Lately there has been pressure by Israeli groups to change the name of country of origin from “Palestine” to “Palestinian Authority” for the movie “Paradise Now” at next month’s Oscars, based on the arguement that there is no such thing as Palestine. Even an online petition was started to revoke the nomination all together.
It is in the end very silly. The movie was nominated for an Oscar, get over it. The movie comes from Palestine, it wants to be labelled as such, get over it. Palestine has always existed, get over it. Those couple of million people on that chunk of land? They’re called Palestinians, so get over it.
But, as fate would have it, another online petition has been started in response to this. So help out by signing and supporting.
Consider it good karma.
Palestine?What Palestine?
I would go for “occupied territories”
Not that I give a flip if a “Palestenian” movie was nominated for an Oscar, for I find the whole issue of establishing the fact that there’s actually an occupied country called “Palestine” is rather futile; internationally speaking!
take for instance Wikipedia, you’ll find that Palestine is the only country name that when you punch it into the search box you’ll end up with an article about the “geographical region in the middle east referred to as Palestine”… you’ll have to click on the â??Palestineâ? disambiguation page to get through to either the article about “Palestinian people”, “Palestinian authority/”, â??Palestinian territoryâ? or “proposed Palestinian state” but not “Palestine”!
Firas,
Are you kidding?
a quote from the yahoo article RE Oscar organizers deny pressure on Palestinian film:
Palestine exists…under barbaric occupation … petioning to have the film coming from Palestinian Authority is not so bad; however to be more accurate, Occupied Palestine sums it all.
I htink it’s nice to have “Palestine” instead of occupied Palestine… this is an award ceremony and it would feel strong to say: Plaestine! It doesn’t mean we have given up our occupied lands
And the west was saying we made a big deal from a bunch of cartoons!!
This is a prime example of the western way of making min il 7abbeh obbeh.
It’s pretty sad when we have be politically correct about such minute things, and quite about racist cartoons
Ola, you’re right … but IF we must be “politically” correct, then Occupied Palestine sends a stronger message. Don’t get me wrong, hearing the word Palestine is music to the ear – especially in these contexts
Lizard of Oz, but we did give up our occupied land at the time we had agreed on signing a peace treaty with Israel, and at the time we had accepted to have Israeli citizenship as in the case of the proud actor in this movie. So, be realistic please! Palestine for many Palestinians around the world is just a nice place to spend a couple of weeks at on the Summer, take some pictures here and there, and come back to their real country in the western side of the world to lecture those, who are suffering and proving everyday what it means to be a real Palestinian on the pure soil of Palestine, about cultural, religious, and nationalistic values.
Call it whatever you want to call it, Palestine, Palestinian Authority, occupied territories, or even the west bank, and yell that name as loud as you can at the Oscar ceremony and let some shred some tears, and others clap for a couple of minutes, BUT at the end non of these things will return our land.
By the way, Wolf Blitzer, last Saturday, on the Late Edition show introduced Afif Safieh as the ambassador of the Palestinian Authority at the US, and his Excellency was totally fine with it.
all the respect,
Not only are they pressuring the Academy to not present the movie as coming from “Palestine”, but influential people in Hollywood are trying to influence the decision of whether the movie is actually awarded the Oscar.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3214866,00.html
Courage,
So? what’s wrong with that? keep in mind that considering that the US does not consider the Palestinian mission as having diplomatic status, that’s why his official title is Head of the PLO Mission To the United States of America … Actually, I wrote about Afif Safieh not too long ago after meeting him here in Chicago.. If you haven’t already, take some time and read for him to understand his philosophy. His excellency as you put it is one of the greatest representatives out there.
P.S. I am interested in reading your thoughts about what will return our land then? Thanks!
Iman,
Regarding the Ambassador, I just wanted to make a point that the head of the diplomatic team here at US does not give much importance to whether they call it Palestine or a Palestinian Authority whether that was on national TV nor in public events. So, why are you, general you, making a big deal of it to be called Palestinian Authority in the Oscar ceremony.
I really respect the ambassador and his passion about what he believes in, but I still have some reservations about him though. Last week, the WP hosted him with ambassadors from Jordan, Israel, and former Ambassador of US in the Middle East. Literally, the former US ambassador told him, after Afif kept cutting him off while he was talking, are you here to have a constructive discussion or to fight, if you are intending to fight then you should not be here. Again, I believe he is a decent person, but as an ambassador I do not think he is doing any good job to serve our cause in the US. Btw, he did the same thing with Wolf last Saturday.
As a starter, winning an Oscar will not return our land, but I canâ??t deny that it can help in publicizing our cause. Anyway, you will hear my thoughts when a discussion is open up for that purpose
p.s. I have attended his speech at Chicago,I guess, 2 months ago, and people were complaining about the expensive tickets:)
Thanks!
He just took over Hasan Abdelrahman’s position in October! So its too early to judge his performance. However, his background is very promising as to what he is capable of doing. And I have to disagree with you, over all he’s extremely eloquent with a strong presence.
This is something Haaretz saida bout him
p.s. tickets weren’t expensive..! are you talking about the January event?
http://www.anotherdenmark.org
Palestine existed as a geographic entity as Siberia, Sahara, Appallachians, etc. existed as regions. The only time that Palestine had any political identity was under the British Mandate which ended in 1948. Before that it was ruled from Istanbul with some autonomy devolved as the vilayet of Damascus and sanjak of Jerusaelm. The people who resided in this region did not have a unique language, dress, diet, religion, let alone a unique political experience.
It is understandable that the people who have been flung around this region since 1948 have developed a cultural bond and identity, but it is an identity formed negatively. It is really an anti-identity if that makes sense. It would have been best for all if the Arabs hadn’t been so foolish in denying Israel’s right to exist; instead of waiting decades for US “hush money” Jordan should have acknowledged Israel in 1949 and declared the West Bank the State of Palestine. They rolled the dice and the poor refugees lost. Again.
While I 100% support the creation of a state in the West Bank for these people and they are more than welcome to call it “Palestine” we must be careful not to be guilty of anti-semitism. To talk of “Palestine” can come perilously close to denying Israel and Israelis.
Neoleftychick, this is mainly about two problems that have to be solved:
1- The millions of Palestinians who were removed from their land after it was, and still is, stolen from them.
2- The millions of Palestinians who are still living on their land which is now thanks to Israel the world’s largest open air prison.
The solution is the creation of a full sovereign Palestinian state.
I understand why a lot of people might fall for the “no country called Palestine before” fallacy. It’s a fallacy because the demand for a Palestinian state is not about restoring the state itself (as it never existed before), it is mainly about restoring the rights of the land’s natives to have sovereignty over it. This sovereignty existed in the form of a Palestine district within the Muslim empire which lasted more than a thousand years and eventually was disolved by the same colonial ambitions that created Israel on the land of Palestine. It’s the equivalanet of some super power conquering the US and dismantling the country into 50 separate countries, only keeping one of them and renaming it.
So there are two main reasons why a Palestinian state is in demand:
1- Because what was the one nation that the land of Palestine belonged to and should belong to again is now multiple (mostly Islamic) nations and thus it only makes sense for Palestine to be another one like the others. And,
2- Because Palestinians can’t just be integrated within Israel because of Israel’s apartheid and discriminatory system where jewish citizens are given higher status than non jewish citizens.
Finally, “denying Israel and Israelis” doesn’t have to do with “anti-semitism”. Anti semitism is racism, to say that anti-Israeli speech is racist speech implies that Israel is a country that is exclusive of a specific race.
signatures:
18170 vs 71
Unbelievable…or actually, how am I kidding … very believable! 😉
😡
Sometimes, I lose hope in us, for God’s sake people it’s an online petition and all we managed to get is 71 signatures only?? compared to 18, 146 signatures against the movie!
You think this is not important? you think your signature is insignificant or what? they are contacting people from inside of the academy while we, as usual, take things lightly, as always apathetic as if Palestine is in Europe. Are we on drugs or something?
Well excuse me, but we have more than 50 blogs in Jordanplanet only, if every blogger circulated this and brought only 3 that would be 150 in one day. I know a good percentage of us are literally Internat illeterate but I bet on my life, many of those who use the Internet everyday did not bother with this.
I don’t know when will we sober, oh well, one day we will I’m sure I just hope we will wake up by our will and not forced by a bombing somewhere.
Shaden,
I understand your frustration and agree with you completely!
Generally, Palestine is just a Palestinian issue … Many don’t think I am Arab first … They think I am Jordanian, I am Egyptian, I am Syrian…etc.
So really, the problem is that we lack the unity the Jews, israelis, and Zionists thrive on. Unity is their bread and butter, so to speak!
Iman/Shaden
Tragically, our “Palestinians” live in a Disneyland of “rights” that simply do not exist. In fact, if you think about it, the rumours that Israel is about to address the UN and declare that the Defensive Fence shall include slightly more of the promised Greater Israel, and that they are no longer prepared to negotiate over the issue. And by god the Israelis are sooo justified.
Apparently Israel is going to wirhdraw from the entire issue and demand that the Muslims compensate it for all the trouble caused since the 1930s!
Given all the crap they have had to deal with, the Israelis most certainly deserve it!
Shaden, I Generally, Palestine is just a Palestinian issue … Many don’t think I am Arab first … They think I am Jordanian, I am Egyptian, I am Syrian…etc.
Iman,
NONE SENSE …Remember that the Palestinian leadership are the one, who wasted $ 40 billion that were denoted by Arab countries to lessen the Palestinians suffering in Palestine, and there is no need to say were these dollars ended up.
It is not about unity, and please do not give the issue more attention than it deserves! People are standing by us and did stand by us many many times. If people do not have that appreciation for Oscar award and what it might imply, that does not mean they are giving up on us. Please, be fairâ?¦ if you can!
Btw, if you think Palestine is the Palestinians problem, then you failed big time, and I will recommend that you start reading the Islamic and Arabic history.
Thank you
Courage
I am curious as to whether you think Egypt, Syria, and Jordan should contribute to compensating the Palestinians?
Courage, the occupation of the land of Palestine is as much an Arab and Muslim issue as Sept. 11th was an American (not only a New Yorkian) issue.
We can’t solve a problem if we can’t understand its parameters. This is the reality that will never change; there wasn’t even a Palestinian country before the colonial powers came and stole the land and handed it to zionists. Asking for the small country that is Palestine is the compromise that Arabs and Muslims have to make today because they are no longer living in the big nation that was before.
🙂 ummm, thanks! … yes, I stronlgy believe that our (the palestinian) issue seems to be our issue alone …
(nasnas, your site uploads very slow!)
Courage
back to the Paletinian issue: before I hit submit I wanted to add that historically it is a Muslim/Arab issue …now, do you seriously believe that Muslims and Arabs have done anything positively significant effort towards the cause? Muslim and Arab nations do not care about their own Affairs – why would Palestine matter to them?!
Iman- if you mean by the positive thing is liberating Palestine, then the answer is definitely No … BUT, even the Palestinian themselves didn’t liberate Palestine after more than 30 years of resistance (since our loss in 1967). To be fair again, Arab and Muslim have helped the Palestinians a lot and in different ways. for instance, Jordan as well as other Arabic countries provided them with food, shelter, and security when many countries rejected them, and do not forget giving them Jordanian passports so they can travel around the world (officials and regular people) and I will not be surprised if you or your relatives hold one of them. The gulf countries always supported us financially and politically (resistance and people. the Iraqis and other Arabs bled on the soil of Palestine … and what was their reward? the PLO chose and without even consulting anybody in the Arab and Muslim world to sign a peace treaty with Israel in the darkness (the most positivey significant effort toward our cause, RIGHT!). Please, tell me who betrayed whom in this situation. Oslo thing was a clear message from PLO to the Arab and Muslim world that we do not want you anymore. PLO thought that they have closed a great deal, which turned out afterward that it was the lousiest deal ever.
A piece of advice, do not alienate us from the Arab and Muslim world, because definitely we are the ones who are going to lose.
Why would Palestine matter to them?! Well, they supported us by money, blood, and morals and they are just Arabs and Muslims … Tell me, what did you do as a real patriotic proud Palestinian to prove that Palestine matters to you? I assume you and maybe your family living abroad and lecturing us about Palestine. Following this logic, if Arab and Muslims are bad, then you are worse than them if you are not the worst!
P.S. what we did to each country we entered since we were sent to exile? Brief answer, we tried to ruin each country we have lived at starting by Jordan, Lebanon, etc … very positive things! Sarcastic smile
In short, to be loyal to Palestine is not by blaming others for our failure, we get a fair share of the guilt too
Tshakorat
Palestine never existed!!!
Where did i come from then???
israel is illegal
Of course. I am is denying that ..
we? who’s we?
don’t forget that Palestinians have made very important contributions to the economy of every country they settled in. There are currently close to 1.4 million Palestinian refugees registered in Jordan. Although it is believed that massive influxes of refugees have strained Jordanâ??s economy (if that’s what you believe by ruining it!), Palestinian Jordanians have contributed greatly to the health and prosperity of the country. (I took these figures from a gov’t website)
.. Also, something else to point out as a first account Dr. Nusseibeh (who is Palestinian born in Jerusalem) experienced back in 1962 in kuwait: As a foreign Minister of Jordan, I attended those celebrations. In a meeting with the ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh Abdullah Salam Sabah, I raised the opportunity to thank the Emir for the warm generosity and welcome which our fellow countrymen and women were accorded in Kuwait. The Emir snapped back, â??you donâ??t have to thank me. I have to thank you for the great accomplishments which your countrymen have made in Kuwait. They have built up our country.â?Â
despite what type of deal it was, Oslo was not a sign off on Palestine …
A piece of advice: try to understand what you’re reading before you jump to conclusions!
I don’t appreciate your personal accusations. Do I really have to sit here and discuss what my personal contributions have been? And another advice: perhaps you should take your own advice and not lecture me. and yet another advice: don’t assume! you’re being very critical of something you have no idea about.
🙂 Are you done with your lecture now! I don’t recall taking blame off the Palestinians, but by the same token I am not going to disregard that some Arab governments have a considerable amount of blame for the loss of Palestine and the current state Palestinians are in today.
it does not exist a state called Israel.Israel is an illegal state like believe the whole world even the americans
It has been always PALESTINE, and will stay like that forever. But I would prefer if they refered to it as “Occupied Palestine.”