Sunday, July 3, 2011

From Alice Walker, On Her Latest Star Turn

A portion of Alice Walker's latest arrogant and ahistorical screed, blogged from Greece: Emphasis is mine.

I have never believed in the Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. Whenever I saw the men gathering to talk about peace I was reminded of what the Indians said to the white colonizers of America who came to talk peace with them: ” Where are your women?”

This would make slightly more sense if the Palestinians, whom Alice clearly casts in the role of the Indians, had a tradition of including women in political negotiations. As it is, we have here two traditionally patriarchal groups, and while including the ladies might be an excellent idea, one feels that here the example is used simply to get those Indians in there somehow.

An occasional woman has appeared to take part in the talks, but overwhelmingly the process has been male driven. I like to think if women, in equal numbers to men, had been at the table things might not have turned out so badly. But perhaps, recalling the disrespectful young Israeli women at the check-points, this is naive. 

Israeli women aren't the right kind of women, anyway. 

In any case, it is when one sees the Israeli settlements, after hearing about them for decades, that the final “Aha” moment arrives. They are colossal, and, like the wall, they are everywhere. It is obvious, looking at them, gigantic, solid, white and towering, that they have been constructed to completely devour the rest of Palestine, and that the peace talks have been a ruse to continue their growth so that Jewish Israelis can claim the land by possession alone. Possession is nine-tenths of the law is one of the dictums I learned from my Jewish lawyer former husband. This belief might even be enshrined in the Torah. In any case it is a very old idea, and Israelis have made good use of it.


So, we a. don't need to worry about the peace talks, because the Israelis don't want peace anyway, and b. her Jewish lawyer former husband, apparently the origin of her nasty streak of anti-Semitism, pops up again. Brief note: "Possession is nine-tenths of the law" is not 'enshrined in the Torah", as Alice could very easily have found out by Googling it, or asking someone with even a slight knowledge of the text. The ugliness of that slap is matched only by the ignorance.



Dispossessed of land and houses, poverty stricken, refugees in their own country since the catastrophe of 1948, when Zionist terrorists drove them from their villages, towns and cities, Palestinian laborers have been forced to build these settlements for the Israeli settlers and, having built them, are rarely permitted inside them, except to service them. This is similar to our own history, in America: the genocide and enslavement of Native people, and the forced black and Indian labor that built so much of America, including The White House. Sometimes one wonders if this greed that devours the very substance of other human beings is part of human DNA. I don’t think it is; and, in any case, I hope not!


And, as usual, one doesn't even know where to begin with this tumble of lies, half-truths, and determined editing of history. Really, it's a mistake to even start trying to undo Alice's tangle of deceit. Elsewhere in the piece, she's still going on about "Jewish-only roads".

Bleah. This nonsense could scramble your brains.

4 comments:

Shlomo Ben Hungstien said...

ya know maybe after all this flotilla fiasco crap is done walker can go take a hike along the iranian boarder. it's funny cause i was having a discussion about walker's anti-Semitic baggage. unfortunately to the vast majority of people out there in order for someone to be a card carrying Jew hater they pretty much have to be as blatant about it as mel gibson. the more subtle forms of anti-Semitism that walker exhibits is just sadly lost on most people.

BBJ said...

"It might even be in the Torah."

That's far from subtle, and it ties neatly into several different anti-Semitic memes, but you're right, most people would brush it aside.

Becky Johnson said...

Hi, I spent the 4th standing amongst the WIB in Santa Cruz debunking their signs. MY SIGNS were in support of human rights right here in Santa Cruz. I'm happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with those who want to fundamentally back off from a foreign policy based on militarism, nuclear weapons, and funds a huge weapons industry.

However, when those same activists blithely support Hamas, the provocative blockade-running, and don't know their history from a hole in the ground, I have a problem.

I pointed out that if they oppose aid to Israel, why don't they also oppose aid to Egypt?

That the "seige of Gaza" has been broken by a wide-open border with Egypt pretty much since the Arab Spring.

When I pulled out that "these people burned down 24 synagogues in one day" the head WIB lady walked off.

One of these days I'll get fail playing field on these issues. I haven't found one yet.

Anonymous said...

First, when I've explained Zionism to my Born Again friends, I start by explaining that we,as Jews deal with a lot of prejudice. That in Eastern Europe, Jews lived segregated, "beyond the pale" and in "Shet'l 's" not cities and that after a thousand year living in Europe, Jews were considered " foreigners" , a dark haired people in a land ofw blondes. That the word Ghettoe" is a Jewish word for the segregated part of old Venice. The Jews under Muslim Sharia law lived as third class "Dhimmi" like "JimCrow." Then I explain that if one tours Israel, you can walk all the scenes of the Scripture and make your Bible reading come alive....plus great food,beaches, dude ranches, markets, cafe's, night clubs and bakeries.