Israel, U.S. Jews lobby Oscar panel against use of 'Palestine'

If Jewish people feel offensed by showing and/or nominating for a price the movie 'Palastine now', whoever/whatever human being should not offense nor show/nominate that movie. Kars Dekker, Groningen, The Netherlands

If Jewish people feel offensed by showing and/or nominating for a price the movie 'Palastine now', whoever/whatever human being should not offense nor show/nominate that movie. Kars Dekker, Groningen, The Netherlands

Connie: "Pave those streets"...seriously? To which streets are you referring, dearest? The ones that are constantly being destroyed by the IDF's bulldozers? Or the ones that are in the small, over-crowded camps that house Palestinian refugees whose land was confiscated by your ever-so-"healthy" government? And Emily: If I were you, I'd be remiss in discussing the suppression of art and free speech without citing the long history Israel has of killing and wounding journalists. Not to mention the fact that this very movie isn't being shown in arthouses in Israel in an act of blatant censorship. It's a little too "pot calling the kettle black." These are all very tired arguments of semantics when the real issues have and always will be about Israel's illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, continued illegal confiscation of these lands, and humiliating and dehumanizing human rights abuses that have gone on for far too long.

It will be interesting to see how Hollywood react to this film along with "Munich".

At the end of your article you are speaking about Steven Spielberg's "Munich". And say, "11 of its athletes died in a Palestinian raid on the 1972 Olympic Games". You should have said, "murdered"/"killed" not "died", everyone knows they died, but they did not just die of a heart attack, cancer or natural causes they were murder/killed. I hope this makes sense to you. Thank you for your time. Sincerly, Gary Frank

amazing to read so many hateful comments .Are most of your readers Hamas followers?.I'm really sorry.Eventhough we recognize a"Palestine State",the problem is they think such a state does not leave room for an "Israel" at its side,they should never accept .Wishful thinking men!!!

Why is it that people raise this non-existence spectre of a Jewish lobby when the Muslim lobby is behaving in such a violent manner to influence the West?

The suicide bombers aren't about ending occupation - they're all about extending the status quo and ending moves towards peace between Israelis and Palestinians. The filming of this movie was moved from the West Bank to Nazareth after threats from the terrorists who weren't happy about its content (where have I heard of threats being used to influence the display of art before?) That's why it's a misnomer to call the movie Palestinian.

You know just a sick government poisons children with the toys thrown out of helicopter or make the young generation infertile, or demolish houses on the heads of its inhabitants, outroot the trees of poor people's farm. Do you just consider yourselves innocent civilians? What about your Palestinians neighbour? They don't have those militry equipmens as you have, that's why they have to blow themselves to fight with occupiers.

In Holland anti-zionism is the policically correct version of anti-semitism. This John is probably catholic, by my experience it is them who mix up the seperation fence with 'earlier offences such' as us having murdered Jezus. And having beaten Hitler is also hard to digest for them... Let's call Holland collaboration-land, the highest percentage of Nazi-lovers, the highest percentage of the jewish population murdered. But always wagging fingers at Israel. Come on John, I am sure your grandparents hid typewriters for the resistance, the usual bullshit story to legitimaze your 'moral justice'....

Jewish lobby has always had the Oscar ceremony under control. That's why Alain Delon & Sofia Loren, the best actor and actress of the time, never won the Oscar prize since they disapproved Israelis acts towards Palestininas.

Maybe we should promote that also the name "Israel" should not be used anymore. This country is a far cry from the earlier Land of Israel, and can't even adhere to some most basic of Jewish law, eg. about non-discrimination, everyone born alike, and such. So maybe we should start calling this ersatz-Israel by a more appropriate name, eg. Zionistan.

Palestine is incorrect, whatever, because it is a 100% ...DUTCH production. Financed in Holland, the producer lives in Holland, the director lives in Holland, so this whole 'Palestinian' angle is political. Would Palestine be an established entity, the filmmakers would undoubtedly have chosen to enter it as a Dutch contribition. So thats what is should be named by the Academy to avoid this whole manipulation, uless the makers lie to us all when they say they take no sides (just like Spielberg...)...they do!

These SOBs'US Jews, will not stop at any thing. They can deny any thing they want, they can deny the name Palestine in movies, in the press, in the media, but they could never deny Palestine in fact, in history and in living action. Who the helll they think they are to deny the name Palestine? They think with their money, power and blackmail, they can deny the abvious. These Jews are truely the Ugly American Jews. UAJ for short.

-"several concerned Jewish groups"-, well that about settles the issue then, but one never knows. Maybe there is somebody that is getting rather tired of -"concerned Jewish groups"- trying to describe Hong Kong as the Hong Kong Authority or Taiwan as the Taiwan Authority...or was it just Palestine that was targeted again, by those -"several concerned Jewish groups"-? Free Palestine!

Start recognize Palestine if you want to be recognized by Palestinians ! PEACE AND JUSTICE FOR ALL THE NATIONS !

You know Khalid only a very sick society sends its young people out to murder innocent civilians by blowing them to pieces while the innocent are going about their daily lives and in turn only a very sick society then makes a movie out of this very vile action. I think your people have more important things to do with their money and time like straightening out your schools and removing the hate filled rhetoric towards Jews and Israel that is taught there....get some indoor plumbing, pave those streets and clean up your act.....then you can make a movie after you have put your house in order.

Though I have no problems with it, I understand that "Palestine" might be considered an inaccurate name-giving. Palestine exists as an area with a historical, social and cultural context, but not as a geographically delimited entity from a legal point of view. Portraying the film as coming from the "Palestinian Authority" might be even more wrong. The PA is nothing more but an institutional body, without a clear reference to geographical boundaries. So what do we consider the PA ? Is area C PA territory, like Ariel or Maale Adumin ? Or the Jordan valley ? If we want to be fair with what we are talking about, why not use the terminology often used in UN and other international environments when we refer to the geographical area: "Paradise Now" comes from the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). I reckon that nor Israel nor the pro-Israel lobby groups would be ready to use this terminology. So maybe they'd better keep quiet?

Seriously, Israel has no business interfering with the Academy Awards, this is an American event, and if they want to be correct and say that Paradise Now came from Palestine than they will do this and should not be pressured by Israeli lobby to back down. If they do back down I will be ashamed, the movie came from Palestine, not the occupied territories, not Judea and Samara, PALESTINE is where it is from. Now mind your business.

How come Israel insists that Hamas recognize Israel when Israel itself objects to a mere film bearing the name "Palestine"? What a hypocrisy? Hams must never recognize Israel until Israel agrees to recognize Palestine.