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• [1] jgarbuz from Queens January 23, 2009 - 08:30AM

  I hope your guest will not forget to mention that the Council of the League of Nations at the San Remo Conferences of 1920 and 1921 RULED that the Jewish National Home is in Palestine, and authorized the return of Jews to settle it and to establish local autonomy. That was the purpose of the Mandate given to Britain to administer.

  Or that Emir Feisal, leader of the Arab revolt, signed an agreement with Chaim Weizmann in 1919 zat the Paris Peace Conference accepting the "Zionist programme" in Palestine with the proviso that the Arabs gain independence in the rest of the Middle East, and that he is made king of all the Arabs in Damascus.

  
  
• [2] Herb E January 23, 2009 - 09:16AM

  Could you discuss the history of the Palistinine people? Who were their leaders before 1963, before 1948? Up to 1948 Palistineines were the Jews. The PA constituion call the the distruction of the Jewish state. The 2nd best place for a Palistineine to live is Israel, (1st USA). you dicussed this on your show.

  
  
• [3] Gabrielle from NYC January 23, 2009 - 09:22AM

  please, for the love of God, if anyone mentions that Israel pulled out of Gaza and they are not challenged on this, i may never listen to this show again.

  
  
• [4] Paul Palansky from Somers, NY January 23, 2009 - 12:23PM

  It is vitally important to any discussion of Israel and Palestine to define what Palestine is historically, and who the Palestinian people are historically. So much emotion and so many opinions cloud the facts, and most people do not understand or realize the truths about who the "Palestinian Refugees" are or how they came to be refugees. They were robbed of their rightful homeland by a British gift to the Hashemites which became the nation now known as Jordan. This all happened decades prior to Israeli statehood.

  
  
• [5] Eric Swensson from United States January 23, 2009 - 12:50PM

  The irony of Mr Lopate making light of listeners accusing him of bias right after he stated as a fact that John McCain didn't know the difference between Sunni and Shi'ite. McCain had a slip of the tongue. It happens.

  You guys need to hire a non-liberal ombudsman just to help you understand your own bias and the reason that many of us have not quit listening but are fed up with the bias and so do not currently support WNYC financially.

  Thank you.

  Warm regards,

  Eric

  
  
• [6] jgarbuz from Queens January 23, 2009 - 12:53PM

  Your guest is just as ignorant as all your other guests have been, which is only to be expected. No mention of the League of Nations Mandate, that authorized the JEwish National Home in Palestine and GAVE Jews the RIGHT to return and resettle the country. No mention of the fact that there is NO treaty of alliance between the US and ISrael which is why Israel had to go nuclear in the first place. No mention that the US sells the Arabs nearly three times as much arms as it does to Israel. No mention that Israel gave up its oil supplies when it withdrew from the SInai for the third time in 1979. Basically a totally typically content-free, worthless pro-Arab interview.

  
  
• [7] Amy from Manhattan January 23, 2009 - 12:58PM

  Ms. Rossi mentioned that the US has been helping other Middle East nations develop nuclear power while objecting to Iran's efforts to develop its own, but are the nuclear power plants in those other nations the kind that use highly enriched uranium? I didn't hear objections to Iran's nuclear plants until they started working on plants that use this kind of uranium, because the enrichment facilities can also be used to produce nuclear-weapons-grade uranium. If the plants the US promoted in the other countries were the lower-grade type, I don't see how this is an example of hypocrisy. Not that there weren't plenty of examples, but was this really one of them?

  
  
• [8] markBrown from sos-newdeal.blogspot.com and markbnj.blogspot.com January 23, 2009 - 12:58PM

  and ALSo that "SIR Winston" in 1923 caused a huge problem, when he was in charge of the mandate, and gave 1/2 of the land in the mandate to create the new country of trans-jordan currently called Jordan.

  see markbnj.blogspot.com

  ps: I think we need to go to the 1948 UN TWO state solution for the area. and that's the real solution.

  
  
• [9] jgarbuz from Queens January 23, 2009 - 12:59PM

  Your guest doesn't even know the most BASIC ME history. No mention of the Ottoman empire under whom all Arabs were merely subjects for 400 years. No mention that there wasn't even an Ottoman vilayet or sanjak called "Palestine."

  Total waste of air time with not a shred of useful historical information. And Assad is not a Shia but an Alawite.

  
  
• [10] markBrown from sos-newdeal.blogspot.com and markbnj.blogspot.com January 23, 2009 - 01:00PM

  PS: Dear Eric (#5) if you DON't Listen, and DON't SUPPORT WNYC, go away. Go FAR far away, says a member...

  Go listen to Rush Limbaugh, and stew in your own 'anger' over President Obama.

  
  
• [11] jgarbuz from Queens January 23, 2009 - 01:03PM

  THe land EAST of the Jordan should be called by its rightful name, EASTERN Palestine. The Land WEST of the Jordan river should be "Land of Israel." WE Jews must concede Gilead and Bashan to the Jordanian Palestinians for peace.

  Judah, Samaria and part of Golan (a Hebrew name) is all Land of Israel.

  
  
• [12] sara from nyc January 23, 2009 - 01:09PM

  Well Mr. Swensson, I suppose you get what you pay for. Or maybe you don't. Or maybe you don't get what you don't pay for. Or maybe....

  
  
• [13] jgarbuz from Queens January 23, 2009 - 01:10PM

  To Herb E.

  The first main "Palestinian leader" was Muhammad Amin al Husseini, the appointed "Grand Mufti" of Jerusalem, whose gangs started terrorism in 1920 against the Jewish returnees, and even killing any ARab who urged compromise and moderation, and spent WWII as Hitler's guest in Berlin urging him not to let a single Jew escape alive to Palestine. Hundreds if not thousands of Jewish children who could have been evacuated to Palestine were sent to POland to be murdered instead as a result. He was an indicted as a war criminal but was helped to escape, and died in Lebanon only in 1974.

  
  
• [14] Maria from Brooklyn January 23, 2009 - 01:13PM

  Sounds like the book may be a good, basic overview with some valid ideas. One small point: I would not characterize the Syrian leadership as Shi'ite, in the usual sense. They are Alawi, who are "shi'itic" or a sect of Shi'ism with more esoteric beliefs than the majority 12'ers. They are not completely identical to Shi'ites in Iran.

  
  
• [15] jgarbuz from Queens January 23, 2009 - 01:49PM

  I still haven't heard anyway make mention of the fact that the 20,000 inhabitants of Sderot, which has been under rocket fire, are mostly the children and grandchildren of Moroccan and other Jews from Arab countries who were pushed out after 1948. Now that would be giving the audience a bit of real history. The audience doesn't know that nearly 1 million Jews were pushed out of the Arab and Muslim countries, and that none remain to speak of, whereas Israel has 1.2 million ARab citizens.

  
  
• [16] Melissa Rossi January 23, 2009 - 02:36PM

  Dear listeners,

  Thank you for listening to my interview on WNYC today. All of the points raised above are valid -- and I cover them in my book, which has tons of history. Couldn't squeeze them all into a 15-minute interview, alas! Also, the al-Asad clan is Alawite -- which is considered a Shia sect, although it mixes in other esoteric elements. Look at the book! Thanks for writing!

  Melissa Rossi,

  Author -- What Every American Should Know about the Middle East

  
  
• [17] DAT from Nathan Straus Projects January 23, 2009 - 03:42PM

  http://www.palestineremembered.com/

  Noam Chomsky on Gaza

  http://www.zcommunications.org/znet/viewArticle/20316

  The two sites indicated above give extensive,

  well documented, explanations on this issue.

  
  
• [18] hjs from 11211 January 23, 2009 - 04:58PM

  eric

  if that were only true. mccain made the same "slip of the tongue" more than once. only time will tell if it was senility or if he was mistaken

  
  
• [19] Ben from NYC January 23, 2009 - 07:40PM

  I truly hope that all listeners to this interview do not consider this information the ONLY things that every American 'should' know.

  This author presents an incredibly liberal view point that, like most programming on WNYC/NPR, paints the Middle East as a horribly misunderstood and peaceful place that is being exploited and pulverized by Americans.

  As a PAYING member for WNYC, it would be very refreshing to hear a less biased view of these issues. And hopefully the things that 'you need to know' about the middle east include how many of these hostile nations not only pursue, but make policy calling for the destruction of the jewish people.

  It's not just about oil, it's not just about arms. And it's certainly not an easy effort to bring religions and religious sects who HATE each other and the Western world to sit down and chat. Just because Obama portrays the peaceful diplomat, doesn't mean that peaceful diplomacy will work in an area of the world where hate lives stronger than love, cooperation or tolerance.

  
  
• [20] Maria from Brooklyn January 26, 2009 - 12:45PM

  Thank you for responding, Melissa.

  Re: "Also, the al-Asad clan is Alawite -- which is considered a Shia sect, although it mixes in other esoteric elements":

  'Alawi and Alawite are the same (Nuṣayrī is another term used). In my previous post, I called them a sect of Shi'ism, but my point that they are not completely identical to Iranian Shi'ites (as you indicated they were in the interview) stands. As with many heterodox groups in the M.E. (e.g., the Ahl-e Haqq, the Alevis, the Yazidis) their beliefs have been kept secret from outsiders (i.e., they're "esoteric") and their origin is disputed. As someone who has spent time researching and writing about Alevis (and consequently other such religious sects in the region), I can say that how to define and categorize such complicated (and fascinating) groups is by no means settled. Scholars continue to argue about these matters.

  I'll read your book; it looks interesting.

  
  
• [21] jgarbuz from Queens January 28, 2009 - 01:27PM

  If your book, Ms. Rossi, doesn't stress that the Council of the League of Nations RULED in San Remo in 1922, that the JEWISH NATIONAL HOME is in Palestine, and AUTHORIZED the RIGHT of Jews to return and resettle "wastelands" and former sultan's "state lands" as well as the right to buy land for Jewish settlement, then the rest of your book is of no use to me. It's like writing a book about the United States and leaving out the Constitution. Or starting it's history in 1776 without mentioning the prior 150 years of settlement diminishes its value.

  
  
• [22] jgarbuz from Queens January 28, 2009 - 01:40PM

  I'm interested in finding a true, complete, total and unbiased history of the modern Zionist movement between 1882 and 1947, that tells the true story of the Jewish settlement and what they endured, as well as telling the Arab side of the story truthfully as well. I may die waiting, but I'll try to hold them.

  
  
• [23] jgarbuz from Queens January 28, 2009 - 02:12PM

  Well, among the points never brought up by the pro-Arab side is:

  1. No mention of the 900,000 Jews forced out of the Muslim Arab countries after 1948, or the pogroms that preceded.

  2. No mention that the US gives as much aid to the Arab side as it does to Israel, or that the US sells the Arabs 2.5 times as much arms, primarily to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan, all whom are not exactly friendly towards Israel.

  3. No mention that there never was a Palestinian state in all of recorded history, or that Jerusalem was never an Arab capital, nor mentioned in the Koran, or that the Arab population EXPLODED after the beginning of Jewish resettlement starting in the 1880s, or that Israel was attacked in 1948 by 5 Arab armies and no one (except the Czechs who sent arms thanks to Stalin) helped Israel when it lost 6,000 in its war of Independence.

  Those are just a few facts that ought to be recalled. And, of course, no mention of the ethnic cleansing of Jews out of Arabia by Muhammad. That would be too dangerous to bring up.