Comments on: Groundswell

By: dachy

dachy — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 08:49:45 +0000

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By: Digna Neblock

Digna Neblock — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 08:43:43 +0000

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By: Jamel Medler

Jamel Medler — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 03:11:59 +0000

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By: Raed Kami

Raed Kami — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 14:52:53 +0000

I dont know who I despise more-the settlers who are honest theives, who say we have the power and our bible and we will steal your property, or people like Ms Raz, who want to keep most of the stolen property (Islamic Waqf) of Palestine, but make a show out of Sheikh Jarrah to show they are “righteous Jews”. The only way one can be a righteos Jew is to organize mass emigration out of Palestine so it can be returned to its rightful owners. Perhasp Georg Soros can help

By: David Star

David Star — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 07:04:38 +0000

Louis Trachtman says two things which border on the ignorant or the asinine.
1. The squatters I refered to live in Jewish homes stolen by the two- bit kings of Jordan with the assistance of the British led Jordan Legion following the War of Indepence.
The deeds to those homes are still in the Israeli archives. For the past forty three years they have continued to squat there, paying no rent and claiming that their families have lived there “since time immemorial”
2 Gee, how come we Jews are so exclusive and don’t want Arabs as neighbors the way things were back in Brooklyn? Well Louie, When you have been stoned a number of times or have had firebombs thrown at your car, or been stabbed waiting at the bus stop because you are just another “Jew bastard son of a monkey and a pig” you too may find that separation is the better part of valor.

By: Honest Broker

Honest Broker — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:35:03 +0000

It is those in the diaspora who support the fanatics in the homeland whether Zionist or Islamist (or for that matter Turk-Armenian ,Irish Protestant-Irish Catholic Christian-Muslim etc). They are willing to never make peace on principle because they have only a dramatic mythical grand opera stake in it. Those living the mess want it to end without everyone on the stage being dead and the diaspora audience asking for curtain calls.

By: eli

eli — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:56:57 +0000

I wonder how much the partisan positions of the author, Rachel Shabi, biases her reporting and objectivity? In light of her book’s thesis, I should first note that part of my family comes from Yemen, from what Shabi calls Mizrahi Jews or Arab Jews.

Shabi’s book follows the partisan positions of those like Pappé, who has admitted to asserting half-truths and lies to prove his ideological position that the Palestinians are victims of the state of Israel. Does Shabi do the same in her selection of quotes and depiction of the facts of Sheikh Jarrah/the Shimon ha Tzaddik area? That is what the readers need to evaluate.

By: Shachar

Shachar — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 20:37:08 +0000

I am amazed to read some of the hateful remarks of readers to this important piece. Somehow, I feel that many American Jews prefer not to hear about Sheikh Jarrah and the weekly demonstrations of so many young Israelis who really care about their country.

By: Bill elftim

Bill elftim — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:36:50 +0000

Who will the Arabs hate when they get rid off all the Jews.
We been hated for years I am sick off it why the hell are so bent on destroying all things.
Us Jews just want to live in peace I respect all people off all faiths .
People who destroy people suck .
Why do you people respect some thing you do not like some thing why the he’ll do you not leave
Screw. You all that hate jews

By: Peter W.

Peter W. — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:24:54 +0000

There are people in Jerusalem who rejoice when suicide bombers murder Jewish children and celebrate when rockets rain down on Jews. They openly yearn for Israel to be cleansed of Jews. Naturally, when these people are found in a court of law to be living in stolen homes, and are evicted by court order, my heart bleeds for them. :-P

By: Yisrael Medad

Yisrael Medad — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:19:42 +0000

Odd. Leftists and concessionists bemoan the supposed reality that Jerusalem is not a united city. Yet when Jews attempt to unite the various neighborhoods, areas where Jews lived before being ethnically cleansed in 1948, where they lived for over 60 years on property they bought, where Arabs squatted in without paying rent and finally, through legal court action they managed to regain their property, these same bemoaners demonstrate trying to separate the city.

Weird.

By: Louis Trachtman

Louis Trachtman — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:07:43 +0000

I guess “squatters” have no rights, neither in Israel nor the U.S.A. – even after 52 years of living in the same home. I only hope that the houses Israel builds in Sheikh Jarrah have some architectural redeeming features in the beautiful city of Jerusalem. The decision-makers need to consider not just the use of Jerusalem stone, but also not build just another row of ugly apartment house “blocks.” The Arab (of whatever nationality)inhabitants must receive fair treatment, also. That is Jewish law. Why cannot the Arabs also be allowed to live side by side, if they want to, with Jews, haredi, secular, or “in-between?” I may be naive, but I think we in the U.S.A. got used to that style of living arrangements a long time ago.

By: Corey

Corey — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:59:06 +0000

Without the young demonstrators and leaders like David Grossman, I fear that the Israel I love would be truly lost.
Thank you for this report.

By: David Star

David Star — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:33:20 +0000

To begin, There was never a “Sheik Jarrah” neighborhood before the illegal Jordanian annexation at the end of the War of Independence. Then the Jewish families who lived there were cruelly thrown out by the Jordanian tyrant kings. This annexation of all of Judea and Samaria, along with half of Jerusalem was recognized only by the British and the Pakistanis. (Two fine examples of morality!)
This neighborhood of Jerusalem was always named for Rabbi Shimon ha Tzaddik. Now that Jewish owners have reclaimed their property, the Arab squatters brought in by Hussien are screaming the standard “Ours from time immemorial” lie which has become their basic argument for everthing.
The Tony Judt/Noam Chomsky crowd along with the allegedly “intellectual” elite have made it a point to riot there every Shabbat along with their Arab manipulators. But here the truth is that Jerusalem has always been a majority Jewish city. From the very first census conducted in 1860 by the Ottoman rulers more that 50% of the city’s population has been Jewish and that continues to this day.

By: eli

eli — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:12:17 +0000

Those evicted in Sheikh Jarrah are evicted from properties that had been seized from Jews who lived there or owned it prior to 1948. The Jordanians, during their illegal occupation of Jerusalem, settled various Palestinians on these properties. After adjudication, some Palestinians are evicted. And now these leftist protesters believe that they should support the Jordanian occupation decisions, deny the court process and deny the Jewish ownership which predates the State of Israel and predates the Palestinian occupation.

When and if there is a true peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinian authority then the issue of Palestinian refugees and ownership will have to be part of the settlement. But until then, there is no reason for Jews in Jerusalem to allow continued occupation by Palestinians of Jewish property seized illegally by them and the Jordanians!

By: Marc

Marc — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:48:23 +0000

Well put, Ken. I would also add that here isa case where teh Arab caretakers of these properties can appeal to a Court to stop their (rightful) eviction. Htat right was not afforded to Jewws of Arab lands. The news itself is a real yawner- 1 response shows how uninteresting this “”issue really is.

By: Yoni

Yoni — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:46:01 +0000

This quote hits the nail on the head: “I think that we are all beginning to grasp how 43 years ago … by turning a blind eye, by actively or passively cooperating, we actually cultivated a kind of carnivorous plant that is slowly devouring us, consuming every good part within us, making the country we live in a …place that is not good to live in. Not good …not only if you are an Arab citizen of Israel, and certainly if you are a Palestinian resident of the Territories—not good also for every Jewish Israeli person who wants to live here, who cherishes some hope to be in a place where humans are respected as humans, where your rights are treated as a given, where humanity, morality, and civil rights are not dirty words, not something from the bleeding-heart left.”

By: Ken Besig Israel

Ken Besig Israel — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 16:01:45 +0000

Jews have been expelled from their homes n Israel for decades by Arab pogromists and no one lifted a finger to assist them or even raised their voices to protest the crime. Hundreds of thousands of Jews in the Arab lands were robbed, raped, murdered, and those few left alive were kicked out. Well now the Jewish owners of those properties in Israel at least have come back to claim them, and unlike the Jews of the Arab lands whose property rights ended with their murder by the Arabs, these Jews can actually recover what was literally stolen from them. It is entirely logical and expected that the twisted minds of the Israeli Left would defend the Arabs thieves and robbers and castigate the rightful Jewish owners, but just because the Israeli Left can howl really loud, doesn’t make them either moral or correct, it just shows them to be the rabid mongrels they are.