The Shadow over Israel
Until Palestine has its own 'legitimized' state within its internationally recognized borders, the Shadow will remain.
By Margaret Atwood
This article is part of a special edition of Haaretz, to mark Israel's book week.
The Moment
The moment when, after many years
of hard work and a long voyage,
you stand in the centre of your room,
house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,
knowing at last how you got there,
and say, I own this,
is the same moment the trees unloose
their soft arms from around you,
the birds take back their language,
the cliffs fissure and collapse,
the air moves back from you like a wave
and you can’t breathe.
No, they whisper. You own nothing.
You were a visitor, time after time
Climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.
We never belonged to you.
You never found us.
It was always the other way round.
Recently I was in Israel. The Israelis I met could not have been more welcoming. I saw many impressive accomplishments and creative projects, and talked with many different people. The sun was shining, the waves waving, the flowers were in bloom. Tourists jogged along the beach at Tel Aviv as if everything was normal.
 |
Margaret Atwood. |
| Photo by: AFP |
But… there was the Shadow. Why was everything trembling a little, like a mirage? Was it like that moment before a tsunami when the birds fly to the treetops and the animals head for the hills because they can feel it coming?
“Every morning I wake up in fear,” someone told me. “That’s just self-pity, to excuse what’s happening,” said someone else. Of course, fear and self-pity can both be real. But by “what’s happening,” they meant the Shadow.
I’d been told ahead of time that Israelis would try to cover up the Shadow, but instead they talked about it non-stop. Two minutes into any conversation, the Shadow would appear. It’s not called the Shadow, it’s called “the situation.” It haunts everything.
The Shadow is not the Palestinians. The Shadow is Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, linked with Israeli’s own fears. The worse the Palestinians are treated in the name of those fears, the bigger the Shadow grows, and then the fears grow with them; and the justifications for the treatment multiply.
The attempts to shut down criticism are ominous, as is the language being used. Once you start calling other people by vermin names such as “vipers,” you imply their extermination. To name just one example, such labels were applied wholesale to the Tutsis months before the Rwanda massacre began. Studies have shown that ordinary people can be led to commit horrors if told they’ll be acting in self-defense, for “victory,” or to benefit mankind.
I’d never been to Israel before, except in the airport. Like a lot of people on the sidelines – not Jewish, not Israeli, not Palestinian, not Muslim – I hadn’t followed the “the situation” closely, though, also like most, I’d deplored the violence and wished for a happy ending for all.
Again like most, I’d avoided conversations on this subject because they swiftly became screaming matches. (Why was that? Faced with two undesirable choices, the brain – we’re told -- chooses one as less evil, pronounces it good, and demonizes the other.)
I did have some distant background. As “Egypt” at a Model U.N. in 1956, my high school’s delegation had presented the Palestinian case. Why was it fair that the Palestinians, innocent bystanders during the Holocaust, had lost their homes? To which the Model Israel replied, “You don’t want Israel to exist.” A mere decade after the Camps and the six million obliterated, such a statement was a talk-stopper.
Then I’d been hired to start a Nature program at a liberal Jewish summer camp. The people were smart, funny, inventive, idealistic. We went in a lot for World Peace and the Brotherhood of Man. I couldn’t fit this together with the Model U.N. Palestinian experience. Did these two realities nullify each other? Surely not, and surely the humane Jewish Brotherhood-of-Manners numerous in both the summer camp and in Israel itself would soon sort this conflict out in a fair way.
But they didn’t. And they haven’t. And it’s no longer 1956. The conversation has changed dramatically. I was recently attacked for accepting a cultural prize that such others as Atom Egoyan, Al Gore, Tom Stoppard, Goenawan Mohamad, and Yo-Yo Ma had previously received. This prize was decided upon, not by an instrument of Israeli state power as some would have it, but by a moderate committee within an independent foundation. This group was pitching real democracy, open dialogue, a two-state solution, and reconciliation. Nevertheless, I’ve now heard every possible negative thing about Israel – in effect, I’ve had an abrupt and searing immersion course in present-day politics. The whole experience was like learning about cooking by being thrown into the soup pot.
The most virulent language was truly anti-Semitic (as opposed to the label often used to deflect criticism). There were hot debates among activists about whether boycotting Israel would “work,” or not; about a one-state or else a two-state solution; about whether a boycott should exclude culture, as it is a bridge, or was that hypocritical dreaming? Was the term “apartheid” appropriate, or just a distraction? What about “de-legitimizing” the State of Israel? Over the decades, the debate had acquired a vocabulary and a set of rituals that those who hadn’t hung around universities – as I had not -- would simply not grasp.
Some kindly souls, maddened by frustration and injustice, began by screaming at me; but then, deciding I suppose that I was like a toddler who’d wandered into traffic, became very helpful. Others dismissed my citing of International PEN and its cultural-boycott-precluding efforts to free imprisoned writers as irrelevant twaddle. (An opinion cheered by every repressive government, extremist religion, and hard-line political group on the planet, which is why so many fiction writers are banned, jailed, exiled, and shot.)
None of this changes the core nature of the reality, which is that the concept of Israel as a humane and democratic state is in serious trouble. Once a country starts refusing entry to the likes of Noam Chomsky, shutting down the rights of its citizens to use words like “Nakba,” and labelling as “anti-Israel” anyone who tries to tell them what they need to know, a police-state clampdown looms. Will it be a betrayal of age-old humane Jewish traditions and the rule of just law, or a turn towards reconciliation and a truly open society?
Time is running out. Opinion in Israel may be hardening, but in the United States things are moving in the opposite direction. Campus activity is increasing; many young Jewish Americans don’t want Israel speaking for them. America, snarled in two chaotic wars and facing increasing international anger over Palestine, may well be starting to see Israel not as an asset but as a liability.
Then there are people like me. Having been preoccupied of late with mass extinctions and environmental disasters, and thus having strayed into the Middle-eastern neighbourhood with a mind as open as it could be without being totally vacant, I’ve come out altered. Child-killing in Gaza? Killing aid-bringers on ships in international waters? Civilians malnourished thanks to the blockade? Forbidding writing paper? Forbidding pizza? How petty and vindictive! Is pizza is a tool of terrorists? Would most Canadians agree? And am I a tool of terrorists for saying this? I think not.
There are many groups in which Israelis and Palestinians work together on issues of common interest, and these show what a positive future might hold; but until the structural problem is fixed and Palestine has its own “legitimized” state within its internationally recognized borders, the Shadow will remain.
“We know what we have to do, to fix it,” said many Israelis. “We need to get beyond Us and Them, to We,” said a Palestinian. This is the hopeful path. For Israelis and Palestinians both, the region itself is what’s now being threatened, as the globe heats up and water vanishes. Two traumas create neither erasure nor invalidation: both are real. And a catastrophe for one would also be a catastrophe for the other.
From the Year of the Flood, Margaret Atwood's latest novel
God must have caused the Animals to assemble by speaking to them directly, but what language did He use? It was not Hebrew, my Friends. It was not Latin or Greek, or English, or French, or Spanish, or Arabic, or Chinese. No: He called the Animals in their own languages. To the Reindeer He spoke Reindeer, to the Spider, Spider; to the Elephant He spoke Elephant, to the Flea He spoke Flea, to the Centipede He spoke Centipede, and to the Ant, Ant. So must it have been.
And for Adam himself, the Names of the Animals were the first words he spoke—the first moment of Human language. In this cosmic instant, Adam claims his Human soul. To Name is – we hope -- to greet; to draw another towards one’s self. Let us imagine Adam calling out the Names of the Animals in fondness and joy, as if to say – There you are, my dearest! Welcome! Adam’s first act towards the Animals was thus one of loving-kindness and kinship, for Man in his unfallen state was not yet a carnivore. The Animals knew this, and did not run away. So it must have been on that unrepeatable Day – a peaceful gathering at which every living entity on the Earth was embraced by Man.
How much have we lost, dear fellow Mammals and fellow Mortals! How much have we wilfully destroyed! How much do we need to restore, within ourselves!
The time of the Naming is not over, my Friends. In His sight, we may still be living in the sixth day. As your Meditation, imagine yourself rocked in that sheltering moment. Stretch out your hand towards those gentle eyes that regard you with such trust -- a trust that has not yet been violated by bloodshed and gluttony and pride and disdain.
Say their Names.
Let us sing.
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Very nice text. The talkback shows how right you are.
Gosh! you people are as human, as us. We believe in you as our ancestral brothers n sisters as Torah and Quran connects us. Both divine books of GOD. Havent ever had a jewish friend as I live in Pakistan, but the word Jewish sent a horrific shiver down my spine. We hated you, as we were being told to hate you. But today after reading this article my mind changed. honestly speaking I cried while watching th Schindlers List. Hope one day we become friends
I read the article, and as always when people write things like this, I was grateful to finally hear some honest, perceptive thoughts from a Zionist. Then I read the comments, and was appalled, so I decided to be obnoxious in response to them. I want it to be clear that the following is in response to the comments, and not to the article. I don't know whether there's moderation on these comments, but I fully except my comment to be deleted. First, my thoughts that come from rage: If you people want to tout involvement of some Palestinians in Nazi activities, and use it as justification for modern apartheid, why not steal land from the Germans or the Italians instead? The thought that European Zionists somehow have a claim on land in western Asia is ridiculous, and reflects a racist spirit that should have died out in this world ages ago. For those of you throwing around the phrase "anti Semite": go look up what that actually means. Israel, through its treatment of the Palestinians, has become an anti-Semitic state. For those of you blaming the British, get over it. Tossing blame around is not an excuse to avoid taking responsibility for one's actions in the present. I could go on and on, but I'm going to stop there. I'll leave with these thoughts that come from sorrow: By promoting the perceived necessity of a Jewish state at the price of withholding the rights of indigenous peoples, rather than promoting equality in free nations throughout the world, Zionists promote racism. Such thinking actually helps propagate anti-Semitic thoughts by reinforcing in the minds of gentiles that Jews see themselves as superior. This is the true Shadow over Israel, whether it is understood by Zionists or not. The biggest threat to Judaism and the Jewish people today is not the Palestinians or any Arabs, but rather it is the racism promoted by modern Zionism and the current policies of the nation of Israel.
There are so many errors in your argument. I can only suggest you devote more time to investigation before saying another word. Your authorship does not make you an authority, but pretending to be one is dangerous and blatantly irresponsible.
Gaza is run by anti-Semitic, sexist and homophobic Muslim fundamentalists and terrorists. Hamas doesn't respect human rights, not even the basic right to life. Shouldn't Atwood discuss the Shadow, not to say the complete Medieval Darkness in Gaza?
Predictably, Atwood completely ignores the fact that even the current government of Israel accepts that the Palestinians should have their own sovereign country, while the Palestinians and their supporters seek the end of Jewish sovereignty over every millimeter of the little postage-stamp area that is our Jewish National Home. She is a "useful idiot" as is so much of the so-called "intelligensia".
Dear Margaret, I was one of the writers in the audience at your inspiring talk last month in Tel Aviv. I agree with your comments about the "shadow" that affects our lives. I do believe that you are mistaken about its cause. I think that Israel is the most open, argumentative, democratic country on the planet. I think that the cause of the suffering of Gaza residents is its repressive regime. I believe that the "peace activists" on one out of the 5 boats included hired thugs with knives and bats and steel rods who attempted to lynch our soldiers so that fighting would break out and get in the news and sway the opinions of people like you. This saddens me. I was very sorry to read these words from you. Of all people.
Some come around to it a lot later. When apartheid South Africa was at its death bed, many so called liberals (who sat on the fence during the most brutal period) all of a sudden became anti apartheid and supported Mandela. This is the same cycle of events concerning plight of Palestinians and their suffering caused by Israel. And by the way, the Palestinians or the arabs had no role in the European holocaust. As, Edward Said wrote, "we are the victims of the victims of Europe".
Just on one point do I strongly disagree. During the Holocaust most Arab nations did side with the Nazi's, including the Palestinian population.
ok, the Palestinians were marginal supportersof Nazism for their own geo-political reasons. However in the aftermath of 1948 7-900,000 Jews were expelled or fled the Arab world --that was their nakba. Yet it ended not in refugee camps but in citizenship within a Jewish state. It is not too late to create a Palestinian homeland and state in the west bank and gaza where the stateless can become citizens. And then we, Arabs and Jews can put our mutual worship of victimhood behind us.
With whom shold Israel agree on a Palestinian State? With Hamas, who's sole aim is to destroy Israel? Or with PA who don't have any control in Gaza? As soon as you create a Palestinian State, a civil ware between parties will start without any doubt. Also this "new state" will be used by Iran to continue its proxy war against Israel...
who misperceives the facts and interprets them to suit her fantasies. These fantasies serve her books well, but has no place in reality. Does she understand the daily threats to Israel? I think not. Her romantic notions and wishful thinking remain in the pages of fiction not in history. My advice to Margaret: Keep out of complex situations you can barely understand.
catholic queen Isabelle and husband king Ferdinand II d'Aragon. Jewish culture prospered (ibn Halivi and ibn Maimoun, among others under the Muslim rule..This is not to mention the so many Jews killed alongside the Arabs.... I suggest you educate yourself before speaking so you do not make fool of yourself (the way you did).
For anyone who is interested in this - The Jews of Moslem Spain, by Ashtor. Has it been translated into Arabic? Some of what I am reading in Arabic on this subject, 'history' books recently published in the Arab World, is not every enlightened - to say the least. On the other hand, to generalize that the current state of affairs and current negative attitudes towards Jews that is dominate in the Arab and Muslim World today was always the case is historically wrong. History should not be ignored, but neither should the present.
No mufti. No Ahmadinejad and no bomb. No washing hands in human blood. No monkeys and pigs. No Camp David or Taba, and no Olmerts offer. And this is one of the most admirable and honest ones in that group. Amazing, just amazing.
It's nice that you can see our shadow and tell us what you see there, but it's difficult to pay attention to your own shadow. Let's anybody work to see what's hidden into his/her shadow and how to enlight it. A tip: most of the times, what we are able to appoint over others is often a critical part of our own shadows.
Atwoods' mind is so clear, and open, but not vacant as she proclaims. I have to agree with her. In the above article, she stated her perceived facts, which don't divert significantly from reality, she put it in a positive, non-offensive, direct and sincere way. I hope that through this smooth message she can convince some of the fanatics who possess the power of the steps needed to move positively forward.
Margaret Atwood, despite admitting that you haven't "followed the “the situation” closely" you immediately decide that the solution to this immensely vast and complicated conflict is simple. As a writer you should be ashamed of the propaganda you have been spitting out. Hajj amin- al husseini, the Palestinian leader who was immensely popular for his anti-Semitic rhetoric was a Nazi collaborator and war criminal. There were plenty of Palestinians who had adopted usage of the Swastika and were willing and ready to partake in the Final Solution. Overlooking this along with your other lies about the situation in Gaza (and particularly that about the Flotilla) show just how much of an ignorant disgrace you are. Shame on you.
Funny how Atwood has never once, in dozens of books and articles over her decades long writing career ever once even mentioned the Shadow cast over her own home Canada by its horrific centuries long abuse of its own native population. The Canadian First Nations and Inuit were dispossessed of an entire ancestral continent, were subjected to physical genocide, the few survivors were entrapped in horrific ghettos called “reserves” to starve in squalor, multiple generations of aboriginal children were forcible kidnapped into church schools where mass sexual abuse is documented, etc. In Atwood's home country of Canada, ongoing till today is a cultural genocide of the last remaining shards of aboriginal language and religion. Unemployment, poverty, lack of education, lack of access to clean drinking water or sewage treatment, lack of access to housing, alcoholism, drug abuse, suicide and prison rates are all up to 10 times worse for Canadian natives than for the national Canadian average. I would say Canada's treatment of its own natives casts a far bigger Shadow over Canada than any Shadow over Israel, and maybe Atwood the big hypocrite should be ashamed of herself.
whenever anyone on earth dares mention the injustices of Israel, Zionists repeat this absurd mantra: Your country DID commit crimes in the past, so my country Israel should be allowed to commit crimes now! Are you people always 5000 to 500 years behind? ridiculous
Yikes, I think you confused the genicidal treatment of Native Americans in the United States with the successful treaties of the 1st Nation people of Canada. They were never conquered or victims of a genicide. There are entire provinces that are 1st Nation in Canada. Shame on your confusion.
Everything that has shown to be good for Israel is to be strong and firm and don't give up a milimeter of land.
Palestineans were NOT "innocent bystanders" - the Mufti of Jerusalem had proven Nazi connections and was to be judged for his crimes, except that the French let him escape on a fake Syrian passport from Orly airport and he never came back to face justice. Filthy anti-Semite
By pinpointing the Shadow, a rare Middle Eastern nail is being drilled down. Now, let us -and the 'other side' describe - and acknowledge- the Shadow in our 'own' hearts. And perhaps, we can start believing again the light exist at the end of the tunnel. Thank you, Margaret Atwood for giving us this refreshing angle of view.
.... of Kamm's Law: “ ... [W]hen writers take a stand on international politics the intensity of their indignation is almost always inversely related to the intelligence with which they express it.”
But Arabs already have 22 states, two in Palestine, Jordan and Gaza. They used to have Al Andaluz, but Christian Europeans kicked them all out. Give them their state #23, give them Gibraltar, Portugal and Spaiin.
only those folk who lived in the area that became Jordan had a right to live there as citizens in 1946. Those who did not, had no such right. http://wp.me/PDB7k-Y#who-is-being-wiped-off-the-map
Each Arab country has a distinct culture and history, which helps to solidify distinction from each other, and can create difficulties when discussing political "Pan-Arabism". Palestinians are not like Egyptians, Syrians or Lebanese; even the Palestinians in Jordan are quite different than Jordanians, despite there being an overwhelming Palestinian presence due to the occupation. So it is, Palestinians are from Palestine, not Jordan or Iberia, and cannot be treated as anything less than this fact. Although, according to Jewish example, Iberia could be re-populated by the Moors.
More than 200 000 Jews were deported out of Andalusia upon the defeat of the Mores by the catholic queen Isabelle and husband king Ferdinand II d'Aragon. Jewish culture prospered (ibn Halivi and ibn Maimoun, among many others under the Muslim rule..This is not to mention the so many Jews killed alongside the Arabs.... I suggest you educate yourself before speaking so you do not fool of your self (the way you are now).
and i would like to tell you that even if the arabs had 200 states..... this is irrelevant to me. i am from haifa, and i should have been able to not be dispossessed and kicked out. just because arabs have 22 countries, that doesn't mean that you can dispossess a secion of them and simply think it is alright to relocate them. i am not an object or a sheep. i am a human. i have the right to live in my ancestral land. regardless of your ideologies.
She tells us that once terms like vipers are used to describe people, you imply their extermination. Well, you don't have to read between the lines, Margret, if your looking at the ambition of Gazans to liquidate Israel and Israelis. Just for the record, aside from their official policies and practices, they do call Jews sons of pigs and monkeys. And they teach that to their elementary school children. How shocking that you open your big mouth and delegitimize the victims. You are irresponsible and so terribly dangerously so.
It's a shame there is no Nobel Peize for being disingenuous.She should first look at the piles of problems keft by the "british empire" all opver the world.The whoke problem between Israel and the arab world stems from the brits reneguing on the Balfour Declaration.When the brits blocked the Jews from entering the Land of Israel before,during and after WWll,to save themselves from the fires of the Holocaust they actualy were responsabke for the loss of Millions of Jewish soulsmthat could be saved in Israel...The sleaze of the brits as no limits
So it's all the fault of the British ? Like it's all the fault of the Jews ?
... precious.....
she's obnoxious, but she's not jewish
It is sad how the entry " There is no Palestine" reflects a mind that refuses to leave a little room in his/her mind to listen to others and may be for once change his/her stand or understand. I feel sorry and sympathy for you and do hope that you only reflect a small minority of Israeli's? May Moses, Jesus, Mohammad and most importantly Abraham, Avrahim, or Ibrahim bring the light needed to the souls and minds of people like you. Best
Ms. Atwood, please note that Adolf Hitler hosted the Palestinian Arab leaders during WW II in Berlin, particularly Haj Amin El Husseini who Churchill tried to assassinate. From Berlin these Palestinian leaders for years broadcast anti-semitic tirades to audiences in the Middle East, formed Waffen SS brigades with Bosnian Muslims and an imam for each unit, and their leadership toured the death camps. After WWII, Haj Amin returned to the Middle East to lead the campaign with his Palestinian Arabs to finish Hitler's work. Israel won.
http://wp.me/pDB7k-m1
I think the Stern Gang had some dealings with Hitler, too. You may want to have a look at the fact that during the 1930s, the Nazis and the Zionists shared one central goal: to get the Jews out of Germany
As long as Israel continues to subjugate, occupy and oppress the Palestinian people, inside and out of "Israel", there will be no "Israel". The only solution is one state for all of those who live in "Israel" and the occupied territories, although all of it is occupied territory. Until that happens, the blood will continue to flow and neither side will live in anything close to peace.
The only acceptable solution to the Arab world will be giving all the land to the "Palestinians". Don't waste time thinking a Palestinian state will solve anything, any concession Israel makes won't be enough to satisfy those who don't want them to exist.
Exactly.
As only Margaret Atwood can write. Thank you Ms. Atwood for demystifying the horrendous "Situation" that threatens all of us.
I have never heard such a load of rubbish in all my years of living in Israel! I love Atwood's books but think that she should keep to what she does best: writing fiction!
So, what came first, Pal mistreatment or abuse of Jews by Pals and Arabs. Hands down the latter, pre-dating occupation, pre-dating Israel, pre-dating the Arab brigade, who allied itself with Hitler in his attempt at a final solution, pre-dating the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem, pre-dating the slaughter of Jews at the Western wall, etc.
http://wp.me/pDB7k-m1 it certainly had nothing to do with today's Palestinians. BTW Pre-Israel anyone living in Palestine was Palestinian.
Ms Atwood, I`m a huge admirer of your work and have been a fan for over 30 years. Once again, I`m reminded why. You have opened a window of perception, which is a ultimately the only way to banish shadow. I`m sure most Israelis would be horrified if they could see the reality of life in Gaza, and turn away from the government policies that have created this terrible situation.
They are far from blameless. They kill and expel minorities, keep women in second class status, etc. but it's still all sunlight there.
if it was expressed they would be beheaded
A Shadow permeates the soul of all: the oppressed as well as the oppressor. Only the oppressor does not recognise it in time. It hovers even in the souls of your children.
I think many Israelis would love the Palestinians to have their own state. How do we give it to them? Many Israelis are working against this Palestinian state, but it is also the Arab rejectionists, equally, that have led to this quagmire. If only the moderates on each side could make the decisions!
...is that it's likely to bring more violence and death, on both sides, not less. Much as the pullbacks from Gaza and southern Lebanon have. And re her Model UN experience: Perhaps Canada's UELs can return to their homes in the US now; but not in the decades right after they left. Jordan's as much Palestine as anywhere else, and re particular homes, more peace w/ compensation, rather than return, as with Sudetenland.
A 'red tory', a political descendant of Benjamin Disraeli, and a person whom has been the subject of a boycott by Gazan students, Margaret Atwood, has joined the list of those seen as 'anti-Semites' by Israel. Never mind that last (barely) month, she was awarded the Dan David Prize by Tel Aviv University.
...no reliable citations thus far. AFIK, a-Dura turned out to be a hoax. And the aid-bringers, some of them, appear to have been trained in violence, and seeking it. Ms. Atwood's not a "tool of terrorists." But perhaps a dupe, despite her obvious intelligence.
Where was Atwood when the Palestinians occupied the lands they had before the Six Day War and which some of them aspire to now? Where will she be if Israel retreats to those lines and the rest of the militant Palestinians then fervently clamor and hyperventilate for the Jews to leave the Islamic holy lands altogether or face a slaughter? Poor Atwood can't see the real shadow over her own eyes to comprehend her whimsical understanding of the situation in the Middle East.
Just as the US is blind to all their own crimes, Israel is blind to hers.
Even Netenyahu has accepted the 2 states for 2 people solution, to attack her for stating that this is the solution is silly. The point she eloquently makes is that failure to move to a solution is very damaging to Israel. Is this what you disagree with, do you think the current situation is just fine and dandy and Israel can continue indefinitely to rule the west bank without giving Palestinian residents equal rights?
Israelis don't have a perfect society but how most of them have coped with decades of violence and hostility towards the Jewish State by Palestinians and Arab/Islamic countries round about that don't accept their presence has been quite remarkable. Try doing what many Palestinians have been allowed to do in Israel in an Arab country as a Jew and see what happens to you. Have the Palestinians, et al peacefully deal with Israel and see how much more remarkably Israeli society overall will deal with them. Please read my questions again and try to answer them, not avoid them. It might take you planning a trip to the Middle East first to learn something firsthand about the situation before you post.
Please re-read my questions and try to answer them. If you visit Israel you'll see firsthand how many Israelis strive for peace, but there would be no Israel today to write about if it didn't defend its presence in a land made famous through history because of its Jewish presence and contributions to the world.
you not only need to see an eye doctor , but the ones who deal with full time illusions and fantasies. Arabs are always the deal breakers and creators of their own destruction. Its nice that they have one cheerleader. RaRabooooooo
I was very impressed with Margarted Atwoods talk a neurology conference in Halifax June 2009 on the "Brain" I was very distressed when she accepted the prize. She has vindicated herself in my eyes with this article.
that live somewhere in their ivory tower, full of themselves and sure they know know better then the Israelis do what is good for Israel and the Jews. Now, I say them. sit in your marsh and mind your own business.
Humanity is everybody's business.
However eloquently Margaret Atwood may articulate her opinion, it is striking that she, like so many others of her ilk, hold Israel exclusively responsibel for the 'Shadow'. Where is there any reference to the contribution of the various Palestinian factions and their minders to the situation and what are her expectations of them? None, I guess. Ms Atwood seems to have held on to the same biases since 1956 - the more things change, the more they stay the same!
Very well said.
The sad thing is it should have tipped 30 years ago. It may already be too late with the likes of Lieberman and others a two state solution will be impossible without huge Israeli concesions that few Israeli's are willing to give. The shadow Palestinians wake up to keeps getting bigger and more malevolent. Can it ever be tipped ? PEACE EVER?
You'll not encounter a more benovelent description of your sickness.
Natalie, almost I every time I check a story, you always have a comment on it. Do you have a life other than trashing everything JEwish and Israeli???
Margaret says it better...I am a plain truth teller without her social skills...and how right she is...and how valuable is her perspiscaity and sagacity to aalert you to "your shadow". Telling the truth to Israel is not antisemitic it is a great gift...to have someone care enough to tell you where you are all wrong. Margaret might not want my bravo but BRAVO Margaret.
to which I agree entirely
I agree. So was blowing up buses and restuarants full of men, women, babies, while peace talks were coming to fruition at Taba. So now we all are petty and vindictive. Of course Europeans are never petty and vindictive
Since when is Atwood European?
Same applies to them. I'm sure you understand my point.
Only the sanctimonious don't understand
Margaret, how could you know that the people trespassing in gaza are malnourished? Have you been there? Are you a certified nutritionist? There is no such thing as a pure, functioning democracy. The best one can hope for is a democratic republic in which there is some tolerance for the crack-brained ideas the left puts forth. The main problem with the left is that sooner or later, they want to turn the 'democracy' into a 'meritocracy' in which only intellectuals can hold public office. This breeds a phenomenom called 'governance' which is the best example of the blind leading the blind that modern man can achieve. The appropriate annecdote is the one about the scientist and the engineer: They were challenged to travel down a long hall by dividing the distance in half so they could reach the beautiful blonde at the other end. When the starting whistle blew, the engineer started measuring right away but the scientist just pulled up a chair and started laughing at the engineer. The moderator asked what was so funny and why the scientist was not measuring. He replied that no matter how many time one halves the distance, one can never actually get to the other end of the hall and the blonde. The engineer overheard him talking when he was about six feet from the blonde and said, "True, but I can get close enough!"
Good work Israel. Everybody cries "Canadians" here but I don't see any Smiths or Jones names on this situation. John From Canada.
One of many inaccuracies in this article
How many Palestinians participated in the Holocaust. Give a number. 100? 200? How many?
they supported and aided Nazi Germany
Obviously some Palestinians supported Nazi Germany (it was fighting their colonial occupier). My question is which and how many Palestinians.
"Why was it fair that the Palestinians, innocent bystanders during the Holocaust, had lost their homes?" They didn't lose their homes because of WWII. Those that lost their homes did so as a consequence of civil war; Wherever the Arabs conquered in that war, the Jews lost their homes. For a European to not undersand the consequence of war is just incredible
Tell Atwood, not me
to Margaret Atwood, and to Haaretz for printing her comments. Keep it up guys and gals for your efforts to dispel those shadows.
Imagine from the the land that the Neanderthal Harper now holds sway, From her a perceptive and moving piece the likes of which I have not read for some time. Canada be proud.
and start sharing the land. It is not written Jews can't be reasonable. No justification or any rational for occupying and oppressing people for over 43 years. It can't be, but it is, in 2010 we are still where we started - the headlines have not changed.
Margaret Atwood is just another lazy liberal ignoramus with no connection to the real world. First a little history on the region; Israel was re-named Palestine by the Romans and has no Arab connection. The first people called "Palestinians" were Jews because they have always lived in Israel/Palestine. There has never been a Palestinian country, people, language or culture. The "Palestinian" people were created by the KGB and the PLO to steal the Jewish homekand from the Jews. The Arabs who falsely call themselves "Palestinians" can go back to the over dozen Arab countries they came from. Israel belongs to the Jews!
Bravo, TheTruth, for becoming Exhibit A. Incidentally, the Palestinians to a large extent ARE Islamized and Christianized Jews. A culture that speaks Arabic is not necessarily from the Arabian Peninsula.
I agree one hundred percent with your views...my grandmother who came to the US always identified herself as coming from Palestine. Her birthplace was listed as Jerusalem. She was from a settlement outside of the old city and her father before her was also born there.
Woo, Hoo! The truth will out!
Regardless of how it was in the past, the fact is that today, Arab-Palestinians exist. They will not go away. Citing history has gotten us nowhere. A two-state solution is the only viable option for the future.
So much racism, so much hatred and filth in your language. Clearly Avid Gore Le Pen Lieberman has many clones in Israel
This will not help you.
I pity you my friend. This twisted view is one of an atheistic belief. Just remember, whether you believe it or not, you will someday face your creator and will have to answer to the hatred in your heart. God is love and will not tolerate anything else.
isn't your comment based with no connection to the real world. Deal with it that Jews and Palestinians are in the same area. no wonder with people like you peace seems so far away. Yes it is not easy and both sides have done wrong, but forthe sake of my childrens future I hope that more people on both sides actually want peace and a solution
Yes, yes, keep repeating that...There are no Palestinians, there are no Palestinians, there are no Palestinians. So soothing, so comforting, right? And just as valid as saying: "There are no hydrogen atoms in H2O molecules," "There is no sand in the Sahara," "There are no brain cells in the cranium of 'The Truth' person" (oh, wait, the latter might warrant validity, judging from the above post).
There was no USA until 1776. By your argument this means no USA could come into being. Or perhaps the lack of a historical precedent doesn't preclude a country's existence?
Margaret Atwood is an ignorant lawyer? A hint: hurling invectives never strengthens an argument. It does, however, serve as a giant neon sign highlighting one's own prejudices. If that was you goal, well done! It's actually quite helpful, as it serves as a full-stop for us sane perusers of the feedback section. I suppose your choice of terms was marginally better than, say, calling her a viper...
Both my parents and their grandparents were born in Jaffa. They left to Egypt after the Nakba to escape Irgun and Hagana massacres. We are Palestinians, Muslims and Arabs from Jaffa and no one can deny this. And we have a right to return to Jaffa.
Temble
But it doesn't exist, does it? I thought it was only an imaginary country, after all, no nation of people can be so bereft of understanding. The even think that a burger is "Food".
If it didn't exist and support Israel financially, diplomatically and militarily Israel would not exist.
We are not bereft of understanding; there have been many similarly racist/religiously bigoted nations recently. What many of us don't understand is how you can have no problem treating others as you have been treated, and how you expect to get away with it. Hubris,I suppose. By the way, burgers in moderation are a reasonably healthy and convenient way to get a quick meal.
Margaret Atwood is a giant. Her prose is beautiful. Her critique of Israel is worth exploring. To Truth, up above, your take on Middle East history started out interesting. Yes, Jews were "Palestinians" but so were the many other groups that lived on the land at that time. To say the Palestinian people were created by the KGB and PLO is just simply wrong and silly.
you deserved that cultural price, and another one for this piece
That's a common conclusion. I couldn't agree more.
Ms. Atwood is far too impressive and well-spoken for you. At least she can make her case while at the same time showing compassion for Israelis. Don't bore us with your commentary, you vile anti-semite
Ms. Atwood is far too impressive and well-spoken for you. At least she can make her case while at the same time showing compassion for Israelis. Don't bore us with your commentary, you vile anti-semite
Thank you, Ms. Atwood, from the bottom of my heart...