The problem is surely the occupation, otherwise, why didn't your occupation army pull out during the peace calm period in between 1967 and 1987, when your fellow zionists confiscated every last centimeter of our land before the very eyes of you, your public and the rest of the westren world. The "Shaheeds" are murdered for their people's freedom, not for fun, and if you supported the settlers, who settled our lands illegaly when they they were being evicted, why do you deny us the right to resist an occupation that is illegal by all laws ? Moreoever, please for HaShem sake, stop this broken record of, you are being fed the hated of the jews, and "throwing jews in the sea" myths that your right wing extremists who call for our transfer, and deny our very existance (that is no myth, by the way, just read the talkbacks on this site and you see for yourself), as I will repeat again I hate no jews, christians or muslims, I hate those who opress me and deny me my basic freedom. Your security enterprise, shin net, mossad, national security love for this conflict to go on, and so do your right wing extremists from Likud, to likud-2 (Kadima) to Mifdal, National Union, Tsmoet ..etc who need this conflict to prolong to push away any momet of accountability for you and your people. All in all, if you can finish off the pccupation tomorrow, then DO IT for heavens sake and let's all live in peace in accordance with international resolutions or continue to suffer as much as we do and live like an outcast state that everyone detests for creating ongoing hatred. Choice is yours.

Hi Yonatan I was not saying youa re racist. Sorry if it came across that way. I was just saying the argument sounded racist -- and I concede that despite the openness of YnetNews, length in writing can force us to compromise our feelings and write to brevity. These are tough issues to discern and comprehend and sometimes things sound worse than they are. I like to take what you and others write and put them in a positive spirit. We may not agree, and we might not even like what we read from each other, but the more important factor is our intent. Is our intent to find a way to fairly resolve our issues? Or do we, as some like "Lois" and "Daisy" and a few others, seek to merely divide and use words as weapons of hatred? I think we need to cut each other some slack and listen to what we are saying, even if we don't agree. That's an achievement in the Arab-Israeli conflict. More importantly, the fact that we are conducting this discussion is a powerful snub to Hamas terrorism, settler extremism and the politics of hatred. I cannot condemn Israel's murder of civilians unless I am strong enough morally and with principle to condemn the Palestinian murder of civilians. It's the same for the Israelis. A principle is greater than the argument. As for Jerusalem, let's define open not in the context of the people in it, but open int he context of who can go there. My relatives cannot travel there. Not because they are terrorists, activists, etc., but because they are Christian and not Jewish. My family owns land just south of Jerusalem. Israel has placed prohibitions on our abiltiy to develop that land that would not be there for those who are Jewish. The Israelis have done everything they can to eliminate our ability to controlt hat land, hoping that they can one day take it away using the provision of the absentee owner laws. It's wrong. You should stand up on principle and defend my family's right to build and develop on that land. (It's in the West Bank annexed by Israel since 1967). These are issues I expect Jews to embrace and to also stand up and say, these practices must stop. But I don't hear many Israelis or Jews standing up for Palestinian rights. I do see them hiding behind Palestinian violence to condemn us while reserving comment on Israel's actions. I heard an Israeli general recently say that there is no military solution to the conflict between us. I believe that. That doesn't mean violence won't continue. But it also means that people can't stand up for what is right, even when it might undermine what they believe. Justice and principle are more important. Let's criticize issues, not ideals. Let's criticize policies, not people. You can look for things about me you don't like, or you can look for things that you do like and build on it. People who seek the negative hurt themselves. Let's stop defending ourselves blindly. Let's start acknowledging the pain we cause on each other, the violations of laws we impose on each other and the violations of civil rights on each other. When we start doing the right thing, we might find genuine peace. Happy secular New Year Ray Hanania www.hanania.com

"The Arab World doesn’t believe in free speech because if they did, Arab filmmakers would not only be making movies bashing Israel and promoting Arab and Palestinian causes, but they would also be bashing the tyrants who dominate our world." As Arab countries are not free you have to understand that Ray Hanania sais that Arabs are only allowed to make Israel bashing films. some people should read more carefully before writing remarks to the author which are baseless

-, since you read this stuff. I appreciate your position a lot, but- every think I see convinces me that arabs are GOOD in propaganda, israelis are not. Even palestinian terror for very long was seen in the west as "understandable" - what can be more?

Thanks Serge for reading the column. People don;t often do that. They skim through, find something they don't like and then use it to lash out :) Dana, I think Israelis need to show more restraint and be fair. They need to treat Palestinians better and protect their rights, not undermine them. That doesn't mean ease up on security. It means respecting their rights. I also think the burden of the problem rests with Palestinians like myself. We have to do more to shut down the extremists and the fanatics and we don't. Part of the reason is the majority of Palestinians are driven by emotion, and the extremists exploit the emotion as a distraction. The bash Israel to answer the pain of the general public. But if the Palestinian moderates could be stronger, we could undermine the extremists and take back our community. We can argue against Israeli policies in a constructive way and pressure Israel to make more concessions -- I don't believe Ehud Barak's proposals were that great nor were they even written down so I am not sure he could be trusted to even deliver on what he promised. Sometimes, just talk is enough to ease the problem. If Israelis start talking about being fair and if more Palestinians started speaking against extremism and Hamas terrorism and anti-Semitic hatred, maybe the atmosphere would improve and we could start trusting each other again. As for Palestinian media advantages. The Palestinian do get an advantage on Israelis in the media, but not out of sympathy. Sometimes the Israelis, in trying to kill a terrorist, kill civilians, too. And, the Israelis use practices many Americans don't always support. That creates a perception that the Palestinians have the upperhand in the media. But believe me when I say that's not a constructive advantage. The Palestinians have more than enough people who know how to talk eloquently. They just don't know how to be media diplomatic and they are not strategic. Israel, one of the best when it comes to PR, hires three or more PR agencies to help them. The palestinians all think they are Babe Ruth (the New York Yankees homerun star). They think they can hit any pitch out of the ballpark without practice or preparation. They go on TV and answer any question thrown at them without thinking as to what the audience needs to hear and WHO the real audience is. It's not the reporter. It's the guy sitting at home watching TV. The Palestinians are not speaking to the average audience person while the Israelis are doing everything they can to speak to the average audience person. Just my thoughts ... Ray Hanania www.hanania.com PS ... I do think columnists have a responsibility to "speak" with readers who take the time to write, whether it is complimentary or just more political partisanship.

Dear Ray Hanania, I live in Italy, not in the USA, and in my country Edward Said is widely read and, IMHO, praised beyond his merits. By the way, in my country it is quite easy to find good fiction written by Arabic (language) authors of both sexes here, but it is rare to find the "boring, academic books that are as thick as encyclopedias and stuffed with facts and statistics and prose drowned in footnotes and smothered with dry analysis" of Arabic author you are talking about. Would you be so kind as to mention such books in your website, so people who (like me) prefer essays over fiction can find and read them? Take care.

I guess the question is, what does Italy have to do with Middle East peace. Seriously, I was refering to the lack of influence in the American and English speaking Western audiences ... Arabs don't know how to use the power of Fiction to bring out the reality of truth. Sometimes thebest way to truth is through a reader's heart, not through boring academic dissertations, which are far from essays. Edward Said was a brilliant writer. I wish more people had read his writings. Ray Hanania www.hanania.com

There's nothing in my words that I said that you haven't said yourself going about just a few years ago, and I would never accuse you of hating Jews, although I'm sure that those accusations were flung at you, especially when you compared the Israeli government to the Nazi regime or South African apartheid, but you were right which can be proven by facts. Taking the position of accusing people of hating Jews is a typical Zionist position to silence any criticism. Do you now stand on Zionist ground? Anyway, Ray, as I already previously told you, I am Jewish, and I can assure you that I do not hate myself, but I care about all people and what their religions, races, etc., make no difference to me. All people are humans and should be treated as such, and treated as equals under one law. Funny thing Ray is that I have far more rights than you do or your parents based on my Jewish background as far as Israel is concerned, and I'm actually supporting and speaking out for your rights and your fanily, which is what you call hatred! This speaks volumes about yourself. You asked a question about what's wrong in having an Islamic state but not a Jewish state. Let me answer your question. First, there is something very wrong in having any state when the indigenous people are expelled and then anyone who has a Jewish background can have all the rights over anyone who is already living in that country no matter what part of the world he or she comes from. I don't know of any Islamic state that permits anyone who are Muslims to have automatic citizenship to that state just because their religion happens to be Muslim or someone converts to Islam which again, is unlike the Jewish state who grants that right to any Jew. . What you'r really saying is that you wold also support an Aryan state that treats its non-Aryan citizens as second-class. Keep up with your inconsistencies Ray, and don't forget your Zionist attacks since you have nothing else concrete to say.

SALAMEH IF YOU FIND JEWISH CITIZENS EMPLOYED IN THE MEDIA IT DOESN'T MEAN THE JEWISH PEOPLE ARE CONTROLLING IT. INDEED I CAN ASSURE YOU MOST OF THEM AGREE ON THE FREE PAL STATE, LIKE MYSELF, AND OUR REASON IS ONLY THE WISH FOR JUSTICE. IF THE JEWS ARE SO INFLUENT IN USA YOU SHOULD BE THANKFULL TO THEM AS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO LIVE THERE. IT MUST HAVE BEEN DUE TO THEM THAT YOU HAD YOUR PERMISSION TO LIVE THERE. DON'T JUST ENJOY DEMOCRACY,BUT RATHER LEARN SOMETHING USEFULL ABOUT IT. BECAUSE WHEN YOU BACK TERRORISM YOU BECOME AN ENEMY TO EVERY CIVILIZED PEOPLE. THIS IS ALSO THE CASE OF MOST PAL POLICYS AND LEADERSHIPS. GUESS WHY THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION DON'T STAND IT.

THE TRUTH IS THAT AS THERE ARE MANY ISLAMIC COUNTRIES THEY WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO GRANT AUTOMATIC CITIZENSHIP TO EVERY ARAB DESCENDENT MOSLEM. IF THEY DID SO THEY WOULD HAVE TO OPEN ALL THEIR FRONTIERS BETWEEN EVERY TWO OF THEM. BUT NOTICE THAT A LEBANESE MAN MARRIED TO A BRASILIAN WOMAN RECENTLY ABANDONED HER AND TOOK THEIR TWO CHILDREN TO LEBANON BY MEANS OF FALSE PASSPORTS ISSUED BY LOCAL LEBANESE EMBASSY. NOW THE MOTHER IS GOT NO CHANCE TO SEE THER CHILDREN AGAIN FOR LEBANESE JUSTICE WILL PROTECT THE FATHER'S SOLELY RIGHT ON THE GROUNDS THAT THE BREASILIAN CHILDREN SHALL BE CONSIDERED ARAB MOSLEM CHILDREN. NOTICE ALSO THAT MANY EUROPEAN COUNTRYS GRANT THEIR CITIZENSHIP TO THEIR DESCENDANTS AS IS THE CASE OF ITALY , PORTUGAL, SPAIN, ROMENIA...... ON THE OTHER HAND WE HAD HERE IN BRAZIL THE EXAMPLES OF FAMOUS JEWS THAT HAD BEEN REFUSED OF AN ISRAELI VISA LIKE DEPUTY CARLOS MINC FELDMAN, AN IMPORTANT DEFENDER OF NATURE PRESERVATION OR DEPUTY ALFREDO SIRKIS FROM THE SAME BRASILIAN "GREEN PARTY" JUST THINK A LITTLE BEFORE WRITTING LOIS.

If I were an Israeli citizen, I would vote for Labor, but I still think that the media has been unfair to Israel. The UK and European is much worse than the American media. I don't see how Arabs can rationally believe that the media is contolled by Jews. The Arab and Muslim world seems perfectly capable of producing antisemitic programming Zionists taking over the world, and evil Jews trying to take over the world. They should be capable of turning their attention elsewhere.

Arabs produce films of slaughtering of americans. I have one that lives across the street from me in Indiana and it looks like he is moveing back to Jordan soon. I hope he will see the sky turn red and the ground buckle under his feet as he falls in to hell with all the others. This person threw a party on 9/11 with all of his family and close friends. I am in a neiborhood that wanted to remove them from here that day on.

Are you serious buddy or just plain stupid. How can an arab make a movie in hollywood without the right connections, without the right money, even if he makes a movie showing the other side of the israel - arab story do you think that it will be shown in any theater part from some indipendent 50 cent place, Im gonna send you and article now, writen by a jew so you wont be able to say that its biased. and after you've read it maybe, just maybe you'll know what you're talking about. http://www.eonline.com/Features/Specials/Jews/

The link suggested by #73 suggests that Hollywood is becoming more non-Jewish all the time. In any case, Jews are famous for arguing with each other, so saying that Jews run Hollywood is like saying that women run the fashion industry.

This author's central point, that Arabs should stop complaining and do something, seems valid. But, otherwise, the author seems to live in a parallel universe. Please, let's not hear that old saw about Jews controlling the media. Yes, there are proportionately many Jews working in journalism, but they're not necessarily pro-Israel. And what media, outside of Fox News, can be counted on to support Israel? Secondly, the world does not support Israel over the Palestinians, but quite the opposite. The Palestinians have won the war on words hands down. In the USA, there is greater support for Israel than elsewhere, but not among the elites. Elsewhere in the West, especially in Europe, Israel is one of the most hated countries in the world. The Muslim world and the Western Left have been spearheading efforts for years to delegitimize Israel, and they are succeeding.