** I’m so saddened and disappointed by the Israeli government decision to pursue military action in Gaza
My family and I visited Israel for the first time when I was six years old. I have typical child’s eye memories of the trip (one of the most vivid, weirdly, is seeing a “Just Married” car decorated with streamers and flowers in Tel Aviv). However, I very clearly remember a meal we had in The Philadelphia, a Palestinian restaurant in East Jerusalem. Although I wasn’t aware of this at the time, the evening we visited The Philadelphia was a bit dicey; we were the only customers there and a staff person was sent to watch over our car. Despite the circumstances, the food was wonderful. I was a noodles-with-butter-and-no-green-things kind of kid but even I couldn’t resist the platters of food, all served family style, with waiters bringing multiple heaping trays at a time. Dessert was similarly feast-like.
Out of everything we tried, the favorite treat was something that looked like golden shredded wheat curled around candied pistachios. Four years later when we went back to Israel for another visit we returned to The Philadelphia, which was busting with patrons this time around, but the dessert was nowhere to be found.
The pastry had become part of family lore - none of us has ever seen another.
Saturday I went to a local Lebanese restaurant that has been in the area for years, but is not particularly near where I live. As I was moving through the line to pay for my shawarma, I noticed the desserts in the deli case. Can you guess the rest? Yes! There were the shredded wheat wrapped pistachios, called “Borma.” Of course I immediately bought one. Yum.
After lunch when I was looking around the market attached to the restaurant, I found a package labeled “shredded phyllo.” On the package was a picture of Borma. The “shredded wheat” is not shredded wheat at all but finely grated phyllo dough. Childhood mystery solved!
Picture by Swamibu via Flickr
January 4th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
What realistic coices are there for the Israeli government to choose from?
January 4th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Regarding “realistic choices,” perhaps some restraint? I think that responding with this degree of vigor will only further entrap the region in destabilizing aggression.
For me, one of the overarching problems with what Israel is doing is that the scope of the retaliation is so much more devastating than the scope of the provocation (which does not mean that I think firing rockets from Gaza is acceptable - of course it is not).
January 4th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
As far as I can tell Israel is stuck between a rock and hard place. If it does very little, or even an “equal amount” - note an eye for eye policy is to my mind just as bad as what is happening - a precedent is made that if you fire rockets into a civilian area not much will be done. This is of course unacceptable politically for the state of Israel.
I can’t believe, based on the information I have about the conflict, that Israel should be considered the primary or only party at fault, nor do I think blaming any party in this case catalysis a viable stable solution. There is a good chance Israel is politically forced into this drastic military offensive.
I don’t want to offend you. In fact I hope you might be interested in continuing this conversation, as I have been thinking about the Middle East and Israel recently - it is hard not to. I’m am a cultural Jew with plenty of relatives in Jerusalem, and else where, I’m also a self proclaimed atheist, and have read my fare share of Noam. Best
January 4th, 2009 at 10:39 pm
No offense taken, I appreciate being able to discuss tangled politics in a non-hysterical way.
I think you’re right about Israel being between a rock and a hard place and I think that Gaza (and the West Bank too) is as well. I also agree that both are at fault.
Full disclosure: Bush exhaustion is motivating some of my perspectives. I’m so tired of the word “terrorism” being used as a catchall for non-Western initiated violence and the phrase “right to defend itself” trotted out without any further discussion about possible ramifications. If I allow myself to be really cynical, I wonder if Israel is taking the opportunity to act as a military Goliath because the government is well aware that the Bush administration, besides being supportive, is also far too impotent to demand/affect any kind of change. I realize that this is far too emotional and quite unfair.
Back to being a little more rational, I think that Israel is invested in rooting out Hamas (even though the party was fairly elected, which should be seen as a bit of an ethics conundrum). After Hamas was elected, Israel imposed major sanctions on Gaza and much of the rest of the world followed suit. Although this was damaging, it wasn’t totally crippling because Hamas actually functions much of the time as a social services agency (this is another thing that frustrates me about reductionist American government classifications - it is possible, and indeed even likely that a “terrorist” group also has a more mainstream service oriented faction. So while some of the Hamas election no doubt had to do with it’s nihilist stance on Israel, I’d guess that the organization’s involvement in service delivery had significant clout as well). I think these sanctions actually might have strengthened Hamas because without other ways of procuring/developing services (ie international aid) Hamas perhaps made itself indispensable to the societal fabric of Gaza. This could have contributed to the lack of political will (and I think at the root this whole quagmire has to do with political will) to negotiate with Israel in any lasting way. It also makes sense that this kind of sanction driven lock-down would compel more Palestinians to be involved with Hamas (both for ideological and financial reasons) and to become more frustrated with Israel, hence the rocket attacks and overall antagonism. It’s highly unfortunate that the ruling party in Gaza has such a contentious stance on Israel and the fact that Hamas still keeps the annihilation of Israel on it’s agenda makes it that much more impossible for Israel to not respond when rockets are fired at civilians from over the border. Very badly played, Hamas.
I think the Israeli government also lacks the political will to figure out a way to negotiate a better solution with Gaza because of a variety of pressures. I doubt it’s much of a coincidence that this operation is taking place ahead of elections that are going to be held this February. Additionally, since Hamas doesn’t appear at all invested in communicating with Israel (since according to them the country doesn’t have a right to exist) it seems understandable that Israel would similarly not invest in attempting to cooperate with Hamas. And of course, though I would not classify rocket attacks as terrorism (I think they’re more acts guerrilla warfare), it’s ridiculous to suggest that Israelis should just learn to live with the possibility of a rocket exploding through their roof. However, Israel is a vastly more powerful country than the Palestinian territories. Largely because of Israel, many Palestinians have been forced into diaspora and many more are living in impoverished and uncertain conditions. Does this excuse political posturing and suicide bombings/rocket attacks? Of course not, but Israel could engage in more good faith cooperation efforts, particularly through lifting certain economic sanctions and strive more forcefully towards a two-state solution (painful? Absolutely. Politically unpopular? Definitely. Uncertain? Yup. But I really think it’s going to be necessary). As it is, Israel is acting like the Hulk and is engaging in such dramatic force that it’s not only riling up it’s enemies, but alienating it’s supporters. Not your best work, Israel.
As for me, I’m Jewish and have family in Israel too. I support Israelis even when I don’t support their government. And I worry about the country - it really is a wonderful, holy place (for many religions, and I have found, even if you are not particularly religious) and with every escalation or event of this kind, I am concerned for its longevity.
January 5th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
It isn’t easy dealing with the worst president, i.e. executive branch, the US has ever had, and for two full terms to say the least.
Reading what you wrote I think we are in very close agreement. My main problem with most anti-Zionist, anti-Israel arguments - in American the Progressive movement being the foremost proponents of, a movement for which I agree with their position on many other issues - is that this one is treated with a disregard to the complexity that exists. That is Israel and the Middle East is a very complex issue. To treat it as though it is black and white is too reductionist for my sensibilities. That is roughly the syllogism: 1. Israel is big and Palestine is weak and 2. the underdog is always morally superior. Which leads to the conclusion that Israel is always wrong and Hamas/Palestine is always right. This I think is a very bad mistake in judgement.
Thank you for such a nice reply. Yesterday I took a long, 50 miles or so fast bike ride on a mountain bike which totally knocked me out, so my apologies for not replying sooner.