Category Archives: Palestine
Bibi’s New Home
In my beautiful brown fortress on Balfour Street, cleverly named after the Balfour Declaration, in our eternal capital of Jerusalem, I’m dreaming about ever-expanding settlements when awakened by shouts and thundering footsteps that crush my bedroom door and leave my imperial bed surrounded by armed men speaking Arabic. “Guards, kill them at once,” I order. […]
Also posted in Balfour Declaration, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel, Jerusalem
Jerusalem 2117
Who was that American president, the minor figure who blabbed a lot? Donald Trump, that’s right. He acknowledged seventy years of reality and proclaimed Jerusalem the capital of Israel, and promised the United States would therefore move its embassy there, from Tel Aviv, as soon as his architects and engineers could build and secure a […]
Also posted in Donald Trump, Israel, Jerusalem
One State or Two
I knew I was going to be a hell of a president but, frankly, I underestimated myself. I’ve got a great feel for diplomacy and international relations. Did you see me at the news conference last week with Prime Minister Abe after the North Koreans had test fired another ballistic missile? I coolly let the […]
Also posted in Benjamin Netanyahu, Donald Trump, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Middle East, Syria
Battle of Brooklyn
This story is from the rousing campaign book “King Donald”
Also posted in Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Bernie Sanders, Boxing, Campaign 2016, Hillary Clinton, ISIS, Israel, Middle East, New York, New York City, Syria
Super Trump Tuesday
This story is from the rousing campaign book “King Donald”
Also posted in Bernie Sanders, Campaign 2016, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Immigration, Israel, Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, New York Times, Ted Cruz
Hill of Shame
you ask why with blankets and refreshments we like tourists go to parash hill overlooking gaza and i confess i need angry orange flames and plumes of smoke black white and gray and to see buildings collapse and afterward study crimson photos of corpses wrapped white in sheets like those covering my children when they […]
Also posted in Gaza, Israel, Middle East, Poetry - GTC
Netanyahu Young and Old
A generation ago young Benjamin Netanyahu, then Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, appeared on numerous American news telecasts, and I recall thinking what a bright and articulate fellow he was, and considered him reasonable in asserting Israel’s right of self defense while also at least suggesting the Palestinians had rights and legitimate aspirations in […]
Also posted in Adolf Hitler, Apartheid, Benjamin Netanyahu, George Thomas Clark, Hitler Here, Holocaust
House Hunter in Palestine
Our home is not a house but a shack offering two small old rooms without air conditioning and no heat but a plug-in device that little warms us on cold Palestinian nights. My ancient pickup truck barely runs over unpaved roads in and around our crowded village, and I can’t use the excellent highways Israelis […]
Also posted in Apartheid, Israel, Middle East, Racism
Home Sweet Home
Business is great, and I’m hiring more workers this week. We’ll soon be building fifteen hundred new housing units in the West Bank. The Palestinians are outraged but we don’t care. They can’t stop us and we can’t stop ourselves. Every time they scratch themselves or, more worrisome, exercise democratic rights, we pick up our […]
Also posted in Apartheid, Israel, Middle East
Israel Explains Settlements
This story is from the collection “Obama on Edge”
Also posted in Israel, Middle East, Poetry - GTC
Israeli Defends Settlements
This story is from the collection “Obama on Edge”
Also posted in Israel, Middle East, Poetry - GTC
West Bank Water
1. Jordan River river jordan flowing wide diverted west to sea south to desert leaving bed of roasted shit 2. Olive Trees occupied olive trees not already dead need a drink so do i and a shower and clean clothes i can’t have but am encouraged settlers grow much green grass 3. Giving don’t claim […]
Also posted in Israel, Jordan, Middle East, Poetry - GTC, Water
One Nation
palestine and israel declare yourselves one nation and rejoice
Also posted in Israel, Middle East, Poetry - GTC
Geopolitics at the Tomb of the Virgin Mary
Visitors to the Tomb of the Virgin Mary, near Jerusalem, are doubtless humbled and excited by the opportunity to establish a physical connection, however mystical, to her son, Jesus Christ. According to the Sacred Tradition of Eastern Christianity, Mary died naturally and three days after being lain to rest was resurrected body and soul into […]
Also posted in Israel, Jesus Christ, Jews, Middle East, Religion
My So-Called Enemy
You’re invited. Tune in to “My So-Called Enemy” in the summer of 2002 at a retreat in gentrified New Jersey where for ten days teenage girls from Israel and Palestine are gathered to discuss their lives, seek common ground, and learn conflict resolution skills. The latter two goals are challenging. It’s the second year of […]
Also posted in Ariel Sharon, Bay Area, Documentaries, Israel, Jewish Film Festival, Jews, Middle East, Movies, Women's Rights, Yasser Arafat
Budrus 2099
I’m tired of my parents telling me how lucky I am to live in a country with the highest per capita income in the world. I’m bored with reminders that life is infinitely easier for me than it was for my great grandparents. Too often I must endure the same stories about how they risked […]
Also posted in Bay Area, Documentaries, Israel, Jewish Film Festival, Jews, Middle East, Movies, Women's Rights
The Mandate: Israel and Palestine Form One State
Really, I don’t like interceding. I would’ve preferred to continue my anonymous visits to this biblical land but, after decades of Israelis slaughtering as many as they dared and Palestinians wishing they could’ve killed more, I must no longer remain divinely detached. I naturally favor neither side; I embrace both. That many consider my embrace […]
Also posted in Gaza, Israel, Middle East
Jewish Film Festival in the Bay Area
Baghdad Twist Don’t ask my age. It’s none of your business, I told my son, and doesn’t concern people who’ll watch your documentary. No one’s going to see me in this film. They’ll only hear my voice. Better they look at black and white photos of me as a child in reasonably hospitable Iraq where […]
Also posted in Bay Area, Iran, Israel, Jewish Film Festival, Jews, Movies, San Francisco
President Bush Rebukes Arabs on Israel’s 60th Birthday
This story is from the collection “Echoes from Saddam Hussein”
Also posted in George W. Bush, Israel, Middle East
Ahmadinejad and Bush Spar at the United Nations
In a startling (and heretofore unreported) miscalculation in security planning last week at the United Nations in New York, secret service agents led a rapidly-departing President George W. Bush right into the exit path of the man he most loves to talk about but least wants to talk to, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. President […]
Also posted in George W. Bush, Holocaust, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Middle East, Nuclear Weapons, Terrorism, United Nations
Why Israel and Palestine Must Become One State
In April last year I wrote a column noting there will always be intolerable discord between Jews and Arabs until Israel helps Palestine build a free and independent state. This is not a fantasy…fantastic is the continuing belief that current trends will ever lead to peace. Growing numbers of Israeli Jews want Israeli Arabs to […]
Also posted in Gaza, Israel, Middle East
Hamas Leaders Debate their Historic Victory
Two high ranking Hamas officials yesterday debated the meaning of their party’s recent landslide victory over Fatah in the Palestinian elections. One of the officials is associated with the military arm of Hamas and the other is involved in social services. Both demanded anonymity. Military Official – Now the Israelis will have to yield to […]
Also posted in Gaza, Hamas, Israel, Middle East
Why Israel Should Help Build an Independent Palestine
Last week in Texas, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made simple statements that are simply incomprehensible: Israel will be withdrawing from Gaza this summer; but his nation must build new housing in the West Bank to establish an “unbroken presence” from Jerusalem to a community called Maale Adumim. Unfortunately, by so doing, Israel would be continuing […]
Also posted in Gaza, Israel, Middle East
