Peace, Propaganda & The Promised Land - The Mid-East Crisis

[AReality]

Here's a good documentary on what actually happened.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7828123714384920696
270MB, but worth the wait.

But it left me more qns than answers...

Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land provides a striking comparison of U.S. and international media coverage of the crisis in the Middle East, zeroing in on how structural distortions in U.S. coverage have reinforced false perceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This pivotal documentary exposes how the foreign policy interests of American political elites--oil, and a need to have a secure military base in the region, among others--work in combination with Israeli public relations strategies to exercise a powerful influence over how news from the region is reported. Through the voices of scholars, media critics, peace activists, religious figures, and Middle East experts, Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land carefully analyzes and explains how--through the use of language, framing and context--the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza remains hidden in the news media, and Israeli colonization of the occupied terrorities appears to be a defensive move rather than an offensive one. The documentary also explores the ways that U.S. journalists, for reasons ranging from intimidation to a lack of thorough investigation, have become complicit in carrying out Israel's PR campaign. At its core, the documentary raises questions about the ethics and role of journalism, and the relationship between media and politics.

.

 

[evq]

Just finished this show last night.
Now really have a second thought of Israel. They are no angels too.
Feel sad & sorry for the Palestinians.:cry:
This show really tells the untold stories of the mid-east conflict, that we are so blinded by the media.

On the other hand, Israel helps SAF alot.

 

[centuryegg]

When we fight wars, when we kill each other in the name of God, land, religion, race... no one is an angel be it one is the aggressor or the defender.

The USA in their invasion of Iraq, their internment of POWs without trial, the Islamic fighters ( I refuse to use the word terrorist because that is a term given by certain parties), the Israelites all have blood on their hands and all are guilty.

As a great man once said... An eye for an eye will make the world go blind. Similarly the ti for ta actions of various powers will not bring "Freedom, Democracy" Instead it will breed more hate and create more heroes or more terrorists depending on which side you are on.

 

[dr34mc4st3r]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/07/23/perry.tyre/index.html

my heart pains when i read the article

 

[agape01]

Thanks for posting us with the link, AReality.

Don't you think that the same applies to our local context as well?

 

[Timber Wolf]

Thanks AReality for posting the link. I learnt alot from this video.

 

[AReality]

Don't you think that the same applies to our local context as well?

Coz I'll be safe as long as I don't say the forbidden 3 letter abbreviation. Hmmm... Thinking of it, it doesn't matter anyway, coz it'll be c*nsor*d here.


.

 

[hmjt]

battle at Bint Jebeil

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1218814,00.html?cnn=yes

 

[hongsien]

Ironically (at least to me) is that the Israelis now are treating the Palestinians the same way as the Jews were treated in the past......they get the worst pieces of land, and no state of their own (the world has been talking about a Palestina, but where is it?).

The Hamas should accept the existence of Israel, it is a fact now, whether they like it or not, as well as the Israeli should share the land, but off course that last one is now unlikely......

2000 years ago Jesus was teaching unconditional LOVE (in that region), and now what have they learned? It is still the same, people are still fighting for their 'own' pice of land.......

Hong Sien

 

[dDarkroom]

pardon me who promised the israelites the so call promise land and instigated them to kill all the people around them. is it the usa?

 

[hongsien]

pardon me who promised the israelites the so call promise land and instigated them to kill all the people around them. is it the usa?

And the UK.......the thing is: before the creation of the state of Israel, the Jews and Palestinians have been living on the soil peacefully together.......until 1948.

HS

 

[agape01]

If you all want to use biblical reference, it is actually quite simple.

It is because of Israel's initial disobedience that caused them to be in the situation that they are currently in.

 

[centuryegg]

I think the situtation has nothing to do with Christ and all... for one. Jews do not believe that Christ the way Christians believe in Christ. Besides what promised land??? Even if it is true and not just a book of religious texts. It was 2000 over years ago...

It is all about politics and how different factions from Syria to Iran to the USA trying to influence their power in the middle east and hence using the Middle Eastern crisis to fight their proxy wars.

End of the day, when the shells land and earth shake. Civilians, Children, Old people, women and men get injured and killed. No matter what race, no matter the colour of your skin and no matter what religion be it Jew, Christian or Muslim.

In fact I am ashamed that no one has really stepped forward to stop the conflict. Especially the USA which shamefully supports the attacks by Israel. Put it this way... attacks do not stop wars. They only breed more hatred which in turn breed more violence. Groups around the world such as the IRA and the UK govt have realised that years of fighting got everyone no where but are in the end decided to sit down and talk it out. The way I see it, this clash between Islamic hardliners and the rest of us will carry on for a long time and will get bigger and bigger. That is if we do not solve the basic issues first instead we call them terrorist and slam them with an iron fist. One tactic that govts in the past used against the communists was to gain amnesty, this resulted in mass desertions and led to the collapse of many of these communists fighters. As the chinese saying goes, never push your enemy to the end of the cliff, for when he knows he has no way out, he will lash back at you with every thing he has even at the cost of his life.

 

[mau_lovers]

pardon me who promised the israelites the so call promise land and instigated them to kill all the people around them. is it the usa?

According to the some fundamentalistist Christian interpretation of the Bible it is none other than GOD - coz the Jews are supposed to be God's CHOSEN PEOPLE - but it really really really makes my BLOOD BOIL - God's Chosen People has a right to defend themselves but NOT THE PALESTINIANS? They have gone through the Holocaust and now they are using the Holocaust as an excuse - and of course the US is RULED by Jews and Zionist sympathisers.

The Hamas and Hizbollah started like how any so-called terrorist organisation got started - they were REPRESSED AND STEPPED UPON - even their own Muslim 'brother-states' like Egypt and Jordan (which are very pro-US) TURN against them.

These are not my words - but they are very ominous - there was a political commentator who wrote in Today - he wrote that Osama bin Laden was fired up to attack the US after he saw how INNOCENT LEBANESE CIVILIANS - most of them WOMEN AND CHILDREN were massacred by the Israelis in 1982. That's how Osama' s activism started.

So after 2006, there willl BE MORE TERRORISTS ORGAINISATIONS - and Singapore will be even more danger because we are seen as SUPPORTERS OF THE USA AND ISRAEL.

My heart goes out to the poor innocent CHILDREN and I DON'T EVEN WANT TO THINK OF THE POOR PETS - the cats and dogs and other domestic animals the Lebanese families would have to abandon while they try to run away from Israeli attacks ...

In situations like these - I wonder where God is .... I suppose my Christian friends will continue to tell me that this is God's JUDGEMENT and God will continue to judge ... even if many innocent lives are gone. Besides, what's the point of living in such a world anyways? You have no home, no family, no land to call your own - you have NO HOPE ... You see how easy it is to be a suicide bomber if you are in that situation?

 

[hongsien]

I think the situtation has nothing to do with Christ and all... for one. Jews do not believe that Christ the way Christians believe in Christ. Besides what promised land??? Even if it is true and not just a book of religious texts. It was 2000 over years ago...

It is all about politics and how different factions from Syria to Iran to the USA trying to influence their power in the middle east and hence using the Middle Eastern crisis to fight their proxy wars.

End of the day, when the shells land and earth shake. Civilians, Children, Old people, women and men get injured and killed. No matter what race, no matter the colour of your skin and no matter what religion be it Jew, Christian or Muslim.

In fact I am ashamed that no one has really stepped forward to stop the conflict. Especially the USA which shamefully supports the attacks by Israel. Put it this way... attacks do not stop wars. They only breed more hatred which in turn breed more violence. Groups around the world such as the IRA and the UK govt have realised that years of fighting got everyone no where but are in the end decided to sit down and talk it out. The way I see it, this clash between Islamic hardliners and the rest of us will carry on for a long time and will get bigger and bigger. That is if we do not solve the basic issues first instead we call them terrorist and slam them with an iron fist. One tactic that govts in the past used against the communists was to gain amnesty, this resulted in mass desertions and led to the collapse of many of these communists fighters. As the chinese saying goes, never push your enemy to the end of the cliff, for when he knows he has no way out, he will lash back at you with every thing he has even at the cost of his life.

No, it got nothing to do with Christ Himself, but with the Bible......there was a BBC World TV piece today about the Christian fundamentalist in the US believing that the creation of Israel is for the preparation of 'Judgement Day'. I respect Christians and their beliefs, but why applying all this to the rest of the world who may or may not believe the same thing? There are many Christians who don't believe in this too, but these fundamentalists in the US are very very strong, and their lobbying to the US government is strong, maybe Bush is one of them and those neo-cons in his government?

There are reports that the two soldiers who were captured by the Hezbollah, were actually doing a secret trip to Lebanon, and contrary to the hews we get, they were captured inside Lebanon! And not inside Israel as we hear now all over and over again.......and I heard this too during an interview between a Lebanese Imam and the BBC, but at the time I didn't believe it yet. But here is more:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/07/27/EDGOBIPVQH1.DTL

OPEN FORUM

The Middle East: Spun again?

Edmund Burke III
Thursday, July 27, 2006






Unfortunately, the news from the Middle East is grim and getting grimmer by the minute. We've barely recovered from being spun into backing the war in Iraq. Did Saddam Hussein have nukes? (There is no evidence he did, and our government knew it at the time). Was there an alliance between Hussein and al Qaeda? Most Americans (including Vice President Dick Cheney) continue to believe this, even though it is a patent untruth. Spin works.
Did Hezbollah invade Israeli territory and capture two Israelis on July 12? This apparent fact has been called into question by contemporary news reports by the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and French Yahoo. These reports suggest the opposite occurred, that is to say, Israel invaded Lebanon -- that two Israeli soldiers crossed into southern Lebanon near Aita al-Shaab, where the soldiers were captured by Hezbollah. Spun again? The incident remains murky, but given the stakes, the question needs to be raised.
As the conflict in Lebanon enters Week Three with no end in sight, even raising this question may seem beside the point. Most people have allowed themselves to be convinced that Hezbollah terrorists attacked Israel and must be punished. Spin works.
Which brings us back to Iraq, where it all started. During the Iraq war, we were told by our leaders: We have a plan to remake the Middle East. Trust us. First Afghanistan, then Iraq. Next Lebanon and Syria. But why stop there: "Real men go to Tehran," to quote a 2003 statement of a senior Bush official. Echoing the neoconservatives who advise President Bush on foreign policy, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks of the need for "creative chaos" to remake the Middle East, one step at a time.
As we have discovered at our cost in blood and treasure, erasing history is hard work. Still, the idea of remaking the Middle East, as a viable goal of U.S. foreign policy, has not gone away.
Indeed, with the onset of the conflict in Lebanon, it is clear that the idea is very much alive. As the relentless pounding of Lebanon continues day after day, Rice pleads for the world to understand that out of this "creative chaos" the outlines of a "new" Middle East are already on the horizon. It is not yet the time for peace. The terrorists must be taught a lesson.
But how plausible is this? In the opinion of those in the U.S. military and the CIA with real knowledge of the realities of the Middle East, these objectives are not feasible. Yet U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Cheney have continued to push. So alarmed are some in the military that a group of senior officers publicly dissented from being "tasked" to develop a first-strike nuclear option for Iran this spring, the so-called revolt of the generals reported by Seymour Hersh in the April 17 New Yorker magazine. It is now clear that the generals, despite risking their careers, may not have won.
Are Americans being spun into backing an even more reckless adventure in the Middle East? Can history be so easily wished away? What price are we willing to pay as a society for a new Middle East? It is imperative that we ask ourselves these questions, and demand some answers from our leaders.
Edmund Burke III is a professor of Middle East history at UC Santa Cruz.

 

[hongsien]

In situations like these - I wonder where God is .... I suppose my Christian friends will continue to tell me that this is God's JUDGEMENT and God will continue to judge ... even if many innocent lives are gone. Besides, what's the point of living in such a world anyways? You have no home, no family, no land to call your own - you have NO HOPE ... You see how easy it is to be a suicide bomber if you are in that situation?

My take is that those friends of yours have forgotten what Jesus Christs teachings were and why he came to this world 2006 years ago, he stood for (unconditional) LOVE, and yet these people are still living in the eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth world of the old testament........but who am I to say this? I am not even a Christian myself

HS

 

[hongsien]

And the main issue in this ME-situation is about LAND.........


HS

 

[centuryegg]

As they say God does not kill but people kill in the name of God.

 

[hongsien]

According to these the 2 soldiers were captured INSIDE Lebanon and NOT in Israel, so who started all this mayhem? Anyway, it all started way long before these two soldiers were captured, nothing happens without cause, while the US media tries to let us believe all this was started only by the capture of these soldiers:

http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ap/2006/07/12/ap2873051.html

http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/hezbollah_soldiers.html

(In French, saying these 2 soldiers were captured in Sounth Lebanon):
http://fr.news.yahoo.com/12072006/2...deux-soldats-israeliens-sept-autres-tues.html

 

[hongsien]

Before these are outdated and removed, this was written in the Forbes article and was bought from AP:

Associated Press
Hezbollah Captures 2 Israeli Soldiers
By JOSEPH PANOSSIAN , 07.12.2006, 05:41 AM

Most Popular Stories

Best Cities For Singles Most Expensive Homes In The World 2006 Best Cars For Singles How To Land A Rich Man The Best Cities To Get A Job
Popular Videos

Striking Out: Worst Pickup Lines How To Land A Rich Man Surviving Singledom World's Most Luxurious Spas World's Most Expensive Homes

The militant group Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers during clashes Wednesday across the border in southern Lebanon, prompting a swift reaction from Israel, which sent ground forces into its neighbor to look for them.

The forces were trying to keep the soldiers' captors from moving them deeper into Lebanon, Israeli government officials said on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli military would not confirm the report.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called an emergency Cabinet meeting and said Lebanese guerrillas would pay a "heavy price" for Wednesday's attacks.

"These are difficult days for the state of Israel and its citizens," Olmert said. "There are people ... who are trying to test our resolve. They will fail and they will pay a heavy price for their actions."