Live-blogging: The Nature of conflict with Israel

The Center for Socialist Studies is holding now (as I’m typing) a lecture on the nature of the conflict with Israel.

The first speaker is Dr. Muhammad el-Beltaggi, a parliamentarian with the Muslim Brothers. He is now talking about the history of the conflict, making no reference however to religion at all. He’s talking about “Imperialism”, “Zionism”, but no mention of the religious rhetoric at all, up till now at least.
–Dr. Beltaggi is stressing that resistance is the only way forward, against the Zionist State.. The criticisms made against the Arab regimes however is diluted. Beltaggi didn’t mention the word “Mubarak” up till now.
— “No place for peace with such a barbaric entity like the Zionist entity. Resistance is the only option,” says Beltaggi
–Beltaggi, just finished his speech now. He spoke very eloquently, did not mention any word about religion. You could have mistaken him for a secular nationalist if you didn’t know he was MB. Still, his criticism of the regime is mild. He’s criticizing the “Egyptian leadership” for pressuring the Palestinians and for the siege coordinated with the Zionists.

–Sayyed Abdel Moneim now of the Center for Socialist Studies is now speaking.
–He’s discussing the historical ties between imperialism and the establishment of the Zionist state
–Israel has always been a base for imperialism in the region, Be it brits or or later the Americans.
–Why can’t the Palestinians, despite their bravery, not able to liberate their land? They are up against big imperial powers who are backing Israel, and they need extra help from their neighbors.
–Sayyed is talking about the rise of Zionism, as a reaction to the antisemitism in Europe in the age of colonialism
–“There is so much oil in this region. There is the Suez canal. This region is strategic. The imperial powers are using the Zionist settlers in Palestine in protect their interests in the region.
–Zionism sees Jews and Gentiles as irreconcilable, and cannot live together, according to the Zionist myths..
–Those who carry out attacks against Jews abroad in Europe and elsewhere give legitimacy to the Zionist logic. We should be firmly opposed to any attacks on synagogues in Europe. “Zionism and Anti-Semitism are two faces of the same coin,” says Sayyed.
–The Arab regimes do not care about Palestine. From 1948 till today, the role of the regimes have been negative…
–Sayyed is lashing out against the Egyptian regime for its complicity in the warcrimes and the siege
–The Palestinians on their own cannot liberate Palestine. The Arabs have to get involved. The biggest aid we can give them is overthrowing the regimes that are ruling us and are agents of imperialism and zionism

–Medhat el-Zahed, Consulting Editor of El-Badeel and leftist activist is now speaking.
–He’s making reference to Rachel Couri, who died defending the Palestinians.
–Medhad is talking about international solidarity with the Palestinians, which is not limited only to the Arab and Muslim Worlds.
–Medhat is praising Noam Chomsky, who’s Jewish, but at the same time a harsh critic of Israel. We have to end this mix up and confusion between Zionism and Judaism..
— There is a “globalization of people” vs. “globalization of capital,” says Medhat.
–The international solidarity is a a main asset in the fight against Israel.
–The Palestinian national liberation movement has managed to stand strongly in the face of Israel during the war on Gaza, and same for Lebanon in 2006
–But there are problems, according to Medhat, saying there should be diversification of the forms of resistance. “Things should not be limited to missiles only,” Medhat says. “We need mass participation of the Palestinians in resistance, including peaceful actions.”
–The military operations also shouldn’t be limited to the rockets. Operations against the settlements should escalate
–Medhat is also calling for unity between the Palestinian resistance factions. “Factions should discuss what is the next step, and agree together.”
–Medhat is also extremely concerned about the separation between Gaza and the West Bank.

Medhat has finished.. Now the floor is open for discussion. The contributions from the floor are critical of the MB’s stand towards the Arab regimes and is asking why aren’t the MBs bold enough to expose Mubarak and his allies. But the atmosphere is not tense and the dialogue is taking place in a civilized way.

I think I’ll stop here, and take some more pix. Excuse the typos and some of the points I missed blogging about above. It’s my first time to try Live-Blogging an event here in the center. I hope I tweak and improve this technique in the future by more practice.