[News] A Tribute to Shimon Tzabar by Gilad Atzmon

[Anti-Imperialist News]

Thursday, March 22, 2007



A Tribute to Shimon Tzabar by Gilad Atzmon

(Note by Peacepalestine: I found the books by Mr 
Tzabar extremely original and interesting, and 
highly recommend them, if you can still find 
them. I consider myself fortunate enough to have 
heard a fascinating and insightful observation on 
Israeli society from Mr Tzabar. In an email he 
once sent me, he wrote this: They say there are 
two kinds of people in Israel - Hawks and Doves. 
I agree that there are two kinds of people, but I 
would call them Hawks and Super-Hawks.)
A tribute to Shimon Tzabar
By Gilad Atzmon

Shimon Tzabar, one of the very few Israeli 
genuine and authentic peace enthusiasts, died 
three days ago (19 March 2007). He was 
Eighty-one. Shimon was a friend. Though we hardly 
ever agreed on anything, though he was sometimes 
harsh in his criticism, he has always managed to 
be charming, loveable and a good laugh. Maybe even the best laugh around.

As well as being a fabulous artist, a landscape 
and portrait painter, Shimon was probably one of 
the best storytellers one could find. This is 
hardly surprising, the man obviously had some 
stories to share. He was born in Tel Aviv in 
1926. Already in his teens he had managed to join 
every Israeli Paramilitary organisation. He knew 
everyone and it is more than likely that everyone knew him.

Shimon participated in three Israeli wars. 
However, it was only after 1967 that he fully 
internalised the scale of the Zionist fallacy. 
Repulsed by emerging Israeli imperialism, Shimon 
left Israel and settled in London. I believe that 
it was then that Shimon started regarding himself 
as a ‘Hebrew-Speaking Palestinian’. By doing so 
he detached himself from the classic Zionist 
collective attribution to world Jewry, he instead 
identified himself with an esoteric geographical orientation.

Like my peers, I came across his name as a young 
kid. Every Israeli child knows Tzabar’s 
‘Tusberindi the Hero’ (Tusberindi Ha’gibor). We 
grew up with his special wit and captivating sketches.

Before leaving Israel, Shimon was an established 
author. He was also a columnist for a number of 
years for both the daily Haaretz and Uri Avnery’s 
Ha’olam Haze. In fact, till his last days, 
Israeli journalists, intellectuals, academic 
researchers and solidarity campaigners who 
visited London tried to approach him and to learn his views about things.

Shimon always loved to surround himself with 
creative people. When we got to know each other 
he asked me to join the editorial staff of the 
<http://www.israelimperialnews.org/>Israel 
Imperial News. I was on his editorial board for a 
while. In 2004, he asked me to join forces with 
him in the production of the 
<http://www.monabaker.com/pMachine/more.php?id=A2166_0_1_0_M>“Better 
than the Michelin Guide to Israeli Prisons, 
Jails, Concentration Camps and Torture Chambers". 
To join forces with Shimon, or to be on his 
editorial board, meant to come over for a coffee 
and watch him working. There was never much for me or anyone else to do.

Shimon was a workaholic, he was addicted to hard 
work. In 1967, in his early forties, after 
immigrating to London, Shimon became a builder. 
Not exactly what you would expect from a 
prominent writer. Evidently, the man was anything 
but spoiled. However, in London Shimon found the 
time to write one of the funniest books ever. 
“<http://deuceofclubs.com/books/158_white_flag.htm>The 
White Flag Principle, How to Lose a War and Why”. 
It is a profound military doctrine that is there 
to suggest that losing a war is always the best 
way to win a future. The white flag principle was 
there to teach generals and warlords how to get 
everything wrong, how to train their soldiers to 
run backwards and to bring their country to their 
knees. “Being defeated is the way forward,” said Tzabar.

I believe that the necessary key to understanding 
Shimon’s unique contribution to the 
Israeli-Palestinian discourse has something to do 
with the fact that Shimon was primarily an 
artist. Rather than bouncing between political 
campaigns and dealing with activists’ will to 
power, Shimon was always focused on himself, on 
his own acts, on his art, on his particular 
creative way of saying things. Shimon always had 
something in the pipeline: whether a large 
landscape picture, a print, a portrait, a 
pamphlet about Israeli occupation, a book about 
Israeli atrocities, a virtual Israeli roadblock 
in front of the Parliament. Though I myself 
hardly agreed with Shimon on many things, I did learn a lot from the man.

Following Shimon, I tend to believe that artists 
better leave politics to politicians. Artists 
should work independently. We should never 
affiliate with anyone but our ethical 
consciousness and moral awareness. In fact, 
Shimon has never pointed it out in such a clear 
manner, but thinking about the man and his role, 
this is what Shimon was all about, a total 
commitment. He was always doing his thing, 
engaging in what he believed should be the right 
thing to do. Shimon will be missed.


Michelin Guides Sue Israeli Satirist over Spoof

by Shimon Tzabar | Oznik.com | 19 July 2004

Micheling Guides have recently filed suite 
against Israeli expat satirist Shimon Tzabar, 
publisher of a pamphlet titled MUCH BETTER THAN 
THE OFFICIAL Michelin Guide to Israeli Prisons, 
Jails, Concentration Camps, and Torture Chambres. 
Below is an excerpt from the guide, followed by 
Tzabar's defense submitted to the British Hight Court.

Excerpt: The Guide (pp. 6-11):
Before we start our guided tour of Israel's 
prisons, concentration camps and torture 
chambers, it would make sense to ask why we are 
doing this. Why should anyone go on such a tour? 
The answer is simple: to see history in the making.
Usually, it is through newspapers that history 
unfolds before our eyes. In the case of Israel 
however, we cannot trust newspapers. They mix 
everything up and make us confused. We cannot 
distinguish any more between anti-Semitism, 
anti-Zionism, and anti-Israeli government policy. 
The only way to know the truth is to go there in 
person and see with our own eyes and watch 
history, true history, in the making.

Going to Israel is quite simple. Anyone can do 
it; with or without a travel agent. The problem, 
once you are there, is how to see the prisons. 
There are two ways to see prisons, one is from 
the outside and the other is from the inside. For 
the sake of watching history in the making, there 
is not much one can see from watching from the 
outside but, after all, it is better than 
nothing. Since this guide serves everyone, we 
thought we would help people to reach the prisons 
and concentration camps and to see them from the 
outside as well as from the inside. We therefore, 
where possible, provide telephone and fax numbers 
of the prisons and police stations concerned. It 
will be obvious that to see the prisons from the 
inside, one has to be arrested. For Palestinians 
or any other Arab, this is not a problem. But for 
people who are not Arabs and may speak Arabic but 
don't have the proper accent, it is not so easy 
to get inside a jail. So, we have to give some guidance as how to be arrested.
Of course, it is easy to commit a crime and be 
arrested, but we can't recommend such an 
ungraceful solution, especially since being 
arrested as a criminal may land you in the wrong 
jail. So, you have to do something political. You 
can demonstrate against the mistreating of 
Palestinians or try to stop bulldozers 
demolishing their homes or even try to save 
children from being shot. But this carries with 
it another danger. Instead of being arrested you 
may be shot yourself, or buried alive by the bulldozer.

This is not a hypothetical suggestion because it 
has already happened to a few English and 
American people. We must admit that there is no 
100% safe way to be arrested. Watching history in 
the making, especially in Israel, carries some 
risk with it, but we will try to help make that 
risk as small as possible. The safest way to be 
arrested, although this also carries a risk with 
it, is to look like a Palestinian Arab. This can 
easily be achieved by putting on some Arab garb, 
such as, for example, an Arab head dress or a 
kafiyeh, as it is commonly known. Once you look 
like a Palestinian you have a good chance of 
being arrested. Your chance is actually so good, 
that you don't have to do anything in particular. 
You can be arrested for anything, even for 
smiling (in the wrong place or at the wrong 
person!) Once you have been arrested, don't talk 
or answer questions. Don't open your mouth even 
if you do understand what is being said. We would 
especially stress that whatever happens, never 
protest because if you do it in any other 
language apart from Arabic (in the correct 
accent), you might be released at once or worse 
still, you could be expelled from the country.
There is also another and much more important 
reason not to open your mouth. This is especially 
important if you want to observe what Israelis 
are capable of and are actually inflicting on the 
Palestinians. If you don't talk, they will assume 
that you know and have something to hide, so they 
will employ physical and psychological means to 
make you talk. They will start by beating you up. 
There are different methods of beating. One of 
them for example is known as the 'bending 
method'. After they have handcuffed your hands 
with plastic wire behind your back, and seated 
you on a small chair without a back support, two 
people will hit you: one, sitting in front of 
you, will push your chest with his left hand and, 
at the same time,will slap your chin with the 
palm of his right hand, while the other person, 
just standing behind you, will hold your head 
with his left hand, and box your left arm with 
his right fist. We go into these details so that you will know what to expect.

Other methods of first stage torture include the 
'tripping game'. While your eyes are covered and 
you can't see, you will be given the command to 
go forward. The moment you move, a soldier will 
trip you with his boot. These are mere examples 
but there are a lot more surprises once you are 
in the hands of the Shabak, the Israeli army police.

You may rightly ask how we know all this. Is it 
from personal experience? The answer is no. We 
copied this information from a booklet by the 
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel which 
was published in Jerusalem, in April 2003. You 
can order this booklet yourself, by writing to: 
Public Committee Against Torture in Israel / PO 
Box 4634 / Jerusalem 91046 / ISRAEL. (see also: related links)

Here is one concrete example of a torture case, 
as published on December 12th 2003 by the 
Organisation Mondiale Contre la Torture (Case ISR101203.CC):

“According to the information received, at around 
2 pm on April 24th 2003, a 16-year-old Mejad 
Abdalatif Fatah Sabach was arrested by Israel 
Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers near Kfar 
Geva/Jenin (see Map 1, pp. 12/13). He was in a 
taxi on the way to school. The soldiers 
handcuffed him, stripped him of his clothes down 
to his underpants and hit him all over his body, 
including the head. They reportedly subsequently 
tightened his handcuffs so much that the marks 
were still visible, two and a half months later, 
when he submitted his complaint.

“While they were transporting him blindfolded to 
the prison facility at Araba, the soldiers beat 
him again. When they arrived, they threw him into 
the camp with his hands and feet tightly 
handcuffed. [Editors Note: It turns out that 
Araba is not a prison as such, but in fact a 
small Palestinian village south-west of Jenin 
which is occupied by a whole brigade of Israeli 
soldiers, called Hativat Menashe]. He was left 
that way until 10 pm, without receiving any food 
or drink. He was then transferred to the Salem 
detention facility (see Map 9, pp. 28/29). On 
arrival, four soldiers, using the butts of their 
rifles and sticks, beat him on the head, face, in 
the stomach and on the legs until he bled. This lasted until 2 am.

“Mejad was subsequently taken to the Kishon 
detention center (see Map 2, pp. 14/15), where he 
was questioned for three hours while seated on a 
small chair, with his hands and feet handcuffed 
and his body bent backwards. After this, he was 
put in solitary confinement for a week. During 
this time he was interrogated twice, once for 6 hours and once for 3 hours.

“He was then taken to Megido Prison (see Map 9, 
pp. 28/29). After having been held there for 15 
days in a tent with 20 other prisoners, he was 
sent back to the Kishon Detention center for 
another week in solitary confinement. On the 7th 
day of detention there, he was taken for 
interrogation which lasted from 10 am to 5 pm.

“During this interrogation, Mejad was placed in a 
painful position, his back stretched backwards, 
with his interrogator kicking him in the legs. 
The following day, he was again interrogated for 
three hours, seated in the same position. The 
many kicks that he received made it difficult for 
for him to stand. After this interrogation, he 
was taken back to his cell, where he remained 
until June 20th 2003, when he was taken to the 
Hasharon Prison. There could be some confusion 
here because there are 2 prisons called Hasharon. 
One is situated on Road 553, near Tel-Mond, (see 
Map 4, pp. 18/19) which belongs to the Prison 
Service, and the other belongs to the Police and 
is near Petach-Tikwa (see Map 5, pp. 20/21), where he is still being held”.

On top of physical torture one can also expect 
psychological torture. Since psychological 
torture involves vocals, and is executed in 
Hebrew or in Arabic, those who don't know these 
languages will not understand a word and, therefore, have nothing to fear.

Bon voyage.
++++++++++++++++++

Letter submitted to the British High Court, 
Chancery Division, in London, in response to a 
suite by famed international publishing house 
Michelin, against the MUCH BETTER THAN THE 
OFFICIAL Michelin Guide to Israeli Prisons, 
Jails, Concentration Camps, and Torture Chambres:

Michelin claim against me is invalid, for the following reasons:

1. The “book” that Michelin is referring to, is 
not a book in a commercial sense.

The “book” that the claimants are referring to, 
is not a book in a commercial sense. It doesn't 
have an ISBN number or a publisher. It has not 
been sent to the British Library as the law 
requires of any book published in this country 
and has not been sent to any bookshop to be sold 
to customers. It is a political pamphlet given 
free or in exchange for a small donation that 
some people send us voluntarily or at our 
request, to cover the cost of printing and 
postage. A notification of the existence of this 
pamphlet and a request for a donation was only 
sent to a few people who are on my e-mail address list.

Since it is not a book in the commercial sense, 
it could not have caused any loss or financial 
damage as Michelin claims. As for other, real or 
imagined damages, like damage to reputation for 
example, I will refer later on. This pamphlet is 
a political publication. It attacks the 
government of Israel for its treatment of the 
Palestinians; for their imprisonment and torture, 
for the demolition of their houses and for the 
killing of hundreds of innocent people, including 
children. To make it impressive, it is written in 
a literary style of a satire that I’ve learned from Jonathan Swift.

2. The cover of the pamphlet is a visual satire, to fit the style of the text.

I assume that what the claimants are objecting 
to, is not the pamphlet itself but the cover of 
that pamphlet. That cover, which was printed 
separately and added to the pamphlet later on, is 
in the same spirit of satire as the text is. I 
chose the subject of the satire on the front page 
to be that of the famous Michelin guide. However, 
I made it clear that it is not a real Michelin 
guide. I made this clear by printing, on the 
cover, in bold letters, the title which is: “MUCH 
BETTER THAN THE OFFICIAL Michelin guide” if it is 
better, it cannot be a Michelin guide. This must 
be clear to everyone. In addition, I printed on 
the spine: “THE TOURIST GUIDE THAT NEVER WAS. 
These additions are clear evidence that it is not 
a genuine Michelin guide but a spoof.
The idea came to me from the Campbell Soup 
silk-screen print, by the artist Andy Warhol. He 
took a commercial logo and made an art object out 
of it. Since I am also an artist I thought that I 
can create something in the same spirit.

3. The accusation that I have caused damages to Michelin is not true

I have already explained in paragraph 1), why my 
publication could not have caused financial 
damage to the claimant. As for damage to 
reputation, I must say that the way I used the 
name of Michelin in the cover of the spoof, could 
only add to their reputation, not to damage it. I 
used their name to make the international public 
aware that Israel is trying to eliminate the 
Palestinians. I tried to prevent a holocaust. I 
am sure that Michelin, as a company that employs 
many people, supports humanitarian causes but as 
a commercial company they cannot express it.

4. Michelin has given me a tacit permission to distribute it

In spite of all that, I still wanted to make sure 
that Michelin did not object to the spoof. Being 
a French company, I was sure that they would know 
what satire is and would have enough sense of 
humor to tolerate a spoof based on one of their 
products, especially for such an humanitarian 
cause. To make sure that they did not object, I 
made one copy of this cover, enveloped a pamphlet 
with it and sent it to Michelin with a note of my 
address stacked among the pages. Since I did not 
receive any response from them for over three 
weeks, objecting to what I had done, I was sure 
that they did not mind. So, I enveloped all the 
pamphlets with this cover and started to distribute them among my friends.

Allow me to end my defense by quoting a short 
poem written by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda:

You will ask: where are the lilacs
And the metaphysics petalled with poppies
And the rain repeatedly spattering
its words, filling them with holes and birds?

You will ask why his poetry does not speak of
dreams and leaves, and the great volcanoes of
his birthplace?

Come and see the blood in the streets.
Come and see the blood in the streets.
Come and see the blood in the streets!


[oznik.comment: We have been able to obtain a 
copy of the Much Better than the official 
Michelin Guide and wish to inform our readers 
that in addition to detailed maps and brief 
descriptions of Israeli prisons, jails, 
concentration camps, and torture chambers, this 
pamphlet also contains a translation of a memoir 
published in Israel, but nowhere else. Checkpoint 
Syndrome by Liran Ron Furer, is a personal 
account of an Israeli soldier's experience as an 
occupier, and the his being haunted by this 
memory. A note found among the pages of the book 
says: "We asked for permission to translate 
Checkpoint Syndrome from Hebrew into English bit 
it was denied. Since we think the book is of 
great importance, we have decided to translate 
and publish it without permission. The Editors."]


Shimon Tzabar is a satirist, poet, and artist. A 
new edition of his book, The White Flag 
Principle: How to Lose a War (and Why) (buy from 
an independent book shop, buy from Amazon) was 
published by Four Walls Eight Windows in Feb. 
2003. Tzabar is editor of 'Israel Imperial News'.

http://oznik.com/news/040719.html
Posted by: Mona Baker on Jul 23, 04 | 10:30 am


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