Ron David's

ARABSONG: Celebrations of Life 

A journal of truth, humor and occasional beauty dedicated to the principle that every

human life --black, white, arab, jew, american & non-american-- is equally valuable. 

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Middle East

Truth Watch

<INVADING IRAQ

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<ISRAEL

<PALESTINE

<IRAQ  

<Bombing Children

<Starving Children

<WHY my Children?

<ISRAEL-FIRST?

<FOLLOW the MONEY

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Important

Information

<If Americans Knew

<Council for the National Interest

click here to learn more

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At-a-Glance

<MidEast: 10,000 Years at a Glance

<The '90-91 Gulf

<Putting a Jewish State in Palestine

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Documents

<Gulf War TV GUIDE

<The King Crane Commission Report.

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Slaughtering Iraq

<Iraqi Body Count

<American Deaths

<American Wounded

<Coalition Casualties

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NeoCons or NeoNazis?

"Project for the New American (& Israeli) Century"

Signed by Abrams, Cheny, Cohen, Libby, Rumsfelsd, Wolfowitz, et al.

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The Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs  

is the best monthly mag covering the Middle East. It is unsparingly truthful but in a dignified, nonabrasive way. 

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The best book you've probably never heard of on the Arab-Israeli conflict

It is often out of print. If you'd like to try to buy it used on Amazon, click HERE. I will do my best to get this book back in print. I don't know Stephen Green, but I know a great book when I see it.

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THE FATEFUL TRIANGLE by Noam Chomsky

is the most important book ever written on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Chomsky's scholarship, integrity and brilliance make him the most penetrating thinker of our time. (He's the little boy who saw the Emperor had no clothes, all grown up with a couple PhDs.) 

Chomsky's almost terrifying brilliance  makes you wonder how he can miss, or seem to miss, some of the conclusions that beg to be drawn...

So, fool that I am, I'm playing with the idea of a book called

"Dear Chomsky"

--a book-length open letter to America's most courageous thinker regarding some fairly obvious conclusions he has not drawn from his own evidence.

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Glenn Thomson, publisher/creator of Writers & Readers esteemed 'Beginners Books'

(click below to visit the Series)

 "Beginners" series

After Glenn's way-too-early death these great little books fell on hard times. But thanks to Benay Enterprises (Neil Reshen & Dawn Reshen-Doty) the series has been kept alive. Glenn's estate seems to be tied up in British courts, after which (we hope) it will be sold to someone who understands & loves it. In the meantime, let's do our best to support them.

To buy Beginners Books directly from Writers & Readers  go to their new web site by clicking 

 W&R

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The easiest to read great novel ever...

Some of the best short stories you'll ever read --

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Q: What is Ariel Sharon's nationality by birth? 

Q: You claim that Ariel Sharon does not protect Israel from terrorism, he causes, creates and exacerbates terrorist attacks against Israel.  Prove it!

This letter sent to "The Jerusalem Post" by Yaakov Guterman expresses exactly how Ariel Sharon "protects" Israel from terrorism.

IT'S TIME FOR A REALITY CHECK

Before I do anything else I would like to answer a few questions that most Westerners don't seem to have a clue about.

Q: What is the greatest problem in the Arab/Muslim world?

It's the same as it is everywhere else in the world, including America-- drastic inequalities in wealth.

Q: What about the "clash of civilizations" we keep hearing about?

There is no "clash of civilizations" between Islam and the West. The only way the U.S. can justify a Defense Budget nearly as large as the rest of the world combined is to pretend that we are in a mortal struggle against a monolithic Army of Evil.  The only "Army of Evil" oppressing us are our own politicians and the corporate billionaires they serve.

Q: But what about Israel?

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is not a clash of civilizations, it is a clash between an indigenous people and the well-spoken thugs who want to steal their country and colonize them. Israel exports its conflicts to the U.S. by waging a relentless Propaganda War against Arabs/Muslims. The War in Iraq is not our war, it's Israel's war.

Q: What is the Guiding Principle behind Israel's Propaganda War?

It is simple, brutal and effective: Anything that makes the Arabs look bad makes Israel look good.

Q: What would you LOVE to do?  (Surprise me!)

Two things: 1) I'd like to expose Israel's Propaganda War against Arabs & Muslims for the racist garbage it is; 2) I'd like to start a campaign to create a realistic Minimum and Maximum Wage in the US with the ultimate goal of leveling the playing field economically.  And I'd love to be joined in that campaign by American athletes--especially Allen Iverson (see Arabs & Athletes)--and wealthy Arabs with the foresight to prove that they are more willing to help the American people than our own politicians are.

"ARABS & ISRAEL 2...?"

Some people consider my book Arabs & Israel for Beginners the clearest, fairest and most honest book on the Middle East. Because of my book, I have met dozens of young Palestinians. They write me or phone me or invite me to conferences. I listen more than I talk but at some point I ask a question that must be answered: “I will do my best to help you get a Palestinian state if you can answer one question: What would it take for you to live alongside Israel with no violence of any kind?  No killing, no plans of revenge, no attempt to take back any part of Palestine except through democratic or diplomatic means?  What would it take?”

There is no answer to that question that satisfies every Palestinian, but there is one that by far satisfies more than any other.  It is shocking in its simplicity and it asks nothing of Israel except the truth--“Make them admit that they stole our country.”

Do I really think it's that simple?

(NO. I was wrong.)

In 1993 when I finished ARABS & ISRAEL the world situation (and my passion to see all those beautiful people stop killing each other) encouraged optimism.  The Berlin Wall had been torn down, the Soviet Union had been dismantled and there was hope that the Oslo accords might lead to some kind of peace. 

Now, after the assassination of Rabin, after the elections of Netanyahu and Sharon, after U.S. led "sanctions" killed 800,000 Iraqi children, after the 2nd Intifada, after another war on Iraq, after the impending genocide in Gaza, after another invasion of Lebanon, after Israel's intractability and America's rubber-stamping of every Israeli atrocity, it is time to admit what everyone knows and nobody wants to admit (or, to be more honest, which I did not want to admit):

1. Putting a Jewish country in the middle of the Arab-Muslim world was one of the stupidest ideas of the last 500 years.

2. As long as Jews insist on having a country in the Middle East against the will of the inhabitants, the conflict will expand, involve more countries and entangle the U.S. more deeply and dangerously in Israeli machinations.

3. The inhabitants whose will is being ignored and whose rights are being trampled on include not only Palestinians but the entire Arab/Muslim world.

The Zionist program, which is an intentional affront to the entire Arab/Muslim world, now implicates and involves the United States. "We"--our politicians, not our people--have allowed Israel to draft us into their racist, genocidal army.

(...yes, of course there is a solution.)

STOP!

I am sick of Politics, I'm sick of dividing the world into Arabs, Jews, Blacks, Whites, blah blah blah, I'm sick of having a President and a Vice President and a Secretary of State, etc etc who should ALL be put on trial for Mass Murder and Capitally Punished if found guilty and I'm sick of American Politicians taking bribes from Israel to guide America into war and bankruptcy, I'm sick of pretending that Hilary and Obama are anything more hopeful that slightly larger BandAids to put on our hemorrhaging-from-a-dozen-open-wounds country ... and I cannot for the life of me understand why America demands a higher degree of moral and legal accountability from the capos of Organized Crime than it does from our own politicians.  For God's sake, let's at least apply the RICO Laws to our politicians: We have the right to take any illegally obtained money (like War-Profiteering) from the Criminals and from their families and estates with no statute of limitations.  We should also apply the RICO Laws to Israel and reclaim some of the billions of dollars stolen from the American people by Israel.  (They brag that they don't need US money to survive--let them prove it!)

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Back to the only thing I have any control over...

Since Arabs & Israel covers events only up to 1993, I constantly get requests to write a follow-up book covering the period from 1993 to the present.  I have decided not to write an Arabs & Israel 2--the world has changed in ways that no sequel could account for.  I have decided instead to write a series of small, clear, no-bull books, each of which focuses on one subject (or person or country) at a time. 

I am working on that series now.  It will include books on Iraq, Iran, Syria, Unasked Questions about 9/11 (the questions you don't ask are the ones that can get you killed), bin Laden, Sharon, Islam, Neo-Cons, Fundamentalism, Saudi Arabia, Noam Chomsky, Project for a New American Century, JINSA, Economic Aid to Israel, (U.S.) Defense Budget, Israel: Who Does It Benefit?, Sports (as Uncontested Right Wing Propaganda), Media (How do I choose between all those competing versions of the Truth?), Why America Must Establish a Maximum Wage -- to mention a few!

I am often asked by readers of ARABS & ISRAEL, What are my sources?  In the simplest terms my sources were as follows:

<The sections on Early [pre-Israel] Palestine are primarily from Encyclopedia Britannica under the heading of "Palestine." An interesting secondary source for the Early History of the Middle East is Larry Gornick's Cartoon History of the Universe—amazingly accurate for all of it's humor.

<A major source of information on the creation of modern Israel is Chomsky's The Fateful Triangle, which thoroughly documents  everything of importance up to and including Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

<The details of Israel's invasion are from Israel's Lebanon War by Schiff & Ya'ari, Israeli reporters whose work is censored by the Israeli Army. 

<An astonishing source is Taking Sides by Stephen Green, a book compiled by examining recently declassified US State Dept. records.  Green’s book magnificently covers the period from pre-Israel through the 1967 Six Day War by using only official State Dept. documents.

<While Six Million Died by A. Morse is a prime source for Holocaust info.

<A Concise History of the Middle East by Arthur Goldschmidt is the source for much of the info from Muhammed to the end of the 19th century.

Some readers feel that ARABS & ISRAEL tells "the Arab side of the story." That is not the case. Even my most supportive readers don't seem to have noticed that I kept myself honest by following one very important "rule."

WHAT 'RULE' DID I FOLLOW?  Since it was my goal to learn the truth--and to present that truth to a country conditioned by relentless propaganda to mistrust Arabs--I never relied on an Arab source to present the Arab side of the story.  In virtually every case, I used either Israeli or Jewish sources; or irrefutably "whitebread sources" (like Britannica) that, if they bent the truth, would NOT bend it to favor the Arabs; or official documents available to anyone (e.g. Woodrow Wilson's 1919 King Crane Commission Report; the US State Dept. documents Stephen Green uncovered; the facts [population, etc.] underlying the UN's 1947 partition of Palestine).

ARABS & ISRAEL tells the plain truth.  I'm willing to take a polygraph test to prove that I never in any way distorted the truth to favor either side.

Let's switch gears and have a little fun. I am nearly finished writing a book on a subject that's dear to my heart...

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be an Arab in America?

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  Letters & LoveSongs from a TrashTalking Arab in Post-9/11 America

Ron David   

Personally, I love being asked ‘The Question’—  

The Question was asked most poetically by a dickwad in Alabama where the Army had dumped me:

"Where you from, boy?"  (I was so naive that I thought 'boy' was a term of endearment!)

“Detroit,”  I said.

“No,”  the guy said,  “I mean ORIGINALLY.”

How nice of you to ask ...

My grandparents were born in Lebanon, my father was born in Ohio, my mother was born in West Virginia, seven of my uncles fought in World War II, my brother is a policeman, I was born, baptized and circumcised in Detroit, I spent three years in the Army, a year in Sweden, I live in New York and for the last several years I have felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany.

That is what this book is about.

 Many of my friends are Jewish but I don't have as many Jewish friends as I once had because when I tell them that it is mainly their fault that I feel like a Jew in Nazi Germany they get bitchy and go away.

That is what this book is about.

Understanding the Middle East used to be something one did out of curiosity, now our lives depend on it.  The conflict between Israel and the Arabs spills over on to all of us.  It devastates our economy, it deforms our elections, it distorts our media and although none of our politicians will admit it, it suckers us into wars that don't benefit us.  If we understood the Middle East, we would not have wasted our resources on two useless wars and we wouldn't be in mortal dread over the prospect of the next terrorist attack.  Among other things, anyone who claims that Israel, directly or indirectly, had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks on America is a disingenuous bullshitter who is putting the lives of everyone in America at risk.  

That is what this book is about. 

But what this book is about above all else is what it's like to be an Arab in America.

Being an ARAB in America =1

(...During  the  1950s & 60s...)

Arabs are a truly unique people: We are the only people in America that started out as full-fledged human beings and managed to work our way down to being the most despised ethnic group in the country.  In it’s own twisted way, that’s quite an accomplishment.  (We can’t take all the credit.  We had an enormous amount of help.  I promise you, we'll deal with that later.)

The point I’m trying to make is simple: A few years ago we were considered real human beings in America.  During the 1950s, Danny Thomas was the best-known Arab in the U.S.  His TV show, like most 50s TV, was corny.  His 'Uncle Tonoose' was a funny old-country Lebanese eccentric and other shows featured funny old-country Italian eccentrics, Irish eccentrics, Jewish eccentrics—all kinds of ethnic eccentrics.  Either you were Dick and Jane white bread American or you were ethnic.  (Unless you were Black, then you were screwed.)  Arabs, Greeks, Italians were ‘Mediterraneans’—and what lovers we must have been to have "Sheiks" and "Trojans" named after us!  (Imagine walking into a drugstore and saying, "I'd like a dozen lubricated Englishmen.") In 1950s American pop culture, Arab also meant swashbuckler movies with exotic names like Sinbad, Ali Baba, Baghdad, Persia (often starring good looking Jewish brothers like Tony Curtis); the ghost of Valentino (the Italian Sheik) still hovered over the universe; the Arab fortune cookie wisdom poems of Omar Khyaam.

In 1961, the inflated British ‘epic’ film Lawrence of Arabia took America by storm by disguising British colonial arrogance as both real history and as insight into what those racist bozos call "the Arab Mind."  The typically British premise of the film was that those po’ li’l childlike Ayrabs need a Nice White Englishman to ‘unite’ them.  (You obviously weren’t supposed to wonder why the Arabs were the ones in dire need of ‘uniting’ when it was England and Europe that were fighting two World Wars!) 

(Rumor has it that the esteemed Arab filmmaker Spike Lee is making a sequel— Abdul of England.)   Peter Paleface Paternalistic O'Toole who played Lawrence was a fine actor but he wasn't any hormone-drive young hero’s role model.  (O’Toole was also Irish, so he knew exactly what the British meant by ‘uniting’ a country.)

Role Model?  Did somebody say Role Model? 

ArabSong, continued

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Sidon, Lebanon 1963 -- Uncle Joe, Aunt Naifi & Mom

Uncle Joe, the oldest of dad's brothers and the only one born in Lebanon, spent most of his life working in the U.S. He returned to Lebanon after his retirement.  All seven of dad's brothers (including Uncle Joe) served in the U.S. Army during World War II.  Although my grandparents on both sides were born in Lebanon, my parents visited Lebanon only once -- immediately after dad retired.  

From my father's Lebanon notes;

9/12/63 -- Left Detroit approx 3 PM

I try to sleep to pass the time but I'm too excited.  Except for Joe who was born in the old country I will be the first of my brothers to see Lebanon.  Those of us who were born in the U.S. and have raised families here are proud to be Americans but we are not one iota less proud of our Lebanese heritage.  One of brother Pete's only regrets, may he rest in peace, was that he never managed to see our country.  He made me promise to see it for him. Not a day goes by that I don't think of brother Pete.  I miss you, buddy.

Is it possible that in a few hours I will see the country where my parents were born?  And THEIR parents and their parents' parents, all the way back to the time of Christ?  Did some man with my blood actually touch Christ?  My dear, dear God.  Thank You.

A few years after my parents' idyllic visit to the country of their ancestors, the Israelis rolled into South Lebanon.  The destruction was huge, brutal and intentional.  The people who do this can't be Jews, can they?

continued...

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Q & A in Search of Clarity on Iraq

Q:  What is the main threat to the American people?  What are WE worried about?

IRAQ, continued