Star, Crescent, Cross

Ref echoboom #9

Your black heart bleeds for the Palestinians who were expelled from Israel.

I don`t hear a word from you about the Hindus and Sikhs who used to live in Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan.

Pakistanis are the Israelis of the subcontinent... without any of the Israelis` redeeeming qualities such as emphasis on education, the arts, self-reliance, etc.

Shut the fcuk up already!

Deepak,
A very interesting and well-written travelogue. For a moment I thought that I was reading the immortal Veeresh perform yet another arudous journey through the Land of the Pure. Once I started gazing into my own imagination, led by your excellent accoutn of the trips and the scenery, I knew that a different sort of treat was in order. Your behavior in describing Israel and the Occupied Territories is very much that of an impartial camera. It is good to know about the travel procedures, the scrutiny due to security reasons, modes of travel, and thoughts of the average Israelis. I myself hope to make the trip soon and hope that my US passport will be as much of a help as my obviously Muslim first name will be an item of dubious assistance. I like to see for myself and form my own opinions - without the obvious prejudice from CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Al Jazeera, PTV, ZTV, or the 700 Club. Thanks for an enjoyable article.

Nice article, Deepak.

I am glad to see some factual and practical articles about israel by indians. Unfortunately, most indians who go there to visit tend to be left-wing types who feel it is important to demonstrate that their first allegiance is to criticizing israel for all kinds of ideological reasons. They would never write such articles about china or saudi arabia.

The focus on human beings and human emotions is also very good.

Very engaging write up. Brings back memories. I was there almost 6 years ago when there was some possibility of peace even with Syria. Assad was dragging his feet and then all hell broke loose starting with Sharon`s visit to the al Aqsa which brought down the government and brought him to power. Sort of like the attack on babri masjid that propelled the BJP to power in india.
The jews have built the country with the single-minded purpose of having a secure homeland for themselves where never again will they be persecuted. I found the israelis to be on the whole liberal and willing to criticize themselves and also criticize the new york jews, who much like the nri`s, are busybodies and more zionist than most israelis.
Many of the russian immigrants have only a tenuous connection to judaism, and most are secular, non-observant or atheist. Russian criminal gangs had become very active and there was a lot of tension between them and the black jews. The hatred between the orthodox (who are not conscripted) and the secular jews is open and palpable. As you have observed, Tel Aviv is a world unto itself. Except on saturdays, it looks like it belongs in western europe.
Filipino and thai laborers were aplenty - a shame considering how palestinians in occupied territories are starving. Israel is in a hurry to shut out the palestinians and move on but they find themselves dragged back.
Some day, hopefully, there will be a secular state that is home to both jews and palestinians.

Re: # 5
> do they even wipe their butts after they are done?

No. They got arabs to lick their ass .... LOL.

God BLESS THE JEWS :)

Nice write up, you`ve written as an observer, very informative and gave some glimpses of Isreal that we would not normally get. Look forward to more of your travelogues, only next time dont make them so long and break them up a little. Thanks a mill

#10 Harimau
I don`t hear a word from you about the Hindus and Sikhs who used to live in Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan

The same can be said about the millions of Muslims who lived in Punjab and Bengal and were driven out, as well as the millions from other parts of India, infact more Muslims were driven out and killed than vice versa. Open the one sided narrow mind to understand the other. Many would easily call BJP/VHP/Shiv Sena Isrealis of South Asia. It works both ways!

As for the content of his post, you have to understand that along with Kashmir, Pakistanis have Palestine and lately Chechnya and Bosnia ingrained into them since they are kids, esp the ones who live/born/bought up in the west. This is his reaction, why get your Karma and aura in a twist and cause disharmony within yourself by the contents of his post?

Re: # 15

> The same can be said about the millions of Muslims who lived in Punjab and Bengal ...

And all the while I thought it was the muslim league that has ASKED FOR a partition.