i’m not saying that ALL terrorism is a result of houses being bulldozed, but what i will say is that there was a MAJOR lull in violence during rabin, netanyahu and barak’s administrations, which ended with sharon’s taking of office. he immediately began disrupting palestinian life and instigating conflict by, for example, bulldozing homes that were built without permits in east jerusalem.

wow.

honestreporting.com is anything but honest. it’s a biased agency funded by aish hatorah which takes any criticism of israel in the press and labels it “biased journalism.” for example, palestinian freedom fighters (because technically, that’s what they are) must be regarded as terrorists, not militants, to make honestreporting happy.
why is it, though, that when the u.s. invades a country (that does not want its “help”) and imposes its will on that nation’s citizenry, it is not terrorism, but “liberation”?
honestreporting can take their orwellian controls and shove it.
now, show me where in the palestinian national charter it says the jews must be driven into the sea? the word “sea” doesn’t even appear in the entire document.

>>”palestinian freedom fighters (because technically, that’s what they are) must be regarded as terrorists”
One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. If you can argue that honestreporting is biased in its wording, then I can argue that your sources are equally biased in the opposite direction.
>>”why is it, though, that when the u.s. invades a country (that does not want its “help”) and imposes its will on that nation’s citizenry, it is not terrorism, but “liberation”?”
I didn’t hear too many of those Afghani kids complaining about their X-Boxes, or too many Iraqis complaining about watching uncensored movies. It’s funny that when religious clerics here complain about sex and violence in film, they’re considered right wing religious nuts. However, when clerics in Iraq complain about the rise in popularity of uncensored films, they’re praised for trying to “preserve their culture from American dominance.”
Re: the PNC-
From the Palestinian National Chater: “Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine.”
Forgive my seemingly dramatic wording, but the point is still clear; Palestinians refuse to allow Jews in what they deem their land. All Islamic terrorist organizations, which are funded by the Palestinian and other Arab governments, believe that Jews (and all Infidels) have no right to exist. This ideology is not only purported in terrorist camps, but in everyday Palestinian/Arab life, even down to children’s shows where five year olds sing about the joys of being a martyr for Allah and killing the evil Zionist/Jewish entities.
>>”also, wtf — are you saying that israel doesn’t bulldoze houses that were illegally built without permits?”
Your comic portrayed Americans supporting the Israeli Army bulldozing homes in Gaza because “Those Arabs are all Jew-Hating America-Hating Terrorists! They have it coming to them!” Not because it was an issue of whether or not the builder had a permit. And yes, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs does make a good point- many Jews in Israel can barely afford to live in Israel, and “In New York, nobody would excuse or tolerate people building illegally in Central Park, whatever their attachment to Manhattan or however large their family.” Besides, how do you refute the fact that “Even the Palestinian Authority has demolished houses constructed illegally.”?
>>”it’s pathetic and ridiculous that you are going to deny self-evident fact simply for the fact that you dislike the source of information.”
I’m not denying any self-evident fact; I’m bringing it to light. I’m simply informing you that you’re biased in your presentation and in your informational sources. If you want to present any clear cut argument, no matter what side you take, you can’t simply look at the other side’s viewpoint and dismiss it as “Orwellian” and think that justifies your argument. Referencing the author of ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm’ may make you sound cool, but it doesn’t give your argument any real weight.

It’s funny that when religious clerics here complain about sex and violence in film, they’re considered right wing religious nuts. However, when clerics in Iraq complain about the rise in popularity of uncensored films, they’re praised for trying to “preserve their culture from American dominance.”
see, that’s a biased generalization right there. i think censorship and religious moral dominance over culture are both evils that need eradicating. i understand why the clerics would feel the way they do, and i regret the growing influence of mainstream american culture in an otherwise preserved environment, much in the same way i’d regret a forest being cut down to replace it with a shopping mall. but i don’t praise the cleric for trying to preserve intellectual hegemony. no, i demand evolution.
you’re just feeding into that classic right-wing stereotype which suggests that we ‘leftists’ coddle muslim terrorists. but there is no difference between jerry falwell and mullah omar as far as i’m concerned, except that falwell’s white & christian and lives in the states. their outlook is the same. perhaps some of my ‘comrades’ aren’t as liberty-centric as i am, but alas…it’s a free country.
“Article 15: The liberation of Palestine, from an Arab viewpoint, is a national (qawmi) duty and it attempts to repel the Zionist and imperialist aggression against the Arab homeland, and aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine.”
Forgive my seemingly dramatic wording, but the point is still clear; Palestinians refuse to allow Jews in what they deem their land. All Islamic terrorist organizations, which are funded by the Palestinian and other Arab governments, believe that Jews (and all Infidels) have no right to exist. This ideology is not only purported in terrorist camps, but in everyday Palestinian/Arab life, even down to children’s shows where five year olds sing about the joys of being a martyr for Allah and killing the evil Zionist/Jewish entities.
now wait–you said that they should push us into the sea. now, clearly, it did not say that. but that didn’t stop you from mouthing off that piece of racist rhetoric. then, in order to justify that statement, despite your “dramatic wording,” you cite a paragraph which does not, as you say, “refuse to allow Jews in what they deem their land,” but rather refuses to make peace with a group of people who insist on conquering and forcibly removing them from their own land. technically speaking (b/c as we all know, in effect, it doesn’t happens this way) “aims at the elimination of Zionism in Palestine” does not mean the elimination of jews; it means the elimination of the philosophy of zionism (which states that the region should be conquered, dominated, and officiated by jews, with second-class citizenship for muslims and christians) from the minds of its adherents. there is a big difference between that, and randomly pushing jews into the sea. that is just another exaggerated myth jews and right-wingers use to brand muslims as evil terrorists, as opposed to fessing up to their own contribution to the current state of affairs.
the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs does make a good point- many Jews in Israel can barely afford to live in Israel, and “In New York, nobody would excuse or tolerate people building illegally in Central Park, whatever their attachment to Manhattan or however large their family.” Besides, how do you refute the fact that “Even the Palestinian Authority has demolished houses constructed illegally.”?
like i said, the jerusalem center for public affairs is a right-wing think tank that will say whatever it takes to make israel look good. yeah, jews can’t afford to live in jerusalem. not because jerusalem can’t be affordable, but because scumbag landlords can get away with charging outrageous rents (and of course, only because wealthy jews are willing to pay them). is that some sort of excuse to bulldoze houses in east jerusalem where no jew would even want to live? show me a jew willing to live in a neighborhood where people tie camels to their porches and we can talk about illegal building. the gaza strip, where most of these demolitions take place, is NOT central park west by any stretch of the imagination, so that’s no excuse. further, yes, the p.a. may demolish homes, but it’s THEIR territory and THEIR right to do. it is not israel’s right to tell palestinians where they can build houses on palestinian land–land which they ceded under various accords in the past 50 years.
I’m simply informing you that you’re biased in your presentation and in your informational sources. If you want to present any clear cut argument, no matter what side you take, you can’t simply look at the other side’s viewpoint and dismiss it as “Orwellian” and think that justifies your argument. Referencing the author of ‘1984’ and ‘Animal Farm’ may make you sound cool, but it doesn’t give your argument any real weight.
yeah except that i’m the farthest thing from biased and you’re just an ass. go through the archives here, on jakeneck, on sexveggie, and you’ll see loads of instances where i’m sticking up for israel, shouting down arafat, etc. your bias prevents you from seeing the fact that israel is just as guilty as perpetuating this crisis as the palestinians are. i’m willing to put the blame on both, and insist that both fess up to their failures and reach a resolution. you just want the palestinians to roll over and take it, or die. that’s bias.
and EMTZ–it’s true, in the weeks leading up to sharon’s smack-in-the-face visit to the temple mount, violence had begun bubbling to the surface, but it was sharon’s walk the really set things off. sure, he was elected soon thereafter, but i didn’t make the claim that sharon is responsible for the violence. all i suggest is that his policies perpetuate it further.