Skip to main content
Arafat courage and the love of the Palestinian people for Arafat, muhaha!



Arafat cancels visit to Jenin amid fears for his own safety



Flying by helicopter provided by Jordan's King Abdullah (his own Russian-piloted fleet was destroyed by an Israeli rocket attack last year), Mr Arafat went to Bethlehem, then Jenin, visiting the town, but not the rubble fields of the camp.



He knew this meant abandoning a chance to step into the international limelight in a place where atrocities were committed by the Israeli army, and where the United Nations sought -- and failed -- to send a fact-finding committee to discover what went on. At least 54 people were killed in the camp during eight days of fighting, nearly half of them civilians.



Arafat aides said they were worried about heckling. The odds are that their concerns were more serious. Palestinian opposition has been fuelled by popular anger over his decision to allow 13 Palestinian militants from Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity to be exiled, and six to be imprisoned in the West Bank under British and US supervision. Both deals were seen by many Arabs as a sell-out.
Lovely. Nice shots by the writer (Phil Reeves). Arafat has to borrow a helicopter because the Israelis zapped his. And then there's that failed "fact-finding" mission, which was going to investigate the massacre of hundreds of Palestinian refugees...oh, oops! Seems only 54 died, oh, yet UN "fact-finders" were declaring a massacre even before they had arrived in the area.



"...nearly half of them civilians." Lovely phrase. "Nearly" covers a lot of territority. There is also the persistent refusal to recognize that you can't tell a civilian from a soldier when so many "civilians" are hauling ammunition and ordnance around, such as the 10-year-olds who claim they were hustling bombs and such around.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

John Wick: Chapter 4

No sense in playing coy, this is a great film. I’ve seen it twice and while I don’t quite love it in the way I love the first, original John Wick , it’s my #2. It’s a little overlong, has some wasted space and time, has one absolutely pointless and useless character, and generally ignores the realities of firefights, falling, getting shot, hit, etc. All that notwithstanding, it’s a great action flick, has a genuine emotional core, and is well worth your time if you’re into that sort of thing. Like I am. Summary: John Wick (Keanu Reeves), last seen saying he was fed up with the High Table, goes to war to obtain his freedom. Some of the most incredible action scenes ever filmed ensue, culminating in a very satisfactory finale and a devastating post-credit scene. The first Wick film was a surprise hit. It was a simple, straight-forward tale of vengeance told in a simple, straight-forward manner. Where it stood out was its devotion to human stunt work, on exploiting long camera shots that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

DVD: The Descent

While waiting for the fourth disk of season 4 of House to arrive, I watched The Descent . This movie has been out on DVD for a while, so why bring it up now? Because I think I might become a fan of its writer-director, Neil Marshall . His latest is Doomsday , recently released on DVD, and while it’s sort of a mess, it’s a mess in that oh-fun-what-the-heck-let’s-shoot-a-Bentley-through-a-bus sort of way. The Descent is a different sort of animal. Prepare for spoilers. Since this film has been out for a while, I’m going to feel free to reveal. The setup is simple: Six friends go spelunking, complications ensue. Basic complications involve Sarah and Juno. Sarah is an emotional wreck following the rather horrible and tragic deaths of her husband and daughter (this trip is seen as therapy , oh my). Juno is a reckless thrill-seeker who leads an unknowing Sarah and friends into a cave no one has – publicly, at least – ever explored. All goes horribly...
1 comment
Read more

Dune Part 2 (2024)

I have come not to praise Dune but to bury it. I am in a distinct minority. So be it. To explain why, there will be some minor spoilers ahead; sorry. The short version is #NotMyDune. Summary: Picking up where Dune Part 1 left off, we find the young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) hanging out with the Fremen. Plots to overthrow rival houses and empires ensue. Go here to see what I thought about Dune Part 1 (2021) . Overall, I found it to be technically brilliant, but lacking a human heart, an exercise in frenetic slow motion. D2 is more of the same, though with far more action. Acting-wise, everyone is doing a fine, more than adequate job. Absolutely no one or nothing stands out. The way the characters are written (adapted, actually), their back and forths and interactions, are all weak and unengaging. I generally hate when they speak. I've read the novel a ridiculous number of times, and these films are prompting me to read it again. I understand that trying to translate the n...
1 comment
Read more