than as the fairly normal and predictable reaction of humans anywhere to occupation and disposession. Atrocities such as what happened in Israel on October 7 2023 are lumped together with all other acts of violence perpetrated by Muslims anywhere in the world, and conservative social influencers tend to use these events to confirm their view that "these people" are fundamentally different from "us". When they refer to "these people", they don't mean Palestinians, they mean Muslims in general.
When conservatives discuss the Israel/Palestine conflict they frequently express outrage, but seem uninterested in looking at root causes, and they seem incapable of being outraged by Israel's bombing of civilians and constant harrassment of Palestinians.
When progressives discuss the Israel/Palestine conflict they show genuine compassion for the suffering of Palestinians but they have trouble acknowledging the psychopathic evil of those who engage in murderous rampages. This is because they frame Palestinians as an "oppressed" group, which in the rubric of racial critical theory justifies violent rebellion and revolution. This way of thinking reaches its logical extreme in the Black Lives Matter movement, who frame Hamas as heroes.
When you strip away the identity politics and just look at the history, you have to recognise that the Palestinian struggle is a universal one which is not really about Islam Vs the West. One might rightfully compare it to the troubles in Northern Ireland, which was a freedom struggle which happened to have Protestants on one side and Catholics on the other. It was not a conflict between Catholicism and Protestantism. One might also compare it to the struggle for freedom and independence in Indochina from the 50s to the 70s, which was framed at the time as a conflict between communism and capitalism, but which was really just a struggle for independence and self determination.
There are always those who use ideological conflicts as cover for hegemonic goals. The ruling elite in Israel take the position that Palestinians are uncivilized "animals" who deserve to be subjugated. This is reflected both in public statements and in the way they have transformed Gaza into something like an open air zoo.
The following testimony of former Israeli soldiers highlights the fact that Palestinians are treated with probably less respect than animals by occupying forces.
Children who grow up in societies which are torn apart by war and humiliated by occupation are easy targets for political indoctrination. The exposure to dehumanising violence as a child creates an adult who internalises rage and feelings of revenge. The ideology of militant groups gives that young adult a type of moral compass that legitimises acting out these feelings. It is these kind of conditions that produce groups like the Khmer Rouge, the IRA, ISIS and Hamas. The behaviour of these disparate groups can be understood by studying the psychology of childhood trauma. It clearly has nothing specifically to do with their cultural beliefs, since we've seen the same patterns in Christian, Buddhist and Islamic societies at different points in history.
Once we understand the way in which identity politics and ideology shapes perceptions, it is possible to come to a deeper understanding of the real causes of the current catastrophe in Gaza. The historical context of Jews is an important part of the picture. Jews see themselves as exceptional and chosen by God, and as victims of persecution going back thousands of years. The narrative of an unprovoked attack by Hamas against "peaceful" civilians (in reality most of the victims were IDF members) is accepted uncritically because it reinforces the ideology which frames Israelis as civilised and Palestinians as barbaric, and the political identity of Jews as a persecuted people.
The official narrative is preposterous in many ways. Firstly, it could never have produced a positive outcome for Hamas or the Palestinian people, rather it was guaranteed to turn the entire world against them. There is simply no logical goal. Secondly, there are glaring, unanswered questions about how Israel's high tech defense infrastructure could have failed so spectaularly. As can be seen in this passionate speech by a resident of one of the communities hit by Hamas, the local population has reason to feel betrayed by their own government.
https://twitter.com/BenzionSanders/status/1713255988608848069
After 9/11 the narrative pitched by the Bush adminstration was "they hate us for our freedoms". A similar narrative is used by Israel to frame all Palestinians and by extension all Muslims as barbaric, hate filled zealots who deserve to be bombed into submission. The narrative also helps to explain the apparently irrational and implausible actions of the enemy. A suicide attack involving flying planes into buildings was never likely to turn out well for those who purportedly planned 9/11. It simply paved the way for American domination of the Middle East. The same goes for the suicide assault on southern Israel. It is terrible PR and does nothing to weaken Israel. On the contrary it strengthen's Israel's military capacity by provoking the US to send aircraft carriers and aid, and weakens Hamas in many ways, not the least of which being that their bravest warriors are now all dead. This is not a serious way to conduct a guerilla war. Real insugencies like that of the Viet Cong in the 1960s did not involve mass suicide attacks because this is not a viable military strategy.
We will never see this kind of analysis in mainstream journalism because virtually all paid journalists are captured by ideology and identity politics, which leads to absurd narratives about what is really happening.
Those who frame Palestinians as primitive, barbaric and stupid, which includes both the Israeli leadership and most conservatives in the US, see all this as part of a much larger clash of civilisations within which the ultimate villain is Iran. The vilification of Iran is something that has been continuous for decades and is another example of the way ideology is used as cover for political machinations. The real problem with Iran for the West is not Islamism. If Islamism was really the problem then the chief villain would surely be Saudi Arabia, but they are an ally. The real problem is that Iran many years ago nationalised their oil industry and kicked out Big Oil. This happened in the 50s. They have been an enemy ever since.
Today, Iran is backed by China, a nuclear superpower eager to prove itself on the world stage.
Right now the stability of the entire world is at risk due to the way in which identity politics and ideology is used to manipulate populations to serve the nefarious geopiltical agenda of imperialists.
In my view the risk of nuclear war has never been greater, not even during the Cuban missile crisis. China, the US, Israel, Russia are all nuclear armed. Iran probably has a few nukes stashed away somewhere. Right now a great shame is being visited on the population of Gaza. Humiliation and dishonour can provoke unexpected and irrational responses.
The world is in great peril today.
The lead image of this story was created by Bing AI using the following prompt: "an image which represents conflicting perceptions based on political affiliations". Bing AI does not like the phrase "identity politics" and refuses to generate images which have strong political context or represent conflict in any way.
This article needs to go to a wider audience.
It is the best attempt I have read yet -along with the non-ideological analyses from the likes of Scott Ritter, Jeffrey Sachs, Norman Finklestein, John Mershemier - to define the problem.
Winston is going deeper than viewing the 75-year conflict through the irreconcilable ideological stances on each side. He’s looking for the root cause.
It is well known in the engineering field that an operating problem of a complex system cannot fixed until the true cause of the problem is objectively identified with empirical evidence. This process involves identifying what the problem is, and what the problem is not. It is best done in brainstorming sessions with parties having different specialist skills and perspectives.
This article I think would conclude (correct me if I am wrong) that the root cause of the problem is the creation of a separate nation state to be used as a homeland for the Jewish diaspora in the aftermath of the German genocide.
In other words, the vote in the United Nations on November 29, 1947 for that infamous Resolution 181 “Partition Plan for Palestine” was a monumental mistake. It was a very bad idea.
The question now is “how can this mistake be rectified in 2023?”
It is my view that the only way the mistake can be rectified is by a Single State Solution
This is in effect the South African solution to an apartheid state
—ooOoo—
NOTES
The result and date of the vote in the United Nations that resulted in the creation of the nation state of Israel are as follows:
- The vote took place on November 29, 1947, in the United Nations General Assembly. https://www.history.co.uk/this-day-in-history/29-n…
- The vote was on Resolution 181, also known as the Partition Plan for Palestine, which proposed to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into two independent states, one Jewish and one Arab, with an economic union and a special international regime for Jerusalem.
- The vote was 33 in favor, 13 against, 10 abstentions, and one absent. The countries that voted in favor included the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Canada, Australia, and most of Latin America and Europe. The countries that voted against included the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and most of the Arab and Muslim world. The countries that abstained included China, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and Yugoslavia. The country that was absent was Thailand.
- The vote was considered a historic and controversial decision that paved the way for the establishment of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, following the end of the British Mandate. However, the vote was also rejected by the Arab states and the Palestinian Arabs, who refused to accept the partition and launched a war against the Jewish state. The war resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and the expansion of Israel beyond the borders of the Partition Plan.
The UN votes for the partition of Palestine and the creation of Israel
HISTORY
How do you come about to a Single State solution.
This either means:
1 - Removal aka Genocide of Palestinians.
OR
2 - The Jews giving up the land and never attempting to control it again.
As long as there are differing religions, some kind of peace cannot be found.
So, a third option is to abolish the Jewish religion, since they don't seem to get along with anybody but their own. Many would also call for an abolishment of the Muslim religion as well. But who am I (or anybody else) to decide what people should and shouldn't worship.
A 'single state' solution could only really occur if a replacement religion were formed, bringing both Romeo and Juliet together and encouraging all others to see the flaws of their own current religion.
'single state' solution could only really occur if a replacement religion were formed‘
Not necessarily.
A single state solution will come about by military annexation by the Zionist state of Israel. First, military invasion and annexation of the occupied territory of Gaza. Then settlements will be expanded in the occupied territory of the West Bank. Settler violence there will be expanded, under the protection of the "IDF". A flood of refugees from the West Bank will be taken in by neighbouring countries. When the West Bank is sufficiently depopulated of Palestnians, then the territory will be annexed by the Zionist colonisers.
Both territories will become a part of Greater Israel
That is the Single State Solution to the 75-year Palestinian conflict.
Speculation only, so I could be wrong,
Lets see. .
Twitter: geoff mckee
> A 2-state solution will never happen. IGaza will be invaded and annexed by Israel as the Indonesians did to Portuguese Timor in 1975. Then Israeli settlers will be expanded into the West Bank leading to an exodus of indigenous Palestinians. That’s the single state solution, — geoff mckee (@gamke) December 10, 2023 [https://twitter.com/gamke/status/1733945102006104328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw]
Twitter"As long as there are differing religions, some kind of peace cannot be found." - I'm not sure about this statement Leni. The old city of Jerusalem comprises three religions - Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The people who live there have been living in peace with each other most of the time during the past 2000 years. It's true that there have been moments of extreme violence but in the bigger picture we see mostly people of different faiths living in close proximity and not bothering each other.
The Crusades was an early example of the kind of interference and destabilisation that we've seen in the past hundred years. Empires have used Jerusalem as part of their geopolitical chess games for a long time, but the ordinary people are just pawns in the game and have no say at all, and would rather live in peace, but they are simply not allowed to do so, because the world is ruled by violence.
I think my wording was poor, as it's not applicable to all situations.
I'm more so referring to this specific situation where two very opposing religions seem to be trying to claim one holy site as their own.
Maybe if Christians, Buddhists and Hindus were all living there and were happy to share the holy site there would be no issue and a single state solution would be viable. But, in this instance, the Zionists (posing as Jews) and the Muslims may not be willing to share the one location.
I thought my categorization of position in the 21st century culture war would be “conservative”, but when it comes to Gaza, I am with the “leftists”
Twitter: Andrew Gustafson
> Everyone please note that: ➡️this is largely pro-union democrat-voting rank-and-file police, ➡️being ordered by leftist activist police leadership and politicians, ➡️at the behest of feckless and incompetent DEI University administrators, ➡️to take action against anti-Semitic… — Andrew Gustafson (@AndrewGustafson) May 1, 2024 [https://twitter.com/AndrewGustafson/status/1785519931628646658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw]
TwitterRefering to the October 7 cross-border attack by armed fighters from Gaza, Winston says "There is simply no logical goal"
This is a statement that I - and probably many others - might entertain & consider, but not necessaraly accept as the truth of the matter.
A psychopathic rage attack caused by childhood trauma appears a little too reductionist & simplistic an explanation. Such an attack is motivated by gratuitous & primitive emotions and not through a meticulously planned & executed military operation involving maybe coordination and control of 1,000 well-trained Hamas fighters whose commanders would of course considered and game-planned various success/failure outcomes arising from the attack. As has been suggested the gratuitous rage-violence may have been committed by the armed and undisciplined jihadist gangs that flooded through the fence after it was breached in many places by the Hamas military arm. These individuals then "ran amok" - a term that comes from Bahasa Indonesia and explains the mass slaughter of perceived PKI supporters by gangs armed with machetes after the coup by General Suharto against President Sukano in about 1965. Millions of innocent civilians were slaughterd by these Islamist gangs aided and abetted by the C.I.A. to "eradicate the PKI" in the same way that Lesser Israil wants to "eradicate Hamas". What that means in reality is that any person who supports Hamas must be killed.
Given that October 7th was meticulously planned, then the question arises what was the strategic military objective? The answer is blowing in the wind.
Aside: the psychological analysis of psychopathy expert Professor of Psychology Sam Vaknin would tend to support Winston's proposition that the October 7 attack was illogical. But I'm not so sure, in the fog of war. See: https://5ep.net/posts/status-2023102042244
I am not going to jump to any conclusions, accepting that all the information coming out of statements by Israeli spokesmen is ligitimate disinformation consistent with IDF & Mossad military doctrine. In other words, we cannot believe what we are told about the nature of the October 7 attack. As Winston says, "The official narrative is preposterous in many ways." I share this perception.
If the October attack was illogical, then we will never understand.
If the attack was illogical, then the implication is that we should not waste out time trying to understand.
However, let us make the assumption that the trainers, organizers & planners of the October 7 attack had logical military objectives.
It is only an assumption. But if we accept the assumption as being true, then what hypotheses can we put forward about the logical military objectives of the armed fighters?
---
Footnote: above having been said, I still think this little citizen-journalist essay on Gaza is one of the best prose pieces I have read. Sadly, it will never be published as an opinion piece in any wide-circulation corporate newspaper or magazine.
Psychology of (Israeli-Palestinian) Conflict (Read DESCRIPTION)
PSYCHOANALYSIS OF THE ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT Sam Vaknin **Post brought to you by 5th Estate Press - the Citizen Journalism Platform
5EP - Fifth Estate PressWhat I said was there was no logical goal for Hamas to attack Israel in this way. The only expected result from such an attack would be the total devastation of Gaza and possibly the expulsion of Palestians completely from the Gaza strip. Clearly that is not a logical goal for Hamas or Palestine.
The same analysis applies to the 9/11 attacks which were guaranteed to result in an accelerated US campaign of invasion and occupation of Middle Eastern countries, siezing their resources and consolidating US power globally.
The logical goal of these attacks is most likely to increase Israel's power and aquire more land. That is not a logical goal of Hamas, but it is a logical goal of Israel.
In this way it is inevitable to conclude that these attacks were fundamentally orchestrated by Israel in the manner of a false flag.
The pent up hatred and rage within Hamas makes them easy to manipulate. All Israel needed to do was turn a blind eye and stand down at the border, allowing the insurgents through. I'm 99% sure that this is what happened, because, as Sherlock Holmes said, once you eliminate the impossible, then what is left is the true explanation.
It's impossible to conceieve that Israel inadvertently failed to notice that thousands of armed insurgents were crashing through their border fences on 7 October. It's just a stupid proposition, and such an insult to all thinking people. Ergo, we must conclude that they were complicit in these attacks. Ergo, we must conclude that these attacks served Israel's strategic goals, for which they were willing to sacrifice a few thousand of their own citizens.
The reward for the Hamas extremists was that they got to work off some of their rage and go to heaven as martyrs. This is where the psychology of oppressed traumatised people comes into play.
Thanks for your attention. 🤓
Winston reiterated "What I said was there was no logical goal for Hamas to attack Israel in this way."
Exactly. That is what Winston said.
A proposition does not become true just by repeating it.
I ask again. IF your assumption that Hamas had no logical goal is in fact false, THEN what logical goal would you hypothesise they had, based on all you reading and listening about the Israeli response?
I have in my mind three different hypotheses.
OK, here you go:
Mass suicide, allowing all Palestinians to go heavan as martyrs.
That is perhaps a logical goal for these people given their belief system.
Here's another angle on the "logical goal", from Israel's perspective.
Twitter: HealthRanger
> Israel's operation against #Gaza [https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gaza?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] is essentially a bomb-and-pillage operation to slaughter every human being standing in the way of access to the RICHES in natural gas and oil that have been found beneath the Gaza Strip. #Israel [https://twitter.com/hashtag/Israel?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] isn't following scripture, and God isn't guiding… — HealthRanger (@HealthRanger) November 18, 2023 [https://twitter.com/HealthRanger/status/1725667945093702078?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw]
TwitterShow 5 more replies
This tweet by Mike Adams the Health Ranger is a good example a false belief or his gullibility. Anybody who believes Israel is invading Gaza to secure oil & gas riches for themselves is out of touch with reality if you ask me. I happen to know a little bit from articles in the Oil & Gas Journal. There has been no exploration for oil in Gaza. This involves seismic surveys and finally investing in exploration wells. It simply hasn’t happened in Gaza so there are no known onshore oil resources under the ground of Gaza. The only resource over which Gaza has jurisdiction is the offshore Gaza Marine gas field discovered in 1999 by BP. That is a relatively small discovery of 1 TCF but it would be perfect for powering Gaza for 30 years. Israel does not need this 1 TCF as it has jurisdiction over the offshore Leviathan gas field discovery of as estimated 22 TCF. Israel also is producing gas from some smaller offshore fields and sending this gas to Egypt as well as using some for its own power generation. The yet untapped Leviathan gas fiend is a huge field. It’s equivalent to 400 million tonnes of LNG.
Footnote: In this June 2011 2-hour presentation by Australian oil & gas engineer G. A. McKee, comparisons were made between the undeveloped Greater Sunrise field offshore Timor Leste (5.1 TCF) and the undeveloped Gaza Marine field (1.4 TCF). See slide 16 of 49, attached.
Winston says
The logical goal of these attacks is most likely to increase Israel's power and aquire more land. That is not a logical goal of Hamas, but it is a logical goal of Israel.
That is a hugely heretical statement suggesting the October 7 attack was “allowed to happen” in the same way as 9/11 was “allowed to happen”
Events on the ground in Gaza today - 7 December 2023 - have made the world wake up to the terrible truth that the publicly stated Israeli military strategy of “eliminate Hamas” is a euphemism for “eliminate the majority population of Gaza, by displacement, expulsion with no point of returning to a territory with everything destroyed, disease and starvation for those remaining
It is hard to believe this is happening in 2023.
I heard today that the Turks were sending a flotilla of aid ships to Gaza. This could lead to confrontation with Israel. We are living in uncertain times
Link
https://www.timesofisrael.com/1000-boats-said-set-to-leave-turkey-for-gaza-waters-in-new-freedom-flotilla/Winston said
The only expected result from such an attack would be the total devastation of Gaza and possibly the expulsion of Palestians completely from the Gaza strip.
Well, it does look as though that dire prophesy is coming true.
This leads to the speculative conclusion that Hamas leadership had a problem with reality on a religious level, the same kind kind of hatred that Jordan B. Peterson wrote about in Rule 6 of his book 12 Rules For Life.
We’re talking about the phenomenon of a murder-suicide here. If that’s the case, then indeed it is illogical and I am wrong in my earlier thinking that the October 7 attack has a logical military objective.
Quote
IT DOES NOT SEEM REASONABLE to describe the young man who shot twenty children and six staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012 as a religious person. This is equally true for the Colorado theater gunman and the Columbine High School killers. As one of the members of the Columbine duo wrote:
The human race isn’t worth fighting for, only worth killing. Give the Earth back to the animals. They deserve it infinitely more than we do. Nothing means anything anymore.
All Israel needed to do was turn a blind eye and stand down at the border, allowing the insurgents through.
THAT APPEARS SO TRUE.
The frustrating thing - just as in 9/11 - is that no whistleblowers step forward with solid proof.
I suspect all mass shooters (regardless of if helpful for political campaigns or not) are mentally unstable and on anti-depressant medication - possibly resulting in them becoming mentally unstable.
After all, anti-depressants numb a persons feelings, which means they will lose empathy and lack a connection to the community and to the planet/God as a whole.
NB Heuristic comment only. Truth & falsity irrelevant. No offense intended.
—-
Another way of looking at the Israel-Palestinian problem is to understand the psychological perspective of e.g., that of Sam Vaknin, the psychopathy expert and Israel passport holder.
Thus we could say the cause of the problem is identity politics in Israel and Palestinian.
Whereas this opinion-piece seems to be saying that identity politics that has captured the minds of some observers in the West is polluting their understanding.
A big difference in focus.
Vaknin seems to be exonerating, to a certain extent, ordinary innocent civilians - men, women & children - on both sides.
He is blaming the psychopathy, narcissism & identitarianism (i.e. identity politics) of leadership on both sides.
Their identity is derived from being an enemy of the other side. This is a recipe for permanent state of war.
Peace would rob the leadership on both sides of their identity.
Notwithstanding, this is a perceptive opinion piece and I found myself nodding in agreement all the way through, especially when talking about the plight of the Palestinian people.
None of us know the truth about reports coming out of Israel.
What if the 7 October attack was “staged” by Israel?
This changes everything.
Psychology of (Israeli-Palestinian) Conflict (Read DESCRIPTION)
PSYCHOANALYSIS OF THE ISRAEL-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT Sam Vaknin **Post brought to you by 5th Estate Press - the Citizen Journalism Platform
5EP - Fifth Estate PressThis exposition by Islamic scholar illustrates how the Palestinian religious victim identity is unconquerable.
The Israelis cannot change this identity by bombing and killing their enemy,
He says that so long as the Palestinians (i.e., the people of Gaza) do not surrender, they win.
If 2 million people in Gaza get killed without surrendering, they win.
If they surrender, they lose, in a zero sum existential conflict.
With God on their side, how can they loose?
The same goes for Israel, who believe God is on their side when they meter out Old Testament retribution.
The identity of both sides is dependent on seeing the other as an existential threat.
The only solution is a Single State solution, as happened in South Africa.
The West Has Not Thought Israel's Gaza War Through, with Shaykh Haitham al-Haddad
At a time when the world is engrossed in the Israeli war on Gaza, Shaykh Dr. Haitham al-Haddad provides a much-needed analysis on the state of affairs. In this week's Islamic Thought video by Islam21c, Shaykh Haitham delves into a variety of topics including the strategic miscalculations made by the West, the role of the Muslim Ummah, and the broader implications for global order and justice. Key Takeaways: 1️⃣ Israel Has Already Lost the War: Shaykh Haitham evaluates the state of Israel's military efforts, scrutinising the nation's failure to secure a decisive victory despite superior firepower. 2️⃣ The Future of the Conflict: An incisive look at where this enduring struggle is heading, considering factors such as international law, geopolitical alliances, and the role of global superpowers. 3️⃣ Existence is Resistance: The very existence of Palestinians stands as a form of resistance against the occupation. Shaykh Haitham discusses how, even in the event of an Israeli "win", …
Islam21cI really like the AI generated image. I was actually a little disappointed when you published a new story, just because the main image of this story was no longer the main image for the site 😂
I've been trying a few AI image generators but haven't had any kind of luck like what you've had.
I'd like to see a Gadsden Flag (Don't Tread on me Flag) being stepped on or trampled, with an American flag burning somewhere in the image as well. But the AI programs I've tried can't even get the first part right.
I'll push it back to the top :) One problem I had is the aspect ratio. The Bing AI can only generate square images, which is not so good for making a lead image for a story.
Very sad... And it mimics the reports of those IDF soldiers testimonies from 17 years ago, except the morality of the world has declined much further since then.
https://5ep.net/posts/status-2023101836361
Twitter: Inversionism
Disgusting. **Post brought to you by 5th Estate Press - the Citizen Journalism Platform
5EP - Fifth Estate PressAbsolutely excellent analysis!
In this documentary you can see how the narrative that Palestine was a primitve place without a civilisation was integral to the logic of early Zionist writers/propagandists, long before the first British Mandate in 1920. This reminds me a little of the "terra nullius" dictat of Australian colonists which was overturned by the Mabo Supreme Court decision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUCeQt8zg5o
Palestine 1920: The Other Side of the Palestinian Story | Al Jazeera World Documentary
“A land without a people, and a people without a land” is how the relationship between Palestine and the Jewish people was described by Christian writers in the 1800s. And the 20th-century history of the Middle East has largely been written through these eyes. But this film from Al Jazeera Arabic looks at Palestine from a different angle. It hears from historians and witness accounts, and features archive documents that show Palestine as a thriving province of Greater Syria and the Ottoman Empire at the dawn of the 20th century. The evidence suggests that its cities had a developing trade and commercial sector, growing infrastructure, and embryonic culture that would enable it to meet the challenges of the decades ahead. However, the political ramifications of the Balfour Declaration, San Remo Conference and British Mandate set in motion a series of events that profoundly affected this vibrant, fledgeling society and led to the events of 1948 and beyond. This film is the …
Al Jazeera EnglishThis platform invites me to join the discussion
So I will, in good faith.
This creative & penetrating opinion-piece could be your masterpiece.
It really needs to go to a wider audience. How could this be arranged?
It’s clearly written from the perspective of one who has thought very deeply
- starting from the 9/11 truth-seeking movement
- your trips to Cambodia and Germany to make sense of the the implosion of those societies under Pol Pot and Hitler respectively.
- not to mention your family history you told me about affected by the assassination of JFK
I have read this opinion piece twice and have been moved by the choice the the 2 YouTube clips showing the voices of good Israeli people
- the young IDF soldiers forced to participate in cruel and inhumane treatment of Palestinian families in the occupied territories
- the 19 year-old girl who experienced the full horror of the October 7 massacre yet had empathy for the people of Gaza who would experience the same kind of horror en masse
One could go through your statements and quibble about different nuances but that is pointless.
This powerful opinion piece you have written represents the perspective of a thinker and truth-seeker not directly involved yet moved by a passionate interest in human suffering and the manipulation of public opinion by the masters who make the rules, for the wise men and the fools (to quote the bard)
This raises the question: why bother to put down in writing your perspective on such an intractable and seemingly unsolvable geopolitical pressure point that could lead to World War 3?
The answer to this question I recall in a quote from one famous English writer:
We write not so much that others may understand, but more so that we may understand
In meeting the challenge and discipline of putting down on paper in words, sentences and paragraphs what is on one’s mind, we put our thoughts in order. We write to reflect and make sense of reality.
Aristotle said in another quote I cannot lay my hands on:
To reflect is the most noble of human activities
Getting back to my original question
It really needs to go to a wider audience. How could this be arranged?
I just listened to this guy - a geopolitical analyst - who I believe is just like yourself - non ideological and possibly “neutral” as far as understanding the complexities of the current Israel-Palestinian conflagration
https://www.youtube.com/live/CYgJlE0ijNk?si=zi-JM2…
I think this student of geopolitics can see both sides of the conflict, much the same as your above opinion piece
How the Israel Hamas Conflict Changes EVERYTHING!
What's the latest in the battle between Israel and Hamas? In today's livestream we'll break down everything on all sides and try our best to provide the most accurate and nuanced reports of what's really going down in the Middle East ✅ Join our new Locals Community here: ✅ Join this channel to get access to perks: 🚀 Limited Time: Get up to 20 Free stocks with moomoo! Open a free account and claim your free stocks after you make your initial deposits. Click here to learn more ➡ -------------------------- If you'd like to support the channel / 如果你想支持我的频道: 🅿️ Patreon: ☕ Buy me a Coffee: 🧧 WeChat / 微信: ➡️ PayPal: ₿ Bitcoin: 32go3tLiu88jibJhWgK3RstmXsW2FFELJ8 -------------------------- ✅ Subscribe to my newsletter: ✅ YouTube: ✅ Facebook: ✅ Twitter: ✅ 西瓜视频： ✅ B站视频： ✅ 抖音：@温哥华老外 -------------------------- 📸 Products I use to Produce my Vlogs: Camera: Tripod: Microphone: Lighting: Drone: #israel #hamasattack #israelpalestine
Cyrus JanssenCyrus Jansen is his name. An interesting character. Having lived and worked in China for many years, he is an American who is “pro China”. That puts him at odds with the status quo media establishment
Exclusive: Canadian court investigates pro-China YouTuber’s Meng video
The video by American Cyrus Janssen was shared by Global Times’ chief reporter, and includes illicit footage shot inside the Vancouver courthouse
South China Morning Post