Illan Pappe can never been described as "failed"- each year there are young people who leave his classes and know that Palestinians are equal human beings to themselves; this is a huge achievement in a country that has such a superiority complex toward the indigenous people. I view anyone who helps others become better human beings as successful.

And, Ted Lapkin, just because you say a writer says something, does not make what they say true...that's what propaganda is all about.

And, I'm still waiting to hear why Edward Said is a "fraud"!

The bottom line is that the colonialist Europeans did what other colonialists have done in the past...pretty horrific crimes toward the indigenous people. HOWEVER, Israel is still doing it....nearly 60 years on...and the IOF gets more brutal each year. I cannot understand how the parents of the young people in the IOF rationalise making theri children into thugs who brutalize a weaker people...oh yes I can; it's the old South Africa syndrome; they view the indigenous people as inferior and therefore not deserving as themselves.

Yeah, Sunisle, when the Brits forcibly outlawed slavery in Egypt and the Sudan, that was a horrible violation of the indigenous people's inalienable right to own each other as chattel.

My favourite story in this regard comes from 19th century India, when Sir Charles Napier outlawed "suttee," the Hindu practice of immolating live widows on the funeral pyres of their dead husbands. When a delegation of locals petitioned Sir Napier rescind the ban on suttee, the British Commander in Chief in India responded as follows:

"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

I'd say we could do with a bit of Napier-esque political incorrectness in our day and age.

sunisle

If you think that Hezbollah did not take part in war crimes against Israel just read some reports by Human Rights Watch.

Lebanon/Israel: Hezbollah Hit Israel with Cluster Munitions During Conflict

(Jerusalem, October 18, 2006) – Hezbollah fired cluster munitions into civilian areas in northern Israel during the recent conflict, Human Rights Watch reported today. This is the first time that Hezbollah’s use of these controversial weapons has been confirmed.

www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/10/18/lebano14412.htm

Lebanon/Israel: U.N. Rights Body Squanders Chance to Help Civilians

(Geneva, August 11, 2006) – By adopting a politicized resolution that looks only at Israeli abuses in the current conflict, the Human Rights Council undermined its credibility and wasted an opportunity to protect civilians in the region, Human Rights Watch said today. The council decided to establish a commission of experts to investigate deadly attacks by Israel, but took no action with regard to Hezbollah’s murderous abuses. The council concluded a special session today in Geneva.

www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/11/lebano13969.htm

Israel/Lebanon: Hezbollah Must End Attacks on Civilians

(New York, August 5, 2006) - Hezbollah must immediately stop firing rockets into civilian areas in Israel, Human Rights Watch said today. Entering the fourth week of attacks, such rockets have claimed 30 civilian lives, including six children, and wounded hundreds more.

Israel/Lebanon: Hezbollah Must End Attacks on Civilians

/www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/08/05/lebano13921.htm

Lebanon: Hezbollah Rocket Attacks on Haifa Designed to Kill Civilians

(New York, July 18, 2006) – Hezbollah's attacks in Israel on Sunday and Monday were at best indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas, at worst the deliberate targeting of civilians. Either way, they were serious violations of international humanitarian law and probable war crimes, Human Rights Watch said today.

www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm

More....
-HAMAS will NEVER recognize ISRAEL...
-FINAL POSITION...
-NON NEGOTIABLE.

According to Mahmoud Zahar, HAMAS FOREIGN MINISTER.

Israel is a "cancer" in the Middle East, Zahar continued, and added that Hamas would never recognize its existence.

"Israel is a growth on our land," he said. "It has no historical, religious, or cultural justification, and we will never establish relations with this 'cancer.' We will never recognize Israel - this is a final, non-negotiable decision," Zahar declared.

SOURCE Jerusalem Post
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1159193486516&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

There for the reporting must be suspect right ? :)

Notice his claim that Israel has no

Historical
Religious
Cultural

Justification to exist. But guess what.. it has the firepower.
So for those who reject the long Israelite history up to AD 70, and that inclusive of the time from Abraham to then... the religious as well as historical, and the cultural.... that just leaves the rule of might is right.

To use this argument is rather shallow, and would do nothing for the deeper morale of an armed force. True high morale comes from high MORALs and that in turn can only come from a justification of Israel's existence in terms more enduring than "we have bigger guns than you"

Such an army will dissolve into selfish greed and individual survival in the face of "pious young men who's trust is in Allah", so I urge Ted, and his fellow countrymen and women to look first to G-D in terms of 2nd Chronicles 7.14
Then.. to look at Ezra and Nehemiah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem..
and return to the Lord your G-D.

Lord, what idiocy! Let's completely get away from Israel's war crimes and talk about long gone incidents. I'm actaully reeling from the ususal slick propaganda methods that are so evidently missing from T.L.'s latest post. Has he been eating magic mushrooms or what?

As to "Logic"....and there is no logic in comparing the actions of Lebanese fighting back and the absolute devastation wrought on it by the invading nation. Are you so utterly uable to come to terms with Israel's monstrous crimes that you search around for something to make them seem like the victims. You need to see a shrink mate.

As to "sunisle"....and there is no logic in comparing the actions of Israel fighting back and the absolute devastation wrought on it by the invading Hezbollah. Are you so utterly uable to come to terms with Hezbollah's monstrous crimes that you search around for something to make them seem like the victims. You need to see a shrink mate.