Saturday, April 08, 2006

Panel Discussion on Iran and Israel

I attended a wonderful discussion on Iran-Israel relations this past Thursday. Here is the audio clip and the speakers’ backgrounds.

Gen. Shlomo Brom:
Former Israeli Deputy National Security Advisor; Guest Scholar in
Residence, United States Institute of Peace; Senior Research Associate at the Jaffee Centre for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University.


Dr. Trita Parsi:
Middle East specialist at Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies and author of a forthcoming book on Iranian-Israeli relations published by Yale University Press.

Moderator
Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi:
District 5 Supervisor for the City of San Francisco; Spokesperson for San Franciscans for Public Power; Co-founder of California Green Party.

Co-sponsored by The Center for Middle Eastern Studies,
Iranian Student Alliance in America at University of California at Berkeley; Golden Gate University School of Law Jewish Law Students Association; Hastings Association of Muslim Law Students

-Arash Aramesh

Comments:
This Israeli general is pathetic. He simply promotes the typical Israeli line, which is a weak one. Hezbollah is a terror organization, and was so even while it was fighting the ILLEGAL occupation of Southern Lebanon. Moreover, he notes continued Hezbollah hostilities despite Israeli withdrawal. BUT, he does not mention the continued harrassment and even kidnapping of Lebanese fishermen, the weekly violation of Lebanese air space by Israel, the mine fields which Israel planted which Israel refuses to give the location of to, and from which Lebanese chidlren continue to get blown up from, and the continued occupation of the Shebaa farms and seven villages. HELLO?? This guy is just toting the Israeli line, and has little to contribute.
 
Moreover, he blames Palestinian suicide bombings for derailing the Oslo process, whihc if anyone knows was doomed from the start, and this is obvious from how the PLO and the Israelis came together in the first place. He does not say anything about Israeli settler violenece, economic blockades, or settlement expansion. He simply appeals to the most ignorant and uneducated viewpoints of the debate. What a dissapointment.
 
Moreover, why has the Iranian presidential position all of a sudden become the most important power position within the country?? I mean, when Khatami came into power everyone said it doesnt matter bc the preisdent position is a weak one, and they were proven right. But now, the president apparently has his hands on the nuke button. This denies the complexity of the Iranian political sysytem and the power structure, which has many many checks and balances systems, despite all its atrocious flaws. Since when did the debate become so simplistic?
 
Dr. Parsi, on the other hand, is absolutely brilliant, and he eloquently talks about the complexities of Iranian Israel relations. He is what scholarship is all about, not a propagandist like Schlomo. Bravo Dr. Parsi.
 
I heard the talk on Iran-Isaeli relations sucked.
 
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