Ariadne
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*Bastille Day Weekend Edition
July 14 / 15, 2007*
*Language as an Instrument of Crime* A Primer on Israeli Doublespeak
By RANNIE AMIRI
It is indeed a great irony that George Orwell wrote *1984* in 1948, the same
year Israel was created. For this nation, above all others, has proven
itself most adept in the use and promulgation of *doublespeak*.
Defined by *Webster's Dictionary* as "evasive, ambiguous, high-flown
language intended to deceive or confuse," Israeli governments have always
relied on it to justify the expansionist nature of their state, excuse the
confiscation of land and minimize the extent to which its inhabitants have
been mistreated or abused.
A few examples:
*The Security Fence*
The monstrosity which Israel is constructing along the entire length of the
West Bank is no more for security than it is a fence. The barrier, started
in 2003 and now more than half complete, is scheduled to run over 450 miles
and reach a height of 25 feet four times longer than and twice as high as
the former Berlin Wall. Composed of concrete and electrified wire,
surrounded by trenches and mounted with strategically positioned sniper
towers, calling it a "fence" is more than farcical.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled construction
of the barrier illegal (a verdict, of course, ignored). Within the last
week, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
issued a report indicating that it will "restrict access to workplaces,
health, education, and to places of worship." In addition, it fully
recognized that Arab-majority East Jerusalem will be severed from the West
Bank by its route. In another area, 50,000 Palestinians would be completely
isolated and restricted to the zone between it and Israel resulting in their
inability "to access critical services such as schools, clinics and shops in
either Israel or the West Bank without special permits."
More telling is where the barrier is being built. According to the UN
report, 80% of it on West Bank land.
The "security fence" is thus an offensive structure rather than the
defensive one it purports to be. It is just one illustration of how Israel
attempts to obfuscate a reality in this case, a very expensive land grab -
through use of language.
*Moderate Physical Pressure and Work s*
Israel was at one time the only country to officially sanction the use of
torture, euphemistically referred to as "moderate physical pressure." Lea
Tsemel, a defense lawyer and founder of the Public Committee Against
in Israel (PCATI) remarked, "Israel is the only Western country that openly
uses . This is not some brute in the secret services beating up a
prisoner. It's done in the open. There is quiet legitimation by a
high-ranking commission and government ministers" (*New York Times*, May 8,
1997).
The *Sunday Times* had already arrived at the same conclusion in June 1977:
"Torture of Arab prisoners is so widespread and systematic that it cannot be
dismissed as 'rogue cops' exceeding orders. It appears to be sanctioned as
deliberate policy."
Whenever a detainee died under , it was dismissed as an unfortunate
"work ." It took a ruling by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1999 to
ban the practice. Unfortunately they have now reversed themselves. A
judgment issued this past June allows Shin Bet to use methods regarded by
PCATI as when in a "ticking " situation. With likely wide
interpretation of this circumstance, it appears a green light has just been
issued to reinstate the practice.
*The Absent Present*
This bizarre term was used describe those Palestinians who were not driven
out of Palestine in 1948, but remained within what was to later become
Israel. If they temporarily left their homes or were away from their land
during the war, they were prevented from reclaiming it. Confiscation of the
property of the "absent present" was then permitted (*Haaretz*, January 14,
1955).
*The Abandoned Areas*
"We take the land first and the law comes after."
*- *Yehoshafat Palmon, Arab Affairs advisor to the mayor of Jerusalem (*
Guardian*, April 26, 1972).
Whether to assuage the conscience of emigrating Jews or not, the Zionists
who founded Israel passed a series of discriminatory laws with harmless and
protective sounding titles explicitly for the purpose of expropriating
inhabited Palestinian land. In some instances, these laws were made
retroactive.
They carried such names as the *Emergency Defense Regulations*, the *Abandoned
Areas Ordinance*, the *Emergency Articles for the Exploitation of
Uncultivated Lands*, and as described above, the *Absentee Property Law*.
These laws all attempted to reinforce the myth peddled by Zionists depicting
Palestine as "a land without a people." Nonetheless, they were aptly
described by the Jewish writer Moshe Keren as "wholesale robbery with a
legal coating."
Definition of *Israeli doublespeak*: the use of language to hide crimes of
the state.
It would surely make Big Brother proud.
*Rannie Amiri *is an independent commentator on issues dealing with the Arab
and Islamic worlds. He may be reached at: rbamiri@yahoo.com.
*Reference*
1. Zayid, Ismail. Zionism: The Myth and the Reality. American Trust
Publications, Indianapolis, 1980.
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^^ and the first surgeons were barbers but nobody big ups the barbers
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I am back in Toronto le sigh and already I miss the Yukon
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Even in the West women with a pit of curviness were considered more beautiful than skinny women up until the 1920 that is.
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Peacenow you are like the boy who cried wolf...except in your case it's Arab.
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If he reacted that way to a lil cleavage imagine what assless chaps would do to him
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I am soo adicted to Lost and Desparate Housewives. Now that they are on haitus there is no scheduling around them.
Last years addiction use to be Ameirca's Next Top .... and the only reason I watched was for the walk and Miss J.
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what about saying a little prayer beofre you go into the washroom so a demon does not enter you by the soles of your feet.
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what about saying a little prayer beofre you go into the washroom so a demon does not enter you by the souls of your feet.
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Originally posted by idil:kinda reminds me of Irish dancing...could this be our very Somali version?No way man!
Irish Dancing is all about standing up straight and having your hands at the sides very straight.
and kicking and jumping very precisely.
Irish dancing is repressed. This dance looks like a full on fertility or rain dance with lots of flamboyance.
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no, it's not about the feeling for me... it's looking for what makes them special or strange focusing on them one feature at a time.
And plus I am kinda of a fashionista so I look at their clothes as well.
should I be feeling something?
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In Canada we recently had our tuition freeze program recently toppled, but it's nothing compared to what the Yankee students are paying.
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^ I read about this in Now ages ago
I think it's funny, but alos grast hip hop is accessible to anyone now.
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what do you mean?
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I just stare at people in general: old, young, Somali, Inuit, men, women.
I like faces. To deconsturct them and reconstruct them with my mind's eye.
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I quit my job to day and I have never felt better about something.
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^^ then maybe the population crisis can be put at sway
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^^ too much desparte house wives really!
I am with the I think women just need to learn how to support other women's choices.
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It is pretty funny. It kinda reminds me of Art School.
Well the fascination with Muslim women these white kids from suburbia had.
So a good number of them did art work on Muslim women and the hijab.
And I would always give them a hard time, because they do not understand the culture or the religion and because all they ever got out of their research was second hand experience.
And plus it brings up issues of Orientalism and Otherness. Gawd! I hate these White kids at Art school who do "anthropological artwork"
I want to puke all over it and then set fire to it!!!!!!!!
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I fascilitated this workshop this morning and it was pretty good. Except for the part about my
co-fascilitator smelling. Really bad.
Here's a visual: garbage, fish, kitty litter and just a touch of death and a hint of misery were what was ozzing from his pores.
He's a nice guy...he does a lot of good work within th non-profit sector. But I couldn't stand to be within 10 metres of him because of his scent without having my eye-balls roll into the back of my head. Which is a bit of a problem cause we need to work together.....
ohhhh I should just quit!
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All I know about xalwo is it requires copius amounts of sugar and butter.... and a lethal amount of stirring
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If you are like me and think that peanut butter is the best nut spread on bread.
You will die of pleasure once you try almond butter.
You need a good food processor, but it's really easy to make.
ingredients:
1 lb whole almonds
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 tablespoons honey
1. Put the almonds flat on a metal baking pan and bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until almonds are all lightly roatsed.
2. put almonds into food processor and slice and chop them.
3. when they are chopped very finely add a tablespoon vegetable oil and a tablespoon hoeny.
4. repeat this process until blended and creamy.
5. place in a number 4 plastic jar or glass jar. It keeps in the fridge for about a month, but it's better stored in a warm dry environment.
Try it on toast in the morning with soft dates. Or Blend it in with 4 soft large dates and a tablesspoon of almodn butter and voila
date almond smoothies which are the best smoothies in the world.
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It is because when you wear your suit it is too is sizes too big and you look like a child.
I am thinking( when I stare at you) I want to give him the card of my tailor, but would that offend him...
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I think I saw David Suzuki at the pruple vegetetain restuarant.... or maybe he has a twin.
Troll Corner
in General
Posted
I am such a jerk!
Here let me explain.
A friend of mine was showing me her newest picture in a series she's doing. She's a photgorapgher and she is doing a series that is inspired by silent movies. So all of the picture look like silent movie stills.
So I was looking at them and I was like:
" I like your choice of using a man dressed up as a woman instead of a real woman. It makes it feel very 1920's cabaret that way."
She looked at me and gave me the coldest stare ever.
Then she said:
"That's my mom!" and I wanted to die. lol