Palestine's Surreal Fantasy Island

What if the West Bank was a tranquil tropical archipelago with ferry routes between Jericho and Ramallah?

What if you could sail around Cape Ramadin, navigate the Kiryat Arba canal, coast through the Gush Etzion Strait, spill out into the Jerusalem Canal and head towards the Israel Sea?

That is the vision of Julien Bousac, who created the map above that reinvents the West Bank as a beautiful archipelago.

(Check the map out in larger. more detailed form over at StrangeMaps, which also does things like the United Statements of America and features The Slaw of the Land, aka the West Virginia Hot Dogs Slaw Mapping Project.)

The map, Bousac said over at StrangeMaps, is meant to be "an illustration of the West Bank’s ongoing fragmentation based on the (originally temporary) A/B/C zoning which came out of the Oslo process, still valid until now. To make things clear, areas ‘under water’ strictly reflect C zones, plus the East Jerusalem area, i.e. areas that have officially remained under full Israeli control and occupation following the Agreements. These include all Israeli settlements and outposts as well as Palestinian populated areas.”

For those who have forgotten their Oslo ABCs, that means that Bousac has transformed anything in the West Bank and Jerusalem area that is still under Israeli control into waterways surrounding areas with some Palestinian control.

The end result leaves you with Palestine's Surreal Fantasy Island...

IDF: Gaza war crimes charges 'rumors'

The Israeli military has closed its swift criminal investigation into volatile allegations from its own soldiers that army units murdered Palestinian civilians during the recent 22-day military offensive in Gaza.

In a detailed statement, the Israeli military said the charges made by soldiers during a seminar at a military prep school were either rumors or embellished tales for an impressionable audience.

 "It is unfortunate that none of the speakers at the conference was careful to be accurate in the depiction of his claims, and even more so that they chose to present various incidents of a severe nature, despite not personally witnessing and knowing much about them," said Avichai Mendelblit, the Israeli military's advocate general. "It seems that it will be difficult to evaluate the damage done to the image and morals of the IDF and its soldiers, who had participated in Operation Cast Lead, in Israel and the world."

Israeli human rights groups questioned the findings and renewed their call for an independent investigation of Israel's actions in Gaza.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper, which first published the damaging transcript, also questioned the swift investigation.

"There is something soothing in the exhaustive investigation by the military advocate general," journalist Amos Harel wrote today in Haaretz. "The IDF emerges from it (and from the Gaza Strip) as pure as snow. Yet at the same time there is a disconcerting message emanating from the closure of the investigation, one which, at least according to Brig. Gen. Mendelblit, a group of combat soldiers and officers serving in some of the finest units in the IDF has proven to be nothing but a bunch of liars and exaggerating storytellers, men who have not uttered one truthful word."

The swift and limited investigation is unlikely to end international calls for a more thorough probe of Israel's military actions in Gaza.

The probe examined only two specific allegations made by the soldiers.

The Israeli military said it spoke to the soldiers who made the explosive charges and that the soldiers told investigators that they had no first-hand knowledge of the potentially criminal incidents.

But there are still scores of allegations of wrongdoing that have yet to be addressed.

Last week, the AP's Karin Laub reported on a case in Gaza that seemed to mirror the allegations made by the soldiers.

The story uncovered a case in which a Palestinian woman and 2-year-old child were shot and killed, apparently by Israeli forces, after being ordered to leave their Gaza neighborhood.

Yesterday, Maj. Yehoshua Gurtler, a young attorney with the IDF who briefed the media on the investigation, said he had no knowledge of the AP story.

In a February story on Israeli use of Palestinians as human shields in Gaza, McClatchy reported on another incident in which two independent Palestinian eyewitnesses said that a woman was shot, apparently by Israeli forces, after they were ordered to leave their Gaza neighborhood during the military offensive.

The IDF says it is still looking into other allegations of wrongdoing and that some soldiers have been disciplined. 

Gaza cartoon stokes fierce debate

Is this cartoon outlandish anti-Semitism or provocative criticism?

Boston Globe religion writer Michael Paulson examines the fallout from the controversial Pat Oliphant cartoon about Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

 

Moses in the age of Facebook

What if Moses had lived in the age of Facebook?

What would God say if he filled out the viral "25 things you didn't know about me?"

Would God be annoyed by people taking the "Which God are you?" quiz?

Would Moses use Wall-to-Wall with the Pharaoh to demand: "Let my people go!"?

What would Bernie Madoff think of the Egyptian pyramid scheme?

Would God demand that Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg revert to the old version of Facebook?

These and other questions are answered in "Moses is departing Egypt: A Facebook Haggadah," which is perhaps the most entertaining and inventive telling of the Passover story this year...

 

The rise of Israel's eclectic marching band

There are many strange sights to behold on the streets of Jerusalem, from the religious pilgrims who believe they are the Messiah to the rival Christian denominations brawling in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

One of the more unique sites to stumble across is Marsh Dondurma, the eclectic band billed as "Israel's first marching band."

Established in 2005, Marsh Dondurma (named after a Turkish ice cream brand, of course) practices a certain type of creative guerrilla musical theater.

Armed with trombones, saxophones, snare drums, and a tuba, the 15 or so musicians like to perform renegade numbers on the streets of Jerusalem.

At one street performance in Tel Aviv, a group of mentally handicapped men dressed as angels stumbled upon Marsh Dondurma's performance and joined in for a surreal fusion of street art.

After four years, Marsh Dondurma now has a devoted fan following and two CDs. The band plays in Tel Aviv clubs, European music festivals and outdoor parties.

The inspiration for Israel's Marsh Dondurma came when band founder Dotan Yogev was living in New York City. While out one night, Yogev was amazed to see a funky marching band enter a nightclub to perform a rousing number.

It turned out to be Brooklyn's Hungry March Band, which boasts of creating "surprise radical encounters that transform the mundane into the miraculous."

Yogev immediately asked to become a band member. Then he set out to bring the style to Israel.

The musical street theater has been embraced around the world, including San Francisco, which is home to the ever-exotic Extra Action Marching Band.

Some performers, like "Simpsons" animator David Silverman, take the idea to a new level with the famous flaming tuba (technically a sousaphone).

Marsh Dondurma tends to be a little more sedate and less risque than its American counterparts. And the music predictably draws more of its influence from Jewish Klezmer music.

But the band is just as successful at surprising the audience and stirring up a dancing frenzy.

Jenin youth orchestra hits discordant tone

It was meant to be a rare example of psychological border busting in the Arab-Israeli conflict: The "Strings of Freedom," a small group of young Palestinian musicians from the Jenin refugee camp, received rare permission last week to enter Israel to play songs of peace for a group of Holocaust survivors.

"Only people who have been through suffering understand each other," said Ali Zeid, an 18-year-old musician with the group.

As Diaa Hadid of the Associated Press wrote, "the two-hour meeting starkly highlighted how distant Palestinians and Israelis have become after more than eight years of bloody Palestinian militant attacks and deadly Israeli military reprisals."

In one of the biggest surprises, the AP noted, the Palestinian musicians had no idea they were playing for Holocaust survivors, and the Holocaust survivors were surprised to hear that the musicians came from Jenin, which was the scene of one of the most politically-explosive Israeli military operations of the second Palestinian uprising.

On Sunday, after the musical event received widespread international attention, the AP reported that the youth orchestra had been shut down by Jenin officials who accused the orchestra director of exploiting the Palestinian musicians for a Jewish political cause.

"The Holocaust happened, but we are facing a similar massacre by the Jews themselves," said Adnan Hindi, described by the AP as a Jenin refugee camp official. "We lost our land, and we were forced to flee and we've lived in refugee camps for the past 50 years."

Wafa Younis, the youth orchestra conductor, condemned the move.

"They want to destroy this group," Hindi told the AP. "It's a shame, it's a tragedy. What did these poor, elderly people do wrong? What did these children do wrong?"

(AP photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

Where The Wild Things Are

It is only 10 sentences long, but Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" is a classic children's tale of the mischievous Max who ventures into his imaginary wilderness and ends up in a "wild rumpus" with the Wild Things.

Now, director Spike Jonze ("Being John Malkovich") and writer Dave Eggers ("A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius") have teamed up to bring a new version of the story to the big screen.

The long-delayed and much-anticipated film features music from the Canadian band Arcade Fire, and features the voices of Forest Whitaker, James Gandolfini and Catherine Keener.

The preview (below) has just been released, and it is already generating a buzz. (It has been viewed more than a half million times in less than a week.)

What does this story have to do with the Middle East?

As Rev. Earl Kooperkamp at New York's Trinity Church once noted in a 2007 sermon, Sendak's story can be viewed as a story about a personal journey into the wild wilderness, "that place of exile and refuge, the region where that which is to be purified is made pure, the location of testing and faith."

"A sojourn in the wilderness means confronting ourselves, and perhaps at the core, confronting our fears," Kooperkamp said in the sermon. "We go, like Max, to where the wild things that 'roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws' are. But we go into the wilderness in Lent as Christians knowing the most frequent command in the entire Bible is, 'Fear not.' Those words are spoken by God to Abraham as he starts off on the journey that leads him so far from his home. Confronting our fears, living into that commandment, 'Do not be afraid' transforms us with a radical openness, a place in which God’s love can make a dwelling."

Or, if that seems like a bit of a stretch, "Where the Wild Things Are" looks like it could simply be a very cool movie...

War crimes charges mount against Israel

Allegations continue to mount that Israeli soldiers systematically committed war crimes during the 22-day military offensive in Gaza.

Following leaked testimony from Israeli soldiers who said their comrades killed civilians in Gaza, the United Nations has issued a new report prepared by human rights investigators who said they unearthed scores of questionable incidents.

The UN report said Israeli soldiers used an 11-year-old boy as a human shield, shelled a building after moving Palestinian civilians inside a day earlier, and used a bulldozer to bring another building down on top of a woman and child.

Along with the UN report, The Guardian has published an extensive report on alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

The Guardian stories and video reports focused on evidence that Israeli soldiers used Palestinians as human shields and that Israeli drones killed two dozen Gazans during the offensive.

The Israeli military is looking into specific allegations raised by its own soldiers. But the IDF continues to categorically dismiss allegations raised by the UN, human rights groups and others.

Later this week, Human Rights Watch is planning to release its report on the Israeli military's controversial use of white phosphorus during the military operation.

As The New York Times recently noted, Israel is grappling with a "crisis of isolation" created by the Gaza offensive.

The NYT called it Israel's "worst diplomatic crisis in two decades."

Haaretz blogger Bradley Burston poses the question: "Why does the world media love to hate Israel?"

"Anyone who has been in a war, as a participant, reporter, or civilian bystander, knows that any war, every war, spawns war crimes," Burston writes. "The question, when examining the Cast Lead operation in Gaza, was whether there was something different, something exceptional and intentional and, especially, a matter of policy and command direction, that either trapped or targeted large numbers of civilians, resulting in a human tragedy far beyond the horrible reality of the very fact of warfare. Was, in other words, this war different from all other wars? Or was this war the trigger for an outpouring of anti-Israel animus that was, for lack of a better term, disproportionate? Although the jury is still out pending further independent inquiry, the likely answer to both is: Yes."

For the moment, Israeli leaders continue to reject increasing calls for independent investigations of the events in Gaza.

As Jeffrey Goldberg recently noted on his blog at The Atlantic:

"The crucial question is, how should a civilized country behave when confronting barbarism? With barbarism? Or with respect for innocent life? Pardon me for saying so, but the Jewish people didn't struggle for national equality, justice and freedom so that some of its sons could behave like Cossacks. Please don't get me wrong: I'm not equating the morality of the IDF to that of Hamas. The goal of Hamas is to murder innocent people; the goal of the IDF is to avoid murdering innocent people. But when the IDF fails to achieve its goal, and ends up inflicting needless destruction and suffering, it sullies not only its own name, but the name of the Jewish state. It risks making a just cause -- Jewish nationhood -- seem unjust, and it ultimately endangers what it is supposed to protect."

The Spiders of Allah

As a child growing up outside London, British journalist James Hider came to view the Bible as a boring children's story.

His teachers taught the New Testament alongside tales of Olga da Polga (the talking guinea pig), Paddington Bear and Beatrix Potter.

By the time he headed to the Middle East to cover the chaos in Iraq, he saw religions as "a series of often gory stories, fables told to take the poor, isolated, individual sap out of himself for a little while, [and] let him forget that he is all alone in the universe."

Needless to say, James take a rather dim view of religious wars in "The Spiders of Allah: Travels of an Unbeliever on the Frontline of Holy War." a new memoir that he describes as "a romp through the madness that is the Middle East."

"The Spiders of Allah" is more readable than "The God Delusion" and less pompous than "God is Not Great." 

In 300 pages, James travels between meeting extremist Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Hamas TV producers transforming Mickey Mouse into an anti-Semitic revolutionary. 

James, now the Jerusalem-based Middle East correspondent for The Times of London, scoffs at Muslim extremists in Iraq who issue edicts banning the display of tomatoes and cucumbers side-by-side because they are viewed as representing female and male organs.

James describes US soldiers using the "Team America" soundtrack to try and rattle Iraqi insurgents and his distasteful first encounter with American corn dogs during the American effort to rout militants from Fallujah.

By 2005, James writes that he was becoming so "inured to the murderous pace" of Iraq that, when a suicide bomber shattered the windows of his hotel room early one morning, he went back to bed because he knew the attack would never make it into his paper.

The title of the book comes from a myth that spread across the Middle East that camel spiders sent by Allah were decimating Americans in Iraq.

The urban legend had its genesis in a photograph of two camel spiders hanging from a soldier's helmet in Iraq that whipped around the Internet.

Although James doesn't hide his atheist views, he doesn't often engage religious extremists in the book.

Instead, he lets the stories speak for themselves.

But you can get a glimpse of his views in the panel discussion below on "Frost over the World," the Al Jazeera English show with host David Frost.

"The Spiders of Allah" is already out in England and is scheduled to be released in the US this June.

 

Israeli soldier: We murdered Gazans

As promised, Haaretz published extensive testimony from Israeli soldiers who fought in Gaza.

The stark reports, obtained independently by McClatchy Newspapers, paint a stark picture of the Israeli military strategy in Gaza.

"I call this murder," says one Israeli soldier identified as Aviv.

As Israeli soldiers prepared to take over parts of Gaza, Aviv said, they were instructed to shoot anyone they came across in buildings.

Aviv said other soldiers embraced the orders by saying: "We need to murder any person who's in there. Yeah, any person who's in Gaza is a terrorist."

"One of our officers, a company commander, saw someone coming on some road, a woman, an old woman," said Aviv. "She was walking along pretty far away, but close enough so you could take out someone you saw there. If she were suspicious, not suspicious - I don't know. In the end, he sent people up to the roof, to take her out with their weapons. From the description of this story, I simply felt it was murder in cold blood."

"I don't understand," the moderator asked Aviv. "Why did he shoot her?"

Aviv: "That's what is so nice, supposedly, about Gaza: You see a person on a road, walking along a path. He doesn't have to be with a weapon, you don't have to identify him with anything and you can just shoot him. With us it was an old woman, on whom I didn't see any weapon. The order was to take the person out, that woman, the moment you see her."

Faced with direct reports from its own soldiers, the Israeli military has opened a criminal investigation.

In the talk, one soldier also said that rabbis working with the military portrayed the Israeli offensive as a kind of holy war to expel non-Jews from the land.

Over the weekend, Israel's Channel 10 aired a documentary that showed a military briefing for soldiers going into Gaza.

"There will be no hesitation," the Israeli commander told the soldiers. "If it's us or them, it'll be them. If someone approaches us unarmed, shoot in the air. If he keeps going, that man is dead. Nobody will deliberate - let the mistakes be over their lives, not ours." 

As an interesting coda, Haaretz on Friday also published a long story on a Tel Aviv print shop that produces shirts for young Israeli soldiers.

Perhaps the most controversial image described in the story shows a veiled, pregnant Arab woman in the crosshairs of a rifle. Underneath the image it reads: "One shot, two kills."

The Israeli military condemned the shirts:

"Military regulations do not apply to civilian clothing, including shirts produced at the end of basic training and various courses. The designs are printed at the soldiers' private initiative, and on civilian shirts. The examples raised by Haaretz are not in keeping with the values of the IDF spirit, not representative of IDF life, and are in poor taste. Humor of this kind deserves every condemnation and excoriation. The IDF intends to take action for the immediate eradication of this phenomenon. To this end, it is emphasizing to commanding officers that it is appropriate, among other things, to take discretionary and disciplinary measures against those involved in acts of this sort."