Apologies for the recent lack of blogging activity. Too many work and family obligations, not enough hours in the day. Last week, there was a dyspeptic attack on Americans for Peace Now by my friend Philip Weiss on his blog, MondoWeiss. (Check it out at http://www.philipweiss.org/mondoweiss/2007/11/foreign-affairs.html). It deserves a belated response. In taking on a […]
Middle East peace process
Israeli columnist: Cutting Gaza’s fuel supply is just “spin”
Americans for Peace Now’s latest “Middle East Peace Report” (link doesn’t work, so go to http://www.peacenow.org/mepr.asp?rid=&cid=4173) has some provocative critiques of the Israeli move to cut Gaza’s fuel supply, including lengthy excerpts from a column by Nahum Barnea in today’s Yedioth Ahoronot. I keep waiting to read sensible justifications for this action from the Israeli […]
Whom should we trust on Syria? The Bushies…or the experts?
Ameinu’s web site has some informative pieces on Syria that stand in stark contrast to the don’t-trust-Assad-under-any-circumstances pablum that is available from most American Jewish groups. What follows is a tidbit from Gershon Baskin, a very wise Israeli Jew who for decades has carried out “Track 2” dialogue on the toughest issues with Arab counterparts, […]
Mearsheimer, Walt and what didn’t really happen at Camp David
There is a sentence towards the end of Walt and Mearsheimer’s new book that undercuts some of what they have tried to accomplish with their critique of the “Israel Lobby.†Having rejected the binational, single-state solution as well as Israel’s permanent occupation, they assert: “The United States will have to put significant pressure on Israel […]
Give Israel’s Education Ministry credit: new text acknowledges Palestinian narrative
Yuli Tamir, Israel’s Education Minister, gets it. She and her staff have taken a tiny step towards a goal that has never been a priority for either Israel or the Palestinian Authority/PLO: acknowledging that there are two very different narratives at work here, two different ways of looking at the same set of events. Those […]
New Senate resolution: will “one-staters” sit on their hands?
There is a good chance that there is no hope. It may well be impossible to unravel the Gordian knot of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But there will certainly be no hope unless the U.S. gets more actively engaged and takes a more balanced approach. That is a no-brainer, isn’t it? Americans for Peace Now, Churches […]
Peace Now: Remove most, but not all, checkpoints
I took a deep breath and opened up a can of worms by discussing checkpoints and the wall in my previous post. The dilemma that confronts ordinary Israelis and Palestinians who won’t want to rely on glib rhetoric or simplistic solutions is how to reconcile two moral imperatives: the imperative of ending the occupation and […]
Jerusalem dispatch: A sliver of hope for the Arab League peace plan?
People on the Americans for Peace Now Board are in Israel. Ori Nir, their spokesperson, is sending interesting dispatches, some of which appear on their web site: www.peacenow.org. Below is a dispatch that gets into some of the nuances of the policies being considered in Israel in light of the recent disaster in the Gaza […]
So where were American Jews as Gaza collapsed?
In light of recent events, it is heartbreaking to recall both the hope that was generated when Abbas initially took over the Palestinian Authority and the role of the U.S. government –abetted by AIPAC– in dashing that hope.
Political horizons and the challenge of Hamas
Various peace plans or proposals are floating around out there, and some of them have found there way to this blog. Peter H points to the idea of a 5-year “hudna,” which, he says, would provide Hamas with “greater freedom & space to explore ways of resolving the conflict with Israel in a lasting way.†[…]