As an Israeli who supports the idea of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and full peace with Lebanon, I have participated in a number of civil society regional conferences with Lebanese and internationals based in Lebanon. It's unfortunate to note that Lebanese citizens and internationals based in Lebanon are forbidden from engaging with Israeli peace activists, and risk imprisonment if caught communicating with them. I cannot send an email or carry out a WhatsApp conversation with anyone in Lebanon. That does not help us to develop Track Two meetings to try to promote possible solutions to end the Israeli-Lebanese conflict. Perhaps the explanation for that is Rami Khouri's observations about the lack of true democracy in the Arab world. That doesn't mean that Israel, with it's apartheid-like expanding occupation is a paragon of democracy. We all have a long way to go to realize full-fledged democracy in the Middle East. But that's the goal, for all of us.
I forgot all about this thread but I'm getting quite a few likes on my response below so I'm revisiting this comment. I suspect at least one reason Lebanese are not supposed to engage with Israeli peace activists (that's pretty much a nonsensical term at this point--if you really believe in peace get rid of your Israeli citizenship and leave), is that israel has a tendency to engage in espionage, false flag crap, developing collaborators for intel which results in non-Israeli deaths, etc. You like "the idea" of a Palestinian state only in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. How grand of you! How about the 78% of Palestine that the Zionists stole in 1948 through terrorism? How about the real Gaza--right now when we talk about "Gaza", we're only talking about the Gaza Strip which is fraction of Gaza. There cannot BE a two-state solution. The Zionists must leave. And there must be one state. THERE IS NO OTHER POSSIBLE SOLUTION. There was a time you might have gotten Palestinians to agree to a two-state solution, although I'm neither Palestinian nor Muslim--though born and bred in the M.E.--and I would really have problems with such a limited state for Palestine. The entirety of Palestine belongs to Palestinians and they are kind enough to be open to Israeli Jews WHO CAN GET ALONG WITH THEIR NEIGHBORS AND NOT KILL, STEAL, MAIM, ETC. and will return land and homes that have been stolen to be part of that nation. It's not up to what Israelis will "allow". This is not negotiable. Let's just follow the law and return what has been stolen and remove the crazies who really do need to be lobotomized at this point because I sure as hell would not feel safe with them living next door to me. Okay. We can negotiate on the lobotomy part. Look at the damage Israel has done to Lebanon over the years. This conversation is nuts. I lived in Lebanon when it was the most beautiful, most amazing place. Beirut was INCREDIBLE. Look what Israel (and the US) has done to it. Israel has a helluva lot of atonement to do. You do know that land in the north is Lebanese and not Israeli, don't you? And the Golan Heights is Syrian. What is your average Israeli Zionist going to do when they lose access to all that water? When I hear about these raves they're going to even now, with the genocide of an entire people (upon whose stolen land they are living and raving) is going on, it boggles the imagination. What is wrong with Israelis? Something very serious, psychologically speaking. There's something VERY seriously wrong. If you want to help with the "peace" process, I suggest you focus on pushing psychotherapy nation-wide in Israel. Seriously. I'm not saying this to be mean. I don't see any resolution as long as 5 million socio/psychopaths are running around running the show. I understand where their mental illness comes from. Sort of. Actually, I think it began long, LONG before the so-called Holocaust. But that is the main obstacle to any kind of peaceful resolution or self-determination for Palestinians. Not that Westerners don't have similar emotional problems. I do not understand why the US and European satellites have to rule the world. Actually, I don't understand the male need to dominate either. But that's another kettle of fish. Collaborate with the Israelis? Do you know Israel's history of the past 100 years?
"They don't want an Islamic state but like Hamas, they want people to subscribe to Islamic values" .... err what exactly is the difference, especially for women, gays and trade unionists?
They don't want Christians and Jews to subscribe to Islamic values but they do want them to respect their Muslim neighbors' sensibilities. Theft is not an Islamic value. (It's not Christian or Jewish either, but based on the behavior of many Christians and Jews you wouldn't know that, would you?) Usury is not okay in Islam. I have NO problem with that. Behaving honorably is an Islamic value. Brother/sisterhood is an Islamic value. You obviously do not understand the Islamic view of women. Mohammad stood for women's rights LONNNNGGGG before anyone in any European or Western country did. Women inherited land under Islam. When were American women able to own land in their own name? Shit. When were American women able to open their own credit card account? I was an adult before that happened. What are you talking about trade unionists for?
You might ask yourself: Why am I so threatened by viewing an Arab political group as an equal?
As an Israeli who supports the idea of a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and full peace with Lebanon, I have participated in a number of civil society regional conferences with Lebanese and internationals based in Lebanon. It's unfortunate to note that Lebanese citizens and internationals based in Lebanon are forbidden from engaging with Israeli peace activists, and risk imprisonment if caught communicating with them. I cannot send an email or carry out a WhatsApp conversation with anyone in Lebanon. That does not help us to develop Track Two meetings to try to promote possible solutions to end the Israeli-Lebanese conflict. Perhaps the explanation for that is Rami Khouri's observations about the lack of true democracy in the Arab world. That doesn't mean that Israel, with it's apartheid-like expanding occupation is a paragon of democracy. We all have a long way to go to realize full-fledged democracy in the Middle East. But that's the goal, for all of us.
I forgot all about this thread but I'm getting quite a few likes on my response below so I'm revisiting this comment. I suspect at least one reason Lebanese are not supposed to engage with Israeli peace activists (that's pretty much a nonsensical term at this point--if you really believe in peace get rid of your Israeli citizenship and leave), is that israel has a tendency to engage in espionage, false flag crap, developing collaborators for intel which results in non-Israeli deaths, etc. You like "the idea" of a Palestinian state only in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as its capital. How grand of you! How about the 78% of Palestine that the Zionists stole in 1948 through terrorism? How about the real Gaza--right now when we talk about "Gaza", we're only talking about the Gaza Strip which is fraction of Gaza. There cannot BE a two-state solution. The Zionists must leave. And there must be one state. THERE IS NO OTHER POSSIBLE SOLUTION. There was a time you might have gotten Palestinians to agree to a two-state solution, although I'm neither Palestinian nor Muslim--though born and bred in the M.E.--and I would really have problems with such a limited state for Palestine. The entirety of Palestine belongs to Palestinians and they are kind enough to be open to Israeli Jews WHO CAN GET ALONG WITH THEIR NEIGHBORS AND NOT KILL, STEAL, MAIM, ETC. and will return land and homes that have been stolen to be part of that nation. It's not up to what Israelis will "allow". This is not negotiable. Let's just follow the law and return what has been stolen and remove the crazies who really do need to be lobotomized at this point because I sure as hell would not feel safe with them living next door to me. Okay. We can negotiate on the lobotomy part. Look at the damage Israel has done to Lebanon over the years. This conversation is nuts. I lived in Lebanon when it was the most beautiful, most amazing place. Beirut was INCREDIBLE. Look what Israel (and the US) has done to it. Israel has a helluva lot of atonement to do. You do know that land in the north is Lebanese and not Israeli, don't you? And the Golan Heights is Syrian. What is your average Israeli Zionist going to do when they lose access to all that water? When I hear about these raves they're going to even now, with the genocide of an entire people (upon whose stolen land they are living and raving) is going on, it boggles the imagination. What is wrong with Israelis? Something very serious, psychologically speaking. There's something VERY seriously wrong. If you want to help with the "peace" process, I suggest you focus on pushing psychotherapy nation-wide in Israel. Seriously. I'm not saying this to be mean. I don't see any resolution as long as 5 million socio/psychopaths are running around running the show. I understand where their mental illness comes from. Sort of. Actually, I think it began long, LONG before the so-called Holocaust. But that is the main obstacle to any kind of peaceful resolution or self-determination for Palestinians. Not that Westerners don't have similar emotional problems. I do not understand why the US and European satellites have to rule the world. Actually, I don't understand the male need to dominate either. But that's another kettle of fish. Collaborate with the Israelis? Do you know Israel's history of the past 100 years?
"They don't want an Islamic state but like Hamas, they want people to subscribe to Islamic values" .... err what exactly is the difference, especially for women, gays and trade unionists?
They don't want Christians and Jews to subscribe to Islamic values but they do want them to respect their Muslim neighbors' sensibilities. Theft is not an Islamic value. (It's not Christian or Jewish either, but based on the behavior of many Christians and Jews you wouldn't know that, would you?) Usury is not okay in Islam. I have NO problem with that. Behaving honorably is an Islamic value. Brother/sisterhood is an Islamic value. You obviously do not understand the Islamic view of women. Mohammad stood for women's rights LONNNNGGGG before anyone in any European or Western country did. Women inherited land under Islam. When were American women able to own land in their own name? Shit. When were American women able to open their own credit card account? I was an adult before that happened. What are you talking about trade unionists for?
You might ask yourself: Why am I so threatened by viewing an Arab political group as an equal?