A Warning

Written by Corinna Hasofferett
Published April 17, 2004

Uri Avnery - founder and editor of the first independent weekly in Israel, former Knesset member, activist - has some words on the Iraqi situation:

The following passage may look familiar:
‎ ‎ "On the fourth day of the 1982 Israeli attack on Lebanon, I crossed ‎‎the border at a lonely spot near Metulla and looked for the front, which ‎‎had already reached the outskirts of Sidon. I was driving my private car, ‎‎accompanied by a woman photographer. We passed a dozen Shiite ‎‎villages and were received everywhere with great joy. We extracted ‎‎ourselves only with difficulty from hundreds of villagers, each one ‎‎insisting that we have coffee at their home. On the previous days, they ‎‎had showered the Israeli soldiers with rice.‎ ‎ A few months later I joined an army convoy going in the opposite ‎‎direction, from Sidon to Metulla. The soldiers were now wearing ‎‎bulletproof vests and helmets, many were on the verge of panic. ‎ ‎ What had happened? The Shiites had received the Israeli soldiers as ‎‎liberators. When they realized that they had come to stay as occupiers, ‎‎they started to kill them.
‎ ‎ "When the Israeli troops entered Lebanon the Shiites were a ‎‎down-trodden, powerless community, held in contempt by all the others. ‎‎After a year of fighting the occupiers, they became a political and ‎‎military power. The Shiite Hizbullah is the only military force in the Arab ‎‎world that has beaten the mighty Israeli army."‎
‎ End of passage. I wrote it in an article called "Bitter Rice", which ‎‎appeared on March 22, 2003, on the eve of the invasion of Iraq, and ‎‎which started with the words: "Beware of the Shiites. The troubles of the ‎‎occupation will start after...

Unknown Territory This is one of the more unusual books to have been published recently in Israel. It's also a book that's hard to categorize. It's not a standard novel, not really a book of memoirs, not actually a work of history - but it is a book that offers a different, surprising take on Israel's first years. A loving and painful take, to resort to a cliche. Corinna Hasofferett, embarked on this literary journey in the wake of two friends who were with her in a youth movement and were killed in Israel's cross-border reprisal raids. For years she collected testimonies of people who knew them, taping and editing. She interweaves the testimonies, almost without intervention on her part. The result is a narrative flow that revives the period without any prettification or mythologizing. She jokingly describes the book, "B'Eretz Lo Yadati" ("Unknown Territory," in English), as a Fighters Talk - referring to the famous book ("Siah Lohamim") in which soldiers described their experiences in the 1967 Six-Day War - but with no censorship. There are a few interesting revelations in the book, apart from the story of Yehuda Kan Dror. For example, confessions about the killing of captives, or a surprising confession from a member of Unit 101 - the precursor of the Paratroops, Unit 101 was established by Ariel Sharon in the early 1950s - that the unit did not have any fatalities because it operated almost exclusively against civilian targets. But concentrating on these aspects of the book could be misleading. It offers a far broader picture of a society that was still licking its wounds from the War of Independence, the picture of a country in which the signs of the previous Palestinian inhabitants were still visible, a picture of people whose memory of the Holocaust is not something they learned in school. This is Corinna's sixth book, and she has published it herself - both for economic reasons and also to avoid having an outside eye that might cut sensitive passages. So it's not easy to find the book in bookstores. But it's worth making the effort. Corinna's books, in Hebrew, are available for purchase directly from her Hebrew blog: http://www.notes.co.il/corinna/1823.asp
Keep reading for information and comments on this article, and add some feedback of your own!
A Warning
Published: April 17, 2004
Type:
Section: Politics
Writer: Corinna Hasofferett
Corinna Hasofferett's BC Writer page
Corinna Hasofferett's personal site
Spread the Word
Like this article?
Email this
Submit to del.icio.us Save to del.icio.us
RSS Feeds
All RSS Feeds (240+)
Comments on this article
BC articles by Corinna Hasofferett
All Politics Articles
All BC articles
All BC Comments

Comments

#1 — April 17, 2004 @ 22:45PM — sheri

This is a quote from the link you provided, from an article written by a Canadian.

"Sharon's gang has always wanted the West Bank,minus it's inhabitants, carefully dressing up it's language in biblical terms, that strike a special chord IN THE BACKWATERS OF AMERICA".

Very, very, disturbing.

#2 — April 18, 2004 @ 17:23PM — Corinna Hasofferett [URL]

right.

#3 — April 18, 2004 @ 17:43PM — sheri

So do this mean that inhabitants of backwater America are now branded with the Star of David ?

#4 — April 18, 2004 @ 23:00PM — boomcrashbaby

I was told that the reason 'backwater' America tends to side with Israel is because the bible says the Second Coming cannot happen until the Israelis return to their homeland, which was occupied by Palestinians. So that the reason why so many Christians are on Israels side is so that the end of the world can happen and that Christ can return. I don't know if that's true or not, but have heard that is their primary reason for Israel support on more than one occasion.

#5 — April 19, 2004 @ 08:44AM — sheri

Not exactly Boom. First the Jews have allready returned to their homeland.The state of Israel was declared in May, 1948.

Second, anyone who has been taught these beliefs, also knows there is nothing we can do to force God's hand to make these events take place.

Then...the Second Coming will not take place until ALL NATIONS have turned against Israel, including the United States.This, according to the beliefs, is a prophecy that must be fulfilled

.And then the end of the world means only the end of it as far as we know it.Events will follow that will lead to the destruction of the earth by fire, and the consequent creation of a new earth.

So, if christians were trying to bring this about, we would be turning against Israel, instead of assuming a protective role, one in which we have warned Israel to stop the attacks.

But what gets me is the constant pointing of the finger at the backwaters, the rednecks, the sometimes poor class of people in this country who struggle day to day, often have no say so in anything, who only want to be left alone so they can live their life in peace.

It's a burden being from the bible belt. We have the finger pointed at us on one hand because of the KKK, who hate Jews, and wish they would all die, then at the same time, we are bible thumpers who love the Jews, and favor them.

F*f that sh*t.

#6 — April 19, 2004 @ 09:37AM — Eric Olsen

Which sh*t are we f*king?

#7 — April 19, 2004 @ 10:27AM — sheri

RE: Eric

The broad generalization of a group of people, to lay blame on for the dangerous, deadly situation between Israel and Palestine. The writer of the article did not say Americans, he pointed to a specific group of Americans, the "backwater".


I realize that that is not what Corinna was pointing us to when she provided the link, I have no idea as to her personal thoughts on it.But I read everything, and I'm especialy aware of scapegoating. That's the sh*t f*kng.

#9 — April 22, 2004 @ 21:44PM — Corinna Hasofferett [URL]

Sheri, I posted that link so that people might get aquainted with Uri Avnery's writing.
He is a sharp, excellent journalist and commentator worth listening to. I agree to most of his ideas re the situation in Israel. As for anything outside of Israel, I'm not in a position to comment as I do not know first hand the reality at your landscapes.
The major issue at that article was that occupation is not a happy state, nor does it induce good tidings, most of the time.

#10 — April 23, 2004 @ 01:30AM — sheri

I know Corinna, and , thank you. Very interesting, and me and my family felt the same before the invasion of Iraq.

I read everything you write, including the links. The "backwater" article stood out and glared at me, like Daisey Mae, prancing through the West Bank. Telling the Palestinians to get the hell off cause Jesus was coming.

It's not funny though, just kind of zoomed in on the backwater right off.

Want comments emailed to you? No spam, promise! Address:

Add your comment, speak your mind

(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/14845)

Personal attacks are not allowed. Please read our comment policy.





Remember Name/URL?

Please preview your comment!

Fresh
Articles
Fresh
Comments