Jewish Students, Progressivism and Zionism

I have blogged on several occsions that the collapse of Jewish national identification among the younger generation of Diaspora Jews. I noted the Bund which morphed into Communism, various pacifist groups in the 1920s and 1930s, Reform Judaism before 1937, the rise of the American Council for Judaism and other marginal but loud voices were all in this mold and preceded contemporary reality. Then the push after 1967 from left-wing anti-war groups led to Breirah and others which followed the previous generation in viewing Israel more as a threat to their Dispora identities.

What we see today with IfNotNow, JVP, Bend the Arc and others is reflected, if not totally in purpose, but at least in the process of development that occured with Avukah.

Thanks to Tal Elmaliach's new article, I was able to extract some relevant history that may make clear my position on history repeating itself, if not exactly:

I now located Nathann Glazer's memoirs which shed more light:

I entered City College in February 1940...I was persuaded by a fellow student to attend a meeting of Avukah, the student Zionist organization. I was not a Zionist but was willing to hear what there was to be said for Zionism. It was an accident that had a strong impact on the rest of my life. The speaker was Seymour Melman, a recent graduate of City College who had just spent a year in Palestine and was reporting on his experiences. Had Avukah been simply a Jewish organization, I doubt that it would have made much impact on me. But these were socialist>Zionists. What is more, they were intellectual socialist Zionists and looked down on nonintellectual socialist Zionists...soon I was on the staff of Avukah Student Action (the organization's national newspaper) and had become a Zionist; indeed, before that was settled, I was named editor. No loyalty oaths were required to become a member of Avukah. We had a three-point program, presented in documents portentously titled "theses," and in theoretical pamphlets. The organization may have been Zionist but the culture was in most ways left sectarian. We were generally allied on campus issues with the anti-Stalinist Left – the socialists and the Trotskyites.

The three points of our program were to build a "non-minority Jewish center in Palestine, to fight fascism, and to foster a democratic American Jewish community. This program represented a somewhat off-center Zionism. The term non-minority was meant to leave room to for a binational state of Jews and Arabs. In those days we believed it possible for the two nations to share power, with neither being in the minority in a political or cultural sense. Our notion was that if both nations were guaranteed equal political rights, the Arab majority of Palestine would allow unrestricted Jewish immigration...Avukah was a switching point on the road from socialism to sociology. At first it emphasized the socialism, of which I knew little until 1 became involved. But Avukah, following the pattern of other left sectarian organizations, had "study groups," in which we read not only Zionist classics but also socialist classics: Bukharin's Historical Materialism was particularly favored by some of our elders. But we were not Leninists. Though left, and critical of social democrats, the radical leaders of Avukah who tried to influence us were (Rosa) Luxemburgian – revolutionary but against a directing central party and for education of the working masses.

It was a very congenial bent. The only issues that called for action were Zionist ones; for the rest education was sufficient. The doctrine hardly mattered, I am convinced. It is almost embarrassing to say we believed in revolution. The only way to relieve the embarrassment is to confess that we really did not...

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Find The Difference

Find the difference between this item

Ferguson Anti-Police Brutality Protesters Take Historic Trip To Palestine

“The goals were primarily to allow for the group members to experience and see first hand the occupation, ethnic cleansing and brutality Israel has levied against Palestinians, but also to build real relationships with those on the ground leading the fight for liberation.”

January 13, 2015 - Recently, a number of representatives from the Dream Defenders, Black Lives Matter and various Ferguson anti-police brutality protesters made history through a solidarity trip to Palestine.  The purpose of last week’s trip was to connect with activists living under Israeli occupation.

The 10-day trip to the occupied Palestinian Territories, specifically in the West Bank, was organized to show a link between oppression emanating from the Israeli State as well as that which victims of police brutality are experiencing in America.
Ahmad Abuznaid, the legal and policy director of the Dream Defenders, as well as the co-organizer of the delegation, explained that the trip was all about making connections, and seeing beyond single-issue causes.

“The goals were primarily to allow for the group members to experience and see first hand the occupation, ethnic cleansing and brutality Israel has levied against Palestinians, but also to build real relationships with those on the ground leading the fight for liberation,” Abuznaid said.  “In the spirit of Malcolm X, Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael and many others, we thought the connections between the African American leadership of the movement in the US and those on the ground in Palestine needed to be reestablished and fortified.”  Furthermore, he said that the American activists hoped to collaborate and teach organizing and protest strategies that have worked well in the United States, to their Palestinian brothers and sisters.
“As a Palestinian who has learned a great deal about struggle, movement, militancy and liberation from African Americans in the US, I dreamt of the day where I could bring that power back to my people in Palestine. This trip is a part of that process.”
The co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, Patrisse Cullors commented that the first thing that came to mind when she saw the divisions between Israelis and Palestinians was apartheid.  “This is an apartheid state. We can’t deny that and if we do deny it we are apart of the Zionist violence. There are two different systems here in occupied Palestine. Two completely different systems. Folks are unable to go to parts of their own country. Folks are barred from their own country.”

Activist Cherrell Brown said there are numerous parallels between the violence perpetrated by the State of Israel against Palestinians and the police violence from the U.S. government which has taken so many African American lives.  “So many parallels exist between how the US polices, incarcerates, and perpetuates violence on the black community and how the Zionist state that exists in Israel perpetuates the same on Palestinians.  “This is not to say there aren’t vast differences and nuances that need to always be named, but our oppressors are literally collaborating together, learning from one another – and as oppressed people we have to do the same,” she concluded.

A complete list of the delegates who made this trip include five Dream Defenders (Phillip Agnew, Ciara Taylor, Steven Pargett, Sherika Shaw, Ahmad Abuznaid); Tef Poe and Tara Thompson from Ferguson/Hands Up United; journalist Marc Lamont Hill, Cherrell Brown and Carmen Perez of Justice League NYC; Charlene Carruthers from the Black Youth Project; as well as poet and artist Aja Monet; Patrisse Cullors of Black Lives Matter; and USC doctoral student Maytha Alhassen.

And this item

Coalition of more than 40 NYC community groups calls on City Council to cancel delegation to IsraelJanuary 12, 2015

A coalition of more than 40 New York City community groups held a press conference outside City Hall on Monday calling for the City Council to cancel a planned delegation to Israel. A diverse group of speakers addressed the city’s progressive politicians, asking how they could reconcile their opposition to racism and state violence at home with support for Israel’s policies against the Palestinians.

Around 50 people gathered in the near-freezing rain for the event, which was introduced by Brandon Davis of Jewish Voice for Peace. Davis denounced the “flagrant disregard for justice” displayed by the delegation, “in our streets” as well as in Palestine. A recurring theme of the remarks that followed was the link between the current movement to end racist policing in U.S. cities and the struggle against Israel’s apartheid in Palestine. Connections were mentioned between the New York Police Department and the Israeli security establishment, including the opening of an NYPD branch in the Sharon District police headquarters at Kfar Saba.

Organizations that have joined the campaign include the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the Direct Action Front for Palestine, and Jews Against Islamophobia. The Council’s nine-day trip, scheduled to begin on February 15, is sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) and the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of New York.

City Council members participating in the delegation to Israel are Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Mark Treyger, Brad Lander, Antonio Reynoso, David Greenfield, Rafael Espinal, Darlene Mealy, Mark Levine, Helen Rosenthal, Corey Johnson, Ritchie Torres, Andrew Cohen, Donovan Richards, Eric Ulrich, and James Van Bramer...

Speakers at the press conference wondered how informative such a visit could really be. Would the Council tour the West Bank separation barrier, asked criminal defense attorney Bina Ahmad, or Gaza’s ruined homes and schools? How could those who have taken a stance against domestic discrimination, she demanded to know, go on to contribute to normalizing systematic racism against an entire people — “gross hypocrisy,” in her words. Ahmad, who works with the Legal Aid Society in Staten Island and represented police chokehold victim Eric Garner, analogized Israel’s occupation of Palestine to the NYPD’s presence in communities of color.

Donna Nevel of Jews Against Islamophobia criticized Council members for publicly opposing anti-Muslim discrimination and then visiting Israel under the auspices of the JCRC, which fervently backed Police Comissioner Ray Kelly after the revelation of NYPD spying on Muslim communities. “It is clear that the JCRC has helped undermine the basic civil rights and liberties of our city’s Muslim residents,” according to a letter from the anti-Islamophobia coalition to the Council, “and we hope that you agree with us that it is a most inappropriate organization to lead such a trip.”

Other speakers emphasized the unprogressive nature of a trip that would entail crossing an international picket line. CUNY activist Conor Tomás Reed mentioned labor groups around the world that have heeded Palestinian civil society’s call for a boycott.

My answer:

There is no difference as both represent dangerous, extremist and irrational progressive revolutionary subversionist activity.

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Gaza Conspiracy Tales

I think we should draw up a list of the conspiracy tales radical/progressives, liberals, dupes, Hamas fellow-travellers and anti-Zionists (anti-Semites we can ignore) create and promote.  There is also Peter Beinart's list of myths but that only counts as one as he claims "establishment" Jews made it up as well as Barghouti's list and also Aaron David Miller's list of five.

There was the one about how Hamas wasn't involved directly in the kidnapping of the three teenagers in June.

Yesterday Jon Donnison of the BBC pulled the rug out from under the Israeli government’s pretext for the Gaza onslaught with a series of tweets about a conversation he’d had with Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld about the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June.  The boys were not killed by Hamas, Rosenfeld told Donnison, as he reported on Twitter:

That spun out to the next one, that Israel exploited Hamas' alleged uninvolvement to invade Gaza or this version:

Netanyahu exploited their kidnapping to achieve a political objective against Hamas and to undermine the recently inked unity deal between the two Palestinian rival factions, Hamas and Fatah (which was also a possible goal of those who carried out the kidnapping).

And 'better' stated here:

...it was soon clear that the Netanyahu government was actually using its incursions to try to stabilize the Palestinian Authority, by removing any challenge from Hamas activists in the West Bank and containing them in the Gaza Strip. It swiftly emerged that military, police and intelligence operations in the West Bank were exploiting the kidnappings as an opportunity for a kind of housecleaning operation in the West Bank of Hamas leadership and resources—bombing supposed headquarters, detaining and questioning activists and their families and rounding up previously released political prisoners. 

Next was the real reason for invading Gaza wasn't just to kill Gazans, as Gideon Levy claimed, 

Killing Arabs to restore quiet
Since the first Lebanon war over 30 years ago, Israel's main strategy has been killing Arabs. The current atrocious war in Gaza is no different.

but to control the off-shore gas:

IDF's Gaza assault is to control Palestinian gas, avert Israeli energy crisis
Israel's defence minister has confirmed that military plans to 'uproot Hamas' are about dominating Gaza's gas reserves

Then, there was the one that the tunnels were only meant to attack soldiers:

For weeks we’ve been hearing about the threat the Gaza tunnels pose to Israeli civilians. In reality, every tunnel so far has been used against military targets alone.

Now, I see, we have this:

Hundreds Disappear in Gaza

Do you have any to add?

_______________

Jeff Ballabon does:

The 20 Oddest Things People Actually Claim to Believe about the Hamas/Israel Conflict

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Dimi Reider Gets A Free Ride in the NY Review of Books

The New York Review of Books hosts Dimi Reider on "Israel: The Knesset vs. Democracy".

He writes about:

...a far-reaching series of laws now pending or already passed by the Knesset suggests Israel is moving in an alarmingly anti-democratic direction.

...[a] sustained assault on such fundamental democratic principles as the right to asylum, the right to free association, the right to freedom of speech, and the right to an independent judiciary?

...it has been the Knesset itself that has become the primary engine of Israel’s turn away from democratic values.

...Some say the undemocratic system established for these Palestinians is now seeping back across the Green Line.

...the decline of Israel’s independent press

...Israel’s dual identity as a democracy for its citizens and a Jewish state is undergoing a momentous change, with the current coalition increasingly willing to sacrifice the former to preserve the latter.

I left this comment there (for after all, they'll never give me a platfrom to adequately respond):-

In writing "They portray civil society NGOs as agents of foreign influence, the Supreme Court as an unelected clique that grossly obstructs the democratic process, and news organizations that question government policies as left wing and unpatriotic. These allegations find a ready audience in an increasingly nationalist electorate; even those skeptical of some of the more radical proposals have shown little readiness to engage in organized opposition", Reider, one of the more extreme left-wing progressives here in Israel, summarizes what is the only truths in his otherwise misrepresentation of Israel's societal discourse and incorrect assertions in his flawed piece.  Earlier he wrote that what is supposedly happening is an "sustained assault on such fundamental democratic principles" but what has happened since the mid-1980s was a takeover of central power focii by the three main elitist groups: the judicial, the media and the 'humanist' associations (funded by liberal Jews) who seek, with each one's support, to alter Israel's ethos into a "state of all its citizens" (while one group of citizens denies any allegiance to or current/future idenification with the state), to de-Judaize the public square, to supplant basic values with post-modern reinterpretations and, most of all, to implant a feeling of remorse and guilt in Israelis for being Jewish, Zionist and zealous in desiring to be...Jewish, Zionist and zealous about our security, our identity and our just cause in a surrounding Middle East which is undemocratic, fanatic and dangerous.  Almost a death wish.

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Testimony on Obama and Israel

...Obama took office with a distinctly progressive vision of Jewish identity and the Jewish state, one shaped by the Chicago Jewish community that helped launch his political career. Three years later—after a bitter struggle with the Israeli government and the American Jewish establishment--that vision is all but gone.

Obama entered the White House after an adulthood spent—more than any predecessor—in the company of Jews. Most of his key legal mentors were Jews (Abner Mikva, for example); many of his biggest donors were Jews; his chief political consultant, David Axelrod, was a Jew; he lived across the street from a synagogue. And for the most part, the Jews Obama knew best were progressives, shaped by the civil-rights movement and alienated from mainstream American Jewish organizations over Israel.

Obama’s initial statements about Israel often mirrored the liberal Zionism of his Jewish friends. Like them, he embraced the progressive aspects of Israeli society and Jewish tradition while critiquing Israel’s occupation of the West Bank. During his 2004 Senate run, Obama criticized the barrier built to separate Israel and its major settlements from the rest of the West Bank. In an interview with the journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, he praised David Grossman’s book Yellow Wind, a searing portrait of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation. Before a Cleveland crowd in 2008, he challenged the view that “unless you adopt an unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel, you’re anti-Israel.” In the words of Rabbi Arnold Wolf [of Breirah], an earlier supporter who ran the synagogue across the street from Obama’s house, Obama “was on the line of [the dovish Israeli group] Peace Now.”

...Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel had a record of opposing settlement growth too. In 2003, he had been one of only four Jewish members of Congress to sign a letter endorsing the Road Map. Privately, he told associates that the Bush administration had coddled Israel, and that it was time for Israel’s American friends to speak more frankly to the leaders of the Jewish state...

From Peter Beinart's forthcoming book, The Crisis of Zionism, excerpted in Newsweek.

You'd trust your Zionism and Israel's security to that approach?

^

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Beinart's Blog

I left this comment at the site of a blogger at the new Peter Beinart blog:-

I think this – “The term has become so politicized and associated with the right that this is a moment where the question of what Zionism is and the variety of different Zionisms that can exist really needs to be discussed.” – is remarkable. To my understanding, he asserts that the “right” has absconded with the term but unfairly. Of course, it could be that the “left”, and especially the progressive camo of such is trying to abscond with the term very unfairly so much so that classic Zionist activity, instead of becoming simply a matter for dispute as to when and where, is villified as outside of Zionism. An example: my residency in Shiloh. Instead of a debate, we get delegitimization. Where will the new blog place itself? Having been reading most of the bloggers, what can I say but oiy-vey.

BTW, here's what the anti-Israel, antizionist Mondoweiss has:

Notice below that all of the columnists are Jews and Palestinians-- oh and one Iranian-American, the great Trita Parsi. And many of the Jews are Israeli. When you are in Palestine, people wink and say "Our cousins." So this is a site for the cousins. Where are the American realists? Where's Paul Pillar, Pat Lang or Scott McConnell. Do American non-direct-stakeholders get a vote?

And remember, I'm the guy who earned a "touche" from Beinart.

A Matter of Political Theory Retardation

I have found a progressive in the process of retardation.

No, not mental retardation. A cross between intellectual and anthropological retardation. First, a spin-off of neoteny:

...J.B.S. Haldane [states that] a "major evolutionary trend in human beings" is "greater prolongation of childhood and retardation of maturity."

Or, to use a metaphor closer to our subject - which is the ability of a progressive to completely and even purposely misinterpret an issue all the while providing seemingly logical reasons that are cognitivitely misconstruing the problem and therefore the solution - there are those who suffer from a second type of retardation factor, one similar to what's know as the Rf, or, the Retardation factor (a slower rate, basically) in chemistry whereby

for a particular chemical species [it] is the ratio of solution velocity and species velocity or in other words the ratio between the rate of groundwater movement and rate of contaminant movement.

The progressive is Dahlia Scheindlin. In Israel, she works for local and international organizations dealing with Israeli-Palestinian conflict issues, peacemaking, democracy, religious identity and internal social issues in Israeli society. She is writing her doctoral dissertation in comparative politics at Tel Aviv University. The focus of her research is unrecognized (de facto) states. She is an adjunct lecturer at the Department of Politics and Government at Ben Gurion University.

To her mind, for example. what was important about the flotilla effort two years ago was the need to deconstruct the myths Israel had propogated. And just recently she's discovered two observations:

...First, the understanding that Israel is committing terrible deeds that are destroying itself and its neighbors, has penetrated among you, my American Jewish friends, family and colleagues, who now speak of this more openly and bluntly than in the past...My second observation is that because of your fear – not of the goyim or the anti-Semites, but of yourselves! – you are keeping a low public profile.

Now she's into apologetica, on behalf of another mythmaker - Mahmoud Abbas.

Over at 972+ Mag, she has penned a Response to Abbas.

As we all know today, that speech of his at the Doha Jerusalem Conference (and here is an analysis) has all but sunk Abbas, especially among the liberal Jewish cult (Peace Now-J Street-Beinart-et al.).  It has also generated an intra-Islamic dispute with
Minister of Waqf (Islamic endowments) and Religious Affairs Mahmoud al-Habbash having to stress that visiting Jerusalem is a religious duty in Islam, while needing to describe a fatwa issued byt the head of the international union of Muslim scholars Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi Qaradawi's as "bizarre."

...al-Habbash stressed that the Prophet was speaking while the city was under the control of the Roman Empire...Al-Habbash added: "When Muslims and Christians visit Jerusalem, they are actually challenging the Israeli policies aimed at isolating the holy city. Such visits represent material and moral support to the Jerusalemites who insist on remaining in Jerusalem so that they will not feel they were left alone to defend the Arab and Islamic identity of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian holy places."

Note that Jews and Judaism have no place in the future "Palestine".

And to return to Scheindlin, first off she employs condescension:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech at the International Conference on Jerusalem in Doha on Saturday set off the most proverbial alarm bells in Israel...

and then pooh-poohs it all:

Abbas’ general theme seemed to be raising awareness of the grave injustices perpetrated on the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem, such as Israel’s attempt to build walls to keep them in or out, Judaize the eastern part, and use archeological/historical research to justify the Jewish claim to the city.

then mocks:

On cue, Prime Minister Netanyahu called the speech “lies” and “severe incitement.”

And what really upsets here is a Yediot Ahronot piece

The headline read: “Abu Mazen: Israel wants to establish the Temple on the ruins of al-Aqsa.” This sounds like unnecessary religious incitement [there is "necessary incitement"].

And then asks for understanding for her positions:

I am not sympathetic to claims that there is no Jewish connection to Jerusalem, that the Temple is a fiction and by implication, that Jerusalem belongs only to Muslims and Christians. Leaving the Jewish heritage out of his UN speech was one thing [???]; actively denying the Jewish spiritual connection is another.

And then she twists Abbas upside-down:

...It’s time to stop this absurd belief that ancient historical facts are at issue. Peoplehood, the weight of history, emotional bonds to a cultural, spiritual and yes, religious axis mundi are at issue and I believe passionately in the need for Jews to accept those aspects of Palestinian life.

In other words, all this 'crap' of 'narrative' is good because it supports and props up "Palestinianism". It's another contribution to inventivity and even if she has to now swallow the Zionsit narrative, so be it:

Let’s cast off the notion of a conflict between Israelis and Palestinians already, which I sometimes feel is a brilliant decoy of the far right. The truth is, we have long been in a conflict between extremists and moderates, between hateful and compassionates, between exclusivists and inclusivists. A genuine liberal universalist approach must accept that even those who believe in universal rights have a national, religious, cultural and spiritual identity they cherish.

This is progressivism?

^

A Story on Settlement, Roadblocks - But Where?

Not Israel.

From CHARLESTON, W.Va.

The story:-

A massive settlement in the wake of the mortgage meltdown could impact thousands of people in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. The Obama administration announced a $26 billion settlement Thursday with five of the country's biggest home lenders. They were accused of foreclosing homes based on something called robo-signing. That means they'd speed up taking the homes without proper paperwork.

The banks were also putting up too many roadblocks, keeping people from modifying their loans and putting them further behind on their payments. The settlement is with: J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America/Countrywide, Wells Fargo, Citibank and GMAC/Ally.

The Washington Post has a 'better' headline:-

Settlement launches foreclosure reckoning

At least now there'll be a situation wherby there "begins a long-promised reckoning" - which I understand as the recognition of Jewish rights - historic, religious, cultural and legal - to our Land of Israel as the Jeiwsh national home and Jewish nationalism. That's the reckoning promised, the truth.

And that "foreclosure"? We'll be foreclosing on Judeaphobia, Arab propaganda, radical progressive anti-Zionism and all their activites, from BDS to outright antisemitism.



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The "Wall" - Then and Now

I can remember - and I am sure so can all of you - when a tour group of Jews landing at Ben-Gurion Airport would be informed that their very first itinerary item is a visit to the Wall.

And the bus would take off for Jerusalem and the expectant visitors would arrive in Jerusalem, make their way to the Western Wall Plaza and each would then approach the Western Wall, the last standing element of the Second Temple they would be told, where Jews have prayed and cried tears for hundreds of years.  And they would even slip into the cracks between the 2000-year old stones a piece of paper, perhaps a prayer for a sick relative or a wish for a grandchild.  And they would feel the connection over the generations that just as their ancestors had done or tried to do or at least prayed to do, they could now do after the 19-year period of the illegal Jordanian occupation when Jews were banned from approaching the holy site and where, under the British Mandatory regime it was dangerous, at times, to approach and when, after 1930, the blowing of the shofar there could get you imprisoned.

What a powerful moment.  Spiritually and historically.

But now, I have been informed, there are groups, like the one from a city in upstate New York, who were informed that their first location to visit would be the Wall in Jerusalem - meaning the security barrier that tries to protect Jews from Islamic terror.

Yes, the "Wall" has now been transmorgrified - not the remnant but a propaganda ploy.

Woe is the Jewish people that Rabbis and lay leaders set this "wall" over their chief joy.

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Then As Now: Progressive Radical Liberals From Gandhi On

Jews always get the short shrift:

Joseph Lelyveld has written a ­generally admiring book about ­Mohandas Gandhi, the man credited with leading India to independence from Britain in 1947. Yet "Great Soul" also obligingly gives readers more than enough information to discern that he was a sexual weirdo, a political incompetent and a fanatical faddist—one who was often downright cruel to those around him. Gandhi was therefore the archetypal 20th-century progressive ­intellectual, professing his love for ­mankind as a concept while actually ­despising people as individuals.

...Gandhi's uncanny ability to irritate and frustrate the leader of India's 90 million Muslims, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (whom he called "a maniac"), wrecked any hope of early independence. He equally alienated B.R. Ambedkar, who spoke for the country's 55 million Untouchables (the lowest caste of Hindus, whose very touch was thought to defile the four higher classes). Ambedkar pronounced Gandhi "devious and untrustworthy." Between 1900 and 1922, Gandhi ­suspended his efforts no fewer than three times, leaving in the lurch more than 15,000 supporters who had gone to jail for the cause.

A ceaseless self-promoter, Gandhi bought up the entire first edition of his first, hagiographical biography to send to people and ensure a reprint. Yet we cannot be certain that he really made all the pronouncements attributed to him, since, according to Mr. Lelyveld, Gandhi insisted that journalists file "not the words that had actually come from his mouth but a version he ­authorized after his sometimes heavy editing of the transcripts."

We do know for certain that he ­advised the Czechs and Jews to adopt nonviolence toward the Nazis, saying that "a single Jew standing up and ­refusing to bow to Hitler's decrees" might be enough "to melt Hitler's heart." (Nonviolence, in Gandhi's view, would apparently have also worked for the Chinese against the Japanese ­invaders.) Starting a letter to Adolf ­Hitler with the words "My friend," Gandhi egotistically asked: "Will you listen to the appeal of one who has ­deliberately shunned the method of war not without considerable success?" He advised the Jews of Palestine to "rely on the goodwill of the Arabs" and wait for a Jewish state "till Arab ­opinion is ripe for it."

... the love of his life was a German-Jewish architect and bodybuilder, Hermann Kallenbach, for whom Gandhi left his wife in 1908. "Your portrait (the only one) stands on my mantelpiece in my bedroom," he wrote to Kallenbach.

Source


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Lisa Threatens Me: "Be Quiet or Be Blocked"

Evidence A:

The opening, she tweets

and then mentions:

lisang Lisa Goldman


RT @JessicaMontell: "Stability is a pernicious word" says @ElBaradei, debunks fear of Muslim Brotherhood bogeyman http://goo.gl/m89CX #Jan25

Evidence B:

"Today is 2011".   ???
"A big day". ???
And then the threat.

Don't you just love progressive liberal radicals?

She is awarded the Monkfish award:

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Proud to Be an "Anti-Semite"

This is how values devolve:

At The Nation:

posted by: DejaVu at 01/27/2011 @ 3:49pm

"It's come to the point where being branded an "anti-semite" is actually quite a compliment, meaning someone who has the courage and decency to stand for justice and the innocent in the face of such hideous and vile criminality. Thank you for your piece."

The "piece" was written by Naomi Klein who is a fellow at The Nation Institute.

Yes, things can get mixed up.

Like this, in Klein klutz-clop:

...The Goldstone Report is a serious, fair-minded and extremely disturbing document—which is precisely why the Israeli strategy since its publication has been to talk about pretty much everything except the substance of the report. Distractions have ranged from further posturing about the UN’s bias, to smear campaigns about Justice Goldstone’s personal history, to claims that the report is an integral part of a grand conspiracy to deny Israel’s right to exist...

Writing like that can make one anti-progressive. Proudly so.


(k/t: JB)

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That's Telling Them

Bark and Co. vs. the post-Zionist radical, progressive far-out Left

...Einat Wilf, one of the four Labor members of Parliament who joined Mr. Barak in the Independence faction...said in a telephone interview that the new government arrangement would send a signal to the Palestinians that there was little point in waiting for the Netanyahu government to fall apart.

“I don’t belong to the camp that believes Israel is solely responsible for the failure of these negotiations,” Ms. Wilf said. 'The Palestinians bear responsibility for not entering the talks. Some people have sent them a message to wait around for a new government.'

and

Mr. Barak and his four colleagues said in a statement announcing the formation of their new movement...'We also did not accept the self-flagellation of those who see the State of Israel as exclusively responsible for the lack of a diplomatic process.'

Source
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The Odd and Evil Alliance

I attended a research seminar at the Hebrew University's Institute for Contemporary Jewry presented by Dr. Charles Asher Small, Director of YIISA, Yale University on "Antisemitism and the University Campus in North America" with Prof. Robert S. Wistrich, Head, Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, in the Chair.

A picture:

A portion of his discourse related the utter irrationality of leading intellectuals to seek out understandings, alliances and links with the world of Islam.

And sure enough, a bit later, I find this, and come to my conclusion that he was referring, perhaps, to Ron Leshem's suggestion as an example of the lunacy pacing the corridors of academia and the pages of media op-ed pages:

...I say that all progressive, humane and fair-minded people are my brothers and sisters. All fundamentalists, Jews included, who seek to demolish liberalism are the enemies. Yes, we Israelis have made countless mistakes, allowed innumerable opportunities to slip through our fingers — mostly on account of our fears. We must change that. We must form an alliance with all liberal secular Palestinians. But first, we must awaken our younger generation and restore its belief in the future.

Do you know any liberal and secular Palestinians?

Do you think they exist? Do you believe they exist?

Do you think they can withstand an onslaught by Hamas?

Do you think Leshem is sane?

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"You Are My Brother" - Protest Song of Amir Benayoun

A protest song against the radical Left:




"After they are unsuccessful in attacking me from without and then you come and attack me from within"

"I constantly rush forward with my back to you and you sharpen the knife"

"I sacrifice myself for your family and you spit in my face"


Refrain:

"I am your brother, you are my enemy
You hate me, I love
When I cry you laugh from behind my back
You kill me but you are my brother, you are my brother."


More:

"I am the future; you are the past"

"My mouth is sealed on your behalf but your mouth hands me out to the foreigner"

______

The lyrics in Hebrew:


אני אחיך" / מילים ולחן: עמיר בניון

אני שומר לך על הזהות
אני מגן לך על הילדים
אני מוסר את נפשי בשביל המשפחה שלך
ואתה יורק לי בפנים

אחרי שלא הצליחו להרוג אותי בחוץ
אתה בא והורג אותי מבפנים
לא ראיתי את אמא כבר חודש
לא את בני לא את ביתי לא את אשתי

אני מסתער תמיד קדימה
עם הגב שלי אליך
ואתה משחיז את הסכין
יותר מכל, המחשבה הזאת שורפת לי את הנשמה
ואתה, איך אתה עוד לא מבין


אני אחיך, אתה אויב
אתה שונא אותי אני אוהב

כשאני בוכה
אתה צוחק מאחרי גבי
אתה הורג אותי
אתה הרי אחי
אתה הרי אחי


אני עתיד
אתה עבר
וההווה בינינו נשבר

אני רעב למענך אתה זולל וסובא
כשגרוני יבש אתה שותה שיכר
הפה שלי חתום תמיד למען ביטחונך
אבל אתה מוסר אותי לזר

אני אחיך, אתה אויב
אתה שונא אותי אבל אני אוהב
כשאני בוכה
אתה צוחק תמיד מאחרי גבי

אתה הורג אותי
אתה הרי אחי
אתה הרי אחי

מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקב
הוּא יְבָרֵךְ אֶת חַיָּלֵי צְבָא הֲגַנָּה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל,
הָעוֹמְדִים עַל מִשְׁמַר אַרְצֵנוּ וְעָרֵי אֱלהֵינוּ
מִהלְּבָנוֹן וְעַד מִדְבַּר מִצְרַיִם
וּמִן הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל עַד לְבוֹא הָעֲרָבָה ובכל מקום שהם בַּיַּבָּשָׁה בָּאֲוִיר וּבַיָּם.

אני אחיך, אתה אויב
אתה שונא אותי אבל אני אוהב
כשאני בוכה
אתה צוחק תמיד מאחרי גבי

אתה הורג אותי
אתה הרי אחי
אתה הרי אחי

כי אדוני אלוהיכם ההולך עמכם
להלחם לכם עם אויבכם להושיע אתכם ונאמר אמן.

Obama and the Progressives

1. the inspiring figure progressives thought they had elected comes across, far too often, as a dry technocrat who talks of “bending the curve” but has only recently begun to make the moral case for reform. Mr. Obama’s explanations of his plan have gotten clearer, but he still seems unable to settle on a simple, pithy formula; his speeches and op-eds still read as if they were written by a committee.

2. So there’s a growing sense among progressives that they have...been punked.

3. It’s hard to avoid the sense that Mr. Obama has wasted months trying to appease people who can’t be appeased, and who take every concession as a sign that he can be rolled.

Source


Ah, and the Jews?

Here.

An Overlooked Press Released: He Can Do No Wrong

On Tuesday, November 4th, the Caucus for a New Political Science issued a statement defending Rashid Khalidi. I missed it. But, it should be registered for history. We should know what is "progressive political science" and who are they that practice such.

PRESS RELEASE *** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HEADLINE: Caucus for a New Political Science
Issues Statement, Defends Rashid Khalidi
CONTACT: Nicholas Kiersey

The Caucus for a New Political Science issued a statement today condemning recent efforts by John McCain and Sarah Palin to impugn the integrity of Dr. Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University.

Founded at the American Political Science Association’s 1967 annual meeting in Chicago, the Caucus is the oldest organized grouping of progressive political scientists in the United States. The Caucus is united by the idea that Political Science as an academic discipline should be committed to advancing progressive political development.

Today’s statement follows below.

Statement:

The Caucus for a New Political Science (CNPS) hereby expresses its outrage at Sarah Palin and the McCain campaign's efforts this week to impugn the integrity of Dr. Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies at Columbia University. Khalidi is one of the world's leading scholars of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Palestinian history. As academics who rely on scholarship like Khalidi's for our own research and teaching, we simply cannot let these slurs pass unremarked.

In her efforts to discredit Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, Governor Palin tried to suggest that Khalidi is "yet another radical professor" in Obama's circle of friends and associates. This, of course, by way of questioning Obama's patriotism and fitness to serve as President of the United States.

Palin's comments are, at best, suggestive of a deep-rooted ignorance of Middle Eastern affairs. More troubling still, they point to a tendency to engage in a politics of demonization and the possibility of a systematic chilling of academic freedom and freedom of speech, the likes of which we have not seen since the era of Joseph McCarthy.

Khalidi is a scholar of the relationship between cultural identity and political power. In a world where terrorism has become such an irresponsibly used catch-phrase, we need level-headed politicians who are unafraid to examine their own cultural biases. Rashid Khalidi's scholarship on the objectification of and prejudice against Arab culture in Western discourse provides an exemplary set of tools in this mission. That a scholar like Khalidi should have become the target of such ignorant rhetoric as demonstrated by Senator McCain and Governor Palin last week is both embarrassing and disgraceful.

Sincerely, The Caucus for a New Political Science (CNPS)

Nicholas J. Kiersey, PhD
Assistant Professor, Political Science
Ohio University, Chillicothe

Christine Kelly, PhD
Associate Professor
Dept Political Science
William Paterson University

Jennifer Leigh Disney, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Winthrop University

Mark Kaswan, C.Phil.
Department of Political Science
University of California, Los Angeles

Michael McIntyre, PhD
Assistant Professor
International Studies
DePaul University

Foad Izadi,
Doctoral Candidate and Instructor
Manship School of Mass Communication
Louisiana State University

Yoav Peled, PhD
Department of Political Science
Tel Aviv University
Tel Aviv, Israel

Ed Webb, PhD
Political Science & International Studies,
Dickinson College

Stephen Bronner, PhD
Professor, Political Science
Rutgers University

John Ehrenberg, PhD
Professor of Political Science and Department Chair
Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus

Hamideh Sedghi, PhD
Visiting Scholar
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Harvard University

Sheila Collins, PhD
Director, MA in Public Policy and International Affairs
Department of Political Science
William Paterson University

Sanford Schram, PhD
Professor, Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research
Bryn Mawr College

Gerard Huiskamp, PhD
Chair, Associate Professor of Political Science
Wheaton College

Stephen S. Smith, PhD
Professor of Political Science
Winthrop University

Jacob Segal, PhD
Assistant Professor of Political Science
Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York

Jacinda Swanson, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Political Science
Western Michigan University

Victor Wallis, PhD
Professor
Liberal Arts Dept
Berklee College of Music

Bruce E. Caswell, PhD
Associate Professor
Political Science Department
Rowan University

Joe Kling, PhD
Professor of Government
St. Lawrence University

Amy Linch
PhD Candidate
Department of Political Science
Rutgers University

David Lempert, Ph.D., J.D., M.B.A., E.D. (Hon.)
Member, California Bar

John Berg, PhD
Chair, Government Department
Suffolk University

Beate Sissenich, PhD
Assistant Professor
Indiana University

R. Claire Snyder-Hall, PhD
George Mason University
Director, MAIS Program
Director of Academics, Higher Education Program
Associate Professor of Political Theory

Bron Tamulis
Graduate Student
University of California--Irvine

Nancy Love, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science
Penn State

Adolph Reed, PhD
Professor, Political Science
University of Pennsylvania

Jeff Goodwin, PhD
Professor of Sociology
New York University

Brian Caterino, PhD
Independent Scholar

William F. Grover, PhD
Professor, Political Science
Saint Michael's College

Tanya R. Austin
Illinois State University

Joseph G. Peschek, PhD
Professor of Political Science
Hamline University

Bruce E Wright, Ph.D
Professor Emeritus of Political Science
California State University, Fullerton

Margaret E. Farrar, PhD
Associate Professor of Political Science
Augustana College

Laura Olson, PhD
Professor
Lehigh University

Immanuel Ness, PhD
Professor
Department of Political Science
Brooklyn College /City University of New York

Benjamin Arditi, PhD
Centro de Estudios Politicos
Facultad de Ciencias Politicas y Sociales
UNAM
Mexico

Meredith L. Weiss, PhD
Department of Political Science
University at Albany, State University of New York

Alethia Jones, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Public Administration & Policy
and Department of Political Science
University at Albany, State University of New York

Kevin B. Anderson, PhD
Professor of Political Science, Sociology, and Women's Studies
Purdue University

Patricia Siplon, PhD
Professor
Department of Political Science
Saint Michael's College

Beverly A. Gaddy, PhD
Associate Professor, Political Science
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

Roberto Alejandro, Professor
Political Theory
University of Massachusetts at Amherst

I'll Answer David Forman

Rabbi (Reform) David Forman, in his most recent op-ed, writes about his outlook on the Arab-Israel conflict and then, sort of, poses a question [my comments italicized and in brackets, like this]:-

I have little [how little?] confidence that the Palestinians, certainly under the present leadership, are either willing to or capable of reaching a peace accord based on a two-state solution.

It is becoming abundantly clear [becoming? boker-tov Eliyahu, as we say] that the Palestinians may never [may?] accept an equal [or inequal, actually] division of this land. Peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt notwithstanding, the majority of Arab nations will not tolerate a Jewish state in the heart of the Muslim world. Perhaps the writing has always been on the wall but we failed to internalize it [we? we?!!!], as Arab countries rejected the 1947 UN partition plan and, upon the departure of the British, attacked Israel with the goal of driving the Jews into the sea.

Yasser Arafat may have been [may? may?!!!] to blame for the breakdown of the Camp David negotiations, but his reasons for walking away from a historic agreement were foolishly consistent [as foolish as you are/were together with your foolish friends?], as reiterated last week by Khaled Mashaal at the National Palestinian Conference in Damascus: "armed struggle until Jerusalem is liberated and all refugees are returned to the provisional borders of 1948."
While one can recount missteps Israel has made since its creation - including the settlement enterprise [what else did we misstep? uniting Jerusalem? refusing the so-called 'right of return'?] - the basic fact remains: The Arab world refers to Israel Independence Day as Nakba Day - the day of the great catastrophe. Hizbullah, Hamas, Iran and even the "moderate" Fatah are ultimately all dedicated to Israel's destruction, as was Arafat.

So let's face it, the sad reality [why sad?], for now anyway [for now? but you just said forever], is that peace with the Palestinians is not in the cards. Further, unless Islam undergoes a theological, cultural or social reformation, not only Israel but the entire free world will be threatened by Islamic fundamentalism.

Therefore, Israel must defend itself, which means retaliatory raids, targeted assassinations, preemptive strikes and building temporary walls. [so, now that all is moral? where were you yesterday/yesteryear?] With all the complexities of occupying another people, which necessarily [no it doesn't] compromises our Jewish moral value system, if we hope to stop rockets from falling on Sderot and prevent them from raining down on other parts of the country, we may [may? see above] have to intermittently lay siege to Gaza and remain in the West Bank.

YET EVEN as I may espouse the political philosophy above, it would be mistaken to brand me as an intransigent right-winger;.. [mistaken? why? why am I worse or different than you? because you claim to be humane? liberal? progressive? come on, all that is bovine manure]

My answer to his self-doubts is that it's okay David, you're simply one of us, the realists, the true Zionists. It's okay, you can come out of your shell now.

And Heeeeeeere's The "Peace Camp"

Israeli

1. New Profile: A feminist pluralistic organization comprising males and females; its long-term goal is to alter Israeli society from militaristic to civil. New Profile opposes the occupation. Due to the present situation, much of its work is in supporting conscientious objectors--from pacifists to persons who do not wish to enlist because they oppose the Occupation. NP also supports youngsters who do not wish to enlist for other reasons (e.g., economic).

2. Ta'ayush Jewish-Arab Partnership: Ta’ayush’s aims are both political and humanitarian. It is not as active as it was in past years, but still continues to be active in the South Hebron hills area.
email info@taayush.org

3. "Bat Shalom, Women's Peace Organization"

mailto:batshalo@netvision.net.il

4. B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. B’tselem (which means ‘in the image of’) monitors the situation and furnishes informative reports that can be obtained in hard copy and read on the internet. 02 673 5599

5. Coalition of Women for a Just Peace

mailto:CWJP@yahoogroups.com

6. Gush Shalom Israel-Palestine Peace Bloc [begun and led by Uri Avnery]
mailto:info@gush-shalom.org
One can also subscribe to TOI-> Billboard (The Other Israel email updates) via otherisr@actcom.co.il)?

7. ICAHD Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions coordinator Jeff Halper mailto:icahd@zahav.net.il; also, for information phone Amos Gvirtz 09 952 3261;

8. Physicians for Human Rights - Israel mail@phr.org.il 03 687 3718

9. Public Committee Against Torture in Israel - Executive Director - Hannah Friedman / pcati@netvision.net.il 02 642 6275

10. Rabbis For Human Rights
mail to info@rhr.israel.net 02 563 7731

11. Re'ut-Sadaka - Jewish-Arab Youth Organization for Peace and Democracy
mailto:reut@inter.net.il

12. Courage to Refuse (Ometz L'Sarev) [The organization has closed its office, but its website continues to be updated and contains interesting reading.] An organization of Reservists who signed an open letter to PM Sharon stating their reasons for refusing to serve in the Territories and their opposition to the Occupation. The original letter was signed by 50. At its height, the organization had about 650 members, all who refused to serve in the OPTs (Occupied Palestinian Territories).

13. Yesh Gvul
Reservists who refuse to serve in the territories. Began during the Lebanese War, and was revived with the 2nd intifada /

14. Shministim Refusal Movement [12th graders who wrote and signed an open letter to the PM and Min. of Defense stating their reasons for refusing to enlist in the mlitary; there have been 2 such letters]

15. Shovrim Shtika [Breaking the Silence], an organization whose dual purpose is on the one hand to make known how the Israeli military conducts itself in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and on the other to give the discharged soldier a platform on which to unload things that he/she might have sitting on his/her conscience. To achieve this double aim, Shovrim Shtika encourages discharged soldiers (including reservists) to testify regarding their conduct and acts when serving in the OPTs.

see also

16. Machsom Watch [i.e., Checkpoint Watch] A women’s organization that monitors soldiers’ conduct at check points, reports human rights abuses, and attempts to mediate between Palestinians and the military when necessary.
http://www.ambosite.com/mWatch/eng/homePageEng.asp?link=homePage&lang=eng

17. Women`s Organization for Political Prisoners (WOFPP)
WOFPP aims to “promote the release” of all political prisoners, and to support female political prisoners in Israeli jails. The women jailed are mainly Palestinian, but WOFPP includes also Israeli women charged with political crimes (e.g., Leyla Mosenson). WOFPP periodically reports on the situation with prisoners so as to inform. www.wofpp.org

18. Windows—Palestinian-Israeli cooperation www.win-peace.org

19. Neve Shalom/Wahat as-Salam. Israeli-Palestinian community which has educational and cultural programs. www.nswas.com/sfp

20. Zochrot aims to “recognize the moral debt for the wrong doings caused to the Palestinian people, by the Israeli state and its institutions.”

“ ‘Al Nakba’ (The disaster - in Arabic) is the name for the demolishing and the ruining of Palestinians villages and cities, and the deportation of their inhabitants, in 1948 and 1967. The disaster of the Palestinians is silenced and is absent from the physical and cultural view of Israel. The aim of Zochrot is to recognize the moral debt for the wrong doings caused to the Palestinian people, by the Israeli state and its institutions,” via a variety of activities. http://www.nakbainhebrew.org/index.php?lang=english

21. Yesh Din [There is Law] This organization investigates and deals with cases involving settler violence and misdeeds against Palestinians. www.yesh-din.org info@yesh-din.org 03 516 8563

22. The Occupation Magazine www.kibush.co.il This is a journal rather than an activist organization, but it contains many of the materials found in the above, as well as commentaries, statistics, etc. Worth reading.

23. This is a Website intended to inform containing testimonies from Palestinians and others. The site is the initiative of Aya Kanuke and Tamar Goldschmidt, who continue to manage it. Its materials are well worth reading and videos well worth viewing.
www.mahsanmilim.com

24. Combatants for Peace: A group of Palestinians and Israelis who formerly were actively involved in violence—either as soldiers in the Israeli military or as Palestinian freedom fighters—who have decided to forego violence and to abide by the following principles: “We no longer believe that the conflict can be resolved through violence. We believe that the blood shed will not end unless we act together to terminate the occupation and stop all forms of violence. We call for the establishment of a Palestinian State, alongside the State of Israel. The two states can exist in peace and security beside each other. We will use only non-violent means to achieve our goals and call for both societies to end violence. “ http://www.combatantsforpeace.org/

25. Anarchists Against the Wall
http://www.awalls.org/about_aatw
info@awalls.org

26. 5th Mother
http://www.the-5th-mom.org/eng/home.htm
5thmom@gmail.com

==============================================

International Organizations

27. International Solidarity Movement
http://www.palsolidarity.org/

28. International Women's Peace Service http://www.womenspeacepalestine.org/

29. Christian Peacekeeper Teams (CPT)
http://www.cpt.org/hebron/hebron.php

30. Ecuminical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel http://www.eappi.org/ eappi-co@jrol.com
02 628 9402

Palestinian Organizatiions [thanks to Taka Nakahara for help with the Palestinian organizations]

31. Palestinian Red Crescent Society
Important among other things for statistics regarding Palestinians who have been killed and wounded by the Israeli forces, updated almost daily http://www.palestinercs.org/

32. Sumoud [Palestinian]
A political prisoner solidarity Group
This website contains statistics and much information. Worth visiting.
http://sumoud.tao.ca/?q=node/view/76

East Jerusalem

32. Middle East Nonviolence and Democracy (MEND) PO Box 66558 Beit Hanina, East Jerusalem info@mendonline.org http://www.mendonline.org
Tel: Fax/ +972-2-6567310/11

33. The Palestinian Environmental NGOs Network(PENGON) PO Box 25220 Beit Hanina, Jerusalem Palestine
Tel: +972-2-2971505
Fax: +972-2-2975123
http://www.pengon.org/
info@pengon.org

Ramallah/Al-Bireh Area

34. Bil’in Popular Committee
http://www.bilin-village.org/english/
bel3en@yahoo.com
Abdullah Abu Rahme : 054-725-8210
Mohammed Khatib : 054-557-3285

35. The Palestinian Association for Cultural Exchange (PACE) Ramallah, Palestine Nablus main road, Al-Bireh http://www.pace.ps/
Tel: + 972-2-2407610

36. Al Haq
http://www.alhaq.org/
Ramallah, (0)2 2956421
E-mail shawan@alhaq.org

37. PYALARA
http://www.pyalara.org/
Orabi Building, Ground & 2nd floors , Jerusalem-Ramallah St., Al-Biereh
Tel/Fax: +972-2-2406280/1 pyalara@pyalara.org

38. Panorama
http://www.panoramacenter.org
Ramallah Office
AlAhliyya College St. , Cairo Amman Bank Bldg. 3rd Floor.
P.o.Box : 2049.
Tel. No : +(972)/(970) - 2 - 295 - 9618/23 Fax : +(972) - 2 - 298 - 1824
E-mail: panorama@panoramacenter.org

Bethlehem/Beit Sahour Area

39. Holy Land Trust (Bethlehem)
http://www.holylandtrust.org/
Tel:02-2765930
FAX 02-2765931

40. The Palestinian Center for Rapproachement between People (Beit Sahour)
02-277-2018
http://www.pcr.ps/

41. Siraj Center for Holy Land Studies (Beit Sahour)
Telefax: +972 2 274 8590
Website: http://www.sirajcenter.org
Email: info@sirajcenter.org

42. Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements, Umm Salamuna Mahmoud Zawahira 0599586004

43. The Palestinian Center for Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation
(http://www.ccrr-pal.org/) Bethlehem
+972-2-2745475

44. Al-Hares Center for Studies & Media
02-2750105/2764926 (Bethlehem)
0599-887849
alhares99@palnet.com
info@alhares.org
http://www.alhares.org

45. Open Bethlehem
02-2777993 (Bethlehem)
nida.rish@gmail.com
http://www.openbethlehem.org

45. Palestinian Conflict Resolution Center (WI’AM)
02-2770513/7333 (Bethlehem)
alaslah@planet.edu
http://alaslah.org/

Hebron Area

46. LIBRARY ON WHEELS For Non-violence and Peace http://www.lownp.com/
Tel: (972) 2 583 5146/ 0522-229897
Fax: (972) 2 583 5127
lownp@palnet.com

47. Land Research Center
http://www.lrcj.org
Tel (temporary): +972-2-2217239
Mobile: +972-50-507931
E-mail : lrc@palnet.com

48. International Palestinian Youth League
http://www.ipyl.org/
Jaffa Street - Al Isra?a Bldg., 5th floor
P.O.Box 618, Hebron, Palestine
Tel: +972-2-2229131

=======================

UPDATE
------

a few corrections and many additions to the list of activist organizations:-

1. Machsom Watch

The correct link to MS is http://www.machsomwatch.org/; The one that you (or some of you) apparently received was not one that I put on, and I have no idea of how it got there!

27. THE ISRAELI COMMITTEE FOR THE PALESTINIAN PRISONERS

The Committee is an Israeli organization, which firmly believes that there can be no peace between Israel and Palestine so long as thousands of Palestinian so-called “security prisoners” and hundreds of administrative detainees continue to be held in Israeli prisons.

Members of the Committee believe that the Palestinian prisoners can and should play a significant role in advancing the peace process and in spreading the message that co-existence in the Middle East is indeed possible – but only if Israeli society pays attention to their hardships and puts an end to the systematic institutional discrimination against them – which exists first at the judicial level, and later on with regard to their imprisonment conditions and parole opportunities.

Anat Matar, matar@post.tau.ac.il, +972 3 5408977

Sanna Salame +972 544 805040

Tamar Berger tberger@netvision.net.il

------------------------------------------

A directory of many more organizations:-

http://www.bpf.org/html/turning_wheel/archive/documents/PalestiniansIsraelisTogethe.pdf

==================

the AIC (Alternative Information Center) in 1999-2000 put out an extensive list with much info. Have not checked availability.

----------------

middleway.org,
sulha.org ,
sha'ar la'adam ,
abraham fund ,
compassionatelistening.org;
bereaved parents association

also: arab-jewish cooperative projects, such as:
the bi-cultural/bi-lingual schools
the arab-jewish youth symphony
the midrasha b'oranim arab-jewish textual study and dialogue group (which was my own form of non-violent "activism" for four years)

==================

this website lists a great many organizations whose criterion is Israeli-Palestinian co-existence, and is worth checking out

http://www.bpf.org/html/turning_wheel/archive/documents/PalestiniansIsraelisTogethe.pdf

-------------------------------------------------

Operative in the Salfit Governate: "women for life" with Fatima Asi as coordinator.


Other links can be found at the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) site:
Campaigns
Human Rights
Jerusalem
News & Media

Refugees
http://palestinesolidaritycampaign.org/links.asp?LinkCat=102

and Len & Libby Traubman's dialog activities