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Interested
Joined: 10 Feb 2003
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 Posted: Mon Nov 06, 2006 7:35 pm Post subject: Grossman (famous Israeli writer) speech to Olmert |
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Here is an interesting article, written by David Grossman. You may recall that his son (a young soldier) was killed in the last days of the Israeli war on Lebanon. (I actually wept when I read his article about that). Here is a speech he gave directed at Olmert.
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Rabin decided to act, because he detected, with great astuteness, that Israel could not long continue in a state of unresolved conflict. He understood, before many people understood, that life in a constant climate of violence, of occupation, of terror and fear and hopelessness, comes at a price that Israel cannot afford to pay. All this is true today as well, and much more sharply. In a bit, we'll talk about the partner that we do or don't have, but first let's look at ourselves.
For more than a hundred years we have lived in a conflict. We, the citizens of that conflict, were born into a war, we were educated within it, and, in a sense, we were educated for it. Perhaps for that reason we sometimes think that this madness that we've been living in for a century now is the only true thing, that it is the life we are destined for, and that we have no way, even no right, to aspire to a different kind of life. We will live and die by the sword, and the sword shall devour forever.
Maybe that explains the apathy with which we accept the total cessation of the peace process, a moratorium that has lasted for years now, and has cost ever more casualties. That can also explain how most of us have failed to respond to the brutal kick democracy received when Avigdor Lieberman was appointed a senior cabinet minister. It's the appointment of a compulsive pyromaniac to head the country's firefighters.
And these are some of the reasons why Israel, in an amazingly short time, has degenerated into heartlessness, real cruelty towards the weak, the poor and the suffering. Israel displays indifference to the hungry, the elderly, the sick and the handicapped, equanimity in the face of, for example, trafficking in women, or the exploitation of foreign workers in conditions of slave labour; and in the face of profound, institutionalised racism toward its Arab minority. When all this happens as if it were perfectly natural, without outrage and without protest, I begin to fear that even if peace comes tomorrow, even if we eventually return to some sort of normality, it may be too late to heal us completely.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,,1941216,00.html |
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Adventurer
Joined: 28 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 6:08 am Post subject: |
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| I read the speech by Grossman. I agree with him that the Olmert government is bereft of leadership, it is without a true direction, and it is simply not behaving in a rational manner. Olmert's government brought someone into government who was equivalent of Hamas or worse. That is not productive; that is reactionary. I agree with the idea of appealing to the Palestinian masses and addressing them and saying time is running out and Israel will be generous if Palestinians show a true will for peace, and if the Palestinian side cannot show sincerity and face up to the obstinancy of Hamas, then nothing can be gained. Bombing Gaza into submission is kind of old. It is not the answer. |
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Meegook
Joined: 12 Oct 2006
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| Posted: Tue Nov 07, 2006 3:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Interesting how when Grossman, a Jew, tells the truth, no one is here, eg canuckistan, calling Grossman a Jew hater or racist. |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Wed Nov 08, 2006 1:21 am Post subject: |
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In the interests of balance (so regularly lamented on this forum  ) here are a couple of responses to Grossman's speech.
What about my beautiful Palestine?
Having read David Grossman's speech (What happened to my beautiful Israel, G2, November 7), I can't help but ask: what happened to my beautiful Palestine? No one will doubt the sincerity of Mr Grossman's desire to see peace between Israelis and Palestinians, especially after the tragic loss of his son in the recent Israeli attack on Lebanon. A tragic loss that echoes on a daily basis within every Palestinian home in the occupied Palestinian territories and the Gaza Strip. We all mourn and we all suffer.
But, Mr Grossman must also know that the cause of this spiral is not Hamas or the Palestinian resistance, or the suicide bombers. The cause is the illegal and inhuman occupation of Palestinian land. Israel has it in its grasp to simply abide by international law and all UN resolutions calling for an end to its occupation, and to allow the Palestinians to live in freedom and dignity. My beautiful Palestine will then join hands with his beautiful Israel to show the world what two great people can achieve, if mutual respect and value for human life are upheld. Only then, can the death of Mr Grossman's son and the sons of Palestinian mothers and fathers be honoured.
Antoine Raffoul
Raffoul Darrer Architects, London
David Grossman refers to Palestinians as "a people no less tortured than we are". With the possible exception of the occasional supposed liberal Jewish commentator, there are of course no longer any actual tortured Jews, whether we are talking about bodies or souls. There are, however, countless Palestinians being actually tortured by the occupiers of their country.
Shihab Nuaimi
London
http://www.guardian.co.uk/letters/story/0,,1941917,00.html |
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