Category Archives: Palestine

Kicking the Palestinian down (the Road)

Arab-Israeli Conflict, Election 2012, Israel, Palestine


“The Bearer of Burdens” painting by Suleiman Mansour

Candidates ignore plight of Palestinians
By Nadia Hijab, The Hill, October 25, 2012

As a Palestinian-American, I awaited the presidential debate on foreign policy with anticipation, given the massive U.S. military footprint in the region of my birth.

I confess to being torn in my attitude to the candidates. From a Palestinian perspective, I know there is little difference: Neither would take effective steps to end Israel’s 45-year occupation, challenge its illegal building of settlements, or shake its draconian hold on Jerusalem.

Their record speaks for itself. President Barack Obama soon gave up on the Israeli settlement freeze he pushed early in his tenure. American and Israeli troops are even now participating in a joint missile-defense exercise The New York Times described as “the largest in the history of the two countries’ relationship.” Continue reading Kicking the Palestinian down (the Road) →

Buried Cities Recovered #4

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Palestine, Travel


In a previous post I continued a thread on a 19th century Bible Lands text by Rev. Frank S. DeHaas. Now it is on to Jerusalem, holiest of the holiest places for this Protestant pilgrim. Yet again he has a hard time seeing past the poverty and destruction. But then he is consoled by the fact that such ruin was all according to prophecy. Unfortunately for a century more than this book, facts are indeed stubborn things and the artifacts DeHaas thought so compelling turn out not to be very factual.


Continue reading Buried Cities Recovered #4 →

Buried Cities Recovered #3

Archaeology and Antiquities, Architecture, Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Orientalism, Palestine


In a previous post I continued a thread on a 19th century Bible Lands text by Rev. Frank S. DeHaas. His account covers Egypt and Palestine. He entered Palestine at the port of Jaffa and discusses his disembarking, which he compares to the turmoil surrounding Jonah on the same sea, in the following passage. But it seems the crowded streets of Jaffa did not inspire the kind of reverence he wanted from traversing on holy ground. So he was quite glad to be out and out where the patriarchs trekked…


Continue reading Buried Cities Recovered #3 →

Buried Cities Recovered #2

Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Palestine, Travel


In a previous post I began a thread on a 19th century Bible Lands text by Rev. Frank S. DeHaas. This is a typical devout travel account for an American audience by an author who served both a political and religious role. The frontispiece shows the American consulate opposite the Old City wall, shades to come of where the American Embassy might locate if Romney is elected President in November.

Here is his Introduction…


Continue reading Buried Cities Recovered #2 →

Buried Cities Recovered

Archaeology and Antiquities, Bible and Holy Land, Lithographs, Palestine, Travel


During the 19th century there was a flourishing genre of “Explorations in the Bible Lands.” As the geography and archaeology of the Holy Land came to light, often with only a modicum of scientific investigation, books flooded the market on how the remains and customs in this area were bringing the Bible to life for Protestants in England and America. Despite Mark Twain’s biting satire of the genre in his Innocents Abroad, the Bible Lands books piled on. One of these is Buried Cities Recovered by the Rev. Frank S. DeHass, who was appointed U.S. Consul to Palestine, where he lived for a considerable period. This was first published in 1882 and was in its 10th edition only two years later. The small print at the bottom of the title page says it all: “CONTAINING A FULL ACCOUNT OF EGYPT AND THE EGYPTIANS, RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES IN THE LIGHT OF PROPHECY, AND WONDERFUL CONFIRMATION OF REVELATION BY LATE DISCOVERIES.” Such was the enthusiasm of Bible enthusiasts of the late 19th century.


The dedication of the book, reproduced below, is quite flowerly and hardly leaves anyone out, except perhaps the emerging higher critics of the Bible at the time.


to be continued

Romney up against the wall

"Arab Spring", Apocalypse Watch, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Election 2012, Israel, Journalism and Media, Palestine


The gaffes of Republican nominee Mitt Romney have put him up against the wall several times, including the Wall Street Journal op-ed pages. But his latest “stump” in Israel, with the obligatory picture of Romney at the Wailing Wall, has even brought out a critique from the New York Times editorial page. Romney is visiting Israel and veering hard to the right, even outdoing the neocons that fueled our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Here is what the editorial says, followed by my own comments.

Mr. Romney Stumps in Israel

Mitt Romney made a point of insisting that he would adhere to an unwritten rule and often violated rule about candidates not criticizing each other or contradicting American foreign policy on foreign soil. About the only effort he made to keep that promise during his stop in Israel was to avoid mentioning President Obama by name.

Beyond that, with some of the biggest investors in Republican politics in tow, Mr. Romney made no effort to disguise the target and intent of rhetoric that was certainly inflammatory but largely free of any sense of how we would carry out policies he was championing.

The message — on Iran, Jerusalem, the Palestinians — was all anti-Obama: Mr. Romney would be a much better friend to Israel than Mr. Obama ever could be. He would be much tougher on Iran. He would recognize Jerusalem as the capital. For good measure, he insulted the Palestinians by declaring that cultural differences — not decades under Israeli occupation — are the reason Israelis are more successful economically. It’s hard to say how this could affect policy if he were president, but it is not encouraging.

The real audience for Mr. Romney’s tough talk was American Jews and evangelical Christians, some of whom accompanied him on his trip. He is courting votes and making an aggressive pitch to donors, including Sheldon Adelson, the billionaire casino magnate with the hard-line pro-Israel views who is spending more money than any other American — $100 million — to defeat Mr. Obama. Continue reading Romney up against the wall →