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Israeli journalist puts blame on nation
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Israeli journalist Amira Hass said Israel’s treatment of Palestinians amounts to apartheid in front of a full room Wednesday at the University of Wisconsin Pyle Center.
Hass presented her opinions on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands in her speech “The Frog and the Goat: Why Israeli Colonialism is So Successful.”
“The fact that the fence [dividing the two groups] is there to protect Israeli citizens from Palestinian terrorist attacks is true, but only partly,” said Hass during her speech.
According to Hass, Palestinians are not allowed to construct or develop in 60 percent of the West Bank. Israelis also control Palestinian construction by requiring permits to build. The goal of the Israelis, said Hass, is to disconnect and dismember Palestinian communities to limit their power.
Hass said she believes the implementation of Israeli policies segregating Palestinians is gradual, and therefore has garnered little media attention.
As an example, she cited the permit required if a Palestinian wishes to travel between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
“Israelis deny all Palestinians the right to ‘freedom of movement,’” Hass said. “This measure was enacted in ‘91 as temporary; however it still has not been lifted.”
In addition to limiting Palestinian infrastructure development and movement, Hass said another aspect of Israeli colonialism is the country’s excessive security forces.
Hass used a metaphor of a boy and his goat to illustrate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
She told the tale of a boy who becomes annoyed with the family goat, and his grandmother tells him to put the goat in the house. He does and becomes even more annoyed. The grandmother proceeds to tell him to remove the goat from the house.
“The Israelis make lots of checkpoints and roadblocks and then take a few out, then put one back, then take one away,” Hass said.
Even though the situation is bad now, Hass said she has hope for peace in the future.
“It is possible to have two states, but it requires political and human will,” Hass said. “Compared to other totalitarian governments, the Israel regime is not the most murderous.”
Uli Schamiloglu, chair of the UW Middle East Studies Program, who introduced Hass to the crowd, said Hass presented just one side of the argument.
“One of the important things to keep in mind is that the range of discussion [on this topic] is much wider in Israel than it is in this country,” Schamiloglu said. “There is a wide range of opinions on this hot button issue. It’s important to have this discussion, and that is why I’m glad to have had open-ended questions from members of the audience who disagreed with her.”
One audience member disagreed with Hass’ view that Israeli treatment of the Palestinians is comparable to apartheid because there is no minority oppressing a majority population and the Israelis are enforcing the will of the majority.
Hass won the International World Press Freedom Award in 1999 for her work within the Gaza Strip. She is scheduled to speak today from noon to 1 p.m. on 89.9 WORT FM.
UW Middle East Studies Program sponsored Hass’ appearances.
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Amira Hass can go suck eggs. That last person we need to hear from is a self-hating Jew. The Palestinians are getting what they deserve.
Amira Hass has no journalistic merit. She was once sued for badmouthing the Jewish community of Beit Hadassah in Hebron. The plantiffs won.
She also falsely claimed that settlers defiled the body of a Palestinian militant killed by Israeli police. The killing never happened. If you want to know more, just ask Ha’aretz, her former employer.
To 8:34am
Actually, Israeli authorities determined that based on Israeli settler testimony. Amira Hass got her information from Palestinian eyewitnesses, who were not allowed to testify. There was no defense called. Get your facts straight before you start spouting your opinions anonymously on internet forums.
As for journalistic merit… Check out the number of awards she’s won. She’s also one of the only Jewish reporters living among the Palestinians. Just because you don’t agree with her politics, doesn’t mean she’s unprofessional.
Interesting that liberals today would bash Israel for defending itself and the US for supporting them. I remember back in the early 70’s when liberals were bashing oil companies that get their crude oil from the Arab countries, who in turn funnel some of their oil revenue to other Arab countries and terrorist organizations that use that money attack Israel.
Also interesting is the fact that Hamas brainwashes the Palestinians and their children with hate and yet liberals don’t say a word to condemn it.
So much for consistency.
This is an incredibly onesided view of the issue. To use the word Aparthied in regards to Israel when there are Arabs in the parliament, the judiciary, the army, and all other areas of life, while in neighbouring Arabic countries there actually is a apartheid when it comes to religion and gender is ridiculous and shows a complete lack of context and uderstanding.
Way to butcher the goat story in the article.
Characters: a man and a rabbi, not a boy and his grandmother.
Were you listening to the speech?
11:26am:
That’s precisely why she can rightfully be considered biased against Israel. And no, the Palestinian witnesses were not barred from testimony. Their testimonies were simply insubstantiable. And why should anyone believe the Palestinians “witnesses” to the exclusion of all others?
Hey, the rest of the world believes in justice too, in case you weren’t aware. Why don’t YOU get YOUR facts straight for once?!
Oh, so the anti-Israel crowd managed to find one Israeli journalist who sees it their way. That doesn’t mean their side is the correct side.
Damn, you liberals just can’t leave Israel alone, can’t you!! I mean, all the stupid Palis have to do is stop shooting off rockets at Israel and the IDF won’t come down and kick their asses. But you just don’t get it. Meanwhile, Tibetans are getting pummeled by mainland China and I don’t hear a damn thing about it from you. I guess you all think Jews are a group to push around. I’d say f* the Palis. Let ‘em move to another country. THEY are the ones doing the occupying, not Israel.
Amira Hass is an extremist bitch. Just because UPI hands her an award doesn’t mean she’s actually telling the truth. And UPI can’t even keep itself afloat like AP has always been able to do, so what do I care if they hand her an award?
Look, just because someone is a journalist does not make them infallible. Jason Blair ruined the good name of the New York Times with his little shenanigans, claiming to be in Washington DC while he was really at home in Brooklyn creating a bunch of phony paperwork. And all those phony videos on YouTube that would only fool an idiot, this is what you Israel-bashers try to pass off as the truth-what a crock! I agree with 11:49, just run the Palestinians the hell out of Israel and let some other country put up with their crap for awhile.
Yeah that’s right, just have one side of the conflict discussed. Not a word was said about the shit Hamas does, just Israel. Yep, I’d say kick the Palis out of Israel. Let’s see if some Arab country would be willing to take them if any care to. Any takers?
“let some other country put up with their crap for awhile.”
The Palis’ Muslim brothers have kept them confined to camps, at least those that didn’t run them all out of their countries alltogether.
WAY TO ERASE THE ARTICLE: How on earth could you have gotten the WHOLE analogy wrong? IT was a rabbi and a man, not a boy and his grandmother. This says a lot about your listening to the lecture to start with.
A few journalistic tips, for those who have no.. clue about journalism such as the person who wrote the article: when you say one person said it’s not apartheid, then you must go back and give Hass’s response, which she gave a sophisticated one, in front of which the student asking the initial question could not stand.
Then when you say that Hass said Israel is not the most murderous, you take it out of context, because she was saying that Israel’s intentions is to take the land of the Palestinians, and thus, Israel’s main goal is NOT to kill them, but to drive them off their land.
When you quote her statement about the wall, you says “the fact that the wall is there to protect israeli citizens is true, but only partially”, you fail to report on the “partially” which Amira talked a lot about. You took her quote to say that she thinks that at least to a certain degree, the Israeli separation wall is justified and it is security-oriented.
You’re either Zionist or a really really really bad journalist, don’t forget the quote that you got FULLY WRONG.
PLEASE PUBLISH