Newly confident Ramallah struts out at Ramadan

It was 10 p.m., Thursday night, and the crowd under the giant Ramadan canopy was eager for the floor show to begin. As the last gaggle of people moved to their seats, a glamorously dressed Palestinian woman holding a baby in her arms stopped suddenly. Her four-inch spike heel had gotten caught in a grate that ran around the outdoor swimming pool of the patio that, temporarily, was this city's most lavish nightspot. Calmly handing her child to another woman in her party, the young mother gave a graceful tug with her foot and the heel came free. Taking back her baby, she resumed the procession to her stage-side table.

That was the moment it became clear: Ramallah ain't what it used to be – not before the last intifada ; not before the first intifada . And members of the old guard here say that not even prior to the 1967 Israeli occupation was this venerable old town ever quite like this.

Never before has Ramallah been this glitzy and full of confidence, almost like its more sophisticated cousin, Beirut.

For three hours that evening, just as every other night since Ramadan began three weeks ago, the streets of the downtown had been swarmed with people, shopping, schmoozing, watching, waiting. Cafés turned into shoe stores and vice-versa as merchants competed to lure and hold the crowd.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/newly-confident-ramallah-struts-out-at-ramadan/article1284979/

there is quite a bit cooperation between the PA the the IDF an the israeli police.....traffic tickets are being paid. I give much credit to hamas on this, though i have no hard information....but the cooperation between the PA and israel started with hamas, both wanted their influence in the westbank "out". and i believe the gaza experience was very influential for that motivation.

If they want war with Israel, they get Gaza - if cooperation, they get the West Bank, an inevitable peace deal, and more economic prosperity.

Want to poke a stick at Israel constantly?

Eventually they will poke back with a bigger one.

Want to try to get along?

Israel will certainly go out of her way.

Early in the evening, as the Iftar fast-breaking dinner begins, Ramallah's streets are as empty and deserted as Jerusalem on Yom Kippur; no cars, few people and just a few Palestinian policemen observing central intersections. But when the family meals conclude, Ramallah's residents leave home for some public recreation. The four Hafla Tents are among the most popular destinations, especially the largest one in Masyoun, next to the luxurious Grand Park Hotel.

They don't serve proper meals here, but provide the basics - coffee, tea, nargile, some nibbles - and most importantly - the opportunity to see and be seen. Ramallah is the West Bank's Tel Aviv, and this is its hottest night spot. Aamer, a man in his 20s, is comfortably seated at the back of the tent. It may not offer the best view of the screens, but it's a good vantage point from other perspectives.

"There's no problem in Ramallah about boys and girls dancing together," he says. "It didn't use to happen a lot, but then a lot of Palestinians who grew up in the West came back, and the whole boy-girl thing really took off. It's not Tel Aviv - not as permissive, and you still have religion and tradition and all of that but things have definitely progressed from about 10 years ago."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1113583.html

The scene could have been straight out of a Roman riviera - a beautiful facaded revival style bath-house sits resplendent in the sun. Meanwhile, taut-bodied, tanned girls in togas sit on the edge of the steaming baths whilst the men luxuriously soak after their vigorous session at the gymnasium.

In fact, your correspondent is in Caesarea, the Roman capital in Judea, and my host of the afternoon is the famed Roman proconsul, Lucius Quietus, hero and commander of the Sixth Legion. Lucius is keen to persuade me that Judea is not the stinking hellhole that we all thought it to be.

"Listen, we've had our problems here, no doubt about it", says Lucius. "We had to come in here and kill an unholy amount of Jews. But it seems the locals are finally getting the idea that if they're good to Rome, Rome can be good to them."

And most of the young Judeans seated around the baths seem to agree. A young male bather tells me: "Yeah, I used to have time for the Zealots, but then they used to bang on about God and 'we have to kick out the Romans and restore the temple blah fucking blah'. At least under the Romans you can get some decent entertainment in this city. Under the beardy-weirdies you couldnt get any courtesans, no circuses, no nothing."

Its a point Lucius is keen to reinforce: "Most of the Jews around here are decent, secular, hellenised types who are content to serve Rome and be good Roman citizens. That way, they get the best of Roman roads, sanitation, and law and order. Its those fucking gibbering half-savage Zealot goatherders in the hills that cause us all the fucking problems. But as long as Jews live out their lives peacefully and learn to accept Roman authority, there's no problem."

"But what about if there's another rebellion?", I ask. Lucius' eyes darken. "If there's another rebellion then Jupiter help them, I'll kick seven colours of shit out of every Jew in this province, and fuck all those shit-eating human rights people in Rome. What would they know about the provinces anyway? They don't call me hero of the Sixth fucking Legion for nothing."

Anyway, that's all from Caesarea. For a limited time, Apollonial Boatlines is offering direct services to Caesarea for 22 denarii. And if you book now, they'll throw in two tickets to see Judean rebels being thrown to the lions at the circus at Tiberius. So what are you waiting for, the Third Punic War? Book now!

You clearly are not keen on their current leadership.

Let us assume that efforts to end the occupation are successful and an independent Palestinian state is created.

What kind of leadership are you hoping to see emerge there and how would you measure the success of the state?

Are there any models in the region that you would point to as examples of what you hope a newly created Palestinian might someday look like?

"for a country that has been occupied by either of its neighbours for much of the past 50 years, I'd say it has held together surprisingly well. It certainly has a much better claim than Israel to being the only true democratic republic in the middle East."


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x280523

Or better yet wait for the "one state solution"

If I were a Palestinian negotiator right about now, I wouldnt take a Taba style settlement. I might be satisfied with the pre-1967 territories in their entirety. But ultimately, I would be quite content to wait for another 10 or 15 years.

Currently, there is no way that the West Bank and Gaza alone can support their populations as well as the refugees from Lebanon, especially if Israel keeps drawing water from the West Bank aquifer, which it shows every intention of doing. Why agree to a state thats not sustainable and have only yourself to blame when it goes to custard?

Far better to wait for circumstances that better favour you. That is what I am advocating. Let the Arabs keep popping out babies in the Galilee. Eventually the Israelis will have to pull back the 200,000 Jews living in the settlements because they risk being outnumbered at home.

Of course, the Haredi are pretty good at popping out babies as well. The prospect of an Israel that increasingly consists of the poor, the ultra-orthodox, and the Arabs, is not exactly a sure-fire recipe for happy smiles and sunshine. But that is for Israel to resolve. They chose to pick up the poisoned chalice of occupation, let them drink from it.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=124x210172

It wasn't aimed at the PA, whom I fully expect to be the leaders of any new state. Huzzah to the PA, and long may they prosper.

What is your position with respect to the legitimacy of the two different Prime Ministers, which, at the present time, do not recognize each other's legimitacy?

I do believe I did grasp the intent of your post (which was very clever), I am just wondering what you think of the Fayyad/Abbas government? Do you view them as legitimate or as Israeli stooges or both or neither?

Once the Israelis leave the West Bank, should that occur, what do you see as the next step for the Palestinian people, specifically with respect to the two different "versions" of the PA that appear to exist at present?

when David Ben-Gurion was levelling his cannons at Menachem Begin's troops aboard the Altalena. That one took a bit of blood and iron to resolve, and perhaps the Palestinians will need to spill some more in order to resolve their own internal disputes. No one expected Begin and Ben-Gurion to settle their differences until the Arabs and British had been dealt with; neither do I expect that the Palestinians will be able to do so until the end of the occupation.

Of course, whether Ben-Gurion or Begin was to be the leader of Israel was not an Arab concern. Neither is it an Israeli concern as to which of the two rival claimants will be the ultimate leader of Palestine.

I do not criticise the Hellenist Jews that accommodated Rome, nor the Arabs that accommodate Israel. Blessed are the meek, and all that sort of thing.