Israel, which as a nation does not celebrate the Gregorian New Year, nonetheless woke up on January 1 to learn that their little country is set to be more than ever at the center of world scrutiny and pressure in 2007.

In an interview published concomitant with his assumption of office on the first day of the year, brand new United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon revealed that he, like British Prime Minister Tony Blair and the majority of world leaders, saw solving the Israel-A-Palestine- conflict as key to sorting out the rest of the mess in the Middle East.

This does not necessarily mean Ban believes Israel per se is to blame- Israelis have expressed the hope that he would be friendly towards their country.

It strongly suggests, however, that under his leadership the international community which is pushing so hard to see Israel surrender its land to the Arabs will continue - and very likely intensify - that push; and all the more as an appeasement-inclined West becomes desperate to defuse the Iranian nuclear standoff.

“If the issues with the conflicts between Israel and Palestine go well, [resolutions of] other issues in the Middle East, including Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Syria, are likely to follow suit. I will meet with the concerned parties as soon as possible,” Ban told the South Korean Hankyoreh.

Read more here

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

One of my New Year’s wishes is for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to be resolved and for peace and prosperity for the Palestinians and the return of their land. If there is a God…….I wish he’d help these people.

This is from Rami Almeghari who resides in the Gaza Strip and writes for International Middle East Media Center

I am writing this piece with tears falling from my eyes. You know I am a Palestinian, you must know my friends from the West Bank are Palestinians as well. But you also must know, we have never seen each other. You know we are from the same country, but we have not met. And you know we have just talked on the phone.

I hope you know that we have gotten to know each other and become friends over the last couple of years, and you know we have contributed many articles to IMEMC.org. You know that we have smiled, cried and sighed together.

But today, I am crying alone, you know. My friends Saed from Beit Sahour and Jenka (a very good American woman) are leaving for the States, where Jenka is living. The young couple have eventually decided to leave Palestine, seeking a new life with no military occupation, no Apartheid Wall, no checkpoints, no bypass routes, no restrictions on roads.

Saed, Jenka and Rami (Me) have never seen or met each other in person since we began working together for the past couple of years, even though we all live in the same country (Palestine). But unfortunately for our friendship, the young couple are based in the West Bank and I, Rami Almeghari, am based in the Gaza Strip.

Continue reading this story here

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

GAZA CITY: For the children of Gaza, prisoners of the narrow coastal strip surrounded by the Israeli Army, the outside world is nothing but fury, violence and tragedy - a menacing universe that they fear. Most of Gaza’s minors - 840,000 out of a population of 1.4 million - have never left their narrow piece of land stretched out on the Mediterranean coast, access to which is strictly controlled by Israel.

They grow up in frustration, anguish, anger and poverty.

Bassam Nasser, 37, director of the Palestinian Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, was one of the rare Palestinians in Gaza allowed to study at a university in Tel Aviv.

“My generation knows Israel because we used to work in Israel, so we are ready to make peace,” he said. “We know Israelis are human beings.” “I remember Israelis visiting Gaza in the 1970s to have their cars fixed, or to buy furniture because it’s cheaper here. And I remember my friends working summer jobs in Israel.”

“The kids today never see Israelis as human beings. All they see are soldiers, in tanks or helicopters. For them, they are just killing machines.

Continue reading at the Daily Star

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

Shame on them…….shame on the N.Y. theater that cancelled this play.

Toronto’s Canadian Stage Company has decided not to stage My Name is Rachel Corrie, the controversial play about an American peace activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer.

It was a decision based on the play’s merits, rather than the political controversy that dogs it, CanStage artistic producer Martin Bragg said in an interview with CBC.ca.

“It was an artistic decision,” said Bragg, who saw the play in New York. “It just didn’t work on stage.”

Based on the diaries of U.S. activist Rachel Corrie, who died trying to stop the Israeli army from destroying a Palestinian house, the play chronicles her life as an adolescent and young woman.

The play has been divisive since it was first produced in London earlier this year, with supporters admiring its depiction of young woman developing strong political convictions and others saying Corrie was naive and misguided.

A New York theatre decided against staging the play this spring, after Jewish groups said it expresses anti-Israeli sentiments.

Read more here

To read firsthand accounts of life, and death in Palestine, visit the website of Mohammad Omer, a student who lives in Rafah, Palestine. He has won the First National Ethnic Media Awards Youth Voices awardfor his Gaza on the Ground series.

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

Someone sent me a long email regarding this organization (I say someone because I have no idea who the “Frank” that sent it to me is). Anyway…..whoever you are, thanks! Organizations such as this give hope that one day …….maybe…..there can be peace in the Middle East.

Mission Statement

Jewish Voice for Peace is a diverse and democratic community of activists inspired by Jewish tradition to work together for peace, social justice, and human rights. We support the aspirations of Israelis and Palestinians for security and self-determination.
We seek:

A U.S. foreign policy based on promoting peace, democracy, human rights, and respect
for international law
An end to the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem
A resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem consistent with international law and equity
An end to all violence against civilians
Peace among the peoples of the Middle East

We are among the many American Jews who say to the U.S. and Israeli governments: “Not in our names!”

JVP supports peace activists in Palestine and Israel, and works in broad coalition with other Jewish, Arab-American, faith-based, peace and social justice organizations.

Read more about Jewish Voice for Peace here

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

Israel’s foreign minister has arrived in the United States amid worries that the Jewish state’s main ally could shift course after a report urged Washington to redouble Mideast peacemeaking efforts.

Tzipi Livni will meet with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other officials during her visit, which will focus on the repercussions of a report released Wednesday by the Iraq Study Group, her office said.

“This trip will be an occasion to review with her counterparts the report and to discuss its meaning,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

That report said progress towards Arab-Israeli peace was key to saving Iraq.

It also called for direct US talks with two of Israel’s most fearsome foes, Syria and Iran, the latter of which is believed to be steaming ahead in its bid for nuclear weapons.

continue reading

File this under Happy (and Hopeful) News

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

Green Line in school maps angers right-wingers

Education Minister Yuli Tamir decided on Tuesday that new geography textbooks ordered by the Education Ministry will include the so-called Green Line in their representations of the map of Israel, triggering condemnation from right-wing MKs.

“This is for the purposes of education and demonstration and discussion,” Tamir told The Jerusalem Post , flatly rejecting as “irrelevant” the objections of the politicians who blasted her decision.

“There was a conscious choice to make the Green Line disappear,” she said of previous government policies that left the demarcation line out of official maps, “but I don’t think we should educate to ignorance. Israel’s eastern border has not been marked [in the schoolbooks], and it should be.”

Former chairman of the Education Committee MK Zevulun Orlev (NU-NRP) led the charge against the move, saying that Tamir wanted to impose “Peace Now” ideology on the ministry.

continue reading

The term Green Line is used to refer to the 1949 Armistice lines established between Israel and its opponents (Syria, Jordan, and Egypt) at the end of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. The Green Line separates Israel not only from these countries but from territories Israel would later capture in the 1967 Six-Day War, including the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Its name is derived from the green pencil used to draw the line on the map during the talks.

more from Wikipedia

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

Oh but of course not. Nothing you do, Mr. Olmert, destabilizes the Middle East, right? Funny…..the whole world thinks different.

TEL AVIV, Israel - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday rejected a U.S. advisory group’s conclusion that a concerted effort to resolve Israel’s conflict with its neighbors will help stabilize the situation in Iraq, saying there is no connection between the two issues.

Olmert also rebuffed the group’s recommendation that Israel open negotiations with Syria, but said Israelis want “with all our might” to restart peace talks with the Palestinians.

The Iraq Study Group report, released Wednesday in Washington, calls for direct talks between Israel and its neighbors, Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinians and says resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict would improve conditions in Iraq.

Read more at Chron.com

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

Oh what a shock…..

Gaza City, Dec 02: Palestinians accused Israel of violating a fragile Gaza Strip ceasefire today as Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas was to see European diplomats for a string of meetings aimed at reviving stalled peace talks.

Palestinian security sources said an Israeli naval vessel dealt the truce a fresh blow when it fired at three Palestinian fishing boats off the coast of Rafah in south Gaza.

But the Israeli military emphatically rejected the reports.

“We categorically deny the existence of this incident,” a spokeswoman told media persons. “There were no shootings by any Navy boat this morning.”

If the Palestinian allegations are true, it would be the first time Israel has violated the ceasefire agreement since it took effect last Sunday at dawn.

Read more here

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

The UN says Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu will lead its fact-finding mission into Beit Hanoun where 19 Palestinians died in Israeli shelling on 8 November.

The mission aims to “recommend ways to protect Palestinian civilians against further Israeli attacks”, the UN says.

Israel has said the strike, which hit a civilian area in the Gaza Strip town, was due to a “technical failure”.

Mr Tutu - the winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his fight against apartheid in South Africa - will present his findings by the middle of December, the Geneva-based council said.

continue reading

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

The political leader of Hamas has said Palestinians will begin a third intifada - or uprising - if a political route to a Palestinian state within 1967 borders is not found within six months.

“If our demands are not met, the Palestinian people will close all political files and launch a third intifada,” Khaled Meshaal said in Cairo on Saturday.

“We give the international community six months for real political horizons. There is a historic opportunity for a Palestinian state within 1967 borders.”

continue reading

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

Israel has dismissed an offer by Palestinian militant groups to stop firing rockets into Israel, if Israel ends attacks on Palestinians.

An Israeli government spokeswoman, Miri Eisen, said the militants had offered only a partial ceasefire.

She said the offer of an end to firing rockets from Gaza showed a lack of real commitment to peace.

The conditional Palestinian offer was made after a meeting on Thursday of all armed factions, including Hamas.

The militant group Hamas leads the Palestinian Authority.

Israel has in the past consistently rejected ceasefire offers by Palestinian militants, saying it refuses to do deals of any kind with what it describes as terrorist organisations.

continue reading

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

Neither Democrats nor Republicans are prepared to say a word in opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s decision to add far-right Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party to Israel’s governing coalition.

Instead, Democrats are shoring up their pro-Israel bona fides. They are strikingly anxious because of a courageous new book by President Jimmy Carter that hit American bookstores in mid-November, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. It is an extraordinarily bold–and apt–title.

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among others, forcefully criticized the book. “It is wrong,” she declared, “to suggest that the Jewish people would support a government in Israel or anywhere else that institutionalizes ethnically based oppression, and Democrats reject that allegation vigorously.”

Full article at the Nation

You can buy Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid here

H/T to Bro for this post

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

So ya think they’ll leave now?

JERUSALEM, Nov. 20 - An Israeli advocacy group, using maps and figures leaked from inside the government, says that 39 percent of the land held by Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is privately owned by Palestinians.
[tag]
Israel[/tag] has long asserted that it fully respects Palestinian private property in the West Bank and only takes land there legally or, for security reasons, temporarily.

If big sections of those settlements are indeed privately held Palestinian land, that is bound to create embarrassment for Israel and further complicate the already distant prospect of a negotiated peace. The data indicate that 40 percent of the land that Israel plans to keep in any future deal with the Palestinians is private.

More at the NYTimes

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta

Gee, this Liebereman is a real peace loving kinda guy, eh?

JERUSALEM - Israel’s deputy prime minister on Saturday said Israel should assassinate Hamas‘ leadership, ignore the moderate Palestinian president and walk away from international peace efforts, the latest in a string of hard-line positions voiced by the newest member of the Cabinet.

The comments by Avigdor Lieberman came as the rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, continued talks on forming a unity government. President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah hopes the coalition deal will enable him to revive peace efforts with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert brought Lieberman into the government last month to shore up a shaky coalition government weakened by the summer war in Lebanon. The Moldova-born Lieberman enjoys wide support among Israel’s large community of immigrants from the former Soviet Union.

More here

Leave a ReplyToggle Meta