[WCUSP] Fw: Newsdigest Digest, Vol 2, Issue 17

[Libby or Mort Frank]

I sent you all a list from Newsdigest some months ago.  It comes in 
frequently and Friday's list had so much of interest, I'm forwarding it.  I 
don't agree with everything, but it provides a lot of info I don't get 
elsewhere.  You can subscribe if you want to.  I won't do this often.  Libby

----- Original Message ----- 
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Sent: Friday, February 23, 2007 3:12 PM
Subject: Newsdigest Digest, Vol 2, Issue 17


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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1.  Haaretz: U.S. hardens line on talks between Jerusalem,
>      Damascus By Ze'ev Schiff, Amos Harel and Yoav Stern   (Adam B.)
>   2.  New York Times: Palestinian Universities Dragged Into
>      Factional Clashes By Greg Myre  (Adam B.)
>   3.  Haaretz: Against Israeli Rationality by Gideon Samet (Adam B.)
>   4.  Forward: Why Not Let Moderates Engage Far left By Dan
>      Flesher  (Adam B.)
>   5.  Forward: Is Community Open to Critics of Zionism? By Ira
>      Youdovin  (Adam B.)
>   6.  Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle: Are We The New Jews of Silence
>      by Gidon D. Remba  (Adam B.)
>   7.  YNetNews: Don't Compare Arabs to Settlers by Dror Etkes (Adam B.)
>   8.  Forward: A Familiar Story Could Snag Oscar by Elissa Strauss
>      (Adam B.)
>   9.  Yahoo: Israel Break Up West Bank Barrier Protest (Adam B.)
>  10.  Israel Policy Forum: One State, Two States. Do I Hear Three
>      by MJ Rosenberg  (Adam B.)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:45:18 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest Haaretz: U.S. hardens line on talks between
> Jerusalem, Damascus By Ze'ev Schiff, Amos Harel and Yoav Stern
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <87A0CEBC-CA04-4084-9B1E-9151C82887A2 at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/829441.html
> haaretz.com
> February 23, 2007
> U.S. hardens line on talks between Jerusalem, Damascus By Ze'ev
> Schiff, Amos Harel and Yoav Stern
>
> The United States demanded that Israel desist from even exploratory
> contacts with Syria, of the sort that would test whether Damascus is
> serious in its declared intentions to hold peace talks with Israel.
>
> In meetings with Israeli officials recently, Secretary of State
> Condoleezza Rice was forceful in expressing Washington's view on the
> matter.
>
> The American argument is that even "exploratory talks" would be
> considered a prize in Damascus, whose policy and actions continue to
> undermine Lebanon's sovereignty and the functioning of its
> government, while it also continues to stir unrest in Iraq, to the
> detriment of the U.S. presence there.
>
> It is also known that Syria, like Iran, continues to provide
> Hezbollah with arms and equipment.
>
> According to senior Israeli officials, the American position vis-a-
> vis Syria, as it was expressed by the secretary of state, reflects a
> hardening of attitudes.
>
> When Israeli officials asked Secretary Rice about the possibility of
> exploring the seriousness of Syria in its calls for peace talks, her
> response was unequivocal: Don't even think about it.
>
> Israeli officials, including those in the intelligence community, are
> divided over the degree to which Syrian President Bashar Assad is
> serious and sincere in his call for peace talks with Israel.
>
> One view describes Assad's call as a propaganda campaign, and insists
> that the Syrian leader is not serious. Among those holding this view
> is Mossad chief Meir Dagan.
>
> In Military Intelligence the view differs. There are those who say
> that Assad is serious in his call for peace talks, but also say that
> this does not mean that those talks would be easy for Israel. They
> even suggest that there is a very good chance that the talks would fail.
>
> It is also known that the Syrians have recently tried to send
> messages to the Israeli leadership through intermediaries in Europe.
> These are English nationals and former American diplomats.
>
> The assessment is that the Syrian efforts are mostly the work of
> associates of Syria's foreign minister, Walid Mualem. The
> interlocutors approach various Israelis in order to cultivate ties
> with officials.
>
> Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has so far adopted the strict American
> position not to respond to the Syrian feelers.
>
> On the other hand, at the Foreign Ministry and within the defense
> establishment, there is a greater degree of openness to the offers,
> and the overall view is that the door should not be closed entirely
> to the Syrians. Similarly, many believe that the Syrian offers should
> be tested for their sincerity.
>
> Among the leading individuals supporting this view is Defense
> Minister Amir Peretz.
>
> Nonetheless, there is strict adherence to the principle of not acting
> against the views of the prime minister and of coordinating all
> matters with him.
>
> At the Defense Ministry, they are aware that Syria is playing a very
> active role in Hezbollah's efforts to replenish its arsenal, and in
> particular its rocket stockpile. It appears that Hezbollah has
> already managed, since the war, to build up a stockpile of some
> 10,000 short-range rockets.
>
> Syria assists Iran in arming Hezbollah with longer-range rockets.
>
> According to one report, the Syrians have accepted an Iranian
> proposal for their agents to be more active in commanding the
> Hezbollah's long-range rocket forces.
>
> Meanwhile, Peretz responded on Thursday to a story in Haaretz
> regarding Syrian efforts to rebuild its own military strength, saying
> that Israel should avoid making statements on developments in Syria.
>
> Peretz was speaking at the weekly defense assessment in his office
> with senior officers in the defense establishment.
>
> He said that there should be an effort to "avoid an escalation of
> words." The situation on the ground and along the border with Syria
> "will be evaluated on the basis of facts, and the IDF will prepare
> accordingly," he added.
>
> The Haaretz report struck a chord in the Arab media, which gave it a
> leading position in its news and analysis items.
>
> Three Syrian political analysts and politicians were interviewed on
> national television and denied the report on Syrian arms procurement
> and testing of ballistic missiles. However, all three emphasized that
> if there is no progress toward peace with Israel, then it is the
> "natural right" of Syria to take other types of action in order to
> liberate the Golan Heights.
>
> Muhammed Habesh, a Syrian legislator, in an interview with the Al
> Arabiya satellite channel, said that "if Israel attempts to do
> something stupid, it will pay a hefty price for it."
>
> He stressed that there has been no change in the border area in terms
> of the deployment of forces, and added that Syria was "ready for any
> eventuality."
>
> It was also announced Thursday that 10,000 tons of apples will be
> delivered to Syria from the Golan Heights, under the auspices of the
> Red Cross.
>
> The first three Red Cross trucks will cross into Syria on Monday
> morning. The transfer of the crop will continue for a period of 8-10
> weeks. It is the third time a shipment of apples produced by Druze in
> the villages on the Golan Heights is being carried out, and it is
> expected to be the largest ever.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:49:11 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest New York Times: Palestinian Universities
> Dragged Into Factional Clashes By Greg Myre
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <C157F152-A71A-4772-873E-581D4BBB2889 at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; delsp=yes;
> format=flowed
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/23/world/middleeast/23gaza.html?
> pagewanted=1&_r=2&ref=world
> nytimes.com
> February 23, 2007
> Palestinian Universities Dragged Into Factional Clashes By GREG MYRE
>
> GAZA, Feb. 18 - The computer center in the Islamic University's
> library is ankle-deep in ashes, and the few computers that survived a
> recent grenade attack and fire are misshapen and melted, as if
> painted by Salvador Dalí.
>
> Just next door, at Al Azhar University, a rocket mangled the
> protective metal bars as it crashed through the windows of the
> president's office this month, destroying his desk and pocking his
> walls with shrapnel.
>
> Many Palestinians never imagined that the violence in their streets
> would spread to these institutions, sources of great pride to all
> Palestinians. But as infighting spun out of control at the beginning
> of this month, it consumed the major universities that represent one
> of the few hopes of a better life here in the impoverished Gaza Strip.
>
> Islamic University is closely identified with one of the main
> Palestinian factions - Hamas - while Al Azhar is a stronghold for its
> main rival, Fatah. For three days this month, from Feb. 1 to 3, the
> side-by-side campuses became a battleground for gunmen from the two
> factions while the universities were on winter break and largely
> deserted.
>
> "I never thought this could happen," said Ahmed Bahar, a Hamas leader
> and the deputy speaker of the Palestinian parliament, who toured the
> Islamic University on Sunday. "When we saw the university burning, it
> was like our hearts were burning, because this institution is very
> dear to us."
>
> Hamas and Fatah now say they will share power in a unity government,
> and the factional fighting has stopped. At the universities, the
> students have returned from their breaks, and workmen are repairing
> the damage. But the tensions linger.
>
> "I have two sisters and many friends at the Islamic University," said
> Rasha Nejem, 22, a pharmacy student at Al Azhar. "But when I visited
> to see the damage, one girl told me: 'Get out of my university. You
> have no business here.' "
>
> When the fighting was at its worst, members of the Presidential
> Guard, who are linked to Fatah and are responsible for protecting the
> president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, stormed onto
> the Islamic University campus on Feb. 1 and remained there the next
> day. They said Hamas fighters were shooting from the buildings and
> storing weapons at the university.
>
> "The Islamic University was used as a base for Hamas gunmen," said
> Maher Makdad, a Fatah spokesman. "We didn't attack the university
> because it was a university, but because gunmen were firing from there."
>
> The Presidential Guard left a trail of destruction that included
> significant damage to seven buildings, totaling $10 million,
> according to Islamic University officials. The security forces said
> they confiscated Hamas weapons but backed away from some of the
> accusations made at the time, including an assertion that eight
> Iranian weapons experts were arrested at the university.
>
> "They made all kinds of charges," said Kamalain Shaath, the president
> of the Islamic University. "They said we were holding an Israeli
> soldier, that there were Iranians and that we were keeping dead
> bodies here. They were all fabrications."
>
> "Until now, I have received no convincing explanation as to why the
> university was attacked," Dr. Shaath added. He said he had received a
> call of support from Dr. Jawad Wadi, the president of Al Azhar.
> However, Dr. Shaath said he had had no communication from Mr. Abbas,
> his office or the Presidential Guard.
>
> Some of the most valuable parts of the campus were singled out for
> attacks. Two rocket-propelled grenades were fired into the top floor
> of the library, setting a blaze that gutted the computer center. The
> intensity of the fire warped the blades on the ceiling fans, which
> now droop like wilted flower petals.
>
> The library's bookstore was burned, and one of the few surviving
> volumes is a badly singed Koran. But the 130,000 books in the library
> itself were not harmed.
>
> Science labs with expensive equipment were also burned, as was a
> conference center. Throughout the university, graffiti spray-painted
> on office doors reads, "The Presidential Guards were here" and
> "Greetings from Abbas and Dahlan," a reference to the president of
> the Palestinian Authority and Muhammad Dahlan, a former Gaza security
> chief and a prominent Fatah leader. The smell of smoke still hangs in
> the air more than two weeks after the attack.
>
> On Feb. 3, the day after the attack on the Islamic University ended,
> Dr. Wadi, Al Azhar's president, received an anonymous phone call
> urging him to go to his office because gunmen were using his campus
> to fire on the Islamic University.
>
> "They told me it was urgent, and I should come right away," he said.
>
> He checked with security guards at his university, who assured him it
> was not true, so he decided not to go because there was still
> fighting in the surrounding neighborhood.
>
> About an hour after the phone call, a rocket fired from the direction
> of the Islamic University smashed through the window behind his desk.
> Several more rockets slammed into other parts of the administration
> building. University officials collected the tail fins of four
> rockets, which bore the Hamas insignia.
>
> "I was lucky," said Dr. Wadi, who is now working out of an undamaged
> office across the hall. "After the phone call, I asked for cars to be
> moved out of the area, and when the attackers saw the movement, they
> probably thought I was in my office."
>
> There is no evidence that students from either institution were
> involved in the violence, but the attacks showed that no place was
> immune.
>
> "We want to keep education separate from politics," said Gehad Hamad,
> a spokesman for Al Azhar. "We view the universities as a holy place,
> almost like a mosque. But this is a small community, and what happens
> on the street affects us here."
>
> The two universities are separated by a wall on Thalathini Street, a
> main thoroughfare in Gaza City.
>
> The Islamic University, founded in 1978, has nearly 20,000 students,
> a majority of them women, and caters to those who seek a religion-
> based education. All the women wear black abayas, or long robes, as
> well as head scarves, and some wear full veils.
>
> Many Hamas leaders in Gaza have some link to the university, among
> them Prime Minister Ismail Haniya.
>
> At Al Azhar, established in 1990, there are more than 12,000
> students, and most offices feature a large photo of Yasir Arafat, the
> longtime Palestinian leader and Fatah chief who died in 2004.
>
> As competition between Hamas and Fatah has increased, students from
> the two universities have waged occasional stone-throwing clashes, as
> happened last spring.
>
> "Let us hope that what happened here was an exception," said Dr.
> Shaath, the Islamic University president. "Now it is time to rebuild
> everything that was destroyed."
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:51:00 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest Haaretz: Against Israeli Rationality by
> Gideon Samet
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <7241FA4F-CF36-48D8-B76B-BBF40640A2DB at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?
> itemNo=829435&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
> haaretz.com
> February 23, 2007
> Against Israeli rationality By Gideon Samet
>
> Not everything the government does is a failure. The big success this
> week - apart from apprehending a terrorist in Bat Yam, after he had
> succeeded in carrying six kilos of explosives on a bus from Jerusalem
> to Rishon Letzion and then dumping his makeshift bomb in a public
> garbage can - belongs to Ehud Olmert. In a surprise move, he trapped
> the U.S. secretary of state on her inconsequential visit to Jerusalem.
>
> Olmert placed a bomb under the chances of extracting anything that
> might result in an understanding emerging out of his meeting with
> Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and out of the
> Mecca summit. It was a speedy achievement and also one of the peaks
> of the prime minister?s style of governmental arrogance.
>
> Although Olmert constantly sees the media as axing him and his
> ministers, it was interesting to see that, in this case, the media
> behaved quite politely. Most commentators accentuated Olmert's
> statement about the usual suspects in the PA leadership. They don't
> deserve any other treatment until they announce the cessation of
> terrorism and meet the Quartet's three conditions. Yes, he will meet
> with Abu Mazen again, but it's not clear when.
>
> The leading newspapers in the Quartet countries actually wonder why
> Israel insists on not taking advantage of the opportunity created by
> the Saudi monarch.
>
> While the British prime minister again proposed, on Wednesday, with
> English politeness, that Israel should talk to Hamas, the headline of
> a New York Times editorial, for example, termed the meeting in
> Jerusalem a "charade."
>
> The moderate meaning of that is a game of illusions.
>
> A more appropriate gloss would speak of deception. Condoleezza Rice
> came without any new ideas. She yielded to Olmert, who struck a deal
> behind her back in a phone call to President George W. Bush.
>
> Thus, in a rare sequence of events, we heard a senior representative
> of the superpower declaiming the inflexibility of the local leader.
> The guest also allowed Olmert to humiliate her.
>
> He was not present when she read, as though she were his cabinet
> secretary, the joint announcement after the meeting - most of which
> was devoted to Olmert?s reprimands of "Ya, Abu Mazen."
>
> But all of this is much less surprising than the narrow scope of
> American moves, not to say blunders, across the region. Bush's quasi-
> automatic talk about the need for democratization and for the
> stabilization of a moderate Sunni axis reverberated in its full
> vapidity when he poured cold water on the Mecca initiative and before
> that also on Syria's feelers and on Hamas? integration into the PA
> government.
>
> The Saudi monarch channeled a Fatah-Hamas civil war into a possible
> return to joint governance. But the Bush-Olmert axis was unimpressed.
> One can understand Olmert's approach: If he had agreed to acknowledge
> any change in the principled affirmation Hamas was forced to give in
> Mecca to the Quartet's demands, he would have infuriated the majority
> of his hawkish cabinet. The principal foe of a rational Israeli
> policy today is not the prime minister. It's America.
>
> During the six years in which the Bush administration has been in
> power, the United States has been so lame in dealing with our affairs
> that we are left with only one option: to realize that this is the
> president?s position of principle.
>
> He did not seriously demand that Israel fulfill its own commitments
> under his blurry road map. Last week he gave a slap to a moderate and
> highly influential Arab king who tried to get the Palestinians to
> reach an understanding among themselves and to hold a dialogue with
> Israel.
> That and similar moves were recommended by the Baker-Hamilton
> committee in the face of the Iranian axis of fanaticism.
>
> The president, no little fundamentalist in his own right, trashed the
> recommendations. Never in recent decades has a U.S. administration
> been in this kind of international trouble, with such an inferior
> package of political creativity.
>
> It's a sorry portrait of our great friend. We have known far better
> times together.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:54:35 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest Forward: Why Not Let Moderates Engage Far
> left By Dan Flesher
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <B869A336-1E4B-4C7A-A05B-4C596AC7224A at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> http://www.forward.com/articles/why-not-let-moderates-engage-far-left/
> forward.com
> February 23, 2007
> Why Not Let Moderates Engage Far Left? by Dan Fleshler
>
> The mainstream machers of American Jewry correctly assert that some
> of the rhetorical excesses of Israel's critics, particularly on the
> far left, can foster outright antisemitism. But when these
> organizational leaders and academics recently claimed that
> provocative denunciations of Israel's occupation or calls for a
> binational state were beyond the pale, all they succeeded in doing
> was bolstering the widespread conviction that powerful Jewish groups
> want to stifle all public criticism of Israel.
>
> Indeed, if you search on the Internet for "Israel lobby" and "thought
> police," more than 30,000 entries show up, many of them quite recent.
> Next to some of the people who post these entries, including radical
> lefties, Henry Ford seems like a UJA supporter.
>
> Rather than adding more fuel to this fire, the usual Jewish
> organizational suspects should step back and take note of a more
> promising way to lower the flames. Outside of the media glare, in
> isolated and uncoordinated efforts, American Jews who support
> Israel's peace and human rights camp are reaching out to progressive
> counterparts. They are criticizing the tone and substance of left-
> wing discourse on the Middle East, but they are also trying to find
> common ground.
>
> This has been happening in dialogues between Jewish peace activists
> and divest-from-Israel groups in Chicago, Philadelphia and elsewhere.
> It is happening on scores of college campuses under the umbrella of
> the Union of Progressive Zionists, which gives a home to Jewish
> students who are equally alienated by the Israel-right-or-wrong crowd
> and by those who equate Ehud Olmert with Darth Vader. It is also
> happening in leftist neighborhoods in the blogosphere, where I and
> other Jews who are often critical of Israel, but care deeply about
> it, have begun to venture.
>
> From conversations with people engaged in these efforts, it becomes
> clear that Jews who agree with many of the left's objections to
> Israeli policies can have more of an impact than those who don't.
>
> The ideal candidates for addressing the claims of the far left aren't
> afraid to say publicly that the occupation is morally repugnant. They
> want to be able to talk about Israel in the public arena with the
> same candor that can be found in the Israeli media. They want the
> American government to have the political wiggle room to occasionally
> push and prod both sides of the conflict, if that is what is
> necessary to preserve hope for a two-state solution.
>
> At the same time, they proudly say they are pro-Israel. They want to
> change the atmosphere on campuses and on the Internet, where so-
> called "progressives" often see nothing wrong with comparing Israeli
> Jews to Nazis, praising suicide bombers as freedom fighters or
> proclaiming that the very idea of the Jewish people is an illusion --
> what is known in leftist parlance as "Jewish particularism." And
> these moderate leftists insist that Palestinians and other Arabs not
> be absolved of responsibility for the Arab-Israeli conflict.
>
> One message pro-Israel doves can deliver to other leftists is
> motivated not only by concerns about Jew baiting but also by a
> concrete political objective. America's Middle East policies, we tell
> the lefties, won't change unless more moderate American Jews actively
> support those changes. And these Jews, in turn, will be reluctant to
> speak out if they believe they are making common cause with people
> who are either outright antisemites or bear an uncanny resemblance to
> them. So those who want the United States to help end Palestinian
> suffering should be careful to avoid the kind of rhetoric that chases
> away potential political allies.
>
> That singular tactical message will make some mainstream American
> Jews uncomfortable, needless to say. But those of us who deliver it
> have a chance to be heard when leftists question Israel's legitimacy.
> The rest of the pro-Israel community has no chance.
>
> The left's anti-Israelism won't fade away, of course. Many Israel
> haters will never change their spots. But they are not the most
> important audience.
>
> In this digital age, untold numbers of other, more reasonable people
> who are disturbed by Israeli policies are tuning into the ongoing
> conversation between pro-Israel doves and others on the left. It's
> important to show this audience that one can be both progressive and
> pro-Israel, that there is a way to criticize Israel without aiding
> those who don't want it to exist.
>
> In Chicago, for example, moderate Jewish leftists have taught pro-
> divestment groups that it is possible to care about human rights and
> the downtrodden while still believing that Jews deserve their own
> state. And a Jewish educator in Pennsylvania who works on
> multicultural relations told me that "more and more lefties I deal
> with are beginning to understand that Zionism was meant to be the
> national liberation movement of an oppressed people, and there was a
> logic to Israel's founding that they may not entirely accept but
> don't dismiss out of hand the way they used to."
>
> Engaging with the hard left, of course, is not always easy. When I
> post on blogs under my pseudonym, "tough dove," I am often treated
> like some kind of plant for the Mossad. I have been called a "fig
> leaf for the Likud" and an "apologist for the Greater Israel crowd."
>
> Still, there is already anecdotal evidence that pro-Israel leftists
> in America can help to temper a growing, implacable hostility toward
> both American Jews and the Jewish state. Their approach is certainly
> better for the American Jewish community than insisting that people
> who are furious with Israel keep their mouths shut.
>
> Dan Fleshler, a New York-based media and public affairs strategist,
> is a board member of Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now and the Givat
> Haviva Educational Foundation.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 10:57:15 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest Forward: Is Community Open to Critics of
> Zionism? By Ira Youdovin
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <C833C41E-7D81-4F4E-B0AF-C0B110F0C59D at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> http://www.forward.com/articles/the-progressive-jewish-question/
> forward.com
> February 23, 2007
> Is Community Open to Critics of Zionism? by Ira Youdovin
>
> There are Jews who smell antisemitism whenever non-Jews criticize
> Israel, and blame Israel's Jewish critics for abetting them. The
> interests aroused by Alvin Rosenfeld's controversial recent essay,
> "Progressive Jewish Thought and the New Anti-Semitism," raises the
> specter that this mindset could become a leitmotif in the way the
> American Jewish right regards its counterpart on the left and center-
> left.
>
> The essay's targets are Jews who condemn Israel in hyperbolic terms,
> such as by drawing analogies with Nazism and apartheid. Some, but not
> all, of them also advocate terminating Israel's existence as a Jewish
> state.
>
> Most of the big names are familiar. Tony Judt, Tony Kushner and poet
> Adrienne Rich have been known commodities for years. Those whose
> names are unfamiliar speak mostly to themselves. Considering the
> groundswell it has generated, it's curious that Rosenfeld's essay
> contains very little that was not previously known.
>
> As Rosenfeld himself notes, Jews have always criticized Israel, even
> to the point of challenging its legitimacy. More than a half-century
> ago, the American Council for Judaism lobbied against American
> support for Israel's creation, and this past December six Neturei
> Karta rabbis showed up in Tehran for the recent conference of
> Holocaust deniers.
>
> These are, however, nervous times for American Jews. The rise of
> antisemitism is distressing, as is the postmodernist tendency to
> condemn all nationalisms. Jimmy Carter's use of the term "apartheid"
> in his book title is a jarring example of how well-meaning Christians
> decontextualize facts on the ground, and then make unfair judgments
> of what they perceive to be Israeli human rights abuses against
> Palestinians.
>
> Alan Dershowitz spoke for many when he voiced his concern that "this
> decent man has written such an indecent book about the Israeli-
> Palestinian conflict." And the $750,000 advance John Mearsheimer and
> Stephen Walt will receive for a book-length version of their essay on
> Jewish power suggests a new openness to public discussion of an issue
> long regarded as taboo.
>
> There are also distressing shifts in Washington. The Iraq Study
> Group's linkage of progress in Iraq to progress in the Israeli-
> Palestinian conflict crossed a line many Jewish leaders have fought
> to maintain. Moreover, whoever is elected our next president may very
> well not be as friendly to Israel as is the incumbent.
>
> Furthermore, there is profound concern for Israel's security in the
> face of rising Iranian power. Confidence in Israel's leadership is
> exceedingly low after last summer's Lebanese debacle. And for the
> first time ever, Iran's nuclear potential confronts Israel with an
> existential threat it may be powerless to deter.
>
> In short, conditions are ripe for getting the wagons into a circle
> and squashing dissent. David Harris, executive director of the
> American Jewish Committee, which commissioned Rosenfeld's essay, is
> correct in asserting that those who challenge Israel's right to exist
> and compare Israel to Hitler's Germany need to be confronted.
> [Editor's note: The AJCommittee's David Harris and David Harris of
> the Israel on Campus Coalition bear no relation.]
>
> Rosenfeld and the AJCommittee are to be congratulated for taking up
> the gauntlet. But the line separating calumny from legitimate dissent
> is unclear and ever shifting. Indeed, we may already be on a very
> slippery slope.
>
> The Zionist Organization of America recently tried to expel the Union
> of Progressive Zionists from the Israel on Campus Coalition for
> bringing Israeli military veterans to campuses to speak about alleged
> Israeli abuse of Palestinians. The initiative was supported for a
> time by the American Jewish Congress, which not long ago was the
> Jewish community's most vociferous guardian of free speech. What's next?
>
> Doni Remba, a leader of Americans for Peace Now, characterizes
> Carter's book as being "badly flawed but with a large kernel of
> truth." In the future, will an author who condemns Carter's main
> thesis nevertheless find himself condemned because he accepts some of
> Carter's critique?
>
> Jewish Voice for Peace, which supports divestment and is currently
> circulating a petition urging Congress to heed Carter's words, is
> certainly beyond the pale. But what about Rabbis for Human Rights, an
> Israeli-based pluralistic organization that rejects divestment and
> advocates a two-state solution, even as it accuses Israel of
> violating human rights?
>
> American Jews have gone through periods of attempted suppression of
> criticism at other times when storm clouds gathered. The enforcers
> can be surprising.
>
> In the 1970s, when Likud expansionism ignited controversy, Rabbi
> Arthur Lelyveld, a leading social activist who had his head busted
> open on a freedom march in Mississippi, used his bully pulpit as
> president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis to warn
> colleagues against "joining the jackals nipping at Israel's heel."
>
> Today we have Alvin Rosenfeld. By implying that progressive thought
> leads almost inevitably to views that are deleterious to Israel and
> the Jewish people, he buys into a genre of stereotyping that ignores
> the overwhelming number of Jewish progressives and liberals who are
> staunchly pro-Israel.
>
> Take his treatment of a textbook published in the United States by a
> mainstream publishing house that includes a section titled "Should
> Israel Exist?" He castigates the book for merely raising the subject,
> and for including responses in the negative from two Jews, Ahron
> Cohen of Neturei Karta and Joel Kovel, a Marxist eco-socialist
> professor at Bard College.
>
> Although neither the title nor its publisher is identified by
> Rosenfeld, a check of Amazon.com reveals that the book must almost
> certainly be "Israel: Opposing Viewpoints," published by the
> Greenhaven Press as part of its "Opposing Viewpoints Series" for high-
> school students.
>
> The book is by no means anti-Israel or antisemitic. The responses of
> Cohen and Kovel, plus one by Tony Judt, are juxtaposed by an equal
> number of strongly pro-Israel statements written by Jews. While one
> shares Rosenfeld's outrage over Israel's legitimacy being questioned
> by anyone, it is both unfair and woefully counterproductive to attack
> a textbook that seeks only to engender reasoned discussion of an
> issue that is already in the air.
>
> Most disturbing, however, is Rosenfeld's concluding remark. He
> anguishes that "young readers will quickly learn the arguments for
> the elimination of the Jewish state -- every antisemite's cherished
> dream -- are contributed by Jews themselves." He then adds
> gratuitously, and dangerously, "Given the drift of 'progressive'
> Jewish thought, that, too -- perverse as it is -- should come as no
> surprise."
>
> Reading this specious allegation, one is frightened by memories of
> the voice of a late, unlamented senator from Wisconsin muttering
> somewhere in the background, "Mr. Chairman, I have a list of names...."
>
> Rabbi Ira Youdovin is executive vice president of the Chicago Board
> of Rabbis.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:02:30 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle: Are We The New
> Jews of Silence by Gidon D. Remba
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <06D59601-9A8D-499F-A8F2-5912951EE666 at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> http://tough-dove-israel.blogspot.com/2006/11/are-we-new-jews-of-
> silence-gidon-d.html
> tough-dove-israel.blogspot.com
> February 22, 2007
> Are We the New Jews of Silence? by Gidon D. Remba
>
> "We were the Jews of Silence, the Jews enjoying security, the Jews of
> the Western world . . .What torments me most is . . . the silence of
> the Jews I live among today," wrote Elie Wiesel a generation ago in a
> "Letter to a Young Jew in the U.S.S.R." Today, there is another
> silence among the Jews of America: the silence that the few would
> impose on the many. It brooks no criticism of Israel, always the
> righteous victim of Arab enmity. Enforcing quiet--supporting Israel
> right or wrong--is essential to preserving Israel's status quo, a
> condition which, as we all know, is truly the best of all possible
> worlds.
>
> And what if the status quo is, in fact, toxic to Israel? What if it
> is a poison eating away at the foundations of the state, fouling its
> Jewish and democratic values and corrupting the young who are its
> future, some of whom must venture into the West Bank to suppress and
> control the Palestinian population? Counter-insurgency and the
> occupation of villages and cities is ugly, but they are necessary
> evils in the face of a barbarous and genocidal war against the Jews
> and the Jewish state.
>
> But what if it is not all for the sake of Israel's security? What if
> our brave Jewish fighters sometimes serve the interests of Jewish
> settlers who encroach on Palestinian land, steal their olive trees,
> build wildcat Jewish outposts in violation of Israeli law and then
> bar the Palestinians by force from their property? To make matters
> worse, what if they manage to co-opt sympathetic government agencies,
> and the Jewish state itself now becomes complicit in their piracy?
> And what if, in the course of duty, our soldiers do many things to
> ordinary Palestinians which they themselves cannot justify as
> necessary to protect the lives of Israel's citizens?
>
> Consider the case of Hebron, the biblical city where the patriarchs
> and matriarchs are thought to be buried in the Cave of the Machpela.
> 500 Israeli settlers now live in Hebron in "H2," a four-square mile
> area which represents just 20% of the city where more than 170,000
> Palestinians dwell. 35,000 Palestinians used to live in H2 under
> Israeli control. But no more. Many have left their homes because it
> has become unbearable for them to stay. All of Israel was shocked--
> shocked!--recently by a video aired on Israel TV which showed a
> Hebron settler cursing, harassing and throwing stones at a
> Palestinian family in their own home, while nearby Israeli soldiers
> refused to intervene.
>
> This shameful but not atypical episode finally embarrassed Prime
> Minister Ehud Olmert into ordering an investigation of Palestinian
> charges of frequent settler assaults and the studied indifference of
> Israeli security authorities. But will this inquiry restore the
> displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians to their Hebron homes?
> Surely not. And will the Jewish world raise a hue and cry at this
> injustice? Think again. If you accused Israel of "ethnic cleansing"
> you'd be branded an Israel hater, perhaps even an anti-Semite. But
> what are we who turn a blind eye to the forced removal of countless
> Palestinian families after harassment by fanatical Israeli settlers
> under IDF protection? Are all Palestinians guilty--children too--for
> the crimes of a few?
>
> "The problem of settlers abusing Palestinians in the Hebron area is a
> persistent one and is well known to the police," reported the Israeli
> newspaper Ha'aretz last month about the frequent rock-throwing,
> window breaking, violent ambushes of Palestinian schoolgirls,
> destructive rampages in Palestinian homes, and other outrages. The
> Israel Police acknowledge that "the Abu Ayisha family has been
> escorted by police on numerous occasions to protect them from abuse."
> Yosef Lapid, who now chairs the Council of Yad Vashem, Israel's
> Holocaust Remembrance Authority, told Israel Radio: "We Jewish
> citizens of Israel wave a reprimanding finger at most [of the world,
> and] worse still, I tolerated this silently as Justice Minister too."
> We, the Jews of America, clamor to defend Israel from harsh
> broadsides like those of President Jimmy Carter, who contends that
> Israel is practicing apartheid in the West Bank. But we turn away
> from the awful misdeeds that Israel permits its citizens and
> institutions to perpetrate which are the very source of such
> hyperbolic condemnations. We keep silent.
>
> After Kiryat Arba settler Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Muslims in
> prayer, and wounded many others in the Cave of the Machpela on Purim
> in 1994, the IDF closed down Shuhada Street, Hebron's main
> thoroughfare, for Palestinian movement, eventually shuttering all
> shops and barring all vehicles. The closure continues to this day.
> Even Palestinian ambulances cannot enter to render emergency medical
> aid to Palestinian women, men and children who have the misfortune of
> living in the part of Hebron the settlers have "liberated." Most
> Palestinian neighborhoods in H2 resemble what various Israeli
> observers have called "a ghost town," with "hundreds of abandoned
> homes, like after a war, dozens of destroyed stores, burned or
> shuttered, their gates welded closed by the settlers, and an all-
> pervasive, deadly silence."
>
> This stark tale--and the grand Israeli West Bank tragedy--has been
> powerfully chronicled by legendary Israel TV News anchor Chaim Yavin
> in an English-subtitled Hebrew film called "The Land of the
> Settlers," available on DVD through Americans for Peace Now. The
> Israel Television Academy recently recognized the film as the best
> documentary series for 2006. "Ultimately, they have succeeded,"
> laments Gideon Levy in Ha'aretz. "The settlers' violence has proved
> itself, and Hebron is becoming more Judaized. To be more precise,
> Hebron is becoming emptier. Five-hundred violent residents have
> demonstrated that they have the power to expel tens of thousands of
> their neighbors thanks to the sponsorship the state has extended to
> them." Is this our Judaism? Is this our Israel?
>
> Hebron may be among the most extreme cases, but it is emblematic of
> the larger problem pervading the West Bank. "For years there has been
> restraint in the face of the settlers' violence," Brigadier General
> Ilan Paz, who headed Israel's Civil Administration in the West Bank
> until 2005, told Ha'aretz. "All the [law] enforcement agencies, from
> the junior police officer to the senior judge, share in this... I
> cannot say that the rule of law exists in the territories." Paz
> himself, who has killed numerous Palestinian terrorists in combat and
> performed much of his military service in the IDF's elite Naval
> Commando unit, was often harassed by West Bank settlers who called
> him "a traitor and a leftist." Why? Because he did his job and tried
> to enforce Israeli law on the settlers. Soldiers and police are under
> frequent "attack by [Jewish] extremists in Hebron. It's terrible,"
> exclaimed Paz. "The IDF cannot feel proud in the face of what is
> happening" there.
>
> Anyone who witnesses the daily spectacle of Hebron, as I did
> recently, cannot but conclude that it is only the Palestinians--tens
> of thousands of them, those who have been forced out and those who
> haven't been--who are paying a heavy price for the welfare of 500
> messianic Israeli settlers. It is never the settlers who must remain
> inside their homes, suffer restrictions or encumbrances to enable the
> Palestinian citizens of Hebron to live decently. The Association for
> Civil Rights in Israel has filed a suit maintaining that the burden
> of security should be shared more equitably between Palestinians and
> Israelis in Hebron. The Council for Peace and Security, a group of
> over one thousand former senior Israeli security, military and
> intelligence officials, has joined in the suit, offering a brief
> showing how security for the Jewish settlers can be reconciled with
> much greater respect for the rights of the Palestinians.
>
> Were you an Israeli soldier who suffered the misfortune of assignment
> to Hebron or other parts of the Wild West Bank, you might well come
> to feel, as have innumerable patriotic Israeli soldiers--no
> refuseniks they--that you, your comrades in arms, and all of Israel
> are paying an incalculable moral price to sanction the ever-growing
> settlement project and military occupation of millions. If you
> ventured to educate American Jews about the ugly Israeli realities in
> the "disputed territory," you too might be tarred as an anti-Israel
> traitor, an enemy of the Jews. Thus Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem
> Post and Jonathan Tobin of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent dismissed
> the brave Israeli soldiers from Shovrim Shtika, "Breaking the
> Silence," and all those Zionist Jews who endorse them. Any pro-Israel
> group that hosted you would be subject to a fiery crusade by Morton's
> McCarthyites to banish you from the Jewish fold. Klein's gang, the
> "Zionist Organization of America," indeed tried, and failed, to oust
> the Union of Progressive Zionists, a national network of student
> groups sponsored by the Labor Zionist group Ameinu and Meretz USA,
> from the Israel on Campus Coalition umbrella group.
>
> Perhaps you are an Israeli soldier who has waged anti-terror
> operations in Gaza and fought tough battles in Lebanon. Maybe you
> were raised an Orthodox Jew, as was Yehuda Shaul, the guiding spirit
> behind Shovrim Shtika, whose group was embraced by then-IDF Chief of
> Staff Lt-General Moshe Ya'alon to help Israel's armed forces examine
> their "combat values" in the occupied territories. And suppose you
> take seriously the Jewish tradition's injunction to pursue justice,
> and the Levitical commandment "When a stranger resides with you in
> your land, you shall not wrong him. The stranger who resides with you
> shall be to you as one of your citizens; you shall love him as
> yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Imagine if
> you took to heart what you learned in yeshiva when you studied Talmud
> Bavli, which teaches: "Whoever can stop the members of his household
> from committing a sin, but does not, is held responsible for the sins
> of his household. If he can stop the people of his city from sinning,
> but does not, he is held responsible for the sins of the people of
> his city. If he can stop the whole world from sinning, and does not,
> he is held responsible for the sins of the whole world." (Shabbat 54b)
>
> Perhaps you strive to be not only Israeli, not simply one who
> identifies as a Jewish nationalist with his people, but also to be a
> Jew, who lives by a sacred code of ethics. And just suppose you
> believe with all your heart and soul, as did Herzl and Ahad Ha'am,
> each in their way, that the meaning of a Jewish state must include
> this if it includes anything at all: the Jewish people who have
> gathered together in the Land of Israel must carry with them
> Judaism's enlightened moral values.
>
> If this is what you believe, then you can no longer hold still. You
> must take responsibility for your fellows, and for yourself, because
> our tradition teaches that kol Yisrael arevim zeh la zeh. And to take
> responsibility you have no choice but to speak out--in Israel, in the
> American Jewish community and wherever Jews congregate. Hebron,
> Migron, Ofra and countless other places have taught you that changing
> Israel's status quo is the highest imperative if the Zionist project
> is to be saved--and renewed. But transforming Israel's world is a
> Herculean task that the Jewish state cannot accomplish on its own.
> Most American Jews sit on the sidelines as cheerleaders and
> fundraisers, drawing Jewish pride from the Israel they imagine,
> oblivious to the steady moral decline of the world's only Jewish
> republic. What torments me most is the silence of the Jews I live
> among today. They must not become the new Jews of silence. They must
> help spare the members of their household, Beit Yisrael, from sin.
>
>
> Gidon D. Remba is co-author of the forthcoming The Great Rift: Arab-
> Israeli War and Peace in the New Middle East. His commentary is
> available at http://tough-dove-israel.blogspot.com/ He served as
> senior foreign press editor and translator in the Israel Prime
> Minister's Office during the Egyptian-Israeli peace process from
> 1977-1978. His essays have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the
> Chicago Sun-Times, the New York Times, the Nation, the Jerusalem
> Report, Ha'aretz, Tikkun, the Forward, the Jewish Journal of Greater
> Los Angeles, Chicago Jewish News, JUF News, and the Pittsburgh Jewish
> Chronicle.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 7
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:07:32 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest YNetNews: Don't Compare Arabs to Settlers by
> Dror Etkes
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <FA98820C-118C-45D3-A7EF-C9DF16B8E867 at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3368653,00.html
> ynetnews.com
> Don't compare Arabs to settlers By  Dror Etkes
>
> The debate on the future of illegal outposts often gives rise to a
> question that combines foolishness and hypocrisy: What about illegal
> construction by the Arabs? At best, we are talking about clueless,
> hysterical talkback writers; in the much worse cases, this is yet
> another part of the smear campaign that characterizes the systematic
> incitement by some journalists and rightist politicians against the
> entire Arab public in a bid to score points among potential
> constituencies. The facts, of course, are completely different.
>
> For dozens of years now, Israel is making use of its planning and
> licensing authorities in order to limit the ability of Palestinians,
> wherever they are, to develop and establish themselves in their areas
> of residence. The objective was and remains the same: Reducing the
> number of Arabs living in territories controlled by Israel.
>
> To that end, several means are being implemented, including:
> Extremely unequal designation of "national lands"; Expropriations and
> "taking hold of land for security needs" (the latter only takes place
> in the West Bank) when it comes to privately owned Palestinian land
> and handing it over, in most cases, to the use of the Jewish public
> only; and a failure to advance master plans at Arab communities, thus
> preventing any practical possibility of legal construction.
>
> In order to clarify the extreme asymmetry at the basis of the foolish
> comparison between illegal construction by settlers and illegal
> construction by the Palestinian population in the West Bank and east
> Jerusalem, several other important points must be emphasized:
>
> Construction in the settlements and outposts, as the Sasson Report
> also noted, is for the most part undertaken by government
> authorities, or regrettably through their encouragement and funding.
> The significance of government intervention in violations carried out
> by the State itself is that they touch on fundamental questions
> regarding the Israeli regime's quality. Illegal Palestinian
> construction, on the other hand, is undertaken by private individuals
> in all cases.
>
> Spare us your self-righteousness
>
> Most of the Palestinian illegal construction is undertaken on their
> own private land, while construction in the settlements is also
> undertaken on "State-owned" land or areas whose ownership has not
> been clarified, and where the State, with the settlers' assistance,
> was quick to establishes ownership. And the greatest chutzpah: Some
> of this construction is on private Palestinian land.
>
> The objective of construction in the settlements is to take over as
> much land as possible in order to prevent the Palestinian public
> (which accounts for "only" 90 percent of the West Bank's population)
> from any possibility of making use of it for its own benefit. On the
> other hand, Palestinian construction is in most cases intended to
> provide shelter for families who have no alternative means of residence.
>
> As opposed to what rightist spokespersons say, enforcement against
> Palestinian construction defined as illegal is much more frequent.
> Yet rightist speakers are counting on and rightfully so in their
> view, the Israeli media, which for the most part completely ignores
> these incidents.
>
> Yet the most fundamental point, which completely undermines the
> attempt to compare the two phenomena, is of course the fact that the
> Palestinian population in the West Bank and east Jerusalem does not
> have the right to vote. As a result, it does not have the practical
> possibility of taking part in shaping the planning and construction
> policy in the areas where it has been living in for generations.
>
> The complaints by the settlers and their supporters, who argue that
> Palestinians are building wherever they wish, while the settlers
> themselves are allegedly being prosecuted by authorities, may have
> been taken more seriously had they insisted that the extra-rights
> reserved for them will also be granted to their Arab neighbors. As
> long as this does not happen, spare us your self-righteousness and
> refer to the system created by Israel in the Territories in its
> explicit name: Apartheid.
>
> The writer monitors settlement construction for the Peace Now movement
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 8
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:09:37 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest Forward: A Familiar Story Could Snag Oscar by
> Elissa Strauss
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <8CE685A3-8C53-4BFD-9F56-9F2C03CD088F at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> http://www.forward.com/articles/a-familiar-story-could-snag-oscar/
> forward.com
> February 23, 2007
> A Familiar Story Could Snag Oscar by Elissa Strauss
>
> This year's list of Oscar nominees is rife with films that make
> political statements -- "Blood Diamond," "Babel," "The Queen," "The
> Last King of Scotland." Add to this "West Bank Story," a film
> nominated in the "live action short" category. Set in the West Bank,
> the film is about the eruption of love between an Israeli soldier and
> a Palestinian falafel-stand worker.
>
> Except this one is a comedy. And a musical.
>
> Director and co-writer Ari Sandel said that making such a
> lighthearted film about a topic this heavy terrified him at first. In
> fact, the project existed as only a title for five months after he
> first had the idea; his own doubts, as well as those of practically
> everyone he knows, got to him.
>
> But Sandel said that, after teaming up with co-writer Kim Ray, he was
> able to see it in a new light. Together they decided that in order
> for the film to work, they would have to both simplify the story and,
> more importantly, illustrate the similarities between Israelis and
> Arabs. Sandel, who was raised in Los Angeles by his Israeli father,
> and has made yearly visits to Israel throughout his life, had no
> trouble tapping into the country's culture for a little humor. But he
> wasn't interested in just making Jews laugh. So in order to make the
> film fair and funny to Arabs, as well, Sandel and his team consulted
> in both informal and formal settings with Arabs living in Los Angeles.
>
> "We made sure that for every joke against one side, we had one for
> the other," he said. "Likewise, for every endearing or heartfelt
> moment for the Palestinians, we had to have one for the Israelis.
> Balance was crucial to staying credible."
>
> The film, shot in a mock "Arab village" in Santa Clarita, Calif., has
> received a warm reception from both sides. Copies are now in
> libraries worldwide, including some in Israel and in Egypt.
>
> Now, Sandel awaits Sunday night, where what was once his ridiculous
> vision has a shot at an Academy Award. Win or lose, though, Sandel
> has no plans to stop. "I have a few more Middle Eastern films up my
> sleeve, I am sure," he said.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 9
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 11:16:50 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest Yahoo: Israel Break Up West Bank Barrier
> Protest
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <EBA659A7-46B2-4F8B-A249-4BEF3F216964 at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070223/wl_mideast_afp/
> mideastconflictbarrier_070223122026;_ylt=At6hd3.a._j2f2pBMkLNI.CaOrgF
> news.yahoo.com
> February 23, 2007
> Israel breaks up West Bank barrier protest
>
> BILIN, West Bank (AFP) - Israeli forces used tear gas and water
> cannon on Friday to break up a protest by around 1,000 people
> campaigning against
> Israel's controversial separation barrier in the occupied
> West Bank.
>
> Israeli, foreign and Palestinian protestors had gathered in the
> village of Bilin, near Ramallah, to mark a two-year-old campaign
> against the Israeli barrier built in this area of the occupied
> Palestinian territory.
>
> The demonstrators tried to open a section of meshing that serves as a
> gate through the barrier but Israeli soldiers held them back with
> tear gas and water canon sprays, an AFP correspondent said.
>
> Hundreds of foreign peace activists, Israelis and Palestinians
> demonstrate at least once a week in Bilin against the barrier, which
> Israel maintains is needed to prevent infiltration by West Bank
> militants.
>
> The Palestinians say the project is to grab their land and undermine
> the viability of their promised state.
>
> In 2004 the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding
> ruling that parts of the 650-kilometre (410-mile) barrier criss-
> crossing the West Bank are illegal and should be torn down.
>
> Israel has vowed to complete the project.
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 10
> Date: Fri, 23 Feb 2007 14:45:18 -0600
> From: "Adam B." <adam at btvshalom.org>
> Subject: BTvS Newsdigest Israel Policy Forum: One State, Two States.
> Do I Hear Three by MJ Rosenberg
> To: newsdigest at btvshalom.org
> Message-ID: <B05A1BF9-677B-413E-AD76-52AC4DC59CF2 at btvshalom.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed
>
> israelpolicyforum.org
> February 23, 2007
> One State, Two States.  Do I Hear Three? by MJ Rosenberg
>
> A few weeks ago I participated in a panel on the two-state solution
> to the
> Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  The panel consisted of a
> Palestinian-American spokesman and me.  The two of us have been
> teamed up
> before although we tend not to disagree on very much.  In other
> words, no
> fireworks.
>
> Both of us support the two-state solution and, although there are
> differences between us on some of the issues that divide the two sides,
> they are minor compared to our agreement on the central issue.
>
> My "job" was fairly easy.  Almost all the people in the audience were
> supporters of the two-state idea and, in fact, view it as the only
> possible solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  My Palestinian
> friend, on the other hand, was given a rough going over by some of his
> fellow Palestinians who oppose the two-state solution and favor Israel's
> replacement by a state "for all the people who live there."
>
> At one point a Palestinian student -- angered by my colleague's
> insistence
> that the only alternative to two-states was a war that the Palestinians
> would lose -- insisted that those advocating the one-state idea were not
> advocating violence.  "We don't support violence against Israelis.  The
> state we envision can be established without violence."
>
> My friend laughed that off.  "So you think the Knesset will decide
> one day
> to simply declare the State of Israel out of existence? And that will be
> that?"
>
> He then added that, as the grandchild of people who were forced from
> their
> homes in Jerusalem in 1948, he was not prepared to wait forever for the
> opportunity to return to some part of Palestine, if he so chose.  A West
> Bank/Gaza state with a capital in the Arab part of Jerusalem was the
> best
> he could hope for.  That and peace with Israel.   He cited polls that
> showed that the overwhelming majority of Palestinians living in the West
> Bank and Gaza agree with him.
>
> The radical Palestinians didn't want to hear it.  Of course, most of
> them
> have no intention of living in Palestine anyway so their militancy comes
> on the cheap.  They are analogous to the American Jews who reject the
> very
> idea of compromise with the Palestinians but do not have to live with
> the
> consequences of their inflexibility.
>
> The bad news is that the one-state idea is picking up steam among
> Palestinians as they conclude that they, as a people, have almost
> nothing
> to show for the PLO's 1988 acceptance of the two-state formula.  The
> only
> sovereign Palestinian territory is Gaza but even there Israelis control
> the air space and the passages in and out and preserve the option of
> sending in forces any time they deem it necessary.  Most view Gaza as
> more
> of a ghetto than a country although they do celebrate the removal of the
> settlers..
>
> It is then small wonder that more Palestinians are looking at the
> one-state idea, as unrealistic as that concept is.
>
> According to Thursday's Los Angeles Times, Palestinian citizens of
> Israel
> are circulating a manifesto which essentially calls for the
> replacement of
> Israel with a bi-national state.
>
> According to the Times the manifesto, which is called "The Future Vision
> of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel," is the "first such sweeping
> demand by
> Israel's Arab mainstream. The manifesto was drafted by 40 academics and
> activists under the sponsorship of the Committee of Arab Mayors in
> Israel
> and has been endorsed by an unprecedented range of Arab community
> leaders."
>
> The Times reports that "the manifesto urges Israel to adopt a
> 'consensual
> democracy' like that of Belgium, which reconciles its Flemish- and
> French-speaking communities through power sharing, proportional
> representation and local autonomy. The system...would give Arab
> communities control over decisions about education, culture and
> religious
> affairs."
>
> It sounds rather innocuous until one considers that a "consensual
> democracy" would end Israel's existence as a Jewish state.
>
> It is not hard to see the appeal of the one-state idea to Palestinians,
> especially when it is offered as a non-violent solution to the conflict.
> Of course, this "solution" could no more be achieved peacefully than
> Israeli Cabinet Member Avigdor Lieberman's plan to divest Israel of its
> Palestinian citizens could.
>
> Israelis would fight to preserve their state, the fruition of a 2000
> year
> old dream and a thriving modern country as rooted in the Middle East as
> any of its neighbors.  And Palestinians would fight to prevent
> Lieberman's
> ethnic cleansing plan; they are Palestinians and have been there from
> time
> immemorial.
>
> The people on both sides who are turning to these ideas have given up on
> the very idea of peaceful coexistence with the "other."  Many never
> believed in it to start with.
>
> Fortunately, majorities of both peoples know that there is another way.
> Israel can retain its Jewish character and its democracy through
> negotiations with the Palestinians to establish a West Bank/Gaza
> Palestinian state.  Palestinians would then be able to exercise their
> full
> national rights within their own country while Israelis would retain
> full
> sovereignty in theirs.  There is no alternative or, to be precise, no
> alternative that is capable of being implemented without massive
> blood-letting.
>
> Those in the region and here in Washington who support the status quo --
> who see no urgency to resolving the conflict and insist that the
> Palestinian issue is not central to the overall Middle East mess -- are
> contributing to a deadly denouement.
>
> The events of the last few weeks do not change this reality.  Secretary
> Rice did not achieve a breakthrough during her recent trip but she
> pledges
> to deepen her involvement. Although the Hamas-Fatah agreement leaves
> a lot
> to be desired, it does not change the fact that Israel has a partner in
> President Abbas.  Nor does the still-tentative unity government mean
> that
> suddenly Hamas and Fatah have become allies, with Israel as their common
> enemy.
>
> That will probably not happen, although if both the United States and
> Israel play their cards wrong (as both have repeatedly done in their
> reluctance to support Abbas), it could.
>
> The United States needs to strengthen Abbas. Right now that means moving
> ahead with the $85 million package to help train Abbas's security
> forces.
> It also means encouraging Israel to alleviate some of the onerous and
> unnecessary checkpoints, dismantling settlements, and working out a
> prisoner exchange deal.  Abbas needs to ensure that the suicide
> terror war
> against Israel does not resume, a prospect that is again looming as the
> Israelis intercept more and more potential suicide bombers.  By
> supporting
> Abbas, including with weaponry, we help him thwart them.  And we also
> help
> preserve Saudi influence among the Palestinians (they brokered the Mecca
> plan) while reducing the influence of Iran.
>
> Supporting Abbas is not a favor we do for him.  Like it or not, his
> survival is essential to Israel's security and to the preservation of
> America's interests in this most critical corner of the world.
>
> On the other hand, there is the one-state solution.
>
>
> MJ Rosenberg is the Director of Israel Policy Forum's Washington Policy
> Center. If you have colleagues or friends who would appreciate receiving
> this weekly letter, or you would like to unsubscribe, send an e-mail to:
> ipfdc at ipforumdc.org
>
>
>
>
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>
> End of Newsdigest Digest, Vol 2, Issue 17
> *****************************************
>