"We, the Palestinians, the most highly educated and intellectual in the Middle East,.."

geoffff

This is the latest post on RichardMillett's Blog

New post on RichardMillett's Blog ri Palestinian Ambassador to the UK: “I’ve started to believe that the Jews are the only children of God” by richardmillett Jeremy Corbyn MP, Hugh Lanning, Manuel Hassassian in Parliament last night. Last night Manuel Hassassian, the Palestinian "Ambassador" to the UK, said he believes that the Jews are the children of God because nobody is stopping them from building their "messianic dream of Eretz Israel". He called for a "one state solution" and looked forward to the world's Muslim population reaching two billion. He was speaking in Parliament at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign's 4 years on from Israel's 'Operation Cast Lead': Israel's siege and attacks continue. Also speaking were Labour's Shadow Justice Minister Andy Slaughter MP and Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather. Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn played host. Addressing an audience of some 100 people Hassassian declared: "We, the Palestinians, the most highly educated and intellectual in the Middle East, are still struggling for the basic right of self-determination. What an irony. How long are we going to suffer and be patient with Israel? You know I'm reaching the conclusion that the Jews are the children of God, the only children of God and the Promised Land is being paid by God! I have started to believe this because nobody is stopping Israel building its messianic dream of Eretz Israel to the point I believe that maybe God is on their side. Maybe God is partial on this issue." Then removing his "PLO and Palestinian Authority hat" he continued: "There is no two state solution. Democracies don't fight each other. If Israel is a democracy I would claim that the Palestinians are also a democracy. If democracies cannot fight each other then why not have one state?; one man, one vote." On Israel's future he said: "Israel will never continue to exist as a pariah state. Israel could never continue to fight wars against the Palestinians, against the Arabs and the Muslims. The United States is not going to be Israel's strategic ally for time immemorial. And today we have 1.5 billion Muslims. In 20 years we will have 2 billion. And those 2 billion, forget about politics, from a religious perspective will not allow Israel to continue desecrating their religious rights (in Jerusalem). And then what?" And on what could have been Hassassian said: "What does Israel want? In 2002 the Arabs gave them the Arab Peace Initiative. Relinquishing territories occupied in 1967 would have led to normalisation of relations with Israel. If the Israelis had accepted that the flag of Israel would have been hoisted in Mecca, in Iran, in Tehran! If they had accepted. But Israel does not want peace. Israel nurtures on conflict, and the Zionist Ideology is to have the entire West Bank, the entire Palestine." Andy Slaughter MP accused Israel of deliberately killing whole Palestinian families and controlling the Palestinians' calorie count. He said Israel supplied Palestinians just enough to stop them from starving and he described, what he called, Israel's failure to supply clean water, electricity and decent homes as "collective punishment". Sarah Teather MP accused Israel of "wiping out five thousand homes" in one part of Gaza alone and that nothing could justify this. She said that Israel must let "basic goods" into Gaza. PSC Chair Hugh Lanning said he noticed that during Operation Cast Lead CNN only reported on the Hamas rockets. Lanning then claimed that "while the occupation and siege continues Israel is ALWAYS the aggressor". He also claimed that Israel had banned 180 life saving medicines from Gazan hospitals "because they might save lives". Jeremy Corbyn spoke about Gazans who had "never known the ability to move out of Gaza". Ironically, he then introduced us to Rania Al-Najjar who has just completed a Masters in International Relations at London's City University. Rania is from Gaza. She said, inter alia, that there are no economic opportunities in Gaza and that unemployment there is the highest in the world, relatively. We then heard from two "1948 Palestinians" who live in Israel. One of them had spent three spells in Israeli prisons, his sentences ranging from one to eight years. He spoke about the remaining prisoners who had forgotten what the sky and moon look like and how they had not touched the hands of their mothers or children for many years. Finally, Hugh Lanning announced that there will be a "controversial PSC conference" on  April 13th where there will be "an open dialogue with the people of Gaza and their leaders". In other words, an open dialogue with Hamas. geoffff While checking out exactly who Manual  Hassassian  is I came across this extraordinary site: In it    the "Palestinian Ambassador" to the UK is described as follows. HASSASSIAN, MANUEL (1953-) Born in Jerusalem on 28 Dec. 1953 into an Armenian family; was educated at the Frères College in the Old City of Jerusalem; received a BA in Political Science from the AUB in 1975 and an MA in International Relations from the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA, in 1976; worked at the University of Bethlehem first as a lecturer in Political Science from 1981-85; also served as Dean of Students at the University of Bethlehem from 1983-91; continued his studies and earned a PhD in Political Science from the University of Cincinnati, USA, in 1986; is a member of the Arab Association of Political Science since 1986 (executive member in 1987-88); returned to the University of Bethlehem as Assistant Professor (1986-91), then Associate Professor (1991-98) of Political Science and International Relations; was managing editor of the Bethlehem University Journal from 1986-91, then editor-in-chief in 1992-93; also served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts and as Chairman of the Humanities Dept. from 1992-96; serves as Executive Vice-Pres. of Bethlehem University since 1996; was a consultant to the Palestinian final status negotiating team on Refugees from 1997-99; consultant and Steering Committee member of the Orient House in Jerusalem from 1997-2002 (serving also as head of the Jerusalem Task Force at the Orient House Negotiations Affairs Dept.); represented the PLO in many second-track diplomacy meetings between 1997-2002; served also as tourism consultant to PECDAR (1997-98) and as consultant to the MOPIC and UNESCO (1997-98) and to the PA Higher Ministerial Committee for Church Affairs (1998-2001); served as Pres. of the Rector’s Conference at the PA Ministry of Education from 1998-2003; was promoted to the rank of Full Professor at Bethlehem University in Sept. 1999; Pres. of the PEACE (Palestinian-European-American-Education) program since 2000; is member of the Editorial Board of various publications, incl. Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies, Citizenship Studies (UK), Bulletin of Search for Common Ground (US), and Palestine-Israel Journal (Jerusalem); has many times been visiting scholar, incl. at the University College of Dublin (1987), the Earlham College (1991-2000), and to the Universities of Vermont (1991-2000), of Maryland (1994), of Villanova (1996), and of Reims (1996/97); is a member of the Middle East Studies Association, the Arab-American University Graduates (AAUG), the Arab Association for Human Rights, the Copenhagen-based International Alliance for Peace (since 1997), and the International Consultative Group at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC; Board member of the Center for Democracy and Workers’ Rights, Ramallah, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Panorama Center, Ramallah; received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Reims, France, in 1996, and was nominated for the Gleitsman Middle East Award in 1998/99; was appointed to become the Palestinian representative to London in Oct. 2005; has published extensively in comparative and Middle East politics; among his books are Palestine Factionalism in the National Movement During the Mandatory Period (Jerusalem: PASSIA, 1990), Political Opposition within the Palestine National Movement, 1919-1939 (Jerusalem: Al-Bayader, 1987); co-edited Citizenship and the State in the Middle East (Syracuse University Press, 2000); appointed as ambassador, Head of the Palestinian General Delegation to the United Kingdom in late 2005. geoffff continues Say again? "We, the Palestinians, the most highly educated and intellectual in the Middle East, are still struggling for the basic right of self-determination. What an irony. How long are we going to suffer and be patient with Israel? You know I'm reaching the conclusion that the Jews are the children of God, the only children of God and the Promised Land is being paid by God! I have started to believe this because nobody is stopping Israel building its messianic dream of Eretz Israel to the point I believe that maybe God is on their side. Maybe God is partial on this issue." Look at this. I do believe they have listed every "Palestinian" they could find since 1840 that has an  education. Even though  those born before 1965  would have been born into families and communities that  had never identified  as "Palestinian". "Prominent Palestinians" indeed.  And then they tossed in some pretty obscene extras. There's a long and detailed and apparently faithful  bio of this Nazi toe rag (there. The job could have been done in three words)  on that site that has only this to say on his entire war time record ;established contacts with the Nazis in Germany, where he was welcomed as a leader of anti-British nationalism and met Adolf Hitler in Berlin in 1941;  That's it. For years that's all he did. Don't mention the genocide. If this is not a form of Holocaust denial then I'm not sure what you would call it. But here's the thing. Those in the lists born after say 1955 have been educated overwhelmingly in schools and universities in Israel , mainly Jerusalem, or in institutions that flourished under Israeli   administration or in the West including the American University in Beirut.  If you include Israeli Arabs who now identify as "Palestinian" then it can only be concluded that Israeli and other Western liberalism and academic  rigour and investment has served to create  a "Palestinian "elite and academic leadership that is radically anti-Israel and anti-West. We need to rethink some basic assumptions.  That's not the end of it .  Probably a majority are Christians and/or women. Hassassian is an Armenian for crying out loud. It is hard to think of another people who must understand what radical Islam in rampaging jihad can do as much as the Armenians. These and the Christians and the women and anybody who is not them when they are not warring among themselves These are the people  who have as much to lose by the repeal of Israel as any on the face of the planet.. Hassassian talks about "irony". He doesn't even know the start of it. There is something very wrong going on in the world and it breeds off  and threatens Western liberal traditions including liberal academic traditions. Especially liberal academic traditions. This is why this recent essay by Efraim Karsh, Professor  of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at Kings College is so important These are extracts but do read the whole thing. It will give you a fresh insight into the whole filthy stew. hat tip : the priceless Shirlee    Enlarge