Hamas Puts Down Rockets, Takes Up Movie Making

nytimes.com:

GAZA -- Seven months after Israel launched a fierce three-week military campaign here to stop rockets from being fired on its southern communities, Hamas has suspended its use of rockets and shifted focus to winning support at home and abroad through cultural initiatives and public relations.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[BackToFight]

I can only pray that one day our part of the world will open its eyes and ears and allow the Palestinians to express to us their story through art. Never in our modern history has an ethnic group been the victim of ethnic cleansing and viewed as the cause of the problem. The Palestinians case is the equivalent of a rape victim being told that the rape was her fault. What an amazing forum for expression. Humanity could learn a great deal if we just listened to their tragic story.

[ModernTimes1]

Translation. After being defeated and scared out of their wits, Hamas graciously chooses to stop rockets and begin filming agitprop. Too bad so many people had to suffer for Hamas inability to predict that Israelis weren't bluffing. Sigh..., this is the Way of the Middle East.
P.S. do not expect My Dinner With Andre :-)

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
Indeed, it has been demonstrated quite clearly that Israel is perfectly willing to murder Palestinians down to the last man, woman and child.

[Talossa]

As soon as Israel is convinced that the Palestinians will not use their independent state to destroy Israel, the Palestinians will have their independent state.

[DeniseA]

No, that certainly has not been demonstrated.

[ModernTimes1]

movie making? Yet another remake of Protocol of Elders no doubt.

[MemoryAlpha]

Continued anti-Arab propaganda from this poster:
Noted.

Observation:
Palestinians specifically and Arabs, by and large, are not anti-Semites. Not the least of which, because they are Semites themselves.

[DeniseA]

The term anti-Semitism refers to Jews.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_under_Muslim_rule

[Hedonist]

Ignorance as to the meaning of the word anti-Semitism. Noted repeatedly.

The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is enormously popular in the Arab world. Both Egypt and Syria have made long running T.V. series which depicted that fraud as fact. They were particularly vile productions.

Observation.
Whitewashing bigotry. Bravo.

[Talossa]

Indeed. Let's see if the movie starts off with how Jordan and Egypt conquered the West Bank and Gaza (respectively) in 1948, thus destroying the independent, sovereign state of Palestine. And let's see if it addresses how both brotherly Arab regimes maintained the Palestinians as stateless refugees in their own country, under Arab rule, for the next twenty years.

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
Such a movie would have to factor in Golda Meir's involvement in the above. Would you really want that?

[yankees]

Taking a page out of the Arafat "playbook" and don't forget the Money they'll steal from International donations. It's just another attempt to take advantage of the Palestinian population.

[MemoryAlpha]

Continued use of propagandistic stereotypes against Palestinians:
Noted.

Ironic Situation:
Gambling with peace: how US bingo dollars are funding Israeli settlements
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/19/us-bingo-funding-israeli-settlements

"The public corruption uncovered by the informant led him to the separate money-laundering network by rabbis who operated between Brooklyn, Deal, New Jersey, and Israel, authorities said. They laundered some $3 million for the undercover witness between June 2007 and July 2009, authorities said.

"These complaints paint a disgraceful picture of religious leaders heading money laundering crews acting as crime bosses," Marra said. "They used purported charities, entities supposed set up to do good works as vehicles for laundering millions of dollars in illicit funds."
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE56M3QU20090723?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

[Progressneeded]

And confiscating their land, burning their crops, killing and imprisoning their children isn't?

[liberalnfree]

In other words, the recent war broke the will of Hamas to fight with violence, at least for now. Hopefully they will renounce their anti-Semitic charter, which blames Jews for all the wars in the world and among other things, the French Revolution, and calls for the destruction of Israel by violence. Hopefully they will come to the peace table-- unless egged on by Western supporters who continue to denounce Israel's right to exist, and thereby condemn another generation of Palestinians to the glories of the armed struggle from the comfort of their computer chairs.

[gbrooks]

Good for Hamas! I've been hoping that they make take a turn in this direction for a long time, the rockets only lost Gaza the moral highground as an occupied people.

This is the way to truly effect change for the Palestinian people. Israel's continual message that all Palestinians are terrorists will soon become blatantly false, as it always was.

[Ergon]

They've occupied the moral highground for 61 years now, and still counting.
Boycott
Divestment
Sanctions

[gbrooks]

I know, but the rockets only made them lose credibility.

[Hedonist]

Israel has wanted peace from the start and the Palestinians wanted no part of it.

Agreed

Boycott
Divestment
tighten Sanctions

against thugs like Hamas.

[DeniseA]

I don't believe that most Israelis consider ALL Palestinians to be terrorists. Do you have evidence to support such a claim?

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
Israelis seem to believe that treating them all as terrorists and erecting a security barrier that turns Palestinian villages into prison camps is acceptable.

[BackToFight]

One must remember that almost every current government that exists today, including the US government and the French government started their activities through the use of violence and terrorism. The reason they survived and are accepted today is because after they established their government they were able to turn over a new leaf and govern their citizens effectively and deal with their neighbors through diplomacy, abandoning their once violent methods for more diplomatic and democratic methods.

[BackToFight]

At least they actually doing something that is productive. Those rockets did nothing but harm a few civilians and give the Israelis something to use in their gross campaign against the Palestinians. Investing in the arts is something they should have looked into a long time ago. Palestinian culture is rich, and their story is long and sad. That makes for great story telling and inspiration.

[crossoverwriter]

Yeah, what a cool idea!!!
I am curious to see their creative output!
Israel is not the only victim, nor is it the only "good guy".
Stop the settlements.

[jollyelle]

The Palestinians are a proud people who have endured extreme oppression for generations at the hands of the IDF~~these movies will document the proof that's needed for the outside world to acknowledge their persecution. Just like the Jews want acknowledgement for theirs.

[PWM]

This is a tactic the IDF can do noting to counter.

[BackToFight]

Nah, they'll just use it to bolster their "Pallywood" claims, i.e., "We do nothing to the Palestinians, all of their claims of alleged human rights violations are staged and fraudulent­." They always find a way to flip the script.

[phute]

Don't be too sure of that.
The Israeli military will detect all manner of 'terrorist threats against Israel' - you just watch - contained in scripts, costumes, and they won't be on location they'll be spying using film equipment that's been modified.

[Talossa]

Then this means Israel won the war.

[BackToFight]

How does that work?

[PWM]

No. The war of public opinion will turn against Israel big time.

[Talossa]

Not if there isn't any fighting.

[phute]

What war?

[Maysoon Zayid]

Not of fan of H but this is a good start. ITS NONVIOLENT and I'm glad they are allowing dissenting moderate voices like Saids be heard. Here here to no censorship. Finally some balance rather than imbalance.

[IDIOTA]

This is positive, to redirect energies in order to produce rather than destroy. Israelis should do the same. I would like to see documentaries from all parties involved. The documentary may end up being mightier than the sword.

[Talossa]

The Israeli free media have been pouring out materials sympathetic to the Arabs for years (witness "Waltz with Bashir"). I would love to see some writings or films from the Arab world sympathizing with Israel's right to exist.

[MemoryAlpha]

Observation:
That is difficult while there is a politically powerful minority in Israel that wishes to see Lebanon, Syria and Jordan decimated to make way for a "Greater Israel."

[phute]

Ah yes - but how any Israeis bothered to go see it - let alone praise it?
What do you have to say about The Lemon Tree then?

[temenos]

In the modern world the lens is mightier than the sword.

[rocketman69]

Kassam hits southern Israel
July 16, 2009

JERUSALEM (JTA) -- A Kassam rocket fired from Gaza landed in southern Israel for the first time in a month.

The rocket fired Thursday evening did not cause any injury or damage, according to reports. The Color Red emergency alert system was activated.

The attack comes a day after the Israeli military reported the successful test of the Iron Dome defense system, which is designed to protect Israel from rocket attacks.

[BackToFight]

Unfortunately, the rockets currently fired are against the orders of the Hamas government. Hamas needs to do a better job at policing any rogue members of their government who do not obey their ceasefire command, which is difficult to do when they have limited resources and are still under occupation.

[newyorkid]

PaIestine belongs to the PaIestinians.