Their Enemy's Enemy

Sometimes the old saying that ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend’ takes on quite ridiculous and distinctly comical proportions at CiF as commentators attempt to lend reason and justification to events and phenomena within the constraints of their particular rigid world view. Such were some of the reactions to Dr. Jonathan Spyer’s article of April 30th.
Dr. Spyer, holder of a BSc in Economics and Diplomatic History, an MSc in International Politics of the Middle East and a PhD in International Relations, had his credentials called into question by commentators who metaphorically stick their fingers in their ears whenever an Israeli puts pen to paper.

Hornstein
30 Apr 2010, 12:19PM
Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research in International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Herzliya, Israel. He is a former advisor on international affairs at the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructures, and a former official of the Government Press Office, an agency within the Israel Prime Minister?s Office.
Nothing more to add!!

Come on CIF, try to make it a little less obvious when giving coverage to the Israeli Hasbara brigade.

OdeToSuzanne
30 Apr 2010, 12:45PM
@ Gareth100
It would seem that the nub of Mr Spyers polemic that there’s no-one amongst the Palestinians that Israel can do business with, therefore the status quo must remain and meanwhile Israel will hang on until November when there’ll be more Republicans in the US senate to block any advances Obama might propose. Perhaps I’m being too cynical but history suggests maybe not.
Cynical? No Gareth, I think you’ve hit the nail firmly on the head. Status quo ad infinitum is the name of the game here.
@ sham144
“Divide and Rule” is what comes to my mind, such a simple strategy but so effective. The more the Palestinians can be divided the easier it becomes for occupiers/abusers to steal their land; accuse them of being terrorist; abuse them; and not wanting peace!!
Exactly. And no amount of Israeli propagandists (sorry, government spokespersons) such as Jonathan Spyer or Mark Regev – can pull the wool over the eyes of the informed of this world.

(Note the creative use of the word ‘informed’ here)

Krok
30 Apr 2010, 12:51PM
If the Guardian is going to host articles by Israeli spokesman, then when are they going to publish a piece by a Hamas spokesman?

Then we were treated to some amazing interpretations of the role played by the present Iranian theocratic regime both at home and abroad.

Krok
30 Apr 2010, 11:21AM
The responsibility for the split in the split of the Palestinian lies with America, Israel and its collaborators within the PLO. Their inhuman, hegemonic goals can be realized only with a divided Palestine. Fatah for its part has pursued a policy of selfish factionalism instead of working with all democratic and patriotic forces in expelling the occupiers and establishing an independent Palestinian state. At the behest of the imperialist powers headed by George Bush, Fatah worked to unleash a civil war among the Palestinians by trying to stage a coup in Gaza in 2007, but were crushed by the resistance. The crisis was”precipitated by the American and Israeli policy of arming elements of the Fatah opposition who want to attack Hamas and force us from office”. Progressive factions of Fatah need to isolate the corrupt leadership and join the resistance.
. It gives Tehran an effective veto over any attempt to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Iran plays a constructive role concerning the Palestinian situation and all questions of regional stability. Without Iran’s input, a settlement would be unthinkable. If the Palestinians are to win their freedom, it can only be done with the steadfast support of Iran, Syria, and other democratic forces in the region. As lessons of Lebanon and elsewhere demonstrate, the only way for the Palestinians to win their freedom is by uncompromising resistance against the occupation.

Krok
30 Apr 2010, 12:21PM
HAMAS have stated many times their objective of replacing Israel (and Jordan) with a pan-Arab caliphate underpinned by Sharia Law.
How exactly is Israel the victim in this conflict when it is illegally occupying territories that it it took after a series of wars of aggression against the Arabs? Palestinians don’t have tanks and chemical weapons with which to murder children the way Israel does. Such bunk from Israel mouthpieces shows that they do not even have entertain the thought of peace.

Krok
30 Apr 2010, 12:41PM
Conditions are unlikely to improve much there in the near future because Hamas thrives on the misery of the Palestinians
Conditions in the occupied territories are in horrendous conditions because of the Israeli terror and policy of apartheid, making Gaza into an impoverished, overpopulated ghetto. The vast majority of Gazans are themselves refugees from previous waves of ethnic cleansing.
The future is dim for Gazans because Hamas is a true Islamic organization meaning they seek an Islamic government in the mold of Iran?s theological state.
How exactly is Palestinians’ inspiration from Iran’s revolutionary struggle going to lead to a “dim future”? If Palestinians follow Iranians’ path, they will win their freedom against tyranny just like what the Iranians achieved against their king.
we have seen recently in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead
During which Israel committed war crimes.
, the Palestinians are the pawns in this game. In addition, there will be no elections in the future of Gaza because, simply put, Iran has a vested interest in maintaining power and control over Gazans through their proxy Hamas
It’s the power-hungry, corrupt Abbas at the behest of the Americans and Israelis who is sabotaging the political process, as PFLP suggests.
Hamas takes great pride in teaching the hatred necessary for generational warfare against the Jewish state.
The problem is that you think that people are some kind of brainless sheep. But Palestinian children do not need to be taught by Hamas that Israel’s policies of indiscriminately leveling civilian areas and subjecting a territory to an unprecedented blockade are evil.

So there we have it: Iran plays a major role in establishing stability in the Middle East (it sure didn’t feel like that when Hizbollah missiles were raining down on us in the summer of 2006), a constructive role in the peace process (by backing a group of theocratic thugs who aim to wipe a specific ethnic group off the map) and is a ‘democratic force’ to boot. Israel launched ‘wars of aggression against the Arabs’ and Iranians live in ‘freedom from tyranny’. I wonder how many Iranian exiles or members of the Green movement would agree with that warped analysis? Then we have a further view into the world of Krok the armchair revolutionary:

Krok
30 Apr 2010, 1:14PM
The summary” justice” which witnessed hundreds of Fatah members thrown from the top of buildings or executed by firing squad during the Hamas coup in June 2007.
Read the Vanity Fair article. Fatah launched a coup and street battles in Gaza.
Well the Hamas fighters are pretty good at firing rockets at civilians from a safe distance, but when faced with Israeli soldiers during Cast Lead,
If you want to talk about cowardice, then scrutinize how the Israeli butchers of women and children hide behind tanks and airplanes instead of fighting like honoarble warriors.
they melted away into the general population.
Isn’t that the point? You’ve heard of guerrilla warfare, right? Read Mao Zedong or Che Guevara. Mao famously referred to how revolutionaries are fish in a sea of sympathizers.

One can only presume that ‘honoarble’ means the shocking neglect of the safety and welfare of the Hamas government’s citizens. No less incredible is the idea that a one-state ‘solution’ would lead to a ‘fully equal secular nation’ as though, once in control of all the area between the Jordan and the Mediterranean, Hamas would order Kassams to be beaten into ploughshares and an epiphany regarding the rights of women and homosexuals would suddenly descend upon its leaders from the sky.

Clunie
30 Apr 2010, 11:38AM
Thermopylae: I agree with a one-state solution too, it’s the only way. Although I mean a secular state for all people, Israelis and Palestinians, as equals.
It comes down to co-existence in a fully equal secular nation for all or the same old same old, round and round. Or, of course, wholesale ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population, although I can’t see even the US managing to whitewash and spin that one.

Next, some rather strange ideas about democracy, particularly when one considers the fate of many of those who did not back Hamas in Gaza. No matter what the outcome of the UK elections this week, I somehow doubt that whoever forms the next government will see fit to throw voters for the other parties from the top of Big Ben or dabble in a little knee-capping.

JRuskin
30 Apr 2010, 11:11AM
In a democracy, the will of the people is paramount. Hamas won the last elections fairly and squarely, despite the efforts of the occupiers and their financers in the West.
And they won for very good reasons, attracting the votes of Christians and convinced secular nationalists whom I know.
After Dayton’s failed coup in Gaza and the heroic resistance of the people of Gaza over the last few years, it is surely time for the West to recognise the vital role of Hamas in bringing justice to Palestinians.

Do such distorted views result from mere ignorance or lack of understanding or are they in fact the product of the mental contortions necessary to justify certain totalitarian ideologies in a world still confused by its own post-colonial guilt trips? The answer is not clear to me at least, but what is obvious is that as long as readers such as those above continue to dismiss articles such as this one by Dr. Spyer as ‘Zionist propaganda’, there is very little hope that their ignorance will find balm.
Speaking of ignorance:

Berchmans
30 Apr 2010, 4:08PM
Jonathan
## The M E is currently divided between a loose alliance of states aligned with the US /west, and an Iran-led “resistance bloc” of states and movements. ##
This is why we see such pressure on Iran of course re the nuclear issues . .. This was a helpful and positive article. Time for Israel to negotiate. They arent going to defeat this alliance and Hamas wont give up. All for a few thousand hilltop homes for retired tourists …it doesnt seem worth it.
B

On the recent Munayyer thread Berchmans referred to ‘holiday homes’ in Palestine for ‘foreigners’. Now he pushes the concept of retirement homes for ‘tourists’. Will he ever be able to overcome his blind ignorance and contempt and acknowledge that Israelis are neither foreigners nor tourists, but legitimate residents of the region? Don’t hold your breath.