Sunday, August 02, 2009

The colonization of the conflict

Kudos to Seth Frantzman of the Jerusalem Post for his incisive and accurate article - The colonization of the conflict which askes to what degree is the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians choreographed and colonized by outsiders?

Frantzman asks why the local Arabs aren't joining in the weekly rock throwing ritual protests against Israel's security barrier at Bil'in, why there are more foreigners and so-called peace activists (including some from Israeli organizations like Gush Shalom) than Arabs? He concludes that this phenomenon isn't a peace protest but rather it's puerile posturing and it's become a business for the participants.

If what I'm hearing is true, it's also become a very nasty business. Rumour abound about women from one of the Israeli "peace groups" seducing foreign journalists in order to sway them into writing articles sympathetic to their cause. The issue is under investigation.

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