Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for September 29, 2014

I have to agree with Mort; Arafat was a fool.

The emphasis on appearance versus substance speaks to what the United Nations is to this very day…

@argythreeIt’s a chance to live New York and have a good time.Also, I didn’t know they had Jewish tailors in Vietnam.

I am reminded of the Turkish astronomer in “The Little Prince.” Wearing his native garb, he is unsuccessful at convincing the public of his discovery of Asteroid B612. He is successful when he makes the same presentation while wearing Western garb.

Nearly forty years later and the Palestinians are still waiting.

Like asking a barber if you need a haircut.

And the suit IS dreadful. Makes poor Phred look like he should have a shipping label attached.

Phred’s really styling. Anybody else miss double-breasted suits with wide lapels?

Until these reprints started I don’t remember ever having met Phred. Does anyone know when the last time was that he appeared in the regular strip?

wow, come to think of it. the Jews/Israelis have been killing Palestinians my entire lifetime. Looking into the abyss

@leftwingpatriot – the lost tribe.

I was born in 1970. I started reading Doonesbury in my 20s. Mike was still married to Alex’s mom.

I am actually a history buff. It was my favorite subject in school. My father was in "Nam when I was born. Mom was 7 months pregnant with me when he was sent. Anyone who has read my posts about him knows he should have died there, but that’s another story.

“If you’re too young to remember Phred, you’re too young to read these re-runs with back round studies. Start with world politics circa 1946, and work your way up through the JFK plot. Then you should have enough back round to understand what GB is communicating.”~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Seriously? Back round? Twice?Can’t be a typo. In an effort to elucidate, I suggest ‘BACKGROUND’is most probably the correct choice.

The tailor is certainly right; if Arafat had worn a nice suit, it would have meant he wasn’t a murderous terrorist. But that wasn’t what he chose.If there’d been an Arab MLK, there would be a Palestine.If there’d been an Israeli MLK, there wouldn’t be an Israel.

This basically sums up the problem the Palestinians have had. In refusing to compromise (conceding Israel’s right to exist), they have screwed themselves. At the same time, Israel has become more intransigent than ever. And yes, Arafat was a huge fool.

@felinefan55 “…if you’re going to be OUR new envoy…”Clearly, the tailor is Vietnamese — Mort Ngstein.

I seem to recall reading something (probably in the 70’s) about Arafat had all his uniforms tailored in France at a cost of hundreds of dollars each.

I dont care what you wear, just dont come naked. Just sayin.

In every other war in the world, if you win, you get the land.It’s only Israel that can win and be expected to turn it into defeat..Outgunned the terrorists? What an evil thing to do! how dare they?

The claim that Jews simply took over people’s homes has been a claim that both the Palestininan Authority and Hamas have taught their children for a long time. According to the organization Palestinian Media Watch, this claim “that the creation of Israel was an act of theft and its continued existence is historical injustice is used as the basis for the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to recognize Israel’s right to exist. The accusation of theft also undermines Israel’s position internationally.”-According to Daniel Pipes, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institute of Stanford University, modern day Israel is one of the (ironically) least ‘stolen’ places in history. Pipes findings are that, while most countries exist as a result of invasions and conquests, that couldn’t happen with modern Israel. The Zionists originally back in the early 1900s had absolutely no military force.-The Jewish National Fund was establishe din 1901 to raise funds to buy land to settle immigrant Jews on. Until 1948 when the major wars started (and Arabs selling land to Jews were punished severely), land was purchased farm by farm, house by house.-In addition to buying land from Arabs, the Zionists also worked to reclaim abandoned land that was considered wasteland. It was said that they ‘made the desert bloom.’ They did.- They also restored waste land that had discarded debris on it, reforested abandoned bare hill land that no one could raise crops on, and removed salt from land that couldn’t be used otherwise.-The same cannot be said throughout Europe, which was repeated occupied by various groups (Greek, Romans, Germanic tribes). The Middle East itself, because of its central location, had been repeatedly conquered by others.

and then Zonker showed up to be a reported and chronicle BD’s adventures I have every one of the Doonesbury books including the very first one when BD and Doons first met. My 4 kids started reading them when they turned 13, they asked me a lot of questions about what was going on and I had them read several history books so they could understand what was happening. Now all 4 have kids of their own and they are starting their kids out by reading the strips. 3 generations so far.

Wow. From Phred’s suit to (at least two sides of) Palestine/Israel’s version of Troubles (to quote the Irish).Arafat, whatever he was wearing, would still have eaten that Polonium canape.We here are NOT going to solve the P&I Troubles; there is much history and some we may never know (Official Secrets, y’know?)What is obvious is they aren’t getting along.Bulldozing homes and thousand-year-old olive groves to build apartments for certain newcomers, good roads not available to certain residents, are things not normally seen in the US.Rockets (guided or not; NVN’s 122’s weren’t guided either), artillery, and airstrikes are not the way to make things better; and suicide bombers are lately a common feature of Assymetric Warfare.I always thought (well, since 1969) that the Chu Lai beach would make a great resort, once things quieted down there. Some Truth and Reconciliation about the lies we were told then, might help heal old wounds.Will Gaza’s beaches ever become likewise? Stay tuned.

I love the idea of exactly proportionate response. If someone punches you in the mouth, you get to hit him back exactly as hard, no more. Wait for the next punch, hit back exactly as hard.Until he shoots you in the heart, then you can do the same.

Well, if he’s shooting rockets out of the house, I probably would burn it down. If he’s hiding behind his family, that makes him a war criminal.But I guess one country isn’t allowed to attack weapons of terrorism. Which is what random rockets, and concealed tunnels into my house would be.BTW, they’ve admitted all this is true.