I Shall Visit Israel, by Paul Grenville
By Gilad Atzmon • Jul 3rd, 2008 at 7:27 • Category: Gilad's Choice, Ideas and Projects, Israel, Music, Poetry, Events, Newswire, Palestine
I shall visit Israel
I shall visit Israel when the olive trees are in blossom
I shall visit Israel when an Arab can marry a Jew
I shall visit Israel when Torah Jews are no longer beaten up in the streets of Jerusalem
for reminding their countrymen of the commandments of Moses
I shall visit Israel when the speaking of Arabic in certain neighbourhoods no longer causes heads to turn
I shall visit Israel when the learning of Arabic is mandatory in Israeli schools
I shall visit Israel when Arab and Jewish children mingle freely in one system of state education
I shall visit Israel when the 7 million refugees from the land of Palestine can choose between a country they can call their own, or compensation for what they lost
I shall visit Israel when the invaders make peace with the invaded (not the other way about)
I shall visit Israel when there is a public apology for the war crimes of 1948
and compensation for the families of the victims
I shall visit Israel when West Bank settlers on stolen land no longer shoot to kill the natives and get off scot free
I shall visit Israel when her soldiers no longer shoot down unarmed children in cold blood and call it a mistake
I shall visit Israel when the Wall is demolished by Israelis and Palestinians together
I shall visit Israel when the house demolitions stop
I shall visit Israel when 600 West Bank checkpoints are taken down and the bullying, humiliation, beating and rape of Palestinian citizens stops
I shall visit Israel when to be born Palestinian is not a reason to be hunted and spied upon
I shall visit Israel when Jews stop arriving from far away and calling it their land
I shall visit Israel when Gaza is no longer the cruel laboratory experiment in slow genocide that it is today
I shall visit Israel when her planes stop bombing and strafing towns in Gaza
and terrifying the people at night with sonic booms
I shall visit Israel when the Lebanon and Gaza are no longer grisly testing grounds for new weapons
I shall visit Israel when Israel ceases to invade her neighbours on the slightest of pretexts and cause devastation
I shall visit Israel when 10,000 Palestinian prisoners are released from jail and pardoned for acts of resistance
against a state that took their country by force of arms and terror
I shall visit Israel when the routine practice of torture in Israeli prisons stops
I shall visit Israel when a Romanian fascist is no longer part of the government
I shall visit Israel when the illegal villages are made legal
I shall visit Israel when the Bedouin of the Negev are no longer persecuted
I shall visit Israel when Arab towns and villages have the same status and funding as Jewish ones
I shall visit Israel when the land is shared by all Semites - Arabs and Jews
I shall visit Israel when the Jewish state is an unhappy memory
I shall visit Israel when Nazi war crimes against the Jews are used to justify every
imaginable cruelty in a land where they are still the uninvited guest…
I shall visit Israel when the name of Israel is no longer another excuse to hate the Jews
Paul Grenville 1st July 2008
Gilad Atzmon is a jazz musician, composer, producer and writer.
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ERRATUM :3rd line from the end should read
“I shall visit Israel when Nazi war crimes against the Jews are NO LONGER used to justify every
imaginable cruelty in a land where they are still the uninvited guest”
Paul, Norwich, UK.
I should have said it, I myself, ll never visit IsraHell.
I do not believe that Israel has a place amongst nation. and if it had a right to exist at a certain stage it lost that very right long time ago.
Clearly, there are many light innocent mistakes in Paul’s text, yet I thought that it should have been published because the intent is absolutely correct. Being a genuine humanist, Paul fails to see the Israelis for their crude ethno-centric self perception.
here are just a few examples:
Paul says: “I shall visit Israel when Arab and Jewish children mingle freely in one system of state education”
This would never happen in the Jewish state, by the time it happens Israel will be Palestine.
Paul says: “I shall visit Israel when there is a public apology for the war crimes of 1948
and compensation for the families of the victims”
It didn’t happen for the last 60 years, why should it happen in the future?
Paul says: “I shall visit Israel when West Bank settlers on stolen land no longer shoot to kill the natives and get off scot free”
The difference between WB settlers and those who live in Tel Aviv is rather symbolic they all share the belief in Jewish state and their right to live on other people’s land. I do not see any categorical difference between Yafo, Abu Kabir, Shek Munis and the WB. In other words, all Israelis share a similar crime, they all dwell on other people’s land, even the so called nice ‘leftist’ in Tel Aviv.
Paul says: “I shall visit Israel when the Wall is demolished by Israelis and Palestinians together”
When Israeli Jews demolish the wall, they won’t be Jews anymore, they would put their Jewishness behind. To be a Jew means to build walls. Not only in Israel but even within the anti Zionist/pro Palestinian movements. Jewishness is grounded on (racial, tribal. cultural & political) segregation, different Jews choose different measures and different walls….. some go for ghetto walls, others count on kosher measures and some go for ideological kosher diet… . When a Jew demolish a wall, he becomes an ordinary human being. Accordingly, by the time the Israelis demolish the wall they ll become Palestinians.
I can go further but I think that this would be enough for the time being.
I would suggest that by the time Paul may visit Israel, it won’t be Israel.
It will be Palestine.
Inshalha this will happen soon.
Gilad I have absolutely no problem with these remarks as far as they go.
There is a kind of naivety. I’ve never been to the d—ned country. Wild
horses on crack cocaine couldn’t drag me there. If I delete the lines you
target, it might be a better piece. Less full of liberal hope (I’ve no time for liberals).
There is a Jewish context for Israel’s behaviour and there is a wider context that
I don’t think you can ignore. Who called Israel-to-be a “loyal little Jewish
Ulster”? Sir Ronald Storrs, the first British military governor of Jerusalem. What part
of the UK most resembles Israel? Ulster. I have this from the mouth of an
Irishman!
The universalist humanist in me is always hoping to catch a glimpse of the human being inside the
Zionist, or rather the ex-Zionist. Of course, it is perhaps a vain hope. I thought I saw it in Benvenisti.
You are dealing with a kind of mental illness, a deaf-mute who doesn’t know what dialogue is but
sees the world in a series of binary oppositions. The language of dialogue is replaced by more
tanks and bombs.
This attitude may have started - as you have often pointed out - with the ancient embattled
tribe known as the Jews - and there is ample evidence for it in Numbers and Deuteronomy - but
it is far far wider than the Jews today. Otherwise Israel would not command the universal support
it does today in the Western world. To think Palestine is to think against the grain…
I still distinguish Jew and Zionist because there are far more Christian and
Secular Zionists worldwide than there are Jews. They share the outlook, whether
they are religious or not. Fair point? You can say we are all Jewish if you like…
Where does this Israel-identification come from in so many non-Jews? The
Bible and white racism, where else? We’ve been putting down the Irish/niggers/
Indians/Arabs for hundreds of years.
I am not an anti-Zionist. but Pro-Palestine. I am only too aware that no dialogue is
possible with these people. So what is the outlook? No form of negotiation is possible.
Guerilla warfare has not worked, though Hezbollah did a good job in 2006 of holding
the fourth largest military power in the world to a draw.
What is possible is a gradual erosion from within of support for the whole colonial
project, a loss of confidence. This is happening. From what I hear Tel-Aviv is the
hedonist capital of the Middle East. Consumerism has replaced ideology. The
Jews are divided against themselves in Israel. In Sderot they feel abandoned by
the State. All good news for Palestine!
People live for today because they know in their heart of hearts there is no
tomorrow. The Zionist zeal of ‘67 that legitimised another round of theft and
murder, one that started as least as far back as 1909 (the founding of Tel-Aviv -
remember Ben-Gurion’s white man’s disgust for Jaffa, full of smelly Arabs?) has
long gone.
If there is a pacific Hebrew nation under the Zionist cloak it will have to learn to
coexist as the power shifts back to the Arabs, or dissipate to the four winds, to
Europe and the USA. You don’t think there is. How can I argue with a Sabra?
Those (ex-Israelis) who remain once the region begins to Arabise again will of course start to behave
like human beings. There is no other way they can remain except by gaining the respect of their
Arab hosts, once the Americans and the EU have lost interest in their little failed colony.
So the only thing the pro-Palestine movement can do is keep on plugging away. It is not lost,
not by far.
Love Paul.
Paul, believe me…you will never visit Israel!
So, thank you, Bagruh, you got the point. If I went to the Middle East, I would head for Ramallah, or Amman
in Jordan. I see Gilad Atzmon’s playing Cyprus this week. That’s the closest he has been to Israel in a long while.
Paul.
Response to Gilad’s critique.
I shall visit Israel
I shall visit Israel when the olive trees are in bloom
I shall visit Israel when Arabs freely marry Jews and their offspring learn about a dark time
I shall visit Israel when the fabrication of history and archaeology has stopped
I shall visit Israel when Torah Jews are no longer beaten up in the streets of Jerusalem and are recognized for having reminded their countrymen of the commandments of Moses
I shall visit Israel when the speaking of Arabic in certain neighbourhoods no longer causes heads to turn
I shall visit Israel when the learning of Arabic is mandatory in school
I shall visit Israel when Arab and Jewish children all go to the same schools
But will it still be Israel?
I shall visit Israel when the 7 million refugees from the land of Palestine have chosen between a country they can call their own, or compensation for what they lost
I shall visit Israel when the invaders have left or those who remain have made peace with the invaded (not the other way about)
I shall visit Israel when West Bank settlers have gone and no longer shoot to kill the natives as a patriotic duty
I shall visit Israel when the shooting of children has stopped
I shall visit Israel when the white elite has followed Avraham Burg to Europe, from whence they came
I shall visit Israel when the Wall has gone and all people between the river Jordan and the sea can move freely
I shall visit Israel when the house demolitions have ceased
I shall visit Israel when 600 West Bank checkpoints have been taken down and the bullying, humiliation, beating and rape of Palestinian citizens has stopped
I shall visit Israel when to be born Palestinian is not a reason to be hunted and spied upon
But will it still be Israel?
I shall visit Israel when Jews have stopped arriving from far away and calling it their land
I shall visit Israel when the expulsions of Palestinians have stopped
I shall visit Israel when Gaza is no longer the cruel laboratory experiment in slow genocide that it is today
I shall visit Israel when her planes have stopped bombing and strafing towns in Gaza
and terrifying the people at night with sonic booms
I shall visit Israel when the Lebanon and Gaza have ceased to be grisly testing grounds for new weapons
I shall visit Israel when Israel has ceased to invade her neighbours on the slightest of pretexts and cause devastation
I shall visit Israel when 11,870 Palestinian prisoners and 51 Palestinian MPs have been released from jail and pardoned for acts or words of resistance
Against a state that took their country by force of arms and terror
I shall visit Israel when the routine practice of torture has stopped
But will it still be Israel?
I shall visit Israel when a Moldovan fascist has left the government and the country
I shall visit Israel when the illegal villages have been made legal
I shall visit Israel when the Bedouin of the Negev are free to live as they wish
I shall visit Israel when Arab towns and villages have been granted the same status and funding as Jewish ones
I shall visit Israel when the land has been shared by all Semites - Arabs and Jews
I shall visit Israel when the rich white Jews no longer freely water the lawns of their villas in Tel-Aviv, the poor West Bankers have to buy their drinking water and the Gazans have nothing safe to drink at all
But will it still be Israel?
I shall visit Israel when the Gazans reach a great white city South of Jaffa, raise the flag and live there
I shall visit Israel when Al-Quds has become the capital
I shall visit Israel when the Jewish state has become an unhappy memory
I shall visit Israel when Nazi war crimes against the Jews are no longer the excuse for every imaginable cruelty in a land where they are still the uninvited guest…
I shall visit Israel when the name of Israel is no longer another excuse to hate the Jews
Because there is no Israel anymore.
When these conditions prevail
Yes I shall be happy to visit Palestine when the olive trees are in bloom.
Paul Grenville 1st-4th July 2008
any people that believes that it is better than the rest of humanity is doomed…the faster the better.
chosen by themselves or by some mythical dangerous one-eyed vengeful racist invention in the sky!
every palestinian should get a bulldozer license…and terrorize these uninvited murderous, lying, thieving,arrogant,inbred,self-rightious,sons of bitches…..just knowing that they might one day get into their bulldozer and start the payback, will push them into panic attacks….excellent!.
INTELLIGENT comments always welcome. The international context to Israel’s temporary existence is so im-
portant.
Individual terrorism is the weapon of the politically weak. State terror is the weapon of the politically strong. Israel was a state in waiting before 1948, nurtured under British tutelage. A weak and divided Palestinian nation, pounded by both the British and the Zionists during the First Intifada, leaderless after the death of the Palestinian commander Abdul Rahim al-Haj Muhammad in 1939, betrayed by the surrounding Arab states in 1948, was hardly a match for the combination of Jewish shock terror units, Czech arms (without which I doubt the ethnic cleansing of Palestine would have been so thorough), Soviet and America backing for a
Jewish state, American Jewish finance, the diplomacy of Chaim Weizmann, and the Machiavellian brilliance of David Bengurion. A lot of strategic thinking and PR work went into the creation of a Jewish state. Zionism was still a minority movement as late as 1943 among US Jewry.
I read a good contribution by a ?Pakistani contributor who said in essence we have to learn from the success of the Zionists. We may hate the results but Zionism is an outstanding political success story.
I’ve now read Gilad’s piece on the Jewish experience, and Mary’s comment. If Zionism is dead in Israel itself, as Gilad says and Avraham Burg confirms (2003), Palestinians and their supporters can take heart, knowing that they, too, are capable of putting together a network of support that stretches from the US to the Indian subcontinent and beyond to Indonesia. Zionists have had their turn and the results are horrible. They have lost faith in their project. Now the dialectic reverses and the antithesis gathers strength.
Israel is part of the New World Order that came into being shortly after WWII and is a front line state in that order. Iraq and Afghanistan are by no means secure. The fall of a world empire takes time. As long as Israel serves US geopolitical interests it is secure. I don’t see the evidence that the tail wags the dog. If you believe this then I believe it is harder to see who Palestine’s potential friends are. They are not among the US Libertarian Right who support Ron Paul and Mearscheimer and Walt’s thesis! Financial overreach is an early sign of an empire in trouble. We have already crossed that line with the US. Strategic retreat is a later sign. Israel will be the first casualty. We have to think geopolitically and strategically.
Paul.