umkahlil

When Allison tried to persuade whom she thought was the foreign desk news editor that running a headline in the LA Times stating that the relative calm had been broken by the Palestinians was inaccurate in light of the fact that eight Palestinians had been killed during the "ceasefire," he hung up on her. This reminds me of an experience I had in 1967. I was thirteen and wanted to pipe in on a radio talk show on behalf of the Palestinians. The host in the central valley town in California told me that my argument had as many holes as Swiss Cheese, then hung up on me. His last name was "Faust"; how appropriate. I hope he's greeting people in Walmart, now. Shortly after that, I discovered the works in the Baker Street Library of the brilliant Alfred Lilienthal. Allison has the right idea. During a unit on colonialism, I showed my students a couple films from the first intifadeh, Voices of Palestine and Stolen Lives. They wanted to know why the U.S. supports Israel, and they were outraged that the U.S. finances the government whose "kinder, gentler" policy back in 1987 was to merely "break the bones" of the demonstrators. I wish that the leaders in the PA showed as much integrity as Allison does; they seem to be inept at protecting their people, while displaying inordinate skill grovelling before mass murderer Sharon and torturer Bush.